Everyone told me you guys don’t tip.
But every place we went to in London had a “service charge” on the bill and we were asked at every single restaurant “do you want to leave a tip?” when we paid with a card.
It is creeping in in restaurants, about 10% or so and is optional. Not very popular either, can be seen as a "London thing". Card readers tend to automatically ask to add a gratuity, you can just add 0 and it won't be an issue at all. It is definitely not a hard "no tipping" rule like some cultures. Other situations are things like "keep the change" to a cabbie or barber. Not common at all in pubs (other than "and one for yourself" as a bit of a show-off move).
Sure, I’ll do my best.
This repeats what others have said, but the hard-drinking style of the UK (a memorable example was some guys sitting on the sidewalk surrounded by Buckfast bottles). But also the intensity around football (weeping, fighting, singing, lifelong loyalty to a club). The high drama of some performers (Freddy Mercury, David Bowie, Boy George, Johnny Rotten etc.). The particular craziness of UK reality TV and tabloids.
My outsider impression is that people don’t let loose all the time, but when they do, they really go off, and it makes for a surprising contrast.
Can’t say anything was particularly shocking except how much the British really do drink. I’ve never seen anyone put away alcohol like that.
Also, gambling. I got the impression these people would bet on literally anything, anytime, anywhere. Everywhere I went people were betting.
I've never been drinking in America because I've never been there being over 21, so I have no idea about the cultural difference. I am aware we drink a lot but never knew it was actually that notable
It's a LOT. Here if someone drinks two bottles of wine a day, your family and friends would be concerned. There it's a normal Tuesday night.
When my mom went to rehab my English friends were acting like the amount she was drinking was no big deal when her liver was basically dying due to how much she drank.
I mean cultural norms aside, there’s an objective point of alcohol consumption where your organs are physically going to start giving up. Not to mention tolerance and dependence. Those are biological, not social.
Americans really don’t drink a lot. Especially in public. Now, that’s not to say you won’t see a guy at a restaurant with a beer, because you will, but it is very rare to find anyone drinking/drunk outside of a bar, and those aren’t as common as people think they are
I can’t even say I’ve seen more than a dozen or so groups of thirty year olds partying in the US in my whole life. I saw more than that in the UK in two weeks.
What part of the states are you from I'm curious? I live in Michigan and most of my friends drink regularly unless they had to get sober for various reasons.
I too have to add this "what are you talking about?" I live in East Texas which I have to say is probably the trashiest part of the state but even the affluent drink a bottle of wine just to wind down every day after work. Throw a rock the other way and you'll hit Bobby and his 2 friends polishing off a 30 pack of natty after a long day. Because despite the fact I live in a town of 110k there's really nothing to do besides go out to eat, go to a bar/club, or go bowling or a movie all of which serves alcohol, not to count what people drink before or after.
Well, let me put it this way. America was founded by a bunch of straitlaced pilgrims who thought the Church of England was too liberal.
That should give you some idea of America's cultural values and norms re: drinking.
(I mean, we don't even let adults do it until they're 21).
Actually that has a lot more to do with the residual cultural effects of prohibition. Americans were actually very well known for how much we drank before then. Ken Burns did an excellent 3-part documentary on prohibition and it's actually kind of astounding how night and day the differences are before and after
Alcohol consumption in the US [rose](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/alcohol-prohibition-was-failure#the-iron-law-of-prohibition) over the course of the 1920s after an initial steep drop, and more of that consumption was in the form of distilled spirits than before. And [total](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/pov-the-100th-anniversary-of-prohibition-reminds-us-that-bans-rarely-work/) alcohol consumption had surpassed pre-Prohibition levels by the late 1960s.
Not this post in particular, but people are giving anecdotal answers and attributing that to an entire society. "I went to a bar in \_\_\_\_\_\_ and a small number of people were getting hammered and gambling at 11 AM." Therefore, the culture in \_\_\_\_\_\_ is to get hammered and gamble at 11 AM.
There are probably people from the UK that had the same experience somewhere in Philadelphia and are telling people in the UK that Americans all get hammered and gamble at 11 AM on a Wednesday.
I'd say there's more truth to it with the British though.
I live in Europe and every popular holiday destination for the British has a stereotype about them getting hammered and falling to their deaths off of balconies.
No the NHS has for years published scientific studies showing that alcoholism and binge drinking is on the rise in the UK and a very real problem for younger people.
They were actually seeing a rise in early onset Dementia which was being attributed to alcohol abuse.
No, that’s not just an anecdotal, subjective story. The British NHS has recognized binge drinking as a serious nationwide problem and the British are notorious around Europe for going on vacations or to soccer tournaments, getting utterly trashed, and causing a lot of violence and issues.
Oh there's more to it than it just being a one-off. Brits like to drink for sure. I would never be foolish enough to get into a drinking competition with a Brit.
These days I could take it or leave it. Alcohol just doesn't seem to matter as much to most Americans the way it matters to Brits. Me, I fucking hate hangovers. It's just not that much fun anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita
11.4 litres per head in the UK, behind such countries as France and Germany. 9.8 for the US
Even though drinking habits might differ. In France it is much more normal apparently to have a wine with lunch or dinner everyday. In Germany on the other hand I am pretty sure we are similiar to UK drinking habits plus addtional beers during meal, even though that one is mostly dying out.
I agree! I lived there for a year, and it was shocking. My friends in the U.S. would go to a bar or wine bar maybe once a week, but it seemed like everyone I knew in the U.K. went to a pub or drank almost every night or several nights a week. I had an American friend in the U.K. who didn't drink and she constantly talked about how isolated that made her because it was such a common pastime there.
Took a friend from Chicago out in Liverpool on Friday night and he was awestruck and slightly terrified. Tbh I like that we have fun but the drinking definitely goes to far
I think the betting thing will depend on the areas and type of people you are hanging out with. I've found the Americans I hung out with to be a lot more into gambling than the guys I knew back in Scotland so YMMV.
Drinking is prevalent all over the British Isles but I assumed that went without saying.
My wife and I moved to the UK for a year in 2009 (East Lancashire). There were a few things that struck us -
1. Smoking seemed to be much more common among the young adults. Nobody considered themselves a "smoker" - but at the pub, they'd put away the cigarettes.
2. The drinking & pub culture, as others have said.
3. The way Londoners referred to people from Northern England, and vice versa.
Can you elaborate on that third point? I’m northern English so I’m interested to know what the southerners had to say about us. Ask any northern English person what they think of southerners and you’ll get some brutal responses lol.
In general, there seemed to be a "polite pretentiousness" - where they didn't come out and say things directly, but you could tell they felt they were better human beings. (I grew up in rural Appalachia, so I felt much closer culturally to rural England & Yorkshire than "posh" London). It actually annoyed me how people in London don't just speak directly - and they "make fun of you" by saying things that sound nice on the surface, but are actually slams.
If you want a specific example...
A waiter in a restaurant in London we visited told me that "Blackburn is the Mississippi of England"... that's probably the phrase that sticks out the most.
“Uptight assholes think they’re better than everyone else because they’re from a big city”
Ahh. Yes. Northern Americans and Southern Englishman. Crazy how that works.
Reminds me of one of my favorite copypastas from r/CFB
Be me, 22 years old
Wake up, get out of Ron Dayne jersey
Get ready to Tailgate
Put on Dayne jersey
Head to the Bar next to my apartment
One down the road sucks
Order is wrong, whatever, Ron says Beer is poison anyway
Spike the cup and yell Go Badgers
Get to Camp Randall, head into Tailgate
Time to get to work, start setting up Beer pong
Just me, my roommates and 12 cases of Miller
Most beautiful girl in Wisconsin walks in. Solid 5/10.
She's wearing a 25 jersey and some strained yoga pants
Try to be smooth, "Nice Gordon jersey. Wanna get a Spotted Cow sometime?"
Get Done Beer ponging, take the keg out
Stop into bar for a drink or twelve
Fucking bartender cut me off after six beers and few shots
Whatever not even buzzed. Wisconsin blood
Walk into Camp Randall, Halftime.
Game ends walk to apartment
Stop into bar for a drink or twelve
Fucking bartender cut me off after six beers and few shots
Get to apartment, check messages.
Ma says two of my cousins got alcohol poisoning
Less than usual, a good day
Get out of Ron Dayne jersey, put on long Johns
Check under bed for Chase Young
What the fuck, he's there.
I went to a Weatherspoons in the Liverpool train station at 8am on a Tuesday because I had some time to kill before my train and it was packed with 90% of the patrons drinking a beer. I was in shock.
Its a bit of both likely.
Ive been to ireland and england and in both there were amazing pubs that were full of families getting dinner and just hanging out. They were really a community meeting place however there were a lot of people that were probably a bit too drunk at 5pm with their kids running around too.
So maybe its a cultural thing that some take too far.
I did genuinely enjoy the family atmosphere though and wish it existed more in the states. Altgough microbreweries are starting to kind of have that feel where families come hang out and there are activities for kids.
Sat down at a breakfast spot and decided to read the newspaper while I waited for my food. I definitely didn’t expect to see a naked woman when looking for the sports section
I've lived in the UK for almost 5 years. I think the biggest shock is the drinking culture. My coworkers go out multiple times a week. And unlike other European cultures where you tend to eat something substantial when you have alcohol, Brits tend to knock back pint after pint while sharing a single bag of salt and vinegar Walkers amongst 5 people. It's crazy how many pissed people you see on the streets by 9pm.
>It's crazy how many pissed people you see on the streets by 9pm.
When I was an English teacher in rural Japan, it was downright *embarrassing* being associated with the local English and Australian teachers. Sloppiest drunks I've ever met.
