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!

In a lot of hot countries it is straight away, especially in rural communities. When my great grandfather died he was buried within hours.

I'd like to know how people feel about the residents of their capital/major cities and whether it's universal to think of them as unfriendly and snobby. I think there is definitely a view in the UK that Londoners are rude, do suburban Germans think the same of Berliners for example?

Also how do ordinary Japanese people feel about immigration?

Your kids teacher or your GP. I was often asked as a teacher to sign the passports of families of kids I taught. GPs might charge for it, but almost everyone is registered with a GP.

Houses usually have a cupboard in the hallway - under the stairs - to throw shoes in.

Centre Parcs is an awful place to CHOOSE to go and spend money on, there are lots of better (and to me that specifically means less crowded) places to visit in the UK, where you could probably find activities to do, but i guess you have to go to the 'huge ballache' of looking that up yourself to use a common uk phrase. You have to be privileged enough to afford it but a sucker for advertising, as the food is lowest common denominator, nothing surprising or unusual. It is perhaps intended as a place where families can all get together and pretend to be harmonious, it makes the logistics easier as very few Brits seem to live anywhere near the rest of their families. (The living a sensible distance away from family is a cultural habit I have appropriated)

I’m in Scotland, we did maths/English every day, as did my kids. We did every other subject maybe 3 times a week

What an excellent thread! I can't think of a question now but I'm enjoying everyone else's.

I lived in the USA for a while and had an electric kettle. This is a myth!

www.kohls.com/catalog/electric-kettles-small-appliances-kitchen-dining.jsp?CN=Silhouette:Electric%20Kettles+Category:Small%20Appliances+Department:Kitchen%20%26%20Dining

Ramen.

I think it changes and mutates. The "rules" and divisions 100 years ago would be very different to what they are today or even 50 years ago.

And I think people do "mix up" as you say and in two generations or less. I was definitely brought up in a working class family in a council house. However, DH and I were both lucky enough, through education, that we both had well paid white collar jobs and would probably be regarded as middle class now. Potentially social mobility is not what it was when we were younger.

@Georgyporky When my mother died (Denmark) her funeral was 6 days after and many commented this had taken a long time. For me, it was a rush to get there from the UK.

I have a question for Belgian people.

Can you tolerate what is called chocolate in the UK? Growing up with Belgian chocolate as your norm can you ever get to appreciate Cadbury and such?

That is because their own societies take care of that as opposed to regular funeral directors. As a Jew you may well pay for years into your

@Georgyporky

Question for Americans - do you really have American flags by your front door or is that just in the films?

Sorry cut off there..you pay into your jewish burial society beforehand and then the services etc are "free".

My best friend (American) doesn't have an American flag by her front door. But her neighbours do, some of them. It's quite common but not in the same way as e.g. a St George's Cross flag would be over here, and not the same opinions. I think, but not 100% sure that some of them have Eagle statues (porch area?).

Question for Americans. Is it true you’re not allowed to grow fruit and vegetables in your garden and if you do you can even be prosecuted?

One for French people, something that always used to perplex DH and I. When do you drink "stickies", i.e. digestif drinks like liqueurs.

These days when we eat out in France it is usually just for a spot of lunch so a glass of wine or a beer is all we would have with it. But in our younger, pre-parenthood, days when on holiday we would sometimes have a meal out in the evening and, if we were feeling like rounding the evening off nicely, we would ask for a little something to go with coffee, e.g. a Cognac or whatever the local digestif is. This was usually met with some incredulity and then served to us in a "Well if you really want it you can have it but it's a bit weird" sort of way. As if we had asked for custard with ice-cream or gravy with a salad or something.

On one occasion we were in a Basque restaurant in Paris and noticed bottles of Izzara behind the bar. We had had a holiday in the French Pyrenees so were familiar with this drink and knew we liked it so at the end of the meal asked for a glass each. The waitress looked alarmed and said she would have to speak to the manager. When he came out we said we had had it before and so he shrugged and served it to us.

Now to me, if they are called digestifs that implies they come at the end of the meal. So what were we doing wrong?

Log cabin, American and her friend, no, no log cabin.

However, having said that, an English friend of mine married a Canadian man, and as well as their normal house, they do have a log cabin.

Stockholmers are definitely seen as unfriendly and snobby by the rest of the country.

If you are in the southern hemisphere then the shape on the moon is of a rabbit sitting up. If you turn your head upside down you will see it. Or I suppose turn a picture of the moon round ! 😄Although my mum, who was south african, said that people there still talked about 'the man in the moon' and she couldn't understand what they were on about.

I grew up in the uk and I could see the rabbit but not a face when I was little.

@CatatonicLadybug
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.

That's also continental (European) manners.

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.

My father tells me about a WWII movie where the German spy speaks perfect English but gets caught eating with the British officers because he cuts his meat and then puts the knife down.

There was no self serve gas in Delaware either!

I love the Aussie/ Kiwi thing of supermarkets putting out empty cardboard boxes near the checkout counters. So, we could just pack our groceries in them and take them to the car. Back in the UK, we've kept a cardboard box in the boot for grocery shopping - haven't used plastic bags in ages

So much Anglo-centric cultural superiority implied in this thread!

Instead of asking "why do you foreigners do this crazy thing", have a think about why we crazy English do our crazy things?

@Sunshine1235

when I was married in a registry office, you could write your own vows, but they had to be vetted and agreed by the registrar. You aren’t allowed anything religious ( or presumably obscene). They had a helpful list which we chose from.

in COE you follow the prayer book , though you can choose readings and you don’t have to promise to obey anymore. Though given the way they are heading, you probably have to declare your pronouns before the vows….