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Weird Americanisms (UK vs USA thread)

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mxgt said:
guns, guns everywhere
acting like crazy people at cinemas
too much religious influence
tipping culture
shit health care
obsession with military

those are the serious ones that kind of irk me. probably forgot some, too

Then again England has a lot of problems, so eh.
Click to expand...

Like all of that is completely overblown though.

Gun crimes are down and are negligible if you don't live in idiotic areas.

Movie theaters are quiet aside from comedies. When people start talking, someone goes to a manager, and the people are kicked out.

Religious influence is miniscule if you simply ignore it. Sure, you'll see churches everywhere, but ignore them. Church shit on our dollars? Barely even notice it. Not even a big deal.

Tipping culture? You pay with a credit card for a bill and add a few dollars to your bill and your done. Or give whatever spare change you have. It's not a huge deal at all.

Health care is whatever. I get by.

Obsession with military? I guess if you call small bumper stickers and honoring and respecting veterans obsession, but that's up to you.
 
WanderingWind said:
This explains why you Brits think we're unable to leave our front door without a healthy coating of lard. You think our freak show programs are, like, serious.

Tehee. Silly English conniggits.



Not true. Anything Ramsay has done has been brought over here. Oliver...not as much, but still a healthy showing. Ramsay is like, the exception though, because he's basically the greatest entertainment chef evah.
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As far as I am aware, only the American adaptations have aired here. I don't remember any show shot in a UK studio or production being broadcast but maybe it aired on some channel on cable.
 
mxgt said:
Well, you do a lot of things better than us. Movies and TV shows blow ours out the water for one, so it's not really surprising.

I still wouldn't want to live in America though, there's a lot of things you do I'm not a fan of at all.
Click to expand...

Likewise, I wouldn't want to live in the UK. It's a nice country to visit with nice people (took two trips there which was awesome) but just seems like an incredibly boring place to actually live. And your weather is awful. No offense. :p

You should watch "Stephan Fry in America" to get an idea of the variety in culture and things to do here. Then you'll understand why I and most others would never leave despite the problems that impact many people.
 
This thread is hilarious (both sides of it). 95% of it isn't serious I know. But the other 5% - people taking one of these arguments seriously - is actually funnier.
 
FUBAR McDangles said:
Like all of that is completely overblown though.

Gun crimes are down and are negligible if you don't live in idiotic areas.

Movie theaters are quiet aside from comedies. When people start talking, someone goes to a manager, and the people are kicked out.

Religious influence is miniscule if you simply ignore it. Sure, you'll see churches everywhere, but ignore them. Church shit on our dollars? Barely even notice it. Not even a big deal.

Tipping culture? You pay with a credit card for a bill and add a few dollars to your bill and your done. Or give whatever spare change you have. It's not a huge deal at all.

Health care is whatever. I get by.

Obsession with military? I guess if you call small bumper stickers and honoring and respecting veterans obsession, but that's up to you.
Click to expand...

SHHHHHH.....logic has no place in this mad house.
 
I lived in the USA for a few months but I couldnt stand the tipping culture. It drove me so crazy that I eventually had to move back to the UK where I went on a steady diet of British only television and completely removed American products from my life. Im feeling much better now thankfully
 
Piggus said:
Likewise, I wouldn't want to live in the UK. It's a nice country to visit with nice people (took two trips there which was awesome) but just seems like an incredibly boring place to actually live. And your weather is awful. No offense. :p

You should watch "Stephan Fry in America" to get an idea of the variety in culture and things to do here. Then you'll understand why I and most others would never leave despite the problems that impact many people.
Click to expand...

Where in the US do you live?
 
Nesotenso said:
As far as I am aware, only the American adaptations have aired here. I don't remember any show shot in a UK studio or production being broadcast but maybe it aired on some channel on cable.
Click to expand...

BBC America and Food Network have aired stuff like The F Word and the UK (and vastly superior) version of Kitchen Nightmares. Anything Ramsay has done on TV has aired here because he's a bankable giant in the industry. Oliver had a brief flare up of popularity that died down, due to the fact that he's a giant ponce
 
Boom Boom Pow said:
chicken tikka masala is indian...lol
balti is pakistani
Click to expand...

well tikka masala was probably made by a Bangladeshi chef in the UK combining aspects of South Asian dishes . Balti type dishes are eaten in South Asia, specifically North India and Pakistan. Balti literally means bucket in Hindi/Urdu/Bengali
 
mxgt said:
look at what thread you're in

I know it's blown out of proportion, almost everything here is.
Click to expand...

