UK vs North American Cultural Differences
Replies
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Hello from the Steel City! I can confirm ranch dressing is (still) not a thing here. What is it, anyway? Salad cream is evil in a bottle. Hellmans mayo is where it's at.
We have something called Lipton iced tea here now but it's very odd. Not what I would call tea!
I found salad bars hard to find when I lived in England. But when I did, I saw some unlabeled ranch and I was so excited. Turned out it was salad cream and it was vile!0 -
Also as a Brit
To Add:
Hershey v's Cadbury or Galaxy ?
Chips v's Crisps ?
Fries v's Chips ?
I shall stop now as this is making me hungry :happy:
yes fries here in the US chips over the pond! (I visited last year! so much fun)
we have cadbury chocolate here too...hershey's is a bit more popular. I love cadbury tho0 -
As a Brit on this board I've noticed just how many cultural differences there are between us an you guys across the pond when it comes to things like food...
Imperial vs Metric - I have no idea what an oz of liquid or food looks like!
Cups - you really measure stuff in cups? What if everyone uses a different size cup?
Coffee creamer - what the hell is this stuff? Do you not just use milk?
String cheese - WUT?
We take our tea hot and with milk (& sugar) and is English Breakfast blend unless otherwise specified...
Feel free to add...
um....love me some string cheese!! I don't know how they make it but I eat it everyday!
coffee creamer a/k/a 1/2 and 1/2 (1/2 heavy cream and 1/2 milk) I haven't got a clue tho! I could prefer whatever the Irish use as creamer/milk I loved it when I visited last year!0 -
Can anyone tell me what the Irish use in there coffee?! I visited last year and loved it. Except over here when I google it...they give me the recipe for an Irish coffee....fail....0
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Sorry!! Totally thought of another difference that I wish the US would adapt to. ESCALATORS!! you guys have a rule that you stand on one side so that people who prefer to walk up or down them can...in the US...they just stand there....ugh!0
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Sorry!! Totally thought of another difference that I wish the US would adapt to. ESCALATORS!! you guys have a rule that you stand on one side so that people who prefer to walk up or down them can...in the US...they just stand there....ugh!
in my experience living in urban areas we are generally quite good about standing to the right and climbing on the left.0 -
The Irish just use milk, if your thinking of an irish coffee, thats just cream shaken til its slightly whipped. I lived there and worked in the food industry there. Oh my fella likes to put full cream into his coffee sometimes, maybe thats it.0
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Dettol...I don't think there's such a thing in the US
I moved to the UK when I was preggo with my first, and it struck me as funny that it can be used for "midwifery purposes."
As for the space and size issues, our US friends and relatives are wonderful and send us loads of stuff for the kids, but no one seems to understand that we really, really just do not have as much space as they do. I visited friends in Manhattan, and even their places there are big compared to London (that said, I do think flats are just small when living in inner London).
In terms of attitudes, I remember that at one point after the crisis, some pretty similar data on the economic recovery made the news. In the US the news stories were about how the economy was on the right track and doing much better, etc. In the UK, those same numbers were interpreted as "there's still a tough road ahead."
See this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-220283160 -
Neds in ScotlandUK > We have Chavs
US > You have Hicks
Aus...we have bogans
In Ireland they call em knackers, in Boston hoodratz lol.
Originally from Ireland, was born there, know all about the knackers! Stepdad is from Glasgow, know about the Neds too lol!0 -
But then, it seems you're generalizing a bit, too. 2000 square feet is a good-sized house to me, but not HUGE by any stretch of the imagination. That would generally be a 3-4 bedroom home. The bedrooms in newer homes are generally at least large enough to hold a queen-sized bed. I'm actually LOOKING for reasonably priced 2-3 bedroom homes in my area and would be very happy with 2000 sq ft. Now, there are "monstrosities" in my suburb that I can't even fathom living in or what you would do with. I saw one the other day, selling for $3.5 million, 8 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, over 13,000 square feet. I can't imagine living in a place the size of yours (my apartment is 1210 square feet), likely because I was born and raised in central Ohio, and not an urban area where homes are necessarily smaller.one thing i think people need to realize when classifying things as being a certain way in the states is that this is a gigantic country and astonishingly different from region to region.
in discussions like this i always see a lot of talk about how gigantic our houses are. we don't all live in texas is these monstrous homes. for instance my husband and i live in a 1 bedroom 600 square foot (just under 56 square meter) apartment. i can not fathom living in one of these HUGE 2000 square feet (185 suqare meter) homes. so much wasted space. so much to have to keep clean.
i haven't owned an automobile in over 12 years. i only know a few people who actually do in my city. 80% of us live in urban areas.
hershey's chocolate does taste icky. you can get cadbury everywhere here that i have ever lived. ranch dressing is disgusting. hp sauce is delicious. iced sweet tea is a lovely summer time drink but i prefer my tea earl grey, hot, and with milk and sugar.
the majority (meaning over 50%) of us do not own guns and don't feel the need to.
