What’s totally acceptable and completely normal in one country might get you some funny looks elsewhere. Or, in other words, welcome to Planet Earth where there are loads of different countries and cultures that are bound to blow your mind when you travel.
This time, we’re looking at the differences between the United States and the United Kingdom. Even though both countries have a ‘special relationship’ (not to mention a rocky initial history together), far from everything is the same there. Hopping ‘over the pond’ means traveling a large distance both physically and culturally, too. Like you'd expect when going to any new country when you fly abroad.
Redditor TownImmediate9060 went on r/AskReddit and wanted to find out what’s socially acceptable in the US but would be horrifying in the UK. The thread went viral and the responses made us seriously realize the extent of the differences between the two allies. Check out some of the best answers below and remember to upvote your fave ones, dear Pandas.
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Healthcare that bankrupts you
Paying more than the price you see on a price tag in a shop due to taxes. WTF just put how much it costs!
Cashiers being forced to stand... give them a chair you masochists
Britain continues to use soft power to spread its influence abroad. Its cultural impact is off the charts. Just consider how influential the Harry Potter books, musicians like Ed Sheeran, and football entities like the Premier League really are.
They’re known and respected globally. As such, the UK’s able to draw in plenty of tourists (global pandemic notwithstanding because it’s hit everyone badly) and students from abroad because it remains at the forefront of people’s minds.
New mothers going back to work almost immediately after giving birth, because they don’t have paid maternity leave
An $800, four-block ambulance ride.
Anything about the so-called American health system is a mystery to the rest of the world.
However, research shows that the confusion and uncertainty around the long-term effects that Brexit, the UK’s exit from the European Union, will have slightly dampened the country’s influence abroad.
Meanwhile, the British Council found that it’s actually culture, not politics, that deepens the ties between the UK and the US. And it’s culture that’s going to play a vital role in the future of both nations as well.
That whole thing where American kids pledge their allegiance to the flag. That is completely weird and scarily totalitarian to us Brits.
Overworking. It's rewarded and encouraged in the U.S., but during my time in the U.K. my colleagues were horrified by the long hours and lack of holidays that was the norm in the U.S.
What an awful soulless place. And I'm guessing the only reason they give them what looks like expensive chairs is so they don't get sued for workplace injury.
Greeters in supermarkets. Just feels fake.
Are greeters real? I thought the Simpson's was exaggerating. I guess in a country so massive, you gta find a way to stand out? Still seems weird tho
“Culture and history were the two top rated factors contributing to the UK’s attractiveness among American respondents, with 43% identifying ‘cultural and historic attractions’ as a major draw and 42% identifying ‘history,’” the British Council explains what it discovered in its research.
Driving everywhere.
In the UK it's perfectly normal to have your kid walk to school and walking to the shops to do your shopping.
Offering full-time employees anything less than 28 days of paid holidays per year - it's not only socially unacceptable - it's illegal!
In Germany I get a basic of 30 days of paid leave annually (at my job at least) and up to four additional days since I'm working in a shift system.
I have been working full time for 20 years. I have had exactly ONE week of paid vacation. Every other time I've taken off work, I've had to scrimp and save for months, so that I can afford to take the unpaid time off. For example, every time we visited my partner's mom across the country over the last 5 years, it took every penny we'd saved for the year just to afford plane tickets and missing work for a week. I f*cking hate this country, AND YES I *WOULD* F*CKING LEAVE IF THAT WERE AT ALL POSSIBLE!
Hey if you're talking about the U.S. our Republican Party has repeatedly fought to make it illegal for some states to even raise the minimum wage and increase other benefits such as holidays. The stranglehold that party has had in this country is behind most of the posts in this article.
I'm in Canada, I've worked for my company for 10 years and I get 3 weeks vacation, plus we get a "flex" account we can buy up to two more weeks of vacation with. So I have to buy two weeks in order to have 5 weeks off.
It is legal in the US. There is no legally mandatory annual leave allowance.