If you Brits would just say "Yeah, you know-you're right. We are pretty silly and eat gross food. We didn't realize until you pointed it out", then things would be just fine.
 
WanderingWind said:
BBC America and Food Network have aired stuff like The F Word and the UK (and vastly superior) version of Kitchen Nightmares. Anything Ramsay has done on TV has aired here because he's a bankable giant in the industry. Oliver had a brief flare up of popularity that died down, due to the fact that he's a giant ponce
Click to expand...

He's a lovable Cockney rascal, I won't hear a word against him.

I saw some clips from US kitchen nightmares on YouTube once, it was like he was drunk or something. He's pretty angry usually but his US persona is a whole other level.
 
WanderingWind said:
BBC America and Food Network have aired stuff like The F Word and the UK (and vastly superior) version of Kitchen Nightmares. Anything Ramsay has done on TV has aired here because he's a bankable giant in the industry. Oliver had a brief flare up of popularity that died down, due to the fact that he's a giant ponce
Click to expand...

I stand corrected then. I know Oliver was big on his campaign to reform school lunches in the US and getting a lot of media exposure because of that.
 
Piggus said:
Likewise, I wouldn't want to live in the UK. It's a nice country to visit with nice people (took two trips there which was awesome) but just seems like an incredibly boring place to actually live. And your weather is awful. No offense. :p

You should watch "Stephen Fry in America" to get an idea of the variety in culture and things to do here. Then you'll understand why I and most others would never leave despite the problems that impact many people.
Click to expand...

Seconded. This was a good programme (although, truth be told, I'll watch anything with Fry in it), it was just a shame he had so little time to spend in each state. Really too much to cover in one series. He probably should've just tried to cover one coast, then he could've had a bit more time exploring each state.
 
Gordon Ramsey pales in comparison to the true English culinary giant:

images

Marco Pierre White
 
RedShift said:
He's a lovable Cockney rascal, I won't hear a word against him.

I saw some clips from US kitchen nightmares on YouTube once, it was like he was drunk or something. He's pretty angry usually but his US persona is a whole other level.
Click to expand...

Because they tried to make it into a reality show about feelings and families and shit. You could see his soul being crushed slowly. The UK version touches on some of the personnel issues, but is largely about fixing the food and making the places not-garbage.

Ramsay is the only celeb I ran into that I went all nuts about. "MOTHERFUCKER YOU WILL TAKE A PICTURE WITH ME NOW. "fuck, okay."

It was glorious.
 
FUBAR McDangles said:
Like all of that is completely overblown though.

Gun crimes are down and are negligible if you don't live in idiotic areas.

Movie theaters are quiet aside from comedies. When people start talking, someone goes to a manager, and the people are kicked out.

Religious influence is miniscule if you simply ignore it. Sure, you'll see churches everywhere, but ignore them. Church shit on our dollars? Barely even notice it. Not even a big deal.

Tipping culture? You pay with a credit card for a bill and add a few dollars to your bill and your done. Or give whatever spare change you have. It's not a huge deal at all.

Health care is whatever. I get by.

Obsession with military? I guess if you call small bumper stickers and honoring and respecting veterans obsession, but that's up to you.
Click to expand...
Movie theaters- ha! I've never seen someone kicked out of a movie theater for being too loud. It's not as much of a problem as the brits are making it out to be and yeah it depends on where you go, but there is too much tolerance of being obnoxious in movie theaters in this country. One reason why I so rarely go nowadays.

Religious influence- not an issue on a personal level unless you live in the bible belt I suppose, but it is certainly an issue with its influence in politics and policy.

Tipping culture- it sucks, but as I said in a post I made yesterday, at least as far as restaurants go, it's not so much a "tipping culture" as it is a "sub-sub-poverty-line wages culture" that customers need to compensate for with tips.

