To be surprised at how advanced the US were to us?

[Hownoobrooncoo]

was watching an old movie earlier set in The 50's and a character mentioned her glass of champagne her 85 calories - would anyone in the UK even have known what a calorie was back then?

The first microwave ovens appeared in the home in the 50's in the US as well, same as TV remote controls - Jesus, we were lagging behind.

A lot of countries don't use kettles. The Europeans don't in general, they just heat it on the hob or in the microwave.

I once found a student of mine (from Bangladesh) making tea in the kettle. I had been wondering why all the tea at work tasted strange...

Yanks just use kettles on the stove. 110 whatever it is current is too weak to quickly boil water. Actually, my relatives usually boil water in the microwave, I think I read on MN this is the most energy efficient modern way to make a cuppa.

I mentioned texting above, too Linux was invented in Europe, need I mention Alan Turing, or the origins of the word "computer"? :). Lots of clever 20th century engineering & arts innovations in Europe, too.

Kettles are available in the US but pretty much only from specialist shops. You won't find them in most small appliance aisles.

I have had two separate American visitors try to boil the kettle on the cooker. Thankfully, in both cases I noticed immediately.

To be honest, I don't think I drank fruit juice til about 1992. I don't know if it was just expensive or because we were behind everyone else (I did grow up in the back of beyond, so maybe).

I've never lived in a house with a dishwasher.

I think the UK is pretty advanced in terms of stuff like internet, phones, banking and so on.

the no electric kettle thing makes sense - since their voltage isn't powerful enough to heat my hair straightners

Advanced in what though. Have you seen some of their laws regarding women?

I grew up in the 70's and we always had fruit juice. Not as many choices then (as with anything else really) but we had orange, grapefruit, tomato..

I still remember drinking orange juice for the first time and being shocked it actually tasted like oranges. Until then I'd only had squash.

No one I knew had sky in the 80's - not even sure we knew it existed. I remember a friend paying hundreds for a special telly that paused hours of fun we had with that!

I knew one person at school in the 80's who had a dishwasher and they took out a personal loan as they were so pricey back then and they were a wealthy family - certainly not the norm.

Always had a freezer, my first microwave was in the early 90's iirc.

I used to prefer the powered stuff that you mixed with water... I would love to drink that again, but I suspect it has probably been banned by now due to the colour additives in it..

I read on here that Americans don't use kettles.....

My sister has been in the US for the last 10 years and hates the fact that plug in kettles aren't the norm - stove top kettles are though.

Fruit juice was definitely around in the 1970s - albeit as a starter when you went out to a Berni Inn. My grandparents always had tomato juice and I had orange.

We moved into a new house in 1979 which had a dishwasher, and my mum's Christmas present in 1980 was a microwave.

We always had fruit juice in the 70's.

we never had a freezer, just the icemaking compartment in the fridge, no microwave until the mid 80's, never had a dishwasher either.. but as a family of three there really wasnt much washing up to do anyway

we didnt even have a telephone until I was 16 and insisted on having one, and paid for it myself..

The holiday lets in Florida we have had have all had kettles though - never thought they were much slower than over here to be honest..

We had a TV remote which was attached to the TV by a wire.

Cutting edge.

Is it true that you didn't really eat pasta in the UK until the 1970s or something?

I have heard this from a couple people and I can't imagine it's true.

Joyful
A British friend of mine has had her children while living in America. They've just moved back here (teens now) and she was wondering why the squash was going down so quickly. Neat squash is vile though, if I hadn't k own I would have stuck to water

Dreamingbohemiam, I actually have a reference book to consult on that question but am trapped under a sleeping baby... Certainly my grandparents born in the 1920s do not keep pasta as a staple in their house. I'd guess it came in with Elizabeth David & the vogue for Mediterranean cooking post war.

Adventures you're absolutely right about texting. When I arrived in the US to start university in September 2001, I was unable to purchase a mobile phone that had text message capabilities. They also had never heard of pay as you go - I had to get a clamshell phone and a contract and it was eye wateringly expensive.

I explained to the guy in the Sprint store that in Europe for the past few years I had had a weeny Nokia pay as you go phone that sent text messages. He refused to believe me. Didn't manage to get a phone that sent texts for another year I think, and then it was added onto my plan with great fanfare - 10 texts a month!!

dreaming - I used to make a lot of pasta dishes in the 1960s.

I naively thought I'd just be able to get a US simcard for my Nokia phone when I moved to the US in 2002

It's not too surprising that the US were more technologically advanced than us in the 50s (or 60s/70s and perhaps 80s as well).

In comparison to the US, Britain was shattered and bankrupt following WW2.

As mentioned earlier though, it is odd to note now how the US had locked itself into some technological dead ends. It goes to explain how American cars are only really bought by Americans themselves as they are fairly unsuitable to other parts of the world.

We only really started to catch up with the Americans in the 80s.