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

As an Aussie, I found paying for public toilets in London and elsewhere baffling

At least there are public loos even if you have to pay for them. Lots of places in the UK and elsewhere in Europe don't have them.

@Soubriquet

I think they have kettles that go on the stove but electric kettles cost too much too run

I stay with my SIL when I go to the US - I didn't know it was a thing! She has this unit which pumps out hot and cold water from a tap. I think everyone owns a filter coffee machine though!

@Furries One of the worlds best inventions. The drive-thru bottle-o does any other country have a drive thru bottle shop/off license? Or just us?

My little boy has always slept for 10 hours straight, so he will fall asleep at 9pm and would wake up at 7am the next day. If I want a lie in, he will sleep at 10pm and wake up at 8am. If I put him to bed at 7pm, that means he would wake up at 5am which isn't a good idea

It doesn't seem to be the case with a lot of kids, whether you put them to bed at 7 or 9 they'll still wake up at 5am but be that much more tired. I think UK parents just don't like having to deal with tired tearful children. My ds never went to bed before 8pm but I do remember being precious about it because I was worried he'd be a nightmare if he didn't go to bed on time, even on holiday! Maybe we are just too stressed and need to go with the flow a bit more.

@RaraRachael

The ancestry thing from Americans always amuses me. Through my church I have met a lot of Americans - every one of which has declared their Scottish heritage and wear kilts for formal occasions except that they're not proper kilts, just a glorified tartan skirt that looks ridiculous

We (actual Scottish people) went the the St Andrews day celebration of the Caledonian society in a major US city. We were the only people not decked out in elaborate highland dress. When the dancing started it turned out that the band was Irish and didn't know any Scottish tunes, and only our party of 12 danced any of the dances. We had taken along some other European expats to experience a ceilidh, one of us had to call the dances for them and hum tunes to the band to find similar Irish music. All the very Scottish Americans sat with faces like thunder throughout, not one of them danced once. I have no idea what would have happened if we hadn't been there. The greatest moment was when one of us won a case of Irn Bru in the raffle.

I was educated in England and we barely touched on our relationship with Ireland. Next door neighbours and this was the 70s and 80s

Teaching friends who were in the job back then tell me that they simply wouldn't have dared. That period was the height of the "Troubles" and practically anything that was said would have upset someone, so the subject was left well alone

Oh I've just thought of one - hole in the ground loos. Not much good for women unless you are wearing a skirt and no knickers

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

But why are houses so tiny with no storage space? And why measure a house using bedrooms as a unit of measure?? Three bedroom means nothing when some of those can barely fit in more than a bed. Just say how many meter squared

From outside the UK, in relation to the UK:

Lack of mixer taps, in sinks and baths. Why have separate freezing and boiling taps when you can have a nice warm stream with a mixer tap?

Chemenger {grin}
We had a church camp with all the helpers coming over from the US and took them to a highland games - they were in their absolute element!

Regarding the "kilts". They were so proud of them that we didn't have the heart to point out how naff and incorrect they were.

@Pinkblueberry

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

But why are houses so tiny with no storage space? And why measure a house using bedrooms as a unit of measure?? Three bedroom means nothing when some of those can barely fit in more than a bed. Just say how many meter squared

I said further up - we have greedy developers and rubbish building regulations.

@Pinkblueberry

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

But why are houses so tiny with no storage space? And why measure a house using bedrooms as a unit of measure?? Three bedroom means nothing when some of those can barely fit in more than a bed. Just say how many meter squared

How many square metres would mean nothing to me. Estate agents pictures show the rooms, you can work out if they are big enough by looking at the furniture. If you are interested you go and have a look in person. Not all UK houses are tiny but it's a densely populated island and a lot of the housing stock is old and from a time when people had fewer possessions.

@Lweji

From outside the UK, in relation to the UK:

Lack of mixer taps, in sinks and baths. Why have separate freezing and boiling taps when you can have a nice warm stream with a mixer tap?

I think most places in the UK do have mixer taps now.

I always used to be jealous of the showers in Germany but they've been much better in the UK in the last 20 years or so.

My mum still has separate taps in her bathroom sink though.

My questions are to do with East Asian countries - when I was at school, we had a teacher who would always tell people to 'pick up their heels' and not shuffle. The people who seemed to do this most and got told off for it were from China/Hong Kong/Singapore/maybe others. I've noticed it since as well. I assume it had something to do with type of footwear normally worn indoors (slippers) but it seems to be how they walked all the time and in whatever shoes/boots (and these were people who'd lived in a western country their whole lives, so whatever tradition it is, their families clearly still carried it on wherever they lived). If it wasn't because of slippers, perhaps something to do with noise, trying to walk more quietly, which i guess might be considerate in certain types of accommodation.

The others is the V sign that is held up for photos - not just fun photos, people trying to make fun of others but doing it above their heads like horns etc, but all photos, including very serious ones.

