to think there is something wrong with Americans?

[TheBloodManCometh]

In Colorado, here for 5 weeks.

Why the HELL is there a half inch gap on either side of the door in all public toilets?? You can see everything going on!!!
This has been the case everywhere I've been in America?
AIBU to be both baffled and embarrassed

lighthearted btw. I don't really think there's something wrong with the Americans

A friend of mine is American and works for a uk bank. I recently moved all my banking to her bank and she did all the account opening for me as that's her job. She was saying that there is no such thing as an overdraft in the US. She was shocked when she heard about them here.

I think the "one" beer thing is so they can legitimately drive home. Although, we visited family in Florida recently and there were definitely times when certain people were driving after more than one.

It depends where you live in the US of course, but in general the need to drive outweighs the desire for a drink. Whereas here it is more common to say "I want a drink, so I'll leave the car at home/in town", and so choose that option.

I love the sandwiches you get in certain parts of America. They're what you call Real sandwiches - crammed full of lovely fillings,
unlike our limp, soggy, mean-filled, cold (sandwiches shouldn't be cold) excuses for sandwiches.

Having said that, I think we make more use of fresh ingredients in the home.
And a lot of people do cook from scratch.

scratch meaning 'proper home cooking' using fresh produce.

Not sure how overdraft works in the UK, but most US banks have what our bank calls "overdraft protection" which is a link to a credit card or line of credit account that is charged if you overdraw the balance in your main account. It does it in $100 increments, so if you were to overdraw by $55 say, $100 would be transferred to your account and charged to the credit card and your new balance would be $45.

We DIY and Americans Remodel.
How strange is that?

We DYI. We even have a DYI channel on TV.

Sorry, that would be DIY.

The term remodeling would normally only be used for a more major type job, DIY or contracted out.

Please answer the homecoming queen thing! I was in an American college one homecoming weekend, but couldn't work out what it was about.

Homecoming is traditionally an event or series of events for alumni of a high school or college to "come home" to the school or college. It usually centers around a football (American football) game. There is often a Homecoming Court with King and Queen (in my school elected by the students) and assorted attendants and also a big dance and other activities, such as class reunions.

Or it might involve a basketball game.

And a parade.

There was a ballgame, and we sat on the bleachers? Is that correct vocabulary?
The college was in the middle of nowhere in Maine, I couldn't understand why former students would return there. The college dorms were full and there were a few motels around, but not many. Maine is great, though!

Overdrafts in the UK are a certain amount below 0 where you are allowed to continue to spend on that account. So say you have an overdraft of £1000 and you have 0 money in your account then you can still spend unto £1000 more but you will be charged interest.

So if I have £0 and spend £50 my new balance will be -£50.

I've been to toilets in America that had only beaded curtains. One in a restaurant in Capitola…quite a few clubs in San Francisco….

Ballgame is correct. Bleachers also correct although people will also say we sat "in the stands."

Whether alumni actually return for Homecoming depends a lot on the college. The celebrations are mainly for the students I think, but for some colleges, especially the big state universities with a strong football tradition, there will be a lot of graduates there and events organized specifically for them.

It seems to me that a UK overdraft is very similar to a US line of credit linked to the checking account.

that Monkees song

cheer up....

daydream believer and homecoming queen

Homecoming is fun when you're in high school. At least it was when I went. (Graduated in 2000). We had a pep rally and Spirit Week, where every day had a different theme that you'd dress up for. Where I'm from Homecoming is always football. Sometimes there's Winter Frolic, which is basketball/ice hockey and also has a royal court like homecoming.

But school spirit/pride is a real "thing" in the US isn't it? Whereas there is nothing at all like that here.

I am on a parenting debate group on livejournal and it's US heavy, and there was a question where someone asked something like "If you looked around a school and they said something about how joining this school was like joining something else, you become a -er." (something along the lines of your identity being tied up in this school)

All the American posters gave responses along the lines of "normal" "meh" "a good thing" and the British and other posters were all WTF, I would run a mile from that crazy, cult sounding school.

IME your school identity consisted of being able to complain endlessly about how shit your own school was, but get really defensive if anyone from another school dared to say anything (while taking the piss out of their school for one reason or another). Like a sort of half hearted rivalry, but nobody knew or cared what the sports results (for example) were against other schools. You wouldn't ever be seen dead in any item of school logo-bedecked clothing unless under duress.

Just what is a pep rally?

The east coast college snootiness seems to be a big thing. I was at an awful event one time where a married couple from William and Mary made snide comments to a nice man, from 'beyond the Mississippi'.

To get back to the original topic, my kids waited for the school bus while we were there with a family who had a new puppy. They were finding it difficult to convince the dog to 'go to the bathroom outside'. My inlaws have a shower room beside the back door of their house, known as the outside toilet, which was its previous incarnation. My kids were slightly confused.

A pep rally is where the whole school gets together in the gymnasium and sing songs and cheer and celebrate how your football team is going to destroy the rival football team. It's fun, and you get out of class early. A lot of times there are little skits and stuff like that.

School spirit has been big in the US for a long time. Have you ever heard that Beach Boys song that went, "be true to your school, like you would to your girl?" That song is about 50 years old.

I know it's not a new thing, it just seems very alien to Brits :)

The pep rally sounds odd to me too, I can't imagine anybody here getting excited about something like that. Such a different culture!

stleger Ooooh, was the homecoming at Bowdoin by any chance? I went to Bowdoin and it's in the middle of Maine. Homecoming is a big deal there, mostly for reunion years though. I'm a bit too far away to go to Homecoming but someday would like to take my DC to one.

I'm still reading, just don't have much to contribute unless someone across the pond can tell me what "johnny cakes" are.

They're like pancakes, but made with corn meal instead of flour.