Custard as salad dressing? Brits reveal the funniest blunders foreign guests have made while visiting the UK

Brits are sharing the cultural faux pas they've witnessed visitors commit while holidaying in the UK.

One of the challenges of visiting or moving to a new country is getting your head around the local customs, slang and culture to avoid any embarrassing gaffes.

However, many tourists have been left red-faced after breaking an unwritten rule of the UK from incorrectly using common phrases to misunderstanding the weather.

'What's the funniest thing a friend from abroad has done and said in the UK?' a Briton asked on Reddit .

They said they had taken a Spanish friend for lunch at iconic British takeaway chain Greggs where he bought a pasty and a Fanta.

'Before he paid he asked the woman behind the counter, 'Do you have a glass with some ice?'. I couldn't help laughing and it was something my British friends found funny too,' they said.

The query drew in hundreds of hilarious replies including from one woman who said their friend got confused when she was invited to someone's house in the evening for 'tea' not realising the term referred to 'dinner'.

'My friend was invited, by a northerner, 'round for tea'. She ate beforehand,' one user laughed.

British food and drinks seem to cause a lot of confusion with visitors and expats. One American couple didn't know the purpose of mint sauce while attending a British wedding.

'The main course was lamb. I just glanced over, and I could see (the American woman) spreading mint sauce onto some bread and eating it. She thought it was a fancy jam for the bread, she didn't enjoy it. I found it very funny,' someone recalled.

'Italian friend drank squash undiluted and then wondered why it was so bad,' another user commented.

'I had a Mexican colleague who was telling me about how weird the salad dressings are here and one day for lunch I saw her take out a tin of custard and pour it over her salad,' a third wrote.

One person said they knew someone who mistakenly poured gravy over their Christmas mince pies and another helped themselves to another's bar snacks.

'American friend took a handful of someone else's peanuts while waiting for drinks at the bar, thinking they were free. The man next to her, who ordered said peanuts, was very confused. Being a good Brit though, he obviously said nothing,' one woman explained.

'American housemate looked at a packet of digestives for a long time, then finally said 'do these make you poop?',' laughed a second.

Some travellers to the UK have been caught out by British culture and geography.

'A Spanish friend of mine was trying to get into British TV and was telling another Spanish friend of ours about the famous pair of presenters 'Ant and Derek'. He also said he'd been seeing lots of clips of EastEnders online and wanted 'to watch the series from the beginning',' one Briton said.

'It was my second month here in the UK and I called my Scottish co-worker English... Luckily he took it easy and laughed it off and kindly explained it to me why not to make the same mistake again,' an expat admitted.

An American was once puzzled that the Fourth of July isn't celebrated in England while another was confused about the name of a popular supermarket.

'Foreign exchange student was staying with us and we were picking fruit yoghurts from the fridge. I was like, 'I'll have the raspberry', he said 'I'll have the 'Sainsberry'',' one woman chuckled.

An Australian from sunny Perth wasn't sure how to handle Britain's chilly weather leading to a minor road accident.

'He was late in one day because he'd driven his car into a lamp post. He'd never seen frost before and thought he could just drive off and clear the windscreen with wipers,' one man wrote.

UK slang, terms and phrases can often be a challenge for those whose first language is not English resulting in some amusing gaffes.

'My French mate once said, 'Okey dokey lemon squeezy', which is one of the best things I've ever heard,' someone answered.

'I had a French friend that once told me 'Thank you from the heart of my bottom'... I told her that she got it mixed up and explained how it was wrong and she found it hilarious! We still joke about it to this day,' another chimed in.

'My wife thought that toiletries were called 'toilet treats',' a man commented and another said: 'My ex-wife wanted to know why we have a 'Gay Fox' day in November'.