Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
#16
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
I still can't stand ordering sandwiches.
There's one place I go and I have to stipulate "I want only these things" and list them off. Otherwise if you say I'll have a turkey, swiss with lettuce and tomato they'll start on "do you want mustard? Dressing? Herbs? Special sauce?
There's one place I go and I have to stipulate "I want only these things" and list them off. Otherwise if you say I'll have a turkey, swiss with lettuce and tomato they'll start on "do you want mustard? Dressing? Herbs? Special sauce?
#18
Heading for Poppyland
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
Posts: 14,453
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
I still can't stand ordering sandwiches.
There's one place I go and I have to stipulate "I want only these things" and list them off. Otherwise if you say I'll have a turkey, swiss with lettuce and tomato they'll start on "do you want mustard? Dressing? Herbs? Special sauce?
There's one place I go and I have to stipulate "I want only these things" and list them off. Otherwise if you say I'll have a turkey, swiss with lettuce and tomato they'll start on "do you want mustard? Dressing? Herbs? Special sauce?
#19
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
what a fatuous load of tripe that article was. Hold the front page: not everything is exactly the same when you live in a different country!
Some of them are just silly - the nicknames for the coins was particularly dimwitted, given that the author's comparison (the Euro) hasn't really been in existence long enough to have grown nicknames yet. In parts of Germany (where there is some suggestion the author is from) a 10 Pfennig bit was known as a Groschen, for example. And don't let's get started on British pre-decimal currency, with its tanner, bob, florin, crown, quid, guinea, and so on.
Sure, some of these things might be mild irritations or cause momentary bemusement to a visitor. Perhaps it's the headline writer we should be vilifying, but I guess an article entitled "16 things about America that might take a little bit of getting used to for some foreign people who haven't been out and about much" probably wouldn't have been the click-bait that this obviously is....
Some of them are just silly - the nicknames for the coins was particularly dimwitted, given that the author's comparison (the Euro) hasn't really been in existence long enough to have grown nicknames yet. In parts of Germany (where there is some suggestion the author is from) a 10 Pfennig bit was known as a Groschen, for example. And don't let's get started on British pre-decimal currency, with its tanner, bob, florin, crown, quid, guinea, and so on.
Sure, some of these things might be mild irritations or cause momentary bemusement to a visitor. Perhaps it's the headline writer we should be vilifying, but I guess an article entitled "16 things about America that might take a little bit of getting used to for some foreign people who haven't been out and about much" probably wouldn't have been the click-bait that this obviously is....
#20
I have a comma problem
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
what a fatuous load of tripe that article was. Hold the front page: not everything is exactly the same when you live in a different country!
Some of them are just silly - the nicknames for the coins was particularly dimwitted, given that the author's comparison (the Euro) hasn't really been in existence long enough to have grown nicknames yet. In parts of Germany (where there is some suggestion the author is from) a 10 Pfennig bit was known as a Groschen, for example. And don't let's get started on British pre-decimal currency, with its tanner, bob, florin, crown, quid, guinea, and so on.
Sure, some of these things might be mild irritations or cause momentary bemusement to a visitor. Perhaps it's the headline writer we should be vilifying, but I guess an article entitled "16 things about America that might take a little bit of getting used to for some foreign people who haven't been out and about much" probably wouldn't have been the click-bait that this obviously is....
Some of them are just silly - the nicknames for the coins was particularly dimwitted, given that the author's comparison (the Euro) hasn't really been in existence long enough to have grown nicknames yet. In parts of Germany (where there is some suggestion the author is from) a 10 Pfennig bit was known as a Groschen, for example. And don't let's get started on British pre-decimal currency, with its tanner, bob, florin, crown, quid, guinea, and so on.
Sure, some of these things might be mild irritations or cause momentary bemusement to a visitor. Perhaps it's the headline writer we should be vilifying, but I guess an article entitled "16 things about America that might take a little bit of getting used to for some foreign people who haven't been out and about much" probably wouldn't have been the click-bait that this obviously is....
#21
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Posts: 4,913
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
I found it incomprehensible (and still do) that the standard sequencing of traffic lights and "walk" signs for pedestrians along with the "right turn on red" that is allowed in most states seems to have been designed to make things as dangerous as possible for pedestrians while making it impossible for cars to ever make a legal turn at a busy city intersection where there is continuous pedestrian traffic.
It took me months to figure out why cyclists would (sometimes) hold their left hand up in the air before making a right turn.
It still amazes me that traffic control around road works almost invariably consists of a couple of guys standing at each end holding "stop" signs instead of a set of portable traffic lights.
It took me months to figure out why cyclists would (sometimes) hold their left hand up in the air before making a right turn.
It still amazes me that traffic control around road works almost invariably consists of a couple of guys standing at each end holding "stop" signs instead of a set of portable traffic lights.
#22
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
I somewhat agree with you, but one thing that is most widely purchased across most income segments across the length and breadth of the country, and for which the price we pay is mostly tax, is advertised and sold at the tax-inclusive price. Why isn't gasoline priced with a "+tax price"?
#23
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
Highly regressive.
#24
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
Sales taxes are easier to collect (many fewer people to collect them from) and harder to avoid/evade.
#25
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
When I first started coming over here, I was always forgetting to add sales tax at the checkout. I got caught out a few times as a tourist. When I was getting ready to come out here, I went to buy a push bike. I went to the store and told them I wanted a bike for around $800. The cheeky sods started showing me bikes for 800 plus tax rather than 800 all in. It's a complete pain, but as cities often have different sales tax rates, I guess it just makes things easier for a lot of reatailers.
I do agree though, as is often the way with these lists (especially the ones on the BBC America site), mostly bollox.
I do agree though, as is often the way with these lists (especially the ones on the BBC America site), mostly bollox.
#26
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
I found it incomprehensible (and still do) that the standard sequencing of traffic lights and "walk" signs for pedestrians along with the "right turn on red" that is allowed in most states seems to have been designed to make things as dangerous as possible for pedestrians
#28
Bloody Yank
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: USA! USA!
Posts: 4,186
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
The list is largely accurate, at least from a German perspective (the insistence that everything is closed in Europe on Sundays was a hint) but I find it odd for one to get all huffy about the differences.
If I copped an attitude with the English because they didn't refer to 5p coins as "nickels" or took pride in being baffled by the metric system, then the locals would regard that as an annoyance and understandably so. Being reluctant to adapt should not be a point of pride.
But I'm beginning to dislike right turn on red. It might be time to get rid of that.
If I copped an attitude with the English because they didn't refer to 5p coins as "nickels" or took pride in being baffled by the metric system, then the locals would regard that as an annoyance and understandably so. Being reluctant to adapt should not be a point of pride.
But I'm beginning to dislike right turn on red. It might be time to get rid of that.
#29
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
You know what I don't understand?
Why people move to another country thousands of miles away, and expect everything to be the same and define any differences are "strange".
People make this mistake with the US and the UK all the time, because we speak almost the same language, ostensibly. But the culture and country are quite different.
Why people move to another country thousands of miles away, and expect everything to be the same and define any differences are "strange".
People make this mistake with the US and the UK all the time, because we speak almost the same language, ostensibly. But the culture and country are quite different.
#30
Re: Did you find these strange when you arrived in the US? :)
Well, maybe it would be too exciting if the UK had it... Might want to make it Left turn for them.