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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Martin Belam

London Bridge attack brings out defiant British humour

People in the UK have responded to the deadly London Bridge attack with sorrow and distinctly British humour.
People in the UK have responded to the deadly London Bridge attack with sorrow and distinctly British humour. Photograph: AP

Often, during times of upsetting national news, British social media finds some bleak humour or common theme to rally around. The hours after Saturday night’s attack on London Bridge and Borough Market have been no exception.

The nation is not for reeling

One headline in particular provoked British ire, from the New York Times, which stated that “Terrorist attacks in the heart of London leave 6 dead in a nation still reeling”

For a start, the word ‘reeling’ has a very different and meaning distinctive to the British Isles, with the ‘reel’ being a common folk dance in both Scotland and Ireland.

Other social media users just showed the New York Times that they were getting on with their day, and that London, targeted many times by terrorists over the years, was keeping calm and carrying on.

As one person put it

Here’s what actually makes the British reel

As with the #BritishThreatLevels hashtag after the Manchester Arena bombing, social media conversation soon moved on to what really does make the British reel

The real no go zones of London

A common trope in overseas commentary of Britain from the right has been that there are so-called “no go zones” in cities, due to apparent radicalisation of the local community. Twitter spent some time today discussing the real no go zones of London.

And finally there were those just laughing about some of the consequences of the attack not quite having the intended effect.

A pint of London Pride

Meanwhile, a man who was pictured holding tightly to a half-full pint glass of beer as he fled the London Bridge attack has become an unlikely hero.

His actions prompted a twinge of pride in Londoners, who identified with the desire to hang on to a pint at all costs.

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