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Weird Americanisms (UK vs USA thread)

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Carpeting a bathroom is barbaric.

Kazerei said:
I feel so smart for figuring out the microwave water boiling technique. It is the superior way.
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I've been doing it since 1980. /smug
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
My question about the UK--

Why is "butt toasting" so prevalent over in Britain? A year ago, I had only heard about it once or twice from some of my crazier college friends. I never met anyone who actually did it until I met this guy from England. He does it all the time, and he's done it in front of us. He swears once you try it, you won't be able to stop.

A few of my friends went on a trip to Scotland and were surprised to find how acceptable butt toasting was there. They showed me pictures on their phones of people doing it in crowded restaurants. I guess maybe it's just normal over there, but it still seems weird as fuck to me.
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Dare I google?
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
My question about the UK--

Why is "butt toasting" so prevalent over in Britain? A year ago, I had only heard about it once or twice from some of my crazier college friends. I never met anyone who actually did it until I met this guy from England. He does it all the time, and he's done it in front of us. He swears once you try it, you won't be able to stop.

A few of my friends went on a trip to Scotland and were surprised to find how acceptable butt toasting was there. They showed me pictures on their phones of people doing it in crowded restaurants. I guess maybe it's just normal over there, but it still seems weird as fuck to me.
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I'm not googling that.

*looks above*

Fuck that noise.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
Basically, people put food in their butts and let it sit their for awhile, then remove it and eat it. Supposedly, as it's my understanding, there's something about the flavor the body makes that makes it delicious. I certainly haven't tried it.
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This... cannot be real.
 
Lionel Mandrake said:
Basically, people put food in their butts and let it sit their for awhile, then remove it and eat it. Supposedly, as it's my understanding, there's something about the flavor the body makes that makes it delicious. I certainly haven't tried it.
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Scotland here, never even heard of this aside from one episode of South Park.

Yep I'm calling bullshit.
 
RedShift said:
I think although obviously being British is better than being American, America itself is probably better than Britain. Well, parts of it anyway.
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I'm with this. Being British in America must be such a good experience, using my sexy accent to win over the whores.

A lot of these britishisms don't apply to everyone, like the carpeted bathrooms, they do exist here but only with the insane and the old. I pronounce some words the American way too, thanks to growing up with TV, I watched The Simpsons just like everyone in the US. My parents call the tv remote a 'boobadie beep', it's so embarrassing. Every time they say it I'm scared an American will overhear and do a shooting on us.

Lionel Mandrake said:
Basically, people put food in their butts and let it sit their for awhile, then remove it and eat it. Supposedly, as it's my understanding, there's something about the flavor the body makes that makes it delicious. I certainly haven't tried it.
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I want a girlfriend so I can try out pussy toasting. :(
 
"I could care less."

This irritates me. The whole point of saying the correct version of this phrase is to imply that there is simply no way that an individual could care any less about a subject than he already does. Hence why the actual phrase is "I couldn't care less."
 
Zissou said:
Shortening the word but retaining the 's' is stupid. It's a singular noun.
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Lol, you have to type an extra letter to say the same thing. So the joke is on you. I wonder how many minutes of a Brit's life is wasted on typing/writing pointless letters that we've (or rather Webster) removed from certain words.
 
These threads are always daft as its just different no right and wrong

Having said that I can't ever comprehend just how run of the mill it is to own guns over there and the health care system is baffling to me (but fear the end of the NHS may be close)

One word in which no matter how I look at it the Americans have to win is 'Lieutenant'

Out of interest do any Americans know what it's 'proper' pronunciation is?
 
Jeff Albertson said:
These threads are always daft as its just different no right and wrong

Having said that I can't ever comprehend just how run of the mill it is to own guns over there and the health care system is baffling to me (but fear the end of the NHS may be close)

One word in which no matter how I look at it the Americans have to win is 'Lieutenant'

Out of interest do any Americans know what it's 'proper' pronunciation is?
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Guns are really fun to use (safely obviously). I and many people quite like being able to own them. :P It's a fun hobby. They're not scary and evil if you know how to properly use them. Do you enjoy alcohol in the UK? Of course you do. Do you blame drunk driving deaths on alcohol or the people who abuse the alcohol and make poor decisions?

Though I agree that the health care system here needs a ton of work. Our research in medicine is quite good though, and our medical centers dedicated to a single disease (such as cancer centers and children's hospitals) also work well.
 
Piggus said:
Lol, you have to type an extra letter to say the same thing. So the joke is on you. I wonder how many minutes of a Brit's life is wasted on typing/writing pointless letters that we've (or rather Webster) removed from certain words.
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You misread my post.
 
