Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Living overseas

Whether you're considering emigrating or an expat abroad, you'll find likeminds on this forum.

Original poster

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

389 replies

NotQuiteCockney · 07/10/2006 21:12

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?

OP posts:
GuppinBuppin · 07/10/2006 23:22

gotta agree with most things on here. especially:
-carpet in the bathroom
-no screen on windows
-people keeping their shoes on indoors

I'd also like to add:
-the drink culture
-religious bigotry (i'm in scotland where it is an issue)
-how FREAKIN' expensive it is to live here
-the amount of litter and dog poo on the road

expatinscotland · 07/10/2006 23:25

Bran
Also remember 'Irish time', as my DH calls it.

His nana was Irish, and his mother's sister moved back to when she was 18 and stayed and had a family, so we go back to see his auntie and three first cousins - and all their crew.

They just sort of show up when they show up.

You say, Oh, pub at 8 and that means they all sort of drift in any time between 6-10.

madchad · 07/10/2006 23:32

Bran, how did you know I am Irish, which I gather you are.
I do like it here, and lots of things about the UK, not least of which is the NHS-amazing to get it all free.
About the salary thing, that really is true, I have been asked numerous times-perhaps it's the company I keep.They don't ask what I earn now, but did when I came here. I was really taken aback-these were usually relative strangers, but then it was the 80s....

bran · 07/10/2006 23:40

Expat, we once explained Irish time to some German friends when we were in Dublin, we said that although you give a specific time the interpretation is fluid but usually averages about 20 mins late. We arranged to meet up at 2pm the following day and they showed up at 2.20pm on the dot.

Madchad, I think the 80's was different, I only caught the tail-end of it as we moved to the UK in 1989 (ish) but I remember people only talked about money/property prices/shares then.

expatinscotland · 07/10/2006 23:54

Then there's a driving there, bran.

I became a reformed Catholic once we got out of Dublin on the way to Cork. And I wasn't even driving!

I could just hear my sister's sweet Southern accent in my head, 'Oh, dear Lord, we're gonna die. We're all gonna die!'

bottomburp · 08/10/2006 00:05

i love this thread, am english (indian dad tho) but read loads of these thinking either you're so right eg carpet in bathrooms is revolting, we've just moved house and have the blimin stuff in our kitchen!!!! how mad is that. other stuff like loving marmite and hating mixer taps - i never knew that was an english thing but guess it is.
glad that am not a sheep though as love nothing better than people just popping round, must point out tho that am very messy all the time.all friends know that the later they are the tidier it'll be.

amyway had to share smthg i found funny recently.in laws had friends visiting from copenhagen.discussion turned to boarding school as DH and his brother were both sent away, and one of them said to F-in-l, i am not wanting to upset you but am just trying to understand why anyone would WANT to send their child away to school!!!

Astrophe · 08/10/2006 00:05

washing machine in the kitchen
the teeny tiny fridges
the teeny tiny houses
carpet in the bathrooms (eeewwww!)
Kiddies having crisps for lunch
chips on the menue at Indian restaurants (???)
COLD SAUSAGE ROLLS!!!!! COLD PASTIES!!!LITTLE COLD SAUSAGES!!! ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!
Restaurants that don't have their 'cold' drinks in the fridge
So-called 'cafes' where you have to go along with a tray and collect your own food
calling squash 'juice'

As my Dad would say "They're a funny race, the Pom"

But I say all this with th greastest affection ...now we must have a thread called "What I love about this green and pleasant land"...

Gillian76 · 08/10/2006 00:07

So where am I to keep my washing machine then?

Astrophe · 08/10/2006 00:08

We have a 'mixer' tap at the kitchn sink (not the bathroom though ) but it doesn't actually mix the water, just sends out hot and cold in two streams right next to each other. So you burn one finger and freeze the next. Maddness!

Astrophe · 08/10/2006 00:09

In the laundry!

Gillian76 · 08/10/2006 00:13

If only I had a laundry, I might!

ilovecaboose · 08/10/2006 00:15

I'd love a laundry

And more than one bathroom

Original poster
NotQuiteCockney · 08/10/2006 08:37

Yeah, the lack of tenants' rights here is shocking. I lived in Montreal before here, where the province has an official contract for home lettings. If you verbally agree a rental, or if you sign another contract, it doesn't matter - you're subject to the Official Contract.

The whole idea that landlords have the right to inspect your home, wtf!?!?!?! And then complain about it being messy?!?!?!? I mean, if they're showing the place for sale or rent, fine, it needs to be tidy, but otherwise, bog off!

The carb obsession is bizarre. Chip butties! When I've worked places with canteens, I was always startled by the people with several different servings of (boring, white) carb on their plates ...

