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’m Spanish - Friday 13th is definitely seen as bad luck, but so is Tuesday 13th, not on the same level though. I doubt the younger generation are very aware of this (I’m ‘younger generation’ and only know this from an older relative).

Fools Day is 28th of December. I don’t know if anyone who pranks friends or family! We all watch the Inocentadas show with José Mota on TV. Children and teens might come up with a few pranks but it doesn’t really come from the adults.

Spanish education is a lot more similar to the US than the UK one.

I’m American and I have an electric kettle for my tea. I always had one to use on the stove (hob? 😊) before I bought this one. My parents always drank coffee made in a percolating coffee pot, so they didn’t need a kettle.

In high school I had the same classes each day. I don’t know if they still do it that way. Extra credit is to help get your grades up, so if you didn’t do well on an exam you might have the chance to do extra credit work to help boost your grade.

@Maverick101 that video was hilarious, made my day.

I have a riot on my hands any time I try and do anything other than a full on British style turkey and ham Christmas lunch with pigs in blankets being an especial favourite . Interesting enough Christmas Day in Sydney often ends up not that hot but the year it was 40 was a disaster, kitchen area was a furnace, everyone was in the pool drinking way too many cocktails, I had invited my two besties who don’t particularly get on as they were both alone and it did not end well. I now refuse to cook anything hot before late afternoon. Last year we shared the meal with DS1’s wife’s family and had a very strange combination of hot and cold (prawns, salads etc.) combined. I quite fancied going away this year but apparently it is my turn to host the two families and nothing can be omitted…….

For an American (contentious question) - why is it easier to buy a gun than get an abortion in some states? Like what do most Americans actually feel about making it illegal to own a firearm (except in certain circumstances) like in the UK?

We’ve had that thread a dozen times. Ask the Supreme Court. They keep striking down gun laws. It’s not as simple as no one passing them.

based on polling most Americans would oppose a UK style ban but a majority support more regulation.

Yanks? Do you know inaccurate that is for the vast majority of the population. Geographically you’re probably closer to being a “Yank” than me.

on the school thing: Yep we had the same classes everyday. School stated at 8am. So you had 8 class periods. You would have Math, english, science everyday, and your electives every other day (art, gym, music ect). So on monday wens, friday you would have gym and spanish. Tues-thurs music and art

The 2nd amendment provides the right to bear arms. There is no such clause it amendment in the constitution that proves the right to abortion. Not everyone can have a gun. People with certain criminal histories can’t. Neither can recreational drug users. Nor people with certain mental health conditions.

Every state provides abortion where the woman’s health is in danger (ectopic, etc). Not every state provides elective abortions. People in such states are free to travel to other states if they wish. But those states that ban elective abortions are very conservative in baby, many aspects so it’s unlikely that someone who feels that abortion up to the 40th week should be allowed would live there anyway.

Mmm thanks to Roe being struck down it’s not true that abortion isn’t totally banned in some states.

I want to ask the Spanish what time their children have to get up for school and if they are tired after eating so late?

After gun laws, abortion legislation, and healthcare, this is the thing that annoys me most about America.

Lasagne sheets are not noodles!

I'm Australian, we have a Christmas Eve bbq. Sausages, marinated chicken, cold prawns, cold ham, pasta/potato salad, garden salad, pavlova, and cheesecakes outside with drinks, music, and family. Christmas day breakfast is leftovers (my favourite sandwich of the year is to heat up a sausage and chicken, add some pasta or potato salad, and make a massive sandwich).

Christmas day late lunch is roast lamb and chicken, roast potatoes/sweet potato/onion with vege and gravy plus more desserts.

Another Australian here! At Christmas our supermarkets are full of the typical Brit Christmas fare - mince pies, plum puddings, Christmas cake, brandy flavoured custards, turkeys, whole leg hams etc.

When I was growing up (1970s) we had the full roast plus sheet trifle and plum pud. Now I think people tend to pick and mix from various traditions but the traditional Christmas dinner has not died out completely.

