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

@banivani

But apart from that, Captain - do they really NEVER have plug sockets? Anyway other foreigners then. I've seen washing machines in kitchens in France and Spain too.

Our bathrooms can be small too but they tend to put in a "laundry column" if possible.

It would be against building regulations to have a socket. The light will either have a string to pull (in older houses) or a switch outside the room.

It's very narrow. I guess the houses were designed for people who don't take their shoes off or just have to walk halfway through the house with shoes on until they get to the staircase

I have lived in many apartments. I don't see the problem with shoes. We take them off once we enter the apartment. There is a rug by the door. There is also a shoe shelf to hide the shoes away.

Ah well - it's a tip for you anyway. I have an accquaintance in your part of the world who put hers in the downstairs loo which was roomy enough but how they did the electricity I don't remember. It was very exotic.

The US drinking age changed in the 80s as drunk driving rates were starting to climb. I’m pretty sure it didn’t have anything to do with Prohibition, which had been repealed more than 50 years earlier. Alcohol regulation was historically purely a state matter, and there was a patchwork of drinking ages between 18 and 20 across the country. The National Minimum Drinking Age Act raised the age to a uniform 21 and got around the constitutional problem of federalising a state issue by threatening to withhold federal highway funds from states that didn’t adopt a drinking age of 21.

That said, large parts of the South were “dry counties” well into the 1950s, and possibly beyond that (I refer to the 50s because that’s when my dad was, um, bootlegging beer to college parties across the South with his friends).

@RaraRachael

Speaking of eggs, but a UK question. Why do English people smash in the top of a boiled egg and then spend ages picking tiny bits of eggshell off it. I'm Scottish and slice the top of with a knife and then scoop out the top with a spoon - much less faff!

I'm English and I do the same as you. I've never seen anyone smash the top.

I think one of the reasons why some children who go to bed early wake up early is because they're also hungry. If they have dinner at 5pm and then asleep by 7pm then obviously at 5am they would be starving.

That's funny Captain . I had English relatives as they all smashed the top. I've also seen loads of people do it on TV. We were watching something the other night and the character cut the top off his egg and I remarked that he must be Scottish, and he was!

I find the tumble dryer /washing line thing in America crazy too. Here in the UK, we have a dryer but only use it when the weather's shitty, otherwise dry outside. It costs nothing and is better for the environment. We went to stay with family in Los Angeles in the summer when it was boiling. Clothes would have dried in about 10 minutes in the sun but everyone still insists on tumble drying everything! Madness.

Italy - Why are you so bad at saying foreign names? Making up a fake name / word for every foreigner you know is not cute and funny.

I have a friend called Dawn whose Italian in-laws call her Alba (which is Italian for dawn).

I didn't know it was a thing though.

Another strange one I found in USA - mediums/psychics seemed to advertise a lot in streets etc - something you'd never see in UK!

Never been to Blackpool then ... ?

Oh, and watch out for the drop bears. They look exactly like a koala. That’s why they’re dangerous. Can’t tell them apart ...

You'd got me going for a minute there, BNEQLD - but then I was also sucked in by the Las Vegas one about the massive new hotel which "had to be pulled down because they'd found a spring underneath"

I refuse to admit how long it took me to realise I'd been had

(PS - grew up in both US and UK, moved back to US as an adult):

The drinking age is nothing to do with prohibition, as someone said it was raised in the 1980s to reduce drunk driving as young adults were the worst about it. It worked.

Tumble dryers: Partly electricity is cheaper, partly prejudice, but I learnt the hard way that there's practical matters in much of the country--my laundry got covered in tree pollen.

Another thing about the NHS: Americans have a hard time conceiving of separate NHS and private queues. This is also because we are influenced by Canada where there is no equivalent of UK private health care. Canada has very strict regulations on private health care, and in many cases it's simply not allowed for services that are provided by the provincial health plans. This also means we hear about the rare cases where Canadians come to the US to avoid a wait time in Canada.

@SionnachRua

How long do they take? I thought they were only an hour like a normal service? You can have shorter if you like

Sorry, that was poorly phrased. I mean the time it takes between death and funeral. As an Irish person where the usual turnaround is 3 days it seems bizarrely long! But again this is based on reading MN.