@Lweji

From outside the UK, in relation to the UK:

Lack of mixer taps, in sinks and baths. Why have separate freezing and boiling taps when you can have a nice warm stream with a mixer tap?

This has been explained several times in the thread, it is to do with old plumbing. I live in a modern house and all the taps are mixer taps.

@Weedsnseeds1

Kolkata had ( presumably still does have, but it was a while ago that I was there) a one way traffic system that changes direction in the afternoon. It somehow isn't carnage at 2pm, but I can't imagine trying to do it in, say, Manchester or Birmingham!!

Not quite the same level, but there is a road in Cardiff where the middle lane changes direction - not sure at exactly what time of day but basically in the morning you have two lanes going into Cardiff and one out and in the evening one lane in and two out.

@redsquirrelfan

Oh I've just thought of one - hole in the ground loos. Not much good for women unless you are wearing a skirt and no knickers

You're supposed to squat anyway, so you just pull the trousers and the knickers to your knees. (I may have been forced to use one in India)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet#Use

@Allusernamesalreadyused

England. That they don't teach the real history of british rule in Ireland. The repercussions of the famine and how they sent all the crops generated in Ireland over to UK and people starved and threw them out of their cottages. It was sustained and it was brutal and unmerciful. Even native Indians in US took pity on Ireland and sent aid. Do yes I'm baffled about the UK and their total arrogance and disregard for their colonial attitude. Thank God we got rid of them 😊

I agree that many things in history are taught from an oppressors viewpoint, but I am 53, and when I did history at school, we were taught about Irish potato famine, and very much taught that it was due to unreasonable British rule, and the brutality of the land owners.

[quote Poorlykitten]@wellthatsunusual have they found a cure to the common cold that we don’t know about yet? 😉[/quote]
No, but in many countries if someone gets colds more often than they think they should be, they may do a blood test or something. If you pay, you get treatment and of course some of it may be unnecessary. In the UK you'll be told to go home for months and months before being referred to a specialist or getting some treatment because the onus in the UK is on saving money for the NHS.
When people pay, they feel more comfortable about going to the doctor.
To give an example, I hurt my ankle living on the continent, couldn't walk properly for a few days, but as it got better by itself I never went to the dr because that's what I'm used to. Everyone was telling me I should go to get it checked.

CaptainMyCaptain

Perhaps, but I still found it hard to find mixer taps to buy and adapt to the sinks or baths.
Even considering the explanation of older plumbing, where I lived I rarely found non-mixer taps, but at the same time it was still very common in England.

"On the streets of Windhoek there were Car Guards who for the equivalent of 50p would stand by your parked car with a truncheon."

Children did this when I was in Zimbabwe. It wasn't a job, it was a form of begging.

@lalafafa I'm British and am baffled too as to why so many kids are put to bed so early. I think the parents just want them out of the way.Breaks my heart in Summer and my kids are out playing until 7pm and next door's kids are watching from their bedroom window. Then patents moan when they're up at the crack of dawn.

When the kids are young, I sort of understand this idea that no matter what you do, your kids still land up waking early so put them to bed early. But I agree that it's baffling as they get older. DS has friends in Year 5 who are put to bed at 7 still and their parents tell me they're all up at 5:30/6:00 but that there's no way they can go later as the kids still wake up at the same time. I'm just not convinced that' true. Or rather, that the pattern can't be broken with a little effort.

@Gwenhwyfar

"On the streets of Windhoek there were Car Guards who for the equivalent of 50p would stand by your parked car with a truncheon."

Children did this when I was in Zimbabwe. It wasn't a job, it was a form of begging.

In Windhoek they were men who were licensed by the local authority and had official tabards.

@redsquirrelfan

My little boy has always slept for 10 hours straight, so he will fall asleep at 9pm and would wake up at 7am the next day. If I want a lie in, he will sleep at 10pm and wake up at 8am. If I put him to bed at 7pm, that means he would wake up at 5am which isn't a good idea

It doesn't seem to be the case with a lot of kids, whether you put them to bed at 7 or 9 they'll still wake up at 5am but be that much more tired. I think UK parents just don't like having to deal with tired tearful children. My ds never went to bed before 8pm but I do remember being precious about it because I was worried he'd be a nightmare if he didn't go to bed on time, even on holiday! Maybe we are just too stressed and need to go with the flow a bit more.

redsquirrel, a lot of that is training.

If they went ot bed at 9 pm eveyr day, they would adjust their body clock to the new time.
yes, if you do it as a one off, most kids will wake at the same time, but if you persist, they will shift their night sleep.
Most UK parents simply don't believe this. As I have lived in several countires, where kids go to bed later, I can tell you that you can train a child to any sleep routine. It is what is normal for the family that will become the norm.

@skybluepinks don't know about there, but in my French hamlet I incurred the wrath of the postman for not realising my name had washed off my letterbox. My address is hamlet name followed by the postcode of a town five kilometres away! No road name...