Oh, how very English.

Stacey - I think we'll just have to let people know when we're arriving and then ask them to make plans for us!  Or we can get there, find a place to meet & then announce it!  That's my plan at least!  I'm not starting work for 3 weeks after I arrive so I'm up for a bit of 'partyin'.

Sounds good to me!  I'm there in two weeks, so I'll wait till you come.  New people to meet!  So cool!!!

.  And he has the word recognition on his phone that will fill in the word based on the first few letters and it KILLS ME.  I hate it.  I try to send a text from his phone and it bugs me.  Now he got a new one and wants to give me his old phone.  NO WAY.

You can switch the 'word recognition' feature off, so that you can text normally.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry but I have to get in on this one....Okay, I am still trying to figure this one out-Hot tea on a hot day, hey guess, what it cools you down. HMMMMM.  At least thats what the English say.  I prefer iced tea on a hot day, now that cools ya down.

MelanieB

Hi Everyone,

Sorry but I have to get in on this one....Okay, I am still trying to figure this one out-Hot tea on a hot day, hey guess, what it cools you down. HMMMMM.  At least thats what the English say.  I prefer iced tea on a hot day, now that cools ya down.

MelanieB

I don't get that either.  One of my husband's friends helped us move recently.  He stood in my kitchen, dripping with sweat from unloading a HUGE truck, and asked for hot tea.  What?   

Sweating is your body's way of cooling off.  Hot drinks help you sweat more, which in turn cools you off.

Personally, I'm not into sweating at all - but it's sound physiology and it does work.

In fact, I'm about to sip on some hot tea right now - and I certainly didn't cut down on my tea intake last summer.

Peedal's right!  (She always is!) 

Think of India.  Cold climate?  No.  What do they drink? Tea!  (What do they eat?  Curry!!!!)

I think my personal favorite thus far is "Mm." instead of "Yes."  Took me awhile to figure that out.

By the way, if y'all haven't discovered Bill Bryson - he is a MUST READ.  'Notes From A Small Island' is what I'm on now.
Been here for two and a half months now; and my family back home is already teasing me for ending my emails with 'Ta' and 'Cheers.'

I think my personal favorite thus far is "Mm." instead of "Yes."  Took me awhile to figure that out.

By the way, if y'all haven't discovered Bill Bryson - he is a MUST READ.  'Notes From A Small Island' is what I'm on now.
Been here for two and a half months now; and my family back home is already teasing me for ending my emails with 'Ta' and 'Cheers.'

I'm reading that too!  love it.  I read 'notes from a big country' first and loved it about the US.

I read 'notes from a big country' first and loved it about the US.

I enjoyed it very much, too, Elizabeth, and his other stuff which I've referred to in other threads.

He's not, however, very convinced about Taco Bell - sorry, "I MISS TACO BELL SOOOOOOO MUCH!
Lolabola"! 

This is what he says in an article entitled "Uniformly Awful":

There used to be a good fast food Mexican restaurant in the next town from where I live. Then about  a year ago, Taco Bell, part of a national chain, opened up across the road. I don't believe there is a person alive who would argue that Taco Bell offers really good Mexican food. But it is cheap - at least 25 per cent cheaper than the restaurant it was competing with across the road. Within a year the old restaurant was gone. So now if you want Mexican fast food in our neck of the woods, you would have to settle for the cheap but carefully uninspiring offerings of Taco Bell.

Because Taco Bell is vigorously competitive on price, its dominance is well-nigh universal. Almost wherever you go along the American highway these days, if you want eight a taco you must settle for Taco Bell. The stupefying thing is that this seems to be of the way most people want it. And here we come to the second of our factors - the strange, unshakeable attachment of American consumers to predictable uniformity. Americans, in a word, like things to be the same wherever they go. This is the part that mystifies me.
 
… …  …

People have grown so used to uniformity that they had become, as it were, hypnotized by it. About five miles from where I live, there was until recently a nice, old-fashioned, family-owned restaurant. A couple of years ago, a McDonald's opened opposite it. Almost at once the bulk of passing trade transferred from one side of the road to the other. Last summer, the family-owned restaurant closed. Shortly afterwards I mention to a neighbour how I found it that people would forsake a local establishment for the universal appeal of McDonald's.

"Yeah ," my neighbour said  in that if thoughtful, drawn-out way that indicates a proposition not entirely agreed with. "But at least you know where you are with a McDonald's, don't you?"
"Exactly!" I cried with feeling. "Don't you see, that's the whole problem!"

I wanted to grab him by the lapels and explain to him that it was because of this kind of thinking that chocolate in America has no kick, white bread tastes like  wadding, and cheese has a hundred names (colby, Monterey jack, cheddar, American, provolone) but just one flavour, one texture and one vivid hue.

But I could see that there was no point. He was one of the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  The forces of blandness had captured his spirit and there was no getting it back. He had become a McPerson.

I love that article Howard..... read it a while back and had forgotten about it.  I think I shall have to copy it this time!

