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 think Aussie humour is quite unique but at the same time has a lot of similarities with British humour. It's like we've taken their humour and evolved it into something else.

One for America - in a block of flats why don't the separate flats have a washing machine do you have to use the laundry room

@bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza
It differs according to the age of the building.

Where I live there are lots of buildings dating from the 1920s, all replete with plumbing from that era and small bathrooms and kitchens. If you wanted to fit a washing machine and dryer into an older apartment you would need to carve out a space that would fit a stacked washer and dryer, which would also be close enough to plumbing for water intake and drains. This isn't always possible, and taking up bathroom or kitchen space isn't normally possible either. Newer buildings often have a laundry closet. But facilities in the basement are fine as long as you don't live on a high floor of a walkup.

@JudgeJ - since the advent of Keurigs, Americans no longer leave a pot on a drip coffee maker all day.

actually one of the selling points Colleges push is that professors will ask undergraduates to help with research because there are no post-grads. My dd has helped with research for one of her professors as a sophomore. In a department/university with post grad students, they'd have been doing this.

BIL and SIL are professors at a liberal arts college. They spend a lot of time on research and publications.

The ethnic American naming is largely because groups of immigrants have faced discrimination at times in history and today. claiming the name is a way of claiming pride in your group and refusing to take the criticism. Even if you aren’t a first generation immigrant, sometimes you can feel the bias against your group.

The list of people who can counter sign is pretty extensive so rare not to know anyone I would think.

We have a shoe rack. Sometimes people have storage elsewhere or keep their shoes in their bedrooms.

I think yard vs garden is one of those things that goes back to historical usage. Americans retained the use of yard for the whole big area and kept "garden" specifically for a plot where things are grown. People have vegetable and flower gardens in their yard. Whereas in the UK it diverged, so my in-laws have an equipment yard (which is paved) and then a garden.

I knew Action Park would come up. It's worth noting that the owners of that place never cared about the law, though it's astounding how long New Jersey took to deal with it. The owners even set up a whole insurance fraud scheme because they didn't believe in insurance. The owner's son even wrote a book. It was horrifying.

American houses: this is arguably North America in general because Canadian homes are quite similar. Not everywhere is wood. If you go to East Coast rowhome neighbourhoods, you will see brick and stone. Same in Chicago (which famously burnt down). In South Florida there is a lot of concrete block construction, and the traditional style in parts of the Southwest is adobe (though due to cost, newer homes may only be adobe faced). However, the predominant building method for detached homes is wood framing. There's a lot of wood here, and wood framing is easier to do. There's traditionally been a shortage of skilled laborers in North America. I've also been told that in seismically active areas on the West Coast, wood is preferable to masonry.

Europeans often think American homes look flimsy when they're half built (and some newer builders absolutely cut corners) but what's interesting is how many older wooden homes are still standing and in excellent condition. A lot of homes in the early 20th century were kit homes, especially from Sears. They'd ship you all the pieces for the house, down to the last nail, and a set of plans. Many of those homes are still standing. There are better and worse quality materials. For example, many older homes have wood shingles or siding, which are attractive, but high maintenance and a termite risk. Vinyl is the cheaper modern alternative. When we redid our siding, we got Hardieplank, which is fibre cement that is attractive and wears better than vinyl. I'm less fond of asphalt roof shingles, though, as they require replacing every 25 years. The walls are a sort of multi layer sandwich around the frame, with a waterproof wrap, insulation (vitally important! I had a friend in the Bay Area who found out that her older house was basically insulated with newspaper and even in that climate it was awful), and wood plus finally the drywall interior.

In Japan houses are only built to last 30 years and then they're torn down! Now that surprised me.

For Arabic/Muslim ladies - when you use the loo and you have a bottle of water for washing yourself afterwards , or a shower hose if in the Middle East in a toilet cubicle, how do you actually do this when wearing an abbaya? Does it get messy and the water goes everywhere? I had a Muslim friend stay with me and I had to leave a large water bottle in the bathroom for her, even though there was a washbasin and shower cubicle.

Wow thanks for your reply, it's explained a lot to me. I'm sorry about your wiring though, that's scary. It probably is more international but I just don't watch those things because I'm sadly monolingual. I end up watching British and American things mostly.

I have never heard of a roadside zoo, sounds barmy. I've only been to farms with common farm stuff. Having said that, I do know someone that bought a cat from someone in London and their monkey had just died. So we have some smaller scale animal weirdos somewhere around here. 🤷‍♀️

Why do Americans pronounce the word ask as aks?

