Culture Shock

[Conservative Hippie]

We have a lot of British tourists in the area where I live - our grocery store has a special British food section. I once helped out a British couple in the freezer section - they were completely overwhelmed at all the choices in ice cream!

 

[Sundancer UK]

Wash your hands after peeing - it's the law!



Isn't "council housing" some kind of low income housing? I wonder how your house would have compared to a middle-class British house.

It's also known as 'social housing' and it's not always for those on low income. Here in London the prices of houses are so high that many people could never afford them.
Council houses are spread around, so sometimes you'd get a middle class house next door to an identical council owned property. Houses in London are small in general though, especially flats (apartments to you?) in high rise blocks.

As for the rest of this thread, I'll get back to you in a couple of months I do expect to be surprised at the aversion to walking; we walk over 2 miles to school every morning and then again at home time, so we're kind of used to it. Plus owning your own car in London can be a right pain in the bum, so it's just as easy not to half the time!
I should stop reading this thread now, or I wont be culture shocked at anything in May

 

[Liberty Belle]

It's also known as 'social housing' and it's not always for those on low income. Here in London the prices of houses are so high that many people could never afford them.
Council houses are spread around, so sometimes you'd get a middle class house next door to an identical council owned property. Houses in London are small in general though, especially flats (apartments to you?) in high rise blocks.

As for the rest of this thread, I'll get back to you in a couple of months I do expect to be surprised at the aversion to walking; we walk over 2 miles to school every morning and then again at home time, so we're kind of used to it. Plus owning your own car in London can be a right pain in the bum, so it's just as easy not to half the time!
I should stop reading this thread now, or I wont be culture shocked at anything in May

Be sure to let us know! I find it so interesting.

And enjoy your visit!

 

[Snoopymom]

In a low stairway in Ireland we saw a sign that said Mind Your Head which cracked us up, and now whenever one of us conks our head on something we joke and ask where was the Mind Your head Sign?

I picked up the book Around Ireland with a Fridge at the same time I got the Culture Shock book before our trip and loved it.

http://www.amazon.com/Round-Ireland...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1300456815&sr=8-1

 

[disney_mommy]

Wow, it's interesting to read all of these things that we take for granted that are so new and different for others.

Thanks for the site Liberty.

 

[eliza61]

When my British ex-SIL walked into our (modest) 3br 2ba home, he said "My Gawd, it's a bloody mansion!" My DD assured me that compared to council housing, it WAS a bloody mansion!

Queen Colleen

My inlaws said the same thing, American houses are very big compared to a lot of other places. LOL

 

[hopemax]

We have a lot of British tourists in the area where I live - our grocery store has a special British food section. I once helped out a British couple in the freezer section - they were completely overwhelmed at all the choices in ice cream!

This story reminds me of my Global History teacher in high school. He immigrated from Sweden. When his parents came to visit, they all went grocery shopping. His father wanted to help, so he sent him for some canned beans. When his father didn't come back, he went searching for him, and found him starring at the shelves with canned beans. We take our choices for store brand, Del Monte, French cut, Italian cut for granted. His father kept saying, "We only have one can."

 

[sunnyday123]

"When walking down city street you should stop every 10 to 15 steps and look around. Be careful. Some people very bad and want to run behind you and bang you on head to take money. They sometime have panty over head to hid them from your face."


I'm sorry, but...

 

[Katy Belle]

This story reminds me of my Global History teacher in high school. He immigrated from Sweden. When his parents came to visit, they all went grocery shopping. His father wanted to help, so he sent him for some canned beans. When his father didn't come back, he went searching for him, and found him starring at the shelves with canned beans. We take our choices for store brand, Del Monte, French cut, Italian cut for granted. His father kept saying, "We only have one can."

I had this feeling when moving back to the USA. I knew I wanted Tide and I knew I wanted liquid... but there are so many kinds of Tide liquid now! I stood there and stared and read and stared and read and finally just grabbed one. Sometimes I pretend there aren't so many choices and just grab the first one I see.

 

[NotUrsula]

This story reminds me of my Global History teacher in high school. He immigrated from Sweden. When his parents came to visit, they all went grocery shopping. His father wanted to help, so he sent him for some canned beans. When his father didn't come back, he went searching for him, and found him starring at the shelves with canned beans. We take our choices for store brand, Del Monte, French cut, Italian cut for granted. His father kept saying, "We only have one can."

My parents immigrated to the US in the early 1950's, and post-war rationing was still in effect at the time in the UK. The first time my mother walked into an American supermarket she actually broke down in tears in the meat section; she just couldn't believe her eyes at how much of it was on display. Her war-bride sister was with her at the time and was just mortified. (It was a small town and my aunt had married into a leading family. She was terribly embarassed that her sister was acting like such a hick in the supermarket.) My mother never did get over the tendency to hoard food -- during and after the war food was very precious in the UK.

Here is a reverse example on the topic of supermarkets: A couple of years ago one of my cousins who lives in London gave me directions to her flat and told me that once I came out of the Tube I needed to turn left at the large supermarket. I wandered a bit before I found the right block because I never did see any large supermarket. It turned out that it was right across from the station, but I hadn't thought that was the right one because it was only about the size of a 7-11. I had to laugh and tell her that in the States when one describes a "large supermarket" today, it usually means a building that is at least 60,000 square feet!

