Woman Goes Viral With 50 ‘Socially Acceptable’ Things In The UK That Would Confuse Americans
InterviewDespite a long history, shared language, and “special relationship,” the UK and the US are still pretty different, very often in ways that do not immediately meet the eye.
TikToker Andrea Celeste shared some examples of things in the UK that Americans might find surprising. Viewers shared their own thoughts in the comments, highlighting all the bits of life, from stores to humor, that differ between the two nations. We got in touch with British/Polish singer, actor, and comedian Maja Bloom to learn more.
Bored Panda has reached out to Andrea Celeste for comment by email and will update the article as soon as she gets back to us.
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Image credits: nndreacelleste
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Advertising prescription only medicine is actually prohibited in England. Also in England, you don't get billboards that advertise solicitors like you would in the US.
And we're all pretty tired of the drug ads, trust me. The lawyer billboards are just so much background noise after a while.
How else will the "Orange God" get representation? The good ones have quit him
Load More Replies...Rx ads are so stupid. Many of them don't tell you what condition they're treating and just tell you to ask your Dr. Others are rather insulting to those of us who have the condition. Like migraine ads that show people walking around and doing things while slightly inconvenienced.
i like this, can't stand advertising in any form, its visual diarrhea
Living in Chicago, that sounds so wonderful ! And I think the U.S. pays the highest prices for meds.
What, you don’t love the Lerner and Rowe lawyer jingle??
Load More Replies...Solicitation is illegal In most US states, with the possible exception of Nevada.
In the UK, a solicitor is a lawyer, not a prostitute
Load More Replies...Pharma and lawyer ads were once illegal in the US. BTW: the "worst case scenario" arguments against allowing these ads have come to pass and then some! We'd like these ads to go away again!
Oh my god! This is groundbreaking stuff! Nobody has ever noticed this before! God I hate tiktokkers. This post needs to be taken down - it's just some idiot copying stuff they read online.
There isn't the same beauty pageant culture as there is in the US in England, especially when it comes to kids with makeup, fake tan and bikinis.
I don't think a lot of people are "doing it", I think a disturbingly large amount of people are ok or into it.
Load More Replies...Kids with fake tan and bikinis - shouldn’t even be a sentence. So sad those pageants
Pathetic bored mothers trying to relive their youth through their children.
Child beauty pageants are absolutely vile and should be banned. They don’t help children’s self esteem like they claim. They are just disturbing as all hell and objectify young children that don’t have any voice in the matter.
Why would this confuse me, an American? I think it's weird and creepy here. I wouldn't expect to be popular in many places (at least I hope not)
Pessimism and self deprecating humor. When I use British self deprecating humor people sometimes tend to get worried and start saying something supportive when I'm back in the US. In the UK humor is usually self deprecating and pessimistic. And in the US while it's still banter, it's more lighthearted and usually obviously a joke compared to the banter you get in the UK.
I love british humor, who would i be without black adder, monthy python and black books 😁👍
If you like to learn quite interresting stuff to, you should check out QI XL🌹
Load More Replies...british humor is far more sophisticated than the thoroughly unfunny snl fare
It's dry humor. I have direct English ancestry from my mother and we both have dry senses of humor, tinged with a bit of sarcasm. I'd fit right in if I was in Great Britain! 🇬🇧
Load More Replies...I love British banter, especially when I'm in Australia. They're worthy adversaries
Yup, so here I am, in the West (ish) of England, in August when it should be nice and warm and balmy, instead IT'S PISSING IT DOWN AND I'VE JUST PUT THE WASHING OUT !!! Ah hey, it looks like wine o'clock just got pushed forward a few hours ......
Just had a beautiful thunderstorm here in the South East! It's sunny again now but who knows for how long. I like the unpredictability tbh. I definitely prefer a cooler, damp summer to coping with temperatures approaching 40 degrees like last year!
Load More Replies...I've realised just how much the extent of how dark and self deprecating the British humor is after what has happened in SoCal (hope anyone reading this who is there is safe <3) , just last year, the UK was hit by a few bad storms back to back (notacably Eunice and Franklin) and there was a lot of high winds, flooding, etc. But I saw so many videos on tiktok making jokes about it. I guess it's how we cope over here. Whereas I've seen some horrific edits of the storms over in SoCal. (But it doesn't mean of course, that we are all uncaring and would make jokes of this happening elsewhere, stay safe people)
Part of British humor is claiming - with a completely straight face - that they actually have a summer. The greyest, dampest autumn I ever spent was a summer in the UK.
Three levels of humor when calling someone a count (without "o", trying to avoid censorship). American - OMG he called me bad word, call manager or police. British - same to you my friend, at least my football club didn't loose last game. Irish - good to see you, wishing you a very pleasant day.
Bored Panda got in touch with Maja Bloom, a comedian, actor, and singer from the UK and she was kind enough to share her thoughts on British humor and how it compares to other parts of the English-speaking world. “I think one of the main characteristics of British humor is that there are no sanctities - you can make jokes about absolutely everything: dead disabled children? Yeah, why not, queen dying, pedophiles, I mean anything.”
“Sometimes, some events (like e.g. recently the queen's death) carry some kind of a time embargo where people wait a few days/ weeks before starting to make jokes about it (but that is connected to how powerful royal family and upper class still is, and that is a completely different story, wink wink ;-)), but I remember attending a stand-up event right after she died and comedians were already making jokes about it. I think this is linked to a very British way of dealing with problems and difficult traumatic things: laugh everything off. You have cancer? laugh about it, you are broke - make jokes about it. You might say we tend to avoid talking about serious issues, and solving them, and instead laugh about them.”
There aren't any fraternities or sororities at UK universities. A lot of people in the UK call University "uni".
I wish fraternities and sororities would disappear. They sound dangerous.
When I was in college, I supported the existence of fraternities and sororities. They concentrated into a few locations a certain type of person with whom I would otherwise have come in contact much more often.
Load More Replies...University is 5 syllables. Uni is 2. That’s why we shorten it. Fraternities and sororities would never take off in the UK. They have rules, initiations, punishments and prejudice. Basically the posh version of school cliques and street gangs. They are nothing to aspire to unless you are needy and desperate for validation.
so what is the story with these? we don't have them here in Australia either. What purpose do they serve?
People use them as a social circle, for networking for future jobs. But there's some dodgy stuff too with the costs to apply and and secret society stuff basically forcing members to vote as they are told. So many problematic things about body image, how women are treated, racial discrimination. They creep me out.
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I saw this thing about American seeing a photo of beans on toast and being mortified by it and to be fair, it looks terrible in photos but it's actually really good snack when you're trying to save money.
Or with fried onions and a dash of curry powder, or Hendersons, Worcester sauce or Gentleman's Relish.
Load More Replies...Beans on toast is a delicacy! One of the nicest things you will ever shove in your gob.
I just LOVE beans on toast. Not to save money, but by choice 😃 And I am Canadien.
Canadian also, and was brought up with beans on toast! Usually as a lunch for us kids. I absolutely still love it!
Load More Replies...K**b of butter in the beans and a fried egg on top. A veritable feast!
I spent 10 years in Louisiana...God I love red beans and rice!😋😋
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People pack their own groceries in supermarkets. There isn't anyone that packs it all for you at the end of your shop.
Normal in the Netherlands too. I really don't need anyone to pack my groceries for me. I can perfectly do that myself. Bringing my own bags too. Saves a ton of money on labour too...as groceries are expensive enough already.
Also you can pack in a way that makes putting stuff away when you get home easier if you do it yourself
Load More Replies...Most US grocery stores don't have people there to pack groceries anymore. Some do. Some have people that bounce around to whichever line looks like it needs the most help. But in the US, people don't tend to pop in to the market for a few things because, like everything else, it's not a small store on our way home from work. Grocery shopping is a damn event.
I'm ever grateful for my weekly home delivery from my supermarket!
Load More Replies...I use the self scanner so I just pack my bags as I go. Then pay and leave.
Which is fine if your scanning speed matches your bagging speed. But if there's a discrepancy between the two there can be serious repercussions. On more than one occasion, I have needed assistance after getting stuck in a loop trying to establish whether I need to slow down with the scanning or speed up with the packing. It's not for everyone. It really isn't.
Load More Replies...It’s a bit silly in the UK though, a lot of the check outs are self service, you then have to wait for approval for items like alcohol or medications which can take ages, the machines often state bagging area faults which stops you being able to scan things and have to wait for approval again. Then after all of that and being on CCTV whilst scanning (where you watch yourself being filmed face on). They now sometimes ask to check your receipt and items at the door when you leave. Seems really wrong to get you to do everything yourself and then make you feel like you’re under suspicion. I’m sure things do get stolen but that’s where serviced check outs would prevent that.
The video screen is not my friend when items won't scan properly. Granted it's just me, but I still ask him what seems to be the problem. The voice that keeps repeating "please take your items" is a bit much though.
Load More Replies...In Australia the person on the register bags (except in Aldi) which is good because they are faster than I would be. They start scanning and bagging while you are still emptying the trolley. If I only need to fill two bags I will do it self serve, but for anything more I go to the larger registers.
Load More Replies...Very few grocery stores pack you s**t for you anymore unless you ask for help
Cashier here. I often have to bag while I am ringing people up and it is funny how they will just stand there and not help
I prefer the full service in the US, especially when I see elderly and handicapped people in line; I can't imagine how that would be done in Europe. Hopefully, there's still some chivalry remaining in Europe.
I work as a cashier. Able bodied people pack their groceries themselves, but we help disabled or elderly people. If they want it, some of them don't want help.
Load More Replies...“You might say that is not very practical or helpful, and you would be right, but I guess that is the way many people in Britain deal with the most difficult and painful aspects of their lives: not dealing with them head-on, but via a joke so you "laugh until you cry and cry until you laugh". Or maybe it is stimulating change by laughing about issues? I was born in communist Poland and came to the UK for the first time when I was 17.”
“In communist Poland, Monty Python, which many would say is untranslatable, was super popular. Why? In a communist regime, you could not openly criticize certain institutions, but you could laugh at them and mock their absurdities, which is exactly what the Orange Alternative movement from my first home city of Wroclaw did, as you can see here. It is what Ali G did as well - you create content that is ridiculously funny but at the same time asking important questions about the world and making you realize that perhaps certain things should change,” she shared with Bored Panda.
A 20 minute walk anywhere in England isn't that long of a distance and you wouldn't typically take an Uber for that kind of distance. I feel like in the US it's more common to take Ubers everywhere probably because everything's so spread out.
