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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Questions you have about other nationalities!

1000 replies

WatermelonWaveclub · 18/07/2022 21:11

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!

OP posts:
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Ireallycantthinkofagoodone · 19/07/2022 13:47

RuggedD · 19/07/2022 08:26

I won't post a pic in case people are arachnaphobic, but Australia DDls are here.

australian.museum/learn/animals/spiders/daddy-long-legs-spider/

We have those in the UK too. I call them ‘prancers’ as they move slowly (if at all). Usually they just hang around on ceiling coving or kitchen plinths.

Sagealicious · 19/07/2022 13:50

gwenneh · 19/07/2022 13:16

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

See also: American football. 😆

See also Australia and New Zealand!

Januarytoes · 19/07/2022 13:53

For Brits: Why is the house-buying process so fallible? Other countries have more sensible systems, where buyers and sellers can't drop out at the last minute or be held over a barrel in order to raise/drop the price.
Why can't a firm moving date be set weeks in advance?

Onelankwen · 19/07/2022 13:54

Enko · 19/07/2022 10:28

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?

Sorry, but no, the only chocolate worthy of the name is Belgian or Swiss. Cadbury is something like a Marsbar. I eat it if there isn´t anything else available, but I wouldn´t call it chocolate. And even amongst Belgian chocolate there is a big difference in quality. I don´t eat chocolate very often, but if I do, I want good quality. I don´t mind paying over €75/kg for good chocolate.

Northseacrone · 19/07/2022 13:57

BrioNotBiro · 18/07/2022 22:30

Where do Isle of Man and Channel Island people say you are going when travelling over to Great Britain? Do you say "Great Britain", or "the mainland' etc (I suspect not the latter, as it would deny the autonomy of the islands).

Up here in Shetland we say we're going 'Sooth' (south) to refer to anywhere on mainland UK. 'Mainland' refers to our biggest island (where the main town and shops are), so folk might go to 'the mainland' to do a big Tesco shop!

MangosteenSoda · 19/07/2022 13:59

What are you eating to cause such a splash 🫢

I lived in Germany for a couple of years and our house and most modern bathrooms had shelfless toilets. I did notice that lots of loos in the US had a huge reservoir of water, so maybe inopportune splashing is more of an American problem.

To the German MNetters: do you allow the males in your home to pee standing up?

MangosteenSoda · 19/07/2022 14:00

Reply failure!

Crocsandshocks · 19/07/2022 14:01

Some questions for Europeans. Are your friendships more authentic and fun than our British ones? I feel we are really restricted by the British stuff upper lip which makes it tricky to make friends easily or be totally authentic.

Are you as materialistic as our culture or is it more about relationships and friendship than how big your house is or where you go on holiday.

user1471523870 · 19/07/2022 14:02

Penguintears · 19/07/2022 08:17

Why do italians have so many rules about food/digestion? Like you shouldn't have a milky coffee after dinner? It doesn't make sense when it's OK to eat a creamy dessert or ice cream but supposedly dreadful for the digestion to put milk in your coffee. I was also told you should never eat something like gnocchi for dinner, only lunch, as otherwise its too heavy in your stomach when you sleep. But apparently pasta is OK. There were lots more social rules about food when I lived there but those are the ones I can remember now.

Ha ha, I don't know! I am Italian but been living in England for almost 20 years and these rules still baffle me.
To be honest I never heard of gnocchi for lunch only. Could they possibly be from a specific person/family? My MIL believes bananas are hard to digest, but I never heard of this from anyone else.
This said, many Italians tend to have pasta for lunch and protein for dinner.
About the milky coffee after dinner, I don't think it has something to do with digestion but with the fact traditionally milk and coffee only mix at breakfast. It just feels weird for an Italian having it at another time. A bit like for instance having cereals as a side dish to your lunch.
But yes I agree there are so many silly rules and people get very upset if you break them!
I can think of a couple more:


  • after a meal you should not go swimming/in the sea for at least 3 hours

  • you can't put grated cheese on a fish dish

  • no chicken on pizza

isthismylifenow · 19/07/2022 14:03

Sluj · 19/07/2022 09:35

I'm in the UK. I'd like to know how popular Indian food is in the rest of the world? In the UK, we eat Indian food and curry regularly with a choice of Indian restaurants in every town. I know that several Americans have never had a curry; how about the rest of Europe and the world? I know we have a different historical connection to India and that would account for some of it.
I would really miss my weekly curry...