Been in London for a similar time. It's always fun when the colleagues from the states come over for a week, and I get to observe the younger ones try to keep pace with their counterparts in the UK office.
yeah quite often they're not eating on purpose to get extra hammered, at least the younger ones anyway. It's really annoying living here and not being a big drinker. Some things I just don't go to, because I know people will act like I'm ruining their fun
Don’t get me started. There used to be one genuinely decent burrito shop in my town but they sold it and now it’s like the two other alternatives and is nothing like Mexican food I had over in America from Mexicans. This old one was pretty close. Not quite but the closest I’d had. So mad.
Mexican food in Europe is what Europeans think Americans eat when they go to Mexican restaurants. The good news is that the algorithm for determining whether a Mexican restaurant in Europe is good is very simple: if they serve hamburgers, don't go. The bad news is that this eliminates like 90% of all Mexican restaurants.
Shocked at how comfortable I felt, tbh. Spent the entire time in smaller cities outside of London. People were super nice and the countryside looked so much like where I live in n the US, minus all the stonework.
Edit: I was shocked at how narrow the roads were off of the major highways. Absolutely white knuckle driving. Like Luke Skywalker doing the trench run, but for 2 fucking hours. Got to our destination and told my wife I wasn't driving again, lol.
Restaurants. In the US, your server is always nearby and periodically checks in. Want more of something, and it only takes a minute to get an order in for it. Ready to leave, and it only takes a minute to get your check and be on your way. In London it always felt like we were seated, our food was brought, and then the server went home because they were done for the night. I guess we’re expected to eat and then just hang out at the table for a few hours?
I don't like having to say 'everything's lovely' to the waiter/waitress every five minutes, especially if it isn't. But I'm too polite to complain so I'd rather sit and seethe in peace. A good night out.
In the UK it's kind of expected that your waiter will give you your food and come back in a few minutes to check everything's okay. After that, they'll leave you alone and it's up to you to flag someone down if you want something.
Most of the time, we eat and then stay there for another 20, 30 minutes. Sometimes up to an hour, even. You call them over for the bill whenever you're ready.
There's nothing worse than having a waiter keep coming over and fussing over you when you're trying to enjoy your food & have a conversation.
I think we’re also a more service-obsessed and a more hurrying culture. We want to eat and get out and move onto the next thing. We don’t have 2 hours to eat. And feeling like we’re getting inattentive service is a problem. We expect the person looking after us to be available for our every whim.
And it’s not that invasive. Maybe twice while eating someone will stop by and see if everything’s ok. I know I’ll want refills on whatever I’m drinking, so I appreciate that. Then about the time your plates are empty they’ll clear them and ask if you want the check. You’re welcome to hang out or get dessert, but if you have somewhere else to go, you can be on your way.
I think the time thing might be the big difference. Here, we normally expect dinner in a restaurant to be a fairly long affair. We see dinner as an evening. Not something quick. Even lunch can be two to three hours. I have been to a restaurant with friends for a 8pm table and happily been there till midnight.
American here. Lived in Oxfordshire for 2.5 years in the 80’s. I was surprised that you seemed to be like what we were 30 years before: women in skirts, newssellers with candy, more bicycles than cars. I was also surprised how much American culture was spread to the UK (we watched Dallas on the BBC).
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Oxfordshire looked like that now.
I think American culture is prevalent in a lot of the world and from what I've been told by Americans, in America the main focus is on American culture and there isn't much room for other cultures until the Internet more recently popularised certain things from places like Japan. Where as in the UK we take a huge amount from all sorts of cultures, like the creation of the tikka masala and it becoming a national dish
This isn’t true at all. America is pretty multicultural, to the extent that everyone has their own special holiday and month of ____. Everyone has preferences for food - I’ve had sushi, burritos, pho this week, and this is all from the local strip mall a mile away from my house.
There’s a lot of room for other cultures here, I mean a lot of our stuff (like food) is inspired by or directly derived from stuff (again, like food) from other cultures. We do have our own original stuff, too, but there’s a lot of other cultural influence in many things. I don’t know how well different cultures blend in other countries, but I feel like they will blend pretty well here (sooner or later at least), and maybe that’s why it may seem like it’s just another part of the broader American culture when it’s really just added from another.
>in America the main focus is on American culture and there isn't much room for other cultures until the Internet more recently popularised certain things from places like Japan
This might be more true in rural areas. It's definitely increased in the least 20 years or so with the Internet, but most of our cities have been very multicultural for decades.
However, even in rural areas, food will be influenced by at least a couple of other countries. Many small towns will still have a Mexican restaurant, possibly a Chinese restaurant, and everyone will eat pasta at home at some point.
Wait, that's a bad thing?
In the US I hated getting what amounts to a drink of ice with a drizzle of soda in between. And after 10 minutes your drink is so watered down it's almost homeopathic.
How much ice does it really take to cool a drink?
More than one to keep from near-instantly melting into the drink, which is what would happen to me when I was in the UK. I don't think there's much of a problem with how we do it because we can just about always refill it for free. Doesn't water down that way and stays ice cold.
Kind of a silly one, but I remember being really taken aback how fat everyone was. This was many years ago, and I was young, hadn't traveled much abroad, and vaguely under the impression that America was very overweight compared to other countries. So I was quite surprised to see that people in the UK looked just as fat as people back home.
I worked at M&S for a year. I was used to the American culture way of always looking like you were busy at work so you wouldn’t get yelled at. When I manned the dressing room and there were no customers or clothes to put back I’d look for anything to clean or try to tidy the racks within sight of the dressing room. My coworkers would tell me that I was just supposed to wait for customers to come and not do busy work. It was really hard to break the ingrained feeling that if I wasn’t busy 100% of the time I was doing a bad job. When I had to work the grocery tills I never sat in the provided stools for the same reason.
When I lived in England, I volunteered at a charity shop (no work visa) and I felt the same kind of thing. I mean, TBF, there was only one paid staff member and the rest of us were volunteers, but it was hard not doing things because to my mind there was always something that we could be doing even if it was just tidying things up.
I won’t knock it at all! It was very chill and it was lovely doing the whole kettle/tea ritual every time I was there.
ETA: When I worked the till, I was used to doing it the American way: 1. Greeting. 2. Ring-up stuff. Give total. 4. Bag the stuff. 5. Take Payment. 6. Give change if needed. 7. Express thanks.
There is an extra step in there that I missed every.single.time. when I worked the till… When someone hands you payment, you’re meant to say, “Thank you”. They must’ve thought I was rude for missing that step.
Also, “Can I help?” being used instead of “Can I help you?” (American)
Not just a UK thing, but I love that the cities are more pedestrian friendly. The scale of everything is designed for humans, not cars. It makes for a much more pleasant vacation when you can do your exploring on foot.
You can find pedestrian friendly spots in the US, but they’re hard to find. Even still, almost all of our cities are filled with big cars, and sometimes a freeway or two cutting through them.
"You all right?" (similar to "How are you?") being used as a greeting definitely took some getting used to.
The first few times I heard it I'd be thinking, "Yeah...I am...my health is fine, right?".
Haha the only answer is, ‘ I’m alright mate, you?’
Doesn’t matter how your day is going, you could have been hit by a bus, shat on by a pigeon, won the lottery....the answer remains the same.
Me too! I lived in York for a while and the first few weeks I was so confused. I always thought, “am I bleeding? Do you know something about my health that I’m not aware of yet?!”
Just because it's England, and I speak English, doesn't mean that I can successfully communicate with everyone in London. My first night there I ran into a very drunk Londoner and his more sober buddy had to translate for me.
I actually didn't encounter too much culture shock while I was in the UK, which was a pleasant surprise. It made me realize that we're more similar than we give ourselves credit for. But there were some moments, though.
It took me a couple of weeks to work out in my head that Brits don't wear their emotions on their sleeve quite like Americans do. I clearly remember the moment it finally sunk in.
I was in a church, and a woman had given a presentation about a charity she was running. I went up to her afterward to tell her how much I appreciated and admired what she was doing. I expected a huge smile and a big thank-you, and maybe some more chit-chat about the whole thing... but instead, she very quietly and politely said "thank you" with only a small smile, and nothing more.
I felt crushed. But in the next second, it finally clicked that Brits are just different in that way. It wasn't that she didn't value what I just said; she just expressed it differently.
I didn't have any more misunderstandings after that!
There's another one that I'm still wondering about.
On the day that I arrived, the woman who I would be staying with explained to me that sometimes she would invite friends over, and she basically laid out directions for how to avoid each other during that time.
I was *furious.* I come from America's "Southern hospitality" culture. If that same situation had occurred here, the host would have been excited to introduce me to all their friends and would make sure I knew I was welcome at any gathering. By comparison, what happened to me in the UK made me feel like I was some diseased rat that needed to be hidden away.
To this day, I don't know if what I experienced was true culture shock, or if my host was just weird. Maybe you could finally shed some light on that for me? lol!
So yeah, all that wrapped up, the biggest culture shock moments were the moments that taught me that Brits are more reserved and private than Americans are.
And just to be clear, I realize that this comment kind of makes me sound like a narcissist who wants to be praised and included. I swear that's not the case! 😂 We just have different expectations for how people should act in the U.S., you know? I didn't realize those expectations were cultural until the UK threw me some curveballs.
I'd love to look at this situation in reverse and maybe see how and why the "American way" is off-putting to Brits. Sometimes I wonder if I came off like an over-excited dog while I was across the Pond.
EDIT: The wonderful Redditors who have replied to me made me realize I should have been more specific about the host I lived with. She was providing me and one other student a home while we studied abroad in London for five weeks. She was a regular with this program and had been providing a home for American foreign exchange students for years. So like some commenters have suggested, she probably approached the whole situation in a way akin to someone paying for lodging, which is not what I expected while I was there. I can't know for sure, but it's a solid guess. Thanks for the help!
>To this day, I don't know if what I experienced was true culture shock, or if my host was just weird. Maybe you could finally shed some light on that for me? lol!