In the Netherlands, we walk that too. Nothing to do with Ubers being there or not. It is just common sense and healthy and cheap. Or we do it by bike ;)
You wouldn’t get out of my neighborhood in a 20 minute walk much less to shopping or a pub
Load More Replies...It's not the length of the walk, it's the lack of sidewalks. When I'm in the city, I walk everywhere. My house is in a quiet 20 house neighborhood, but as soon as you exit these two streets, you're on a main road with no way to walk along it safely.
Yes, this. My nearest grocery store is probably a thirty minute walk away. I would happily walk it, except that there are no sidewalks, and I'd be walking along a busy road that doesn't even have a shoulder. I've lived in both France and Boston and walked everywhere, so it's not that I don't want to walk. I'm a total tree-hugger. I'd much rather walk. It's just not safe, and I like being alive, so here we are.
Load More Replies...If it's 20 minutes, most people would walk it (big exception would be grocery shopping since Americans tend to shop once a week or once every two weeks, so there's too much to carry). For many Americans, there's nothing that close to walk to. I've lived in UK and US and even a lot of rural areas in the UK have a town center which is walkable.
The pattern of towns in the England is set up for walking livestock to market. If you are more than 6 hours sheep driving from a town you are remote.
Load More Replies...I'm from UK, and on holiday in the USA have tried to walk, but often there are not any pavements to walk on :(
Come to NYC, we walk everywhere. I once was standing behind some tourists waiting to cross the street who were complaining about how much walking they were doing, and the daughter said to her mother, “pretend you’re at the mall.” Like it’s fine to walk a lot indoors but outside is weird!
Load More Replies...Many area's in the u.s. do not have sidewalks, and the roads are too dangerous to walk on. Our nearest food store is over 2 miles away, Not walk able nor even safely bike-able
This is simple though. European cities were built before cars, American cities grew with the the growth of the automobile industry.
US here. I think the US really needs to rethink these car-centric designs and develop better public transportation in most cities. Too many cars, too many short trips, too much traffic, too much wasted fuel with way too much emissions.
Load More Replies...20 minutes walking at a comfortable pace covers max 1.5 to 2 miles (2.5 to 3.25 km, roughly) for a healthy person. If I walked 20 minutes from my house at a quick pace, I might reach my post office, not to mention it's relatively rural, so no sidewalks. When I lived in a city, I walked everywhere, but it's just not practicable in a large swath of the US.
Areas in the US aren't designed to be walkable. Sidewalks are sub par, speed limit is too high, there are not enough cross walks.
I would be happy to walk that, but the massive hills in my neighborhood don't want me to.
You don't tip bartenders in the UK and the overall tipping culture is very different. There's tipping at restaurants, but I think it just depends on the person and also where you are in England.
We expect the company to pay a living wage. Tips acknowledge good to exceptional service.
Which is exactly how tipping is supposed to work. If you are asked for a "tip" prior to receiving a service, that is a "service charge". If a service charge has already been applied and you are still asked for a tip, that is a "bribe".
Load More Replies...You only tip in the UK if you actually think the service was good. Unfortunately it is common for the server not to get the money directly, but for it to go into a group pot and be divided by all the staff.
As it should be. Because the wait staff are not the only people involved in the food experience. There wouldn’t be an experience without the kitchen staff
Load More Replies...I've a little experience in managing UK bars and pubs and I reckon that 85% of all bar tips are offered as 'a drink'. Like, you'll serve someone and they'll say as they're paying: '...and get one for yourself' or something similar. They usually know that you can't drink while on duty and are fine if you a) put the price of a drink in the tip jar, or, b) say you'll enjoy it after your shift. The unwritten rule which my bars always worked to was, charge for no more than a half pint of beer/cider or a single measure of spirits or a small glass (125ml/175ml) of wine. It's great to feel appreciated and get a little bonus, but it might negatively affect business if your generous customer checks his credit card bill the next day and sees a nice vintage Dom Perignon tagged onto his order for four pints of mild and a packet of pork scratchings. The other 15% we just steal.
I worked at a rowing club in the South West years ago and the rule was you'd take £1 anytime somebody said "....and one for yourself." We would end up with Pint glasses when there were major tournaments.
Load More Replies...I obviously knew about tipping in general in America but i went to New York years ago and had zero clue you were meant to tip bartenders each round - like, why? If I'm walking up to a bar, ordering and taking the drinks to the table what exactly am I tipping for? Sure if I start a tab and its table service I'll usually tip because it's that extra bit of convenience for me but for giving extra money for pouring me a drink? Just pay the staff a decent wage!
Tips are a bonus in the UK not a necessity. I tip for good service and good quality and I have mostly tipped generously and that includes bartenders
We absolutely do tip at bars, but it's oftern just 'keep the change' so might be a small amount.
Having worked bars in clubs I used to explain to Americans that whilst we do tips in Europe, tip a bar tender once and they'll be at your whim all night.
The difference between U.S. tips and tipping in other countries is fundamental. Here in Germany, the word for a tip is "Trinkgeld" - "drinking money", and that is how it is considered. An extra that goes on top as appreciation for the personell, not as an incremental part of income. That' s why tipping 10% is considered quite gerenerous in most German restaurants.
Well, the inflation is terrible so they definitely need those tips.
At university you won't have roommates in England, you'll have housemates. Typically halls have separate bedrooms and shared kitchens and bathrooms. But I think in US dorms, it's common to share your actual bedrooms.
Room sharing used to be more common in the UK, but accommodation built from the 70's onwards is usually single rooms. I did share a room in my first year (1985-6) but I was in an old Victorian house that was an annex to a more modern hall of residence (c1970's) that had single rooms.
Same, the older halls for Glasgow uni were in these massive old townhouses which must be worth millions now so wouldn't be surprised if they got sold off to fund newer built ones - the rooms were massive in the older ones so even with sharing they were preferred a lot of the time, the newer ones were tiny with single beds - but you got more privacy. I started uni in 1999 so was a while ago but I know there's been multiple student halls built since but unsure if the old halls are still in use.
Load More Replies...Yup first year in the US you will share a bedroom in most colleges/universities
Find that so odd especially for a country with so much space
Load More Replies...Shared kitchen? My dorm room was 2 guys sleeping in the same room with 2 beds, 2 desks, a closet and dresser. The room had a shared bathroom with 2 sinks, toilet and shower. That bathroom was shared with another room of 2 guys in the same format of 2 beds, 2 desks, closet and dresser. No one had a kitchen, but we were allowed to bring in one mini fridge and microwave per room, if desired. Downstairs in the dorm was a cafeteria, but you couldn't just walk in unless you were on a meal plan with an electronic card.
Same, but we just had communal bathrooms down the hall. There were three on my floor.
Load More Replies...Sharing a bedroom with a random person, or anyone who is not my bf or bestie is a nightmare.
I went to Glasgow uni, the older halls it was two people per room but the rooms were huge, easily fit two double beds, wardrobes, drawers and a sofa, coffee table etc and still have plenty of space. The newer ones were individual rooms but it was single beds and tiny rooms. This was a fair few years ago though, I started uni in 1999, last millennium
I attended university in Canada and the majority of rooms in our dorms were single occupancy... with shared toilets and laundry as well as a dining hall etc.
in the dorm I stayed, like 12-15 guys shared a bathroom and we lived two to a room.
Room sharing is (maybe was, I'm old) pretty much the norm in US university dormitories. In my university dorm it was two guys to a room outfitted with two beds, two dressers, two desks, that's it. Bathrooms were communal for every 4 dorm rooms (8 guys), 4 toilets, 4 sinks, one gang shower. My dorm mate for two years is still my best friend after 50+ years.
Trend in US universities is towards the residence halls with separate bedrooms and shared living spaces, though some dorms and a lot of student-focused apartment complexes have bedrooms with their own bathrooms, and just shared kitchen and living spaces.
The stuff of nightmares. I can’t sleep in the same room as others, I get homicidal. But I’m guessing that’s because of my autism rather than my nationality. I’m basically a hermit, except without the beard.
We were also curious about how non-Brits might see UK humor at a distance. “Apart from being an actor and a comedian, I teach TEFL English. In over 4 years of teaching English online, I have had students from over 40 different countries around the world. I have to be very diplomatic sometimes because they might not have the same British disregard for anything sacred.”
“I can see sometimes my jokes are not received or understood fully, but I can also, perhaps more often, see precisely that my very British sense of humor is what people from other countries love and enjoy about my classes - taking the mickey, as we would say; mocking absolutely everything. Perhaps sometimes we should also just change things, protest, and vote better, for example, rather than just laugh about everything, but laughing about things is not bad either. At least, that is what we would say.”
People walking down the streets with a drink in hand, which is actually illegal in the US, I think except for some part of Las Vegas.
It's illegal to drink on the streets of the UK, unfortunately there just isn't enough police to do anything about it :(
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05117/
Load More Replies...There’s tons of cities and states where you can drink on the streets in the USA.
eh... this one depends. some places, local councils might have anti-drinking areas in public spaces, so it would be "illegal" to drink there, but generally you'd just end up with a fine rather than being properly arrested etc. But in general, public drinking isn't illegal in the UK. (though drunken behaviour however, is another matter entirely)
We have DORA in the USA. It's a Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area and is a specific area in which alcoholic beverages may be sold by licensed liquor establishments for outdoor consumption. For instance, in my town (during certain times and only in certain areas) you can take a drink out of a bar and walk around.
I'm in the UK and I rarely see anyone on the street with a drink in hand. Think there is a drunk and disorderly law.
Service workers like cashiers and retail workers don't typically start conversations with people to the extent that they do in America. The more outside of London you go, the more chance there would be of that happening, but definitely not like in America.
Absolutely! As a lifelong Londoner, I got a total culture shock when I moved 'oop north' to Yorkshire and people I didn't know started chatting! The horror! I'm used to it now, though.
Load More Replies...Huh, you should have been in Tesco's last Tuesday, I was fighting the urge to shout can you please finish this conversation before one of us dies
I’d have threatened to ‘sort them out’ with a roll of frozen puff pastry.
Load More Replies...Social banter is a sign of being friendly. If I don't hear that at the register, I tend to think you're either stuck up, angry at someone or something, or generally an asshat. Especially if I say "hello" and there's no response at all. That's just plain rude no matter what country you're from.
Go to the West Country, where random strangers will just tell you their life story.
Yesterday in Swindon I got chatting with someone who told me about his rectal bleeding and an@l polyp within 10 minutes of meeting him. What is it about me that makes total strangers want to tell me this sort of stuff?
Load More Replies...I was in a London station, and there was a platform change. I asked a fellow traveller if this was the right train to take me to X. She confirmed that it was, and started chatting. After 5 minutes I stopped, and looked at her aghast. "You're from London. You're not allowed to just start chatting to random people on the train." She grinned and said she's not FROM London, she just visits the office there once a week, so it was fine to keep chatting. o)
Anyone remember back in the 90s Caroline Aherne's sketches on the Fast Show where her supermarket cashier character tried to make conversation by commenting on the products she was scanning? "Free range eggs? You know they're just ordinary eggs with s**t on 'em, right?". "Johnny Giles Johnny giles Johnny Giles..."
