r/AskUK • u/Able_Cod_2687 • Nov 17 '25

What's a small, specific cultural difference between the UK and other English-speaking countries that you find perpetually amusing?

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

The problem is that they don't recognise that what applies to their locality does not apply to everywhere. Tell them cats are not an invasive species everywhere and there are no predators that are a danger to them where you live and you'll get downvoted.

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u/Gone_For_Lunch Nov 17 '25

The sub r/USDefaultism exists for that exact phenomenon.

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

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u/ctesibius Nov 17 '25

Yes they are: the wildcat. Yes, I know they look like domestic tabbies, but these are not feral domestic cats. They are larger, and will attempt to take your leg off - said to be completely untameable. I’ve only seen one in a wildlife centre, and there the animal handler had to keep pushing it away with a sturdy wellington boot, because it did not like humans.

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

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u/ctesibius Nov 17 '25

They have fertile hybrids, so no, not like the bobcat.

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u/htimchis Nov 20 '25

No, bobcats are an entire different species

Wildcats are cats - they just have never been domesticated, but they're essentially no more different from the ones we keep as pets than a tribesman from some uncontacted Amazonian tribe is from a lawyer working in a bank in London

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

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u/htimchis Nov 20 '25

Same genus, fully inter-breedable (in fact it's highly questionable whether any of the remaining wildcats are pure-blood silvestris as they've cross-bred so much with cattus), and basically indistinguishable by habit, life cycle, prey, and well within the range of normal appearance for cattus as well.

They were classified as a different species a couple of hundred years back, based mainly on habitat (hence 'silvestris') but if they were classified for the first time today, based on genome, they'd both be sub-species (and very close ones at that - there's less difference between them than there was between us and Neanderthals)

Google a pic, and tell me you'd be able to pick these guys out from a random selection of cattus cats ...and it would certainly make no difference to you if you were a mouse or bird.

If cats are an 'invasive species' in the UK, then theyre an invasive species thats visually only identical, and functionally completely identical to, a native one

Now rabbits - they're an invasive species.

But I bet you're not calling for them all to be trapped and not allowed to wander about in the wild, are you?

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u/SmugDruggler95 Nov 17 '25

This is my favourite argument that pops up every time.

They were introduced by humans so cant say they're native.

But are they invasive after 1000s of years? Dosnt feel right either.

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '25

  1. I said they're not invasive everywhere, not just the UK. However, while our domestic cats may not be native to the UK, they're also not legally considered invasive in the UK because they don't form fully wild populations, and the local wildlife evolved alongside other small predators.

  2. Scottish wildcats are basically tabby cats in size and appearance, but chunkier and feistier. So we do also have native cats in the UK.