About strange myths that permeate MN about other countries and cultures

[Wetsummers]

Does anyone else know what I mean - in particular about ‘Africa.’ I’m not claiming to be an expert on African culture or social norms but I’m pretty sure the ‘African tribes’ often referred to on here are a myth.

See also the insistence that we start children at school too early. Pretty sure most 4/5 year olds are in some form of education / kindergarten or whatever.

And you can’t open a thread on sleep without someone confidently stating the Japanese all co sleep.

I distrust anyone who uses the word ‘cherished’ tbh. 🤣

It is a myth that abortion rights are stronger in the US than in the UK

It is certainly true that in the state I live in I have a stronger legal right to abortion than in the UK.

Practically it may be just as easy to get one in the UK ( excepting NI)

The issue of cost is a separate one.

Obviously as I said in my original post I understand that other states have very different abortion access. It really is a State and not a country issue.

@QueenWatevraWaNabi Your post is an example of when people don't read the thread then jump on something in an attempt to make a snarky remark. I hope it gave you joy!

I’m Scottish but have lived in England for over 20 years. My husband and two children are English. There is no way I would want us to move back to Scotland. Way too much anti-English sentiment which I find really sad. I’ve never heard it in reverse.

Re spelling names - how can everybody know how to spell every name? That’s an odd assumption. Even seemingly simple phonetic names potentially have a huge variation. There are around five different ways to make the /e/ sound, five ways to make the /or/ sound and even four ways to make the /j/ sound so how would people just know whIch grapheme to write?

I don't think anyone could work out a different way to spell my first name. I've never seen anyone try, probably because it wouldn't be possible.

I have to spell my married name every single time, even though it is completely phonetic and an actual English word. Usually I spell it and they then say “so just as it sounds.” However, if I say it is spelled “just as it sounds” they almost inevitably go wrong on the second, if not the first letter. My previous name was a very common English word which never gave any problems. My first name has a few variants, but mostly people just assume they can shorten it, which I don’t answer to.