US Perceptions of the UK and vice versa

[Tigersman]

Question for the 'mericans
How many times do you kiss on the cheek when saying hello?
I only ask because in the UK we seem to have imported kiss-greets from somewhere foreign and now I don't know what to do: it varies from one to three and there's no way to know in advance. It can even result in two and half kisses, a head-butt and apologies.
Is a faucet a tap - you know, you turn it and water comes out or is a faucet the thing you pee in?
Do you think it's weird when UK people start a PM with Hello and sign off with a 'something' like cheerio? Some of the PMs I get are like I've passed them on a corridor and overheard a conversation, with no formality of hello and goodbye.

Also the OP didn't mention chocolate. I gather US chocolate is something of an acquired taste

Unless you are in the entertainment field or a socialite, no one else in the US would even think of kissing someone hello unless it's someone you love. A faucet is also called a tap where water comes out, not something you pee in which would be impossible for most people to do without doing some contortions to reach the faucet, plus it would impossible to pee into the faucet with water coming out under pressure.

As for our chocolate, it's considered a separate food group. It's also considered a comfort food often given by lovers to one another.

 

[stickygirl]

*makes note not to frighten Americans by kissing them*
"cheers" is like a Swiss Army knife of social contact: it can mean hello, see ya, thanks and of course good health if you have a drink in your hand. It's a bit like the Polish cześć which is used in much the same way.
The English get embarrassed about everything except invading other countries. We get embarrassed if we think we might be sounding repetitive, so we'll vary words to avoid it. Like the whole rhyming slang thing - your Plates are you feet because Plates of meat - feet, or a Whistle is a man's suit because whistle and flute - suit. Geddit?

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/

 

[NaokoSmith]

You had to say it, didn't you, just when it was starting to stop stinging...

Awww, sorry. I only did it because DesEsseintes was being so English. C'mon, they played very well and are a young side. If you want to cruise the Rugby World Cup thread on the General Board you'll see my high opinion of the team posted there. Most of the time.

(BTW, Lori, if you want to check out that thread you'll see that redzinger and I have posted some links to pictures which will make you a big fan of the rugby players at least )

This is the benefit of being a half-Japanese Scot. When they win anything at all - even one match against South Africa! I can celebrate hugely and drink a lot of whisky.

I have placed that in the small, lock-down part of my brain, along with Ashes whitewashes and when it is my turn to do the hoovering.

In the UK we seem to have imported kiss-greets from somewhere foreign ...
Also the OP didn't mention chocolate. I gather US chocolate is something of an acquired taste

Sweet pea, if a lot of people are insisting on kissing you a lot, maybe it's to do with you rather than a national custom

National chocolate - amazing tastebud loyalty. When I lived in Pakistan we took in a young climber once who'd been through a gruelling time on K2. I asked if there was anything particular we could get him, and he said: "Proper British Cadbury's Dairy Milk." They make a sort of Cadbury's Dairy Milk in PK, but so particular is the taste that people will pay well over the odds for imported Brit-made chocolate! The lad spared a bar for his friend who was still in hospital, but I could see that he regretted it a bit while he watched his pal chomp it eagerly up. I still remember the gleam in both of their eyes and them saying: "Real British Dairy Milk!"

 

[Handley_Page]

There are those who claim that the Belgian chocolatiers are highly skilled
in producing a truly brilliant chocolate.
That said, the French don't do too badly. (see the film "Chocolat")

 

[NaokoSmith]

There are those who claim that the Belgian chocolatiers are highly skilled
in producing a truly brilliant chocolate.
That said, the French don't do too badly. (see the film "Chocolat")

Are you sure you're thinking of the chocolate and not the women, HP?

Belgian chocolate truly is sublime.

Ooops! you can just see a tin of Quality Street in the background there . I was only using it to keep beads in, honest. We ate all the chocs long ago ... I mean Piglet ate them!

 

[Handley_Page]

Are you sure you're thinking of the chocolate and not the women, HP?

Belgian chocolate truly is sublime.

Ooops! you can just see a tin of Quality Street in the background there . I was only using it to keep beads in, honest. We ate all the chocs long ago ... I mean Piglet ate them!