I prefer the London way, a simple hello is enough for me. I actually stopped getting coffee at a place in the US because the workers are so over the top annoying (dutch bros).
A lot more people drive manuals than automatic in the UK. You have to do your driving test in a manual if you want to drive manual. In the US you can do your driving test in an automatic and still drive a manual.
So you are allowed to drive a car you don't actually know how to drive. That's pretty stupid
Trust me, if you don't know how to drive a manual, you won't get very far when you try to drive one. Just because you didn't take a driving test in one doesn't mean you can magically get in one and get started and actually make it more than a couple of feet!
Load More Replies...I wish there were more manuals in America. I'm currently looking for a old Mx-5/Miata for a project car and about 70% are automatic, and compared to other cars that's a pretty low average.
When you want to drive a sports car, even a small one like an MX5, it's far more fun when it's manual! That's my opinion anyway!
Load More Replies...British drivers know that the handbrake is to be used whenever you park (and often when waiting at lights, for hill starts etc). A lot of Americans call it an emergency brake and rarely use it, which is why you get all those clips of parked cars rolling away and crashing into things. Put the damn handbrake on when you park your car !
I don't think the US exactly has an epidemic of cars popping out of park and rolling away. Engaging the emergency break at a stoplight seems asinine.
Load More Replies...I wish the U.S. would starting making manual transmissions again. I know you can still find some; it used to be every model came in either.
These days in the US having a manual transmission is a theft deterrent. The lowlifes won't go joyriding in something they can't drive.
I'm on the fence with this one. I got my license with an automatic and then got a manual and had to learn that. I would've been very unhappy if I had to do it all over again just to learn to shift when it's fairly easy to pick up on your own once you already know how to drive.
We used to have proper manual cars in the US and I still own one. I learned to shift gears in the passenger side while my mom used her shifting hand to drink coffee (I s**t you not) on the way to school. After that learning the clutch at 12-13 was a breeze, even the uphill start.
The car I had just before the one I have now was a manual. A 2000 Ford Focus with a five-speed transmission.
Load More Replies...So in the USA, you learn to drive and take your test in an auto. Then you can drive a manual without being shown how to use one?
The driving test is by the state and is to show that you know the rules of the road and can navigate on the roads safely. They aren't testing whether you can operate the car. When I was in school, we had driver's ed class to teach you how to operate the car, as well as the rules. Since we don't have many manuals anymore, it would be on an automatic. If you want to drive a manual, of course you would be taught how - my dad taught me.
Load More Replies...In the UK, you can have a manual licence which means you can drive either a manual or automatic, or an automatic licence which means you can only drive automatics. So most people just get a manual licence.
“Another very important aspect is sarcasm/irony - I was told that most probably I am on the ASD spectrum (i.e. autistic) because I can be very direct, to the point, and take things in a black-and-white kind of way. However, paradoxically, possibly thanks to my dad who used to do it all the time and tease me for hours, or thanks to over 20 + years of living in Britain, I can make a lot of ironic comments about reality all the time, which, again non-British people sometimes do not get. We (i.e. Brits) tend to joke that you 'have to literally add #sarcasmtag to every post" so that people who are not from here know you are not being serious. This is kind of a paradox: On the one hand, I am ASD and very direct / to the point, on the other, I can be very, very British.”
In England, things like bread, pasta, coleslaw don't usually contain added sugar. In the US a lot of these products will usually have added sugar in them.
starbucks in ireland dont sell breads, they sell cakes as there is enough sugar in the bread to qualify it as cake
That is probably because Ireland is an E U member and follows the E U food classification standards.
Load More Replies...American bread cannot be sold as bread in some Euro countries and had to be sold as cake as it contains so much sugar
Absolutely! Though came across it in Portugal on holiday when it was the only bread provided in my self catering villa until the shops opened and I ended up absolutely sick of it! These days I find it too sweet and don't personally like the trend for it as a burger bun. I appreciate (judging by friends) that I may very well be in a minority.
Load More Replies...My late wife who was from Scotland hated American bread, always said it was too sweet. When we got our own bread machine I had to find a British bread recipe that only used very little sugar. It was the only bread she would eat here.
My son was what they call a "fussy" eater when he was a baby, except that time when we where visiting family in the US , he was inhaling that baby food , we were so happy.... then we inspected the ingredients on that thing , the brand was Gerrber I think and sugar was right up there in the top 3 of ingredients, back in my country there is no added sugar of any kind whatsoever in baby food
Why? I don't want my bread to taste like cake! Maybe this is why I have issues eating in America, anytime I've been there I struggle to eat as my stomach hurts after a few bites - I've always assumed there's something in food prep that I'm just sensitive to but I really don't know. It's bizarre, i bloat so much my clothes feel so uncomfortable yet if I stand in scales I've lost weight as I'm barely eating due to the pain. I don't tend to eat a lot of sugar really, I can't drink sugary drinks as it hurts my stomach and makes me all jittery as I'm not used to it - my mum is diabetic so drinks my whole life were sugar free versions and I cannot stand the sweetness and side effects of regular versions - and that feeling of it coating your teeth so they feel fuzzy which coke is the worst for, I just can't stand it.
Black pudding which is dried pig's blood that tastes amazing but I've freaked out my American friends saying that though.
It's not just a patty of dried blood. It's a blood sausage, made with blood (usually pig's blood), mixed with animal far, a cereal, such as oat or barley, and some herbs. The pudding is cooked in a casing and stored. For eating, slices are usually fried and served hot.
And common right across Europe, with some regional variations. There's even an International Brotherhood of the Black Pudding that was founded in France.
Load More Replies...I once had a (quite solidly middle class) colleague tell me she hated black pudding and "all those old fashioned foods" and then proudly brag about going to a restaurant with this "new" concept of "nose to tail" menu. Yeah love, nose-to-tail cooking has existed for thousands of years. You didn't just discover it last night in Berkshire.
We have something similar in switzerland „blutwurst“. There‘s a season for it, cant remember when, as i am vegetarian and never tried it. But seems good to process the whole animal, doesn’t it?
The traditional season for it is in autumn (as that was the time when pigs got slaughtered to help people get through winter). With today's enormous meat industry, this makes little sense but people are nostalgic... and I agree with you, it would make sense to at least make use of the entire animal. So much waste, so little regard for animals...
Load More Replies...It's delicious. It's also part of food culture pretty much everywhere I've been in Europe. Spanish morcilla is delicious too.
Load More Replies...Yeah, we have a sausage with blood in it in Germany too. Absolutely disgusting 🤢
Blutwurst can be absolutely delicious - just not everybody's taste.
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The word tea in England doesn't just mean a cup of tea, it can mean dinner or a snack in some parts of England and then you have things like afternoon tea, cream tea, or tea breaks at work, which all include tea but it's like different settings.
I always say 'What's for tea?' or 'what would you like for tea?' when asking about my evening meal. This will never actually involve a mug or cup of tea at all. Strange eh?
I always said dinner, but thanks to my Black Country husband I am now bilingual and sometimes ask him what he fancies for tea. And neither of us actually drinks tea
Load More Replies...We had a new colleague who moved up from London, we had to teach her that do you fancy a brew, is the same as do you fancy a cuppa. Bless her. She was al so shocked at how cold our cold water tap was compared to London…
Load More Replies...To clarify which I mean, I use "breakfast, lunch and supper" and "a cuppa" 🤔
I recently saw blog posts on pinterest about Christmas Tea and I'm actually a bit currious about what it is. It sounds cozy (I imagine lots of tea and cake) but I don't know what it is. I could look it up... but even though my Christmas mood is building it's not great enough to actively look up Christmas'y stuff just yet. 🎅☕🤶
Las Onces is the later evening "tea" observed in Chile. I never stopped eating when I was there: breakfast, (sometimes a little snack, especially if you're meeting with people between breakfast and lunch), lunch, supper, onces.
confusing, because in some parts of the UK, dinner is tea, aka the evening meal,, but also, dinner can be lunch, depending on what part of the country you're from. xD
“That, I think, is a huge issue for Americans, and - forgive me - we Brits, often joke that for Americans we have to point out every sarcastic point in everything we say (I know, this is condescending and rude, which, well we often like to be towards our American friends across the pond ;-). There are so many unsaid things that Brits do or insinuate by certain words or expressions, that one would have to compile a whole new dictionary about it. One example is that if you are polite to someone, in an email, you would just say "best wishes" e.g. at the end, but once they annoy you or your email relationship has broken down for some reason, you would simply end it with 'Regards', The amount of anger and aggression in that one word is, indeed, untranslatable to so many non-Brits.”
In restaurants, you usually have to clarify that you want tap water instead of still or sparkling, and then the still or sparkling water can come at an extra cost. You also might not be able to get free unlimited refills like at some restaurants in the US.
That's questionable. Whilst our tap water is generally safe for drinking, if you're in a hard water area, it tastes $hit!
Load More Replies...Most restaurants iI have been to lately, in the UK, provide tapwater as a matter of course.
Scottish water - or council juice as we used to call it - best you can get. The further south you go the worse it seems to get. I remember staying at a friends house in England and was absolutely shook when I went to full up their kettle and it was covered in all this white c**p - which turned out to be limescale from hard water, never had anything like that happen to any of my kettles and put me right off drinking water elsewhere. Not to mention I shrivel like a prune after showering in hard water. Scottish water is the fountain of youth in my case
We get unlimited refill on tap water, but I think we have to pay for like sparkling water.
My brother worked in environmental health, he recommends having bottled water, as you don't know how hygenic the kitchens are.
Once upon a time, there was a federally-supported website called the RTK Network - Right To Know Network. It posted all of the required Right-To-Know reports on public drinking water in the US. Then George W. Bush killed it. (Republicans hate Americans, unless they are rich) And every Republican since has attacked the Clean Water Act and reduced its ability to protect the public. So, while we don't have the website any more, we still have a mandate to report annually on the quality of drinking water. The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit organization, tracks ongoing reports of drinking water assessment and violations, and posts them at a website at https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/ They are only up to 2021. You can search by your Zip code to see the state of your drinking water. My water source has 9 known contaminants above the EPA allowable limit. I *NEVER* drink tap water any more.
Cheese in England is usually a lot more aged and earthy than it is in America.
Yes, we have some less than ideal cheeses, spray cheese and American, but the US has a wide variety of delicious, aged, earthy cheeses as well.
