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!

Yeah that’s just like the German way of saying a number 2.

My question is for Australians, what do you do if you find a spider in your house - do you kill/remove it even if it could attack you?

If I found a redback in the house it would probably become an ex spider. Things that might kill me or make me seriously ill do not belong in the house. (I'm aware killing spiders is a big Mumsnet no-no, but I imagine that most of you would actually feel differently about dangerous spiders. There are no funnel webs where I live, but they'd make me contemplate burning the house down)

Big hairy harmless ones (huntsman spiders) are rehomed into the garden. Daddy long legs are left to eat things in the house.

And more on Australian Christmases -- Pavlova is a very common Christmas dessert.

When we go on holiday to the USA, the presence (or lack) of a kettle sets the tone for the whole holiday (or vacation!).

I think in general Americans drink coffee rather than tea, as there is always a coffee maker in the apartment.

I am Scottish and I would like to know how the English can actually be arsed to make a roast every Sunday!!

In American high schools, you tend to do one science subject per year. In the school district where I currently live, it's biology in ninth grade, chemistry in tenth, physics in eleventh, and then an advanced science in one of those fields in twelfth, depending on the student.

There are only a few classes students have to take every year: English and maths, generally. Students usually expected to take at least three years of history and three of science, as well as two of a foreign language. Ambitious students take more of all of these. There are also vocational classes available: electrics, car mechanics, childcare, computers, etc.

In terms of goodbyes on the phone, Americans do say goodbye. But unlike the British, they don't say goodbye three or four times in an increasingly rising voice tone. I grew up with the latter, but living in America now, I now find it enormously annoying!

Ameticans: why do we say quarter in UK and Europe and you say a fourth? Which I guess you spell "forth?!"

Sorry! *Americans

Frankly I don’t think either example is very clear.

Why do some countries have Tuesday 13th as bad luck not Friday 13th,and why do certain countries see a rabbit on the moon not a man on the moon?

Also, what date do you have the equivalent of April Fools Day, where you prank friends and family? And what would be a decent prank for you and yours? (Because globally, senses of humour are very different!)

I don't know, nor have I ever met, anyone who has a Sunday roast.

How come some cultures are so direct and to the point (Arab) and others are so flowery and dithery (Brits)?

Also:
They don't use the word fortnight in the US (apart from for the game)

Brit on US East Coast:

Around here some people have beach houses but not that many! It's expensive, even if you rent it out to recoup costs. People often rent one for a week or two, though, that's quite common. In DC people go to Maryland/Delaware, Philly they go to NJ, NYC they go to NJ or Long Island.

School schedules depend if you do block scheduling or not. If it's block there's 4 lessons a day and they either alternate days, or you do semester blocks so you do each subject for half the year. In period scheduling there are 8-9 periods of 40-45 minutes. Sciences here are taught differently. Either you have a single "science" class that covers all of them (middle school) or you study them one at a time. My oldest's timetable looked like this last year (11th grade)

Math (Calculus AB)
AP Biology (double period)
Lunch
US History & Government
Spanish
English
Art

Same every day. (Our district does not require PE every year). In middle school, subjects like art, music, technology, and "family and consumer science" as it's called here were done on a rotation basis for different parts of the year, though band, chorus, and orchestra were a separate period if you chose it. In high school you choose which ones you like as your elective subjects.

Capitalisation in titles is a style guide issue. Chicago Manual of Style says to do it. As for the grammar example, I would say the 2nd one given is very awkward and unclear. In any case, we speak different dialects of English. Neither is necessarily better or worse.

We have lots of electric kettles in Canada and we have the same voltage as the US. Though it's just as or maybe slightly more common to have a kettle that goes on the stove. We drink a lot of tea in some parts of the country.

@TuftyMarmoset

My question is for Australians, what do you do if you find a spider in your house - do you kill/remove it even if it could attack you?

These always go - either outside or under a boot. I once found an enormous female redback spider nesting in my laundry with an egg sac the size of a shooter marble. If I let that one go, my laundry would be overrun with thousands of redback spider babies. So - yes. I emptied a can of pest spray on them just to be sure :-)

Americans use both. Hence, 25 cents = a quarter.

Wow I'm still so confused by the US education system now!

Your bbq do indeed look fantastic in the US from watching Man versus food and triple d to digress.

Australians watching Neighbours (sorry) which I started years ago nobody ever rings a doorbell. Is that just Neighbours we're all mates here or do people not have doorbells?

Also I heard that when Australians see a man eating spider () they go "aww here you go little fella" and lovingly put them outside

Also do all Australians answer a question "awww look..." or have I just watched too many cricket interviews?

The kettle thing really is down to the fact that we Americans don't drink much tea. I seldom have the need to boil water.

I was thinking about the high school subject thing when posting on another thread about Jane Austen. It's actually pretty difficult to graduate from an American high school without reading at least one novel by Jane Austen. Traditionally, the last year of English in American high schools is British literature. And, at least in the schools near me, there are still five classes a week in each subject each one lasting about 50 minutes.

American education actually has some Scottish antecedents and still has some similarities, such as more breadth in secondary school, four-year university, being able to pursue more than one subject at university, etc. Even the term "high school" comes directly from the Scots.

I'm Australian. Our Christmas lunch is cold ham, roast turkey, prawns, multiple salads. Pavlova for dessert. Most people I know do similar, except some people do chicken instead of turkey. And generally if there's a nanna around they might have those fruit pudding things with custard for dessert.
Spiders in the house- if it's just a house spider up in a window sill and it's doing a good job of eating all the flies, I'll leave it. But if they even think about wandering, they're dead. White tails and redbacks get killed. Huntsmans are buggers- I prefer to get them on a broom and relocate them outside, but they're runners!! So if I can't catch it and it's in the kids rooms, sorry but it may have to be killed unfortunately.

We bring a travel kettle with us in America, just in case there is no kettle. There's nothing worse than having to drink tea with water heated in a coffee machine! You can buy small ones in Walmart or Target.

LOL I do say this sometimes!
Re. Door bells, yes I use doorbells or knock. If it's a close friend and they're expecting me, I'll walk in but call out at the same time.
Re. Loving the spiders- yes sometimes the big huntsmans do get named and greeted 😅

Thank you @wandawaves

I have a question for UK people-

What is Centre Parks and why does it get laughed at on MN?