'Aks/ax' is a pronunciation used in African American Vernacular English, and also some Southern White US vernaculars. The reordering of consonants is called metathesis. It happens in every language. There are examples of 'ax' for ask in Beowulf, so it's clearly a sturdy version of the word.

It's very possible that the 'ax' pronunciation crossed the Atlantic with English settlers and was taken up by African Americans. The English settlers may or may not have used the London 'ask' which was standard by the time of Shakespeare - they may have used an older 'ax' from counties away from the centre of fashion, or from parts of society untouched by UC fads.

Why some women speaks in a way that they drag the end of each word as if they are singing ?
I find it extremely irritating. Is this some type of “posh” talking or what ? Do they realise they are doing this ?

Whenever I hear a woman talking like this I assume that they are secretly so close to going postal and slaughtering everyone around them that they need to go full Mary Poppins at all times.

Is it just an English thing?

I don't know enough about pronunciation and timbre quirks in other languages to be able to judge if it happens elsewhere.

but what's interesting is how many older wooden homes are still standing and in excellent condition.

There's a wooden house built in the 1600s across the road from my grandad's house in Lapland that's still standing solid. Its the village museum now.

Oh, the regulations about who can do plumbing and wiring vary by state. Some states do allow DIY unfortunately! more frequently, the regulations on electrical work are stricter than plumbing. But just as often bad wiring is either 1) someone doing it illegally or 2) old wiring. There was a period in North America where they used aluminum instead of copper and if you mix the two, it's a fire hazard. There was also a period of what was called 'knob and tube' which is now not allowed. (There's this one Canadian show on cable where the home renovation people are always finding knob and tube!)

@gimmepeaceandsky

Why in the UK people get in contact with you, text you saying we should meet up but never make the time for it, and then say it again, and never happens. I feel confused, I started to loose the trust in people / don’t care anymore to be honest. Is sad.

I agree. It's because it's polite to say but they don't really want to or they don't remember to do it. I have trouble making friends because I take people literally and then get sad because I thought they meant it.

Is calling someone “hun” ok ? Please explain :) kkk

Usually, if you are on friendly terms. It's not okay in a formal setting.

Is saying “bloody” … something really bad ? Or just a way of speaking about something when you are very angry and Ok ish ?

No it's not very bad to say bloody. Again it's usually when you are on friendly terms, not in a formal setting. It's more polite to say "bloody gearbox" than "fucking gearbox". If someone says "cunting gearbox" they are indeed very very angry.

Why there’s no special meal for Christmas dinner when you already had roast the whole year ? Haha

🤣🤣🤣 Ahhh but at Christmas there is even more roasted and boiled things to eat!

Why girls dress the bare minimum clothes to go out at night in the winter knowing that will be extremely cold ?

Because they'll be really hot when they get inside the club.

Why kissing and hugging basically everybody when you say hello or goodbye is like a sin? Lol

I don't know about this. Maybe it's seen as juvenile and you would need to be close friends and family probably. My friends and family do kiss and hug each other at hello and goodbye but I know that it varies from person to person. It also depends on how well you know each other.

sorry for so many questions, it’s been a long time I’m stuck with them and this is a great forum 👍🏻

Thanks for the laugh about roast dinners!

They don't seem to have them in Finland which is sad but my neighbourhood is thinking about doing some kind of sports day for the kids in the summer (we do a ski race day for the kids every winter and at our last planning meeting someone suggested doing something in the summer too because not every winter has been ok for the ski races lately) so if we do I am definitely introducing the fun races - egg and spoon, three legged race, wheelbarrow race...

Europeans often think American homes look flimsy when they're half built (and some newer builders absolutely cut corners) but what's interesting is how many older wooden homes are still standing and in excellent condition.

YY to that.

The homes in my municipality pretty much all date from the turn of the 20th century and are known as 'wood frame Victorians'. A large number are sturdy wood frame houses, both large and small, over a full basement, with a detached garage opening onto an alley.

The building I live in was initially a farmhouse, built in the 1880s, currently divided into three apartments. It shakes a little during especially epic thunderstorms or very high winds. We have felt the occasional tremor from very occasional small earthquakes (we don't get big ones) which caused no structural damage. The wood expands slightly in hot and humid weather and contracts in winter.