Where can I obtain a new hinge for my writing case (it's rather like yours, Duchess).
And the necessary screws, o' course



Seen this? Listen

 

[NaokoSmith]

Where can I obtain a new hinge for my writing case (it's rather like yours, Duchess).
And the necessary screws, o' course

I'll give you a screw <snerk>

Actually I am going to the hardware shop later on, albeit in search of nuts, rather than a screw. I will ask if they do small brass hinges for you.


(Seriously. A screw has come loose on the handle for my wicker picnic basket and I need to buy a new nut for it Also to drag along Piglet after her football practice, and make her choose a suitable paint colour to redecorate her bedroom, like not-black and not-pink.

I enjoyed that lovely lilting tune!

 

[ishtat]

It's not possible to be racist towards the English. It slides off our condescending backs, or shrivels in the shadow of our enormous self-regard.

I speak, of course, as a proud Englishman.

You, Og and one or two others would understand this story.

Many years ago when I was an undergraduate I attended a public lecture at which a retired Don spoke on a particular period of Anglo French history. He indulged himself with one or two cutting comments concerning flaws in the national character of the French. Afterwards a rather disturbed Frenchman approached him and demanded:

"Why is it, Why do the English and the French hate each other so much!"

The Don thought for a moment, and smiled a cadaverous smile. "Of course you hate us; it is every Frenchman's right - indeed perhaps his duty to hate the English. But we do not hate the French," he hesitated, "We might despise you chaps a little, but hate you , oh no no no - that would be terribly bad manners."

Wherupon he glided away utterly satisfied in his certainty.


American Chocolate tastes different because years ago US food manufactureres were encouraged (subsidised?) in there use of corn oil in all sorts of products - unfortunately it imparts a distinctive taste to chocolate.

 

[sinagainChris12]

*makes note not to frighten Americans by kissing them*
"cheers" is like a Swiss Army knife of social contact: it can mean hello, see ya, thanks and of course good health if you have a drink in your hand. It's a bit like the Polish cześć which is used in much the same way.
The English get embarrassed about everything except invading other countries. We get embarrassed if we think we might be sounding repetitive, so we'll vary words to avoid it. Like the whole rhyming slang thing - your Plates are you feet because Plates of meat - feet, or a Whistle is a man's suit because whistle and flute - suit. Geddit?

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/

You can kiss us east coasters, we love it. (maybe not so much NY, but the rest of us are pretty chill about the whole thing). Though, sometimes the first time we meet you it might be a handshake, but by the time we say goodbye, it's a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

I love listening to cockney accents. But I have to work really hard to understand them a lot of the time. But I love listening to it. It's enjoyable...just like listening to someone from Cork. Fascinaaaaation.

 

[SusanJillParker]

From my experience in listening to my friends, which is not necessarily my opinion, Americans like people from the United Kingdom better than they like people from Canada. Weird. Go figure.

Only we don't like people from the United Kingdom as much as we like people from Australia. Weird. Go figure.

Where the English act far too superior, the Australians just want to get drunk and have a good time.

Canadians are regarded in the same unfriendly way as Americans regard the French.

We are suckers for accents though, whether English or Irish, not so much French. French accents are more annoying than they are sexy. Weird. Go figure.

 

[ishtat]

The UK and the US are possibly the most hated countries on Earth.

Power, even former power, attracts enemies.

No Og, even today Japanese tourists are warned to be careful travelling alone particularly in Thailand and China. Nanking and Japanese railway building management are still remembered.

And the Japanese for their part are without question the most xenophobic and racist people on the planet. Koreans are a close second.

 

[sunandshadow]

American Chocolate tastes different because years ago US food manufactureres were encouraged (subsidised?) in there use of corn oil in all sorts of products - unfortunately it imparts a distinctive taste to chocolate.

Hmm. Some American chocolate tastes completely different from other American chocolate, though. Around here we've got Hershey's, Sarris's, and Ghiradeli's and they all taste quite different. I personally don't like Sarris's - it's got a lot of wax and sugar and not much cocoa at all. Their milk chocolate is really pale, almost grey more than brown. But other people around here consider it their favorite. I generally like Ghiradeli's bittersweet for baking cookies or brownies, Hershey's milk and dark for eating or s'mores.