What holidays do they get off to be able to have 28? Grandparents day? Puppy Day?
paid vacation, to use when you want. i get 6 weeks paid vacation (plus holidays) every year.
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In UK I get 25 paid holidays a year (plus bank holidays) plus our company has just started allowing us to "buy" 5 more holidays (essentially means extra 5 days unpaid) per year. . .well they did just before Covid hit. They cancelled the extra days for that reason this year.
in Slovakia it is 20 days and 25 if you are older than 33 years + we have around 15 days of bank holiday and a piad sick leave 55% of salary. some employers grant extra vacation
We have very few full time positions. Most are part time & have no benefits. Especially entry level jobs.
How about only getting 5 paid sick days per year. Hope you don't get too sick.
28 days! I'm laughing my ass off - because this makes me so sad! I've never ever had a 4-week paid vacation. This is madness!
28 days would in fact be 5 and a half weeks. but i doubt everyone takes it all at once. I have 20 days +3 sick days and I usually take 10 days in summer a few days during christmas and a few days here and there
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Canada also! We only have a 2 week minimum that companies have to give by law, with some not even allowing you to take them consecutively.
Yeah... you're lucky if you can get time off for your own damned weeding or a funeral.
My employer gives us 10 paid holidays a year. We do not get Columbus day off. Instead we get a floating holiday where we can take it anytime we want.
I had a 6-month work permit for England and was told I had two weeks paid holiday, even though I was leaving. The only stipulation was that I had to come back to work for at least 1 week.
We can start as low as 20 here I think but most employees give around 25 to start with, I'm currently on 31 as just got given another one to say thanks for all the help last year, as well as a pay rise woohoo. And 3 months full sick pay if ever needed, after 3 months you get a smaller amount for as long as you need it.
I started with 20 at my current job, and that is considered really good. I had SIX at my last job, so ef that place.
I’m at 28 days only because I’ve been with the company 10 years. A new hire only gets 18 days
In South Africa we get 15 days (1.25 x 12) and management get 20 days (1.67 x 12). That's 3 and 4 work weeks of annual leave respectively.
My employer gives us 10 paid holidays, Vacation is accrued depending on how long you have been there. I've been her for 8 years and I get 18 days a year (12 hours a month). Someone whose been there 25 years or longer gets 25 days a year. That is for classified. Other classifications have different leave accral poliies. The best I ever got was 30 days a year when I was in the military
Load More Replies... Bragging about how expensive something was.
In the US "this is a $100 shirt" ...smug face
In the UK "can you believe I got this whole suit for £25!" ...smug face
Despite some of the more superficial cultural differences between the US and the UK, both nations appear to care about pretty much the same issues.
“The research showed a high degree of shared concern about global issues among young people in both countries with poverty, extremism/terrorism, and climate change as the top factors chosen by young people in both the US and UK,” the British Council found. “The research suggests the relationship between the two countries is at root a cultural as much as a political phenomenon, and viewed in those terms it is indeed special.”
Labelling the winner of a sports tournament that only your country plays as ‘World Champions’
Calling Football ‘Soccer’
We're not the only ones doing that. No one seems to blink at the audacity of the Miss Universe beauty contest, where Earth seems to win every time.
A rubber in England is not the same as a rubber in the US.
In the UK, a durex is (or used to be) a condom. In Australia, it's sticky tape. Best not to get them confused.
Ironically, the actual term ‘special relationship’ sees very little use in the US, primarily being a British way of categorizing the tight bonds between the two nations. However, this doesn’t change the fact that both countries are very much skipping along arm-in-arm, primarily admiring each other’s cultural output (leaving politics a secondary concern).
Making tea in a microwave.
When my Brit friends were visiting, they were horrified when the waiter took their credit card to swipe back at the terminal. This made them REALLY uncomfortable.
