Questions you have about other nationalities!

[WatermelonWaveclub]

Just for fun. DD and I were just watching a video where Americans were asking questions about the UK. What are your questions (can be for any nationality from any nationality)? And please feel free to answer other people's questions!

I'll start with some questions for Americans:

Are your grocery bags really those ones without handles? They look really awkward to carry!

Why do you not have electric kettles?

In High school films the English teacher for example always gives them some homework to do by the next day and says 'see you tomorrow' - do you have the same classes every day? We just had English twice a week or something!

Mullets absolutely went out of fashion in Australia but have come back in again for a particular type of young-ish man (the kind you might see on shows like MAFS) in an "ironic" sort of way, along with other styles seen on 70s cricket players like big moustaches. I can assure you that on an ordinary day in Sydney I don't see a single mullet.

Knife and fork is just a case of being taught differently. Many regions of the states teach that it is poor manners to have cutlery in both hands if you are only using one, so you cut the food then place the knife down. I was quite shocked the first time I went to a nice restaurant in the UK and people were holding their knife the whole time.

Stuck up and reserved are two very different things. I come from
a farm town and live in central London. On the rare occasion someone comes to visit, they do notice that we don’t talk to strangers here. I explain that millions of people live here in a small space and that by not talking to strangers, we are trying to respect what small amount of space each of us gets. In my middle of nowhere hometown, you would talk to people you passed because otherwise you might have no human interaction for days. It makes sense when you go from one extreme to the other. (A similar thing happens when you go from rural America to NYC and vice versa.)

Baseball hats are worn by all ages and especially beloved by grandads, and they are quite practical, and baseball is part of American culture, so nope, not infantile. Going indoors to something like dinner or church or school and not removing it would be seen as quite disrespectful as a rule, but otherwise it’s just a hat acceptable for all ages.

France experts…please can you tell me if tortoises in France are really often called Caroline, and why Kevin as a name is so popular?

Question for the British. How does the class system persist? Why doesn't everyone just mix up after a couple of generations?

Yes, exactly. I know all that still doesn't explain why so much longer in England. Inmy social circle not usual to have the body at home but still funerals in two or three days. I remember telling a vicar in England that and he said, "that seems like unseemly haste to me". How did these different traditions arise. In N.Ireland does seem to be a bit of a social class/ religious background thing. Middle class Protestants more likely to have ' house private ' notice which means only close family or friends to call. Also they do tend to dress formally for funerals but still two or three days. I've asked clergy and undertakers but have never got an answer as to why the difference.

Depends on where you live, and how close together students live.
In most of the places I have experience with, the children are collected and dropped off at a bus stop. In more rural areas, or areas where there’s little to no infrastructure like safe pavements, the bus would collect from individual homes.
It is free at the point of use, funded by local and state taxes.

I can answer a few questions on Americans for you as my best friend is American:

Rare to have a beach house unless you're wealthy or maybe live near the beach.
Grocery bags without handles (paper ones?) - the Safeway paper ones are easy to carry but other stores do have bags with handles.

Re: water for tea/boiling - a lot of Americans I know have coffee (the stove pot type or the glass one which boils separately). Tea is a fairly new thing in USA and is gaining in popularity but is still a novelty. I've had my friend's DD tell me she was going to a tea house where she lived locally and asking me what to do and sending me pics. I don't think it's anything to do with voltage/costs. I always boil water in a pan for tea which amuses them, when I stay there.

Yes, Sunday roast. Mostly on Sundays but you can usually do this on any day of the week. Same with e.g. steak or fry up (English breakfast).

No, not generally. From my friend.

Say e.g. if I've stayed with her mom in NY, she'd order breakfast in - so bagels, lox, cream cheese etc. But that's partly because it's quick and easy to order food in.

Regarding the Bengali naming, that is very strange to Muslims of other nationalities too. Every member of a nuclear family might have a different surname and you don't know who is related to who. In Islam you get your father's surname at birth and you never change it, even upon marriage.