Load More Replies...(sigh) Another ning-nong who thinks Kraft singles are the only kind of cheese we have.
More nonsense. This is just not true. Vermont cheddar, for instance, is just as wonderful as a proper English cheddar. Sure there are c**p processed cheeses but they can be found in the US and Europe... everywhere really.
We have a local dairy here in Sweetwater, TN that makes fine aged cheeses. Their sharp white cheddar is better than any I've tasted across the pond.
Load More Replies...I live in Wisconsin, we're literally the dairy state. There's a cheese store in a small town in Wisconsin (Dairy State Cheese in Rudolph), that has incredible cheese curds, tons of variety, you can literally see the cheese being made, and in the parking lot you can see liscence plates from all over the U.S. We have good cheese, it's not all spray cans and kraft singles.
Hi, I'm another Wisconsin Panda. I actually recently read an article that Wisconsin is the only place in the country you can get Parmigianino Regiano cheese that is closest to it's mother in Italy. For whatever complaints I have about this state the quality of dairy was missed when I lived out of state. It was so much easier being lactose intolerant where it didn't taste as good! Hahaha
Load More Replies...i keep seeing this comment and looked it up...<5% of americans eat spray cheese...and, i 've only ever seen someone use it once in my lifetime, and that was in the 70s...it's weird and awful, but not that many people eat it
It's great when you're high and couch locked but otherwise real cheese is used most. Bellisivito Bourbon cheese for the win!
Load More Replies...I can remember being able to get 2 year old Canadian cheddar in the UK, very, very good mature cheese.
Load More Replies..."Squirty cheese" is available here too... I prefer a mature cheddar or a red Leicester in a block 🙂
Most police in England won't routinely carry firearms. The majority of the police in America will carry firearms everywhere. Concealed or open carry of any weapon is actually prohibited in England. This was a huge cultural shock for me because in California where I'm from some people will hold a gun in their holster just casually.
It was the US in 2022. Now it's South American drug cartel countries: Brazil being highest and El Salvador coming second for gun violence, but with more gun violence deaths per 100,000 people
Load More Replies...Used to be a big fan of watching The Bill back in the day and I always remember they had to sign guns out of the armoury and sign them back in again afterwards, the officers had to be trained in using a firearm as well.
But I have been told that a cop with a baton in the UK will fck you up "royally".
I’m in Texas, we have open carry. I’ve only ever seen ONE person open carry, ever. This is not some rampant thing going on.
Yeah...most people who are carrying will hide their firearm under clothing. A close friend of mine was basically always carrying but had the gun covered, so you'd never know. He also had a knife strapped to his calf but wore long pants, of course.
Load More Replies...I have lived in California for 30 years and I have never seen a civilian visibly carry a gun in public.
One of Robin Williams best lines (about British police); Stop! Or I'll be forced to shout stop again...
I saw an article on Reddit a few days ago that was a few years old but it showed that there had been at least one reported incident of a toddler shooting someone every week in the US for the previous two years. Any country that thinks that is ok needs anti give themselves a shake. And that's the reported ones, how often does a toddler shoot a gun but luckily no one is hurt? Or minority injured and don't report it for fear of repercussions? It's insanity. I'm sure someone will pop up and give it the whole you can't blame the whole country for irresponsible gun owners blah blah but if you're not screening people, ensuring gun safety is taught and removing their right to have a weapon if something like this happens then it's a bigger problem than idiots having guns. Honestly, the gun c**p is enough to make me not even want to go visit my brother over there
A friend of my Brother's from Texas genuinely could not understand that he was not allowed to bring his sidearm into the UK, oh, or that 99.9% of people here don't own, carry or want guns. He was a police officer who'd never been more than 200 miles from where he was born. Scary huh.
To round us off, we wanted to hear Maya’s take on what is quintessentially British in her opinion. Having a cup of tea. This is the way we solve 95 % of our problems. Having a cuppa, or a pint. Yes, we do have an issue with alcoholism (that no one wants to talk about... ) but still, this is how we deal with things: come and have a cup of tea (or get drunk about it, see the avoiding strategy once again;). Tea to talk about problems, tea to have a break, tea to discuss ideas over, tea to cry with, tea to accompany you with everything you do. I really need it and I think my fellow Brits do too. It is always going to be a part of our life.” You can find more of her work on Instagram here and Twitter here.
People drinking in the airport at like, any time of the day. I went to Thailand recently, and the Wetherspoons pub at the airport was completely packed at like 5am with people drinking before going on holiday.
This is every airport in the USA. My favorite being the Mimosa bright and early.
...it's not just in the airports. If there's a wetherspoons, you can expect people in there as soon as they open ready for their pints... :/ (if you're in the UK don't go to wetherspoons though, the owner is a c**t >.>)
Eating with a knife and fork is usually how people eat in England. You don't just eat with a fork like you usually would in the US. It's also very common to eat pizza with a knife and fork when you're at a restaurant in England, but you would probably never see that in America.
The weird thing in USA is some of them use a knife and fork, they would cut the food with the right hand, put the knife down, and swap the fork to the right hand to pick up the food and put in the mouth. Then swap the fork back to the left hand, pick up the knife on the right hand and cut, then repeat the same actions for the whole meal. It's like he/she doesn't have the ability to use the fork on the left hand to pick up food to eat 🙄
Seriously, why do you care about how someone else eats their food? The US bashing is getting a bit tiresome here.
Load More Replies...If I had to eat a croissant with a knife and fork I would rage
NO ONE in their right mind would eat a croissant with a knife and fork, no matter where you're from, Europe or the US. Most Americans eat pizza by hand, but if you're served a pizza in an elegant restaurant, most people wouldn't eat anything except dinner rolls and croissants by hand, everything else would be fork and knife (even pizza).
No "elegant" restaurant should be serving pizza; pizza is street food.
Load More Replies...These seem to be really silly observations. Also, I eat my pizza with a fork and knife.
I do sometimes, too. Depends on how messy it is.
Load More Replies...This one is so false. Pizza is eaten with the hands. So is a bag of chips from the chippy. Knives and forks are for meals where eating with your hands is impractical
In the Italian place near me everybody uses a knife and fork to eat their pizza, it's only the kids that don't, but if I'm getting it delivered I'll eat it without cutlery
Load More Replies...Stab it, pick it up and bite away (not going to lie, I've done this when I didn't have two hands free to use a knife and fork at the same time, and trying to use a knife one handed is completely impossible)
Load More Replies...I love the implied criticism here, when some weirdo is eating a croissant with a knife and fork in the picture.
In England instead of garage sales you can find car boot sales. It's the same concept but on a field selling things from your car boot or trunk. I've seen both in both countries but I think car boot sales are more in England and garage sales are more in the US.
If you're buying something out of a trunk (boot), normally it's a shady deal that you're doing.
Dunno...l've eaten tacos from the trunk of a car and they were legit 😂
Load More Replies...In the 70+ years of living in the US, I've never seen anyone selling things out of their trunk. Not sure why, but never have.
If you did it's probably counterfeit watches or something like that 😆
Load More Replies...If you are selling out of a car or field it more sounds like a what we call in America a flea market to me.
One must possess a yard or garage in order to stage a yard-sale or garage-sale. Car boots (automobile trunks) are much more portable and affordable. Mia culpa: I have tried to stage flat sales in San Francisco and lower Manhattan, New York. 'Twere difficult, yes. 8-(
If you're all meeting in once place for a car boot sale I think of that as being like an outdoor swap meet, where the sellers all have individual stalls what are large enough for the sellers vehicle and to set up a display of the stuff for sale.
I wish garage or yard sales were more of a thing in the UK. I can’t fit all the stuff I need to sell in my car and can’t be bothered lugging into a field when it may well rain. And having to pay a fee for the privilege.
You can do a garage sale in the UK. Don't need council permission. Just advertise it on Next Door or wherever you want and warn your neighbours out of courtesy. Had one local to me a few years back.
Load More Replies...Our vehicles are often crammed full, leaving space for driver and passenger. When you turn up as a seller you're given a pitch and people will unload their wares into decorating/camping tables, clothes racks, boxes or blankets. Some people travel round and make a living from it but a lot of others "do a car boot" after a bug clear out in preperation of a move, or bug redecoration/renovation
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Offering a cup of tea to guests in your home is a really really common gesture in the UK. It's usually black tea and they'll ask if you take it with sugar and/or milk. In the US I feel like it's more soft drinks or water.
I have NEVER in my 44 years of being English been offered black tea. Milk is always assumed (you would have to specify if you don't want milk). The amount of sugar is asked. It's different in a cafe but not to guests.
I think the OP means black tea as opposed to green tea or those fruity infusions that pose as tea.
Load More Replies...Sweet iced tea is known as the house wine of the South and is usually ordered more then soft drinks.
Black? No dear, if you want black tea, you will have to ask, otherwise you are getting milk.
In England, houses and flats or apartments tend to be smaller than houses in the US.
It depends on what region you're in. People use whatever material is available. Often, this creates traditions.
Load More Replies...My Oxfordshire house was built of 'rocks' in about 1660. It still works as well as the day it was constructed and it's really not considered to be particularly special in my village. The internal temperature is about 18c year round with fairly minimal heating in winter and absolutely zero mechanical cooling in summer. THAT is how we deal with climate change. Build best. Build once.
I noticed that in England most houses were the same color. It seemed rather dreary to me.
They're not. You do get a lot of red brick, but a lot are made from the local stones, which vary a lot from area to area.
Load More Replies...This may be partly because in the UK, the UK is smaller than the US is in the US
University degrees typically take longer in the US than they do in the UK. To complete my Bachelor's took three years to complete in England and it usually takes four years to complete a bachelor's in the US.
So overall cost for education in the UK is lower than it is in the US. And from what I understand in England, you don't have to start paying your student loan until you reach a certain income threshold.
But in the US, I think you start paying right after you graduate, but there's some loans that do grace periods.
5 years it takes in Venezuela when universities are not on strike, in which case it could take you up to 12 years... yes, you heard right
I've been so sorry for Venezuelans in the last several years. I live with someone still in contact with their former ESL/ELL students. One student went back right before everything sorta collapsed. He's stayed in contact when able
Load More Replies...In the UK you have an extra year of schooling in secondary school so therefore you technically graduate from university the same year
We (UK) leave secondary school at 16, go to college for 2 years then university for 3 years (if you choose to), so if you did all three without a gap you would graduate your degree at 21. Edit - by 'we' I should have specified I meant the part of the UK I live in, thanks for the correction Panda Boom.
