Things that Americans find odd about the UK

If its not fuzzy or smells funky I eat it! 

Here's what I find odd - music!!!  That is- reading music is pretty universal, you read treble clef, bass clefs, tenor clefs, alto clefs, etc, and actually reading it is the same notation etc.

But- here everything I have learned as whole note, half note, quarter, eighth, sixteeen, etc- is called things like breves, semi-breves (not sure I've even spelt that correctly), quavers, semi-quavers, etc.  I am constantly in a state of  at what they're talking about and have to ask my neighbours what passage they're talking about.  You'd think after 3 years of playing over here I'd get it, but it still makes my head hurt. 

I've noticed this too with the use by dates.  I try to eat  hummus within three days, but yeah, as long as the lid doesn't get puffy it should be OK.  Also on ready-made pasta sauce (though I often make my own) the three day thing seems a bit extreme.

I also find the British (the Irish use these terms, too) musical terms strange as well.

I'm not so sure this is a 'UK' thing. There is, apparently, rather heated debate about the 'best' way to cook rice. Some are very much in the measure and fluff camp, others in the drain it all off camp.

My mother (American) has been experimenting with all the methods in the hopes of perfecting the perfect serving of rice!!

I have always cooked rice the "British" way - pour into a pot of boiling water than drain it when it's done. I never knew there was another way. I guess I never read the instructions.

I have always cooked rice the "British" way - pour into a pot of boiling water than drain it when it's done. I never knew there was another way. I guess I never read the instructions.

Huh, didn't know that was the 'British' way.  Hubby's way is to cook it in just enough water so you don't have to add more or drain it.  It will absorb the all the water.  That's how I've always done it in the US as well, but there I mostly made brown rice, here I mostly make basmati as it takes less time and hubby likes it better.

Huh, didn't know that was the 'British' way. 

I didn't either. That's why I put "British" in quotes.

I'm not so sure this is a 'UK' thing. There is, apparently, rather heated debate about the 'best' way to cook rice. Some are very much in the measure and fluff camp, others in the drain it all off camp.

My mother (American) has been experimenting with all the methods in the hopes of perfecting the perfect serving of rice!!

I'm in the measure and fluff camp, as you call it. Best method I found was in a Ken Hom book, perfect rice everytime.....unless DW takes the lid off for a peak when it's at the "steaming" stage!

They do that in US commercials too.  Especially when it comes to movie release dates.  Like they might say "In theatres January twenty one" instead of "January twenty first".

On the subject of saying numbers.....one that annoys DW and I is how Bill O'Reilly on Fox news says the year...instead of saying "twenty eleven" or "two thousand eleven" he says "two eleven"! We've emailed him about it....well I email him about lots of things but that's another story! 

I didn't either. That's why I put "British" in quotes.

From what I originally posted, I was merely stating the differences in the instructions on the rice packages between the two countries. I grew up doing the measuring and fluffing, but since coming to the UK, I've been completely baffled by their instructions. I can't even remember the rice to water measurements well enough to keep at it as it's different with various rice. Soo, I 'guesstimate' them and I am normally safe. :p

the only thing i find odd about the UK is that you have to have a tv license in order to have a tv  lol i dont understand that

the only thing i find odd about the UK is that you have to have a tv license in order to have a tv  lol i dont understand that

It's for the BBC! Think of it more like cable--you get access to some of the best news, documentaries, shows, and programmes around! Plus amazing radio. Worth every penny, I think!

It's for the BBC! Think of it more like cable--you get access to some of the best news, documentaries, shows, and programmes around! Plus amazing radio. Worth every penny, I think!

ohhhh ok i got it! well hell if you get the best tv programming defiantly worth it

It's for the BBC! Think of it more like cable--you get access to some of the best news, documentaries, shows, and programmes around! Plus amazing radio. Worth every penny, I think!

Worth every penny and then some!    I think the people that complain about the TV license fee are those that have never had to live without the BBC! 

One thing I found really odd at first was how all recipes call for you to measure ingredients by weight (220 kg flour, etc)  But once I got into it, it made perfect sense!   

Another odd thing -

If someone doesn't put enough postage on a letter or parcel, instead of it being returned to the sender, it goes to the recipients' post office and the recipient has to pay the extra postage.

It explains why people in the UK usually don't put return addresses on envelopes.

I'm not sure where I heard this - possibly UKY? - but recently someone was telling me that they got a notice from the post office that they had to pay extra postage for a letter they received. The person paid the postage and the letter turned out to be a wedding invitation.

So the couple were able to get their wedding invitations delivered and have their guests pay part of the postage.

Cheeky!

Another odd thing -

If someone doesn't put enough postage on a letter or parcel, instead of it being returned to the sender, it goes to the recipients' post office and the recipient has to pay the extra postage.

It explains why people in the UK usually don't put return addresses on envelopes.

I'm not sure where I heard this - possibly UKY? - but recently someone was telling me that they got a notice from the post office that they had to pay extra postage for a letter they received. The person paid the postage and the letter turned out to be a wedding invitation.

So the couple were able to get their wedding invitations delivered and have their guests pay part of the postage.

Cheeky!

Wow, I doubt it was intentionally cheeky, why jump to that conclusion? The likelihood is that they've gotten confused over the new size rules for stamps (the pricing in proportion rules) and the wedding invitation is a mm bigger than it should be or half a mm thicker or something ridiculous, the size of an envelope used to not matter and the changes happened fairly recently, so if you don't send letters often (I haven't sent an actual letter in years) then it would be easy to put too little postage on.

If not cheeky, then careless. This isn't a single letter - it's a mass mailing. You'd think they would check the postage in advance.

I have a feeling that if the system were set up like in the US, where the invitations would have been returned to them if there wasn't enough postage, they would have checked first.

Another odd thing -

If someone doesn't put enough postage on a letter or parcel, instead of it being returned to the sender, it goes to the recipients' post office and the recipient has to pay the extra postage.

It explains why people in the UK usually don't put return addresses on envelopes.

I'm not sure where I heard this - possibly UKY? - but recently someone was telling me that they got a notice from the post office that they had to pay extra postage for a letter they received. The person paid the postage and the letter turned out to be a wedding invitation.

So the couple were able to get their wedding invitations delivered and have their guests pay part of the postage.

Cheeky!

I really don't like the lack of use of a return address. I like to know immediately where my post comes from. I've explained the importance of a return address to my husband so he uses it more often (now that he's away).