Things that baffle you about another country

[Soubriquet]

America:-

Why are the gaps in the toilet doors so wide? Do you really enjoy an audience?

Why can’t tax be included in the price? If I want to buy something for a dollar it should be a dollar! Not dollar plus tax!

Australia:-

Still weird that you have Christmas in summer.

Wonder if they have different Christmas songs there.

Can’t see walking in a winter land being a big hit.

More like hiding from a hot heatwave

Did nobody else want to laugh at the poster complaining about narrow roads?

Modernising them would mean pulling down housing, all kinds of buildings or compulsory purchasing perfectly good agricultural land. We don't pull down buildings that could be 5/600 years old for roads and don't have enough land to routinely waste it just to widen roads that are adequate.

Motorways are entirely different and we need to rethink our use of them. Commercial access only. Commuters, locals and day trippers can use the A roads that always run alongside them.

@Bambooshoot

Why do Americans call the main course the entrée? Is it some kind of gastronomic vanity sizing so when you eat out you can feel smug telling yourself that you only had a starter?

It's the same in Italy. Primo - the pasta bit, which is the most important bit Secondo- the meat or fish bit which is smaller and less important. First= most important It's the UK that does it differently to most places with second=main.

The amount of ignorance in the UK about the U.S. shown on this thread is astonishing and amusing. One suburb in Texas in 2002 cannot be extrapolated to all of America.

@DifficultBloodyWoman

I’d forgotten about the Aussie love of showers over baths! Ironic co side ring that was a factor in choosing every house (4 of them to date) we lived in. I require a bath. Not everyday but one in the house for when I want a bubble bath and book for relaxation. One house had the world’s tiniest bath tub (but at least it was still a bath tub). Definitely aimed at the kids rather than adults. Literally half the length and 3/4 depth of a normal bath in the U.K.. Impossible to stretch out in but at least it was a bath.

Same here (Italy) After 30 years I finally have a house with a bath. Joy! (All Italian relatives think I'm minging for "lying in my own muck" though. )

@Highfalutinlootin

The amount of ignorance in the UK about the U.S. shown on this thread is astonishing and amusing. One suburb in Texas in 2002 cannot be extrapolated to all of America.

Mumsnetters generally hate the US and Americans. As can be seen. Loving the "no pavements" bit. In a country bigger than Europe, not one single pavement. All those films must have made them specially to not tip MN over the edge I guess.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

In Amsterdam a couple of years ago - zillions of cyclists zooming around everywhere - fast! - and nobody wearing a helmet.

Right outside our hotel we saw a woman cyclist who was holding a baby in one arm, just miss colliding with someone else from the hotel. 😱

In India you see the whole family on a moped with the woman, barefoot and dressed in a sari, sitting side saddle holding a newborn. I think helmets are completely unknown.The traffic is horrendous too.

U.K. washing machine cycles take forever. Not sure why. Americans ‘mircrowaving’ water. Germans giving tea to babies. Americans and their flag obsession. Americans and their gun policies or lack of....having reality TV stars as presidents. Some countries clap when pilots put the plane down on runways (always found very odd, who else do we clap for doing their job correctly? Except maybe that bizarre NHS clapping!?). Cheese vending machines. Knicker vending machines....Japans obsession with vending machines full stop.

I sometimes watch people on TikTok do videos about the things they found strange on moving to another country. They are fascinating.

One American lady, who lives in the UK now, said that in the US people would go to the doctor regularly, with any minor niggles (obviously a generalisation, I know) If she had a cold or a sore throat, she expected to come away with a 'cure'. And when she came to the UK and went to the doctor having caught a cold, the doctor was baffled as to why she would expect her to be able to do anything about it and told her it would run its course. That amazed me because I thought that it would have been the opposite and in the US you'd avoid going to the doctor unless it was life and death.

...but entree literally translate as starter so it should come at the start of a meal, even if you think it’s the most important bit or not?!!! 😂

@wellthatsunusual have they found a cure to the common cold that we don’t know about yet? 😉

On the subject of loos, why do American ones have a gap in the front of the seat? It makes them quite uncomfortable to sit on unless you cover with loo paper.

