A while back Griffen stated that while he thought Americans were more friendly, British were more polite. I tend to agree with that observation. When one takes the bus here (at least in Cambridge) I notice that as the passengers get off, they always say thank you to the driver. Whereas in America I think a passenger may have a conversation with the driver, but never say thank you.
That brings us to other manners. Since moving here Kaitlyn has had a difficult time in school communicating with teachers. If she gets caught out for talking in class and then defends herself by saying, "I'm sorry, so and so was talking to me and I was asking them to stop," she gets told off by the teacher for talking back. I see nothing wrong with that response and asked a friend why the teacher would say otherwise. Her explanation was that it comes across as rude to start a sentence with, "I'm sorry." If Kaitlyn were to switch around her sentence and instead say, "So and so was talking to me and I was asking them to stop, I'm sorry," she would probably not be told off. mmm. Something tells me that any defense of oneself would not be accepted and she is just supposed to suck it up and not whinge.
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