Public transportation around here is the city bus or very expensive taxi cabs, so more people around here drive than don't.
I don't currently own a gun, but will soon become a gun owner.
US - Eggplant
UK - Aubergine0 -
@OP - Great thread, very informative! I would like to clarify that although part of the US, our Southern US brothers and sisters have by far the most unique sayings.
Case in point, I am employed by one of the largest companies in the world and joined a few co-workers for dinner and drinks after the Educational workshop.
There were 6 people from corporate offices all over the world; London, Scotland, India, Canda, Australia, US Mississippi, and US Hawaii (me). We shared many laughs and a great time! Many beers later, I noticed that my buddy from the south, got more comfortable and started saying things that we couldn't understand. My colleagues, needed clarification on many jokes and would have appreciated this thread prior to having dinner. 0 -
But then, it seems you're generalizing a bit, too. 2000 square feet is a good-sized house to me, but not HUGE by any stretch of the imagination. That would generally be a 3-4 bedroom home. The bedrooms in newer homes are generally at least large enough to hold a queen-sized bed. I'm actually LOOKING for reasonably priced 2-3 bedroom homes in my area and would be very happy with 2000 sq ft. Now, there are "monstrosities" in my suburb that I can't even fathom living in or what you would do with. I saw one the other day, selling for $3.5 million, 8 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, over 13,000 square feet. I can't imagine living in a place the size of yours (my apartment is 1210 square feet), likely because I was born and raised in central Ohio, and not an urban area where homes are necessarily smaller.one thing i think people need to realize when classifying things as being a certain way in the states is that this is a gigantic country and astonishingly different from region to region.
in discussions like this i always see a lot of talk about how gigantic our houses are. we don't all live in texas is these monstrous homes. for instance my husband and i live in a 1 bedroom 600 square foot (just under 56 square meter) apartment. i can not fathom living in one of these HUGE 2000 square feet (185 suqare meter) homes. so much wasted space. so much to have to keep clean.
i haven't owned an automobile in over 12 years. i only know a few people who actually do in my city. 80% of us live in urban areas.
hershey's chocolate does taste icky. you can get cadbury everywhere here that i have ever lived. ranch dressing is disgusting. hp sauce is delicious. iced sweet tea is a lovely summer time drink but i prefer my tea earl grey, hot, and with milk and sugar.
the majority (meaning over 50%) of us do not own guns and don't feel the need to.
Public transportation around here is the city bus or very expensive taxi cabs, so more people around here drive than don't.
I don't currently own a gun, but will soon become a gun owner.
US - Eggplant
UK - Aubergine
i wasn't generalizing i said for instance my husband and i. just showing another often unknown side of the coin ;-)
i've actually met people from many parts of the world that honestly think every single person in the states drive giant suvs, live in huge houses, and eat nothing but beef and potatoes. no idea how these rumors start but they do seem to nevertheless. i was talking to a british friend about how when he, a vegetarian, told him friends he was moving tot he states they all gasped sincere concern about what on earth he was going to eat in a country with no vegetables.
i've always thought the eggplant aubergine thing was funny. especially since most people still use the word aubergine for the color just not the vegetable. :-)
eta - holy smokes that is one massive house!! i can't even wrap my head around that. LOL0 -
Note to self: If traveling to the UK, pack string cheese and coffee creamor.0
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Cost of housing depends on where you live here in the US. Here in the Los Angeles area you might be able to find a small townhouse for $380k. Prices have gone down over the last 5 years, but $380k will still only buy you a cardboard shack in Malibu.
come on now! there is NO way you could get a cardboard shack for $380K in malibu. you can't even buy a parcel of land large enough to turn in a circle on for that price!
you can buy the shack for 380k but you have to move it because the ground it sits on is $1 million
My parents have a 3-bedroom house with a half acre of land and were trying to sell it for $60k. This is in small town NY. Oh, for those who don't know, New York is a State, not just a city! I get that a lot when I travel. I remember in Vienna I had someone say, "Wow! Vienna much be so small to you!" When I responded that I'm from a town of six THOUSAND people, they were speechless, haha, so I found myself explaining that NY is a state, not just one giant city
Now when I travel I just say I'm from Niagara Falls, since that's the closest landmark people recogniz(s?)e.
