English Reticence

One thing I've noticed about profiles I read here in the UK. Lots of times you see people writing: 'my friends say....' This strikes me as peculiarly English. In a country where anyone blowing his or her own horn can expect to have the piss taken immediately from all directions, this kind of statement seems inevitable. Certainly no one thinks this makes the statement more valid. After all, hon, that's what your friends say to you, not necessarily what they say.