As an amusing factoid, there is an old science fiction novel by Andre Norton where chocolate is part of the official pay of Earth soldiers who are off soldiering on other planets.

 

[Handley_Page]

My dopey older brother had the cheek to ask him what his intentions towards me were when we first said we were getting married, like it was any of his damned business, and Will replied 'alas, strictly dishonorable, and we have to go now, the motel is charging me by the hour; wish me luck!'
For one breathless second, I really thought that fat-head was having a coronary, he went such a strange color; if he had, I wasn't going to operate on him, I couldn't stand him, and Will was still just an Orthopedic surgeon in those days, cardio was outside his training...

Will was only a trauma surgeon, so in their eyes rebuilding kids caught in booby-traps, or saving the lives of young soldiers who should have been at home fixing their cars or knocking-up their girlfriends just wasn't that important. He lost so many friends out there, and now I'm hearing about him operating in armor because the soldiers they'd brought in still had live munitions inside them; all that means nothing to my family at all, because he wasn't carrying a gun.

Will suffers from PTSD now, so he can't be a surgeon any more, not that he wants to; what he saw, and had to contend with, has turned him from medicine forever, although he's nostalgic about his days with Medecins Sans Frontiers before the war kicked-off. Now he spends his days writing, training his gun-dogs, playing with Ferdinand, his pet pig, rough-shooting, or doing forestry work in our 65 acres of managed deciduous woodland.

What do you mean "only a trauma surgeon"?
Let me think. You may have seen that excelent series of programmes on UK TV a while ago about the UK tropps in Afghanistan; including the doctors (who had the bright idea to put an MRI close at hand ? He needs a bloody Medal). As it happens, an acquaintance of mine was there doing his Nursing thing.
Anyone who has seen that will want to nominate them all for operating under the most difficult conditions and are worthy of nothing less that admiration.

No kiss-greets in Texas.
Faucet and tap mean the same thing here.
I get confused when people use "cheers." Is "cheers" the same as "cheerio"?
I don't know about the differences in chocolate. Even in Texas.

"Cheers" is not the same as "Cheerio".
'Cheers' is a salutation or acknowledgement, as one might use when drinking with friends.
"Cheerio" is very deffinitely only used at the end of a meeting between people just prior to departure.
Hope this helps

 

[stickygirl]

From my experience in listening to my friends, which is not necessarily my opinion, Americans like people from the United Kingdom better than they like people from Canada. Weird. Go figure.

Only we don't like people from the United Kingdom as much as we like people from Australia. Weird. Go figure.

Where the English act far too superior, the Australians just want to get drunk and have a good time.

Canadians are regarded in the same unfriendly way as Americans regard the French.

We are suckers for accents though, whether English or Irish, not so much French. French accents are more annoying than they are sexy. Weird. Go figure.

I think we appear superior because we're so frightened of looking stupid - because that's embarrassing.
I was thinking about the whole embarrassment thing wrt the Japanese, who take embarrassment very seriously and disembowel themselves at a moments notice. Now the English might do the same, but don't, because one might spill one's innards over a valuable silk carpet stolen from a country we conquered and that would be very bad form.

"Cheers" is not the same as "Cheerio".
'Cheers' is a salutation or acknowledgement, as one might use when drinking with friends.
"Cheerio" is very deffinitely only used at the end of a meeting between people just prior to departure.
Hope this helps

Oh HP - I need to give you some pointers about cred. I quite often say cheers in farewell if there's an implied thank you. I'd never say cheers as a salutation - I'd slobber kisses on each cheek until we head-butted each other or snogged - which happens first.

Does HP stand for Harry Potter btw?

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

What do you mean "only a trauma surgeon"?
Let me think. You may have seen that excelent series of programmes on UK TV a while ago about the UK tropps in Afghanistan; including the doctors (who had the bright idea to put an MRI close at hand ? He needs a bloody Medal). As it happens, an acquaintance of mine was there doing his Nursing thing.
Anyone who has seen that will want to nominate them all for operating under the most difficult conditions and are worthy of nothing less that admiration.