Health care- good for you, so do I. At least for now. The healthcare sytem in this country still scares the shit out of me.
 
frankie_baby said:
most of the disputes stem from the restaurants in the early days trying to add a history to their newly created dishes, its a pretty well known fact by now though that they're british
Click to expand...

how can you call it british when it's made with non-british ingredients?

Curry does not come from Britain. It's an Indian dish.

For example, if you leave Britain, and if you try to find a "British" restaurant, do you think Tikka masala will exist in there? no
 
Boom Boom Pow said:
politically yes. but how is british culture that much diff than US culture now? at least with the under 30 generation?

You guys have hip hop, girls go to clubs in short mini dresses everywhere, etc etc
Click to expand...

This is like claiming that US culture isn't different from British culture because Raving became a cult thing over there 15 years after we did it.

Boom Boom Pow said:
chicken tikka masala is indian...lol
balti is pakistani
Click to expand...

Nesotenso said:
well tikka masala was probably made by a Bangladeshi chef in the UK combining aspects of South Asian dishes . Balti type dishes are eaten in South Asia, specifically North India and Pakistan. Balti literally means bucket in Hindi/Urdu/Bengali
Click to expand...

Ask an Indian person where Chicken Tikka Masala came from & they will tell you it is from Britain. it wouldn't have been created without the British palate(because Indians have better taste), & even though the origins of Balti dishes is slightly more obscure it is widely thought that it originates from Birmingham(interesting fact, if Balti doesn't originate from Britain its name likely has nothing to do with bucket, it will be derived from the region of Pakistan that it may have come from).


Gordon Ramsey pales in comparison to the true English culinary giant:
Click to expand...

Yep, he famously made Ramsey cry.
 
Boom Boom Pow said:
how can you call it british when it's made with non-british ingredients?

Curry does not come from Britain. It's an Indian dish.

For example, if you leave Britain, and if you try to find a "British" restaurant, do you think Tikka masala will exist in there? no
Click to expand...

first it was the recipes you were questioning now its the ingredients?

british curries generally arent that similar to their indian equivalents anyway

and i'd imagine a tikka masala or other curries would be a common sight in british restaurants elsewhere in the world
 
DrSlek said:
Do you say potassium or potassum? Calcium or calcum? Titanium or titanum? Uranium or Uranum?

...I could go on until I've exhausted the periodic table.
Click to expand...

Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina." But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."

:lol
 
frankie_baby said:
first it was the recipes you were questioning now its the ingredients?

british curries generally arent that similar to their indian equivalents anyway

and i'd imagine a tikka masala or other curries would be a common sight in british restaurants elsewhere in the world
Click to expand...

no i'm criticizing on calling it a british dish. here's a very simple test to use.

Go abroad. Visit a "british" restaurant. What is in it? If it has balti or chicken tikka masala, then I will give it to you
 
Cumpkin Hubris said:
Seconded. This was a good programme (although, truth be told, I'll watch anything with Fry in it), it was just a shame he had so little time to spend in each state. Really too much to cover in one series. He probably should've just tried to cover one coast, then he could've had a bit more time exploring each state.
Click to expand...

If I could meet any celebrity, he'd be the one. Just seems like a really genuine, nice guy. I just wish the part where he was in Oregon wasn't about some hippies and a guy crying about Bigfoot. >_< would have been more interesting if he talked about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival or something Portland-related.
 
defel said:
Gordon Ramsey pales in comparison to the true English culinary giant:

images

Marco Pierre White
Click to expand...

There's nothing I like more than finding cigarette ashes in my mac & cheese.
 
Piggus said:
If I could meet any celebrity, he'd be the one. Just seems like a really genuine, nice guy. I just wish the part where he was in Oregon wasn't about some hippies and a guy crying about Bigfoot. >_< would have been more interesting if he talked about the Oregon Shakespeare Festival or something Portland-related.
Click to expand...

Chael Sonnen is from Oregon, that's an hour of TV in itself, just ask him about Brazil.
 
Boom Boom Pow said:
no i'm criticizing on calling it a british dish. here's a very simple test to use.

Go abroad. Visit a "british" restaurant. What is in it? If it has balti or chicken tikka masala, then I will give it to you
Click to expand...

If you have a "British" pub near you worth its salt, I would happily lay money that they would be serving a Chicken Tikka Masala on the menu.
 
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