Load More Replies...The reason is that in the UK and Europe, you only take classes in or related to your major, which would take three years anywhere. But in the US and Canada, you're required to take some classes outside your major (a liberal arts education). So for example, with my English Lit bachelors, I also took Mayan archaeology, philosophy, music composition... Also, pre-Brexit, tuition in England was 9000 pounds, and Scotland was free. Post-Brexit, tuition is 30k to 50k, depending on your major. I've seen presentations from top UK universities, where they've acted like this is a minor change...not sure what planet those folks are on.
college in America is now a money making scam. you take many classes that dont apply at all to your course of study
The general education classes are what make it college and university rather than trade school. We can pick and choose general education classes closer to our majors if we want. They help with cultural literacy too.
Load More Replies...That's because in the US, the time spent drinking, drunk, passed out and hung over is factored into the school term. And you may be giving us too much credit: I started my baccalaureate in 1985 and haven't finished yet
In Scotland university is free. Doesn't mean you won't have debt at the end if you need loans for daily costs, accommodation, books etc but you won't have tuition fees on top of that so a huge difference. The school system in Scotland is totally different from England and wales and we have different qualifications in high school.
The education system in the US has gotten so bad in the past twenty years, we have people supporting a convicted treasonous rapist for president
You also can't advertise any unhealthy sugary foods to children in England. Recently there was actually a poster on the tube station that had cake on it that had to be changed because it was advertising unhealthy food. In the US restrictions are a lot stricter than they used to be, but not to this extent.
The ban of the cake poster was incredibly stupid. It was a poster advertising a West End show called Tony n' Tina's Wedding. So, it had a wedding cake in the poster. But it had to be changed because the wedding cake was supposedly promoting unhealthy food.
Agreed. It was also the height of unoriginality though - I'd have been annoyed with the marketing department for not being more creative and coming up with a wedding cake which isn't even in the show.
Load More Replies...It's really difficult to find soft drinks containing real sugar in the UK now since they introduced the sugar tax, and really annoying. I don't often drink them, but on a recent trip to the UK I really fancied some (for my hangover) and was shocked to find that nearly all of them used artificial sweeteners, which I hate, instead. IIRC it was only Coke that was available in its full-fat version in one large shop.
M&S do some nice sweetener and suger free fruit flavoured sparkling drinks. I know what you mean, I once complained in Sainsbury's to the manager and made him look at the aisle - row after row of 'sugar free' (so with sweeteners) of lemonade, cola etc. He had tried to tell me there were options... not really. As was employed by an organisation working with cancer researchers I already knew about links with sweeteners and cancers. They were referred to as 'predisposers' back then. Meaning if you have a predisposition to cancer, these will hasten it.
Load More Replies...When are we going to stop expecting everyone else to take responsibility for our stupid, sticky, ugly children when their actual parents have no interest in doing so? They're children. You tell them no, explain why, and accept the fact that YOU, as a parent, might have to endure some unpleasant behavior from YOUR child, that is ultimately worthwhile to prevent them from growing up to be one of those people that desperately wants to believe that you can be "healthy at any size"
Well.....see, in this case I think we age getting into the area of ridiculously restricting what people can or cannot think. And when you think of it how can a country restrict something like a cake in a poster when the same country has a tradition of afternoon tea gatherings with a massive amount of sweet pastries????
24 hour time or military time is used often in England for schedules, digital clocks, etc. Both 12 and 24 hour clocks are used in England. But from what I've seen, America typically uses the 12 hour clock.
"military time"??? 24 hour time is used widely in Europe, the UK being the only country using am/pm. Nobody calls it military time. If you schedule a meeting in the afternoon, it is e.g. 15:30/15.30 ....
It's used pretty much by the entire world. Don't know why the US hasn't caught up and only uses it in the military and probably hospitals.
Load More Replies...I can't go on with this list. Being Scottish it's incredibly frustrating that the other 3 countries that make up the UK are being ignored. These things apply to the UK as a whole, which is not just England.
Her experience was in England though... Maybe she didn't make it up to Scotland. She probably doesn't know enough to understand which things would be the same, and which things vary. Though often on BP I'm reading 'it's not the same in Scotland'!!
Load More Replies...English dates make more sense than US. ISO 8601 dates and better than either.
Americans use the term "military time" because it's usually only our military and law enforcement that uses 24-hour time. Oddly enough, 24-hour time is starting to be seen more often in the US. The shift from AM/PM to 24-hour is most prominent with airports, trains, buses, and ships. TV News broadcasts are starting to use it more often as well.
Hospitals and a lot of Dr's offices use military time as well
Load More Replies...I'd heard that whereas we use the terms "quarter past", "half past", "quarter to" in time telling, it isn't really an American thing, just x:15, x:30, x:45
We'd use "quarter after" and "quarter til" though. Not really sure what happened to half past.
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Iced Tea is not a thing in England. In the US iced tea and sweet tea are very popular. I think you can get iced teas from Starbucks in England but it's not very common.
You can definitely buy iced tea from garages and corner shops in bottles (UK) but not from cafes.
Plenty of cafe's do iced teas where I am in the UK.
Load More Replies...I'm sure you will be horrified. I drink 1.5 L of cold tea every day at work as my beverage. I drink a gallon every 2-3 days, especially in summer
Iced tea with lemon and light sugar is an excellent refreshing drink.
I've said it before that sweet iced tea is pretty much the house wine of the South.
Has become very difficult to buy loose tea in many supermarkets lately. Damnable tea bags have become ubiquitous. I've resorted to ordering online, but then I live in a food desert.
It is hotter countries that tea originated from... Plus scientists concluded that no matter how hot or cold your drink, your body will respond to keep your core temperature steady at around 37 degrees Celsius. A hot drink means your body will sweat faster, to get rid of the excess heat; however after a cold drink, your body will sweat more slowly.
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People use electric kettles very regularly in England. When I first moved to England a lot of my American friends didn't know what an electric kettle was. So over the years I think I've seen it become more of a thing in America.
The voltage is so much higher in England than America so the kettle boils much faster.
This is a myth. There's very little difference in how long it takes a kettle to boil.
Load More Replies...This one is getting really old. I'm American, I've always had an electrical kettle, my mom always had an electric kettle, and I know many people who have electrical kettles. It is not as uncommon as people keep trying to make it sound.
Yet in England you're pretty much guaranteed to have an electric kettle in every kitchen. That's the point being made.
Load More Replies...Just tested my American kettle: just under 3 minutes for it to bring 1 liter to a bubbling boil. My kettle is cheap and I'm sure others could do it faster. Also I was watching the kettle the whole time, which ofc impedes its ability to boil.
Would depend on the wattage of the kettle. My UK kettle is 3000W - 1 litre of water took 1 minute 33 seconds. I looked away a couple of times whereupon I'm sure it started heating the water much faster! So probably an invalid comparison! 😄
Load More Replies...True. US cooking shows have made these devices more popular. Most Americans are still using the microwave for heating small amounts of water up to 1 pint (2 cups).
"Put the kettle on" is often the prelude to a chat of some sort... whether good or not-so-much (a comforting gesture of sorts).
I not only have one, but I have a second so I can descale with vinegar on a regular basis. My husband has one for his office. We both drink a lot of tea.
Now this is just silly. Most people I know in the US, including me, have an electric kettle.
Most people in England have their washing machines in their kitchen, which is very uncommon in the US. Also, most people will use drying racks to dry their clothes in England, whereas in America they use massive industrial dryers.
My washer and dryer is in my laundry room. I have never seen a massive industrial dryer in a private home.
They're making the point that the dryers common in US homes are generally much larger than in the UK, where in fact many people wouldn't have one at all, or would have a combined washer/dryer with much lower drying capacity.
Load More Replies...Hahahaha "massive industrial dryers." Who has these? My washer and dryer are in my laundry room. But we lived in three different houses while in Japan for a decade--and in every house our washer and dryer hook-ups were in the kitchen.
Washing machine is in the kitchen. In winter we use the radiators in summer we put them on the washing line outside
It's handy in the kitchen - near the back door and close to the washing line in the garden. Otherwise you have to lug a load of wet washing through the house from the bathroom and that's heavy. I also prefer line dried over tumbled (also better for the environment). I've seen 'ew, gross' from some but I have no idea what people think happens to the dirty laundry - it goes from the laundry basket in the bathroom and straight into the washing machine. It doesn't get slung around your kitchen work surfaces first (which are washable anyway...).
Load More Replies...Yes, we do not have our washer and dryer in our kitchen. No, we do not have massive industrial dryers... we just have dryers the same size as our washers.
same in SA. washing machine in the kitchen because that's where there are water pipes.
My laundry room area is on the backside of the bathroom. Where the pipes are. They back into each other.
Load More Replies...I live in America, and my washer is in the kitchen. It was that way at my old house, too.
...massive industrial dryers? in the UK, we have dryers, and they're about the same size as the washing machines. Some houses may have "utility rooms" that we may have washers/dryers in , too. But not all.
The standard greeting in England is "you're alright?" This confused me so much as an American when I first visited because I thought they were asking me if I was like physically or mentally okay. Typically you just reply with "alright" back. It's sort of like "how are you?" in America being a rhetorical greeting.
It is very regional. Though not 'you're alright but 'you all right?' And usually contracted. Not used in my part of the UK.
Load More Replies...It's never "You're alright?" "Alright?" is the correct form, and it's rhetorical; do not presume that we actually want to know. Answer with "yup", some sort of sarcastic response, or a noncommittal noise of acknowledgement.
Not everyone. I'm 40 year old from the UK and when I was younger everyone said hello. When anyone says alright to me as a greeting I answer as if it's a question, I can't help it. I still use hello.
How would this confuse you, since it is the same question? Just formulated differently? The "how, are you"- Ï'm fine, thank you", is common too... Same for the Netherlands, where they may say : "Hoe gaat het" ( how are you doing ?) or Alles goed"" ( Everything okay) kind of greetings.... Overall they are kind of the same to me....
It can confuse because the same phrase can have different usages in different places. So "are you alright?" in UK is typically used in 2 ways: 1. As an informal greeting 2. To check someone's wellness if there's a visible problem (e.g., it's commonly said after someone falls over). If in US, 1 is much less common or not used, an American speaking to a Brit will find it odd. It may sound a bit like "did you hurt yourself" is being used as a greeting.
Load More Replies...The posh version is "How do you do?" to which the correct answer is "How do you do?" We're far too insular to tell anyone (even ourselves) how we're actually feeling. If it's really bad, the normal answer to "Alright?" is "Don't ask".
Or "Mustn't grumble", which usually means something apocalyptically bad is going on.
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Schools in England don't do anything similar to the Pledge of Allegiance like they would do in schools in America. In general, patriotism isn't as intense as it is in America. So you won't see loads of England flags in front of people's houses like you would see with American flags in America. It's really common for Americans to identify as their heritage instead of their nationality and in England I found it's more common for people to identify with the country they were born in regardless of their heritage.
