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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:
melaniek · 09/10/2006 00:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

anniediv · 09/10/2006 00:39

melaniek I think you need to post this in the media requests section....

superloopy · 09/10/2006 00:48

I'm from Oz and after 9 yrs here still don't get/like washbowls in the kitchen sink! Hate them actually. What is the point? Also why does eveyone here accept that tradesmen are dodgey, overpriced and unreliable AND THEN have to make the f**kers cups of tea???

Still not used to the dog poo on every street and rubbish blowing all over the place. Must agree with not liking...
separate taps
bad showers
carpet in bathroom
no laundry (especially miss big laundry sinks)
page 3
poxy little fridges
no power plugs in bathroom WTF!! Didn't manage to kill myself in Oz??

It also drives me crazy that you can't easily buy a swimsuit year round or anything else out of season. Narrow lanes on the road, tiny car parking spaces and skinny footpaths bug me too.

Sorry I sound like a horrible moany cow but I really do like being here or I would have left by now. It's nice to vent once in a while

nappyaddict · 09/10/2006 01:05

ok mixer taps i don't get. i thought they were pretty normal in the bathroom AND the kitchen.

fruit cake i don't get personally cos i hate it, but lots of people love it.

buy to let? don't really get what's not to get about that one. you buy a house to rent it out. (i hope that's what buy to let is!)

under worktop fridges - no they are far too small you can't get enough food in them!!##

carpet in the bathroom - so it isn't slippy

marmite and bovril - i agree YUK!!

manuals use less petrol and are just better to drive somehow.

not talking on buses tends to be a yunger generation thing - you'll often find the older generation having a good old natter.

we only ring before popping round to actually check they are in, but if we are already passing by we just knock on the door and see.

we have a laundry and i can't imagine not having one either.

we have a bidet, but admittedly use it for storing dirty washing, washing feet and babies.

Original poster
NotQuiteCockney · 09/10/2006 07:13

Oh, I was somewhat kidding about mixer taps and WW2. It's just a general explanation for anything is rationing and WW2 or WW1 or similar.

Jennifersofia, I am near spitalfields, I should give that health food store a try. Our local one annoys me. (I quite like Waitrose own-brand organic peanut butter ... but it does come in a size more suitable for lip gloss than peanut butter ...)

Suedonim, because Brits say "Asian" to mean (what I would call) "South Asian", they are stuck with no word for (what I would call) "East Asian". So they say "Oriental".

OP posts:
Original poster
NotQuiteCockney · 09/10/2006 07:15

Oh, and I do use the bidet for rinsing out mooncup, very practical.

I had a classic "foreigner" interaction yesterday. I was taking my two DSes on the tube (5, 2) on my own with no pram, and ended up in a busy carriage. I nabbed a seat, and was sitting with the 2-year-old on my lap, and trying to work out what to do with the 5-year-old. The woman directly across the aisle offered, quickly, to have him on her lap, and she held him that way for the two stops we were on, chatting with him, and with me. But then, she was South African, not English.

OP posts:
GeorginaA · 09/10/2006 08:29

The mixer taps not joining together at the bottom (so you get a cold stream and a hot stream without it mixing properly) is a safety thing - they have to be used when attaching to the mains so water from the hot tank doesn't feed back to the mains water...

Basically, many things to do with water & electric in the bathroom that annoy are to do with stricter safety regulations in the UK.

bloss · 09/10/2006 08:34

Message withdrawn

GeorginaA · 09/10/2006 08:36

Well FIL was an electrician & boiler engineer so I think he knows the safety regulations more than anyone

harpsichordcarrion · 09/10/2006 08:42

what I always hear is:
church fetes, esp raffles and the sacred tombola

ScareyCaligulaCorday · 09/10/2006 08:57

Well I'm not a foreigner but one thing I've never been able to get is the bizarre idea they have about putting the heating on "on the 15th October/ 1st October/ 31st October" and then turning it off again on the 1st march/mid march/ end march, irrespective of how bloody cold it is.

I've stopped accepting invitations to people's houses between the months of September - November and March - May when it's cold, unless I know the people well and know their heating will be on.

bloss · 09/10/2006 09:37

Message withdrawn

DumbledoresGirl · 09/10/2006 10:02

Superloopy, the point of washing up bowls in the sink is that you can still throw any dregs/dirty water etc that your dirty dishes may contain down the sink without soiling the washing up water. (I know some people have a second sink or a small sink beside the big one for just such a purpose, but most houses only have a single sink.)

