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!

For the British: why do you often refer to Europe as not being a part of it?

Just checked some packs I have and the expiry is 3 years after production. I'm talking about 500-1000 pill jars - would not use it even with my entire family in 3 years. Are we unusual or are my American FB friends?

It's absolutely expected in a restaurant and you consider it part of the cost of the meal. I'll tip less for poor service, but never less than 15%.

I don't find it annoying that sales tax isn't on the sticker price, because I know what percentage it is, so if I really need to know the exact amount before I pay I can do the math.

DD starts high school at 8, so gets up around 7:15. She doesn’t eat dinner particularly late, around 8ish, apart from the nights she does gymnastics when she eats around 9:30. I think with the hours in Spain the kids are more tired, as they go to bed later - some families let their late primary age kids stay up until 11! DD has to go to bed by 10:30 on a school day, but she’s up much later than British kids her age would be at the weekends.

for tax, you just have to know the tax for your location. It can even vary block to block. No, I am not kidding. There are extra tax zones even within cities. But really it just doesn’t matter that much unless it’s a big purchase. Just estimate about 10% extra.

not tipping certain jobs is theft, so no, I would never not tip those. If service is so bad that you don’t want to tip, it is bad enough to ask to speak to the manager and explain the situation.

there has been some tip inflation with Covid and lots of retail counters now have tip options . Those are still optional, though I don’t tip if I am having a person bring my order out to my car for me.

I think you might be getting your information from poor sources.

• No, I am pretty much never scared.
• Theme parks are State regulated and inspected.
• There are strict building regulations within every state/municipality.
• Electrical work can only legally be performed by a licensed electrician.
• We only hire licensed, bonded businesses to do any work on our home.
• Are you talking about the framing, foundation and exterior or something else?

on the painkillers, the savings is so dramatic on the big bottles that even if you have to throw them out, it is still cheaper. It will be something like $6 for 20 pills or $8 for 200. A lot of the cost to manufacture is packaging , transport, and shelf space, so there are incentives to buy big on lots of products.

No, I probably should, but I don’t. Only put it on when I’m going to the beach or pool. I always wear it on my face and walk in the shade of the buildings.

I wear much less makeup than I did when I lived in the U.K. If I wear foundation, if I’m going out, then I use setting spray and have a pack of blotting pads and a bit of power with me.

Hey I’m English, I love both black pudding and haggis! traditional Scottish food is awesome.

my question is to people in the Netherlands, Scandi countries and Germany who all seem to speak English effortlessly.

Is it true that you grow up watching American and possibly British TV in English with your own language as subtitles and therefore subconsciously learn the language at an early age by hearing spoken English before you can read written language of your own country?

Another one for Americans - is it the the law for you to have health insurance? Or what is the situation if you need medical care and can’t afford it
/ have no cover? Obviously in the UK we have the NHS which entitles British citizens to free healthcare. I wonder for example if a pregnant lady - if she could not afford medical bills would she risk a home birth to avoid it? Sorry if it’s a stupid question !

Most Spanish people don’t have a siesta because
there isn’t time during the working week. Maybe on a Sunday, but plenty of Brits have a nap on a Sunday too!

I've been told (by a French man named Kevin) that it's due to the release of Maman, j'ai raté l'avion! (otherwise known as Home Alone) in 1990, which resulted in a huge surge of French baby boys throughout the nineties being called Kevin. I've met three in their mid-later 20s!

@Cervinia
German speaker here - no we don't learn English via absorbtion (lovely idea).
Apart from learning English at school from year 5 (or 3) onwards - you can't drop it (neither can you drop any other subject), English today is easily accessible via YouTube, Netflix, the internet etc. DS bettered his English because of his interest in Minecraft.
Movies are available via the translation of the skript into German spoken by voice actors. Usually always the same for the same actor. The market is big enough to do this.
When I was young (70ties, 80ties) an English book had to be ordererd and waited for for weeks, but there was of course "BFBS the radio division of the SSVC" . So for me it was mostly school and radio.
My DF who left school at 13 in 1947 learned English via 'London calling' an English course on TV created by the BBC. Actually my first memory of my DF - learning English at home in front of the tiny black and white TV.

I don't!

It was the law for a period of time after the Affordable Care Act was passed. The law was suspended in 2018. In a practical sense, I doubt it was ever enforced.

If you are very poor, disabled or over 65 there are federally funded options for health insurance - medicare/medicaid. If you have a job or a spouse with a job that provides insurance then you have coverage.

That leaves -
People with full time jobs in companies that do not provide insurance. (Small businesses with less than 50 employees are not required to provide insurance. internet says 50% of these employers still do provide insurance.)
People who are not disabled, but do not work or work in jobs less than full time.
People working in jobs that do not provide insurance

Generally, it's the working poor that have a problem.

And that if you get hurt it was your own fault

I think that the thriving industry in personal injury attorneys and liability insurance all over the United States is testament to the fact that this simply is not true.

I mean it may actually be your fault, but there is probably always somebody you can sue.

I and most other islanders I know say they are going to whichever town/City or the general area. I.e. I’m going to Southampton or the Scottish Highlands.
As we have British TV/radio, etc we are all familiar with UK geography.
We do refer to it as the mainland as well though. I would also refer to it as the Uk rather than Great Britain.

@Cervinia Swede here and yes its true. We all do grow up with English all around us so its easy for us to pick it up. I have studied German for the same amount of years as I have studied English but my German is nowhere near the standard of my English (due to thw above).

@Anonymous48 I don't think we've ever had theme parks like these, that's the sort of thing I mean.

I can't imagine it would ever have been allowed in Europe.

Ha ha yes, I work with Americans and had to explain to them recently when they contributed to an internal publication that We Do Not Write Headlines That Way Here!

@Prokupatuscrakedatus yes but your TV and movies are generally dubbed, which is not the case in Sweden for example.

@Cervinia I'm from Northern Europe and our TV is almost never dubbed, TV and movies come with subtitles, so yes indeed we grow up hearing English. My kids are trilingual and they learned their fluent English simply by watching movies and YouTube. Does not mean everybody learns it effortlessly, but it certainly helps - there are quite significant differences in the English skills of the general population in countries where everything is dubbed as opposed to shown in English.

Extra credit is great. It can help you get a better grade, or completely get you out of finals and stuff.

Isn't that why they have the reputation of frivolous lawsuits though? Because there's so few health and safety laws preventing harm. If people didn't personally sue these companies they would be able to carry on making hazards. The McDonald's coffee one is actually very interesting, it turns out McDonald's had had hundreds of complaints about injuries but had ignored them all until a woman got third degree burns and was hospitalised.

How fascinating, thank you to those that responded to me!

Not sure how true it is but I did read somewhere once that because it gets so hot here no one wants to stand around using long words in the heat which takes longer to say. You shorten the words, make the convo shorter then you get out of there. Makes sense to me. Who wants to stand around in 42 degree heat with 80% humidity using long words that takes you 5 minutes to say. Halve the time and then you're out of there. Then I think it just caught on.