Cutting lines for things, I’ve seen some people when going to Disney world trying to cut lines for random reasons. Queueing in the uk is like our national sport
Redditor TownImmediate9060’s thread about the differences between the US and the UK was a roaring success. It got more than 67.7k upvotes in just over a week. What’s more, the thread got over 51k comments which just goes to show that the OP hit the nail on the head and chose a niche topic that plenty of folks were interested in.
The thread also got over 300 awards, proving that TownImmediate9060’s fellow Reddit users really appreciated them asking the question in the first place.
My (British) partner & I (American) were in London, running late to meet our friends. Just as we get to the tube station, I see our train has just pulled in; we haul ass across platform and I yell, “HOLD THE DOOR.” Someone does, we make the train, I don’t see a problem. My partner, by contrast, is mortified. This was 4-5 years ago & he is still mortified. Apparently we were meant to just...let the train leave? Without us?? & wait for the next one???
On the tube, there's absolutely no reason to "hold the door". The next one will be in in a few minutes, and you will just be a little late. By holding, everyone on the train will be late, and there is actually a possibility that it travels down the line, delaying several trains.
Asking new neighbors, "Have you found a church yet?"
Huge portion sizes. Kids meal in U.S is like a adult meal in U.K.
What’s your opinion about the relationship between the US and the UK, dear Readers? What, in your opinion, makes this relationship between the two special? What do you think are the main cultural differences between Americans and Brits? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. We’d absolutely love to get your take on this, especially if you’re currently living in the US or the UK.
I was in Japan once and there was a vending machine selling beer outside my hotel room.
So, being British, I bought a can and went to the elevator where I shared an excruciating couple of minutes with two American business men. They were horrified at my early day drinking, and I at their willingness to express this.
As a Brit in the US, this is a fun one!
Pharmaceutical adverts on the TV are still weird af to me
The length and frequency of commercial breaks in general on TV is shocking
Low hanging fruit, but anything relating to child beauty pageants just makes me feel physically sick
Here's a nice one: taking 20+ minutes to help a complete stranger who is struggling with something. The amount of times a total stranger has stopped to assist me or someone I know? Y'all really make my heart melt!
This happens in the UK too. I am a woman and I traveled by train with a suitcase too heavy for me to lift and always some lovely man immediately assisted me with getting on and off.
Addressing a stranger as ‘Sir’
To me, this sounds like a good style. How would you address a stranger in the UK?
Responding to work emails while on leave/vacation.
I fear this one may be culturally appropriated - I'm in the UK and have worked for people who have done this, and been "encouraged" to do this myself. I have offered once (but that was because it was a big, serious project, and my time off was looking after the MIL's house for two days and I was BORED!)
high fructose corn syrup
Chanting the acronym of your country at any given opportunity.
I don’t know how common it actually is there, but going fucking wild at the cinema during a hugely popular film like Avengers: Endgame or a Star Wars film. There’s a bunch of videos on YouTube of the audience reactions to various big franchise films and I don’t know how anybody lasts more than a few minutes in that room.
When I saw The Force Awakens, like two people half-heartedly cheered when the title screen came up and then someone immediately told them to shut up.
While talking about american cinemas, why don't they have seat reservation? In Sweden, we book in advance, choosing our seats by how many we are, where the screen is and availability.
Refuse a drink to a grown-ass taxpaying 20 year old
Note: this post originally had 55 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Tsk. Honestly did they not read the comments under the 'look at weird Americans" article from like 24 hours ago? Enough pls BP give us a break, or stagger them out. Not every day.
Only just come onto BP today and came straight to the comments section instead of reading the article. ENOUGH ALREADY! Are we going from weekly to daily US bashing now Bored Panda? I downvoted the whole post and I rarely do that. Bored Panda - PACK IT IN.
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Another 'ridiculous/bad/weird Americans' post. We are sick of them. How about making a post of nice things about the US for every time you have made a post of the opposite. It's enough already.
Here's an idea; Things the whole world thinks are weird about the UK! .... I'll start... Blood pudding.
