When America gets it right.

[popcornwizard]

Most of their spelling and grammar differences are just wrong, but occasionally something it works, and works even better than our version! Dear reader I give you the 'cell' or 'cellphone'. It is much easier and more pleasant than the 'mobile phone' that we linguistically haul around. Is it the only one?

A good thing to know for those threads bemoaning Americanisms; evidently quite a few MNetters think that the borrowing was the other way around

It happens a lot. Don't get me started on Trick or Treating (Guising in Scotland) or the use of surnames as first names (always been common in Scotland to call sons their mother's maiden name).

The US has many traditions and practices imported from all over the world given the nature of the population and that's great but they didn't invent everything :o

mycat Your doctor should be willing to write you an rx for more than one course of treatment, allowing you to keep it at home handy for the next outbreak. If he or she won't find a new doctor. It's not a high risk drug.

graphista

I know Advil is ibuprofen but I note the lack of use of paracetamol (acetaminophen) in the states. Seemingly aspirin & Advil more popular

Acetaminophen is available in any chemist or grocery store in the US. The branded version is Tylenol, but most people just get the much cheaper generic version. The use of acetaminophen has declined as more evidence accumulates regarding it and liver toxicity. Similarly the use of aspirin has declined because of it's tendency to promote gastric bleeding.

Ibuprofen isn't perfect either. Taken too often, it blocks the production of a substance that protects the lining of your stomach from stomach acids, promoting ulceration.

/HCP mode off

Even a thread titled “When America gets it right” is filled with things it’s supposedly doing wrong.

mycat sorry to hear about your broken foot. Doctors are really shy about prescribing any kind of narcotic pain relief because of the opioid crisis. When I had to have a tooth extracted the oral surgeon wouldn't give me anything at all for pain and I've been seeing him for 20 years.

Fortunately I had something at home.

@MissConductUS I totally appreciate that and think it's great they're more careful these days but honestly i was in more pain than childbirth!

I actually ended up asking friends and neighbours for their left over prescription painkillers as I wasn't even able to sleep it hurt so much. Which is obviously NOT ideal.

Honestly, if I'd had access to heroin I probably would have taken it, for a few days I cried constantly and just wished I was dead.

Luckily I then got given some pot edibles and they saved me. Although I wasn't so keen on feeling high but it was better than the pain!

mycat, I agree, it's gone to far the other way. We don't have medical marijuana here yet in a meaningful way. One med you can ask for that's stronger than Ibuprofen is Mobic. It's a prescription NSAID that's usually given for arthritis.

www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-18173/mobic-oral/details

Since it's non narcotic they'll usually prescribe it if you ask for it.

I'd actually have preferred medical as I didn't want to feel high lol! The nearest store for that is quite a way away and you need a prescription I think.

Now pretty much every person with a garden here is growing pot.

Thanks for the link, I'll bear it in mind for the next time Dh injures himself (seems to be weekly.)

Find a large chemist and ask for Reese's Pinworm Medicine

I had to smile at this; the only "Reese's" I was aware of is peanut butter products, especially the "cups"

Mind you, the way the chocolate on them tastes they'd probably work just as well - any self respecting worm would shift pretty fast if confronted with it

We live in North America, originally from Yorkshire. We have often said it's surprising how much of a language barrier there is! My favourite is 'criss cross applesauce' for when the dc sit cross legged at school. The dc have assimilated quite well, we now wear snow pants and toques (woolly hats) eat candy and cookies, chips and fries, drink juice boxes and pop. They see trucks (pick ups and suvs) and rigs (lorries) on the highway and have supper as their evening meal. It's all Dh and I can do to keep up! 😂

What exactly is “half and half”?

Half of what? It could be absolutely anything! Half an elephant, half a mouse?

Obvs I figured it’s something dairy based as it’s added to coffee, but “half and half” really gives no clues!

Half-and-half is a mixture of whole milk and cream. It is 12% fat.

It's half whole milk and half cream. The ingredients are on the label. It's also kept in the dairy case in the store, right alongside the milk and the cream.

Context is everything. 😇

I'm still strictly a milk girl. Half and half makes me feel quite sick.

DH has maple syrup and full fat cream in his coffee. Fatty McFatson.

There is also another important designation of the term "half-and-half" if you travel to the Southern US. The most popular drink in the south is iced tea, served all year round. In restaurants, when you order iced tea you have to specify sweet or unsweet. Sweet tea is commonly sweetened when the freshly brewed tea is hot so the sugar melts completely. It is usually really sweet. If you want it sweet, but not quite that sweet, you order "iced tea, half and half".

You can also get half iced tea and half lemonade, called an Arnold Palmer after the golfer.

DS got hold of some iced tea at an exhibition DH was doing. We were both tied up talking about his photos and ds and his scampy little mates must have drunk the whole jug between them.

It was so unbelievably sugary! They were off their rockers for about two hours!

Half and half (the dairy item) is nice in coffee, I am told.

We also don't have (OK with a very few exceptions) the concept of 'liberal arts' or a general college degree with post graduate 'school' eg at 18 you start you 3 year law degree or your 5 year medicine degree and at the end you are a qualified lawyer or doctor.
Sashh

A liberal arts degree or a degree from a college of liberal arts is not a degree awarded after spending four years taking a hodge podge of different courses. It's not a 'general college degree'.