The drinking is really puzzling to me. At DS1's last school, there was booze at all school events . You would never have that in Canada. Never ever.

Page 3 is weird, but the Canadian equivalent wears a bikini, so I probably can't really bitch.

Carpet in the kitchen or dining room is also v weird, but not as gross as in the loo.

I am ok with the use of the word "toilet". I hate the coy "bathroom" (will you bathe?) or "restroom" (do you need to rest?).

OP posts:
admylin · 08/10/2006 08:58

Now I am quite worried, have been away from UK for so long now that all your "complaints" sound normal to me. My wish is to move back, as soon as possible but I think I am going to feel like a foreigner for quite a while.
I understand things like Marmite but all the rest even the automatic for cars and the whole carpet and tap business is going to be hard! I can't even drive on the correct side of the road anymore!

Earlybird · 08/10/2006 09:28

Ooohhh - here's a big one for me. Why, oh why is it so stressful to buy a property in this country? The nervous-breakdown-inducing exchange/completion/chain stuff, gazumping, gazzundering (or however you spell it), solicitors who don't reply for days, etc. And then there's the issue of generally lousy estate agents. Being an estate agent in other countries is a respected and lucrative professional job. It's also viewed as a service, where being lazy, unethical, flaky etc is the exception rather than the norm.

I guess people put up with the system here because they don't know how different/straightforward/relatively easy it is to buy property elsewhere.

lilmamma · 08/10/2006 09:31

The carpet in the bathroom,I think was a fad years ago as most english houses were cold,this is before central heating.the bathrooms dont have plugs as water and electricity is dangerous,and if you notice the light switch is outside the bathroom,or on a pully,again water and lecky..As for marmite well thats yuk!dont get that at all.Screens ? well we dont really get hot enough weather for them maybe 6 weeks a year,so not really useful.One bathroom,probably cause most houses are small but we do have two toilets..cant stand those toilets abroad with hardly any water in the bottom very strange!! mixer taps,nope defently prefare seperate,then one for cold and one for warm why mix? must be the english in me ha ha ..here in liverpool everyone coos over a baby,must be were you live? move up here you will be ok

eidsvold · 08/10/2006 09:40

oh yeh - no plugs in the bathroom.

carpet in the bathroom

toilet in the bathroom?!?! usually next to the basin where one cleans ones teeth.

the minute it is remotely warm and sunny wearing the bare minumum of clothing and turning yourself into a lobster.

no laundry area let along room - so washing machine and dryer in kitchen

agree with no screens......

on street parking - okay room is an issue but why the hell can't we make enough room for people to park off street.

food wise

  • brussel sprouts with christmas dinner
  • seasonal veg
  • brown sauce
  • mushy peas

going overseas on holidays and insisting on british food - full english breakfasts, etc

whole binge drinking culture

obsession with football and ridiculous money paid to footballers

SueW · 08/10/2006 09:44

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at OP's request.

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 08/10/2006 09:47

Love this thread,'m English and agree with a far bit of it! Especially carpet in the bathroom....madness.

I've noticed the not talking on the bus thing. At one time people always spoke to you on the bus.

DumbledoresGirl · 08/10/2006 10:01

This is a very amusing and enlightening thread. As I said before, I am English born and bred, and it is fascinating to know what "foreigners" find peculiar. Some things I would agree with you - eg binge drinking - and some things mentioned I find my hackles rising in true, "must defend my culture" style!

but one thing I just find plain odd. I have had 4 children and have always found strangers extremely complimentary about them all. When we moved to the south east, dd was just 5 weeks old and I will always remember taking her to the local little supermarket on our first weekend. I could not move down the aisles for people complimenting me on her beauty! Everywhere I have been I have found strangers smile at my children, so much so, that I now find myself doing to other people's babies, even though I have no love for babies other than my own. I cannot imagine where you live if people don't smile at your baby or compliment you on them.

NotSoUseless · 08/10/2006 10:43

almost everything has been said except for:

british fear of bidet in bathrooms. why???

saggarmakersbottomknocker · 08/10/2006 10:47

We keep our shoes on in the house have carpets. Clean feet - so we don't need a bidet

taMummy · 08/10/2006 10:48

We have mixer taps in the bathrooms Am intrigued to know why WW2 would suggest that we shouldn't....

GuppinBuppin · 08/10/2006 11:46

-the way people back into parking spaces
-or the way people park willy nilly on the street ESPECIALLY when they park up on the sidewalk. then don't leave any room for a buggy to go by.

southeastastralplain · 08/10/2006 12:00

non-preventative health care (eg no mammograms until you actually have breast cancer) i think even us brits can't understand that one!

i don't have carpet in the loo, much as i love it . why do houses in germany have those metal screens that come down at night?

Swipe left for the next trending thread