As far as my relatives are concerned, if he didn't carry a gun, and rack-up a body count like good ole cousin Bobby J or Jimmy-Earl back in 'Nam, he didn't contribute to the war effort, and they seem to believe he only treated British soldiers, which is not true; everyone who came in that unit got the best there was, whether ISAF soldier, contractor, journalist or innocent bystander. Often it was kids, because the Taliban would hide IED's in candy boxes and toys, to make sure a child would pick it up.

I cease to have any interest in my racist relatives' opinions; in my book, the opinions of the worthless are worthless. I love being an American, I even ove large parts of my family (who live a long way away from the South and seem to have grown-out of their knee-jerk racist ways), and I love the history and diversity of my country, but I often wonder if perhaps Grampa wasn't adopted-in from a real family, because sometimes I find it difficult to accept I'm genetically connected to those blinkered, racist coneheads.

Will's father is a cardiologist, now retired, and before he retired from the army, he was the Regimental Medical Officer for at least three different regiments in the course of his career. Both his older brothers died in service, Harry when a missile struck his ship in the Falklands in 1982, when Will was still in medical school, and Jamie was killed somewhere in Iraq in 1991, on a classified mission with his regiment, 22 SAS.

Will is proud of the tradition of military service in his family extending back to before Bannockburn, he has some very famous soldiers and statesmen for ancestors, and I believe that in his own way, he's lived-up to every single standard they set.

So as far as I'm concerned, the rudeness and ignorance of some of my family is nothing but background noise compared to the honor and acclaim he and his colleagues have received from their peers in both the UK and America, by people who understand and appreciate what they all went through, who were there and saw how much they gave, and understand how much they lost as well.

 

[sinagainChris12]

From my experience in listening to my friends, which is not necessarily my opinion, Americans like people from the United Kingdom better than they like people from Canada. Weird. Go figure.

Only we don't like people from the United Kingdom as much as we like people from Australia. Weird. Go figure.

Where the English act far too superior, the Australians just want to get drunk and have a good time.

Canadians are regarded in the same unfriendly way as Americans regard the French.

We are suckers for accents though, whether English or Irish, not so much French. French accents are more annoying than they are sexy. Weird. Go figure.

I am quite convinced that Americans who hate Canadians do so 77% because of hockey, 20% because of Justin Bieber and 3% because of their total jealousy that Canada has its shit together much more than we do.

But honestly, every time something goes wrong in the US, they all say they're moving to Canada. ~eye roll~. We tend to forget that Canada has a lot of things they like to rebel against here in the US.

I suppose I lean more towards the US is Canada's underwear than them being our hat.

 

[sinagainChris12]

As far as my relatives are concerned, if he didn't carry a gun, and rack-up a body count like good ole cousin Bobby J or Jimmy-Earl back in 'Nam, he didn't contribute to the war effort, and they seem to believe he only treated British soldiers, which is not true; everyone who came in that unit got the best there was, whether ISAF soldier, contractor, journalist or innocent bystander. Often it was kids, because the Taliban would hide IED's in candy boxes and toys, to make sure a child would pick it up.

I cease to have any interest in my racist relatives' opinions; in my book, the opinions of the worthless are worthless. I love being an American, I even ove large parts of my family (who live a long way away from the South and seem to have grown-out of their knee-jerk racist ways), and I love the history and diversity of my country, but I often wonder if perhaps Grampa wasn't adopted-in from a real family, because sometimes I find it difficult to accept I'm genetically connected to those blinkered, racist coneheads.

Will's father is a cardiologist, now retired, and before he retired from the army, he was the Regimental Medical Officer for at least three different regiments in the course of his career. Both his older brothers died in service, Harry when a missile struck his ship in the Falklands in 1982, when Will was still in medical school, and Jamie was killed somewhere in Iraq in 1991, on a classified mission with his regiment, 22 SAS.

Will is proud of the tradition of military service in his family extending back to before Bannockburn, he has some very famous soldiers and statesmen for ancestors, and I believe that in his own way, he's lived-up to every single standard they set.

So as far as I'm concerned, the rudeness and ignorance of some of my family is nothing but background noise compared to the honor and acclaim he and his colleagues have received from their peers in both the UK and America, by people who understand and appreciate what they all went through, who were there and saw how much they gave, and understand how much they lost as well.