I haven't been to the UK (yet!) but I have studied in Germany and Austria, lived in Italy, worked in Korea, and traveled a lot of north-Eastern and Central Europe so I'm very used to both small and massive cultural differences, language differences, measuring differences, etc. I also teach ESL/EFL, and that's a whole lot of fun because there are even grammatical differences between UK and US English such as I'm laying in bed vs I'm laid in bed.
Here's one that's fun: I'm also a big socc.... er football fan (supporter), and when I talk about that, I switch up how I say things depending on who I'm talking with. With fellow knowledgeable Americans, I use British terms (examples: pitch, kit, shirt, match, nill), but with Americans who do not follow the sport, I use American terms (field, uniform, jersey, game, zero)0 -
one thing i think people need to realize when classifying things as being a certain way in the states is that this is a gigantic country and astonishingly different from region to region.
in discussions like this i always see a lot of talk about how gigantic our houses are. we don't all live in texas is these monstrous homes. for instance my husband and i live in a 1 bedroom 600 square foot (just under 56 square meter) apartment. i can not fathom living in one of these HUGE 2000 square feet (185 suqare meter) homes. so much wasted space. so much to have to keep clean.
i haven't owned an automobile in over 12 years. i only know a few people who actually do in my city. 80% of us live in urban areas.
hershey's chocolate does taste icky. you can get cadbury everywhere here that i have ever lived. ranch dressing is disgusting. hp sauce is delicious. iced sweet tea is a lovely summer time drink but i prefer my tea earl grey, hot, and with milk and sugar.
the majority (meaning over 50%) of us do not own guns and don't feel the need to.
That's a bit of an exaggeration. There are plenty of 2000 sq ft apartments in even the most urban areas of the US and they are not considered huge by most people. SF has nation's highest rent and there are plenty of 2 and 3 bedroom apartments that size, mine included and it's fairly average. And there is no wasted space.
And while you and your friends may not own cars, there are still millions of automobiles owned by Chicago residents. Just like in SF and New York City. Our urban cities are not nearly so urban as you make it sound. We still drive cars and live in decently sized apartments/houses. It's not like the US has this huge divide between tiny studios with no cars in urban areas and monstrous 16,000 sq foot homes and 4 trucks out front in rural areas. A few extremes on both sides, sure.0 -
one thing i think people need to realize when classifying things as being a certain way in the states is that this is a gigantic country and astonishingly different from region to region.
in discussions like this i always see a lot of talk about how gigantic our houses are. we don't all live in texas is these monstrous homes. for instance my husband and i live in a 1 bedroom 600 square foot (just under 56 square meter) apartment. i can not fathom living in one of these HUGE 2000 square feet (185 suqare meter) homes. so much wasted space. so much to have to keep clean.
i haven't owned an automobile in over 12 years. i only know a few people who actually do in my city. 80% of us live in urban areas.
hershey's chocolate does taste icky. you can get cadbury everywhere here that i have ever lived. ranch dressing is disgusting. hp sauce is delicious. iced sweet tea is a lovely summer time drink but i prefer my tea earl grey, hot, and with milk and sugar.
the majority (meaning over 50%) of us do not own guns and don't feel the need to.
That's a bit of an exaggeration. There are plenty of 2000 sq ft apartments in even the most urban areas of the US and they are not considered huge by most people. SF has nation's highest rent and there are plenty of 2 and 3 bedroom apartments that size, mine included and it's fairly average. And there is no wasted space.
And while you and your friends may not own cars, there are still millions of automobiles owned by Chicago residents. Just like in SF and New York City. Our urban cities are not nearly so urban as you make it sound. We still drive cars and live in decently sized apartments/houses. It's not like the US has this huge divide between tiny studios with no cars in urban areas and monstrous 16,000 sq foot homes and 4 trucks out front in rural areas.
i didn't say that i said i, me, we, my husband and i. i am stating what MY life is like. i just downsized from a 1200 square foot 3 bedroom apartment to a 600 square foot 1 bedroom and would not dream of going back. too much upkeep. to much wasted space. i, personally, only know one couple who lives in a chicago (where i personally live) apartment what is over 2000 square feet and judging that it houses 2 people and cost over a million bucks i personally think that is a lot of wasted space and in turn a lot of wasted money. at no point in my statement did i say what anyone's life was like but my own. i'm just commenting on that this place we live in has a lot of different kinds of lives in it.0 -
And don't get me started about adding 'u's to words that don't need them: Color, flavor, favorite, etc.
WE didn't add them - YOU took them out!
