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

It baffles me that you have to do your own tax returns in Canada and the US. Maybe other places too.
Not just self-employed - everyone.
I love PAYE.

Also, I've lived in the UK most of my life and have never heard of invitation only funerals. What usually happens is close family and friends are notified and an announcement is put in the local paper, then whoever wants to turn up can.

@EssentialHummus

There are aspects of the British education system that I'll never in a million years get comfortable with:

Turned 4 on the 31st of August? Come on, uniform on, off you go to school, it'll be trigraphs and multiplication for you next year. 1st of September? Yeah, you go play in the mud for another year and enjoy your childhood. Likewise the frequency of testing.

And at the other end, UCAS and uni admissions. Conditional and unconditional offers, only applying to five universities, the cult of Oxbridge at all costs.

How does it work where you live? I'm not in the UK but there is still a cutoff date for starting school that inevitably leads to some kids being 364 days older than some others

"In general this whole system works okay-ish, the problem has always been for people who do not get insurance through their employer. There's Medicaid and Medicare for people on benefits and pensioners, but that still leaves out a lot of people. This is what Obama tried to fix but unfortunately it does cost a fortune to get insurance on your own."

What we see on TV is people seeming stuck in their jobs because their jobs have 'benefits'. There was an episode of Orange is the New Black where the staff contracts were changed and they became casual labour, or maybe permanents but with worse conditions and there was a member of staff who couldn't afford as asthma pump for his son.
In European countries where people also have to pay at the point of use and pay health insurance, the large part is paid for them for very serious illnesses. You don't get people bankrupting themselves because they've got cancer.

@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.

There's a shockingly huge amount of ignorance/generalisation about the UK from Americans and other nationalities too.

I don't live in a tiny house, and do have a coat cupboard (as does everyone I know). We all clean our houses thoroughly every week, and most of us have cleaners too! I don't hang up washing outside (and only know a couple of people who do). My tumble drier is in my utility room with the washing machine. I also do have a mixer tap, and never wash up as I think it's grim. Everything goes in the dishwasher.

Usually British generalisations come from people watching British tv shows and films, most of which are nothing like how most of us live.

"That's REALLY hot weather. I mean everything else, 20s still causes you to sweat! And it's gotten more humid over the years as well. And it's that way for much longer than '10 days'."

Sounds like you need HRT if anything in the 20s makes you sweat. Most of the time you can just open the window. If you have problems with allergies a hand held fan or something can help, closing the curtain if the sun is very strong, etc. We just don't need aircon here and many of the examples of aircon I've seen could have been avoided by basic things like adding blinds in office buildings where the windows sometimes act like a greenhouse.

@MolyHolyGuacamole

What are you on about? A heatwave will be ten days at most. There is no need for environmentally disastrous aircon for a few days of heat.

I don't mean the 35+ temperatures. That's REALLY hot weather. I mean everything else, 20s still causes you to sweat! And it's gotten more humid over the years as well. And it's that way for much longer than '10 days'.

I'm also adding: why do British people think that it's not hot unless it's classed as a heatwave 😂

I would barely take my cardigan off at 20 degrees, I certainly wouldn't need air conditioning. I really can't see any need for it in the UK.

"British children are European."

Glad I'm not the only person annoyed by that. And Europe is not just one country with one timetable either. People eat much later in Spain than they do in the Netherlands, for example.

I've lived in 3 different continents and I would say people in general, from all countries, are very ignorant of life outside their national bubble. The amount of people who say with genuine shock "oh, so you don't do [such and such] there?!?", "you don't have [blah] in your country?!?!". People aren't exposed to different cultures and ways of life and don't even think about the idea that things might be different.

@Gwenhwyfar

"In general this whole system works okay-ish, the problem has always been for people who do not get insurance through their employer. There's Medicaid and Medicare for people on benefits and pensioners, but that still leaves out a lot of people. This is what Obama tried to fix but unfortunately it does cost a fortune to get insurance on your own."

What we see on TV is people seeming stuck in their jobs because their jobs have 'benefits'. There was an episode of Orange is the New Black where the staff contracts were changed and they became casual labour, or maybe permanents but with worse conditions and there was a member of staff who couldn't afford as asthma pump for his son.
In European countries where people also have to pay at the point of use and pay health insurance, the large part is paid for them for very serious illnesses. You don't get people bankrupting themselves because they've got cancer.

Absolutely and this is the problem, that things are so unequal.

If you have reasonable health insurance, you will not have to bankrupt yourself if you get cancer. If you don't, then yes, you're in trouble.

So Americans tend to focus on how they personally can get that good insurance, rather than on a radical transformation of the entire system, which will probably never happen.

I don’t really understand how children in other countries supposedly go to bed so much later than children in the UK. Do they get to leave the house much later in the mornings so they get up later, or do they just need a lot less sleep?

I was in a restaurant last year about 8:30/9pm and there was an Italian family sat on the table next to us. The children (who were about 5 and 8, I would say) were literally curled up on their chairs trying to go to sleep and not eating anything that they were offered. It might be that they were more tired than usual if they were on holiday in the UK, but to me they were giving a pretty good demonstration of why it’s sensible for children of that age to be asleep at that time!

