AIBU to ask you some questions about the USA?

[BreakfastInAmerica]

I've been reading lots of US fiction over lockdown, I've never been there.

What's the big deal with joining a fraternity house at College? What is the benefit of it? Why the Greek frat house names?

Is public access television still a thing?

Why do they call savoury muffins English Muffins when I'm more likely to see a blueberry or chocolate muffin when I'm out and about?

How do Americans eat things like thick pancakes with cream for breakfast, even the people who are slim?

What are grits?

Why are Automatic cars so prolific in the US, rather than manual/stick shift?

I'm sure I've got lots more questions and please pitch in with your own questions and answers.

AIBU to ask for your answers and questions about the small differences between the US and the UK?

A corn dog is a hot dog on a stick, dipped in a corn based batter and then deep fried. Usually to be found a fair grounds and theme parks. I liked them as a child and probably still would if I wasn't vegetarian. Eat with ketchup and mustard.

The food thing really depends. There's a huge obesity problem in the US and I think if you're slim anywhere there's work and effort involved along with having knowledge about nutrition, cooking etc. My DSis was living in the US for a few summers and I still remember her disappointment after being invited to a hen night. I think it was someone she worked with or a friend's friend, she had only moved over and was excited to meet people. They said it was a low key thing, just in the house "We're having enchiladas and cake". Lovely, Dsis thought. 1 enchilada on a plate passed around for everyone to have a bite and ONE SLICE of cake for everyone to share. She said it explained why these women stayed slim but it was grim.

US biscuits are the weirdest thing. They are not biscuits. At all.

Grits are ideally made with stone ground corn meal. The mixture is much thinner than polenta. They are much more popular in the South and in the military. In New England, stone ground white corn meal is made into a sort of polenta with boiling water, then fried like pancakes.
Fraternities and sororities rush potential members at special parties at the beginning of the fall semester. A few groups also rush in the spring semester. To be rushed, you attend various social events, and become acquainted with the members. It helps to be a legacy; your parent or older sibling was in the club. Otherwise, you need to be attractive, extroverted, white, and charming. There are separate chapters for blacks, though there are token black members of white sororities. If you are chosen as a pledge, you endure hazing. It's rather like fagging, with excessive drinking, confessions, and weird rituals. Often, you are assigned as a little brother or sister to an experienced member, who acts as a mentor and supervises your hazing. They act as a mentor and supervise your After this, you are induced into the frat/sorority as a new member.Sororities wear matching outfits on weekdays. One day, they might wear gray business suits. On another, they wear jeans with their sorority sweatshirts with their smug sorority nicknames. They have color days where they dress in their sorority's colors, such as navy and white. There also spirt days, when they wear sweatshirts with the college's name and logo. Greek life is more important at state universities and in the South. Greeks claim to do lots of community service, but they are less personally and academically honest. Many chapters keep copies of old tests and essays students can cheat from. They also drink heavily and have lower grade averages than nonGreek students. I was an Independent, as I did not belong to a sorority.

Slimmer people eat fruit and yogurt for breakfast, hot toast, or cereal for breakfast. Many cereals here have sugar as their second ingredient, and corn syrup as their third. We do have healthy cereals here, such as Shredded Wheat, Grape Nuts, granola, and muesli. Most people have coffee in the morning, but children do not. We eat bigger breakfasts on the weekend, including pancakes and waffles. The International House of Pancakes and Waffle House serve pancakes with whipped cream from a can.

May I ask what a flapjack is in Britain? Here, it's another name for pancake.

PBS is non commercial, by not pandering to advertisers they don't have to be biased or popular. In a similar way to the BBC not having adverts. Instead of a license fee they have entire weeks of begging programmes (like a telethon) asking for subscriptions and donations. They also do direct telemarketing asking for money. Before discovery and national geographic channels were invented their kind of content was mostly found on PBS. They were original partners in Sesame Street iirc. But they make and buy great programmes. They do educational shows like "America's test kitchen", they buy or co-produce the heavy costume dramas from BBC & itv and the like and have partnerships with "national" broadcasters from other countries to import world's best. You can watch the best of PBS historical documentaries and contemporary politics on the channel 5 player on Freeview to get a flavour. But like every channel it's not all perfect some of its awful filler.