Schools/colleges of liberal arts within universities and liberal arts colleges grant degrees in specific majors (and minors).

Liberal arts colleges within universities are sometimes lumped with sciences, as in 'liberal arts and sciences'.

The terms 'liberal arts' and 'liberal arts and sciences' distinguish them from narrower undergraduate programmes with a single focus, like engineering.

As an example, my DS graduated from the college of liberal arts and sciences of a certain state university with a BSc, majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry. Students hoping to graduate from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at this particular university have to take a certain number of electives in areas separate from their major/minor, covering history, modern foreign language, culture/fine arts, rhetoric/writing, sociology. About one third of DS's courses were electives.

The university has other colleges - engineering, ag and environmental science, applied health sciences, business, education, fine and applied arts, media, social work...

DD1 graduated from a private liberal arts college where typically one third of an undergrad's courses are electives, with the remaining two thirds related to the major(s), and minor if applicable. This particular liberal arts college calls itself 'University of XXXX'. It has both undergrad and postgrad schools and also professional schools. Undergrads at DD1's alma mater take 'core' coursework - everyone takes courses from the core offerings and everyone is expected to cover all the required core disciplines. DD took courses related to her major (econ) every year she was there, with the vast majority of her courses in her last two years devoted to the major and her minor.

I note the lack of use of paracetamol (acetaminophen) in the states.
Graphista
The brand is Tylenol. It is used by millions. You can get it in extra strength and regular strength, brand name and generic.

There are warnings about over use and liver damage, and it doesn't work as fast as nsaid pain relief. There are also warnings about drinking if you take acetaminophen regularly, so quite a wet blanket...

Mycatistoo
Maybe it's different in Maine but you can buy certain nasal decongestants without signing the register. I buy generic phenylephrine even at the Dollar Store. I could load up a whole trolley with it.
If you buy pseudoephedrine you have to sign the register.

Are your family taking two doses of US otc pinworm medicine? Everyone takes dose 1 and then dose 2 a week later and Bob's your uncle.

You can also get thrush cream (various brands) and suppositories and systemic med otc.

For cold sores, dab on some pepto bismol.

I drink cream with my coffee and generally don't have a problem getting it in coffee shops / cafes, but I did once ask for it in a hotel and got a bowl of whipped cream with my drink 😂

Also, for colds, Alka Seltzer Cold remedy is the bees knees. You can get it in night or day formulations, gel capsules or revolting flavoured fizzy tablets.

"I broke my foot and tore all of the ligaments last year and all I could get from my doctor was ONE DOSE of co-codamol that you can buy otc in the UK." Tbh given the addiction issues (which we have in uk too) I personally think it should be prescription only here too.

"It's not a high risk drug." Actually codeine is highly addictive and in this product as its included with paracetamol (Tylenol) here which IS dangerous in even small overdose then actually it is a high risk drug. ( and you then even state how dangerous Tylenol can be)

As an hcp you must know aspirin and Advil are also triggering for some asthmatics (I hit the jackpot they set off my stomach AND my asthma, I'm also allergic to codeine so I'm stuck with paracetamol which does sod all or tramadol if I'm really bad which I hate how it makes me feel!)

"And to buy any kind of decongestant where I am you have to provide ID and they take all of your details and keep them on file." Isn't that related to it being a meth lab ingredient?

"because of the opioid crisis." At least it's recognised over there! Here we seem decades behind that acknowledgement/understanding.

BUT HCPS still need to provide pain relief where it's needed. Due to genetics I metabolise pain meds and even anaesthetics faster than most but getting hcps to BELIEVE this is bloody murder! I could tell some stories!

I knew the brand name was Tylenol but I'd also noticed even that being referenced less in American tv & film

*What exactly is “half and half”?

Half of what? It could be absolutely anything! Half an elephant, half a mouse?

Obvs I figured it’s something dairy based as it’s added to coffee, but “half and half” really gives no clues!*

Come to Canada where we drink homo milk in bags.

@graphista

"It's not a high risk drug." Actually codeine is highly addictive

I'm well aware. I wasn't referring to codeine. If you look up thread a bit, mycat was complaining about needing an rx for Zovirax.

And I only get cold sores once every 5 years or so but they don't seem to sell anything as good as Zovirax here, maybe that's something you need to get on prescription too.

And when I do get a cold sore I need to head it off the second I get a tingle to avoid a full blown outbreak, by the time I've got a doctors appointment and taken a day trip to get the medicine it's too late.

So my advice was to ask her doctor to rx enough acyclovir (Zovirax) for more than one course of treatment. Valtrex, which is the prodrug for acyclovir, is usually more effective so I probably should have recommended that too.

Both of my kids had asthma, so yes, I know that anything that blocks the COX-1 enzyme can be problematic. Fortunately, neither were triggered by NSAIDs and they both outgrew it.

When I lived in the states I generally used whatever words meant the least amount of syllables.

So trash went in the bin. Hood instead of bonnet, gas instead of petrol, torch instead of flashlight, tap rather than faucet.

Come to Canada where we drink homo milk in bags

I like homo milk (but call it blue milk)