Twitter users are arguing over which country has the best plug sockets - yes, really

When the UK Government embarrasses us on the world stage on a regular basis, us Brits will take any small win we can find, and in the latest Twitter/X debate, we’re fighting to be crowned the country with the best plug socket – yes, really.

The discussion started after user Darsam shared a graphic of our three-pinned plugs and wrote: “Britons will look you straight in the eye and say ‘yeah that’s a normal power outlet wdym [what do you mean]?’”

In a follow-up tweet, they posted a picture of the EU plug socket with two holes and added: “In this house we believe EU reins [sic] supreme through its normalcy and simplicity.”

Except the reason why we have three pins as opposed to the two pins elsewhere is because the top pin is known as the ‘earth pin’, and as the Digital Museum of Plugs and Sockets (we think they’re pretty switched on when it comes to this stuff) explains, “shutters [for the live and neutral holes] are pushed away by pressing down the earth pin – a very common mechanism found on most British sockets”.

And popular YouTube educator Tom Scott has a handy demonstration – using an unplugged extension - on his channel from 2014, in which he says: “It’s really difficult for a kid to take, say, a screwdriver and just poke it into one of the holes, ‘cause up here is earth … that’s a safety one.

“These two here are live and neutral, where the actual danger is, but they’ve got shutters over them … and I cannot poke the screwdriver in there right now.

“What I have to do, is plug the earth pin – which you can see is slightly longer, the brown pin here – in first, and when that goes in, little shutters come up and let the other pins in.”

British Plugs Are Better Than All Other Plugs, And Here's Whywww.youtube.com

And while a few people offered up other plugs than the UK or EU versions, many were quick to defend Britain on this issue:

So sorry, world, we have the best plugs, and you’ll just have to suck it – or, rather, socket – up…

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