The UK vs the USA: different or similar?

[Алексей Конобеев]

В учебниках сейчас немало информации о разнице между британским и американским вариантами английского языка. Однако, разница между странами гораздо больше, чем можно судить только по языку. А некоторые вещи, которые, казалось бы, должны сильно отличаться, наоборот очень похожи. Я прожил в Великобритании полгода, а в США год и некоторую разницу замечал и сам. Конечно, за такой короткий срок очень глубоко культуру не изучить, поэтому я нашел любопытные рассказы британцев и американцев о том, что их отличает друг от друга. Вот несколько ссылок с цитатами:

 

10 American Habits Brits Will Never Understand

1. Flossing

 

2. Compulsive baking

This one I like, although I don’t get how people with children and jobs and pets find the time to whip up regular batches of themed, iced and elaborately flavored cupcakes, muffins and brownies. It’s America’s most family friendly superpower.

 

3. Sending personalized holiday cards

 

4. Talking to strangers unprompted

This happens most often on public transport. I’ll be on a plane or train in the U.S., minding my own business, when someone I’ve never met will try to start a conversation. Short of pretending to be deaf and/or French, there’s nothing to be done.

 

5. Whooping

 

6. Compulsive sentimentality

 

7. Drinking milk

 

8. Ordering supersize portions

 

9. Taking home leftovers

 

10. Eating breakfast together

You know in films featuring perfect American families there’s always a scene where an implausibly jolly parent makes the kids pancakes in the shape of dinosaurs, then the entire household sits down to a sumptuous spread. Well, I am reliably informed that this kind of thing actually happens here. Breakfast is something Brits have if they’re hung over or if the hotel they’re staying in provides it. We’d never be so eccentric as to sit down and eat it at the same time — and in the same location — as our loved ones.

[Алексей Конобеев]

18 Things You Will Miss If You’re A Brit In America

 

1. Why would you miss the U.K.? Well look no further than chocolate. U.S. chocolate really sucks.

6. Speaking of food, the British milk-categorising system makes sense. Our milk tastes really good!

7. What else doesn’t the U.S. have? A ROAST DINNER nearly every Sunday (not just Thanksgiving).

8. And don’t even start on how Americans do tea. Why? Well if we do we will be here all week.

13. There’s also tax. In the U.K. tax is already added before the till, so if it says it costs £1 IT IS £1.

16. AND we don’t have political ads every five minutes on television. And they’re very heavily regulated.

 

 

ALSO: 21 Things British People Hate About Americans

[Алексей Конобеев]

8 Situations When Brits Behave Differently from Americans

1. When someone knocks into us

If someone bumps into an American, the victim will most likely take issue with his accidental aggressor and expect an apology. If, however, the wounded party happens to be British, their inappropriate “sorry” reflex will kick in, probably before the perpetrator can muster their own apology. The scenario is deeply confusing for anyone who isn’t British.

 

2. When we order food

 

3. When we don’t finish our food

 

4. When someone opens up to us

 

 

5. When a stranger sits next to us

Ever noticed how Brits will only take a seat next to someone as a last resort? Many of us would rather stand on crutches for a 45-minute bus ride than chafe flanks with a fellow citizen. So when someone breaks with this unwritten rule and puts their bottom next to your bottom, it makes you furious. What if they expect us to have a conversation? The only Brits who have comfortably abandoned this revulsion are the over 65s. People raised in the U.S., however, seem comfortable having individuals they’ve never met enter their personal space and talk to them.

 

6. When we get dressed for dinner

Don’t get me wrong. Brits don’t all change into evening dress for our supper like Lord and Lady Grantham. But we do tend to make an effort when we go out for dinner somewhere nice. Americans, I’ve noticed, aren’t averse to wearing the jumper they bought in Disney Land circa 1993 to a fancy eatery. They’ve probably got the right idea. It is borderline preposterous to don your nicest clothes only to ruin them half an hour later with a misdirected mouthful of bisque.

