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 never have a roast lunch on Sundays because I don’t like them;

@wandawaves Centre Parks is a holiday resort chain across the uk with a swimming pool, bike hire, cabins etc. People laugh at it because there’s an ancient thread where the woman’s husband thought he was getting anal sex when they went to centre parks- maybe someone can link it?

My primary school started 9am, secondary 8:30. For primary we’d get up 7:30/45? To leave 8:30, but we were a bit of an exception as our school was a 15 min drive away (plus leeway for traffic) - if you just walk you could easily get up at 8 and be in for 9.

Bedtime was around 9/9:30 in preschool gradually increasing to 10pm by the end of primary. In summer there is no bedtime. Dinner is immediately before bedtime, and you don’t eat a full hot meal. That’s lunch. Dinners are pretty light and don’t involve much cooking, especially in summer.

I am from a very hot area so school finishes at 1pm outside of October-May. You’d usually take a nap in the early afternoon during the summer months, or just have some downtime. Many preschools have compulsory naps until the age of 5 - school starts at 6. It was a rite of passage to go into ‘Infantil 3’ and drop the nap. Children do nap (or at least they pretend to!).

This is all still true as I have younger siblings who are going through school now. I don’t remember being too tired, nor do children in general seem affected by the late bedtimes. Kids are loud and rowdy of an evening not because of the lack of sleep, but because they’re Spanish!

We usually just say we’re going to Manchester, Liverpool or wherever. Calling it the mainland is enough to get you banished from the Isle of Man. 😉

I can't answer this because I'm English and definitely can't be arsed. We probably have a roast a few times a year - usually in Autumn or Winter when it feels a bit more appropriate to the season.

I think having a roast every week is a bit of a dying tradition TBH.

Nudeln is a coverall term for all types of 'Teigwaren' and then you specify according to origin, grain used, egg vs. no egg etc.

For us in Oz, we usually have a load of seafood, fish on CD. Plenty of salads, breads, dips, side etc. we have Christmas in July where we do the full on roast. Lots of pubs and restaurants do the same in July.

My brother in law lives in the Scillies and when he comes to see us, he said he is ‘coming to the Mainland’.

Why is this an AIBU rather than a chat thread?

Yes, absolutely correct, or you say ' Ich habe gross gemacht', or ' Ich habe klein gemacht' for a wee.

Regarding passport signing: must people know an ‘official’ who can sign. I used to work in a bank and signed all my friends and neighbours photographs. Teachers and doctors can sign too as can solicitors.
Property dh expensive in the U.K. so most hallways are small. People tend to keep shoes in cupboards or on shoe racks in various locations. I’ve got 3 shoe racks. One in my bedroom one on the spare bedroom and One in a cupboard located along the hallway.
My mum keeps her shoes in her bedroom plus a couple of pairs in a downstairs pantry/ walk in cupboard. Must people tend to keep school shoes/regular outdoor shoes in the hallway and put mire occasional shoes away.

Sorry, my previous reply was in answer to this question.

@StrictlyAFemaleFemale Well I’m Swedish but I genuinely thought they were taking the piss out of the Dutch when I first watched 😂 …. Then the examples given made me think Scandi origin. So let’s just say it’s not a very good one ;)

Sweden uses YYYY/MM/DD and usually, for example when planning a holiday will say "week 32" (of the year)

Do people in hot countries put on sunscreen every single time they go outside?
Also, women who live in hot countries - if you wear makeup, how do you stop it melting and sliding off? Especially when wearing it for work?

I always think about this when I’m on holiday somewhere hot and getting dressed to go out for dinner, and usually wear much less because of the heat, and then wonder about how for instance Spanish or Italian women do their makeup and keep it looking nice?

I haven't read through all of the responses but I've seen "ramen" used in the US for Asian or "Super noodle" style noodles. It always appears odd when watching an American cooking program and they say noodles instead of lasagna sheets!!

DD's school do this in the UK

Why are Japanese/Chinese people so loud? In the same part of a restaurant and less than about three tables away all conversation is a waste of effort as we are completely drowned out.

Americans - why don't you use a knife and fork properly? Do you think British people are stuck up because we are more reserved? Do you think baseball caps are infantile?

@elp30 @Tumilnaughts I hope this isn't offensive, given that it's coming from my (British and basic) understanding of the Civil War, but why would being called a Yankee be offensive, as opposed to just historically inaccurate? Would you rather be called a Confederate?

My dear old Nan would without fail (unless we were out for the day) produce a Sunday roast with all the trimmings, usually beef, whatever the weather, even the hottest of Sunday's!! By the time we were early teens (she lived with us) we were sick of them! Love them now though!

I am Australian but live in the UK now.

Christmas day was always a massive family thing and we would alternate seeing one side of the family one year and the other the next. It was always a big sort of cold buffet with ham, seafood, and salads,. Always pavlova for pudding and lots of fresh fruit.

But what i realise is bizarre now is that all the shops etc would have fake snow in their windows and do little European winter scenes. In the boiling hot!

Christmas in July is a real thing as well. Although in my experience it is usually something hotels put on and restaurants and not something my family did as a family event. So you would do the more traditional British style christmas with a roast, and hot puddings. There would be decorations and party hats etc but not usually presents. It seemed to become more a thing when I was in my early teens and was away to recreate the more traditional type foods.

My closest friend in the UK lives on the Isle of Wight. It is mainland UK but they say 'Going to the North island' or 'Going to the Mainland' when they travel over.

Spiders- [shiver] I am not a fan. No funnelwebs where I was brought up. But redbacks and white tails would be quickly thumped with a shoe. (And you always check under the loo seat when using an outdoor loo which was the only thing both sets of grahdparents had). Huntsmans are usually soemhow taken outside but that was done by my mother while my dad and would be standing shrieking on a table. (They run at you with their front legs waving to scare you. It works). If snakes come inside we would call the snake catcher. That only happened twice when I was growing up though.

For anyone in Italy/Spain/Greece - what's the best time for a siesta?

French - do you still take two hours or more for lunch?

Americans - do you have pancakes for breakfast as in the movies? Many of us in Britain must make do with something fast like cereal or toast.

Re the Japanese kfc. We had it one year on holiday. It had to be booked in advance and we got a time slot to collect and it came with a commemorative kfc Christmas ceramic plate! I enjoyed it. No big prep, no washing up! A lot of Japanese don’t have big ovens like us so they couldn’t cook a roast even if they wanted to.

On the topic of kettles, I have a Chinese one with a hidden element so you can cook in it too. Eggs, noodles, soup etc. It has about 10 different settings. It now seems such a waste to have a kettle that’s just used for tea!

My question for Americans is when you talk about your child’s “college fund” are you saving absolutely every expense for the college years? So fee’s, accommodation, living costs etc? Or just a contribution? I don’t know how people with 2 or more DC could save so much for all of them.

My mum used to cook a roast dinner every Sunday but most don't these days. I cook it more often in winter when it's cold out and we're not going out anywhere. Cooking a simple roast is not that difficult though- meat in the oven, shove some potatoes in when it comes out and then a couple of steamed or boil veg and yorkshire pudding if you feel like it and it's done.

Another one for the Americans - is it a regional thing to pronounce the ‘A’ sound as an ‘O,’ such as posta instead of pasta, Holloween instead of Halloween, or is it pretty universal? Another one that always gets me is how I hear the name Craig pronounced as ‘Creg’ 🤔

"Going to England"

Or wherever you're specifically going

recent arrivals and people not born here are more likely to say going to the mainland but that can be confusing because some people mean France by "mainland"