A couple of things that strike me as being particularly English are the fact that men have this PHOBIA of wearing white socks! Even with sneekers (sneakers / tennis shoes / trainers)!!!! It took a long hard push to get my husband to even TRY white socks. Even now he hardly wears them! And then of course there's the term "Terrah". I so dont know how to spell it or even if it has a spelling, but I know the sound. I just think its SO English! And I love it when people call me "duck" lol. Down right funny, that is. Lets also not forget the term "me" as in "me socks"!!

A few other things that I think maybe dont stand out as being English, but being very American and therefore being a part of what I was born with. That said, the LACK of these practices in England seems very English and very strange. The English seem to be so reserved and private when it comes to unfamiliar peoples houses and belongings. Ive been trying to convince both my husband and estate agent that having an Open House might help sell our house. They both say that people would feel strange about just walking into someone's house to have a snoop round. That and Lawn or Garage sales. Martin said to me the other day "how many Garage or Yard sales have you seen since youve been here?" to which I replied "none" and he said thats exactly it - snooping around people's stuff outside their house just makes the English feel uncomfortable. So instead of having a yard sale two meters from your front door, you have to pack everything up and trog it all the way to a car boot sale so people can snoop through your stuff there! lol. ONLY the English, right?

Oh! And what on earth is with this archaic lack of mesh screens on the windows!!??!! I want to open the windows damnit but ever time I do something with wings shoots and into the house - usually something that bites or stings! Thats why the American's have screens on their windows! Why do they not exist here?!

Ok Im done lol

You know, one of the really nice things about this island (we didn't design it that way, just sort of happened), is that no-one is all that far  from anyone else!  YEEEEEEEE!  Let the good times roll, and much socializing be done!       

Although in some cases that's a good thing.  It can also be a very bad thing too

We're just far enough away from the continent to have our own identity whereas most of the other countries in Europe are becoming an amalgamation.  Which I guess has it's pro's and con's too.

I regard to Howard's post (Billy Bryson speaking about uniformity in the US), I have to say that many countries suffer from this and I find the UK no exception (though admittedly, it's not on the mass scale of the US).

One of the things that drives me nuts sometimes is the menus at tea shops and pubs. I've travelled pretty extensively in the UK and I can always count on whatever tea shop or pub I enter to offer pretty much the same thing. Of course there are expections! There are lots of gastro-pubs and tea shops with a twist on their menus, but like in the US, you usually have to seek them out or be lucky enough to stumble upon them.

Just my humble opinion!

A friend of mine mentioned an article she read not too long about about the difference between the UK and the US in terms of consumerism and what companies we trust the most. The list for the US included Coca Cola and Johnson & Johnson. The list for the UK were mostly charities like Oxfam. We had quite an interesting conversation about this and our different perceptions to business.

Jon and I use the Co-op Bank. It's the one Jon has used since he was a teenager. He uses them because they work 'ethically' ie they donate to third world countries and such. I see it as a marketing ploy. To me, the bank is out there to make money. They may do things ethically but I see it as a way to pull in punters like Jon. Perhaps it's a very cynicle approach but I've never looked at a company and thought 'do they work ethically' because I know that's not what they're there for. They're there to make money and provide goods and services. This doesnt' mean I don't like using the Co-Op. I'm quite happy to use this company, but I would be just as happy with Natwest if they gave me the right kind of rates, you know what I mean?

Has any of the other yanks thought this too?  I've found that in England there is this need to have all companies work for the good of the world, which is great with me and I'm not arguing that it's bad but I'm bothered that there seems to be this naivety to companies. For me, Oxfam is totally different from the Co-op but to Jon they're the same.

Sorry, I think I've just ranted. 

Regarding the Bill Bryson article... I enjoy his writing very much. I have read many of his books and always get a good laugh out of them. He makes many valuable points thru out his writings.... But (to me!) he generalizes America ALOT. Doesn't he hail from somewhere in the Mid-West (Iowa perhaps?) I do not want to get into a "New York" tangent... but alot of what he writes about maybe can be true for the Mid-West areas that he grew up in... For example, "white bread tastes like  wadding, and cheese has a hundred names (colby, Monterey jack, cheddar, American, provolone) but just one flavour, one texture and one vivid hue." This is not true where I live... "So now if you want Mexican fast food in our neck of the woods, you would have to settle for the cheap but carefully uninspiring offerings of Taco Bell." Again, not true for me.  "Almost wherever you go along the American highway these days, if you want eight a taco you must settle for Taco Bell. " Try finding a Taco Bell in Manhattan...

Yes, I know- New York is not like the rest of America. I'm not saying its better or worse then any of the other wonderful 49 states we have here in America... But alot of what is spoken about in his books; I can not relate to. Many of my British friends also read B.Bryson and I have had discussions with them on his writings. Unless they have personally traveled to NY, they would think that NY is meshed in with the rest of the 49 states (and I honestly believe that every region in the US is different, has its own flavor and can not be grouped as one whole country.) I learn alot about other states and/or regions in the US with some of the threads here on the message board; occasionally scratching my head and thinking, "Huh?!" It really *is* so different everywhere in my country. Not only do I learn alot about the UK while I am here- I also learn so much about my own country. And thank you.