Here in SA we have an area where a high percentage of Indian families live. So Indian food is popular, but moreso in that area. In other parts of the country it is not overly popular, it would be an every now and then meal. I think I have only ever been to one sit down Indian restaurant in the last 10 years. If we had to go to Durban, you can pick up a bunny chow (this is curry inside half a loaf of bread) which are popular on the go meal, but that would be as a take away. Or Breyani or that sort of meal (there is quite often a discussion on the spelling of breyani too...)

I do make curries, and go to a proper spice shop. The owner of the shop has various options of spices already mixed up, here you would find masala, wet curry, mother in law spice, father in law spice (ok that is the hot one) and then many have a mix called White man curry. 😀 This is not all that hot lol.

If were on a night out, we don't go for a curry, or a kebab like you would. (we don't really get kebabs). Most of the time it would be something like a garage pie. Maybe KFC. (which is much better here btw)

If we eat out, the usual type of meal would be a steakhouse or a seafood restuarant

user1471523870 · 19/07/2022 14:07

PeanutButterOnToad · 19/07/2022 13:33

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 always thought it has something to do with the climate. As we bury the bodies (opposite to cremation), up to not many decades ago there were no ways of preserving the bodies. Hence a quick funeral. It is still like that.
Could it be that as the Christian roots come from the shout of Europe this has been embraced by the Catholic church in Ireland too (even if there would be less need to do so)? Just guessing.... Ah, I am Italian.

howdoesatoastermaketoast · 19/07/2022 14:07

AbsoluteShambles · 18/07/2022 23:25

I’ve never heard a British person say July 19th - always the 19th of July. Not sure if I misread your post though…

Its weird Americans use the month-day format even though they have a holiday they call ‘the 4th of July’, not July 4th. Hmm

it may well be regional (so much in the UK is) but yes as a child I learnt July the 19th verbally - 19th July if written down. 19th of July if you're reading out a date that has been written as 19th July.

July 19th would sound like an American to me too though

RicherThanYew · 19/07/2022 14:07

It's 29° here but the sun has gone, it picked to rain and there's thunder. My egg has lost all hope.

RicherThanYew · 19/07/2022 14:08

Wrong thread 😂😂😂😂😂

howdoesatoastermaketoast · 19/07/2022 14:12

Northseacrone · 19/07/2022 13:57

Up here in Shetland we say we're going 'Sooth' (south) to refer to anywhere on mainland UK. 'Mainland' refers to our biggest island (where the main town and shops are), so folk might go to 'the mainland' to do a big Tesco shop!

Thank you that's really interesting - follow up question: is sooth down? I lived in the midlands and it was universally recognised that one could travel 'down' to London, or 'down South' or 'up' to Scotland and the North, or "up North'.

Natsku · 19/07/2022 14:16

Hoolihan · 19/07/2022 10:16

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?

In Finland the capital area (not just Helsinki but also Espoo and Vantaa) people joke that everything outside of kehä kolme (ring road 3, which runs around the outside of this area) is wilderness so yeah that gives them a bit of a reputation as snobby.

Jaxhog · 19/07/2022 14:17

scorpiogirly · 19/07/2022 00:30

Why do Americans say 'I could care less'? Surely that means they do actually care? In the UK we say 'I couldn't care less' which makes sense I think.

Because this is what we used to say too! Many US expressions are actually old English.

User6761 · 19/07/2022 14:19

NancyDrooo · 18/07/2022 23:26

On the subject of Christmas meals - do all Japanese get KFC or is that an urban myth?

When I lived in Japan for a year, my Japanese neighbour invited me over for Christmas Day and they got in takeaway pizzas - Japanese style, so loads of mayo on them! I took along some crackers I'd received in a parcel fromy parents - they'd never seen anything like them before! (This was about 20yrs ago).

But Christmas isn't a holiday there (it's a normal work day). Shops have decorations, there are Christmas trees in malls etc, but I don't think most Japanese decorate their homes (not where I was living anyway). You could buy individual Christmas cards in shops but I didn't see the big boxes of cards you can buy here.

Wakemeup17 · 19/07/2022 14:22

user1471523870 · 19/07/2022 14:07

I always thought it has something to do with the climate. As we bury the bodies (opposite to cremation), up to not many decades ago there were no ways of preserving the bodies. Hence a quick funeral. It is still like that.
Could it be that as the Christian roots come from the shout of Europe this has been embraced by the Catholic church in Ireland too (even if there would be less need to do so)? Just guessing.... Ah, I am Italian.