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For me as a Dutch person with several Flemish acquaintances it’s funny to read about these differences. The habits of our two neighboring countries (Netherlands and Flanders) are more or less the same, but we have misunderstanding in expressions sometimes, like buitenwipper (Fl: bouncer, Du: someone having sex outside), aftrekker (Fl: Corkscrew, Du: someone who’s jerking off) and poepen (fl: having sex, du: to defecate), to name the three most shocking ones 😀
See this is great, I liked learning this ^-^ I wonder how the words came to have such different meanings between neighbouring countries
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Having visited the US of As I can share a positive. Americans are very generous. If you have an accent you will be bought drinks in a bar by those who claim to have ancestors from Scotland or Ireland.
And almost everyone in the US has either Irish or Scottish ancestry, or thinks they do! :-D
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Same. Knock it off, BP (and I say this as a non-American myself.)
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This bullshit is so played out. I’m seriously considering leaving the site, it seems like for every entertaining article there’s 5 of these “aMeRiCa BaD” posts.
Here's another list about how the different ways different cultures do things is horrifying and terrible. Please downvote this s**t. Upvote art, upvote kindness, upvote cute and funny animal, upvote comedy.
I downvoted. I have been to the US a few times. Met many US people and most were lovely. Just how you'd expect in any country. A mixed bag but mostly fine. STOP picking on the US Bored Panda - and we KNOW you read the comments. FFS.
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I think all countries have some ridiculous ads, just varies as to product, LOL.
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I thought one a week was too much, but back to back days now? BP must really hate the US, sorry United States of America. Don’t want to use the abbreviation constantly since we apparently do that according to one of the posts.
i'm so tired of all the posts about america...ok we get it, you hate america, blah blah blah. give us something different to read please!
FFS. Please stop posting the same article. It used to be every two weeks. Now it's daily. Did you not notice the entire comment section yesterday?
DEAR WORLD: From an American. Yes, we shock, horrify, and appall you. We know. Sometimes you do the same to others, too. We all have our cultural quirks. I hope the world is enjoying its schadenfreude. When you're done? Let the US know. Maybe we can hvae a discussion about how to solve problems? Peace out, An American
According to these comments, everyone in the world thinks Americans are just horrible and with no manners. BUT, we still get people wanting to immigrate here, sneak over our borders....both North & South. If you don't like it, don't visit, don't live here.
Really tired of these shitposts, BP. How would you feel if I habitually made fun of your culture and country whilst ignoring the amazing things, people, and experiences?
Apparently every staff writer must write one of these America Bad posts once a week every week. Man I miss the photo galleries of unusual places animals etc.
This post was informative. I didn't realise Americans didn't use kettles..... Yeah this is very informative.
Of course we use Kettles. I have one on my stove as we speak. We carry both the electric and stovetop varieties. It was far from "informative" and more "I met two Americans and now think all 330 million are the same".....
Load More Replies... How dare we not all comply with the UK version of everything! *gasp/faint*.... Seriously, for people who complain constantly that the US is too expectant that the world should be like the US, isn't the UK kinda doing the same? Everyone should do/know/speak the way they do in the UK? ...
Wtf!!!! Did they not read the comments on "Americans are doing _____" article?????
ok but do people in the uk not talk to people at all i have never been but if that's the case it sounds a bit boring ]:
I agree with you on the pledge of allegiance. That's something fascists (hello Hitler) countries do (Hello Kim Jung).
Sensitive ass people. You don't even realize how indoctrinated some people are until they speak. Compared to many places, we are f****d up here. I'm from the Midwest, my fellow countryfolks, and even I can look around and see that we have huge issues here. No one else is getting butthurt over their countries being roasted, but here are some Americans, the most roastable people on earth, getting sensitive. Ok. You bunch of Richard Gere movie loving fucktards, show me your best sensitivity. I'll certainly use it as my first submission article for BP. Brothers and sisters, if our s**t was all that, we wouldn't be featured so heavily, now would we? Lighten the f**k up, people are just people, but true is true. No place or people are perfect, we're all messed up according to someone else. Take your s**t on the chin like the rest of us, and do feel free to have a sense of humor about it. If you'd like to stop showing up as a world meme, stop voting for divisive assholes. Biden and Trump...