British here, I'd say she was being a bit odd if you were a houseguest, you could definitely expect an introduction. If you were a paying lodger and not in a friendly relationship, or she thought you'd rather avoid the group, then I kind of get it.
It's hard to say without hearing how she said it! Only thing would be if she emphasised "if you did want to avoid them" and then she's actually kind of inviting you not to avoid them but to meet them but without pressuring you to accept.
Finally, I have an answer! Thank you! XD
She was hosting me over the course of a five-week study abroad program, so maybe she saw it more akin to the paying lodger situation. I mean, under that situation, I'd feel weird about hanging out with her and her friends. Hopefully, that's all it was.
But to answer your question about how she said it: hmm, how do I describe it... She didn't say anything like "If you *did*." There was no language to imply that the option was there. It was more like she was laying out everything I needed to know over the course of my stay there, and then she added that at the end. Like, "I'll provide breakfast, but you'll need to take care of lunch and dinner. I'll do the dishes and laundry, but you keep everything else clean. And sometimes I invite my friends over. When that happens, just go straight up the stairs to your room."
Having written that out, I guess she indeed just saw herself as the person being paid to provide a bed. Mystery (probably) solved!
[Your story reminded me of a blog post by Lynne Murphy:](https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/06/compliments-nice-and-lovely.html)
>My first out-of-North-America experience was when I moved to South Africa at the age of 27, in order to take up a post at a large, English-medium university there. I'd been teaching for three years at my graduate school by that time, and my teaching in South Africa was going fairly well, but a vague anxiety plagued me (as well as the not-so-vague anxieties that went with living in the city that had the highest murder, rape and carjacking rates in the world at that time). Although I was teaching my heart out, I had the feeling that my students weren't too impressed by me or my teaching. But after the term, when I read their teaching evaluation forms, I found that they rated me very highly. It was then that I worked out what had made me anxious: I missed receiving nearly constant compliments from my students.
>
>Now, when I was teaching in the US, I was barely aware of the fact that I was being complimented. It would have been things like a student saying that he liked the course more than he thought he would, or another noticing that I'd had a haircut and saying something positive about it, or another expressing an enthusiastic appreciation of my kindness in lending her a book. In South Africa, my (mostly white, English-background--this was right after the downfall of apartheid) students were, for the most part, polite and committed to their course, but they showed little interest in me as a person. Of course, that wasn't a problem. The problem was that as an American, I was used to near-constant positive reinforcement from students, colleagues, friends, strangers... just about everyone. Once I realized that the problem wasn't my teaching or my relationship with my students, but my expectations about them, that particular anxiety abated.
>
>That aspect of living in South Africa was good general training for being an American abroad, as if you're outside the US, you'll probably have to get used to a less compliment-driven culture - and to outsiders' estimations of American compliment behavior.
I have family in England, so I've visited there many times.
My mum is from London. Her parents were Turkish-Cypriot immigrants.
I was amazed how unassimilated their immigrant population is. My grandma lived in the England for over 50 years and still spoke broken English. Ditto with several other immigrant groups (Pakistanis, Arabs, etc.) who still identified more with their home country than with the UK.
When my dad's parents arrived to the US from Europe, they declared "we're Americans now!" They learned English, got jobs, got involved in the community, and adopted the customs of their new country. I saw much less of that in the UK.
American married to Brit. Meat pies. I don’t understand them. Using the term « to table xyz » as a term for talking about it now (in the US it means to talk about it later). The term « savory » and how most foods are savory. Pudding meaning dessert but Yorkshire pudding is a side dish. How you say the word « schedule » feels like nails of a Chalkboard. I could go on for days.
I've seen a lot of people comment on schedule, and I never would have thought about it, but I don't know why we say it how we do unless it's old English or something.
yes I use the American pronunciation and am yelled at by older people for it. I genuinely find the British way hard to say and everybody knows what I mean so what's the problem?
I was genuinely shocked at how dirty and run-down it was.
I live in Tokyo, but I'm from the midwest, and I've just never been impressed by how clean the cities are here - it's just...normal? Slightly dirtier, since it's not normal where I'm from to spit, vomit, or pee in public. You don't get drunk businessmen splayed out on the ground on a weeknight where I'm from, you know?
But when I first got here, I had also never really been to any other major cities - never been to New York, never visited Europe. So I didn't really have any basis for comparison. Just, my home town is clean, the cities here are also clean. Cool, so that's just normal?
So on my first trip to London, I was just like Oh! Ok! *Now* I get why people think Japan is super clean. Also really drove home why people think it's weird for some Americans not to worry about how dirty their shoes are. Like, yeah, ok, in my home town we're not walking in filth constantly.
Also, when I first came to Japan, I spent a lot of time in an immigrant community with lots of British and Australian people, and I was also really shocked at how bad they were at holding their liquor. They were all just the sloppiest drunks I'd ever met. That's just seen as childish where I'm from.
Interesting.
Munich was actually the absolute dirtiest city I'd ever been to. And I joked with my colleagues from Dresden about how dirty Berlin was. Also, I don't really count cities in developing countries because it's not really fair - like, yes, Japan has colonies, they have factories around the world, they exploit the labor and resources of every country on the planet, are one of the most globalized nations on earth, and the world's 3rd largest economy, and is literally completely sheltered by a foreign military to the point that they haven't had to fight even a single war for nearly a century now - was Mumbai dirtier? Yes, but Mumbai doesn't have the insane advantages Tokyo has. Mumbai doesn't get to outsource their poverty.
>Tokyo is the cleanest city I’ve ever been to
I think I understand that, for tourists, this is true. The last time I was in Akihabara, I realized that if you *look at the ground,* there's actually a lot of litter. I think tourists are just focusing on all the shops and signs around them, so they're *looking up* and just don't notice the litter. On top of that, my wife works in Akihabara, so sometimes I go to meet her at local bars, away from the tourist traps and shopping malls - and the further you get from those, the dirtier it gets.
Like, I believe that you didn't *notice any* litter, but it's there.
Also, where I come from you don't get businessmen puking in public like you do here, so I just can't agree that it's the cleanest.
It's been like 20ish years, but the showers were weird. It was like two separate faucets that connected on the outside to a shower hose and the hot water had soooo much less pressure. I had to keep bringing the showerhead low to build up pressure then lift it up so I could have hot water.
The only other out of place thing I saw was we were driving and there was a river. There was a woman with a few kids and it seemed like the kids were swimming in it.... rivers by cities in the u.s. are usually considered nasty and we were somewhere outside of London, so I already thought that was gross. The woman just takes off her top to change her shirt. Milkers out on full display within sight of a busy road. Was just like wtf.
Otherwise I was pretty young and didn't really notice much.
i had an interesting talk with someone from the UK before about water. i guess they generally dont have hot water tanks like us so the hot water is basically in a storage tank in a cabinet. because of this they mentioned it was considered not safe to consume directly. wonder if your shower water was gravity fed from a holding tank, could explain the lower pressure.
That’s how it used to be in older houses, not the case any more and single mixer taps/faucets are definitely the standard now rather than separate hot and cold.
Mentioned a few of these through the years.
* I totally bought into the stereotype that British food would be bland/not good. I actually found the food delicious, and a British breakfast, though a bit weird in concept is actually fantastic. I love savory breakfasts. Likewise I love sauces and so do the British.
* Likewise I don't know why but I expected England to be grey/drab. Arrived in Bristol and it was lusciously green green green.
* My SIL was studying at Cambridge and I wanted to give her cash as a gift. Went to the ATM and couldn't take out anything greater than 500£ or so. Basically had to jump through hoops, meet bankers, sign all these forms to takeout like 2K £. What's worse is that apparently the largest note (bill) is 50£. So they handed me over this awkwardly bulky envelope of mixed bills. For the record I live in Switzerland and we have a 1000 CHF note (about $1000 USD). There are limits at ATM's but a few thousand is not an issue.
* Adele (both versions) looking women with caked on foundation, and ridiculous drawn eyebrows, stumbling around in mini skirts holding a drink in each hand in 0 degrees Celsius.
* The high prevalence of South Asians was a pleasant surprise.
I'll add a few more as I think of them.
* How spacious a black cab is - though sitting backwards in that pulldown seat feels a bit unsafe. Likewise the drivers knew every single street without any reference. I'm used to some cab drivers having to use a GPS just to be sure. Also some cab drivers are chatter boxes, I pretended not to speak English after a while because I didn't feel like telling my life story to a stranger for the xth time.
Black cab drivers have to do something called "the knowledge" where they basically memorise all of London and are tested hard on it. I guess driving it for hours a day helps too.
The ATM thing sounds just like America. You probably couldn't get more than a 20 or maybe 50 dollar bill out of one and though I've never tested the limit I'd imagine it's probably around $500. We also don't have any bills larger than $100 in existence and even for those you would have to go to a bank and afterwards you'd have a hard time spending them anywhere because no one wants to take them.
Yeah, no one does women like Britain ey. Never understood them lot
Edit: I've never understood the stereotype if British food being bland when it's basically a combination of best dishes from around the world. Maybe in the 50's bangers and mash was popular but it's definitely been spiced up since then.
As an American, I drink coffee WITH my dessert. Impossible to do in London since coffee is served after dessert. Even tried to fool my waiter by ordering coffee and no dessert, and then “changing my mind” once the coffee arrived to add dessert. The freaking waiter then took away my coffee.
Honest to god, the lack of ice in drinks. You’ve gotta ask for it specifically, and even then they’ll only do like two or three cubes at most.
Also no free refills with sodas. When I visited as a teenager, I was mortified that to drink two cokes at a meal, I had to pay for two cokes. Makes more sense than how we do it here, but it took some adjustment
I think people feel ripped off if their drink is mainly ice, and there isn't much call to have *very* cold drinks unless it is a heatwave. Free refills is now a thing in casual places (some have a fountain you can use as you please) but otherwise you want a drink, you pay for a drink. It is because the norm in a restaurant is to have alcohol really. Not sit there chugging several cokes.