Piggus said:
Guns are really fun to use (safely obviously). I and many people quite like being able to own them. :P It's a fun hobby. They're not scary and evil if you know how to properly use them. Do you enjoy alcohol in the UK? Of course you do. Do you blame drunk driving deaths on alcohol or the people who abuse the alcohol and make poor decisions?

Though I agree that the health care system here needs a ton of work. Our research in medicine is quite good though, and our medical centers dedicated to a single disease (such as cancer centers and children's hospitals) also work well.
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I don't see that as a perfect comparison, you don't hear of many kids getting hold of a beer and killing their sibling with it

We also have hospitals dedicated to cancer etc and some fantastic children's hospitals

All being said though I love the USA it's just some things are totally foreign to me, which is natural becuase its a foreign country lol

We only highlight these differences as we are more alike in a lot of ways than most nations
 
As a Brit with a long love affair with the US I find this thread sad, the things that unite us are far more numerous than the silly shit that divides us, can't we all just get along?

dv9a9.gif
 
SteveWD40 said:
As a Brit with a long love affair with the US I find this thread sad, the things that unite us are far more numerous than the silly shit that divides us, can't we all just get along?

dv9a9.gif
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Not while you guys butcher the language. Calling biscuits cookies...shameful.
 
Burt said:
For the record, "a-loo-mi-num" is the factually correct way of saying "aluminum", and "aluminium" is people across the world pulling an America and doing it the way they want.

In his first published work on the subject after successfully procuring the metal, the chemist who named the material used "aluminum". But then some asshole felt like saying that everyone should call it "aluminium" because most of the other elements being discovered around that time ended in -ium and people should all just disregard what the guy who named it named it.

Basically, it's like if someone came up to you and said, "Hi, this is my son Scott", and you said, "Nah, your son's name is Scobb!"

End of rant, which was mostly for the multiple British people who've gotten on my case for saying aluminum.
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This is actually wrong, the first name it was given wasn't "Aluminum" but "Alumium." This was later changed to "Aluminum" and then eventually "Aluminium." Most of Sir Humphry Davy's colleagues suggested that he should name it "Aluminium" right from the start and they didn't forcefully change the name, Davy eventually used the name "Aluminium" himself.

Using your name example, it's more like this:
"I'm going to name my son Scobb!"
"Don't you mean Scott? That sounds more like a real name."
"No, his name will be Scodd!"
"I still think Scott sounds better."
"You're probably right, I'll name him Scott."

And then all Americans went "His name is Scodd!"
 
Vice said:
The UK doesn't have wedges?

Wedges are a common item at pizza places, fried chicken joints and most brew-pubs in the states.
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Why the hell do people think we don't have wedges in the UK?

Every bar or pub I can think of do them. In addition, Dominos do them. Pizza hut do them. Nandos do them. TGI Fridays do them. My local takeaway do them. You can buy them fresh to roast or frozen in any Tesco, ASDA or Sainsburys.

They're everywhere.
 
Log4Girlz said:
Its ok, not everyone is as generous as Americans. The day you folks taste true freedom, you will want to tip everyone.
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Legal weed and legal drinking age for beer and lighter alcohols 16 and stronger stuff 18.
That is true freedom.

Kurita said:
The water in the microwave thing made me go "WTF?". As a French person I've never seen that.
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Isn't that what microwaves actually do heat up the water molecules in food to warm them up.
But feels so strange heating up water in a microwave.
 
American people (mostly) I like. I went to the states alot(NYC 10+times,Florida 3 times, Texas, Seattle etc etc) when I was growing up as my Uncle is a naturalised American and worked for Bank of New York so he would invite me over alot to his house or to go to other places he and his family were visiting either through work or his referee job with MLS and I generally found that Americans are the most welcoming to tourists, atleast in touristy areas that I've been to.

One thing that pisses me off no end is the malign influence that American politics has on our own (mostly through repub-tory connections and Blair/Bush Thatcher/Reagan love ins).
 
richisawesome said:
Why the hell do people think we don't have wedges in the UK?

Every bar or pub I can think of do them. In addition, Dominos do them. Pizza hut do them. Nandos do them. TGI Fridays do them. My local takeaway do them. You can buy them fresh to roast or frozen in any Tesco, ASDA or Sainsburys.

They're everywhere.
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They even sponsor Film 4 haha.
 
This is a fun thread.

Only things I find genuinely shit about the US:
Guns
Healthcare
The need to tip because of backwards-ass wages

The rest are all just harmless, sometimes baffling little differences.
 
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