Our differences are what makes life interesting! Nothing but interesting to me. My future son in law is Australian and my daughters ex boyfriend was British. Loved them both and yes, somethings they say or do was weird here in the US, but fun none the less. They found us equally entertaining !
Seriously BP. I love you , but it's getting old reading "let's s**t on America " posts. I'm bettering Americans are a big percentage of your readers . I'm honestly about to just delete the app. Every country has problems. We're not getting on here and making fun of other places
I love reading stuff like this because global thinking made us already know all our similarities but the differences are sometimes so amazing and interesting. I don't read it as a bashing. It's just fascinating that things I consider boringly normal are unknown or weird to other people.
It is not bashing when we get these things every so often...but they have these all the time now. And not for ANY other country but America. Can we see some for France vs Germany? Or Latvia VS Poland? Peru vs Australia? Sri Lanka vs Russia? When these are only posted to show how "weird" one country or culture is compared to the other 178 countries in the world...its past "fascinating" and into "bias".
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We get, we suck. Now how about something entertaining about the US, Florida Man.
F***y. Quite a different meaning in the USA vs many other places...
oh i didn't think of that let me tell more than a million people to what use butter on there bread or not talk to strangers got it all knowing one /s
Load More Replies... Tsk. Honestly did they not read the comments under the 'look at weird Americans" article from like 24 hours ago? Enough pls BP give us a break, or stagger them out. Not every day.
Only just come onto BP today and came straight to the comments section instead of reading the article. ENOUGH ALREADY! Are we going from weekly to daily US bashing now Bored Panda? I downvoted the whole post and I rarely do that. Bored Panda - PACK IT IN.
Load More Replies... Another 'ridiculous/bad/weird Americans' post. We are sick of them. How about making a post of nice things about the US for every time you have made a post of the opposite. It's enough already.
Here's an idea; Things the whole world thinks are weird about the UK! .... I'll start... Blood pudding.
Load More Replies... For me as a Dutch person with several Flemish acquaintances it’s funny to read about these differences. The habits of our two neighboring countries (Netherlands and Flanders) are more or less the same, but we have misunderstanding in expressions sometimes, like buitenwipper (Fl: bouncer, Du: someone having sex outside), aftrekker (Fl: Corkscrew, Du: someone who’s jerking off) and poepen (fl: having sex, du: to defecate), to name the three most shocking ones 😀
See this is great, I liked learning this ^-^ I wonder how the words came to have such different meanings between neighbouring countries
Load More Replies... Having visited the US of As I can share a positive. Americans are very generous. If you have an accent you will be bought drinks in a bar by those who claim to have ancestors from Scotland or Ireland.
And almost everyone in the US has either Irish or Scottish ancestry, or thinks they do! :-D
Load More Replies... Same. Knock it off, BP (and I say this as a non-American myself.)
Load More Replies... This bullshit is so played out. I’m seriously considering leaving the site, it seems like for every entertaining article there’s 5 of these “aMeRiCa BaD” posts.
Here's another list about how the different ways different cultures do things is horrifying and terrible. Please downvote this s**t. Upvote art, upvote kindness, upvote cute and funny animal, upvote comedy.
I downvoted. I have been to the US a few times. Met many US people and most were lovely. Just how you'd expect in any country. A mixed bag but mostly fine. STOP picking on the US Bored Panda - and we KNOW you read the comments. FFS.
Load More Replies... I think all countries have some ridiculous ads, just varies as to product, LOL.