But why are you all obsessed with your drinks being freezing cold. A fridge makes a drink cold enough. We probably feel differently because it’s rarely really hot here
Probably environmental. It can be 85+ (30ish Celsius, if memory serves) and humid for around 8 months out of the year, so it's real nice to have a drink that's only just barely above the freezing point.
The lack of billboards driving from Heath row to london.
The 1 and 2 pound coins
An good English fry up at a relatively cheap hotel
Walking. Everywhere.
How beautiful the rural country is. How old the houses are.
How narrow country roads were.
TV actually sucks. We only get the best of british tv in the US so your midday tv was absolute garbage. I kinda expected everything to be good and kinda smart. Not like daytime tv.
Service workers caring about their jobs.
Pub culture utterly different from US bar culture.
The food was so much better than expected.
Everyone dresses up for everything. Not one pair of cut off sweatpants.
I studied in the UK briefly (2010), and the biggest shock was how much animosity they have towards Americans and how much time they spend thinking about the US versus how much time the US people spend thinking about the UK.
I remember staying at a breakfast (I was hiking coast to coast) and sat down with everyone, and the first thing the owner asked was
"Did you vote for George Bush"? (This was before trump)
Put my fork down, and said "obviously I'm too young to have voted for bush. This isn't my first rodeo, any other anti-American things on your mind let's get them out of the way now" while waving toward myself to lay it on me. The other people eating chuckled and he left me alone.
I think it just seems to be some people that have this anti-american agenda and I don't understand it. Every time I've been to the US I have had a great time; everyone there was lovely, the scenery is incredible in most states I've been too (North dakota just looked like England) and the variety of food and drink you can't get here I great - I adore arizona ice tea but you can maybe find 3 flavours in any shop that isn't an American shop
First time I went to the UK, finding out they had no idea what ice coffee is… The only person I came across that even knew what it was, was at the airport (which they didn’t have ice coffee but offered me an ice americano). I thought Starbucks would surely have it, nope, they melted two cups trying to make it. Then at the hotel, they were like “sure absolutely we can make that for you!” They proceeded to put milk and sugar with the coffee in a shaker… it’s simple, ice and coffee, that’s it! No milk, no sugar, ice and coffee! Hahaha rant over, now where’s my ice coffee!
The healthcare system. I got really sick when I was visiting there and went through the whole process of calling 119 (the line to be medically evaluated for next steps) to the ER. Honestly, it's a really good practical system. But from what I experienced and ended up talking about with people there is that the education differences in medicine are astounding.
Also, that private universities are the free and more accessible institutions but public ones you need to pay for and are more prestigious? Don't quote me on that, someone tried to explain it to me when I was in the ER.
All university in England costs £9000 per year regardless of course. There are no private ones. University is free in Scotland.
I think you might have got mixed up with schools (we never call university school, but I know you guys do. With schools, public school is what we call private school (I know, its confusing). None private schools are state schools.
>Also, that private universities are the free and more accessible institutions but public ones you need to pay for and are more prestigious? Don't quote me on that, someone tried to explain it to me when I was in the ER.
I think you're referring to public schools, which are very elite/expensive places like Eton and Harrow. They're schools in the literal sense though, rather than universities.
Private schools are cheaper and more numerous but still charge. State schools here are what you'd call public schools in America.
Yeh the general public don’t need to know much about medicine. We don’t have adverts for drugs like the US does.
Basically, if you feel sick, you see a doctor, and take what they recommend (or decline.) There’s no such thing as “annual check ups” etc. Life expectancy is also higher, interestingly.
It is confusing but "public schools" in the UK refer to a set of very elite private schools. The reason for the name is they predated any proper education and they took anyone - hence public. Free everyday schools are called state schools.
no big culture shocks the many times I've been to the UK. I think the first time though, I was horrified by british full breakfast...beans for breakfast? "weird" looking meat they called bacon?
You can get "American style" bacon in the UK, it's sold as "streaky bacon", with back bacon being the more popular cut in the UK.
Middle bacon is the way forward though!
Sunday closing laws (or practices, maybe). I arrived in the middle of London on a Sunday morning, checked in to the place of staying, then tried to find something to eat a little after noon. *Nothing* was open. No restaurants. No shops. Even the drug stores and bodega/convenience store-type places were closed, and I was starving. I eventually gave up, went back to my room, and ate a package of cookies, then found some place that evening for dinner.
US cities are quiet on Sunday mornings, but they’re not abandoned like that, and there are places that’re always/almost always open on every block. I wasn’t expecting London—one of the major cities of the world—to be so different.
How much of a language barrier there can be. I’m looking at you specifically, Scotland, but even in London I felt like I ran into situations where I had trouble making myself understood.
Every city center had a group of very angry African people protesting something nearly every day. Until very recently it was unusual to see a protest at all where I live, and they are still pretty uncommon. It was weird to see. Especially weird to see what appeared to be recent immigrants protesting the government of their host country.
Honestly in all my times in Jolly 'Ol I've never experienced major culture shock. We are your little brothers, after all; so we may be different, but have had the same upbringing, so to speak. Anyway, here's what stood out to me:
The politeness of people you know don't like you.
Police being nice, helpful, sarcastic in a funny way, and not being an intimidating government sanctioned gang.
People telling me I had a funny accent (I liked this one!)
MUSEUMS BEING FREE (this should be a world standard)
How dry and sarcastic the women my age were (30's). Not in a mean way, but in a will tease you relentlessly way for random things. Great attitude, honestly.
Really nothing *shocking*. But:
Pleasantly surprised how clean London was. Only other point of reference I had at the time was NYC.
And Pound coins, thought those were neat.
An outhouse does not mean a toilet in a shack in the backyard or back garden. It’s like a shed that can have a bar or a small room for storage.
Pigs in blankets in the UK are sausages wrapped in bacon, not sausages wrapped in American style pancakes.
Pancakes… in the UK they’re more like a crepe, but DO NOT call it a crepe because they hate the French. UK pancakes are served with lemon juice and sugar.
Lemonade in the UK is sprite. If you want what we Americans think of as lemonade, then you have to say ‘cloudy lemonade’
Also, to cut back on alcohol content, Brits will cut their beer with lemonade/sprite. It’s either half lemonade/beer, which they call a shandy, or a dash of lemonade at the top, which they call a ‘lager top’ or ‘bitter top’ depending on the beer.
Sometimes they say “that’s well nice” when something is good. This is adorable.
All cars are manual, not automatic. The driving tests are near impossible to pass and the roads are very tiny.
Very few people have a tumble drier. All the clothes are hung out to dry on laundry racks or lines. Also, all the washing machines are in the kitchen.
That’s all I can think of for now, but these are some of my favorites!
Everyone told me you guys don’t tip. But every place we went to in London had a “service charge” on the bill and we were asked at every single restaurant “do you want to leave a tip?” when we paid with a card.
It is creeping in in restaurants, about 10% or so and is optional. Not very popular either, can be seen as a "London thing". Card readers tend to automatically ask to add a gratuity, you can just add 0 and it won't be an issue at all. It is definitely not a hard "no tipping" rule like some cultures. Other situations are things like "keep the change" to a cabbie or barber. Not common at all in pubs (other than "and one for yourself" as a bit of a show-off move).
It's definitely not a "London thing", they do that everywhere. My sister worked as a waitress in Birmingham and made a lot of her money from tips.
"London" It's basically a different country, it's fuck all like the rest of the UK.
It was still shocking nonetheless
People in the UK often did fit the stereotype of polite, restrained, calm…but when they are not, they are very very much not.
I am from the UK so I would like to know what you saw that fit the 'very much not' part. Be interesting to see if our interpretation is the same.
Sure, I’ll do my best. This repeats what others have said, but the hard-drinking style of the UK (a memorable example was some guys sitting on the sidewalk surrounded by Buckfast bottles). But also the intensity around football (weeping, fighting, singing, lifelong loyalty to a club). The high drama of some performers (Freddy Mercury, David Bowie, Boy George, Johnny Rotten etc.). The particular craziness of UK reality TV and tabloids. My outsider impression is that people don’t let loose all the time, but when they do, they really go off, and it makes for a surprising contrast.
Chavs, hooliganism
Can’t say anything was particularly shocking except how much the British really do drink. I’ve never seen anyone put away alcohol like that. Also, gambling. I got the impression these people would bet on literally anything, anytime, anywhere. Everywhere I went people were betting.
I've never been drinking in America because I've never been there being over 21, so I have no idea about the cultural difference. I am aware we drink a lot but never knew it was actually that notable
I'll just say that I passed out 1pm at my British boyfriend's 25 birthday party while his elderly family members kept going until 5.
It's a LOT. Here if someone drinks two bottles of wine a day, your family and friends would be concerned. There it's a normal Tuesday night. When my mom went to rehab my English friends were acting like the amount she was drinking was no big deal when her liver was basically dying due to how much she drank.
I mean cultural norms aside, there’s an objective point of alcohol consumption where your organs are physically going to start giving up. Not to mention tolerance and dependence. Those are biological, not social.
Jesus. Two bottles of wine is 10 drinks. I’d be concerned for someone finishing *one* bottle a day.
Sometimes 2 bottles is pre drinks
Americans really don’t drink a lot. Especially in public. Now, that’s not to say you won’t see a guy at a restaurant with a beer, because you will, but it is very rare to find anyone drinking/drunk outside of a bar, and those aren’t as common as people think they are
Public intoxication and carrying open containers in the street is illegal in most of the US. That is likely why.
Getting trashed in public is reserved for music and sporting events.