I am Polish, three days for the funeral for us too.

User6761 · 19/07/2022 14:23

howdoesatoastermaketoast · 19/07/2022 14:12

Thank you that's really interesting - follow up question: is sooth down? I lived in the midlands and it was universally recognised that one could travel 'down' to London, or 'down South' or 'up' to Scotland and the North, or "up North'.

I found it strange when I moved to the south of England that when people talk about 'the North' they mean the north of England (or sometimes anything north of about Birmingham!). Whereas as I'm Scottish, the north means the Highlands to me!

BlackForestCake · 19/07/2022 14:24

Can someone unpick why I (UK) always feel inferior to the French?

The same reason anyone feels inferior to any other nation. You see both the good and the bad in the country where you live. But your image of France is probably based mostly on TV, books or holidays. That’s not everyday life for French people.

I expect almost nation has another nation they believe to be slightly cooler and more stylish than themselves.

torfa · 19/07/2022 14:26

I've always wondered about school holidays in Australia (and other S. Hemisphere countries that celebrate Christmas)

Here in the UK we have a couple of weeks (ish) at Christmas, a couple of weeks at Easter (spring time) and then 6 weeks for summer.

So what happens when the seasons are the other way around? Do you have a long six week Christmas holiday in the summer, an Easter holiday in the Autumn and then a random couple of weeks in Winter?
Does the school year start in September (autumn for us, spring for you)?

Anonymous48 · 19/07/2022 14:28

I grew up in the UK, but have lived in the US most of my adult life and raised my kids here.

There has definitely been an element of snobbery in some of the questions which I have not appreciated. Nothing wrong with asking about school buses, for example, but questions like why do Americans use their cutlery wrong way? Why do you spell things the wrong way or pronounce things the wrong way? Those questions make it clear that the person thinks they are superior, not just curious about other cultures.

To answer some of the questions that I remember:

Breakfast is usually something quick - cereal, toast, yogurt, a bagel, an egg sandwich grabbed from a deli. For longer breakfasts, maybe at the weekend or going out to eat, people will often have pancakes or waffles, just like in the UK you'll have a fry up. Certainly not an everyday thing.

I've never seen "British" food in a restaurant, but we have our share of "Irish pubs", which serve things like fish and chips, shepherd's pie, bangers and mash.

Indian food is a lot less popular or well known than in the UK, but that depends on where you are. In New York there is a "Little India" and most somewhat-sophisticated New Yorkers will have eaten Indian food before. There is a sizable Indian population where I live, so a few Indian restaurants, but many of my friends won't ever have tried Indian food.

For the most part kids have the same schedule every day at school for a whole semester (half a year). I feel like the education is a lot more well rounded because students don't narrow down their interests for GCSEs and then A levels. But not all subjects are taken all years. To graduate from high school, which is 4 years (the equivalent of the GCSE and A level years) you need (and it varies by state) 4 years of English, 4 years of maths, 2 years of a foreign language, 3 years of science, etc. Students will take biology one year and then chemistry the next year, for example. There is quite a lot of scope for individual choice among these requirements, particularly with elective classes such as music or theatre.

Even though students have the same classes every day, homework that is assigned isn't always due the next day.

Kids are entitled to a free school bus if they live more than 2 miles from their assigned school. However, unless you're really lucky, the bus won't pick you up from your home. There are designated bus stops, and your nearest bus stop has to be within a mile and a half from your home. So when my kid was in elementary school (primary school) our bus stop was as far away as it could be, one and a half miles, even though the school was only two and a half miles away! I would have to drive her to and from the bus stop.

The words college and university are used fairly interchangeably. Technically a college can only be called a university if it has graduate programs. But for a bachelors degree, no one is bothered about whether it's called X College or X University. We talk about going to college though, whether it's a university or not. Nobody would say they were going to university.

Yes, we say goodbye on the phone!

We do know when we're shopping how much the final bill will be, because we know what percentage sales tax is. It's not a random percentage.

Tipping in restaurants is just part of the culture. If it was eliminated and staff wages were increased, the cost of the meal would increase as well, so for me the customer I don't think it makes a difference. I know that I'm going to pay approximately 20% more than the price listed on the menu, and I'm ok with that. If I'm not, I don't order it. For waitstaff, even though their hourly wage might be very low, many earn really good money through tips, so I don't think most of them would be in favor of it either.

No, we don't all have beach houses. I wish!