Load More Replies... I thought one a week was too much, but back to back days now? BP must really hate the US, sorry United States of America. Don’t want to use the abbreviation constantly since we apparently do that according to one of the posts.
i'm so tired of all the posts about america...ok we get it, you hate america, blah blah blah. give us something different to read please!
FFS. Please stop posting the same article. It used to be every two weeks. Now it's daily. Did you not notice the entire comment section yesterday?
DEAR WORLD: From an American. Yes, we shock, horrify, and appall you. We know. Sometimes you do the same to others, too. We all have our cultural quirks. I hope the world is enjoying its schadenfreude. When you're done? Let the US know. Maybe we can hvae a discussion about how to solve problems? Peace out, An American
According to these comments, everyone in the world thinks Americans are just horrible and with no manners. BUT, we still get people wanting to immigrate here, sneak over our borders....both North & South. If you don't like it, don't visit, don't live here.
Really tired of these shitposts, BP. How would you feel if I habitually made fun of your culture and country whilst ignoring the amazing things, people, and experiences?
Apparently every staff writer must write one of these America Bad posts once a week every week. Man I miss the photo galleries of unusual places animals etc.
This post was informative. I didn't realise Americans didn't use kettles..... Yeah this is very informative.
Of course we use Kettles. I have one on my stove as we speak. We carry both the electric and stovetop varieties. It was far from "informative" and more "I met two Americans and now think all 330 million are the same".....
Load More Replies... How dare we not all comply with the UK version of everything! *gasp/faint*.... Seriously, for people who complain constantly that the US is too expectant that the world should be like the US, isn't the UK kinda doing the same? Everyone should do/know/speak the way they do in the UK? ...
Wtf!!!! Did they not read the comments on "Americans are doing _____" article?????
ok but do people in the uk not talk to people at all i have never been but if that's the case it sounds a bit boring ]:
I agree with you on the pledge of allegiance. That's something fascists (hello Hitler) countries do (Hello Kim Jung).
Sensitive ass people. You don't even realize how indoctrinated some people are until they speak. Compared to many places, we are f****d up here. I'm from the Midwest, my fellow countryfolks, and even I can look around and see that we have huge issues here. No one else is getting butthurt over their countries being roasted, but here are some Americans, the most roastable people on earth, getting sensitive. Ok. You bunch of Richard Gere movie loving fucktards, show me your best sensitivity. I'll certainly use it as my first submission article for BP. Brothers and sisters, if our s**t was all that, we wouldn't be featured so heavily, now would we? Lighten the f**k up, people are just people, but true is true. No place or people are perfect, we're all messed up according to someone else. Take your s**t on the chin like the rest of us, and do feel free to have a sense of humor about it. If you'd like to stop showing up as a world meme, stop voting for divisive assholes. Biden and Trump...
Our differences are what makes life interesting! Nothing but interesting to me. My future son in law is Australian and my daughters ex boyfriend was British. Loved them both and yes, somethings they say or do was weird here in the US, but fun none the less. They found us equally entertaining !
Seriously BP. I love you , but it's getting old reading "let's s**t on America " posts. I'm bettering Americans are a big percentage of your readers . I'm honestly about to just delete the app. Every country has problems. We're not getting on here and making fun of other places
I love reading stuff like this because global thinking made us already know all our similarities but the differences are sometimes so amazing and interesting. I don't read it as a bashing. It's just fascinating that things I consider boringly normal are unknown or weird to other people.
It is not bashing when we get these things every so often...but they have these all the time now. And not for ANY other country but America. Can we see some for France vs Germany? Or Latvia VS Poland? Peru vs Australia? Sri Lanka vs Russia? When these are only posted to show how "weird" one country or culture is compared to the other 178 countries in the world...its past "fascinating" and into "bias".
Load More Replies... We get, we suck. Now how about something entertaining about the US, Florida Man.
F***y. Quite a different meaning in the USA vs many other places...
oh i didn't think of that let me tell more than a million people to what use butter on there bread or not talk to strangers got it all knowing one /s
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