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

I'd love a top loading washing machine, but then i'd need a laundry not have to squash it under the side in the kitchen. And two sinks. But i'd still use a bowl because i'm English and we like them.

How do other countries feel about toilet brushes?

@WagnerTheWehrWolf tbf its only looks to be one poster and there is a couple british ones that aren't along the line of washing up bowls etc which are all more fun

Think all nee houses in uk should have utility areas , would love a utility then I could have 2 washing up bowls

Why Americans would choose coffee over tea

[quote Annedunne181]@WagnerTheWehrWolf again I can ask you, why are you getting so offended on a thread that specifically asks "what do you find baffling about other countries".

Every country has been talked about.

Yet it is only the Irish people that I see getting defensive. Isn't that very immature of you?[/quote]
There is a difference between saying their toilets are weird and calling an entire nation cruel based on historical events. If you can't see why that comes across as wildly xenophobic then the problem is you. You can dig into most countries histories and find unsavoury things. Most of those countries learn from the mistakes of the past and vow not to repeat them, that is what Ireland has done and is doing.

This may have already been asked but why do American apartment buildings have laundry rooms in the basement? Who could be bothered shlepping all the way down there (where serial killers are known to lurk) to wash your tshirts and knickers?

@WagnerTheWehrWolf

This may have already been asked but why do American apartment buildings have laundry rooms in the basement? Who could be bothered shlepping all the way down there (where serial killers are known to lurk) to wash your tshirts and knickers?

To fit in their super large top loaders, obv

Of course. If only they could accept that sometimes smaller is better, their lives would be much easier!

It is true that many people from Southeast Asia are culturally used to squat type toilets. In Canada we have the same type of toilets as the UK, i.e. sit down type.

Where I live, we have many newcomers from parts of the world where squat toilets are the norm. At my office many workers stood on the toilet seats to use them. Some seats broke and it does make a mess.

The thought of climbing onto a western type toilet seat kind of frightens me. What would you hit if you slipped and fell? I don't think it is safe.

We have signs now. It is hard to know what to do about this issue really. I have seen signs similar to the one above in tourist destinations.

@WagnerTheWehrWolf

This may have already been asked but why do American apartment buildings have laundry rooms in the basement? Who could be bothered shlepping all the way down there (where serial killers are known to lurk) to wash your tshirts and knickers?

I've never had a laundry room in the basement, but I once lived in an apartment building where the communal bins were in the underground car park. Went down with a bag of rubbish one night when DH was working, and managed to lock myself out cos I didn't bring my fob. Was in a vest, shorts, and bare feet. Ended up walking 10 minutes to my sister's house in mid-December in my pyjamas and no shoes 🤣🤣🤣

On the issue of kettles, I am Canadian not American, but we have an electric kettle. I could buy a new one practically everywhere.

They do take longer to boil than in England because of voltage differences, but they also shut off automatically when the water boils. I can't imagine my kettle continuing to boil.

Oh @InsideOfEmptiness, bloody hell, that's the nightmare. I'm obsessive about key checking! And I'm sad you didn't have one of those nifty disposal shutes that magically spirits the rubbish away

@Soubriquet

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

We have electric kettles and cheap electricity.

@Soubriquet

Now I’m sure I’ve seen in American TV shows people using egg cups

We have egg cups.

Where do you guys get these notions?!

But if they don't have stove top kettles that whistle how will they know that they've reached the most dramatic part of their own story?

Stove top kettles always whistle at exciting moments.

@WagnerTheWehrWolf, it was ridiculous. But all I could do was laugh at my eejit self. Luckily I had a key to theirs, so I just let myself in, poured us all a glass of wine, and got into bed with them to watch a film .

I would love one of those disposal chutes! Also the food disposal thing they have in the States where you scrape your leftovers down the sink and it grinds it up. Though with my luck I'd probably somehow manage to stick my hand down it

@MotherWol

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.

This is false.

Oh yeah double sink AND a food disposal

Thank God for sisters that live nearby, @InsideOfEmptiness, otherwise you'd have just been the lady wandering around barefoot with everyone trying to avoid making eye contact!

@OuiOuiKitty I completely and totally disagree with you.
Of course I am allowed to think that Ireland as a country is cruel to women. I can give hundreds of instances of where women have been treated cruelly in Ireland in recent times. I would love Ireland to improve their human rights.

If some one says that Saudi Arabia, as a country, is cruel to women. Is that being Xenophobic?
Or is it telling the truth?

On the front pages of newspapers in Ireland last month, was how the Catholic church used women as slave labour, and stole their babies for adoption. The Irish prime minister made an official apology to these women this year in 2021. He made the apology this year. I won't hide all the abuse that has gone on in Ireland. The world should know about the terrible things that happen to women there. Women should not be treated the way that they are in Ireland. I know too many women suffering in Ireland. I care about them

As we say, the truth hurts. That is why the people on here didn't want to hear it.

Isn't the salmonella thing true though? That's why Americans are advised to keep eggs refrigerated, whereas we're not. Something to do with a protective layer being washed off making them more permeable.

@WagnerTheWehrWolf

Thank God for sisters that live nearby, *@InsideOfEmptiness*, otherwise you'd have just been the lady wandering around barefoot with everyone trying to avoid making eye contact!

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Thank feck for sisters nearby is right!! It was definitely one of my less dignified moments.

WagnerTheWehrWolf
There is a little show of anti-Irish here. I just think of the Brits voting for Brexit. Just grab the popcorn and watch the shit show unravel. English intelligence at its best. Oh how we laughed and laughed at the Nigel Savage, Theresa Maye debacle etc etc and still laugh at Boris n the pompous idiots in Westminister🤣🤣. And the Brits call the irish thick🤔🤔

[quote mommybunny]@woodhill - it’s a very valid question. I haven’t lived in the US in over 20 years, so I may be talking out my ass here, but I don’t think the perception that Americans generally don’t care about climate change is totally unfair. It’s changing definitely, but I don’t see any sign that it’s anywhere near as acute as here in the U.K. and Europe.

That said, I do get really frustrated every time DH bangs on about putting clothes out on the line at the first sign of a dry-ish breeze. When it’s warm and sunny out and I know the laundry will be completely dry well before the end of the day, and I’m not busy with work, yes I will put it on the line. But just because his mum didn’t believe in tumble dryers (and didn’t work full time herself) I’ll be damned if I’m going to be schlepping wet clothes outside and bringing them back in still wet![/quote]
so why doesn't DH schlepp the wet clothes in and out. simples.

@SleepingStandingUp

Oh yeah double sink AND a food disposal

I have a double sink, which is really my favourite thing about the crappy house we currently live in. But I'd love a food disposal thingy. Ooh, and one of those taps that dispenses hot/cold/sparkling water.