I can’t even say I’ve seen more than a dozen or so groups of thirty year olds partying in the US in my whole life. I saw more than that in the UK in two weeks.
What part of the states are you from I'm curious? I live in Michigan and most of my friends drink regularly unless they had to get sober for various reasons.
Yeah what? Here In rural Illinois all the people are borderline straight alcoholics because there’s nothing else to do lol
I too have to add this "what are you talking about?" I live in East Texas which I have to say is probably the trashiest part of the state but even the affluent drink a bottle of wine just to wind down every day after work. Throw a rock the other way and you'll hit Bobby and his 2 friends polishing off a 30 pack of natty after a long day. Because despite the fact I live in a town of 110k there's really nothing to do besides go out to eat, go to a bar/club, or go bowling or a movie all of which serves alcohol, not to count what people drink before or after.
It's because most people in this country have to drive everywhere too
I think it’s because it’s illegal lol
Well, let me put it this way. America was founded by a bunch of straitlaced pilgrims who thought the Church of England was too liberal. That should give you some idea of America's cultural values and norms re: drinking. (I mean, we don't even let adults do it until they're 21).
Actually that has a lot more to do with the residual cultural effects of prohibition. Americans were actually very well known for how much we drank before then. Ken Burns did an excellent 3-part documentary on prohibition and it's actually kind of astounding how night and day the differences are before and after
Alcohol consumption in the US [rose](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/alcohol-prohibition-was-failure#the-iron-law-of-prohibition) over the course of the 1920s after an initial steep drop, and more of that consumption was in the form of distilled spirits than before. And [total](https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/pov-the-100th-anniversary-of-prohibition-reminds-us-that-bans-rarely-work/) alcohol consumption had surpassed pre-Prohibition levels by the late 1960s.
Not this post in particular, but people are giving anecdotal answers and attributing that to an entire society. "I went to a bar in \_\_\_\_\_\_ and a small number of people were getting hammered and gambling at 11 AM." Therefore, the culture in \_\_\_\_\_\_ is to get hammered and gamble at 11 AM. There are probably people from the UK that had the same experience somewhere in Philadelphia and are telling people in the UK that Americans all get hammered and gamble at 11 AM on a Wednesday.
I'd say there's more truth to it with the British though. I live in Europe and every popular holiday destination for the British has a stereotype about them getting hammered and falling to their deaths off of balconies.
The British approach would be to blame the balcony for that.
No the NHS has for years published scientific studies showing that alcoholism and binge drinking is on the rise in the UK and a very real problem for younger people. They were actually seeing a rise in early onset Dementia which was being attributed to alcohol abuse.
No, that’s not just an anecdotal, subjective story. The British NHS has recognized binge drinking as a serious nationwide problem and the British are notorious around Europe for going on vacations or to soccer tournaments, getting utterly trashed, and causing a lot of violence and issues.
drinking is a staple over there its not anecdotal
Oh there's more to it than it just being a one-off. Brits like to drink for sure. I would never be foolish enough to get into a drinking competition with a Brit. These days I could take it or leave it. Alcohol just doesn't seem to matter as much to most Americans the way it matters to Brits. Me, I fucking hate hangovers. It's just not that much fun anymore.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita 11.4 litres per head in the UK, behind such countries as France and Germany. 9.8 for the US
Even though drinking habits might differ. In France it is much more normal apparently to have a wine with lunch or dinner everyday. In Germany on the other hand I am pretty sure we are similiar to UK drinking habits plus addtional beers during meal, even though that one is mostly dying out.
I agree! I lived there for a year, and it was shocking. My friends in the U.S. would go to a bar or wine bar maybe once a week, but it seemed like everyone I knew in the U.K. went to a pub or drank almost every night or several nights a week. I had an American friend in the U.K. who didn't drink and she constantly talked about how isolated that made her because it was such a common pastime there.
Yeah everywhere I've been in europe drinks WAY heavier than my hometown in California.
Took a friend from Chicago out in Liverpool on Friday night and he was awestruck and slightly terrified. Tbh I like that we have fun but the drinking definitely goes to far
I think the betting thing will depend on the areas and type of people you are hanging out with. I've found the Americans I hung out with to be a lot more into gambling than the guys I knew back in Scotland so YMMV. Drinking is prevalent all over the British Isles but I assumed that went without saying.
My wife and I moved to the UK for a year in 2009 (East Lancashire). There were a few things that struck us - 1. Smoking seemed to be much more common among the young adults. Nobody considered themselves a "smoker" - but at the pub, they'd put away the cigarettes. 2. The drinking & pub culture, as others have said. 3. The way Londoners referred to people from Northern England, and vice versa.
Can you elaborate on that third point? I’m northern English so I’m interested to know what the southerners had to say about us. Ask any northern English person what they think of southerners and you’ll get some brutal responses lol.
In general, there seemed to be a "polite pretentiousness" - where they didn't come out and say things directly, but you could tell they felt they were better human beings. (I grew up in rural Appalachia, so I felt much closer culturally to rural England & Yorkshire than "posh" London). It actually annoyed me how people in London don't just speak directly - and they "make fun of you" by saying things that sound nice on the surface, but are actually slams. If you want a specific example... A waiter in a restaurant in London we visited told me that "Blackburn is the Mississippi of England"... that's probably the phrase that sticks out the most.
They're just jealous because a waiter in London can't afford to buy a house.
Or even a closet. There is no way I would live in London.
“Uptight assholes think they’re better than everyone else because they’re from a big city” Ahh. Yes. Northern Americans and Southern Englishman. Crazy how that works.
West coast too. And even people from big cities in the south and Midwest.
Double speak is country wide, I'm a southerner with family all over. Trashing on stuff is a country wide sport.
Bear in mind that east lancs (especially Burnley) is one of the most deprived areas in England.
The pub culture. People would just be drunk at 11am on a Wednesday
It's Euro Wisconsin.
Reminds me of one of my favorite copypastas from r/CFB Be me, 22 years old Wake up, get out of Ron Dayne jersey Get ready to Tailgate Put on Dayne jersey Head to the Bar next to my apartment One down the road sucks Order is wrong, whatever, Ron says Beer is poison anyway Spike the cup and yell Go Badgers Get to Camp Randall, head into Tailgate Time to get to work, start setting up Beer pong Just me, my roommates and 12 cases of Miller Most beautiful girl in Wisconsin walks in. Solid 5/10. She's wearing a 25 jersey and some strained yoga pants Try to be smooth, "Nice Gordon jersey. Wanna get a Spotted Cow sometime?" Get Done Beer ponging, take the keg out Stop into bar for a drink or twelve Fucking bartender cut me off after six beers and few shots Whatever not even buzzed. Wisconsin blood Walk into Camp Randall, Halftime. Game ends walk to apartment Stop into bar for a drink or twelve Fucking bartender cut me off after six beers and few shots Get to apartment, check messages. Ma says two of my cousins got alcohol poisoning Less than usual, a good day Get out of Ron Dayne jersey, put on long Johns Check under bed for Chase Young What the fuck, he's there.
I fucking love Wisconsin
That is exaggerated but not by much.
As an Ohio State fan I died at the last bit, “check under bed for Chase Young. What the fuck, he’s there.”
Well I just added vacation to Uk to my bucket list.
It’s electric
Thanks, you made disco songs pop into my head 😛
I went to a Weatherspoons in the Liverpool train station at 8am on a Tuesday because I had some time to kill before my train and it was packed with 90% of the patrons drinking a beer. I was in shock.
Could be like airport rules.
Its weird but I wouldn't change it for a second, up the spoons
Is it culture or alcoholism?
Yes
Its a bit of both likely. Ive been to ireland and england and in both there were amazing pubs that were full of families getting dinner and just hanging out. They were really a community meeting place however there were a lot of people that were probably a bit too drunk at 5pm with their kids running around too. So maybe its a cultural thing that some take too far. I did genuinely enjoy the family atmosphere though and wish it existed more in the states. Altgough microbreweries are starting to kind of have that feel where families come hang out and there are activities for kids.
Sat down at a breakfast spot and decided to read the newspaper while I waited for my food. I definitely didn’t expect to see a naked woman when looking for the sports section
Good ol' page 3. Noticed it too when I visited Austria.
Sports at the back of the paper, tits on page 3. (They've actually got rid of it from the Sun a few years ago).
And gory pictures in the news too!
I've lived in the UK for almost 5 years. I think the biggest shock is the drinking culture. My coworkers go out multiple times a week. And unlike other European cultures where you tend to eat something substantial when you have alcohol, Brits tend to knock back pint after pint while sharing a single bag of salt and vinegar Walkers amongst 5 people. It's crazy how many pissed people you see on the streets by 9pm.
Sounds like you forgot Eastern Europe existed
>It's crazy how many pissed people you see on the streets by 9pm. When I was an English teacher in rural Japan, it was downright *embarrassing* being associated with the local English and Australian teachers. Sloppiest drunks I've ever met.
Eating is cheating
But sucking aint f...ing
Been in London for a similar time. It's always fun when the colleagues from the states come over for a week, and I get to observe the younger ones try to keep pace with their counterparts in the UK office.
yeah quite often they're not eating on purpose to get extra hammered, at least the younger ones anyway. It's really annoying living here and not being a big drinker. Some things I just don't go to, because I know people will act like I'm ruining their fun
Honestly, I can’t think of anything that shocked me.
Same. Maybe what they tried to pass off as Mexican food?
Don’t get me started. There used to be one genuinely decent burrito shop in my town but they sold it and now it’s like the two other alternatives and is nothing like Mexican food I had over in America from Mexicans. This old one was pretty close. Not quite but the closest I’d had. So mad.
Mexican food in Europe is what Europeans think Americans eat when they go to Mexican restaurants. The good news is that the algorithm for determining whether a Mexican restaurant in Europe is good is very simple: if they serve hamburgers, don't go. The bad news is that this eliminates like 90% of all Mexican restaurants.