You sound entirely too good of a person to be related to such backwoodsiness. Your husband has been through hell. Being in the medical field myself, it makes me sad at the loss of someone who obvious cared about helping people a great deal. I hope he has a lot of people around him that give him that same care in return. I can tell you do.

 

[stickygirl]

You sound entirely too good of a person to be related to such backwoodsiness. Your husband has been through hell. Being in the medical field myself, it makes me sad at the loss of someone who obvious cared about helping people a great deal. I hope he has a lot of people around him that give him that same care in return. I can tell you do.

I'd second and third that. Give him a hug from me (you don't have to say it was from me though). I owe much to first class surgery
People that put their own lives on the line for others... There are no better people

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

You sound entirely too good of a person to be related to such backwoodsiness. Your husband has been through hell. Being in the medical field myself, it makes me sad at the loss of someone who obvious cared about helping people a great deal. I hope he has a lot of people around him that give him that same care in return. I can tell you do.

I moved my practice into my home so I could be near him at all times; 99% of the time it's enough for him to know I'm only down the corridor from his study, and it seems to keep him calm and collected, plus my patients get to see and play with the dogs and the other animals; being children, they respond better in a home-like atmosphere, and having big friendly labradors around makes them a lot easier to talk to. His therapists are also a lot happier now that he's got me around or within earshot all day, it relieves any anxieties he develops. I know I don't walk on eggshells around him like I used to, and I see parts of the old Will re-emerging all the time.

As far as my family goes, I cope by making sure I have nothing to do with any of the good ole boy relatives; they really do live out every iggerant Southern White Trash cliche; they've been there since 1685, they came to James Town and Charles Town to escape persecution in France, threw themselves on the mercy of the English crown, and seem to have spent the last 300 years resenting it. They hold forth at length on the subject of Eurotrash, such as my Will, yet seem to have forgotten that's exactly what they are, the same families marrying each other over and over until there's only one face in town, and it ain't exactly pretty...

Fortunately, you can choose your friends, while family is thrust on you; happily, Will has a wide circle of close family, cousins his age he grew up with, and a whole web of aunts and great-aunts who helped raise him, taught him most of what he knew, and helped to mold him; I think Will believes he was born too late; if he'd had his way, he'd have been on that mountain-top with Cortez, or fighting Zulu's in Natal, or trekking with Allan Quatermain in search of lost cities, or searching for the North-West passage. I think he joined Medecins Sans Frontieres as much for the adventure as the chance to help people who had no access to modern medicine or life-saving surgery. His enthusiasm for what he did was one of the things attracted me to him (another was that he's gorgeous!), and it saddens me that he's lost that part of himself now.

 

[SweetWitch]

This is an interesting thread.

That list! Some American 'got' the old country pretty accurately!

The repeated refrain about 'no guns' is significant, as are the comments about race, language and dress.

The bus to Paris? Train is better.

I can't do a list on the basis of my five days in New York. But those days, and my American and Canadian Lit friends, pull out a lot of love in me for the other side of the Pond.

My dear, do not judge the rest of this vast country based on New York, and contrary to current media trends, we are far more diverse in thought, culture and just about anything else than one is led to believe. Come to Illinois and I will show you wonders. Travel through Missouri and see some of the most beautiful country in the world. See the wonders of the West. You'd be amazed.

My husband is Texan, I was raised in Illinois. His family and I do not agree on a great many things. Unfortunately for them, my husband has basically wiped off all that Texan "EVERYTHING'S BETTER IN TEXAS" BS and adopted a better way of looking at things (none of it was my doing.) I don't want to get in a north vs south fight, but there are a LOT of differences between the two, and if you're on either side of it, you have a really hard time liking or considering the view point of the other. I am extremely biased against certain areas of my country based on the way I was treated while living there.
I much prefer where we live now, and we would move to Europe in a heart beat if we could. Alas, my husband has a career that grounds him on this side of our borders for work.
And yes, I completely agree.....colleagues...friends...family now. Some people get it, unfortunately others just do not.

edited to include: My husband and I have made our own family, which includes the adoption of an African Muslim, so we are totally not what you would think of when you thought "typical" US family, btw.

