On the Quora social media website, anyone can pose questions and other readers can answer them. Some of the questions are stupendously silly, stupid or reveal cultural biases.

I have great fun answering them, often tongue in cheek. Four thousand, seven hundred folks have read my responses from the past 12 months, all answered without looking anything up, so if you find any mistakes, please leave a comment.

Do British people say ‘I don’t know’ more often than people from other countries?

I don’t know.

Do people in England live in gated communities?

Very posh people, the landed gentry and the nouveau riche often live on their private estates with a gated entry. Sometimes there’s even a gate keeper’s lodge. At historic estates the gates will be fancy wrought iron painted black with gilded highlights. The rest of us happily live in communities with no gates. Sometimes we have a little white painted garden gate but that’s just to keep the dog in. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea. Let’s get a gate at the edge of the village and hire an old gamekeeper with a shotgun to keep out the tourists, bike riders and looky-loos. He can shelter under the arched lych gate at the 11th century Norman church.

When was the fence on the English-Scottish border built?

Let’s establish the truth. There is no fence. Never has been. However, back when the Romans occupied Britain more than 2,000 years ago, Emperor Hadrian built a wall about 80 miles long and eight to 10 feet wide across the narrowest part of the island. It was more a symbol of Roman might than an effective way to keep the Scots from raiding and thieving English cattle. Nor did it exactly follow any border as it was built long before the division between England and Scotland was established. Hadrian’s Wall can still be seen in spots and some of the forts and guard posts have been excavated or restored. But don’t expect the Great Wall of China. Much of the original was timber and turf and has long since disappeared.

What is your opinion on the statement, ‘You’re English so you would say that’ or ‘I’m Scottish so I’ll disagree’?

You can always tell a Brit, but you can’t tell him much. Says it all.

Do people in England have to eat fish and chips with a fork and knife?

The rules about what you can and cannot eat with your fingers in England (and I’m specifically excluding the rest of the UK, as I don’t know) are complex and rooted in some of the traditional class divisions. Upper crust people (including aristocracy and royals) know the rules, so they probably know it’s OK to eat asparagus with your fingers, along with chewing the meat off the bone for a lamb chop (but not a pork chop). Most fruits can be eaten with fingers too, although not if they are presented formally at dinner, when the right sort of fruit knife and fork may be used. However, most of them wouldn’t be seen dead in a fish and chip shop, so the question of how they eat fish and chips (but only when out of a newspaper cone at a takeaway) seldom arises. However, if they are served fish and chips in a restaurant or pub, they would definitely use a knife and fork, although it’s apparently OK to reach over and pinch (steal) a chip off someone else’s plate with your fingers. Younger members of the class probably don’t admit to their status, down-market their posh accents, consider it fun to go slumming with the hoi polloi and eat with their fingers. The middle class are much more self conscious about their manners. You only have to watch the hysterical Mrs. Hyacinth Bucket (which she pronounced Bouquet) in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, to see what I mean. Social climbers would never be seen eating with their fingers in public. Perhaps they relax the rules at home? The so-called working class, sometimes called blue collar and formerly known as lower class, eat with whatever they have to hand and good for them. They are the hard graft engine of English society and don’t have time to lay the table with white starched linens and knives, forks and spoons for every need.

Do they wrap fish and chips in newspaper in the United Kingdom?

They used to. Clean but discarded newspaper is a cheap and absorbent way to wrap up a take away (take out in North America) supper of deep fried and hence somewhat greasy fish and chips (French fries, not crisps). Then along came the EU (European Union, with a headquarters stuffed full of busy body bureaucrats determined to impose their continental ways on the unruly islanders across the Channel). EU rules banned using anything recycled to wrap food. Chippies began buying plain clean newsprint paper to wrap their product. Somehow it didn’t seem right. So, they started printing fake news and advertising on the paper. Now the meal tasted good again. Some renegade chippies started using little paper boats to serve; others (horrors) used styrofoam containers or greaseproof paper. Hopefully, when the British Parliament gets around to reviewing the tens of thousands of silly regulations and repealing the worst excesses, normality will return. Of course, print newspapers might have vanished by then, so it will all be moot.

When did people start saying ‘the loo’ instead of ‘the toilet’ in England, and why was it changed?