@Harrykanesrightsock

Air con in American restaurants set at 16 degrees in the Summer . If I ate in a Uk restaurant that cold I would complain and ask them to put the heat on.

In Florida they seem to be improving a bit with the temp control. When we started going to USA for winter holiday 20 years ago, I always needed a jumper in chilly restaurants. When we were there last year (pre covid) there seemed to have been a universal acceptance that maybe excess air conditioning was daft

Also NZ - hotels with a duvet but no duvet cover - instead sheet/duvet/sheet in a complicated envelope arrangement. Just use a duvet cover!

I don't like the UK system where the duvet cover is right next to your body, a sheet, duvet, sheet is more hygienic. I'd no sooner use a duvet cover with no sheet under it than I'd sit on the dining room table.

[quote Poorlykitten]@wellthatsunusual have they found a cure to the common cold that we don’t know about yet? 😉[/quote]
That's exactly what I thought too!

@MagicSummer

On the subject of loos, why do American ones have a gap in the front of the seat? It makes them quite uncomfortable to sit on unless you cover with loo paper.

We used to have these at school - to stop dribbles of wee on the seat.

Germans giving tea to babies.
This was normal in the UK 40 years ago, you would regularly see toddlers with a bottle of tea. It was probably a class thing though (working).

I moved to Denmark over a decade ago and my daughter was born two years ago. It's not just leaving babies in prams outside at cafes etc. - we'd often pop in the pram outside our house for a nap.

It was very weird for me and took some getting used to, but she really napped well out in the (bloody cold!) fresh air.

I suppose we didn't evolve in warm apartments...

In California you not only couldn't line dry your clothes (despite the perfect weather in a supposedly environmentally aware state) on our estate, you weren't allowed to dry them in the garage - lowered the tone I suppose.

@Soubriquet

Not paying service staff a living wage!!

Why?!

Why should they have to rely on tips to live??

Totally agree. Pay a decent wage and charge whatever price is necessary to achieve that.

Don’t quote low prices, and then expect customers to pay tips to top up wages.

I can’t stand the tipping culture. The price should be the price.

In Germany they hang their duvets out the window every day to air them. I did this in the U.K. and the neighbours complained. 😂

Britain. Why do you still think you are world beating in every way? (I am British)

*Totally agree. Pay a decent wage and charge whatever price is necessary to achieve that.

Don’t quote low prices, and then expect customers to pay tips to top up wages.

I can’t stand the tipping culture. The price should be the price.*

I agree. On our first evening in Iceland DH and I were discussing how much to tip in a restaurant. A man at the table next to us leaned over and said 'It's Ok we don't have to tip here.' The sign of a civilised country!

Some countries clap when pilots put the plane down on runways (always found very odd, who else do we clap for doing their job correctly? Most people doing their job wrong won't directly kill me

In Namibia some people were paid in tips only - staff at petrol filling stations in particular would fill you up, wipe your windscreen and check your tyres for a tip. On the streets of Windhoek there were Car Guards who for the equivalent of 50p would stand by your parked car with a truncheon.

@skybluepinks

Also NZ - hotels with a duvet but no duvet cover - instead sheet/duvet/sheet in a complicated envelope arrangement. Just use a duvet cover!

I don't like the UK system where the duvet cover is right next to your body, a sheet, duvet, sheet is more hygienic. I'd no sooner use a duvet cover with no sheet under it than I'd sit on the dining room table.

But they don’t have a duvet cover! It is:

Fitted or bottom sheet
Flat sheet
Duvet with no cover
Flat sheet

If you roll around in the middle of the night, the sheets slip and you end up next to the uncovered duvet. Ewww!

Thanks @TheHoneyFactory for illuminating me about Aussie showers!

This was in Adelaide so I guess the water saving considerations hadn't really occurred to me (stupidly), I just figured a shower in an often hot climate was more refreshing than immersing yourself in a bath.