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!

Ham is still super popular for Christmas lunch, whether hot with roast trimmings, or cold with salad.

Our usual family Christmas lunch is a seafood starter - prawns and/or smoked salmon, followed by turkey breast, sliced ham, roast potatoes, honey carrots, cauliflower and broccoli au gratin, stuffing, gravy etc. Dessert is usually pudding and brandy custard because I love it, and pavlova if my mum is here.

I love a roast and happy to crank up the aircon if it’s hot.

About the spiders, I’m not a fan but admit they are important to the eco system. I can tolerate tiny ones inside but huntsmen (the large furry ones) have to be relocated. It’s rare to find dangerous spiders (eg red backs) inside of the house, but these would find themselves quickly under a thong. If you do t already know, redback spiders are very small, about the size of a pinky nail. The big furry huntsmen are completely harmless but icky.

Americans have electric kettles- I bought mine in Walmart. You can get them anywhere.

Paper bags from Whole Foods Market have handles. Paper bags from Aldi don't.

Yes, you have the same classes every day all semester in American High schools. Your schedule changes by semester. If you are taking two semesters of English one year, your English class could be in the second period one semester and seventh period next semester.
My DCs also had daily PE in their high school. Every day for four years, even if they were playing a sport after school.

A Kiwi here... Like other posters from ' across the ditch ' or the 'West Island' ( Australia) Christmas Day lunch is hot or cold ham, new potatoes peas, and salads followed by our national dessert , pavlova , and trifle. As it's still daylight until 9.30 ish, left overs for evening, or a BBQ.

I visited distant relatives in Wyoming and found Americans there friendly but some odd, to me, ways. Not allowed outside clotheslines - visual pollution . Everything was put in a plastic bag then a plastic sack, even prewrapped items. My cloth shopping bag was cause for puzzled looks and mirth. Used paper plates all the time, very little fresh fruit and vegetables, mostly frozen. No kettle, any hot water was microwaved or from the tap. Few footpaths, drive everywhere. Cars don't have internal openers or lockable fuel caps, but as soon as the key goes on the ignition the doors lock.... scary, as we're the gun racks in the vehicles and sidearms most adults had on belts or under jackets.

LA Airport was the 11 hour stop over from a nightmare after the haul across the Pacific. Security guards loved me to the extent I and my bag were searched 8 times, so after the 3rd I took off my underwire bra and left my shoelaces only loose. Small backpack was tipped out onto the floor if there was no table nearby. I was searched at the bottom of the escalator and again at the top...The (almost) killer was the metal detector, obviously more sensitive than the Security guards ones, when I was boarding the Denver flight and the screws in my glasses frame set the alarms off. Instant drawn firearms front and back.
I was 55 and traveling alone, therefore very suspicious...

At my DS's US High School they take 6 subjects a year and do every subject, every day. They have 8 periods a day (including lunch and study hall) from 7.45am - 3.15pm plus a mandatory sport or extra curricular after school and homework is always due the next day so it's a lot of work to keep on top of.
It's also a lot of fun. On Friday's the whole school goes to the Pep Rally then the Football game under the lights. There's always a sporting, art or drama event taking place on a weekend which will be well attended plus the traditional Homecoming, Prom's and Social's during every year.

Extra credit is work offered by a teacher that you can do to gain extra points in a course. It's well worth doing if you think you can do it well, because it can bring your grade up and every grade counts thanks to the GPA system.

Pasta is called pasta in America in my experience. I've never heard anything aside from spaghetti called noodles, and even then maybe spaghetti noodles. Maybe this is an old term for pasta from way back when a lot of people had parents or grandparents from Europe.

I know there's a Russian phrase meaning 'you're pulling my leg' that translates as 'hanging noodles from my ears' so maybe noodles are an older European (maybe more east European) thing.

Where I am, noodles would refer to lasagna sheets, or egg noodles, which are the kind of middle European pasta you would serve with chili.