Unless there an international football match on, we don't really do flags so much in England (more common in the other countries like Scotland) and can suggest you're racist
It’s really not at all common in Scotland, which is surprising as our flag is so beautiful.
Load More Replies...If you do see an England flag (as opposed to the Union Jack) it's often a fair warning that the flag-flier is some sort of racist bigoted nutter, best kept at arm's length or avoided altogether is possible.
Patriotism in the US is a sham. If the US was really patriotic you'd have universal free healthcare.
Most often displays of "patriotism" in the US are just circle jerks.
Load More Replies...I love Scotland and being Scottish but I think its kinda odd to have pride in something like that as you've literally had nothing to do with where you happen to be born. Sure, take pride in being a good citizen, helping improve your community and by extension your country so everyone has a better quality of life - pride in things you actively do to make it a good place but pride for being born to parents in a particular country just seems odd to me.
Perhaps some of the nationalist enthusiasm in the UK is directed at a national symbol other than the flag - namely, the royal family. Especially when Elizabeth II was around.
I'm British. It has already been proven that younger generations aren't bothered about them (below 60), so interest in the monarchy will die out. It is inevitable. There is less warmth for Charles as it is. I don't the enthusiasm for them is quite what people outside of the UK think it is.
Load More Replies...The British are generally uncomfortable with patriotism as it became linked with hooligans and the far right, we also don't have the same worship of the armed forces
The English - the other three nations are intensely proud of our flags and heritage
Load More Replies...The idea that flying your national flag is racist just blows me away. If you extrapolate this further then wearing your cultures clothes would be racist. Eating foods from your culture is racist. After all you are celebrating your heritage, basically displaying YOUR NATIONALITY by doing these things.
I can't understand why Europeans think it's so peculiar. There are 300 million Americans living in a country twice the size of the EU. Why would we tell each other we're Americans? That's not very interesting. Telling people your ancestry actually is interesting in a land where only 1% of the population doesn't have ancestry from other lands within the past three centuries.
Reminds me of when some American guy was visiting Scotland and met him in a pub and he was going on about how he was connecting with his roots as his ancestors many generations ago came from Scotland - he told me point blank he was more Scottish than I am because he was "a direct descendant of William Wallace" yet I'm just a Scottish person, born in Scotland to Scottish parents, grandparents, great grandparents etc as far back as it was possible to trace - it was hilarious, and that's not even mentioning the fact Wallace died with no recorded descendants so kinda hard to be directly descended from someone with no kids. So yeah, I have no issue with Americans stating their heritage since most are a few generations removed from a culture elsewhere, but it's the ones who stake a claim to something they have no real knowledge or experience of that are why folk rolls their eyes when an American says they're whatever other nationality
Load More Replies...It's almost as if we (US) must be reminded what country we're in. Been called unpatriotic since we do not have one in our yard.
According to Wiki: "Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, political, or historical aspects." Unfortunately, way too many Americans seem to confuse nationalism with patriotism. :(
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Talking about money in the UK is seen as kind of a taboo, whereas in the US I feel like it's more common.
But somehow we don’t get bent out of shape talking about salary, whereas in the US , heaven forbid you discuss how much you earn.
You don't discuss your salary in Germany either. Maybe with your closest friend/s, but usually don't even with them.
Load More Replies...This hasn't been my experience at all. I've been in the UK for years now and mildnanxietybstillnkicks in when people discuss salary, rent or housing cost. It's better (like so many things) to protect your rights to discuss it, but in New England at least, religion and money are saved for close relationships
Depends on the nature of the conversation. In the US most folks won't discuss their salary because it encourages judgement where people "size you up" ....."So, that's how they afford the big car and boat and other luxuries", etc. Many employers also have gag orders on their employees (although case law has demonstrated this to be illegal) regarding them discussing their salary. This gag order was used for many years to help employers conceal that there could be a HUGE disparity between persons doing the same exact job. As for other conversations about money....investing, discussing a large purchase, and such...this is very common in the US.
My experience has been the other way around, the Americans in my life feel very uncomfortable talking or asking about money.
What does "talking about money" mean? In New York, people love to talk about scoring a great buy for cheap; In Hades-on-the-Potomac, every anti-capitalist, statist, wanna-be totalitarian loves loves loves telling you how expensive their clothes are; it really is EXTREMELY tasteless, even downright disgusting, but Washington DC is NOT America.
honestly, I feel like I've heard people talking about money more, recently, though. But it's usually about how awful our money is going to look with old king big lugs xD but yea, generally, talking about salary is considered really weird, kind of like bragging I guess
not talking about money was started by the aristocracy. Should have got rid of their backwards customs once you got rid of them, oh wait you haven't.
Saying you want tea in England means English breakfast tea, they aren't usually going to ask you if you want peppermint or hibiscus or green tea like they do in the US.
It's usually black tea, and they'll ask how you take it which means whether you take it with like milk or sugar. I feel like in the US they ask if you want it with like cream honey or lemon rather than milk and sugar.
Whenever I get tea in a restaurant, it is in a small pot and they provide a small jug of milk for it. If you want one of those other “teas” then ask for it if it is on the menu.
Most places in the UK seem to have a good assortment of teas, including herbal and fruit varieties.
Load More Replies...I'm American--whenever I've ordered hot tea in a restaurant (which is rarely), they just plop down a mug of hot water, and a dish with an assortment of tea bags. They also have a dish with an assortment of sugar types, and those little plastic containers of cream. I've never had them serve it with lemon or honey unless specifically asked.
We had colleague at work from Brazil in Ireland. Question - do you wanna cup of tea means black tea. If other - green, fruit, herbal, it has to be specified. Which rarely happened. Anyway, after few weeks of hearing is shouting tea, dash of milk, no sugar/one spoon of sugar, he decided to make himself a cup of tea. He started to drink it, but was not impressed. We asked some questions, then had a look in the mug and were confused, so more questions. Eventually, it was revealed, he made green tea, with milk. Absolutely travesty.
Black tea of whatever kind is assumed unless you specify (Redbush, Mint, Earl/Lady Grey, green or whatever other tea is available).
Not the same kind of tea in the US, either. Tea in the UK tends to be a blend for use with milk. Don't go tipping milk into Earl Grey, it's disgusting.
Is it true that Americans don't call tea with milk, or coffee with milk as white tea/coffee? Once heard cafe employee asking if customer wants black or white coffee, and the customer got so confused how there's white coffee... Then he stated he is coming from America and never heard of that term.
If you order lemonade at a restaurant in England you'll usually get a carbonated lemon flavored drink. In the US you would get what brits call "cloudy lemonade" which is a sugary lemon drink that isn't carbonated.
Running a dehumidifier in a small room is cheaper than a drier and not much slower.
Upvoting for the hilarity of this being in the wrong post. 😂❤️
Load More Replies...Just ask for lemonade. If you want a soda, ask for soda.
Load More Replies...Lemonade is like 7Up or Sprite in the UK... "Cloudy lemonade" can be carbonated or "still".
Oh nooooo.... I must have confused a few American redditors when referring to lemonade (which for me is definitely carbonated!!!)
Cloudy lemonade can be fizzy, too, flat lemonade is lemon squash, which is diluted cordial.
Doing rounds of drinks when you're with a group of people. The expectation is that usually everyone in the group will buy a round drinks for the whole table, but I think in the US you either buy your own drinks or work it out on Venmo after.
It really depends on the situation. Drinking with my close friends, we will generally take turns buying rounds for the group. Drinking with some casual work acquaintances, then everyone is usually on their own.
Especially if there are a lot of people, but you don't want that many drinks!
I stop at 2 drinks. 3 would put me under the table! So I guess the first round is on me so I can quit after the second round.
Load More Replies...I never buy rounds with groups of friends. We've always just got out own drinks at our own pace
Buying rounds used to be an American tradition, but it's faded as people's drinking habits have changed and everyone drinks their own thing.
in my country (sa) we have instant bank transfers between banks so there's no need for venmo. just saying, so-called shithole here.
I think that can lead to excess drinking. I'm sure y'all will tell me if I'm wrong, but I understand that can be a problem in England if not all of the UK.
Somebody always pays the whole bill, and then gets a few free rides the next times we're out (US).
Spring break in the UK isn't the same as spring break in America and I think it's usually called Easter break in the UK, not spring break.
It's not really like a "get a group of people to go to Florida" kind of thing. People usually just go back home and go see friends or family or potentially go on holiday, but I think it's not as common because places you would go on holiday in Europe aren't really warm yet.
So you would just save it for summer whereas in the US spring break is like a huge deal.
Spring break in the US is out of control. Hordes of young people descend on popular vacation spot like Cancun bringing the attendant problems with them. Alcohol, drugs, assaults, rapes etc. They trash everything and leave the locals to clean up the mess. Some towns have implemented things like strict curfews to try and control the chaos.
Ah, the UK has that relationship with Ibiza and Magaluf. It's a cheap holiday that young people (and some adults without manners) go on with their friends as soon as they hit the drinking age. We've now got a bit of a reputation in Europe thanks to those few idiots, but I think they're now moving to block this behaviour so that they can attract tourists who will respect the place and are otherwise put off by the idea of bumping into trouble makers.
Load More Replies..."Spring break" is just for college students and anyone in denial about not being in college anymore. Younger than college, there's an Easter holiday (week off, generally), but adults don't have that time off. Perhaps the Friday before, the Monday after, etc, but that's a religious observation or holdover.
Exuberant "spring breaks" require money. I expended my post-military junior-college break-time cheaply with home-made treats. Lonely but affordable, hey?
My wife's brother lived & worked in Japan for a number of years. They had a mandatory holiday where you were expected to return home to be with family. It did not matter where home was, you were expected to pay up & go.
I only had one spring break in university, and I spent it on campus, eating Pop Tarts and drinking black coffee because I was broke and the cafeteria was closed
In the northern part of the Midwest, Florida is a another big area where college kids go for spring break. I don't know about out west where they go. I assume somewhere in California.
Spring break is "Spring half-term" in England... Half-term breaks are roughly every 6 to 8 weeks in a school calendar.
In the US a lot of the cars are huge compared to a lot of the cars in England. You don't see a lot of the huge American pickup trucks also a lot more people own a car in the US compared to England, with 91.7% of households in the US owning at least one car and 45% of households in England owning only one car.
Those oversized vehicles don’t really fit on uk roads. Plus there is no need to have something that size.
There's no _need_ to have them in the US either, at least for 99% of them.
Load More Replies...Unfortunately, the large American 'pick-up trucks; are becoming more 'popular' in Australia. Especially among drivers who seem to feel a need to compensate for something or other.
I seen ton of women driving big trucks and SUVs. What are they compensating for?