Flush toilets were introduced to England during Queen Victoria’s reign, but talking about going to the toilet was not considered polite, so as usual the Brits came up with a work around. The room in which the toilet was contained was called the water closet because it was usually a closet or cupboard converted to the new use and, of course, had flushing water. This quickly became known as the WC. In earlier times, when people used chamber pots (or potties) stored during the night under the bed or hidden in a lidded commode, they were emptied in the morning by a maid. Instead of carrying the odorous receptacle all the way to the back of the house, where there might be an outside toilet, compost heap or midden, they could just open a window and chuck the contents into the street. This was very common behaviour in towns and cities, where an open sewer might run down the middle of the street or alleyway. Polite people would call out ‘Gardez l’eau!’ (meaning ‘Watch out for the water.’) It’s said that this phrase was corrupted from ‘l’eau’ to ‘loo,’ but truthfully, no one really knows for sure. This is the story I was told as a child and all the sources I checked said the origin of the word was obscure or unknown. But it’s still a good tale. Another fun fact: the Queen’s WC was made by one Thomas Crapper and we all know what he lent his name to.

Do people in London consider themselves English or British?

Speaking as a former Londoner, I would consider myself a Londoner first, English second and British last. But because one great grandfather was a Scot, another was Irish and a great grandmother was Welsh, perhaps I should really consider myself British first.

Do people in the UK know how to say their own place names correctly?

I’ve lived in Canada for many years and get back to England at least annually. I still have a British accent, which my Canadian born son says sounds ‘posh.’ So, I’m perhaps more aware than ever for the need to pronounce English place names correctly. Three that trip up visitors spring to mind: Worcester (Wuster), Bealieu (Bewlee) and Bicester (Bister). I’ve never heard a Brit mispronounce any of these or other names.

Do Brits really say ‘How do’ instead of ‘Hello’?

In the North, separated from the South by that imaginary line, which by tradition starts just outside London at the Watford Gap, they might say ‘How do,’ but I recently spent a couple weeks in Yorkshire and didn’t hear it once, so I suspect this short form of ‘How do you do’ might be fading away. However, I was addressed as ‘ducks’ at least a half dozen times and ‘flower’ once, so some old regional linguistic traditions continue.

Do you know why many British foods are named after places in the UK?

Why is Parmesan cheese, Parma ham or Champagne sparkling wine so called? Because they have designated name status. (EDIT: I looked this up and the correct title is protected designation of origin or PDO.) Yorkshire pudding, cheddar cheese and many other Brit favourites don’t have protection and can be made anywhere but all Brits know where they originally came from. Some with protected status include Melton Mowbray pie, Stilton cheese and Scotch whisky. All these are named for their places of origin. The same is true for many foods through out Europe. Traditions stoutly defended.

What does it mean when a British person says ‘you’ve got to come in for a cuppa’?

Most people who live in the British Isles, or claim British descent, will recognize this as a very common abbreviation for ‘Come in for a cup of tea.’ ‘Cuppa’ is just a condensation for ‘cup of’ and is how it is pronounced by most Brits, even posh ones who often enjoy putting on a Cockney or working class accent. I am sure the Queen would have known what a cuppa was, even though with her cut glass accent, she would surely have pronounced each word separately. Cuppa is not, however, part of the Cockney rhyming slang lexicon–titfer or tit-for-tat meaning hat; apples and pears meaning stairs; pots and pans meaning old man–where only the first part of the code is used to confuse strangers (and originally the Peelers or police force founded by Sir Robert Peel in London).

Why are people in the UK called British when Britain isn’t a country?

People who live in England are English, people who live in Wales are Welsh, people who live in Scotland are Scottish, people who live in Northern Ireland are Irish, although since that part of the United Kingdom is also called Ulster, some prefer to call themselves Ulstermen (and presumably Ulsterwomen, these days). All these countries, plus several islands such as Orkney, Hebrides, Jersey, Guernsey, Sark and the Isle of Man, form the whole British Isles. Anyone who lives there can call themselves British. If you look at one of their new post-Brexit passports, you’ll see it says British Passport: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Personally, I call myself a Londoner.

Is it considered rude to copy the way someone speaks in England?

In England, if you copy someone’s regional accent–and there are many–it’s considered rude (they’ll call it ‘taking the p*ss’). Most Brits can mimic many accents, but they’re Brits and can get away with it as they know when and where it’s acceptable and when it’s not, such as when telling a regional joke. However, that being said, any English person can take the p*ss out of an Irish, Welsh or Scottish accent and get away with it. Just don’t try it in the pub if you’re an American. You might end up with fewer teeth at the end of the conversation–and that’s no joke!

Do people in the UK curse more than people in other countries like Australia, Canada, America, etc.?

F*ck no!

What is the word for a person who buys things from thrift shops or charity shops in the UK?

Smart.

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