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!

I cook a roast most Sundays. It's no more hassle than any other meal.

My GP only 20 minutes ago bemoaned the fact that modern toilets do no longer have the 'shelf' for checking.
Older buildings still have them - no need to replace a perfectly working toilet just because it is not 'modern', that is wasteful and bad for the environment.

I agree with that, I'm Swedsih - but not from Stockholm. Not really unfriendly as such but more snobby and like they are better than everyone else.

but why would being called a Yankee be offensive, as opposed to just historically inaccurate? Would you rather be called a Confederate?

I'm a Southerner, living in the Deep South. I don't want to be called a "Confederate" or the other term "rebel." The opposition to being called a Yank is more a jokey type thing for me and most of the people I know. People often have strong regional loyalties, most of which sometimes becomes good-natured rivalry and joking. As previous posters have pointed out, a Yankee is a New Englander; the word has strong WASP connotations (even though it's a Dutch word).

My husband is a Yankee, but has lived in the South for many years. He insists on cooking this odd concoction for Thanksgiving that is made with bread, apples, and raisins. In our family, this is known jokingly as "Yankee stuffing." Southerners have cornbread "dressing." So for more than 30 years now, we have to have both.

I don't mind being called a Yank in the UK as long as people avoid Cockney rhyming slang terms for it.

Question for the Americans

How do you really feel about the tipping system? Do you think it's fair or do you think employees should be paid a higher wage?

Oh for goodness sake 🤣 it must be exhausting being offended by everything.

Aye, I think I'm superior to Americans cos I'm curious about yellow school buses I see in movies and how it works? Ok then 🤣 ps. I'm not English either, is it ok for me to ask now?

Yes, a condo will have a homeowners association or condo association. It has to, to maintain the shared areas. For example if it's a block of flats the association will be responsible for the lobby, hallways, roof, exterior. In a townhouse style development the association may take care of exterior maintenance, which is a big attraction.

You can have an HOA with single family homes also; sometimes this is about providing shared amenities like a swimming pool.

An HOA doesn't have to be ridiculous, though a prospective buyer should always read the rules before purchasing! I personally do not live in one.

Same in France: funerals happen a few days after the death. And everyone attends them: you go to be there and show support for a friend or family member, even if you’ve never met the deceased.

I don’t know but every time you see a foreigner talking about crazy things people in the UK do, you can expect a pile on from people becoming offended, calling them racists or asking them to go home.

They should be paid a higher wage. At the very least the minimum wage exemption should be repealed. Employers are meant to ensure that the employee never comes in under minimum, but it's poorly enforced. The funny thing is that it isn't always customers who want to preserve tipping. Under the tip system, some wait staff do really poorly while others do very well.

People often have strong regional loyalties, most of which sometimes becomes good-natured rivalry and joking.

See also: American football. 😆

I'm a Brit but have lived in South Germany for a while

The poo shelf toilets are less common now, not in any modern houses at all, more in old buildings or out in the countryside

There is still a difference in attitudes towards people living in the former DDR. It's politically different to other states. Bayern is stuck about 50 years in the past but still thinks it's better than the rest of Germany 😂

Condo or HOA boards don't have free rein to make rules; there are state laws (and some federal ones) that limit what boards can do. For example, my state has a "right to dry" law which makes HOA restrictions against people using outside clotheslines (a very common rule) unenforceable.

Absolutely. Go Dawgs!

I cook a roast most Sundays. It's no more hassle than any other meal.

IMO, if you do a proper, nice roast, then yes it is. Significantly more hassle than, say, a bowl of pasta (with a home made sauce).

I suppose if all you do is bung a chicken in the over and over boil a few veg then it's not much hassle.

Kevin was briefly popular in the 70s and 80s in France and is now super dated.

Like, to the point where it's embarrassing to be called Kevin in France and people will take the piss out of you. This article explains it well.

www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39278092

I have a sneaking feeling that Owen might be the next Kevin name in France. When I was looking for a bilingual name for my son I noticed that Owen was surprisingly high in the rankings of names that are popular in France at the moment even though it's not at all a French name and I don't know anyone called Owen in France. I like the name and it makes me think of ancient Welsh kings, but the fact that it is apparently a popular name right now made me suspicious. I don't know for sure who is naming their sons Owen in France but I reckon in 20 years' time it will be known as a name that chavvy people liked in the early 2020s.

Actually apparently the Kevin peak in France was 1991.

Leasehold properties with a share of the freehold - a bit like US condominiums -exist here in the UK - I live in one, an old building that was converted to flats seventy years ago. There is a property management company consisting of leaseholders. There are rules, some outdated such as not allowing your or your servants’ children to play on the stairs, not keeping coal scuttles on the landings and not parking your perambulator in the hallway. They’ve been kept partly for entertainment value but mostly I think because it would be legally tricky to remove them.

Re. Speed of funerals, I grew up in Ireland where funerals are super quick. I always assumed it had it’s roots in the Christian “he rose again on the third day” creed. I can’t see anyone else giving a specific explanation (I have read most pages but not all) though I can tell you how difficult it is to get an Irish priest to agree to a delay to allow people from overseas to get there on time!