Well said. Such a foolish comment.0 -
That's funny about no vegetables. And yes, aubergine sounds so much nicer for that shade than "eggplant." lol And I can't wrap my head around it either. I even looked through the photos and it just seemed like so much wasted space.
But then, it seems you're generalizing a bit, too. 2000 square feet is a good-sized house to me, but not HUGE by any stretch of the imagination. That would generally be a 3-4 bedroom home. The bedrooms in newer homes are generally at least large enough to hold a queen-sized bed. I'm actually LOOKING for reasonably priced 2-3 bedroom homes in my area and would be very happy with 2000 sq ft. Now, there are "monstrosities" in my suburb that I can't even fathom living in or what you would do with. I saw one the other day, selling for $3.5 million, 8 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, over 13,000 square feet. I can't imagine living in a place the size of yours (my apartment is 1210 square feet), likely because I was born and raised in central Ohio, and not an urban area where homes are necessarily smaller.one thing i think people need to realize when classifying things as being a certain way in the states is that this is a gigantic country and astonishingly different from region to region.
in discussions like this i always see a lot of talk about how gigantic our houses are. we don't all live in texas is these monstrous homes. for instance my husband and i live in a 1 bedroom 600 square foot (just under 56 square meter) apartment. i can not fathom living in one of these HUGE 2000 square feet (185 suqare meter) homes. so much wasted space. so much to have to keep clean.
i haven't owned an automobile in over 12 years. i only know a few people who actually do in my city. 80% of us live in urban areas.
hershey's chocolate does taste icky. you can get cadbury everywhere here that i have ever lived. ranch dressing is disgusting. hp sauce is delicious. iced sweet tea is a lovely summer time drink but i prefer my tea earl grey, hot, and with milk and sugar.
the majority (meaning over 50%) of us do not own guns and don't feel the need to.
Public transportation around here is the city bus or very expensive taxi cabs, so more people around here drive than don't.
I don't currently own a gun, but will soon become a gun owner.
US - Eggplant
UK - Aubergine
i wasn't generalizing i said for instance my husband and i. just showing another often unknown side of the coin ;-)
i've actually met people from many parts of the world that honestly think every single person in the states drive giant suvs, live in huge houses, and eat nothing but beef and potatoes. no idea how these rumors start but they do seem to nevertheless. i was talking to a british friend about how when he, a vegetarian, told him friends he was moving tot he states they all gasped sincere concern about what on earth he was going to eat in a country with no vegetables.
i've always thought the eggplant aubergine thing was funny. especially since most people still use the word aubergine for the color just not the vegetable. :-)
eta - holy smokes that is one massive house!! i can't even wrap my head around that. LOL0 -
That's funny about no vegetables. And yes, aubergine sounds so much nicer for that shade than "eggplant." lol And I can't wrap my head around it either. I even looked through the photos and it just seemed like so much wasted space.
i just...so much cleaning!! yuck!! though i guess if you can afford such a house you can afford a cleaning lady?? maybe??0 -
I'm thinking at LEAST one cleaning lady, perhaps a whole TEAM of them....That's funny about no vegetables. And yes, aubergine sounds so much nicer for that shade than "eggplant." lol And I can't wrap my head around it either. I even looked through the photos and it just seemed like so much wasted space.
i just...so much cleaning!! yuck!! though i guess if you can afford such a house you can afford a cleaning lady?? maybe??0 -
I'm thinking at LEAST one cleaning lady, perhaps a whole TEAM of them....That's funny about no vegetables. And yes, aubergine sounds so much nicer for that shade than "eggplant." lol And I can't wrap my head around it either. I even looked through the photos and it just seemed like so much wasted space.
i just...so much cleaning!! yuck!! though i guess if you can afford such a house you can afford a cleaning lady?? maybe??
or a whole passel of kids with a thorough list of chores. though that would explain the 8 bedrooms!0 -
I'm married to a Brit and I've picked up the following - GAR-aj for garage, vit-a-mins for vi-ta-mins, and I say vits (Brit way) a lot. We live in the USA outside of SF in a 2 story house. I did not want a 2 story house as I grew up in a mid-century 1 story ranch type but he insisted & all the newer homes in the USA are 2 story these days.
One thing about USA 2 story homes is the wasted space in them. For instance ours has cathedral ceilings & it's ridiculous. In the UK his sister and BIL live in the home counties and there's a complete floor above. Wish we had that instead. I find cathedral ceilings a complete waste of energy and our house energy prices in the SF Bay Area are high, possibly the highest in the land, more than what the UK pays. Our average PGE bill here for our 2 story home is $300 a month and up to $500 in the cold Dec/Jan months.
We go to Europe a lot & the UK is obviously included in that "go to Europe" thing.
