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

Poland - houses/ apartments are advertised by the number of rooms not bedrooms and lots of people use their living room as a bedroom.

Denmark - people leaving their babies outside on the street in pushchairs while they eat inside a restaurant.

Re: German toilets - shelves (Flachspüler) have been out since about 1990 to the chagrain of GP's (late discovery of bowl and bladder problems like tumours) and are still used in hospitals and surgeries.

Re: raw meat is a regional thing and yes, it is tasty if prepared correctly and trichina are rare in industrially prodcued meat.
(And yes, Sauerbraten is traditionally made from horse meat.)

Re: nativities - they are supposed to anchor the birth of Christ into the very basics of every day life - at least in Germany (south / catholic)

Electric kettles are used in America, but they’re not as common. They use 120V, rather than out 240V, so take longer to boil.

They do combine two 120V rails at the consumer unit to provide 240V for some appliances, such as tumble driers, but I don’t know if it’s ever done to provide 240V just for a kettle.

I do not think being bad at pronouncing unusual names is a typically Italian thing, is it? (Having a look at those hilarious name theads on MN)

How has it ended up that pretty much everywhere else drives on a different side of the road. Why was this not sorted out soon after cars were invented?

@SiliconHeaven

The German poo shelf is so they can check for worms. They have a habit of eating raw meat and therefore get them a lot

🤢

Denmark - people leaving their babies outside on the street in pushchairs while they eat inside a restaurant

martha It was sorted by the ancient Romans (left) and then again by Napoleon (right). It is a fascinating topic - at least for an uncle of mine

America - guns, god & glory
Also the mad patriotism, flags flying everywhere

UK (and I think maybe a lot of Europe, at least the few countries I've visited) - the lack of fans/air conditioning in the MONTHS that heat now lasts. I will never understand this and it puts me off staying anywhere but my own home in the hot months, and no one else seems to be bothered by the heat and are just happy to sweat? Or have just one fan for a whole house? And staying in a hotel with no AC and a duvet, omg I could cry. Everyone goes on about global warming, but you mention a fan and suddenly no one needs to own one as apparently it's only hot 2 weeks of the year

Oh and any country that uses washing up bowls. The thought of filth swishing around in a bowl while I 'clean' dishes turns my stomach, and I refuse to use them.

Another one for the UK (I live here but not from here) - the lack of tumble dryers as standard. When there are such issues with damp in the winter months that would be solved with one.

Italy/Spain - if little children stay up late and don't really have bedtimes but just fall asleep wherever when out with their families, what about bathtime and teeth-brushing? When does that get done?

@MolyHolyGuacamole. Totally agree with you on washing-up bowls. My mother doesn't. I re-wash everything she washes when she stays.

To the UK - based on MN threads:
Why the obsession with bedtime routines? (I realize of course your days are neccessarily more structured bc. of your school system and I have read 'The Victorian house')
Why using bleach as a cleaning product - it doesn't clean and adds unneccessary chemicals to the water you (we) all drink?
Why don't you enjoy the richness of your dialects?

@MolyHolyGuacamole

Another one for the UK (I live here but not from here) - the lack of tumble dryers as standard. When there are such issues with damp in the winter months that would be solved with one.

Am with you on all these! I re-wash MIL dishes before I use them because they use the washing up bowl. I have also always insisted on a tumble dryer (DH joked I was spoiled)! This year I put air con in the loft bedrooms and a ceiling fan on 1st floor, DH is convinced I'm super spoiled. :)

Re Tumble dryers in the UK - I think as much as anything that can be a space issue.

I'm very happy to have space to stack my tumble dryer on top of my washing machine in a very tiny utility room.

From the States originally, so these are all about the UK :
No closets! Or significant storage.
I don't know if it's just me, but why are light fixtures /lampshades that don't show the bulb so hard to find? I hate the inquisitorial glare of the light bulb every time I flip on the overhead light!
Washing-up bowls - what's wrong with using the sink?
And finally: Why are mixer taps not standard?!

I don't mind about the A/C or tumble dryer issue-better for the environment, anyway.

or eggcups. Apparently they just boil their eggs and put them on a plate

I know the answer to this one! Rates of salmonella are a lot higher in America because of their industrial farming, so eating soft boiled eggs is much less of a thing. I don’t think they do dippy eggs.

Why do Americans have their dates backwards?!

Why have month and then the date instead of what everyone else around the world does?

When me and dh first got together, he didn’t want a tumble dryer. I had been bought up with one and he hadn’t. I won...and now he would never go back.

In fact, when ours broke, he was the first out getting a new one

To those with the washing up bowl problems:

You do wipe the dishes into the waste bin before you put them in the water, do you? And you start with glasses and end with pots? And change the water as needed?
There ought to be is nothing floating about in washing up water.

Surely anyone washing up in a bowl rinses the debris from the dishes first!
I also rinse everything again with hot water as I lift it out. Cutlery I stand in a jug of boiling water and dry while it’s hot.

America has big gaps in public loos as they were introduced decades ago to curb drug use in the toilets, and it worked.

@MolyHolyGuacamole

Denmark - people leaving their babies outside on the street in pushchairs while they eat inside a restaurant

They do this in Iceland too. In the snow. I suppose it saves unwrapping all the layers when they go inside.

Surely anyone washing up in a bowl rinses the debris from the dishes first!

Not the people I've seen use them! I stared in horror once when I was at my friend's and she picked the plate up from the bowl, gave it a quick swipe with the sponge and placed it immediately onto the drying rack not even a rinse.

And the first house I lived in when I lived here, roommates shared dishes. There were 5 of us and they must have all washed the same way as every time you picked up a plate or glass it had a greasy film on it. I quickly bought my own and kept it in my room!

The majority of the UK stuff is because our houses are older and smaller. The mixer taps is to do with the age of the pipe work and heating system. I’d guess the lack of tumble dryers is because most houses have a small bathroom and no utility room, we don’t keep tumble dryers or washing machines in the bathroom (for electrical safety reasons I believe). So we’d have to fit the dryer in the kitchen.

In terms of the US stuff I watched an interesting YouTube video about their patriotism. It’s really forced upon children at school, they have to write essays about America inventing the car (even though they didn’t!). All looks a bit like North Korea from here though.