Foreigners in the UK: What do you just not "get"?

[NotQuiteCockney]

I've been in the UK for 10 years now, I think. I do not understand:

• the Archers
• tea (why? why? why?)
• cryptic crosswords

Anyone else?

Can I explain the Mr title for seeming doctors? A doctor who is correctly addressed as Mr is actually a surgeon. Other specialists are still addressed as Dr.

Oh, DG, I'm glad you said that - I thought that was how it worked. SIL went from "Miss" to "Dr" and back to "Miss" again, for that very reason. (She became a "Miss" when she became a surgeon, not a consultant.)

Didn't surgeons used to not be doctors? Which is presumably the reason for the distinction?

oh gosh yes, all the wrapped and packaged produce at the grocery stores! and it's usually the organic produce that comes swathed in plastic and styrofoam... even when it's locally grown!

And I find it very off-putting when men who are obviously younger than me (well not 'men' really but teenage boys!) call me 'love'

glad to see that I'm not the only one who doesn't get the lack of mixer taps

I do love the tea though! Though I must admit that I prefer the Tetley tea you get back in Canada. my mom regularly sends me some in a care package, along with Tim Horton's coffee...mmmmmm

NQC, this isn't an official answer but it moreorless covers it:
"It is surgeons who are called Mr usually after they have passed the FRCS
exam (Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons) - this includes the surgical
specialties such as ENT, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
Orthopaedics etc. I think because in 'ye olden times' surgeons were often
barbers and not medically qualified. Some revert to calling themselves Dr
if they then obtain a PhD. Surgeons in training are usually still 'Dr'.
Medical consultants ie physicians, paediatricians, geriatricians etc stick
to 'Dr'" (Copied from another webiste)

Also re the Mr/Miss/Mrs/Dr issue, I think it's partly a hangover from the tradition in this country of the 'gentleman amateur'.

'Gentlemen' did not become 'professionals' (i.e. akin to trademen).

So it's another class thing.

The whole Dr/Mr thing is to dowith the speciality of the doctor. Traditionally, i.e. two hundred years ago, surgeons weren't medically trained as all they did was lop off a limb if the need arose - they tended to have other professions like barber. So the tradition stuck when medically qualified doctors became surgeons - the title Mr?Mrs/Miss for a surgeon is an honorific. Also, you will only qualify to call yourself Mr once you have passed exams that allow you to enter the Royal College of Surgeons. So that is why surgeons are called Mr/Mrs/Miss and all other doctors - physicians, GPs etc are still called Dr.

For EmmyLou:
Italy

That's what I mean. The 'higher' you get in the profession (and I know that's arguable), the more likely your professional title will be removed.

Class snobbery.

Hmm, not sure I agree with you there - surgeons used to be essentially unqualified, so the "Mr" thing, historically, wasn't really an honorific per se ...

No one answered the question about why you buy cakes on your own birthday!

It's obvious, innit? If everyone bought you a cake on your birthday you'd be sick, whereas if you work with 11 other people then on average you get a cake once a month, which is a treat.

Where I used to work we'd go out to lunch on everyone's birthdays and everyone else would chip in to pay for the birthday person's lunch.

Ah, but normally, where I used to work, there was one v sociable person who'd organise cakes, and collect cash for them, and organise a card etc etc etc. So you wouldn't get 11 cakes, you'd only get one!

TartanTeddy, I think that was a bit mean. I didn't realise it was supposed to only be a silly thread, maybe it belongs in chat instead? I guess I don't get the point of moaning about someone else's fridge size.

Sorry - I meant that NOW it's an honorific. I blame the all day moring sickness and the vestiges of a migraine for my mistake.

why do they love there celbs and magazines they are so obsense with them

here in AUs the people in your office usually get together and organise what they are bringing for your birthday and you have a nice long morning tea

Not everyone's obsessed with celebs - I'm sick to death of them. Do I really want to know that Posh thinks she's got no bum? (Front page of Yahoo today)Or what Kerry's up to this week? What have they done to earn themselves this place on our front pages?

I do find myself flicking through OK or Hello at the hairdresser, though, to see these people who've set themselves up as 'stars' make a*ses of themselves with awful outfits & falling drunk from taxis, and to gawp at their taste-free homes - and weddings, Katie.

