Stating the obvious

G

Goldfynche

Senior Member
One thing I have noticed since moving up to Scotland is that shop assistants and supermarket cashiers are far more courteous and polite than down in England.

One commonly used phrase that I find totally hilarious up here is when someone in a supermarket heads for the tills with a trolley absolutely loaded up to the rafters, then the cashier will still invariably ask "Is that everything for you today"?
 

I lived in Hertfordshire for a short time, and I find people much friendlier in Scotland. I like grocery shopping because the clerks and everyone are always so friendly. And I love Scottish humour!! You can talk to someone on the street that you've never met, and nobody thinks you're weird or trying to rob them. And on a day like today when it's sunny people are likely to say 'lovely day' to anyone that looks in their direction.
 
I lived the greater part of my life in Hampshire and sometimes you felt that you couldn't say 'hello' to anyone unless you had a letter of introduction. Here in the village, you can blether to anyone you see, though there is the odd miserable sod here too.

However, opinion varies as to whether this is a national , a north/south or a town / country characteristic. In any case, Scotland comes out tops!
 

So far y'all are making Scotland sound a little like the American South. :) And apparently small towns are the same pretty much everywhere? As in you can talk to strangers more than in a big city.

I know there's the stereotypical negative side of small-town life, too, but there's also a good friendly sociable side.

Another stereotypical view, too, but I get the feeling the north of England is more down-home like the American South, and the south of England is more like the American North? Notice I did say "stereotypical" -- but what do y'all think? Would Scotland be even more so? I mean, I realize it's a whole different country from England.
 
I find that even people in a big city like Glasgow are friendly. Not as friendly as the village I live in or the small town near us, but friendlier than any city I've been in. Scots are more genuinely friendly and helpful than people in the southern US (in my experience). Southerners are friendly but not as friendly as Scots.
 
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They are like that where I live, too, mostly. People are always stopping to pet my dog and say hello to her and I. In the grocery store they will ask if I need anything else. Very friendly here, too in Northern Ohio.
 

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