@CatatonicLadybug the paper grocery bags all have handles now…

Now I must know what Australians have as their Christmas meal.

Multicultural these days so depends on culture.
However, I can speak for multi-generational Australians in that it has been pretty uniform up until now. Cold leg ham sliced, maybe cold chicken, prawns and salad (potato salad being a staple, often coleslaw, and a green). Desert is pavlova.

These days though I notice the young folk have changed it up and as well as cold leg ham (non negotiable I would think😝) they seem to do a variety of seafood on the barbie and some other meats and they do more ‘fancy’ salads like prosciutto and fig, and so forth. Funnily they always get an oldie to supply the pav, as in general they seem incapable of making them which is a worry (and no ‘real’ Australian would dream of buying those vile pav shells they sell in supermarkets). They also tend to make another fancy desert from some latest fad. The other thing I note is that traditionally we had cold beer on Xmas day, now it’s evolved to cocktails to start and wine which I’m not complaining about😁.

The (almost) killer was the metal detector, obviously more sensitive than the Security guards ones, when I was boarding the Denver flight and the screws in my glasses frame set the alarms off. Instant drawn firearms front and back.

Seriously doubt this happened.

@CourtneeLuv - I wouldn't write the initial sentence the way it was written, but I wouldnt rewite it as you did either.

I think the first sentence was pretty easy to follow. That sort of sentence would be found in a local newspaper, not in other written communication.

On spiders. Anything dangerous is relocated outside, usually via the glass/piece of paper method.

Huntsmen, Daddy LongLegs, Orb weavers, we just leave them be.

I admit I quite like spiders though, so this might not be 'normal'.

We have a yearly pest spray which I insist they limit to termites/borers and only on the house/buildings themselves. Otherwise we just live with the locals.

I back on to a national park, so frequently have brown snakes and red bellies in the back yard. Again, we just ensure we make a large amount of noise when outside and they move away. We don't get many though as we have a lot of kookaburras who view these as lunch.

Now, the fucking cockatoos and my aerial are another thing...

Noodles to me means egg noodles (am Jewish so eat those frequently) or Asian noodles. Though I've heard lasagne noodles often enough now that it doesn't jar. It does still surprise me when someone refers to, say, buttered noodles and they mean spaghetti.

you do see clotheslines here, though some HOAs ban them. I don't use one because in the winter the clothes freeze and the rest of the year they get pollen or leaves on them.

i use my kettle for coffee rather than tea! I prefer it made in a cafetière or pour over. Most Americans have counter top filter machines, though, and if they have a kettle it's stove top.

Ooh one for US Mumsnetters. I remember when the DC sniper horror stuff was happening there were news reports shown over here of people sitting in their cars filling up petrol/gas. So is automatic gas pumping everywhere? I assume that's what it is. Everywhere in the U.K. afaik we get out and hold the nozzle in the fuel neck tube hole thing and have to hold the trigger while the fuel goes in! I guess it's because we generally have smaller vehicles and so need less fuel and it's quicker all round?

Tldr are automatic gas pumps everywhere in the US?

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?

Depends on what sort. Things like daddy long legs you would just leave. Red backs, white tails you kill. Funnel webs you kill unless you have a local collection centre and then you hand them in as they use them for milking and anti-venom. Things like huntsmen, St. Andrew’s Cross and orbs you relocate to an appropriate place outside. We even once had a bird eating spider in the house, that was relocated but we needed a bucket and was a bit of a palaver getting it in!

Us oldies were trained by our parents to identify spiders at a glance and use the thong method to kill when necessary. I find young folk today have little idea what’s what between common black spiders, and instead of using a thong they empty a whole can of spray over the victim. Weird. They also freak out and don’t know about snakes or how to deal with them. I think it’s because most residential places are now built up and snakes are rare unlike when I was growing up and young.

No, most places are self serve. Some places have a choice.

the exception is New Jersey where self serve gasoline is banned. (Oregon used to, too, but loosened up.) every feq years they propose allowing self serve in New Jersey and every time it fails.