 

[coffeeandfags]

Ok, so im in Scotland, and what REALLY cracks me and my kids up is when we hear Americans saying something like, "grandma, do you wanna go potty?"
Over here, pottys are what little kids use to train before using the "big" toilet.
So we have visions of grandma crouching over this little plastic bowl on the floor to go pee

Take a look at my username! Offended? Over here a "***" is a cigarette Im a straight female, honest

Those gaps around toilet doors?? Whats that about then? This is total mortification for us modest Brits We like to do our "business" in private

Then there's confusion with foodstuffs.
We call them chips, you call them fries
We call them crisps, you call them chips
We call it jam, you call it jelly
We call it jelly, you call it jello.
Yep, weve had some weird food combos in the U.S. due to the old "food language barrier"

Oh yeah, and i live in "council housing". Ours is a nice neighbourhood, but my whole 2 storey house would fit in most of you guys dens
Houses here are generally small though, with 2 or 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom being pretty normal!

 

[NotUrsula]

LOL. As I've said, I grew up in an immigrant household, and I grew up calling a toilet a toilet. When I went to school I got in trouble for that; my teachers thought it was very rude to mention toilets.
Americans ARE ridiculously prudish about speaking of toileting, but then again we have those lovely toilet stalls with the big gaps around the doors. It's schizophrenic, I agree.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Also, interestingly, this site is just for Indians and they say that New Jersey is more similar to India than any other state.

Is it illegal to pump your own gas in India too?

 

[ChrisFL]

Ok, so im in Scotland, and what REALLY cracks me and my kids up is when we hear Americans saying something like, "grandma, do you wanna go potty?"
Over here, pottys are what little kids use to train before using the "big" toilet.
So we have visions of grandma crouching over this little plastic bowl on the floor to go pee

Actually I would say in general that's the case in the U.S. as well, you may have just heard some adults saying it like that.

I enjoy some of the other differences in U.S. and U.K. terms, especially relating to cars:

A Saloon

U.K. = a 4 door car
U.S. = a wild west bar with poker players, dancing girls and cowboys

A Boot

U.K. = storage place in the back of the car
U.S. = What you wear when doing hard work/military

A Bonnet

U.K. = The lid over the engine
U.S. = an old fashioned ladies' cloth hat

 

[lpereira]

My husband and i have a few cultural issues we have never worked out. He flat reuses to flush toilet paper or for that matter use any toilet that is not in our home. In brazil it goes into the trashcan. When he first discovered the walmart he thought it was heaven. Them he found the thrift stores. To this day he is always buying junk in the thrift store and mailing it to family in brazil.
Then there was the fabulous time my mil kept insisting she had a much better sunblock than i was using on the baby. All the way from brazil she ships me avon sunblock. Cost plus shipping was around $30

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

My husband and i have a few cultural issues we have never worked out. He flat reuses to flush toilet paper or for that matter use any toilet that is not in our home. In brazil it goes into the trashcan. When he first discovered the walmart he thought it was heaven. Them he found the thrift stores. To this day he is always buying junk in the thrift store and mailing it to family in brazil.
Then there was the fabulous time my mil kept insisting she had a much better sunblock than i was using on the baby. All the way from brazil she ships me avon sunblock. Cost plus shipping was around $30

I am not OK with this....LOL

 

[palavra]

We have a lot of British tourists in the area where I live - our grocery store has a special British food section. I once helped out a British couple in the freezer section - they were completely overwhelmed at all the choices in ice cream!

I don't think this is normal for Britain though. I've been in several British grocery stores in different areas of the country. Sure, in the little villages there aren't many choices, but in most of the stores, there were as many if not more. Some of my favorite ice cream is found just in European stores.

 

[palavra]

This story reminds me of my Global History teacher in high school. He immigrated from Sweden. When his parents came to visit, they all went grocery shopping. His father wanted to help, so he sent him for some canned beans. When his father didn't come back, he went searching for him, and found him starring at the shelves with canned beans. We take our choices for store brand, Del Monte, French cut, Italian cut for granted. His father kept saying, "We only have one can."

But that must have been years ago. Having lived in one of the poorer countries in Europe, Portugal, I can assure you that most European grocery stores are as well stocked as our own. My local grocery in Portugal had many varieties of canned beans and other items that we perhaps don't stock here.

 

[luvthatduke]

snip....
Those gaps around toilet doors?? Whats that about then? This is total mortification for us modest Brits We like to do our "business" in private

I was going to post something about this the other day when I first
read the thread!
I'm American, never been across the ocean (pond?),
but I've read in several places about the absolute mortification
of people (mainly women) from the UK regarding using
US public toilets and the huge gaps around the doors.

We went to the Creation Museum in KY last autmumn,
and some tween girls were remarking over and over
how the stalls there had such long doors, and that
you couldn't see around them.
I offered my opinion that perhaps Answers in Genesis
had done their homework and wanted to make their
facilities as welcoming and non-embarassing as possible
to their foreign tourists.
They really were well thought out and private!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I teach English as a Second Language (ESL), so I am really enjoying these stories!