Ericaquites a British flapjack is a very moist, thick and sugary oatmeal cake (ingredients: oatmeal, sugar, syrup, butter) with some additions. To me it's like a granola bar has been made luscious and moist. Some are so sweet they make my teeth ache!

I think the rest of the world drives auto it’s only the U.K. that thinks a manual is better.
Er, no - France, Ital and India prefer manual for a start - as for the world -

@otterbaby

I'm American.

At my uni, people joined sororities/fraternities for the connections and for making friends. They do a lot of philanthropy and it can be beneficial when you start job searching, as it's basically an extra-curricular you can boast about. And if someone on the hiring team was a member too, you have a great advantage. It's a great networking tool. And, you know, parties.

Yes, public access tv is a thing. Channels aren't that exciting though.

English muffins - I buy these from Tesco and they clearly say 'English Muffins' on the package. So they're the same here? As a pp said, they're like the ones you get from McDonalds. They are not crumpets.

At least where I'm from, we don't eat pancakes on the regular! It's a treat that you might have once every couple of weeks. Similar to having a full English here, I suppose. And I wouldn't have them with cream, I would have them with syrup/bacon.

Grits are a southern dish. Sort of like corn mush. They typically get mixed with things like shrimp but you can eat them for breakfast.

Cars - I still drive an automatic over here because I don't see the benefit of driving manual? I find automatics much easier.

As above the main reason is most people drive auto in the US is they don't see the point in doing anything they don't have to do - see also drive through banks etc.

i drove a auto a few years back in the US and it did make life a lot easier, i would consider getting a auto when im replacing my current car - the auto was the easiest part, driving on the wrong side of the road and on the wrong side of the car was the difficult part

Sororities wear matching outfits on weekdays "on wednesdays we wear pink" 😁

One thing that always amazes me about America is how many people drink and drive, I guess it's because everywhere is so far apart so taxis and buses probably aren't practical.

There are also some universities where frats and sororities are the best (or even only) option for housing, if you're accepted. MIT used to be like this - they said they guaranteed housing for everyone, but there wasn't enough so you had to rush all the different frats, sororities and ILGs in the hope that someone accepted you, it was such a crazy system (I'm pretty sure they've changed it now!) If you look at mitrush2019.sched.com/ it'll give you some idea - each of those events is hosted by a different group trying to entice people to pledge. And remember MIT is a pretty nerdy school - I hear that rush at the big state universities is absolutely bananas, though I never personally experienced it. My university had their own weird system of social clubs, but they weren't connected to housing.

@BreakfastInAmerica

What is a corn dog? I assumed that it was a corn on the cob on a stick like the ones we put on the barbecue. Obviously not!

It's a hotdog (my British husband calls it a frankfurter) dipped in a batter made of cornmeal and deep fried. I can get mini versions in my Tesco frozen party food section and my kids (who have only ever lived in the UK) love them.

Re the manual vs automatic car thing - as others have said, autos more popular in the US for a long while due to the size of vehicle, length of time spent in car etc. A convenience thing. However, I do think the U.K. no longer preferences manuals. We bought a new car at the start of the year and were told the model we wanted only came in automatic. Apparently there was very little demand for manual. Now I’ve got an auto I wouldn’t go back!!!

I have to say I don’t really ‘get’ the fraternity / sorority thing but to me it strikes as a network and tribalism above all else, people want to feel like they belong, and ‘who you know’ is v important in the US

On the auto/manual thing I think it's going to be a moot point within our lifetimes anyway as electric cars are automatic. I only drive an automatic and now DH, who was very sniffy about it initially, muttering about how much petrol we would be wasting etc now says he will never go back to a manual.