That said, I recognise your wonderment as my in-laws are Australian and my FIL scoffs about washing up bowls in sinks too.

BTW, when I asked about paper bags with no handles, I did realise that paper bags with handles would mean the weight of the groceries might rip out the bottom of the bag! What I meant was, why not plastic bags with handles?

DumbledoresGirl · 09/10/2006 10:05

Also, the dog poo in the street is surely not a big problem these days is it? most places seem very clean nowadays and loads of dog poo bins in parks, open spaces. I hardly ever see a dog poo on the street nowadays whereas when I was a child it was the norm. I realised things had improved when I went to Paris a couple of years ago. There you can hardly use the pavements or gutter at all - DISGUSTING!

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 10:05

Re: the washing bowls in the sink.

I don't know about Aus, but in the US, most places have double sinks.

So they wash up in one and rinse in the other, thereby cutting out the need for the basin.

This is why I think the basin is a bit of a foreign concept for them.

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 10:06

The pavements here I find disgusting, although I no longer notice them much anymore.

Load of dog poo, and vomit and blood.

Yuk.

DumbledoresGirl · 09/10/2006 10:08

Oh Expat, that sounds disgusting! Ever thought of moving south where people can be a bit more civilised?

Truly, the poo problem is a lot less than it used to be.

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 10:09

Our council is pants, DG.

Earlybird · 09/10/2006 10:11

No idea if it's less than it used to be, but lots of uncollected dog poo on pavements around my part of central London.

DumbledoresGirl · 09/10/2006 10:16

I have lived or know well a variety of places (Hampshire, Cornwall, Lake District, Sussex, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire and now Gloucestershire - also know London well but will exclude that place!) - admittedly all well to do counties or places of outstanding natural beauty - and I really do think the chance of seeing dog poo is very small. I even live next to a riverside walk and walk it 3-4 times a day and have only seen a turd there once in the last couple of months. (There are also dog poo bins quite frequently placed). I really thought dog owners were more responsible these days. I feel a bit sad to think my experience is not the norm throughout the country.

lucy5 · 09/10/2006 10:35

Been reading this thread with interest as I am a brit living in a foriegn country. Most of what you say I agree with, i am now a convert to mixer taps .

But I can honestly say that the last time I lived in England, the streets where I lived weren't flowing with dog poo and I have never heard anyone use the term oriental except maybe about a carpet. I think the common term is Asian, which is one hat fits all, covering a huge amount of the world, which is not great either. I also agree that the word chinky is truly awful and makes me cringe and being totally English I think it's a class thing

Daemara · 09/10/2006 10:36

I still don't get the full english breakfast thing. Why would anyone want baked beans at breakfast? fried toast? a grilled tomato? What?

TV Licenses

car tax, road tax and petrol tax

Caravan holiday parks, why stay in a caravan that doesn't actually go anywhere when the point of a caravan is so that you can travel with comfort.

English food to take away at the Chinese. (isn't the point of going to the Chinese to get chinese and not egg and chips.

Mushypeas there is just no reason for they. ewww

binge drinking culture

Earlybird · 09/10/2006 10:42

Definitely not overflowing with dog poo - didn't mean to imply that. But, dd and I walk to school each morning (I guess shortly after dog owners have had their early morning walk), and we do probably half a dozen skips/hops to avoid a messy step during our mile long walk to school.

I'm surprised that no one else has responded to my moan earlier about how complicated/stressful it is to buy property here. Maybe it's not a problem to others....

expatinscotland · 09/10/2006 10:43

It's a non issue for me, Earlybird.

Will be a lifelong renter here.

That's not altogether a bad thing, seeing is how messed up the system is.

Mum2FunkyDude · 09/10/2006 10:45

Terrace houses, semi-detached houses, driving past skips with entire perfectly fine kitchen or bathroom units (what a waste, at least try and sell) I had a fridge to give away (nothing wrong with it), a cheeky school leaver moving into a new flat first time, declined!!!!! Bonfires...as if the fires do not do any damage to the environment, hunting defenceless cuddly animals for fun...if you hunt please have the decency to eat what you kill, high taxes, Shit private medical aid system, dole!, small parking spaces, narrow roads, school system, reading about diseases kids get at nursery school that I never even heard of, Christmas cards and cards all year round!, putting up with crap and never complaining, voting labour back in....I'll stop now before I get blasted!

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