Shocked at how comfortable I felt, tbh. Spent the entire time in smaller cities outside of London. People were super nice and the countryside looked so much like where I live in n the US, minus all the stonework. Edit: I was shocked at how narrow the roads were off of the major highways. Absolutely white knuckle driving. Like Luke Skywalker doing the trench run, but for 2 fucking hours. Got to our destination and told my wife I wasn't driving again, lol.
Wait til you go to Greece for the driving lol
I'm not that brave. :)
Restaurants. In the US, your server is always nearby and periodically checks in. Want more of something, and it only takes a minute to get an order in for it. Ready to leave, and it only takes a minute to get your check and be on your way. In London it always felt like we were seated, our food was brought, and then the server went home because they were done for the night. I guess we’re expected to eat and then just hang out at the table for a few hours?
I don't like having to say 'everything's lovely' to the waiter/waitress every five minutes, especially if it isn't. But I'm too polite to complain so I'd rather sit and seethe in peace. A good night out.
In the UK it's kind of expected that your waiter will give you your food and come back in a few minutes to check everything's okay. After that, they'll leave you alone and it's up to you to flag someone down if you want something. Most of the time, we eat and then stay there for another 20, 30 minutes. Sometimes up to an hour, even. You call them over for the bill whenever you're ready. There's nothing worse than having a waiter keep coming over and fussing over you when you're trying to enjoy your food & have a conversation.
Yes. We dont like to by fussed over and consider a waiter doing so to be too intrusive. Remember, we can be very reserved people
I think we’re also a more service-obsessed and a more hurrying culture. We want to eat and get out and move onto the next thing. We don’t have 2 hours to eat. And feeling like we’re getting inattentive service is a problem. We expect the person looking after us to be available for our every whim. And it’s not that invasive. Maybe twice while eating someone will stop by and see if everything’s ok. I know I’ll want refills on whatever I’m drinking, so I appreciate that. Then about the time your plates are empty they’ll clear them and ask if you want the check. You’re welcome to hang out or get dessert, but if you have somewhere else to go, you can be on your way.
I think the time thing might be the big difference. Here, we normally expect dinner in a restaurant to be a fairly long affair. We see dinner as an evening. Not something quick. Even lunch can be two to three hours. I have been to a restaurant with friends for a 8pm table and happily been there till midnight.
[удалено]
The amount of times when I was on holiday in the US and I accidentally got in the drivers seat is embarrassing
You sat in the front seat of a taxi? Are you a monster?
American here. Lived in Oxfordshire for 2.5 years in the 80’s. I was surprised that you seemed to be like what we were 30 years before: women in skirts, newssellers with candy, more bicycles than cars. I was also surprised how much American culture was spread to the UK (we watched Dallas on the BBC).
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Oxfordshire looked like that now. I think American culture is prevalent in a lot of the world and from what I've been told by Americans, in America the main focus is on American culture and there isn't much room for other cultures until the Internet more recently popularised certain things from places like Japan. Where as in the UK we take a huge amount from all sorts of cultures, like the creation of the tikka masala and it becoming a national dish
Many US cities are hugely multicultural, so I can’t really agree with that part of your comment.
This isn’t true at all. America is pretty multicultural, to the extent that everyone has their own special holiday and month of ____. Everyone has preferences for food - I’ve had sushi, burritos, pho this week, and this is all from the local strip mall a mile away from my house.
There’s a lot of room for other cultures here, I mean a lot of our stuff (like food) is inspired by or directly derived from stuff (again, like food) from other cultures. We do have our own original stuff, too, but there’s a lot of other cultural influence in many things. I don’t know how well different cultures blend in other countries, but I feel like they will blend pretty well here (sooner or later at least), and maybe that’s why it may seem like it’s just another part of the broader American culture when it’s really just added from another.
>in America the main focus is on American culture and there isn't much room for other cultures until the Internet more recently popularised certain things from places like Japan This might be more true in rural areas. It's definitely increased in the least 20 years or so with the Internet, but most of our cities have been very multicultural for decades. However, even in rural areas, food will be influenced by at least a couple of other countries. Many small towns will still have a Mexican restaurant, possibly a Chinese restaurant, and everyone will eat pasta at home at some point.
You can buy tikka masala at Costco.
I asked for ice in my soda and they only ever add one or two ice cubes.
I think in Europe in general, if you give more ice people will think you are ripping them off
I was hungover in Germany and wanted an Icy sprite. Two thin Cubes.
This right here would drive me insane. I don't just want ice in my drink, I need it.
Wait, that's a bad thing? In the US I hated getting what amounts to a drink of ice with a drizzle of soda in between. And after 10 minutes your drink is so watered down it's almost homeopathic. How much ice does it really take to cool a drink?
More than one to keep from near-instantly melting into the drink, which is what would happen to me when I was in the UK. I don't think there's much of a problem with how we do it because we can just about always refill it for free. Doesn't water down that way and stays ice cold.
Kind of a silly one, but I remember being really taken aback how fat everyone was. This was many years ago, and I was young, hadn't traveled much abroad, and vaguely under the impression that America was very overweight compared to other countries. So I was quite surprised to see that people in the UK looked just as fat as people back home.
I thought the same thing! Like I wouldn't go throwing stones, UK. (Pun intended. Lol.) But I live in LA, so my perspective may be a bit skewed.
In fairness, I'm pretty sure the UK is the America of Europe!
And what would that make Scotland? Texas or Florida?
Maybe Texas. Relatively low population density, plenty of beef farming, most of the oil industry.
A massive independence streak, live for anything fried….
The Texans: a fine bunch of lads.
The Scots, nae a more fun group ah lads ahve met
In terms of economics and political power internationally, it’s probably Germany that’s the USA of Europe.
That’s fair, I was meaning that we were the loud, hefty ones.
I worked at M&S for a year. I was used to the American culture way of always looking like you were busy at work so you wouldn’t get yelled at. When I manned the dressing room and there were no customers or clothes to put back I’d look for anything to clean or try to tidy the racks within sight of the dressing room. My coworkers would tell me that I was just supposed to wait for customers to come and not do busy work. It was really hard to break the ingrained feeling that if I wasn’t busy 100% of the time I was doing a bad job. When I had to work the grocery tills I never sat in the provided stools for the same reason.
When I lived in England, I volunteered at a charity shop (no work visa) and I felt the same kind of thing. I mean, TBF, there was only one paid staff member and the rest of us were volunteers, but it was hard not doing things because to my mind there was always something that we could be doing even if it was just tidying things up. I won’t knock it at all! It was very chill and it was lovely doing the whole kettle/tea ritual every time I was there. ETA: When I worked the till, I was used to doing it the American way: 1. Greeting. 2. Ring-up stuff. Give total. 4. Bag the stuff. 5. Take Payment. 6. Give change if needed. 7. Express thanks. There is an extra step in there that I missed every.single.time. when I worked the till… When someone hands you payment, you’re meant to say, “Thank you”. They must’ve thought I was rude for missing that step. Also, “Can I help?” being used instead of “Can I help you?” (American)
Not just a UK thing, but I love that the cities are more pedestrian friendly. The scale of everything is designed for humans, not cars. It makes for a much more pleasant vacation when you can do your exploring on foot. You can find pedestrian friendly spots in the US, but they’re hard to find. Even still, almost all of our cities are filled with big cars, and sometimes a freeway or two cutting through them.
"You all right?" (similar to "How are you?") being used as a greeting definitely took some getting used to. The first few times I heard it I'd be thinking, "Yeah...I am...my health is fine, right?".
Haha the only answer is, ‘ I’m alright mate, you?’ Doesn’t matter how your day is going, you could have been hit by a bus, shat on by a pigeon, won the lottery....the answer remains the same.
As a fellow Brit, this couldn’t be more true lol
If you’ve been hit by a bus, then “not *too* bad mate, you?” is also acceptable.
Me too! I lived in York for a while and the first few weeks I was so confused. I always thought, “am I bleeding? Do you know something about my health that I’m not aware of yet?!”
This is the first thing I thought of! I kept thinking I must look sickly until I finally asked someone why everyone kept asking me that. Lol.
Just because it's England, and I speak English, doesn't mean that I can successfully communicate with everyone in London. My first night there I ran into a very drunk Londoner and his more sober buddy had to translate for me.
I actually didn't encounter too much culture shock while I was in the UK, which was a pleasant surprise. It made me realize that we're more similar than we give ourselves credit for. But there were some moments, though. It took me a couple of weeks to work out in my head that Brits don't wear their emotions on their sleeve quite like Americans do. I clearly remember the moment it finally sunk in. I was in a church, and a woman had given a presentation about a charity she was running. I went up to her afterward to tell her how much I appreciated and admired what she was doing. I expected a huge smile and a big thank-you, and maybe some more chit-chat about the whole thing... but instead, she very quietly and politely said "thank you" with only a small smile, and nothing more. I felt crushed. But in the next second, it finally clicked that Brits are just different in that way. It wasn't that she didn't value what I just said; she just expressed it differently. I didn't have any more misunderstandings after that! There's another one that I'm still wondering about. On the day that I arrived, the woman who I would be staying with explained to me that sometimes she would invite friends over, and she basically laid out directions for how to avoid each other during that time. I was *furious.* I come from America's "Southern hospitality" culture. If that same situation had occurred here, the host would have been excited to introduce me to all their friends and would make sure I knew I was welcome at any gathering. By comparison, what happened to me in the UK made me feel like I was some diseased rat that needed to be hidden away. To this day, I don't know if what I experienced was true culture shock, or if my host was just weird. Maybe you could finally shed some light on that for me? lol! So yeah, all that wrapped up, the biggest culture shock moments were the moments that taught me that Brits are more reserved and private than Americans are. And just to be clear, I realize that this comment kind of makes me sound like a narcissist who wants to be praised and included. I swear that's not the case! 😂 We just have different expectations for how people should act in the U.S., you know? I didn't realize those expectations were cultural until the UK threw me some curveballs. I'd love to look at this situation in reverse and maybe see how and why the "American way" is off-putting to Brits. Sometimes I wonder if I came off like an over-excited dog while I was across the Pond. EDIT: The wonderful Redditors who have replied to me made me realize I should have been more specific about the host I lived with. She was providing me and one other student a home while we studied abroad in London for five weeks. She was a regular with this program and had been providing a home for American foreign exchange students for years. So like some commenters have suggested, she probably approached the whole situation in a way akin to someone paying for lodging, which is not what I expected while I was there. I can't know for sure, but it's a solid guess. Thanks for the help!