 

7. When we get ourselves a hot drink at the office

 

8. When we get into a taxi

Brits traveling by cab will give the driver an address then assume that’s it for interaction until it’s time to pay. Even if it looks like we’re being taken from one bit of London to another via Glasgow, we’re unlikely to interject. In America, however, imparting a destination would merely be phase one of the passenger/driver interaction. Most Americans will think nothing of telling their temporary chauffeur what route to take. Full-on rows can break out if the cabbie and customer don’t see eye to eye on this.

 

 

ALSO: 10 Struggles Of A Brit Living In America

[Алексей Конобеев]

10 Things Brits Do That Drive Americans Nuts

 

You might think that you come off all charmingly Alan Rickman or Emma Thompson, but don’t think Americans aren’t incensed by bits of your Britishness. If you want to make friends in these parts, avoid the following:

 

1. Overcooking your vegetables

The authentic British way to prepare edible plants is to immerse them in boiling water for a fortnight. Americans think this is weird and unpleasant, to which I say: “Until you’ve had a carrot disintegrate on your tongue, you haven’t lived.”

 

2. Being standoffish

 

3. Thinking all Americans are flag-wielding fatties with firearms

Oh you crazy Yanks with your big guns and trousers that could fit three normal people in each of the legs! However inaccurate, we Brits love to believe this is the blueprint for every American. Understandably, they’re not amused.

 

4. Not tipping

 

5. Your reluctance to “share”

 

6. Believing that Americans have no sense of irony

 

7. Having terrible teeth and neglected nails

As any American will tell you, the British suffer from a severe case of hand, foot and mouth. If your teeth look like chipped, moldering tombstones and your fingers are topped with jagged, dirty claws, don’t expect to get many party invites.

 

8. Not being able to tell a fifty from a five

To us, all dollar bills look alike: greenish oblongs with a dead bloke on one side and a spooky pyramid on the other. Poorly manicured hand on heart, that’s the reason I keep putting down ones instead of twenties at the supermarket.

 

9. Moaning about missing curry and Marks and Spencer.

 

10. Your lack of interest in health

 

ALSO: A British Houseguest’s Guide to the American Home

[Алексей Конобеев]

10 Things Brits Say…and What Americans Think We Mean

 

We may have invented the English language but that doesn’t mean our version is always understood by those who share our mother tongue.

 

1. What we say: “Sorry”

What Americans hear: “I sincerely apologize.”

 

2. What we say: “How do you do?”

What Americans hear: “Please provide a rundown of your most recent medical.”

 

3. What we say: “Cheers”

What Americans hear: “To your good health”

 

 

4. What we say: “You know what I mean?”

What Americans hear: “Did you comprehend what I just said?”

This British conversation filler isn’t even weighty enough to count as a rhetorical question. Nonetheless, Americans will take it at face value and seek to reassure you that they did indeed understand your last statement.

 

5. What we say: “I’ve got the right hump.”

What Americans hear: “I have a hunchback.”

Sometime Brits see fit to borrow camels’ dominant physical attribute to help explain that they’re annoyed or frustrated. We’re not, in fact, opening up about a crippling disfigurement.

 

6. What we say: “It’s a bit dear.”

What Americans hear: “It’s slightly adorable.”

When we Brits want to politely say something is too expensive, we might roll out this quaint old expression. Not a good idea if you’re trying to haggle with an American: they’ll take it as a compliment.

 

7. What we say: “I got off with this fit bird.”

What Americans hear: “I disembarked with an athletic pigeon.”

 

8. What we say: “I went to public school.”

What Americans hear: “I went to a school my parents didn’t pay for.”

Americans with a snobbish bent will lap up tales of posh British schooling. However, your use of the word “public” may well throw them off. Begin by explaining that, in the U.K., public school is the same as private school. Or, decide not to have this conversation in the first place because it’ll make you sound like a twit.

 

9. What we say: “I’m easy.”

What Americans hear: “I always have sex on the first date.”

Even the ultra laidback Brits who use this expression might still take issue with the American translation. To avoid misinterpretation, plump for something more on the nose like, “I don’t mind.”

 

10. What we say: “All right, darling?”

What Americans hear: “How are you, love of my life?”

Save prudish Americans’ blushes by not directing this informal version of “How do you do?” at them. Worse still is the West Country version, which substitutes “darling” for the infinitely more bewildering and inappropriate “my lover.”

