Brits are back online with another apparently affronting American-ism.
A Londoner, supposedly sick and tired of silly tourists, took to Reddit with a “PSA to Americans visiting this summer,” and warned that the British “do not shorten place names here” — a habit many Yanks didn’t even know they had.
The user shared an anecdote, detailing how, while grabbing coffee with a group of friends in Victoria — the district in Pimlico in Westminster, London — they heard “holidaying Americans” abbreviate the names of places when asking for directions several times.
“First was how to get to ‘Green’ (Green Park), and that they’d come via ‘Edgware’ (Edgware Road —obviously a totally different part of the city to Edgware itself), the next wanted to find their hotel in ‘Holland’ (Holland Park, obviously not the region),” the raging Redditor wrote.
“…People who live here we got the gist of what they were saying yesterday, but it’s such an unneccessary layer of friction and could quite easily end up catastrophic if you’re googling the wrong thing, asking for directions, researching somewhere (Gloucester instead of Gloucester Road, Liverpool instead of Liverpool Street, Leicester instead of Leicester Square etc. etc.),” the OP added.
Hundreds of frustrated commenters took to the post’s thread to pile on additional anti-American observations.
“I think American tourists are just adorable sometimes. They’re well-meaning idiots most of the time,” jested one user.
“This is so weird. What is the reasoning behind it? Are place names shortened like this in the US? Genuinely curious,” wondered another.
“Size,” suggested an American in response, “The assumption is you aren’t asking about a place two states over. You likely mean the closest area, or otherwise you would just Google it… [Size] recontextualizes how you talk about directions and locations.”
Several agitated Americans also added that this observation seemed to be yet another in a long line of vague generalizations that Europeans attribute to Americans.
“I’m in the hotel business, this occasionally happens in America, too,” vouched one user.
“This experience seems very limited to people in a very few specific metropolitan areas. I’m American and would never give directions in that way,” agreed another.
“Apparently, British people aren’t smart enough to figure out context,” wrote a particularly peeved poster.
While another bitter anti-Brit said: “Keep thinking that this is unique to Americans if it makes you feel the sense of superiority you clearly need. Tourists are tourists. I’m guessing you’ve been one.”
Some users suggested that these irritated Londoners were simply suffering from summer tourist season— in line with the ‘tournami’ currently ravaging Europe — but born-and-bred city dwellers said these crowds are nothing new.
In cities like Barcelona, locals have even taken to shooting tourists with water guns to protest overtourism — leading Americans to wonder, maybe these Reddit ragebait posts are the Brits’ own edition.
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