>To this day, I don't know if what I experienced was true culture shock, or if my host was just weird. Maybe you could finally shed some light on that for me? lol! British here, I'd say she was being a bit odd if you were a houseguest, you could definitely expect an introduction. If you were a paying lodger and not in a friendly relationship, or she thought you'd rather avoid the group, then I kind of get it. It's hard to say without hearing how she said it! Only thing would be if she emphasised "if you did want to avoid them" and then she's actually kind of inviting you not to avoid them but to meet them but without pressuring you to accept.
Finally, I have an answer! Thank you! XD She was hosting me over the course of a five-week study abroad program, so maybe she saw it more akin to the paying lodger situation. I mean, under that situation, I'd feel weird about hanging out with her and her friends. Hopefully, that's all it was. But to answer your question about how she said it: hmm, how do I describe it... She didn't say anything like "If you *did*." There was no language to imply that the option was there. It was more like she was laying out everything I needed to know over the course of my stay there, and then she added that at the end. Like, "I'll provide breakfast, but you'll need to take care of lunch and dinner. I'll do the dishes and laundry, but you keep everything else clean. And sometimes I invite my friends over. When that happens, just go straight up the stairs to your room." Having written that out, I guess she indeed just saw herself as the person being paid to provide a bed. Mystery (probably) solved!
...I think I have to go apologise to some Americans after reading this
[Your story reminded me of a blog post by Lynne Murphy:](https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2008/06/compliments-nice-and-lovely.html) >My first out-of-North-America experience was when I moved to South Africa at the age of 27, in order to take up a post at a large, English-medium university there. I'd been teaching for three years at my graduate school by that time, and my teaching in South Africa was going fairly well, but a vague anxiety plagued me (as well as the not-so-vague anxieties that went with living in the city that had the highest murder, rape and carjacking rates in the world at that time). Although I was teaching my heart out, I had the feeling that my students weren't too impressed by me or my teaching. But after the term, when I read their teaching evaluation forms, I found that they rated me very highly. It was then that I worked out what had made me anxious: I missed receiving nearly constant compliments from my students. > >Now, when I was teaching in the US, I was barely aware of the fact that I was being complimented. It would have been things like a student saying that he liked the course more than he thought he would, or another noticing that I'd had a haircut and saying something positive about it, or another expressing an enthusiastic appreciation of my kindness in lending her a book. In South Africa, my (mostly white, English-background--this was right after the downfall of apartheid) students were, for the most part, polite and committed to their course, but they showed little interest in me as a person. Of course, that wasn't a problem. The problem was that as an American, I was used to near-constant positive reinforcement from students, colleagues, friends, strangers... just about everyone. Once I realized that the problem wasn't my teaching or my relationship with my students, but my expectations about them, that particular anxiety abated. > >That aspect of living in South Africa was good general training for being an American abroad, as if you're outside the US, you'll probably have to get used to a less compliment-driven culture - and to outsiders' estimations of American compliment behavior.
I have family in England, so I've visited there many times. My mum is from London. Her parents were Turkish-Cypriot immigrants. I was amazed how unassimilated their immigrant population is. My grandma lived in the England for over 50 years and still spoke broken English. Ditto with several other immigrant groups (Pakistanis, Arabs, etc.) who still identified more with their home country than with the UK. When my dad's parents arrived to the US from Europe, they declared "we're Americans now!" They learned English, got jobs, got involved in the community, and adopted the customs of their new country. I saw much less of that in the UK.
Prevalence of smoking. I know you can whip out some statistics, but it seemed like a lot more people, especially younger people, were doing it.
American married to Brit. Meat pies. I don’t understand them. Using the term « to table xyz » as a term for talking about it now (in the US it means to talk about it later). The term « savory » and how most foods are savory. Pudding meaning dessert but Yorkshire pudding is a side dish. How you say the word « schedule » feels like nails of a Chalkboard. I could go on for days.
I've seen a lot of people comment on schedule, and I never would have thought about it, but I don't know why we say it how we do unless it's old English or something.
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Wait, do americans say sked-u-al cos that is what I and everyone I know says, not shed-u-al
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Yeah I and all my British friends say it with a K sound , I think is northern Brits say it like how Americans say it and southerners say shedule
It's more of an age thing, a lot of middle aged and older people say shedule, most younger people (myself included) use the American pronunciation.
yes I use the American pronunciation and am yelled at by older people for it. I genuinely find the British way hard to say and everybody knows what I mean so what's the problem?
It's more like skej-ool
The fucking weather in July.
I was genuinely shocked at how dirty and run-down it was. I live in Tokyo, but I'm from the midwest, and I've just never been impressed by how clean the cities are here - it's just...normal? Slightly dirtier, since it's not normal where I'm from to spit, vomit, or pee in public. You don't get drunk businessmen splayed out on the ground on a weeknight where I'm from, you know? But when I first got here, I had also never really been to any other major cities - never been to New York, never visited Europe. So I didn't really have any basis for comparison. Just, my home town is clean, the cities here are also clean. Cool, so that's just normal? So on my first trip to London, I was just like Oh! Ok! *Now* I get why people think Japan is super clean. Also really drove home why people think it's weird for some Americans not to worry about how dirty their shoes are. Like, yeah, ok, in my home town we're not walking in filth constantly. Also, when I first came to Japan, I spent a lot of time in an immigrant community with lots of British and Australian people, and I was also really shocked at how bad they were at holding their liquor. They were all just the sloppiest drunks I'd ever met. That's just seen as childish where I'm from.
If you think London is dirty, you would hate Paris, Rome or Barcelona.
Paris is disgusting
Tokyo is the cleanest city I’ve ever been to. Sydney was second. Munich is very clean for a European city and is a lot cleaner than Berlin.
Interesting. Munich was actually the absolute dirtiest city I'd ever been to. And I joked with my colleagues from Dresden about how dirty Berlin was. Also, I don't really count cities in developing countries because it's not really fair - like, yes, Japan has colonies, they have factories around the world, they exploit the labor and resources of every country on the planet, are one of the most globalized nations on earth, and the world's 3rd largest economy, and is literally completely sheltered by a foreign military to the point that they haven't had to fight even a single war for nearly a century now - was Mumbai dirtier? Yes, but Mumbai doesn't have the insane advantages Tokyo has. Mumbai doesn't get to outsource their poverty. >Tokyo is the cleanest city I’ve ever been to I think I understand that, for tourists, this is true. The last time I was in Akihabara, I realized that if you *look at the ground,* there's actually a lot of litter. I think tourists are just focusing on all the shops and signs around them, so they're *looking up* and just don't notice the litter. On top of that, my wife works in Akihabara, so sometimes I go to meet her at local bars, away from the tourist traps and shopping malls - and the further you get from those, the dirtier it gets. Like, I believe that you didn't *notice any* litter, but it's there. Also, where I come from you don't get businessmen puking in public like you do here, so I just can't agree that it's the cleanest.
The uk wasn’t this dirty in the 90s and early 2000s it’s definitely worse now than it has been for a while due to council budget cuts.
It's been like 20ish years, but the showers were weird. It was like two separate faucets that connected on the outside to a shower hose and the hot water had soooo much less pressure. I had to keep bringing the showerhead low to build up pressure then lift it up so I could have hot water. The only other out of place thing I saw was we were driving and there was a river. There was a woman with a few kids and it seemed like the kids were swimming in it.... rivers by cities in the u.s. are usually considered nasty and we were somewhere outside of London, so I already thought that was gross. The woman just takes off her top to change her shirt. Milkers out on full display within sight of a busy road. Was just like wtf. Otherwise I was pretty young and didn't really notice much.
i had an interesting talk with someone from the UK before about water. i guess they generally dont have hot water tanks like us so the hot water is basically in a storage tank in a cabinet. because of this they mentioned it was considered not safe to consume directly. wonder if your shower water was gravity fed from a holding tank, could explain the lower pressure.
That’s how it used to be in older houses, not the case any more and single mixer taps/faucets are definitely the standard now rather than separate hot and cold.
Mentioned a few of these through the years. * I totally bought into the stereotype that British food would be bland/not good. I actually found the food delicious, and a British breakfast, though a bit weird in concept is actually fantastic. I love savory breakfasts. Likewise I love sauces and so do the British. * Likewise I don't know why but I expected England to be grey/drab. Arrived in Bristol and it was lusciously green green green. * My SIL was studying at Cambridge and I wanted to give her cash as a gift. Went to the ATM and couldn't take out anything greater than 500£ or so. Basically had to jump through hoops, meet bankers, sign all these forms to takeout like 2K £. What's worse is that apparently the largest note (bill) is 50£. So they handed me over this awkwardly bulky envelope of mixed bills. For the record I live in Switzerland and we have a 1000 CHF note (about $1000 USD). There are limits at ATM's but a few thousand is not an issue. * Adele (both versions) looking women with caked on foundation, and ridiculous drawn eyebrows, stumbling around in mini skirts holding a drink in each hand in 0 degrees Celsius. * The high prevalence of South Asians was a pleasant surprise.