[Алексей Конобеев]

10 Adorable Things Americans Do (According to Brits)

 

It’s time to take a breather from telling you about all the American things we Brits think are weird, daft or amusing. Some of the stuff they do is just plain delightful.

 

1. Going out for dessert

 

2. Making pancakes that look like animals

 

3. Groundhog Day

America’s cutest weatherman is a rodent. On February 2nd, a celebrity groundhog emerges from its burrow. If it’s cloudy, then spring will come early. Apparently. If it’s sunny, it’s believed that the wary groundhog will see its shadow and head back inside. Consequently, the winter will last six more weeks. Most adorable folklore EVER.

 

4. Persisting with imperial measurements

 

5. Pumpkin worship

 

6. Being nice to everyone

Most Americans make it their business to be not just functionally polite but warm and welcoming, even in the face of a stranger’s surliness. Brits in particular can find this cloying, but take a moment to consider the alternative. If you have and you still prefer it, move to France.

 

7. Saying “happy holidays”

The first few times you hear an American utter this diluted, fuzzy greeting, it’ll feel funny and uncomfortably forced. But it’s coming from a good place. America is a multicultural, multi-religious society with a cluster of festivals falling in those end months. Okay, the idea that you might actually offend someone by accidentally wishing them a happy Christmas is faintly ridiculous. But setting out to make sure you definitely don’t upset anyone is not only adorable, it’s admirable.

 

8. Buying newspapers from a dispenser

 

 

9. Antiquing

I love how shopping for second hand toot has acquired its own charming American verb. Next time you’re shuffling around a junk shop and accidentally inhale a musty cobweb as you can reach that colonial era porn mag, you can cutesy up the story of your day by opening with: “So, we were antiquing in Maine…”

 

10. Grown ups wear bibs to eat seafood

Cuteness-wise, this is the human equivalent of putting a wig on a dog. Yes, there’s an inherent sensibleness to covering up your clothes to eat food that splatters and stains, but it’s also delightfully undignified.

[Radislav Millrood]

10 Adorable Things Americans Do (According to Brits)

 

It’s time to take a breather from telling you about all the American things we Brits think are weird, daft or amusing. Some of the stuff they do is just plain delightful.

 

1. Going out for dessert

 

2. Making pancakes that look like animals

 

3. Groundhog Day

America’s cutest weatherman is a rodent. On February 2nd, a celebrity groundhog emerges from its burrow. If it’s cloudy, then spring will come early. Apparently. If it’s sunny, it’s believed that the wary groundhog will see its shadow and head back inside. Consequently, the winter will last six more weeks. Most adorable folklore EVER.

 

4. Persisting with imperial measurements

 

5. Pumpkin worship

 

6. Being nice to everyone

Most Americans make it their business to be not just functionally polite but warm and welcoming, even in the face of a stranger’s surliness. Brits in particular can find this cloying, but take a moment to consider the alternative. If you have and you still prefer it, move to France.

 

7. Saying “happy holidays”

The first few times you hear an American utter this diluted, fuzzy greeting, it’ll feel funny and uncomfortably forced. But it’s coming from a good place. America is a multicultural, multi-religious society with a cluster of festivals falling in those end months. Okay, the idea that you might actually offend someone by accidentally wishing them a happy Christmas is faintly ridiculous. But setting out to make sure you definitely don’t upset anyone is not only adorable, it’s admirable.

 

8. Buying newspapers from a dispenser

 

 

9. Antiquing

I love how shopping for second hand toot has acquired its own charming American verb. Next time you’re shuffling around a junk shop and accidentally inhale a musty cobweb as you can reach that colonial era porn mag, you can cutesy up the story of your day by opening with: “So, we were antiquing in Maine…”

 

10. Grown ups wear bibs to eat seafood

Cuteness-wise, this is the human equivalent of putting a wig on a dog. Yes, there’s an inherent sensibleness to covering up your clothes to eat food that splatters and stains, but it’s also delightfully undignified.

Yet another typical observation is a practical joke played on friends testing them for social acceptance.