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!

An American told me a 'jumper' is a baby/child playsuit.

I think that's what is called a romper in the US. A jumper is what I think is called a pinafore dress in the UK.

That’s what we called it too.

Yes we have convenience and corner stores in Australia. It's not all rural or remote where you need to travel for miles just to get the basics. It all depends on where you live. Some towns/suburbs have one shop, some have many and some have none but there'll be a store a short drive away.

One for Americans - are waiting staff ever really as rude/sarcastic as they appear on TV, or is it, as I suspect, all invented for comedy purposes? I can’t believe in a job where you rely on tips that anyone would behave like that.

One for the Americans!

On film woman in labour as always put on their backs and have their legs in stirrups, is this really how you generally give birth over there and is a doctor always present?

Do you make a birth plan like we do here in the UK? Where you get to choose how and where you give birth (as long as there are no complications) Your birth position etc etc

Its something that often annoys me as being on your back is the worse way to give birth!

Sorry for the typos!

I'm sure that I watched a programme that explained that England used to write the day in this way , it was taken over to America and then at some point England changed to our current format.

I'm not sure if this is true but was Def on a programme!

No. In the US, labour is treated exactly the same as in the UK. I’ve given birth in both countries. You make your birth plan and specify your preferences, same as the UK. You can choose hospital birth, home birth, midwife centres, etc. depending on personal preferences, what is clinically acceptable, and what you can afford. Often your insurance company will get a say in where you give birth and whether it is midwife or consultant managed, as the company will want you to take the most risk adverse options. Midwife care may not be covered by insurance.

No, you don’t labour on your back, feet in the stirrups. Birthing suites look largely the same - birthing pools, balls, etc. Labour itself looks pretty much exactly like the UK.

A doctor is not always present. As I said, we have midwife care. Generally speaking though, antenatal care looks more like the consultant led path in the UK where you see a doctor for more of your antenatal visits. A midwife might do the same checks at the start of the visit, then pass the information to the doctor, who also meets with you.

Waitstaff tend to be very helpful and friendly in the US, in my experience. A rude or surly server would be penalized by a low or no tip, so there is a definite incentive to be friendly and helpful.

Question about the Dutch… Whenever we’re on holiday, the Dutch kids are always so tanned. As they are in Northern Europe I would picture them as pretty fair? But they’re literally all brown by the pool. How? Darker skin than I would imagine? No suntan lotion?

This is another question about kettles.

ok, so you don’t need a kettle because you’re generally tea drinkers. But, don’t you have to boil water for any other reason at all? I boil the kettle umpteen times a day for other jobs in the house.

There's not even a word for please in Finnish! There is a way to ask for something politely, and you can use thank you as please e.g. "a beer, thanks" but I don't hear people asking politely in bars very much, and there's no saying thank you to the bus driver as you get off at the middle doors. I always have to remember to use please and thank you copiously whenever I'm in the UK

The stirrups bit is old fashioned. You don't have to give birth on your back, though I do believe we have a somewhat higher percentage of births using epidural, so it would be harder to change position.

Correction: There's 2 kinds of midwives in the US. Certified nurse-midwives, who generally work in hospitals and clinics, are covered by insurance. (Direct entry midwives, who only do home births, may or may not be.) What is different is that in the UK, midwives do what Americans consider two jobs. A lot of what British midwives do on the maternity ward is done by nurses here. A midwife or obstetrician actually delivers the baby, but a nurse will be the one monitoring you during labour and caring for you on antenatal/postnatal. Obstetricians do a larger percentage of births in North America than they do in the UK.

You do have choices, though of course it depends on where you live and your risk level, and you can write a birth plan, etc. The other difference here is that you stay a little bit longer after delivery, due to a backlash against insurance companies forcing women to leave early back in the '90s. It's a day or so for an uncomplicated vaginal delivery and two or three for a Caesarean.

don’t you have to boil water for any other reason at all? I boil the kettle umpteen times a day for other jobs in the house.

No. The water from the tap is very hot all day and all night.

I really only use water boiled in the kettle for tea and hot water bottles.

On the topic of midwives in America -- DD4 was delivered by a midwife and her student 21 years ago. The nursing work associated with delivery and post partum care was done by nurses (RN). The midwives did their rounds in the hospital early in the morning exactly the way the OB/Gyns did.

jumper= dungerees in US

• A jumper is a pinafore, not dungarees. If it's a sleeveless one piece worn by a baby or toddler it's a romper. If it's a one piece trousers (aka pants) and top with no buckles it's a jumpsuit. Dungarees are called overalls in the US.

napkin= Sanitary towel

• nah, they're called pads.

swimming costume= this had the kids falling about as they thought it was fancy dress (swim suit)

• yes, swimming costume even seems pretty archaic to me. We called swimsuits/swimming costumes 'togs' in Ireland.

don’t you have to boil water for any other reason at all? I boil the kettle umpteen times a day for other jobs in the house.

Random question - what other jobs do you boil the kettle for? Like the pp upthread I only boil mine for tea and a hot water bottle (not in the UK or the US).

I boil the kettle if making pasta or rice or cooking vegetables. It is quicker and uses up less energy (I believe) than starting a pan of water on the hob from scratch. I think this is true anyway- it was a suggestion in a cookbook that made sense to me.

Thanks - that make sense. I just use hot water from the tap and then put it on the stove.

That would take ages though wouldn’t it?

(I know, at least a while 3 minutes!)

I boil water in the kettle for washing up in the summer (as our hot water doesn't get that hot in the summer as the main boiler is off)

I boil it for rice and pasta as it takes a very long time for the size of pots I use to bring water to a boil. I use two fast boil kettles side by side.

In the summer we don’t have our water heater on as the water would come out of the tap scalding hot and it’s just a nice temp if we use the cold water system for showers and washing etc. We couldn’t use it for tea or anything but I don’t anyway, I only use 5e water from the water cooler as it doesn’t come through the water system so is never chlorinated I’d we’ve had rains for eg.

In the Uk I still boil water with the kettle for most things kitchen related when you boiled waters required because but truth be told the water doesn’t taste that great so I use bottled water even for cooking. There’s always hot water on tap but I can’t say I use it for anything kitchen related apart from laundry and general cleaning.

I was led to believe that water from the hot water tap in the U.K. is not drinking water. And this is coming from a part of the country where we have no problem at all drinking from the cold tap as the water tastes excellent.

So I’d use hot water tap water for washing things but never for pasta water or to add to stock etc.

Water that will be consumed has to come from the cold tap. So either you heat a pan of cold water on the hob or you boil the kettle, having filled it with cold water.

Modern boiling water taps like Qooker are fed from the cold mains supply I believe.