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?!)

The older teenagers all look over 30.

They are all obsessed with 'antiquing' .
It usually looks like stuff we would happily throw in a skip.

Nah I was told it's actually very difficult to fire somebody in the US.

I've noticed some TV bedroom ones.

Even if you have a single bed, e.g. children, neither side should be placed against a wall. Beds should be in the middle of the room taking up the most amount of space possible.

Also, all lamps are wired up to the main light switch. (I'm really curious to know whether this is true or if it's just a TV trick because it's less awkward than showing people turning out individual lights and allows the parent to hang halfway in through the door saying goodnight.)

The circumstances under which people can be fired depend on the circumstances (terms of contract, whether a union is involved) and, to a large extent, state law. And then there are federal law protections against firings for reasons of race, sex, age, etc.

Maternity leave depends on variables, too, but tends to be much shorter than in the UK and will often include some that is unpaid.

I disagree, Bertie. In many cases, it's fairly easy to fire someone in the US.

Sorry for the multiple posts, but just to answer the electrical question. It's fairly common for at least one electric outlet in a room to be wired to a switch on the wall, so you could turn a lamp plugged into that outlet off and on from the wall switch.

If you are on an "at will" contract (like I am), it basically means that one day your employer can turn around and decide that they don't wish to employ you any more. There are a few protections, but not that many. If I was in a union, I would be virtually unsackable, however.

On eating, we were at (American) friends for dinner last night, and one of them commented that they had never got the hang of "European style eating", ie holding knife in the right hand, fork in the left. The usual American way to eat is to hold your cutlery like that to cut up your food, then put down the knife, switch the fork to the right hand and eat - hence it looking messy and a complete faff to our eyes

It's actually not good manners to chop up all the food. You're supposed to cut one bite at a time. I will sometimes cut two, because you cut off a slice of the steak/whatever, and then cut off half for one bite, leaving a second bite ready. But to cut the whole steak into bites at once isn't proper manners.

I don't know anyone that cuts up all their food prior to eating (except when doing it for a child)

Actually, quite a few Americans eat in what we refer to as the continental style. It usually means that they have spend some time in Europe. I adopted it when I was a student years ago in the UK; it's much easier once you get used to it, and it is acceptable etiquette in the US.

Yes, I didn't mean cut up everything at once (that's what I do when I'm having a TV meal by myself ), but cutting up a couple of bites then switching over cutlery is I'm sure what someone referred to upthread as looking like they spend their whole time pushing their food round the plate (as well as the obvious not eating because it's the 34th take and the food has gone stone cold)

When arranging a date theres never a time set. Or a place to meet. Its just "see ya later" and miraculously they are ready when the date turns up/they just know where to turn up.

Drinking milk with your dinner is a huge thing in Ireland! Agree about in American films nobody says goodbye when ending a telephone conversation. Over here we say bye at least 6 times

Plug socket being controlled by a wall switch is interesting. I'd never heard of hat before.

I think eating on TV always looks fake because like others said it would be impractical for the actors.

Home-time bell always goes off at school in the middle of teacher talking. The teacher then sets homework assignment with the response of an en-masse groan.

Opening of films often include a night-time shot of a group of homeless people rubbing their hands around petrol barrels with fires in.

What tosh.

"Home-time bell always goes off at school in the middle of teacher talking."
In my experience, this one is pretty true. Teachers are obviously trying to use every available minute they have, which is reasonable enough.
Most of them will hold the students until they finish their point, rather than letting them jump up right at the bell, though - which can be frustrating if you have another class to get to.

I know it was a while ago, but someone mentioned newspapers.

There are NO letterboxes in front doors. It took me a while to get used to. People sometimes have a paper box (like a mail box) by their driveway, or it just gets dumped by someone driving slowly past and throwing it out the window.

Letters are all put in mailboxes, at the end of the drive, or in a cluster at some point.

Driers - where we live, we can dry clothes outside but not have a permanent line put up. However, for 6 months a year it would freeze the clothes solid, so a drier is pretty important. When you buy a house all things like driers/fridge etc are left in the house, not taken with you.

Oh, and I'm a teacher. I haven't yet encountered a RL lesson where the teacher is still half way through the class when the bell goes. That one is weird and makes no sense.

Not halfway through a lesson, but halfway through a sentence certainly.
Depending on the subject, in a discussion class they can just pick up the next day where they left off at the end of the last class. At least in Jr High and High School, primary would be a little different.

I lived in a townhouse in Philadelphia where all the houses on the street had letter slots in the front doors, which was the first time I had encountered it. My dog would go absolutely nuts when the letters hit the floor; he would rage at them and tear them to shreds. I had to get a basket to attach to the door so they wouldn't hit the floor. Where I live now in Florida, all the mailboxes in the neighborhood are clustered at stations dotted throughout. We usually stop on the way in from work to collect.

Everyone has fantastic immaculately clean houses,yet no one ever does any housework. And how do they afford these beautiful,huge houses when they all seem to have pretty average paid jobs?!

Housing is SO much cheaper than in the UK. There are regional variations, of course, but San Francisco (vv expensive compared to the US) is comparable to the SE of England, outside of London.

I live in the midwest. My house is HUGE - more than double the size of the last place in the UK, but about 1/3 of the cost. For the same price, in a commuter town in Kent, I can get a 2 bedroom flat.

So, yes, out of town housing is all huge, often with an acre of land as standard, and far more people can afford it. My nearest neighbours are retired, a teacher, unemployed, self employed builder and part time worker. Yet our house is a mansion that would cost way more than a million pounds in the UK.

And I find the house far easier to keep clean - it's modern, not so much dust, plenty of storage so not much clutter. Everyone can have their own room to relax and watch TV etc, so each room is less full up messy.

Bowls of chilli.
You can get them anywhere,every corner store has a little table and stool for the cops to sit at ,even thou there's no menu.
Also everyone orders off menu in restaurants.
And every bar has a bottle of scotch with a regulars name on it .
All ex cops run a burger van or work the door in a plush hotel.

I may have been watching too much columbo.
But i have yet to find a british ex- cop working,don't they all go off to spain to chat with the crooks they failed to catch.

People either live in a huge house with a garden which they call a yard, or a squalid flat with no hygeine.
In the 80's every child had a private landline in their bedroom
Policemen survive on donuts

If you are invited for tea there will always be a big bowl of mash in the middle of the table passed over to you, which is the only thing you eat.
If you go shopping for clothes you must try on every outfit whilst doing mad poses/dancing etc regardless of who is in there without embarrassment.
School dinners are always a carton of milk and some kind of sludge and bread roll,
The cool kid at school always sits under a tree playing guitar.