Things I think are true about America based on Tv and Film

[PennyHasNoSurname]

People sort of pick at their food with just a fork - putting it on, scraping it off, moving it round the plate before putting it back on again and eating half of whats on the fork. Food must be stone cold by the end.

Nobody says goodbye on the phone. Now I know us Brits are painfully polite to a fault but "see you later" or "bye" is basic?

Everyone eats out of packets / dried goods. Of which they have 3000 of in their basement

School finishes at about 11am. University is called School (isnt that confusing?!)

This is very true. There is actually no such quantity.

At work I always have a cup of tea on the go.

Hmm, like some of the PPs I've been here so long now it's hard to remember what I thought of the UK. When I try to think back, I get sort of a newsreel of flashing images featuring Prince Charles and Diana and Duran Duran -- the stuff I paid attention to as a teen. Not very helpful, I realise.

The things my American friends would say today based on TV and movies:

• "They have a hell of a murder rate in some of those little village-y places. Make sure not to take us to that Midsomer spot when we visit. Or Oxford, for that matter. Especially as we can't bring any guns with us."

• "They don't put ice in their tea! All that tea and no ice!"

• "Everyone talks like they do in Downton Abbey."

• "Everyone loves the Queen and is obsessed with Will and Kate and their kids."

• "Scotland is full of Sam Heughan lookalikes in kilts. Cornwall is where to go for scythe-swinging, skinny-dipping hunks."

We over apologize too but we are neighbors with Canada and it's rubbed off on us.

I don't understand what it is that you're apologizing for lol, it would never occur to me to apologize to someone for asking them if they were in a queue. Would I be seen as rude if I had the same conversation minus the apology?

The apology isn't for the other person really. It's to make you feel better about talking to someone you don't know.

This thread has made me laugh: we moved over here a couple of years ago, and I still keep finding things that are exactly like in the movies and on TV!

Yes to:

• yellow school buses
• huge brown shopping bags (though round here they have handles)
• adults being called ma'am and sir (though not routinely)
• school football being a Big Thing
• spending weeks at summer camp (my kids have nine weeks off over summer; I have 15 days of annual leave - you do the math (as they say here))
• driving on the phone (generally the standard of driving is terrible)
• alcohol being a Bad Thing (went to a neighbour's summer barbecue one sunny weekend; only DH and I drank...)
• papers thrown on the lawn (though by grown ups in vans, not kids on bikes)
• takeaway in little fold up boxes (which don't microwave as well as UK plastic boxes if you have leftovers)
• walk in closets (not everywhere, but generally storage is more generous and better planned)
• bottled water (we seldom drink the tap water)
• large basements (if you have a large house, which people in the suburbs tend to, though city apartments can be as small as anything in UK cities)

Plus:

• vending machines to buy newspapers
• random strangers saying they love my accent (I can totally see how the Love actually storyline could happen!)
• taking children to the doctor for an annual check up, not just when poorly (usually required under health insurance plans)

"We over apologize too but we are neighbors with Canada and it's rubbed off on us."
The Canadian "sorry" is a completely different beast from the British "sorry" though. Canadians are startlingly passive-aggressive with theirs.
I love Canadians.

Tap water in America varies wildly, chiefly due to geology, but also various municipal treatment. New York is proud of the water. Water in Los Angeles doesn't taste nice because the water table is slightly corrupted by salinity. It's supposed to be safe to drink everywhere, but as the recent crisis in Flint, Michigan illustrates, there are rare issues.

Has anyone mentioned newspaper delivery people just throwing them into front gardens rather than posting them through letterboxes?

It's highly unsafe to live in a major city like NYC or Washington because, sooner or later it will either destroyed by aliens, or a natural disaster, but Will Smith, Tom Cruise or John Cusack will save whatever's left.
God knows how I survived five years in Washington.