I grew up on the edge of both sides, but I must say, I certainly didn't see such disparity. I have family in every state of the union and in many countries. No matter where I went or who I visited, no one every treated me unfairly because of where I'm from. No one ever tried to pick a fight or speak to me in an accusing manner. Of course, I've never actually lived anywhere but here, but I've had extended stays elsewhere. I'd say you had some very bad fortune in your travels.

Question for the 'mericans
How many times do you kiss on the cheek when saying hello?
I only ask because in the UK we seem to have imported kiss-greets from somewhere foreign and now I don't know what to do: it varies from one to three and there's no way to know in advance. It can even result in two and half kisses, a head-butt and apologies.
Is a faucet a tap - you know, you turn it and water comes out or is a faucet the thing you pee in?
Do you think it's weird when UK people start a PM with Hello and sign off with a 'something' like cheerio? Some of the PMs I get are like I've passed them on a corridor and overheard a conversation, with no formality of hello and goodbye.

Also the OP didn't mention chocolate. I gather US chocolate is something of an acquired taste

Kissing? That involves touching in an intimate manner. It's not generally accepted outside one's family members, unless coming in contact with a very dear friend. Hugs are good, though. Most people I know like hugs, but you run the risk of contacting a new acquaintance who doesn't like being touched. Personal space is sacred to most. As for me, I like hugs.

 

[Handley_Page]

This is an interesting thread.

.

Molly, oh Swift SweetWitch,
please don't say that out loud; someone will change into a troll and ruin it!

 

[SweetWitch]

Molly, oh Swift SweetWitch,
please don't say that out loud; someone will change into a troll and ruin it!

Bwahaahaahaa. . .

Hello, dear Han. How have you been? I'm enjoying a cup of tea.

 

[ishtat]

I don't think that the UK has been converted to the 'hugs and kisses' culture as much as some think, especially if you go North and West. I was brought up in a west country rural environment and do not recollect anyone, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and even parents being emotionally demonstrative at all.

I remember giving my mother a hug when I left to go to Uni at eighteen - and only because my dad suggested I should. I remember, because it was never repeated, though we got on well all our adult lives.

I lived in Boston(US) for a couple of years in the eighties and that was pretty conservative. Most Bostonians I dealt with had impeccable and rather formal manners. Then I went to NY and Chicago and found that there is not just one America.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Nothing weird about that - just good judgement

The Poms will tell you that Australians are descended from their riff-raff and bread stealers; our take on convicts is that they figured out how to get on a ship and sail away forever. Now, of course, Aussies are a permanent feature back in the old country.

Put your hand up if you've seen the movie Wolf Creek - one of our better travelogues...

Only we don't like people from the United Kingdom as much as we like people from Australia. Weird. Go figure.

Where the English act far too superior, the Australians just want to get drunk and have a good time.

 

[Handley_Page]

Oh HP - I need to give you some pointers about cred. I quite often say cheers in farewell if there's an implied thank you. I'd never say cheers as a salutation - I'd slobber kisses on each cheek until we head-butted each other or snogged - which happens first.

Does HP stand for Harry Potter btw?

OK. But I think it depends upon your age and location as much as anything else.
HP? No dear, Handley Page (formerly makers of damned fine airplanes).

I know I don't walk on eggshells around him like I used to, and I see parts of the old Will re-emerging all the time.

Fortunately, you can choose your friends, while family is thrust on you; happily, Will has a wide circle of close family, cousins his age he grew up with, and a whole web of aunts and great-aunts who helped raise him, taught him most of what he knew, and helped to mold him; I think Will believes he was born too late; if he'd had his way, he'd have been on that mountain-top with Cortez, or fighting Zulu's in Natal, or trekking with Allan Quatermain in search of lost cities, or searching for the North-West passage. I think he joined Medecins Sans Frontieres as much for the adventure as the chance to help people who had no access to modern medicine or life-saving surgery. His enthusiasm for what he did was one of the things attracted me to him (another was that he's gorgeous!), and it saddens me that he's lost that part of himself now.

Madam, I salute the pair of you.
Where can I get some gen on PTS, please.

Bwahaahaahaa. . .
Hello, dear Han. How have you been? I'm enjoying a cup of tea.

Do let me know in good time when you are getting short.
I'm not doing too badly, thanks.