The funeral 'culture' - and again, learning this from MN so it may not be reality - seems so dry and aloof to me. In Ireland anyone and everyone goes. The deceased child's school teacher (from years ago)? Come along. Someone they vaguely knew from cycling club? They're in too.

The Catholic funerals I’ve been to in UK always have more attendees. Plenty of people going only vaguely knew the dead person. I knew some retired women who spent their time travelling the country to attend every Catholic funeral they could find.

I have some clothes that can't be tumble dried as they'd shrink or be damaged. How do Americans get around this. I love nothing better than getting loads of washing done in the summer and drying it outside.
Although when my MiL moved to a new town she was told politely not to hang washing outside, even in her own garden, on a Sunday.

@RaraRachael

I have some clothes that can't be tumble dried as they'd shrink or be damaged. How do Americans get around this. I love nothing better than getting loads of washing done in the summer and drying it outside. Although when my MiL moved to a new town she was told politely not to hang washing outside, even in her own garden, on a Sunday.

Rack in the laundry room. Or you'll see people in flats hanging it from the shower curtain rail.

One of the things I like most about moving back to the UK is having an oyster card again!
I can just use my credit card in the SE - don't know if its' the same elsewhere, no need for oyster card.

British people’s obsession with a specific way to make tea.

I now refuse to make anyone a cup of tea in work because the specifications are ridiculous.

‘Yes, I’d like a cup of tea, I’ll have it strong, milk in first, the colour of tree bark, 9 grains of sugar, teabag left in for 20 seconds’

It’s just tea! I’m not undertaking alchemy, drink it how it’s given!

Other than that, very much enjoy living in England 😂

@bonbonours

I find the tumble dryer /washing line thing in America crazy too. Here in the UK, we have a dryer but only use it when the weather's shitty, otherwise dry outside. It costs nothing and is better for the environment. We went to stay with family in Los Angeles in the summer when it was boiling. Clothes would have dried in about 10 minutes in the sun but everyone still insists on tumble drying everything! Madness.

Yes are they not under pressure to reduce their use of dryers in the USA for environmental reasons

@banivani when I was in Poland the washing machine was in the bathroom. I unplugged it. There were no windows in there, I couldn’t understand having electrical items in a room full of moisture. There wasn’t a proper shower cubicle, it was a “wet room” with a big giant electrical appliance in the corner.

@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.

Were they guarding the car or threatening to hit it? "Nice car, shame if it got dented..."

@RaraRachael

That's funny Captain . I had English relatives as they all smashed the top. I've also seen loads of people do it on TV. We were watching something the other night and the character cut the top off his egg and I remarked that he must be Scottish, and he was!

We cut the top off too, NE based

@MolyHolyGuacamole

2) Why do the washing machines and tumble dryers open at the top and not at the front like the rest of the world?

I love this! The number of times I put washing on and turn around to find a sock lying on the floor, adding it to the machine is a breeze. With front loaders it's a drama to add anything else.

Tumble dryers are front loading though, never seen a top one.

Mine has an add item setting. US washers seem old fashioned, dm had one like this in the 70s

@RaraRachael

That's funny Captain . I had English relatives as they all smashed the top. I've also seen loads of people do it on TV. We were watching something the other night and the character cut the top off his egg and I remarked that he must be Scottish, and he was!

I smash the top but not super hard...

NE England I mean

Of course, but if you tell Americans that they'd have to get private insurance on top of the NHS to get the same kind of care, they're not going to think the NHS way is better than what they already have. (Which was the original question, why don't Americans want an NHS)

But they would pay less in tax.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

Another strange one I found in USA - mediums/psychics seemed to advertise a lot in streets etc - something you'd never see in UK!

Never been to Blackpool then ... ?

Oh, and watch out for the drop bears. They look exactly like a koala. That’s why they’re dangerous. Can’t tell them apart ...

You'd got me going for a minute there, BNEQLD - but then I was also sucked in by the Las Vegas one about the massive new hotel which "had to be pulled down because they'd found a spring underneath"

I refuse to admit how long it took me to realise I'd been had

I have never been to Blackpool!

I don't mean in a traditional seaside setting - like on a pier saying 'Madame CleverCatty' or something, I meant on a normal sidewalk (pavement) and when I mentioned it to my American friend she told me it was quite common, not that she'd visit them. There are just quite large signs from what I recall.