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

I can't wear ballet flats from about late September to May...too cold and/or melting ice.

We call trainers tennis shoes and wear them when it's cold but not enough snow to break out the big guns :o

I was reading in one of Sue Graftons Alphabet books about a man with rather unusual sexual preferences and she said "I looked at him and imagined him getting his fanny spanked". I was gobsmacked, it was the first time I had heard of fanny for anything other than lady bits! Still make me snigger even now :o

Are tennis shoes and sneakers different then?

So if trainers are tennis shoes, what are sneakers?

And are we starting another thread? :o

No, I think they're the same, it's just regional usage.

Tennis shoes, sneakers, gym shoes... all the same. And the not-quite-trainers that the nurses used to wear, I would call keds, after the brand.

I always think fanny pack = home made san pro

But then we send small boys to Beavers. My mum couldn't understand why her sister (resident in Oz since 1966) found it funny that her nephew 'looked so smart dressed in his beaver uniform'.

I don't own any white socks. And I almost never wear dresses.

I haven't seen the dress and tennies look in ages. Or fanny packs.

British women may not wear trainers except to the gym, but a lot of them wear Converse, which is certainly in the sneaker category. I don't know anyone in the US over the age of 20 who wears Converse.

I don't know anyone over about 16 who wears Converse. I find the sight of anyone older in Converse quite Peter Pan-ish.

Dresses and skirts are very seldom seen around here for casual wear, and only the mahjong set would go out wearing white sneakers and ankle socks that are visible. No-show socks are the norm for those younger than 65, and sneakers or flip flops or sandals. This was a hot style for everyone from high school up last school year. worn under shorts or jeans, no socks visible. (Sneakers means all lace up runners, trainers, tennis shoes, including Converse, Keds, running/jogging shoes). Shorts are worn everywhere in summer and jeans in winter around here. Work is a different matter.

Afaik shoes that nurses wear can be found sold as nurses' shoes in places like JCPenneys, etc.

Dresses or skirts plus Keds was a regrettable look from the late 80s (one of many) along with pouffed up fringes held in place by gallons of hairspray, and half pony tails held back by big bows. For grown women...

I remember my exMIL looking around her in disbelief in Dublin in the early 90s, astounded that anyone would wear black except to a funeral. Where she came from women wore colourful clothes everywhere back in those days.

However, fanny packs are BACK!!
Apparently they made an appearance at Coachella this year and last year so that makes them cool (though I suspect 'cool' is not the thing to say). DD1 got herself one for a music fest and reported seeing loads of them.

I never say pop but my DCs do, and I still say trolley for shopping cart. The DCs are therefore bilingual . Squash is unknown but I frequent Polish groceries and buy east European brands of blackcurrant for dilution. The DCs opened a carton once before I had time to explain it needed to be diluted and loved it.

I remember a massive knock down drag out fight debate in my junior school in Dublin about use of 'sweet', 'pudding' and 'dessert'. Pudding was considered quaint, dessert was Of The Moment (70s Dublin), and sweet was greeted with derision.

I wear Converse outside of work and I'm 39. DH, 41, only wears Converse. He doesn't own any other shoes.

And yes, we do need a new thread.

I wear Superdry converse type pumps, I rather suspect that that is just sad considering I am 41! They are nice flowery ones, although that may make it worse :o

When I was in San Fransico I bought some lovely pink spotty Cons from the most gangsta type place you could imagine.
I thought they all looked at me funny.

Oh I bet fanny packs are back with the hipsters! They like to look as completely non mainstream as possible but of course they all end up looking the same. :o

I wear converse as I have done since I was a grunge kid in the '90s, but most adults don't.

Math I was just ordering some Nikes just like that! I love them.

I'm not very stylish though. I wear jeans every day except for church (and even then sometimes) with any combination of tank top (vest, would you say?) and long or short sleeved T-shirt (either plain or striped) depending on the weather. Cardigans sometimes. Gilets (what we would call a vest) over thermal tops.

I expect the call from Vogue any day now. :o

What I noticed in the US was the lack of patterns. Everyday I wear some item of clothing that a pattern on. Yet in the US everyone's clothes seemed to be plain. Nice colours, but no florals or stripes.

I believe what we call a tank top is what you call a sweater vest and has generally been considered the apparel of choice by anorak wearers and train spotters (often one and the same thing) :o

Googling it seems that we would call it a vest top, a vest is an undergarment worn in cold weather..... or instead of a tshirt if you are a comedic Glaswegian drunk

Train spotter with tank top!

This is not to start a debate, I'm having such fun. I just wondered about infant formula. I had to run around nyc lady year looking for a tin. Why is it locked up in a glass cabinet or us that just special types?

A vest is a sleeveless jacket, sometimes fleece, sometimes puffy. My mother loves them and tries to give me one every year. She calls them gilets.

The trainspotter is wearing a 'sweater vest' by the looks of it.

A tank top is what would have been called a vest in Britain and Ireland when I was a girl. They only came in white from Dunnes back then and were always worn under other clothes to keep warm. A few years ago they were what you wore in summer here (in solid colours naturally but sometimes embellished with lace or ribbon) over shorts or to school when it got warm. They are not wearable now even under clothes for warmth, I have been authoritatively informed. For that, a camisole top is acceptable. Camisoles are ok to wear the same way tanks were worn a few years ago.

It gets stolen and sold a lot. It's all locked up in may areas, not just certain brands. The reason to lock it up and not lock up cheese (which also gets stolen a lot for resale) is the fear it will be adulterated with filler before resale on the street.

Footwear: I wear these for causal wear year round. Vogue is probably after me, too!

Is it alot more expensive over there? It seemed to be to me.

So who is starting the new thread?

I will,

here it is:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2162449-UK-and-America-are-two-countries-separated-by-a-common-language-UK-and-US-Q-A

Thanks!

Yes, yes, yes!!!

I'm in the U.S. too and the loo gaps are mortifying!!!

If I go at work, I can see who comes in and THEY CAN SEE ME!

I raised this very important issue in an American forum to be told that everyone knows not to look...

It doesn't make sense, they're so prudish and uptight about most bodily functions - why not this?!