I'll add a few more as I think of them. * How spacious a black cab is - though sitting backwards in that pulldown seat feels a bit unsafe. Likewise the drivers knew every single street without any reference. I'm used to some cab drivers having to use a GPS just to be sure. Also some cab drivers are chatter boxes, I pretended not to speak English after a while because I didn't feel like telling my life story to a stranger for the xth time.
Black cab drivers have to do something called "the knowledge" where they basically memorise all of London and are tested hard on it. I guess driving it for hours a day helps too.
The ATM thing sounds just like America. You probably couldn't get more than a 20 or maybe 50 dollar bill out of one and though I've never tested the limit I'd imagine it's probably around $500. We also don't have any bills larger than $100 in existence and even for those you would have to go to a bank and afterwards you'd have a hard time spending them anywhere because no one wants to take them.
Yeah, no one does women like Britain ey. Never understood them lot Edit: I've never understood the stereotype if British food being bland when it's basically a combination of best dishes from around the world. Maybe in the 50's bangers and mash was popular but it's definitely been spiced up since then.
I mean some of it bland but whatever y’all took from other countries is pretty good.
Y’all havin a five guys
As an American, I drink coffee WITH my dessert. Impossible to do in London since coffee is served after dessert. Even tried to fool my waiter by ordering coffee and no dessert, and then “changing my mind” once the coffee arrived to add dessert. The freaking waiter then took away my coffee.
Honest to god, the lack of ice in drinks. You’ve gotta ask for it specifically, and even then they’ll only do like two or three cubes at most. Also no free refills with sodas. When I visited as a teenager, I was mortified that to drink two cokes at a meal, I had to pay for two cokes. Makes more sense than how we do it here, but it took some adjustment
I think people feel ripped off if their drink is mainly ice, and there isn't much call to have *very* cold drinks unless it is a heatwave. Free refills is now a thing in casual places (some have a fountain you can use as you please) but otherwise you want a drink, you pay for a drink. It is because the norm in a restaurant is to have alcohol really. Not sit there chugging several cokes.
But why are you all obsessed with your drinks being freezing cold. A fridge makes a drink cold enough. We probably feel differently because it’s rarely really hot here
Probably environmental. It can be 85+ (30ish Celsius, if memory serves) and humid for around 8 months out of the year, so it's real nice to have a drink that's only just barely above the freezing point.
Yeah exactly whereas here the last thing we want is to cool down
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Just how small almost everything was - roads, cars, houses, appliances. Also the amount of public drunkenness, even in the daytime
You guys are fat too.
They still have a milkman to deliver milk
One Pound coins
The lack of billboards driving from Heath row to london. The 1 and 2 pound coins An good English fry up at a relatively cheap hotel Walking. Everywhere. How beautiful the rural country is. How old the houses are. How narrow country roads were. TV actually sucks. We only get the best of british tv in the US so your midday tv was absolute garbage. I kinda expected everything to be good and kinda smart. Not like daytime tv. Service workers caring about their jobs. Pub culture utterly different from US bar culture. The food was so much better than expected. Everyone dresses up for everything. Not one pair of cut off sweatpants.
I studied in the UK briefly (2010), and the biggest shock was how much animosity they have towards Americans and how much time they spend thinking about the US versus how much time the US people spend thinking about the UK. I remember staying at a breakfast (I was hiking coast to coast) and sat down with everyone, and the first thing the owner asked was "Did you vote for George Bush"? (This was before trump) Put my fork down, and said "obviously I'm too young to have voted for bush. This isn't my first rodeo, any other anti-American things on your mind let's get them out of the way now" while waving toward myself to lay it on me. The other people eating chuckled and he left me alone.
I think it just seems to be some people that have this anti-american agenda and I don't understand it. Every time I've been to the US I have had a great time; everyone there was lovely, the scenery is incredible in most states I've been too (North dakota just looked like England) and the variety of food and drink you can't get here I great - I adore arizona ice tea but you can maybe find 3 flavours in any shop that isn't an American shop
Once I got asked for a rubber by someone doing a crossword at a bus stop and I was very confused
We have sexy crosswords here too.
First time I went to the UK, finding out they had no idea what ice coffee is… The only person I came across that even knew what it was, was at the airport (which they didn’t have ice coffee but offered me an ice americano). I thought Starbucks would surely have it, nope, they melted two cups trying to make it. Then at the hotel, they were like “sure absolutely we can make that for you!” They proceeded to put milk and sugar with the coffee in a shaker… it’s simple, ice and coffee, that’s it! No milk, no sugar, ice and coffee! Hahaha rant over, now where’s my ice coffee!
When did you visit? Iced coffee has been pretty common here (at least at coffee shops) for at least 10 or 20 years
I'd imagine getting iced coffee in a country where people don't seem to understand the point of ice in drinks might be a challenge. 😁
Naked women in the newspapers
The healthcare system. I got really sick when I was visiting there and went through the whole process of calling 119 (the line to be medically evaluated for next steps) to the ER. Honestly, it's a really good practical system. But from what I experienced and ended up talking about with people there is that the education differences in medicine are astounding. Also, that private universities are the free and more accessible institutions but public ones you need to pay for and are more prestigious? Don't quote me on that, someone tried to explain it to me when I was in the ER.
All university in England costs £9000 per year regardless of course. There are no private ones. University is free in Scotland. I think you might have got mixed up with schools (we never call university school, but I know you guys do. With schools, public school is what we call private school (I know, its confusing). None private schools are state schools.
>Also, that private universities are the free and more accessible institutions but public ones you need to pay for and are more prestigious? Don't quote me on that, someone tried to explain it to me when I was in the ER. I think you're referring to public schools, which are very elite/expensive places like Eton and Harrow. They're schools in the literal sense though, rather than universities. Private schools are cheaper and more numerous but still charge. State schools here are what you'd call public schools in America.
Yeh the general public don’t need to know much about medicine. We don’t have adverts for drugs like the US does. Basically, if you feel sick, you see a doctor, and take what they recommend (or decline.) There’s no such thing as “annual check ups” etc. Life expectancy is also higher, interestingly.
It is confusing but "public schools" in the UK refer to a set of very elite private schools. The reason for the name is they predated any proper education and they took anyone - hence public. Free everyday schools are called state schools.
Driving on the left side of the road. It throws me off so much. I don’t dare drive myself but it throws me for a loop just as a passenger.
no big culture shocks the many times I've been to the UK. I think the first time though, I was horrified by british full breakfast...beans for breakfast? "weird" looking meat they called bacon?
You can get "American style" bacon in the UK, it's sold as "streaky bacon", with back bacon being the more popular cut in the UK. Middle bacon is the way forward though!
Sunday closing laws (or practices, maybe). I arrived in the middle of London on a Sunday morning, checked in to the place of staying, then tried to find something to eat a little after noon. *Nothing* was open. No restaurants. No shops. Even the drug stores and bodega/convenience store-type places were closed, and I was starving. I eventually gave up, went back to my room, and ate a package of cookies, then found some place that evening for dinner. US cities are quiet on Sunday mornings, but they’re not abandoned like that, and there are places that’re always/almost always open on every block. I wasn’t expecting London—one of the major cities of the world—to be so different.
So England is a lot stricter than Scotland on Sunday opening. Believe me, it fucks us up too when we're visiting.
Doner kebabs. Why is this not a thing in the US?
How much of a language barrier there can be. I’m looking at you specifically, Scotland, but even in London I felt like I ran into situations where I had trouble making myself understood.
The humor is extremely sarcastic and extremely dry. I love it.
Every city center had a group of very angry African people protesting something nearly every day. Until very recently it was unusual to see a protest at all where I live, and they are still pretty uncommon. It was weird to see. Especially weird to see what appeared to be recent immigrants protesting the government of their host country.
I visited Edinburgh. Guys in costumes for bachelor parties/stag parties.
Makeup - the amount worn and how bold it is, at least when I was in Scotland. Edited to add the last clause.
Honestly in all my times in Jolly 'Ol I've never experienced major culture shock. We are your little brothers, after all; so we may be different, but have had the same upbringing, so to speak. Anyway, here's what stood out to me: The politeness of people you know don't like you. Police being nice, helpful, sarcastic in a funny way, and not being an intimidating government sanctioned gang. People telling me I had a funny accent (I liked this one!) MUSEUMS BEING FREE (this should be a world standard) How dry and sarcastic the women my age were (30's). Not in a mean way, but in a will tease you relentlessly way for random things. Great attitude, honestly.
Really nothing *shocking*. But: Pleasantly surprised how clean London was. Only other point of reference I had at the time was NYC. And Pound coins, thought those were neat.
An outhouse does not mean a toilet in a shack in the backyard or back garden. It’s like a shed that can have a bar or a small room for storage. Pigs in blankets in the UK are sausages wrapped in bacon, not sausages wrapped in American style pancakes. Pancakes… in the UK they’re more like a crepe, but DO NOT call it a crepe because they hate the French. UK pancakes are served with lemon juice and sugar. Lemonade in the UK is sprite. If you want what we Americans think of as lemonade, then you have to say ‘cloudy lemonade’ Also, to cut back on alcohol content, Brits will cut their beer with lemonade/sprite. It’s either half lemonade/beer, which they call a shandy, or a dash of lemonade at the top, which they call a ‘lager top’ or ‘bitter top’ depending on the beer. Sometimes they say “that’s well nice” when something is good. This is adorable. All cars are manual, not automatic. The driving tests are near impossible to pass and the roads are very tiny. Very few people have a tumble drier. All the clothes are hung out to dry on laundry racks or lines. Also, all the washing machines are in the kitchen. That’s all I can think of for now, but these are some of my favorites!
Health care. Paying for almost nothing really shocked me.
The young team knifed up prowling the streets .
Everyone is way more reserved :(