My wooden house is from the 40s and is very solid, reckon it'll last a good while longer if it doesn't burn down (always mildly scared the house will burn down)

There's a postscript to the Verruckt story: Schlitterbahn sold its two biggest parks to Cedar Fair (a large and respected park operator). Cedar Fair declined to purchase the KC park and it was demolished, as it well should have been. The founding family still owns another park in Texas, but had to rename it. The family had to sell because of their legal troubles.

@AllTheAll

Question House Switch
What on this green earth is going on with house switching? Sometimes it sounds like people get on a list of public housing and put in their criteria and then beep boop boop you get a flat with your specs and somebody gets your flat? And is this with furniture ?

I think you might be talking about social housing swapping. If you live in rented social housing you can swap with someone else who also lives in social housing. It helps reduce the waiting lists by letting people swap by their needs and not waiting for the homes to become vacant.

For example, an older couple has had their 3 children move out, they now have a 3 bed home but only need 1 bedroom. They can swap with an overcrowded family of 3/4/5 that are currently living in a 1 bedroom. The rent reduces for the older couple and the larger family aren't sleeping in the living room anymore.

Furniture isn't included.

Home alone. Kevin is also extremely popular in Germany.

Speaking of roast dinners, when I was a child in the Deep South, it was the custom to have a big Sunday dinner (always in the middle of the day after church). It wasn't always a roast, but it often was. My mother did not like to cook (a trait I have inherited) so we always went to my grandmother's house for Sunday dinner. The starch was always rice and gravy, never potatoes. Rice is the preferred starch in the coastal South where I grew up. I think the tradition of Sunday dinner at home has mostly died out now; people go to restaurants and have brunch.

@gimmepeaceandsky I'm a born Brit but half Latina (Chilean) so I'll try my best to answer.
About the sing song voices- I think it's a sort of 'trying to be posh but also kind of American thing'
Regarding the lack of contact: Modern lives are busy but also a lot of Brits are insincere. I don't think they maliciously mean to string you along, it could be a number of things. Either they feel awkward ending a conversation and so the 'we should meet up' is a way to end the conversation on a positive (even if they have no intention of ever doing so) oooorrrrr
if they are like me, the rollercoaster of work, school pick up, housework means that another week goes by and it's only when I see you that I think 'oh shit I forgot to text Begonia about coffee again'
Also, people who live in one country, with family around, just aren't as motivated to make friends as easy as those who have moved countries. They just aren't! It may be that they think it will be awkward or they aren't very social or they just keep to themselves.

The culture is just so vastly different here. People are much more reserved. The idea of spending the whole weekend socialising with people outside of the family just doesn't appeal to a lot of Brits.
Particularly in middle class professional families, I have learnt that they become very tense if you bring a friend or someone they don't know well to a family day out. Everything has to be pre- agreed (months) in advance. They just don't have big houses full of family friends and kids running around all weekend. The only places I have found this is in more working class homes.
I hope you find your people!

*Is saying “bloody” … something really bad ? Or just a way of speaking about something when you are very angry and Ok ish ?

No it's not very bad to say bloody. Again it's usually when you are on friendly terms, not in a formal setting. It's more polite to say "bloody gearbox" than "fucking gearbox". If someone says "cunting gearbox" they are indeed very very angry.*

The word bloody (as I recall reading the explanation in one of George Orwell's books) was a really bad swear word in the earlier part of the 20th century as it referred to sanitary towels and all those 'dirty' connotations whilst describing a person. So swear words also evolve, now it is an anaemic swear word and can be used at ease. Today's worse swear word seems to be cnt. (my post will get banned if I litter it with expletives. 😂But I don't know the history there. The word fck, well in Ireland at least has been dumbed down to feck which is completely acceptable and used in a more easy-going manner (will f*ck is still used but reserved for complete disdain without humour).

The word word hun is passive aggressive. Even when used fondly, I can't see it as any other way.

Personally I wonder with Londoners, the phrase 'innit'. I thought it meant 'isn't it' but it seems to mean more than that, it doesn't read right as isn't it some scenarios?

I have a question for the Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and Danish.
What are the stereotypes you have about each other?
Do you ever feel a bit smug as you do pretty much everything better than every other country, in terms of policies?

And ones for the Ghanians just based on my friend from Ghana, as you are late a lot does the whole country just run really late, like an hour behind? It would be great if one country just thought 'time? Who needs it?' And completely got rid of the concept.
I'd move there!

The British class system does really elude me - as an Irish person and an American. It seems terribly important and terribly immutable.

@Pallisers I see it more as a caste system.