Sashh -- (sorry, left out the context in my remark about the auto shut off kettle) the affordable coffee machines she was thinking of getting didn't have the auto shut off feature so she couldn't use them in her dorm room. So she bought the electric kettle instead since it had an auto shut off. My local Walmart is always out of the cheapest advertised items so $14.99 it had to be.
People generally do not go out to get trousered in the US.
People don't go to bars much in reality in the US, whether on foot or in their cars. Bars that people go to regularly are usually part of a night clubby area or function as singles clubs/meat markets. Bars for 'blokes' tend to be a bit dingy. People tend to do a lot more drinking at home than out.
You sit in not on the bleachers, around here anyway.
DD1 overdrew her checking account to the tune of $1.60 once, and ended up paying 'fees' of almost $60 as a result. There are no overdrafts in the US. You can buy 'overdraft protection' to allow you a small amount of leeway and no fees associated with overdrawing.
The HS my DCs go to has Homecoming some time in October. The date is the last home game for the football team. When I first moved to the area the school had a pretty useless coach and the football team sucked. Nobody really cared much about traditional American pursuits either -- it was a very alternative sort of suburb, very 'liberal' politically speaking, still hopping mad about Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War in many ways. Gradually the community has moved on from that to staunch opposition to George W Bush/Iraq, etc., but it is now vastly more prosperous than it was at the end of the 80s; there has been a gradual turnover of administration and teaching staff, the school hired a new athletic director and a much better football coach, and squeezed money out of local taxpayers for field improvements, new uniforms and helmets, etc.
Football is up and running again as a result, and not just high school football -- there is a huge interest in Little League football in the community. It is widely felt that keeping teenage boys interested in school is really important, and involvement in football and basketball, which are the marquee sports, is one way to accomplish this. You have to be in good academic standing to play. It is also felt that identifying with a winning team or at least a team that the school is behind, is important to give students a sense of being in a first rate school. There is a private and very expensive high school in the suburb that has an excellent record in basketball and football and attendance at the local rivalry games in both sports is usually overflowing. It really matters to beat them.
There is now a Homecoming parade involving vintage cars, a few floats, etc., and the school band, whereas before any parade of any kind including Fourth of July parades tended to be greeted with eggs. The varsity game is held in the afternoon and there's a dance in the school that night. It's a big deal, very dressupy, and there is usually a theme to the decoration. The one year DS decided to give it a whirl the Ball committee had rented a camel to grace a corner of the dance floor in his own little enclosure with fodder to munch, to compliment the theme 'Walk Like an Egyptian'. Nobody had realised how much camels stink until that night. There is a Homecoming King and Queen but anyone of any gender can be king or queen. The Homecoming assembly is where the football team get cheered on. Going to the game has become a really big thing and the week before it has a very festive air as CY describes.
There are regular 'spirit assemblies' in the school, not just at Homecoming. Usually some team or group in the school is honoured at an assembly last year the special ed girls' basketball team won the special ed state championship and there was genuine enthusiasm for their achievement. Other assemblies are held to honour sports, debate, spoken word (poetry slam) teams, marching band, gospel choir, etc., if anyone manages to win a state competition. There are also assemblies where notable alumni are honoured, make an encouraging speech to the students, and get their photo on the Wall of Fame in the main lobby. Various different musical combos always perform for spirit assemblies gospel choir, a capella group, jazz ensemble, orchestra, etc. When DD1 was in high school she and her friends often ducked out one of the less used exits and skipped spirit assemblies, but the school now posts security at all doors so attendance is no longer unofficially optional.
I think in Britain and maybe in Ireland too, too much store is set in the power of the school uniform to magically confer some sort of identity and motivation to students. In US public schools for the most part, there are no uniforms and administrations come up with creative attempts to actively create and maintain a sense of community identity and a sense of school and self pride while still respecting the individuality of each student, without relying on the magical properties of ugly and impractical clothing.