I live in a hot climate. I don't put sunscreen on every day. If I'm just going grocery shopping, I'm not concerned about the sun exposure I'll get between the car and the store. If I'm going to be outside for a longer period of time then I will.

wandawaves · 19/07/2022 14:29

Hoolihan · 19/07/2022 10:16

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?

I'm in Sydney, and yes people think we are rude, snobby, and always say we are prone to road rage!
I spent some time living in a smaller coastal town that was very popular with Sydney tourists. In school holidays (tourist season) the locals would call it "terrorist season"!

RamblingEclectic · 19/07/2022 14:34

I don't understand how you fit all the different subjects in if you do them everyday?

There are very few things true across all US secondary schools - not even the yellow buses, but generally, different subjects are done each year/term depending on how the school is set up. Each course is worth a certain amount of credits, and you need a certain amount (and sometimes certain classes and certain proficiency tests and other things passed) to graduate.

Also, US state schools won't have RE or Collective Worship and typically fewer assemblies. I had Comparative Religion as a humanities elective for half of one year.

Why is American grammar so odd?
Different dialects, and different priorities. The date may be more important to the story than that there was a disagreement, and what's most important is typically put first, or at least that's how I was taught, and I've seen British news stories written that way.

My question would be to Americans - how they feel about gun laws

Different district, states and cities have different gun laws so there is no such thing as American gun laws. Also, different places have different needs - Alaska dealing with bears has different needs than Ohio fights with corn so there is a lot more context needed when discussing these laws compared to the UK.

Personally, I think more focus on ammo restrictions is a better move for the US, and more focus on training and licensing for ownership and selling - which means dealing with the boyfriend loophole and raising the age and also how they can be sold - would be better than trying pick out specific guns to ban or trying to put in a UK style system.

I have one for Brits if it is allowed. What do you do if you want a passport and you don't know anybody who can countersign?

I hate this, it seems so old fashioned, I needed so many during my immigration process and was confused how that would prove anything about me the background checks I had to sign to agree to didn't. I really worried about it, but eventually I found a couple people in the pub next to where my husband works which we've been into enough that the people there with a personal license for alcohol qualified for it.

Teachers and doctors can sign too as can solicitors.
Doctors haven't been allowed to do this for a good decade or more unless they're personal friends or colleagues. All countersigns have to pass the 'if you just saw this photo, would you know who it is?' test.

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

Yank/Yankee really only works if you're talking baseball. Even as a raised Midwesterner, I associate it with the New England/Northeast coast areas and nothing to do with me - nowt to do with the badly named Civil War that was over a hundred years ago when the US had far fewer states or historical inaccuracy. I would think most Brits would get how annoying it is when a tiny, typically wealthier part of the country that has long had more political power and looked down on the rest is used to discuss the whole.

do most people really write their own wedding vows like in the tv shows/movies? (as far as I’m aware this wouldn’t be legal in a uk church wedding, not sure about a registry office though? But I’ve never heard of anyone doing it in real life)

None of the weddings I attended in the US had them, but they were all evangelical or Catholic religious services.

My husband and I wrote our own vows for a British registry office. The registrar had to read them & I had to take out the word faith, but to them it seemed perfectly normal.

Do Americans wish the total price of an item was what is on the price tag? How can you budget a shop if you don’t know what the end total is going to be?
Yes, but I get why it's like that for chain stores where there could be different state and city taxes within a small area. It can be difficult to budget, but I think there are apps that can help with adding on the tax now.

In America are College and University names for the same thing or is College more for practical subjects ?
They're basically the same thing in the US. The more practical ones are [trade] schools or community colleges, though the latter can have all sorts. Community colleges one of the few things I miss from the US, there just isn't the same in the UK and online doesn't really work for those kinds of subject for me.

Why do American calendars start on a Sunday? Sunday is the WEEKEND.
Yeah, Sunday on one end of the week, Saturday on the other.
I actually have my calendar set to start on Saturdays, seems cheerier to start there and to end on Fridays.

Question for Americans - do you really have American flags by your front door or is that just in the films?
I don't know anyone who does it, but it isn't that odd in many areas and, when I lived near an air base that housed other military personnel, it wasn't odd to see other flags being flown in yards including the British flag.

Would that be the kind of properties under a housing association (I think it's called?) where there is a board who make decisions about what properties are/aren't allowed to do to their homes?

Usually it's houses though I've seen them for condos. It's less the type of properties and more locations - living in a certain area puts you under a housing association or a home owner's association.

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