Load More Replies...Of course we own more cars. Our infrastructure isn't set up for public transportation the way it is in the UK--unfortunately.
It used to be. Until the end of WW2, Los Angeles had a public transport system that was the envy of many cities in the world. After WW2, a consortium of auto manufacturers, oil companies, and similar, bought up the bus and streetcar companies, and shut them down.
Load More Replies...I thought that more people in England owned cars. Let me check google… “ over 77% of households in Great Britain own at least one car”
They said 45% had ONLY one car, not "at least", so different statistics.
Load More Replies...Car park spaces have not grown with the relative to the size of cars or people...
Finally a factually correct one! Our vehicles are generally getting too big.
Most Europeans, and the UK belongs to the European continent, sorry Brexiteers, buy the car that fits their needs, available space and is affordable to run. People with oversized trucks in cities are not indicating that they are cool, but insecure and need attention. Even farmers and other people who indeed use a truck as intended, won't use it to go to the city.
Not a Brexiteer (I voted remain) but only the truly, truly thickest doesn't know the difference between the EU and Europe.
Load More Replies...Petrol in the UK is much more expensive because it’s taxed heavily.
SUVs and Cross-overs are the largest/fastest growing segment of new vehicles in the UK... Full size pickups are not common here and farmers are more likely to use a 4x4 Land Rover with a trailer.
A Venti sized Starbucks is 20 ounce and in the US it's 24 ounce, and then the other two Starbucks sizes - Grande and Tall - are both two ounces smaller than the US. The same goes for a lot of cafes and restaurants with drinks, they tend to be a little bit bigger than in England.
They make Starbucks very different in the USA compared to the UK. When we were in Florida we got frappuccinos and they were vile. Turns out by default this particular Starbucks put 4 pumps of some sickly syrup in as standard. The UK does not do that.
Born and raised in the US and I still ask them to reduce the syrup when I get coffee drinks at Starbucks or something similar. It is way too sweet! I don't put any sugar at all in a regular cup of coffee though, so maybe I'm weird.
Load More Replies...It's all a but weird when it comes to UK measurements in comparison to the US The British Imperial fluid ounce is equal to 28.413 milliliters, while the US Customary fluid ounce is 29.573 ml. The British Imperial pint is 568.261 ml (20 fluid ounces), while the US Customary pint is 473.176 ml (16 fl oz). Also when cooking and using cup measurements If using (or adjusting for) the UK measuring cup, there are 284 grams of liquid in a cup. If using a metric cup, there are 250 grams in one metric cup. I didn't realise there was a difference to an embarrassingly long time and had many kitchen disasters as a result
Boots the Chemist in the UK used to have a housewares section. I went in there once to ask for a set of cup measures. The lady told me - you just use any cups. Um, no.
Load More Replies...No idea, all I know is the biggest drinks in the UK are still massive and in Starbucks they will be disgusting. Forced to go there last week and as I know the coffee is undrinkable I had a hot chocolate. Which was a watery mess. Next time I will get a bottled drink and avoid anything they physically make on the premises.
Load More Replies...Venti is 20 ounces in the US Starbucks. Literally means 20. I worked in a store where we sold Starbucks coffee (ew), so I have some experience. Starbucks sizes, explained! Originally, they sold "short" and "tall". Then they added a size up, "grande". Venti was eventually added and short was (for the most part) phased out. Hence the garbage names for the sizes: tall, grande, venti.
The iced drinks are slightly larger but you're right on hot drinks. Venti = 20 oz
Load More Replies...The only time I remember having Starbucks was at Glasgow airport 5 years ago. Wouldn't bother again!
Measuring in ounces means nothing to me - how many millilitres is that? Otherwise I dunno the difference
Cup measurements in Australia are different to the US, I believe 5mls different. Have to adjust when using American recipes.
Having cake and a cup of tea or coffee is a lot more common in the UK than it is in the US. If you're out with friends or family in England, you can usually find a cafe that sells cakes, coffee and tea, but I can never find anything similar in the US. There's dessert places and bakeries, but it's a little different.
Yes, and to be clear, "coffee shops" serve tea. Oddly, if it serves pastries and coffee, but not tea, it's a "donut shop."
Load More Replies...Seriously? They could never find? Go anywhere in the USA and you will find a place. Idk, maybe open your eyes.
But according to a previous post, you probably can’t let British children see you eating that unhealthy sugary cake !
Sounds perfect - more sweet cakes for us adults! Though your point is a fair one...!
Load More Replies...You don't have to pay for books in the UK. They'll usually provide them for you in the library but that also means that they can run out. But in the US I think it is more common to buy books for university.
I did a couple of uni qualifications in UK, never bought a single book.
Load More Replies...Yep, in the US we have to either buy our books new (some can be $200 or more....PER BOOK!), or buy them used at a used book store for about 50% to 75% of the new price. At the end of the semester, you can often re-sell your used books back to the store for 25% to 50% of the original price, depending on the book's condition.
Depends on what degree you do. My first degree was in law and I had to buy all my books as the library didn't have enough copies for the whole year and we had to have the most up to date version of the core text. I'm doing Nursing now and never had to buy a single text book.
Wow! I bought 15-20 per term so twice a year (and borrowed more from the library). I did study literature though so there was lots of reading.
Load More Replies...Can attest to the running out thing. Most books were in the library, which included the ones that the majority of the class had to read. We had to go on a waiting list for some books for our dissertations. On the flip side though, a lot of the reading materials were provided by our teachers in the form of print outs.
My daughter attending university here in the US. I was not about to pay $200 for a textbook for one semester. I looked it up online & found a copy being sold for $60 overseas. When we got the book, it was emblazoned "Not for use in the US" on the plastic wrapping. OMG, what is wrong with it? Does American have a different science? Come to find out the book was printed in British English not American English. How daft.
In a few states in in local schools you have to pay a fee for the text books, my understanding you still have to turn them in at the end of the school year and do not get reimbursed for them.
You would never really swipe your card and sign a receipt in England. A lot of places are just insert and contactless.
US has been doing this for while, especially since COVID. I'm starting to wonder why this person is comparing UK to US when their info on the US is well out of date.
I can't remember the last time I was asked to sign a receipt in the US.
Depends on the store. I don't get asked to sign at big boxes stores. But at smaller stores like discount stores or restaurants I get asked to
Load More Replies...I've not signed a receipt in so long I no longer bother signing the backs of my cards - I'm bad enough remembering my pin these days given it's contactless or using my phone 99% of the time
There are some places like that. Seems to be more at the fast food places though.
Contactless is the main way to use your debit or credit card in the UK but many people limit/restrict their debit cards to less than the standard £100 contactless limit (Before COVID lockdown it was £30). For transactions over £100/set limit, a PIN must be entered. A bank may also require a PIN to be entered if too many contactless payments are attempted in a set period.
I've been using tap and pay for years now. I think since close to when the tech came out for it. So if England is still having to insert their cards then they are way behind the times. Then of course there is the cell phone pay thing, (That I don't use) that has been around for years also.
I just returned from the UK. I swiped my card and signed a receipt at every transaction.
I haven't even seen the technology where you would need to do this in years. Swipe, not tap? You insert the card for when the amounts are over a certain value, but not swipe. Unless you have a card that doesn't have a pin number, why would you need to sign? Like moggie63 - where?
Load More Replies...Chinese takeaway in England isn't what the Chinese delivery would be in the US. For example, most Chinese restaurants in the US will serve orange chicken because it's a very American Chinese dish, but you won't see it as much in England.
Chinese restaurants adapt to the culture where they're located. It bears little likeness to actual Chinese food..
Chinese restaurants are like the Catholic Church in two ways. (1) They both adapt and embrace the local culture. (2) They both are open on Christmas.
Load More Replies...Every chinese I've gone to has had either orange chicken or lemon chicken...
Weird--a quick google search turned up several Chinese take-out places In London that serve orange chicken.
Jesus!! Semantics!! Not as common!! Plus, London is not a good representation of England. I've lived in England 44 years and NEVER seen Orange Chicken on any of my local Chinese menus.
Load More Replies...Me too! I absolutely love fish and chips and it's extremely hard to find.
Load More Replies...A lot of US Chinese food is associated with Polynesian culture and contains a blend of Chinese and Polynesian foods where sugary sauces dominate. For example the "pupu platter" and "Kahlua pork".
Fish & chips in Newcastle is different from fish & chips in Cardiff. What's your point?
Going camping in England isn't usually going to a forest or a campground like in the US. It's usually pitching a tent in a campsite on a field. And instead of huge RVs, you'll see camper vans or caravans.
Bloody impossible in many cases - I saw a full sized Winnebago have to back up 2 miles down tiny, twisty roads in Cornwall many years ago ; why ? Because, whilst they had managed to get round said twisty roads, they hadn't allowed for the tiny humpbacked bridge over a tiddly river that was literally 1/2 a mile from their destination. Oh how the locals laughed having had their day completely disrupted by a twat who missed a fairly major detail !! It took him 3 hours and a couple of bumps to eventually find a place to turn round - the bumps (ie, lumps out of walls, fences etc) were all sued for. I reckon his little detour cost him and his insurers about £2000
Load More Replies...Well, Texas alone is almost three times the size of the UK. Texas has everything from beaches, mountains, deserts, prairies, plains, prairies, and swamps. Just based on size and territory and how far one travels within the USA makes this comparison silly. So why would we go to some empty field when there are beautiful places everywhere and easily accessible?
I find the camping thing to be the opposite. In the US camping is usually in the wilderness, quiet, peaceful. In the UK it's like a forest city with toilets, showers and more people than I'd see normally. It's not really getting away from it all.
Well, it's a choice really. You can use a campsite or wild-camp.
Load More Replies...Far more people in the U.S. have tent trailers or "caravans" than huge RV's. Apparently the OP has never been to the states.
OK, so where you camp may vary, sure. Few people have camper vans. In the US, camping usually entails tents. In Europe caravans are very popular and I would venture that there are more per capita of campers than in the US. In the US there aren't as many mid-size/smaller campers (caravans) as there are in other parts of the world however. I've seen huge RVs in Europe as well.
I'm not sure for UK but in my country, true forests are sparse and protected natural space so setting a wild camp is a big no no
In England, you'll have your exams for every term, and that's usually all the exams you'll ever have. Other than that, it's usually your research papers or your dissertation.
But from what it sounds like in the US, you have more quizzes and exams in between your terms.
The British system is also more focused on independent learning. So you're not going to be in for lectures all day every day like you might be in the US, and in England, all your classes already scheduled for your degree. In America, you have to typically book your classes for your degree.
Not sure what they mean by being in lectures all day every day. US colleges have an average of 15 hours of "classes" per week; the rest is studying, research, paperwork, etc.
