Looks like us Yanks just aren’t fans of social niceties — things like line forming and chivalry.  For the Americans on the Titanic this may have been a fortunate thing.  Turns out, according to research, polite Brits may have suffered for their endless courtesy — their love of queues actually accounted for a proportionately higher rate of death.  Smoking cigars, waving at their families, many Brits watched ended up jovially watching the life boats as the ship hit the drink.

[picture via Miss Hartwell]

BBC News