I really would love it if people stopped referring to all Americans as "Yanks". I'm a born and bred Texan, a person specifically from the southwest of the country so definitely far from being a "Yank".

Also, not every American refers to lasagna as "noodles". I certainly do not call them that and I don't know anyone, in my neck of the woods, who does. "Noodles" are long strands. There are "soba noodles", "fideo noodles", "spaghetti" and even, "zucchini noodles/zoodles". Lasagna is referred to as either "dry" or "fresh" lasagna sheets or pasta.

I agree about the 'Yanks' thing. I'm from California but from Southern (Alabama) stock and actually found it offensive when I first moved to the UK to be called a 'Yank'. That term is mainly used to refer to someone from New England and has roots in language used during the civil war (maybe before then too but I'm not a linguist), which is why I imagine the PP from Texas also doesn't like the term. I've lived in the UK for over a decade now so I'm over the initial shock of being called such but I still find it annoying.

We had electric ones growing up - but I don't own one. I don't need it. I have a regular kettle that goes on the hob. I barely use it. If I need tea - very rarely, I boil water in the microwave , it's quick.

Lived and also travelled there extensively - never seen anything you mention about the US. But I suppose Wyoming is probably very different.
You tend to get stopped a lot if you are ethnic minority. It has happened to my friend, but then again I have an American friend who was detained for 4 hours at Heathrow. She was here for work.

American petrol pumps are much, much slower than the ones in the UK so most people click the handle, which keeps it pumping by itself, and then prop it in the petrol tank. They use the time to clear out the rubbish in their car (there is a trash can next to the pumps), wash the windscreen or just get back in their car until there is a very loud click which signals that it has finished pumping

American here. No one I know says, "I could care less." If they say it at all, they say, "I couldn't care less."

I HATE our gun laws. The current interpretation of the 2nd amendment is COMPLETELY distorted. It is unconscionable, disgusting and horrifying. Everyone that I care about feels the same way and none of us are gun owners.

Channel islander here. I just say I’m going to the Uk. My mum says she’s going home (although she’s liver here longer than she ever did over there)

I also grew up in Sydney and my (English) mother had the same "problem" - my dad and I in particular loved a good roast with turkey and so on. The heat issue was managed partly by cooking the turkey in the evening on Christmas Eve (can't recall whether it was put in before or after the carol service! probably weather dependent), which meant it didn't need as long to fully reheat on Christmas day. We always ate in the early evening, not lunch; breakfast before church then pickings in the afternoon, at least once I was old enough to remember. It was common for us to not have the Christmas pudding until the next day or two as I was the only one with a bottomless appetite ... I think we were adult when we discovered "christmas pudding icecream" which became a favourite.

I'll drop in another titbit some may appreciate. We love traditional choral music, and enjoyed listening to Carols from Kings being broadcast - usually we heard it late on Christmas Eve while driving home from our cathedral carol service. They broadcast the year before's service due to the time difference.

Not many people make a roast every Sunday, at most occasionally. We do probably about 4-5 times a year, mostly for special occasions such as Easter or Mothers' Day.

I have one for Brits if it is allowed. What do you do if you want a passport and you don't know anybody who can countersign?

Is it possible to get passport without knowing somebody?

I love watching UK house decorating shows and I have noticed the hallways are usually narrow and in lot of houses there is no place for shoe closet. Where do you keep them?

@WatermelonWaveclub I’m British and in my 20s. I remember during my GCSE years (Yr 10 and 11) I had English, Maths 4x a week (one double). Chemistry, Physics and Biology (I chose triple science and I think I had 2 lessons each but maybe more). I had PE 2x week and IT once or twice a week (can’t remember). Friday was the day where I had all my options (the subjects I chose) but because I had 2 lessons for each option, they were also on a different day in the week too. I had 12 different subjects.

Just thought I would comment because of your OP and this post too.

I want to know why Americans have changed so many spellings!