I know Brits aren't alone in having celeb mags; my NZ friend buys mags on our Royal Family!

Very enjoyable, and instructive, to hear what's good and what's not so good.

I'm afraid i really like people not talking to you on buses/tubes etc (my private time, private space - no interaction, thanks) but can see this is completely anal. I lived in Japan for a year and experienced this from the other side since I was the "outsider" noticing that no one spoke to each other, however I thoroughly approved!

I find everyone coos over babies and find it a bit uncomfortable actually.

Love marmite, hate carpet in bathroom (and would prefer not to have it in rest of house but would be too noisy).

Would love a big house/off street parking/separate laundry room/more than one bathroom .

Have weaned myself off net curtains but miss them (again, a privacy issue).

Can't stand outdoor shoes inside but this is an Asian cultural thing I was brought up with (here). Accept that most of my friends aren't comfortable doing it (and think I'm asking because I want to keep my carpets clean).

I am so NOT obsessed with celebs that I usually don't know what people are talking about. Posh who? Someone told me today that John Terry drinks in our local pub sometimes and I didn't have the faintest idea who they were talking about. Apparently Richard & Judy do too - sadly I do know who they are!

Ah, Culture - I was thinking about the differences in Brit culture and 'Abroad'. I've come to the conclusion that ours is a kind of 'milder' version of others, eg:

Where you have the bullfight, we have... Crufts
Where you have the chador, we have ... the shellsuit
You have female genital mutilation, we have ... false nails
NZ rugby dance thingy? We have Morris dancing
Friends, extended family? Replace with Coronation St
And finally....
Where you have ceremonial intoxication
with Arak, schnapps, peyote, ganja,
shisha and hundreds of others,
we have.............. TEA!!

(NB this is just a bit of fun, didn't want to offend anyone, especially the Morris Dancers, fertility rites etc, big blokes bashing their big sticks together)

And Bless those Morris Dancers eh? (shouldn't be rude - they are meant to be well 'ard)

But you could extract the perfect kitchen design from this thread:

1. Italian cupboard over sink for draining plates
2. BIG fridge
3. No minging carpet
4. Separate laundry
5. Tea caddy labelled "Weirdo Brits only - coffee on next shelf"

Anything else?

lol emmylou
actually I'll whisper this, I'm Italian but I prefer a nice cuppa to an espresso........

Having read my way through all of this I would like to say:

It's because car parking spaces are so small that people reverse into them. (Can't get head first into a small space, can you?)

Expat - for an expat you have certainly absorbed and incorporated the patois: 'Boak' and 'minging'! (which I'm convinced originated in Scotland.)

I think a lot of what others see as strange is caused by the need for parsimony, especially re. fuel costs. Why do we never open windows? To keep the heat in. Why do we keep our houses so cold? 'Cos it's too dear to keep them roasting. Likewise, carpets keep rooms cosier and stop draughts coming up between the floorboards.

Once, when I had an American friend and his daughter staying, this cry of alarm came from the bathroom:'Dad, there's cold water coming out of the hot faucet! They lived in an apartment block in the US where the heating was communal. She didn't realise she could - and had - run off all the hot water. Once her Dad moved to England, I kept getting letters complaining about how much it was costing him to heat his flat.

I find this thread really interesting but...

I don't understand why people keep mentioning how the check out people don't pack your bags for you in the supermarket?

are you too lazy to pack them yourselves?
don't want to offend anyone just curious.

I for one don't like other people packing my bags as they always do them wrong.

Also, North American houses generally don't have timers on heating and hot water - energy is a lot cheaper there. (They probably do have timers now, at least in some places? Maybe?)

Having someone else pack your bags is quite useful if you have two children to deal with, or other stuff going on. Also, if you're not used to packing the bags, you (ok, I) often forget to pack them as you go, if you're distracted, and then it's quite embarassing.

the checkout operator packs the bags here - very helpful when I have two little ones to wrangle. Also our checkouts don't have the long conveyer belts like the UK ones do so there is no room made at the end to do it.

However a variety store has just introduced self checkouts - you scan and pay and pack and on your way - handy when you only have a couple of things to get and don't want to cue.