I've never been - truly not my thing - but as I understand it, it was sold as some sort of lux forest camp type activity holiday, with posh chalets, pools, n pushbikes in lovely woody surroundings and safe for kids.

It seems to be, now, tired, grimy, boxy, badly maintained chalets with very expensive on-site food, over-run pool, with dodgy customers etc.

I may be generalising!! As I say, I've never been.

It isn't even the IKEA of camping hols, I gather.

oh, you might mean a keep open on the pump! In which case you're not supposed to get back into the car while it's filling, you're supposed to stand next to it but you don't have to hold onto the nozzle. Easier on the hands. I think a couple of states don't allow those, I remember not finding any in New York.

Suddenly renembers thong is a flip flop!! Cos the idea of killing venomous spiders with skimpy underwear.... 😂

I'm English but lived in Australia for 15+ years. My experience of Christmas day is usually a wider selection of foods than in the UK. Quite often a big group, mix of friends/family. Usually eaten outside. Elements of traditional roast dinner (sometimes the meat joint cooked on the BBQ), so perhaps pork and/or lamb, plus all the sides (no pigs in blankets though - so sad!) but often salads and cold things like pasta salads too. A few people I've spent Christmas with often have seafood too - so there might be giant prawns and other cold seafood to start, then roast meats with roast veggies and salads as the main. Never had Christmas cake, trifle, or Christmas pudding here. Usually cold puds such as cheesecake, tarts etc. And lovely summer fruits.

Wrt fitting in the subjects - high school is a four year period. There is no exam midway through after which you narrow down your subjects.

A high school day in my local HS goes from 8-3:15. Students do a homeroom period of 10ish minutes, followed by eight periods of class. Three of those periods are taken up by lunch, PE, and study hall. That leaves five academic periods. Some students who do music performance miss study hall and do music instead. You do five subjects every day therefore.

An example of a course load for one year (two semesters) would be:
English, maths, history, biology, Latin.
The following year you would do chemistry instead of biology and the year after that physics and psychology instead of chemistry and history. For your final year you might drop Latin and do studio art, US government, environmental science, maths and English.

There are endless permutation and combinations of courses possible, with over a hundred courses to choose from, and on top of that you can do summer school to fit in art courses or to advance a year in maths, or do a history course. You can also repeat a core subject course if you failed it during the school year.

Kids who are going to university have to have a minimum of three years of maths and English, a mfl or Latin, at least two years of history/ humanities, and at least three years of lab science. Kids who want to get into a good university will do their courses at honors or AP level.

Students don't progress through school in a cohort of their peers - classes can be composed of students of any age from 14 to 18. Students are placed in classes according to aptitude and/or previous grades, not age. The exception is drivers Ed, which is for students who will turn 16 by the end of the school year.

You can use a little clip that comes on the gasoline nozzle to keep on pumping and sit in your car until it cuts off automatically when your tank is full.

I never do this. I don't care if my hand freezes and falls off. I'm afraid of causing a spill or a fire.

Beach houses are a UMC thing in my observation.

Where I am, thoudands of miles from the ocean, beach houses are lake houses. I know several families of siblings who share a lake house originally bought by their parents back in the 1970s. I also know families who bought their own. These days a lake house often doubles as an air bnb.

Untrue. I have electric kettles both at home and in work. My home one is fancy enough to have different settings for different types of tea. It's more that fewer Americans care enough about tea to bother

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

I don't know anyone who does a Sunday roast every Sunday.

I had a boyfriend from the Middle East and I found him and his friends and family unbearably 'flowery and dithery' - totally unable to give a proper answer or say what they really thought without going round the houses hinting at it for ages. I suppose they did express anger more directly, but it was a nightmare in general conversation to get down to business. There was such a fear of offence and tiptoeing around ego. I grew up with it being a mark of respect to be honest and direct - for them it seemed to be the opposite. It was a big part of why we didn't work out in the end.