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 usual, there's a lot of superiority on this thread. 😁

I don't really get the double tap thing because houses are 'old' in the UK? There are old houses everywhere, but most countries have updated their plumbing systems since the 19th century. I've heard people state similar reasons for why British roads and bridges are so narrow. 'Because they are from the Victorian age'. So what, they should be modernised (unless you want to live in a museum).

@Normandy144

The date thing is just a reflection of the way they speak and say dates. They always say the month first, so when you hear things on TV for example advertising a movie or new show, they say "out February 3rd" as opposed to 3rd of February. So that's why they do the short date the other way around.

Doesn't everybody in the English-speaking world say dates that way? But only Americans put them down on paper like that.

[quote UnderperformingSeal]@MrsKoala
If you need to enter dates like that to make spreadsheets sort properly you aren't using Excel the best way.[/quote]
Ha! I don’t use excel at all. Never have really. It’s just why my American colleague insisted it was better.

@pensivepigeon

Washing up bowls stop the china plates/glasses getting chipped and sink if enamel, scratched if sink is stainless steel. It's also handy if your only sink you can run water down to the side without affecting the detergenty water. Water in the bowl is changed frequently.

Yes this. It saves glass and china from chips, and it also saves water. I rinse everything very thoroughly, whether using a bowl or not.

@AdditionalCharacter

Americas - why are you so obsessed with your heritage? Claiming to be Scottish when your ancestor from 8 generations ago came from Scotland does not make you Scottish, especially if you have an American passport.

I find it funny when Americans say they’re American Irish/Italian because their great great great granddad was. No, you’re just American 😂

And they should have screen windows too. Just because we don't have particularly hot summers, it doesn't mean we don't have flies. And moths, daddy-longlegs, beetles, wasps etc. It would be nice to open a window without having to let the local wildlife in.

There is a lot less wildlife to come in in the UK (and Europe as a whole). Just listen to the night in summer in Virginia compared to the night anywhere in Europe - it is far far noiser. The reason is to do with the last ice age and the fact that mountains in Europe run East/West and in the US they run North/South. So when glaciation happened it was easier for species to move South in the US, then North again when the glaciers melted. In comparison in Europe more species became extinct.

"I think with the German poop shelf, it’s to stop the splash..."

I thought it was for inspection purposes.

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

Unfortunately, they also work effectively at curbing safe and dignified toilet use in toilets. It's always sad when something's normal intended use is made so very much more complicated/unpleasant/inefficient owing to measures to prevent abuse of it.

My husband and I were in the military. The US has a huge number of veterans who are comfortable with weapons, which adds to our "gun culture." Someone asked why people have handguns. We have them for snakes. Snakes love to hang around the woodpile and compost pile and working with a long gun in hand isn't feasible.

Here's a good old Aussie Christmas song (couldn't call it a Carol..)

www.songlyrics.com/kevin-bloody-wilson/christmas-song-lyrics/

Underperformingseal I say dates the way I write them, eg I would say “shall we meet on the third of February “? I thought everyone British did that .

@MrsKoala

Not sure if this is Canada or America wide or just the places I’ve stayed/lived in but why are their tumble dryers so massive. You live in a one bed apartment and do your laundry in the laundry room and the tumble dryer and washing machine is an industrial sized one. Lots of one bedroom flats doing laundry for one person in a massive machine using the same resources as if it was full bit for just a few items. Then if you hang your washing out in the sun on a hot day instead that is really frowned upon.

When I lived in Vancouver everything was all about the environment and organic this and carbon neutral that, all except the huge fucking tumble dryers for one jumper and the complaints because I put my clothes in my garden for a couple of hours.

Oh god, I miss my massive tumble dryer so much.

I spent quite a bit of time in Germany and Austria 20+ years ago and the toilets always frightened me. Not the fact that they actually incorporated a little jobbie lifeboat function - I can understand that people want to have a quick check for any obvious early signs of potential health concerns; or even just like to take a minute or two to stand back and proudly admire their perfectly-formed handiwork.

What always scared me a bit was the fact that, to successfully say your goodbyes and charter Mr Hankie on his journey from the dump-dish harbour, it would require quite a bit of oomph to guarantee a clean dislodge. I was always irrationally afraid that the toilet designer (especially if a super-efficient German) might deliberately over-engineer this function, to the extent that it could turn into the Eddie the Eagle of the poo world and end up launching itself straight back at you, like a toddler with separation anxiety demanding 'one last cuddle'.

"in the MONTHS that heat now lasts."

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.

Aussie here - we always hang our washing outside. I visited a friend in Texas and washed out a few t-shirts and hung them on her verandah railing outside - she was HORRIFIED that the neighbours would see - and....???

@Soubriquet

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

I’m American and it’s true I’ve never had an electric kettle. But that’s because we don’t drink tea regularly. On the rare occasion that I do I rather enjoy putting up the kettle to whistle on the stove hob. I really can’t imagine using an electric kettle once or twice a day adds much to the electric bill.

@LaceyBetty

I'm obsessed with the washing bowl. I would love someone to explain how it is actually used and better than just the sink. Really not being goady, I don't get it. Also it was a huge shock moving here and having the washing machine and tumble dryer (if lucky) in the kitchen!

If you've only got a single sink the bowl allows you to throw away dregs of drinks into the sink. I haven't got a bowl here yet and I had to throw cold tea down the bathroom sink today because my kitchen sink had dishes soaking in it. So I'm thinking of buying a bowl.

@SirVixofVixHall

Underperformingseal I say dates the way I write them, eg I would say “shall we meet on the third of February “? I thought everyone British did that .

Sometimes I would say "February the 3rd", sometimes "the third of February". They are interchangeable. I thought everyone did that.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
Rest assured this does not happen - they have been thoroughly tested and are safe to use - at least they were until they were discontinued for new builds in the 1990, but, as you have learned on this thread we worm ridden raw meat eaters love to admire our excrement.

@Ohyesiam

medebourne I think the snow / Christmas thing is Victorian. Apparently that’s what the climate was doing then, and that’s when Christmas cards were invented, so we got lots of imagery from that era.

I heard there's actually more chance of snow at Easter than at Christmas. These days it's usually rainy and mild in December isn't it?

This has probably changed by now, but I lived in Germany for a year in the early '90s and could never work out why there were no crisp flavours except paprika.

I'd totally forgotten about the poo shelf, but this thread has brought it back to me in vivid detail.

No space for utility room, where do you put all your washing to dry?!

I can only speak for myself, but in dry weather, it goes on the washing line in the back garden. In wet weather it goes in the tumble drier. I think laundry smells fresher if it’s been dried outside. It’s also better for the environment.

On the subject of toilets with shelves, the Dutch still had them in the early 2000s (and I expect they still do).

My petty gripe about the Netherlands - why on earth don’t their clothes shop changing room cubicles have mirrors?

@Gwenhwyfar

"in the MONTHS that heat now lasts."

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.

It’s more than a few days these past several summers, let’s be honest. And for those of us with spring allergies you have to choose between sweltering in a stuffy house or unbearable itching/sneezing/sore throat. Either way it’s impossible to sleep.

It took me a long time to get used to living in a house with no air flow or filtering and no window screens! Do the flies not bother anyone else??. We live in a busy part of London so it is often loud outside and the air quality is not great. I miss putting a HEPA filter into my HVAC system and sleeping comfortably.

Agree AC isn’t good for the earth but I’ve noticed in Europe they have those ones built into the wall that cool one room at a time. For places that don’t get sustained high temps yet that seems like a good compromise.