@MolyHolyGuacamole

What are you on about? A heatwave will be ten days at most. There is no need for environmentally disastrous aircon for a few days of heat.

I don't mean the 35+ temperatures. That's REALLY hot weather. I mean everything else, 20s still causes you to sweat! And it's gotten more humid over the years as well. And it's that way for much longer than '10 days'.

I'm also adding: why do British people think that it's not hot unless it's classed as a heatwave 😂

Are you from a naturally cold country? Our perception of heat is relative, and I'd say most Brits do not class feel hot enough for enough of the year to need aircon. They complain about the heat for maybe 2-3 weeks, then it's back to drizzle and grey clouds.

@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 have seen it on TV. I use my spoon to cut off the top, no need for a knife.

@crackofdoom

Italy - why is there nowhere to sit down in Rome? No benches anywhere. I saw an elderly woman being ordered to her feet by an armed guard while sitting on some steps of a museum building. Even the cafes have limited seating with an extra charge with most people standing around eating.

I seem to recall benches in a lot of places in Rome...the Villa Borghese Gardens, along the Tevere....but talking about a museum makes me wonder if you're referring to the Vatican Museums, which of course are not in Italy

In a lot of Europe you pay more to sit down at a cafe, and if it's a touristy /city centre place there can be another tariff for sitting outside, too. You can come to prefer it- you can get a coffee down you on your way to work cheaply and efficiently standing (and ordering) at the bar, or you can enjoy a leisurely afternoon spending hours chatting to all and sundry. They're different experiences and fulfil different needs.

Not the Vatican, it was a building that seemed to celebrate Mussolini, rather oddly. I must have missed the benches, unless they were added after I went (2003). Luckily I was young enough then, but my feet were killing me by the end of the day. It would kill me now, I would probably get on a bus just to sit down.

I have seen it on TV. I use my spoon to cut off the top, no need for a knife. I use a spoon like that, I don't smash it.

@LH1987

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 😂

I'm on the continent and here you're not supposed to put the teabag in for other people. Everyone is given a teabag so they can get it as strong or weak as they want (well usually weak because they often have Lipton).

Another one for our US friends: why do realtors (estate agents) rarely include floorplans in their listings?
You tend to see them for new builds, but for previously owned homes almost never

I wouldn't mind, but given the much larger size of the average American home, number of bathrooms, etc, a floorplan would be pretty useful

I don't mean the 35+ temperatures. That's REALLY hot weather. I mean everything else, 20s still causes you to sweat! And it's gotten more humid over the years as well. And it's that way for much longer than '10 days'.I'm also adding: why do British people think that it's not hot unless it's classed as a heatwave

Because its not hot? Mid 20's is a high as it normally goes in the UK, that's not hot. And not even that for more than a handful of days. Calling the UK a hot country....how daft!

Paquerette

There's a shockingly huge amount of ignorance/generalisation about the UK from Americans and other nationalities too.

I'm not sure if you've noticed but it goes both ways. The thread was started by British person after all.

Spain, how do you manage to have supper at 11pm and still get up and go to work the next day. And how come your kids aren’t murdering each other by 9pm out of sheer hunger driven anger? ( respect, by the way).

"British children are European."

Technically yes. But nobody actually classes the UK in with the rest of Europe, there are too many differences. Least of all the Brits themselves, haven't we just spent the last 5 years learning that the Brits are very much not European?

'm on the continent and here you're not supposed to put the teabag in for other people. Everyone is given a teabag so they can get it as strong or weak as they want (well usually weak because they often have Lipton). Sorry, but tea made that way is vile. Boiling water has to be poured on to the tea leaves.

"usually it's 2-3 weeks from experience."

Is that London where there's a wait for burial places and crems though? I'm from Wales and it's not normally longer than a week.

@bambinaballerina

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.

It's a passive aggressive strategy we adopted after we heard you calling our ragù "spag bol". That and bruschetta (pronounced bruh-sketta, not bru-shetta).

@NorbertMeubles

I went to a country where the men all seemed to spit and internally make some sort of phlegm making sound which made me feel sick every time I heard it. In buses, in bars, in the street. It was rank. Obviously not all men but it was noticeable to be unusual for me.

I grew up in North Africa, it’s standard there, but only the men. The women are expected to swallow their spit. That was a offered up as an explanation for higher rates of TB in women by one of my parents’ students.

@SushiSoozie

I don't mean the 35+ temperatures. That's REALLY hot weather. I mean everything else, 20s still causes you to sweat! And it's gotten more humid over the years as well. And it's that way for much longer than '10 days'.I'm also adding: why do British people think that it's not hot unless it's classed as a heatwave

Because its not hot? Mid 20's is a high as it normally goes in the UK, that's not hot. And not even that for more than a handful of days. Calling the UK a hot country....how daft!

I don't know why you're getting so upset about it 😂 I'm from a tropical climate, so think I am qualified to say that yes, it does get quite hot here, and for quite a few months. Where do you live? Scottish isles?