Brits say "reckon" & in the USA the only people that say that are Southerners. Also Southerners have kept all these old time sayings that Brits say and have added their own.
OTOH, in the USA we have our own pool (unheated - see that PGE bill above) but that's ok because where we live it gets HOT & we don't need the heater on a lot of times, in fact it was HOT here yesterday, going to be HOTTER again today and we have black out curtains in our house because of that heat.
Oh and the other day when we were waiting in line at the chemists (aka Walgreens) a woman said I had a "slight British accent", which is great. I hope so! I have picked up a lot from hubby.
Oh and my home is 2285 sq feet - 2 stories tall, pool, 10k sq ft of land - it is landscaped and absolutely gorgeous, and we have a porch with a fence. These homes look larger on the outside than they are on the inside due to the cathedral ceilings in them aka wasted space. We don't have a maid but we have a horticulturalist who takes care of our place (gardener but he's writing a book on the plants in our county and he's a real horticulturalist). We have banana trees that fruit (we're in a microclimate, others tell us that our area is not great for growing them), an orange tree, tangerine,, lemon tree & we just bought a Bearss Lime tree that has already started flowering in spite of the frosty nights.
Our UK family loves to visit us, and we them too. I made enchiladas for them in the UK and they were seriously delighted with it (I'm not Latina, I just like that kind of food).0 -
one of my best girl friends live in edinburgh. she always tells me she is envious of our window screens.0
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Cheetos! They're not Cheetos, they're Wotsits!
And it's jam, not jelly, and jelly not jello :happy:0 -
Cheetos! They're not Cheetos, they're Wotsits!
And it's jam, not jelly, and jelly not jello :happy:
Cheetos is the brand name
as is Jell-o
We just tend to refer to similar products by the most common brand name, like using Band-Aid and Kleenex...0 -
Queues not "lines"0
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I am 31, and in the UK, and I use ounces sometimes. 4oz is approx 100g
I weigh my food in grams as thats more accurate than cups, but when I make or bake something, its easier to use my US cup set for measuring.
All the conversions can been googled0 -
Cost of housing depends on where you live here in the US. Here in the Los Angeles area you might be able to find a small townhouse for $380k. Prices have gone down over the last 5 years, but $380k will still only buy you a cardboard shack in Malibu.
come on now! there is NO way you could get a cardboard shack for $380K in malibu. you can't even buy a parcel of land large enough to turn in a circle on for that price!
you can buy the shack for 380k but you have to move it because the ground it sits on is $1 million
My parents have a 3-bedroom house with a half acre of land and were trying to sell it for $60k. This is in small town NY. Oh, for those who don't know, New York is a State, not just a city! I get that a lot when I travel. I remember in Vienna I had someone say, "Wow! Vienna much be so small to you!" When I responded that I'm from a town of six THOUSAND people, they were speechless, haha, so I found myself explaining that NY is a state, not just one giant city Now when I travel I just say I'm from Niagara Falls, since that's the closest landmark people recogniz(s?)e.
I want to add to the geography point here too. I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York (near Niagara Falls/Canadian Border) and now live in New York City...about an 8 hour drive. Every single time I went on vacation as a kid, no one seemed to remember that New York state, not just the city. Even living here, I need to explain that Buffalo mannerisms are closer to midwest america than New York City. And it's not upstate NY, it's western NY lol.
But I can add that as something we have in common with UK, cause I know different regions have difference dialects and mannerisms too.0 -
There must be somewhere in UK we can get ranch, I've tried all the ones claiming to be but they taste horrible! I think sour cream & chive or soured cream is the closest.
Hello from the Steel City! I can confirm ranch dressing is (still) not a thing here. What is it, anyway? Salad cream is evil in a bottle. Hellmans mayo is where it's at.
I found salad bars hard to find when I lived in England. But when I did, I saw some unlabeled ranch and I was so excited. Turned out it was salad cream and it was vile!0 -
I want to add to the geography point here too. I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York (near Niagara Falls/Canadian Border) and now live in New York City...about an 8 hour drive. Every single time I went on vacation as a kid, no one seemed to remember that New York state, not just the city. Even living here, I need to explain that Buffalo mannerisms are closer to midwest america than New York City. And it's not upstate NY, it's western NY lol.
But I can add that as something we have in common with UK, cause I know different regions have difference dialects and mannerisms too.
:flowerforyou: Some of my friends tell me "meh, you're Canadian" hahaha. I'm sure you totally understand that too, eh?
Are you actually from Buffalo? I just say I am, but I'm from that lovely stretch of no-man's land between Buffalo and Rochester. About 15 minutes north of Darien Lake0
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