COVID aside I know American school pupils get very long summer holidays but what about Xmas and Easter etc ,how much time do they get off other than summer?

@Hingeandbracket "Americans don't see the point in doing anything they don't have to do" not sure your point stands there...I didn't bother learning how to drive a manual, because by the time I moved to England, I had been driving an automatic for 10+ years. I suppose I could've paid for driving lessons when I moved here, but it seemed wholly unnecessary considering I already knew how to drive. Most Americans drive automatic because most cars on the market are automatic. It's that simple. Suppose that wouldn't support your lazy American narrative though!

And also how long is a typical school day ? My knowledge is gained mainly from watching Teen Mom🙄 but the children seem to start school very early in the morning is this typical?

It always strikes me as strange that school kids get so much time off for school holidays (particularly at summer!) but then adults get such poor holiday entitlement once they enter the working world.

Although I think a lot of US kids go off to summer camp for a good chunk of their summer break. Guess it’s not surprising given childcare and the point re vacation leave.

Yes in my experience the school day runs from 8-2:30 and many stay behind for sports clubs / other clubs at the end of the school day

US biscuits are the weirdest thing. They are not biscuits. At all.

This is like saying US chips aren't chips because they aren't British chips. It's the same word for different foods. Is a soft wheat (if being made right) bread to soak up the gravy and run offs from meat really that odd?

And also how long is a typical school day ?

This varies widely by district and even within districts, but in general, US schools start earlier than British ones and if reliant on school transport, the days can start very early with long areas to travel over. I knew schools that started before 8 and ended after 3 with, after elementary in many places, many after school activities running to 5-6, sometimes even later

The long summer holidays, that started before schools were required and cities would be really hot so the wealthy would go off with their kids during the summers. Childcare wasn't their concern. A lot of places run things in the summer because of it, but also a lot of school districts also have "year round schools" which only get 5 weeks off in the summer, at least for elementary ages, though not as much as I think people need them yet.

@Pinkdelight3

US biscuits are the weirdest thing. They are not biscuits. At all.

They definitely aren't cookies

@x2boys

And also how long is a typical school day ? My knowledge is gained mainly from watching Teen Mom🙄 but the children seem to start school very early in the morning is this typical?

Yes it's very typical. My high school.student has to be in his seat by 730 and he doesn't get done until about 330. My elementary school student didn't have to be at school until 815 and gets done at 345 pm. When you add in buzzing these kids get up very early in the morning. About 5 am or so. It's why I have always driven my children to.school.and then on their 16th birthday they get up very early in the morning have a big breakfast and go take their driving test. When they pass they get keys to an almost brand new car

@x2boys

COVID aside I know American school pupils get very long summer holidays but what about Xmas and Easter etc ,how much time do they get off other than summer?

They get 2 and a half weeks for Christmas and 1 week for Easter in my school district. Other school districts hold their spring break ear!her and only get 1 day off for Easter

@Hingeandbracket...That's not true at all. Americans spend a quite a bit more time in their cars then anywhere else. I can spend upwards of 30 hours a week in my car. What is the issue with drive thru banks? You should see the drive thru liquor stores some states have

@RuggerHug

The food thing really depends. There's a huge obesity problem in the US and I think if you're slim anywhere there's work and effort involved along with having knowledge about nutrition, cooking etc. My DSis was living in the US for a few summers and I still remember her disappointment after being invited to a hen night. I think it was someone she worked with or a friend's friend, she had only moved over and was excited to meet people. They said it was a low key thing, just in the house "We're having enchiladas and cake". Lovely, Dsis thought. 1 enchilada on a plate passed around for everyone to have a bite and ONE SLICE of cake for everyone to share. She said it explained why these women stayed slim but it was grim.

That's not the norm. Good is very much a part of our lives and we will use any excuse to celebrate just so we.can eat.great food