I have a theory that all neighbouring countries/regions have a rivalrous relationship - English/French, Americans/Canadians, Sweden/Denmark, Australia/New Zealand etc

It’s similar with the big cities versus the rest of the country, they kind of despise each other on one level but happy to visit, usually have connections to the other.

People outside of big cities seem to see city inhabitants as one big lump who are assuming superiority but in reality they are just going to and from work, paying rent, trying to study/bring up kids/watching Love It or List It like everyone else

Unless they were very drunk Japanese people I think you’ve got the wrong nationality… In my experience they are significantly quieter than most European/Westerners.

Like almost anyone though the volume goes up with more drinks.

I'm not American, but have lived in both the US and UK. I come from NZ where we don't have tipping at all (although beginning to creep in in some places - thanks globalisation!) Personally I think the tipping system in the UK is a lot less logical. I know when I'm in the US I have to tip a certain percentage and it goes towards the wage of the servers, I just think of it as part of the bill that needs to be calculated separately. You can argue that restaurant owners should pay their staff properly, but presumably menu prices would need to go up to compensate.

In the UK we are expected to tip, but we also have minimum wage laws which ensure wait staff are paid a certain amount, and that makes a lot less sense to me. I know wait staff are not especially well paid, but neither are supermarket workers or bin men, no one expects to tip them...

I don’t think anyone would protest about a school bus question but I too noticed the rudeness of some British posters especially

“Why is American grammar so bad?” and “Why do Yanks…”

And a theme of “Why don’t you do it the way we do?” assuming the British way is the starting point.

Imagine it the other way round “Why is English grammar so bad?” or “Why do Poms whine so much?” Not so inoffensive now, is it?

Up early on the East Coast, so I’ll answer some American ones (as a British person living here). This is way too long but I am bored. I’ll break up into several posts!

My question for Americans is when you talk about your child’s “college fund” are you saving absolutely every expense for the college years? So fee’s, accommodation, living costs etc? Or just a contribution? I don’t know how people with 2 or more DC could save so much for all of them.
People save what they can. America is a terrible place to be poor, but if you’re what British call middle class (Americans would call it upper middle class), your salary would be much, much higher than Britain.

So, the 75th percentile salary in the UK is 43,704, which is currently about $52,000. The 75th percentile salary in the US is almost $90,000 (or about £74,000). For those with two working parents in the upper middle class, it’s not unusual to have a household income of over $200,000 or more. Saving for college seems a lot less difficult in that case.

That said, it’s too expensive, and most people take out student loans. It’s a rough place to be poor, or even working class.

Americans, if a purse is a bag, what do you call a bag and what do women call objects they just keep cash/cards in?

People do say bag, but that tends to be interchangeable with purse. A smaller item that snaps shut might be called a change purse. The cash/card holders are called wallets

Why are washing machines top-loaders and not front-loaders? And do people who live in apartments really share communal washing machines/dryers in the basement and not have their own ones in their flats?

They have both. Top-loaders require less maintenance, and it’s also great to be able just to open mid-cycle and throw something else in! But the newer ones are front-loaders.

And yes, absolutely they do. It’s a rite of passage, negotiating the laundry room. Most American washers and dryers are a lot bigger than British ones. They also work much, much better and don’t get that mouldly sweet smell that British washers seem inevitably to acquire.

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

College means undergraduate-only, university means with graduate school. A college tends to graduate people only with a BA/BS, while a university would also have PhDs.

In practice, people just say college (or even school) when talking about their undergrad, even if they go to a university. (So, e.g., people at Arizona State University would say “I’m going to college.”) Nobody says “I’m going to university.”

No difference in prestige. A community college, which only teaches up to an associate’s degree, is a different thing, but many of the most prestigious schools in America (Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, etc.) are just colleges.

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

A lot of people do, yes. Others only put them out for special occasions, particularly the 4th of July or Memorial Day. Doesn't necessarily indicate anything politically. I would guess you weren't a radical leftist, but other than that, all political stripes do it. Flags in general are more common, like flying a flag of your university, your state, or your favorite professional sports team.

Do americans really only get 10 days paid annual leave from work?
What is the maternitiy / paternity allowance?

Some of them. It varies by company. There is no law outside statutory holidays (e.g. federal holidays like Thanksgiving), and even those can be worked if you give extra pay.

There is no national requirement for paid sick or parental leave. Some states have required it, but they’re few.

Only about 20% of workers have access to explicit paid maternity leave. About 40% have access to what they call short-term disability, which can cover parental leave costs. Everyone else is fucked.

Democrats keep trying to introduce it; Republicans keep killing it.

Again, if you’re upper middle class, you’ll probably work for a company that has good leave policies as part of their benefits, just as they’ll subsidize good health care, have good retirement benefits, maybe even chip in to your child's education. If you’re very poor you’ll get some (though small) state support. If you’re what we call working class, you’re really, really fucked.