American and British people have many cultural differences, from the way words are pronounced, vocabulary, food choices, and the list goes on, but now people are surprised by how Brits hang up the phone.
The conversation started on social media after an American person who moved across the pond shared how surprised he was by the ‘strange’ way English people end phone calls.
English people ‘end’ their phone calls differently
An American person who moved to live in England took to TikTok to share the latest difference he has noticed about British culture.
The creator explained that whenever it is time to end a phone call and say “goodbye”, each party repeatedly says “bye” before one of them disconnects the call.
The user, with the username @postchristianity, explains that as the conversation is wrapping up, the pitch and tonation of the people speaking on the phone begin to rise as each individual starts to say “okay, bye, bye, bye”, before exiting the call.
In the caption, @postchristianity described the behavior as: “Such an odd cultural phenomenon.”
Cultural norms have taught Brits phone call etiquette
Cultural norms are sets of behaviors and beliefs shared by members of a society or group of people.
Examples of norms might include eating manners; the norms about what is considered polite or impolite while eating, or dress codes are the norms governing what is appropriate to wear in different situations.
Etiquette cultural norms outline the proper way to behave in particular settings. In this instance, phone call etiquette in England has supposedly taught British people that it is common to repeatedly say variations of “goodbye” before hanging up a phone call.
A YouTube video mocking how British people exit a phone call, shared by Get English Tips, represents the ‘long goodbye’, perfectly.
Brits argue that it would be rude to hang up any other way
In the comment section of the viral TikTok video, English people proceeded to explain that they think it would be rude to end the phone call any other way.
A user named @Richard William wrote: “You don’t want to feel rude by stopping, so we all fade out the byes.”
Similarly, another comment by @Souljourney556 stated: “I think just saying bye once seems too abrupt.”
@celestialroad suggested that the repeated parting phrases prevent the conversation from continuing: “The repeated byes is to stop the other person from continuing the conversation.”
In an article titled ‘Brits and the long goodbye’, Kristen Bell writes that the aspect of the long goodbye is highlighted in a Reddit thread in which a commenter theorizes: “I think it’s partly because formal goodbyes would go on forever so just creating a wall of byes overrides all that without being rude.”