End of year exams and coursework throughout the year made up the final grade in my Scottish education
Say what? Brits have to sign up for their degree every year. But once signed in for that degree the classes are set for the year. Are you saying Americans don’t actually have degrees they just have classes they sign up for?
Yup. I spent a year at university in the US and it was weird as heck. My degree was in computer science, but I had to take a bunch of completely unrelated subjects - I took classes in English, philosophy, Spanish, and other assorted nonsense, and the whole experience felt more like 6th form college or secondary school than university.
Load More Replies...Sounds like someone here really doesn't know squat about the US educational system, which is vast and variable. I bought many of my books secondhand, and some teachers used handouts with no books. But this was back in the early 80s for grad school.
This isn't 100% true, whilst we may not have exams, we have "Coursework" which you are also graded on. (mostly by the time you hit year 10-11 and are preparing for GCSE'S etc, and then when you are in college etc)
depends on your major...if you are in the sciences, you will take a lot of classes with labs and recitations (bio, chem.physics)...math classes also have recitations...labs and recitations in the sciences and math usually have quizzes...but outside of the sciences, it's usually only a midterm and a final or a couple of research papers...in the sciences you get a lot of work...and your liberal arts electives are comparatively a breeze.
Cubicles are like actual rooms in England, they aren't stalls like you would typically see an American public bathroom.
I'm confused by this one too - or maybe they mean changing cubicles??!! You get some bathrooms with separate cubicles and some bathrooms which are individual loos. Depends on the age of the building. If it's purpose built that's one thing, but squeezing several loos into a tudor building isn't that simple (thinking of my town centre in particular!).
Load More Replies...In the UK we refer to a bathroom "stall" as a bathroom "cubical". It's a stall but you'll usually find the door will go down low/all the way to the ground and that the walls do as well- sometimes the walls are even made of brick depending on where you go. Hope this helped with the confusion!
I'm confused by this one. In the US, a cubicle is a small office space defined by 3 fabric walls, chair, desk, and file cabinet. A stall is a walled bathroom space with a toilet, 3 walls and a door that doesn't reach the floor. A cubicle and a stall are not even remotely the same thing.
In the UK you can take a sh*t without someone watching you as they pass
Not true. Many cubicles here in UK are small. Supermarkets, restaurants etc may have one big one, but that aimed at less able bodied people.
When you get petrol for your car in England you go inside to pay after you filled your tank. In the US you pay first so you kind of need to know how much gas your car will need.
Or you can pay at the pump which is more and more common. In the USA as I did not want to pay with my card, I paid $60 to fill the hire car up first, then went back in and got my change. Tesco pumps will let you set monetary amount or litres and when you hit that amount, the pump stops.
Isn't that what the OP said? That in the US you pay beforehand?
Load More Replies...Used to be that way in the US until gas prices went over $4/gallon the first time, then people would fill up and drive off.
Paying 1st was the norm in So Cal even in the 80's, so maybe a big city thing.
Load More Replies...Has this person ever actually been to the US? It seems like they're mostly just copying stuff that was posted on here (every day, multiple times) and acting like it's original content. This one is just off and makes no sense.
In the US we usually pay at the pump with our card. If we want, we can go inside and pay first. Occasionally you can pump first and then pay but that is less common these days. That said, I imagine that 80% of people pay at the pump. The others usually are paying with cash.
In South Africa, a petr attendant comes to your car ND does it for you. They will also washyour windscreen, check Tyre pressure as well as oil and water. When it is all done, they bring you the card machine to pay.
I remember growing up in the 70's and it used to be that way. A attendant would come and asked much you wanted to put in your car and they would check your oil. Wipe your windshield off for you .Probably by the very late 70's they stopped doing that. I remember when I first started driving around 1978,1979 I believe I had to pump my own gas.
Load More Replies...in the US you pay at the pump after you fill up your tank to the desired amount...it hasn't been the way the OP says since the 1980s, when self-service pumps first went into use...
You give your payment card before the pump will dispense fuel. The gas station places a hold on your card until you are done pumping and then submits the transaction for the correct amount. It's not technically "prepaying" but you're not getting anything without them having access to your money.
Load More Replies...You don't need to know the exact amount when you pre pay. The transaction is authorized up to a certain amount. If you go below, that's the mount withdrawn from your account.
Have lived in Los Angeles all my life--and have bought gas in other cities and states. Since at least the mid-1960s, the pumps have been designed so that you insert your credit card into them. Your credit card is scanned. You remove your card. Then, you pump your gas. The pump automatically stops when your tank is full. Your card is not charged until after you have finished pumping your gas. It is pretty rare for someone go inside and pay for gas ahead of time.
You probably won't see many people drinking a straight glass of milk in England. In America people do this all the time with almost any meal, not just cookies.
Maybe with breakfast sometimes, but even then I feel like coffee or juice are more common. I never see people drinking a glass of milk with lunch or dinner out in public.
Load More Replies...It’s not common beyond breakfast or dessert in the USA. We don’t wash our steaks and burgers down with milk. Well, I’m sure someone does, but that’s not a thing here.
Maybe it is a generational thing? I was a child in the 70s in California, and most families I knew had milk on the table at every meal.
Load More Replies...b******t, until the mid 90s we got a half pint of milk every day at school and as far as i know kids still get it
That's just children though, the OP doesn't specify children - just 'people'.
Load More Replies...I'm starting to wonder if this person actually came to the UK or is just making stuff up
You need to meet my son as he will drink many glasses of milk per day if he had his way.
Must have a healthy digestive system! Too much milk (if not lactose intolerant which is more common than people think - may be the norm but a tolerance well handledl) can cause constipation.
Load More Replies...I usually eat eggs for breakfast and have a glass of milk with that. But growing up I remember having milk on the table quite often for dinner/supper.
In the UK usually only study one subject whereas in the US you usually do a major and a minor, a major being your primary fields of study and your minor being a secondary concentration.
The following is from a UK guide about University: Choosing a course in one subject is known as a single honours degree. You may also be able to study a minor subject alongside the major subject for a portion of your degree, known as a major/minor honours degree. The degree title names the major subject with the minor subject afterwards, for example Psychology with Criminology, or Law with International Relations.
Yes, and they can often be an unrelated subject. My ex-wife did Maths with Psychology, for example. But it's not the norm at all. (Or wasn't back in the 1980s).
Load More Replies...I'm guessing this varies across universities. I went to Uni in the UK, my degree was in History, but I was required to do a number of additional subjects as well. So I did History related units through my full 4 years, however also did semesters of Politics, Philosophy and Psychology.
Does the UK sport a Junior College-type system for those disinclined for Uni work?
Chocolate eggs are really popular in England during Easter and in the US it's more chocolate bunnies that are like the classic, instead of the chocolate egg.
agreed...we have a lot of chocolate eggs, and malted milk eggs, etc. in the u.s., but at least one chocolate easter bunny per basket is a must...david sedaris has a great essay in "me talk pretty one day" comparing the u.s. and french easter traditions that is pretty hilarious...do yourself a treat, and check it out
The eggs are my favorite!!! They always will be. So much so that I buy 12 a year to freeze! I have one every month when I've done something especially challenging, like had a very difficult conversation or redecorated a room.
Cheques are basically obsolete in England. I grew up with my parents using cheques and 81% of firms in the US are still using paper checks to settle some of their bills.
I pay my rent by check because that's the way my landlord wants it.
This- "81% of firms in the US are still using paper checks to settle some of their bills". Complete and utter rubbish. Just not true FFS.
Not wanting a statistic to be true is not the same as it not being true. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/08/paper-checks-us-small-business
Load More Replies...Long live direct debit, so much easier and hassle free way of paying bills
Nonsense, I haven't seen a check issued by an employer in the US in some 25 years. My checkbook contains the same first set of checks that were originally issued to me the last time I opened a new account. The only times I ever see a check are when I get a refund from some company that had a class action lawsuit against them and I might receive a check for maybe 2 dollars and 78 cents in the mail! LOL!
Fairly sure the bank clearing system is not as comprehensive in the US as it is in the UK and Europe, so you can't always send money from one bank to another directly on line?
We can. Zelle, Venmo, PayPal and Apple Pay are very popular. Just not as fast as they should be
Load More Replies...I was so confused. The UK and America, never the twain shall meet. I can still use sarcasm right?
No, they aren't. They are still used in many places, though check theft is very high and people are being encouraged to go digital.
Load More Replies...It really felt as if this article was clutching at enough straws to make a thatched roof for several cottages
"Idiot tiktokker shoves camera into own face for internet attention. Repeats/copies things that have been posted here and on dozens of other sites and pretends it's original content. Exposes everyone using dangerous app to contact theft." There. Fixed the title for you.
I see a lot of people don't really know what is happening in the USA and are making assumptions based on very little knowledge.
Annual leave and sick leave seem to be respected more in the UK as well. If a person is on leave in the UK it's generally not acceptable to contact them by any means about work related matters until they come back. I've only been to the US once but based on some of the things I hear in the media etc it seems that in the US there's an expectation that you'll still be available to answer calls or reply to emails while on leave.
It really depends on the employer, and probably the role a person has in the company. We definitely don't get as much leave. My last employer reached out with emergencies, but my current employer won't contact me if I am on leave.
Load More Replies...According to the above, Australia is 80% UK and 20% USA. We don't have black pudding, washing machine in the kitchen or tiny houses, we do have free water refills. But otherwise like the UK.
Load More Replies...Didn’t read the intro but it only took a few posts to realize this was tiktok content, just from the amount of plain wrong info. >.<
It really felt as if this article was clutching at enough straws to make a thatched roof for several cottages
"Idiot tiktokker shoves camera into own face for internet attention. Repeats/copies things that have been posted here and on dozens of other sites and pretends it's original content. Exposes everyone using dangerous app to contact theft." There. Fixed the title for you.
I see a lot of people don't really know what is happening in the USA and are making assumptions based on very little knowledge.
Annual leave and sick leave seem to be respected more in the UK as well. If a person is on leave in the UK it's generally not acceptable to contact them by any means about work related matters until they come back. I've only been to the US once but based on some of the things I hear in the media etc it seems that in the US there's an expectation that you'll still be available to answer calls or reply to emails while on leave.
It really depends on the employer, and probably the role a person has in the company. We definitely don't get as much leave. My last employer reached out with emergencies, but my current employer won't contact me if I am on leave.
Load More Replies...According to the above, Australia is 80% UK and 20% USA. We don't have black pudding, washing machine in the kitchen or tiny houses, we do have free water refills. But otherwise like the UK.
Load More Replies...Didn’t read the intro but it only took a few posts to realize this was tiktok content, just from the amount of plain wrong info. >.<