Not sure re channel Islands but on the Isle of Man you never refer to the UK as the mainland as the Isle of Man is not part of the UK or of Great Britain . It is what is called a crown dependency so that element of independence from the UK is very important to them. They refer to coming to the UK or more usually as ,' going across'. So ' I'm going across' means I am flying to the UK

( The Isle of Man is part of the British Isles though I think but that is a geographical category not a political one )

Because the people at the top of the pile want to preserve their privilege and staus and have the money and power to do so.

I make roasts, and not just on Sunday! They are so easy to do. Boil the veg the night before - they can then be microwaved. Make mashed potato the night before (if I can't be bothered with roast) - also microwavable the next day. Prepare the chicken the night before in a tin with bacon strips on top and white wine in the base, possibly with garlic, bay, onion slices, rosemary and thyme if I have some knocking around. Foil over the entire tin ready for cooking the next day.

The gravy is The Thing. Every few months I buy a load of chicken wings. I bash them with a cleaver to open up the bones and reveal the red marrow. Then, into a stock pot with (again) white wine, lemon juice, garlic, bay, star anise, rosemary, thyme, onion, grated carrot (which I will have pre-roasted to bring out the sweetness - the Maillard reaction) and boiling water. Then I let it simmer away for an hour or so, and drain the juices off with a colander before portioning them and freezing them. One portion then gets heated up on the day in a pan, and the chicken juices added right at the end. Salt and pepper to season, of course - miss this out and it tastes awful.

So the only messy, tricky bits are done in advance - months in advance with the gravy. The actual day of the meal is easy as 🐔

Or a log cabin!

Money. Land. Power.

Centre Parcs is a brand of holiday village built in the forest - a little 'town centre' which consists of restaurants and leisure activities, including a domed 'tropical swimming paradise' pool. The town centre is surrounded by little cabins which people book to stay in for the week/weekend. There's no cars, you can hire bikes. There's lots of activities you can book on, like spa days, archery, climbing.

The reason it's laughed at is a complex social one. During school holidays it costs billions of pounds to book there, and then you have to remortgage your house to afford all the activities your kids will harass you to take part in. The tropical swimming paradise is 4,000 people crammed into rubber rings in approx 300msquared of pool with a wave machine every half hour, because that's the only activity you don't have to pay £100 an hour for. It's kind of expensive and distasteful, so the irony is that upper middle class people think it's for the working class, yet you need to be a millionaire to afford to go there.

It's a bit like a theme park. You are sold a dream but end up standing in a queue for 90% of your time and paying £20 for soggy fries.

In America are College and University names for the same thing or is College more for practical subjects ?

Do you go out for a British meal like we go out for an Indian or Chinese.

Where do you live? In Spain there definitely aren’t any British takeaways (bar tourist spots where brits normally go). I’ve lived in a few other European countries and nowhere had British takeaways or restaurants.

In Spain Chinese and Italian - if you can even consider that international food nowadays - are popular and the only options unless you live in Madrid, and now probably Barcelona too. I never had Indian food before moving to the UK.

My favourite is Germany (any big-ish town) for their Vietnamese and Thai food. I also regularly enjoy Mexican, Lebanese and Moroccan food. Delicious variety.

How long is the interval between death & burial/cremation in other countries?

I find waiting 2-4 weeks between death & ceremony is just prolonging the agony, I'd rather it was over quickly.

It's always puzzled me that in the UK Jews & Muslims can have their funerals within a few days.

Why do American calendars start on a Sunday? Sunday is the WEEKEND.

Same here but it is even easier. DH cooks it

Wrong reply! No doesn't normally happen.

But in Spanish tourists resorts - yeah you can get this food a lot. Cafes etc.

One for the Italians. What have you got against toilet seats? On a recent trip to Italy (southern) almost none of the toilets had toilet seats. Not just public loo's, even in some quite nice restaurants.

I don't think 2 - 4 weeks is a custom. I am sure things used to be arranged much more quickly than this. Not sure why there is more delay these days. My dad died 30 years ago on a Monday and we had the funeral on the Friday of the same week. My Mum died 6 years ago and we couldn't get a slot for a funeral for just over 2 weeks.