Clowns live under the drains

Once your mother gets to 40 she will have work done either just Botox or a full face lift and none of you will bat an eyelid I'm looking at you Claire from Modern Family

Ooh I hadn't noticed that Each. We have all 7 series of MF on Now TV so I might have to watch an early one and a recent one for comparison. I wonder if Gloria is the same?

they dont have washers and dryers in their flats a communal room pay for it and wait for clothes or get nicked. If ur lucky a hunk guy from coke ad may take tshirt off while ur innocently waiting.

Big houses keep washer dryers in basement you are weird if u dont have dryer even more so if u have no dishwasher. Laundry shoots from bedroom to basement. I wonder what they do if dirty pants get stuck midway eugh........

everyone loves basketball or baseball go to match munch on burgers and beers and theyre such a nice bunch dont start fights outside if their team loses . I dont see. police on horses at matches like i do here

Katarzyna that's almost all accurate. Laundry rooms in apartment buildings: this is true. Some nice apartments may have their own washer and dryer but that is not the norm. Usually there is a room of coin-operated machines in the building. People stealing stuff is fairly rare but people absolutely will take your stuff out and throw it on the table it if you aren't there when the machine stops.

It is weird not to have a washer and dryer in a house. Not sure about the dishwasher - I'd say that they're about as common as over here. You can cope without a dishwasher more easily than without a dryer. You're often not allowed to dry clothes outside because it's seen as trashy and brings the tone of the neighbourhood down. Laundry shoots are hardly universal. I've never had one.

Professional sporting events are almost always friendly, happy affairs. Violence is almost unheard of. It is slightly more likely to occur at college games, as you're more personally invested in your school than your city's professional team.

kids have unlimited spare money and freedom to go to the shops, cinema, whatever with.

Other things I noticed here today:

• basketball hoops over the (double) garage
• kids all wear their rucksacks on both shoulders (is it only UK kids who risk back problem by carrying them slung over one shoulder)
• HUGE Coca Cola lorries
• every school looks like Rydell High (I keep expecting the cast of Grease to appear)

"Brit 1: Sorry, are you in the queue?
Brit 2: Oh, no I'm not, sorry!
Brit 1: Oh, sorry!
"

I did that last week, pretty much word for word, and then again at the weekend. I think the first "Sorry" is a substitute for "hello" (which would be embarrassing), and the other two are because they are each sorry for being so unconscionably rude as to have misinterpreted the other.

I used to have a colleague who was from the South. We used to shamelessly deploy him to charm difficult older clients by calling them "Ma'am". It was like magic. We had to stop him from using it to senior colleagues though as you just couldn't NOT giggle girlishly in response.

Something else about Americans - whenever they are fired or leave their job they have to take all their personal stuff out in a cardboard box?

MarieJeanne yes, that's pretty typical. If you're fired they want you off the premises immediately - clean break. Sometime even escorted by security. You have to take all your stuff with you and since there are generally boxes in the room with the photocopier, that's what you'll use.

Oh they can get fired for absolutely nothing too? Oh, you turned up late one day. You're fired. I just got bored of you, you're fired.

Is there really no job security?

For example, in Friends (for example) Rachel was off with a baby, they replaced her - and pretty much fired her because she had SIX WEEKS off. And then there was some comment about how long she had taken off work??

Is it true that there's no real maternity break/law/protection in the US?

If you watch a lot of The Middle, then you'd think that no one seems to use their oven to cook, they store things in it; and they don't do much washing up because they eat off disposable plates! And they have a lot of take aways, or I should probably say 'take outs'. How common is this really? Is it common to use paper plates all the time?

I know LOTS of people who don't use their oven. They buy dinner from the deli and heat it up. Eating out is pretty common and you can go in most restaurants and get takeout.

People do use paper plates much more than in the UK, especially at play dates.

Don't you have to leave the building escorted by security in the UK as well, if you get sacked? I thought you did!

American children don't know how to eat with proper cutlery.
They have to have plastic forks, knives and spoons at school.

Don't they trust them not to stab each other?