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

@tobee why would you want american style healthcare rather than free nhs for all? You have the option of private healthcare otherwise which would be similar to american system. But one thing about nhs is everyone has free access

Germany: Why do you have to "validate your ticket"? Why isn't it already "valid" when you buy it?

Why do you have to "validate your ticket"? Why isn't it already "valid" when you buy it? this isn't just a thing in Germany. It's so you can't use it again or pass it on to someone else to use it again.

@Signalbox

Germany: Why do you have to "validate your ticket"? Why isn't it already "valid" when you buy it?

I'd completely forgotten the tense morning I spent trying to work out how to make a tram ticket work in Leipzig if you got on anywhere but the main station! (I know, I know, my fault really for not checking the day before.)

Actually my favourite one when I lived in Germany was that swimsuits/towels etc could not be worn or taken into the mixed-sex (and they always were) saunas, but flip flops were compulsory (I mean I sort of understand about the flip flops, but if you are going to be concerned about the state of a person's feet than why not about other parts of their body?)

CaptainMyCaptain, yes, I’ve seen that (and worse) in India and SE Asia too.
I just hadn’t expected it in the Netherlands, where I get the impression that they rather pride themselves on doing things at least as sensibly and properly as anywhere else - if not better.

Re clapping the pilot on landing, as air crew aeons ago I’ve known this a few times - the entire passenger load bursting into applause - but only when the landing was so smooth, you barely felt it at all. But that was in a plane that’s not been in the air for a long time. On long haul it flew higher than usual, too - above most of the turbulence.

RIP VC10. ❤️

I'd completely forgotten the tense morning I spent trying to work out how to make a tram ticket work in Leipzig if you got on anywhere but the main station! (I know, I know, my fault really for not checking the day before.)

Yes my DH and I got caught by undercover transport police on our 1st day in Berlin having not validated. I had no idea despite the massive signs up everywhere! Not sure how we managed to wriggle out of the €80 on the spot fine! Serves me right for not checking the guidebook but I can’t be the only tourist who has ever been caught out.

this isn't just a thing in Germany. It's so you can't use it again or pass it on to someone else to use it again

I think the point is it’s different to here. It was only really an issue on day one of our visit but memorable due to the consequences.

Re babies outside in prams, this was very much the norm in the U.K. not so long ago. If you had a garden to put them in, it was considered healthy, even in winter as long as they were well wrapped up, and babies often enjoyed looking at trees, clouds, etc.

The biggest concern was that a cat might like to curl up and sleep on your baby’s face and suffocate it, so cat nets for prams were very much a Thing, too.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

CaptainMyCaptain, yes, I’ve seen that (and worse) in India and SE Asia too. I just hadn’t expected it in the Netherlands, where I get the impression that they rather pride themselves on doing things at least as sensibly and properly as anywhere else - if not better.

Re clapping the pilot on landing, as air crew aeons ago I’ve known this a few times - the entire passenger load bursting into applause - but only when the landing was so smooth, you barely felt it at all. But that was in a plane that’s not been in the air for a long time. On long haul it flew higher than usual, too - above most of the turbulence.

RIP VC10. ❤️

Not wearing helmets while cycling? The"doing things better" here is having a fitter, more active population with better balance skills, proper cycle paths and routes and laws that make vehicle drivers automatically at fault if they hit a cyclist or pedestrian.

Surely you must have noticed these things? On cycle paths which in cities are on mealy all pavements, cyclists have priority, so most pedestrians know to check it's clear before stepping out.

Expecting people to wear cycling helmets to cycle 10 minutes to the shops would be akin to making pedestrians wear helmets. Marginally safer, but utterly over the top. The real benefit is on having a fitter, less overweight population and not deterring people from cycling.

My husband made fly screens for our bedroom windows here in UK and in the living room he made cat proof ones to keep the cats in and away from the railway line.

Poland:
What is up with your teabags? I need to use 2 or 3 to make a cup of tea that tastes of anything.
Why do you advertise homes by room number and assume everyone is down with the parents sleeping in the living room?

USA:
It might just have been bad luck, maybe most of your bread is lovely, but every one I tried was sweet. Bread does not need to be sweet.

France:
(This is quite dated) no, a vegetarian will not be ok with 'taking the meat out' of a dish and eating the rest.

I've been nodding along with all the UK issues raised in this thread. A lot of what we have and do is fairly bonkers. Although we can't really go and widen all the roads and bridges very easily.

@Poorlykitten

...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?!!! 😂

Like "primo piatto" literally translates as first course. It's still the most important.

*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!*

When you make the bed you tuck the sheet in and the duvet is on top of the tucked in sheet, then you tuck the duvet in at the side and bottom then you tuck the top layer in. I don't use a sheet as the top layer, I use a blanket or throw. It's warm as.

If you don't want to be shot in this country, stay away from gangs and drugs, and you'll be safe.

And schools....... and cinemas, and many other places where mass shootings are what we would all term as common given it’s a really rare occurrence elsewhere. Have you actually looked at the stats re mass shootings in the US as opposed to the rest of the world?

Non English person here. etiquette of weddings and funerals is weird for me too. 2 tier wedding system - odd. Invite only funerals - so odd that anyone who wants to pay respects or support bereaved can't just turn up.

British queuing. On one hand, I love that people don't push and shove but the insistence on a single file queue no matter what the space constraints are (eg double file queue could work or snake queue or whatever), never ceases to astound me.

My biggest one is the US though - they can drive at 16, sign up for the military at 18, they have a disturbingly high level of child marriage, you can vote at 18 but.... you can't have a drink until you're 21? WTAF?

"Mumsnetters generally hate the US and Americans"

Every country hates the country that is culturally closest to them. This is neither mumsnet nor UK specific.

"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."

How on earth is it more hygienic? It's exactly the same, unless you're washing the sheet every day or something. Besides which, many British people do put a sheet under the duvet cover.

I'm always really confused by what on earth people are doing to make their sheets so unspeakably filthy.

In the UK it is unlikely that air conditioning would be used for more than a few days a week for a few weeks of the year.

Further south in mainland Europe it does get hot for months, but not here.

Global warming isn't going to make the UK hotter, it's going to make it wetter.

It is hot from may to September. I don't know why everyone thinks it's only hot 'a few weeks of the year'.

And yes, global warming is the reason the summers are hotter and for longer.

America - why are there males named Randy? That means sexually aroused where I’m from.

I always assumed that it was a diminutive for Andrew (or possibly Randolph?).

The American term common for sexually aroused is horny, isn’t it? Though it seems to be getting more common here. I blame this:

What's with closing the supermarket in the middle of the day, France? Yeah sure, you need to eat lunch, but so do I, and I'd like to buy food to do so. I lived there for 8 years and it never ceased to fuck me right off. Haven't they heard of shift patterns?

Well that didn’t work, sorry.

Or maybe it did. The link does, anyway.

TheOtherBoelynGirl:
"I'm always really confused by what on earth people are doing to make their sheets so unspeakably filthy."

Wanking?

"TheOtherBoelynGirl:
"I'm always really confused by what on earth people are doing to make their sheets so unspeakably filthy."

Wanking?"

As we're mostly women on here, they must be doing it differently to me.

[quote borntobequiet]America - why are there males named Randy? That means sexually aroused where I’m from.

I always assumed that it was a diminutive for Andrew (or possibly Randolph?).

The American term common for sexually aroused is horny, isn’t it? Though it seems to be getting more common here. I blame this:

[/quote] I knew a Randy, and it was short for Randall