The Differences between the US and UK

[hzl]

Meanwhile, we just get almost everything without changes because we know what these American phrases mostly mean. We didn't get Breaking Bad UK with Walter White cooking meth in his people carrier on the coast of Dorset.

OH my word I haven't laughed so hard in ages thankyou for that post it made my day

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i think america is better ngl ?\_(ツ)_/? isnt the UK always cold and rainy? plus practically every US tv show adaption is waaaaay better than the UK version (shameless, skins, inbetweeners) but then again harry potter...

It's not really always cold and rainy. Certain places maybe like Manchester where I live but down south they get some damn warm weather - this past week it's been sunbathing weather (I've been on holiday down the South of England).. infact it's actually warm up north at the moment

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NHS.. we have free healthcare in the UK

 

[MagicalCat590]

You guys seem to have better TV shows than us. I'm seriously addicted BBCA. Lol. Also my husband pointed out that British food tends to be a lot gamier -- like rabbit and duck. Things like that aren't usually sold in American grocery stores. You have to special order it from a butcher. Oh, and my penpal from Ireland told me how the UK has a problem with Irish travellers and the Roma. I'm not sure how much of it is true or how much of it is, like, prejudice, though, cause I know the Roma are highly discriminated against. We don't really seem to have a problem with any of the Romani that live in the US. I actually wasn't even aware there was a large minority of them here until TLC came out with the American version of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
Oh, also, the UK doesn't have thrift stores. I have no idea how you live without them, either. Pretty much everything I buy comes from thrift stores -- clothes, books, movies, etc. I even buy dishes and video games there. I was able to buy a PS1 for $15 at one store! Another store, however, that was actually a Goodwill wanted $50 for a Super Nintendo 64 system. Made me so mad cause that's the system I grew up with, but it was way overpriced for a used system that old. Seriously, though, someone needs to bring thrift stores to the UK.

 

[Earth Wolf-Howl]

Oh, also, the UK doesn't have thrift stores. I have no idea how you live without them, either. Pretty much everything I buy comes from thrift stores -- clothes, books, movies, etc. I even buy dishes and video games there. I was able to buy a PS1 for $15 at one store! Another store, however, that was actually a Goodwill wanted $50 for a Super Nintendo 64 system. Made me so mad cause that's the system I grew up with, but it was way overpriced for a used system that old. Seriously, though, someone needs to bring thrift stores to the UK.

You could say we technically do have thrift stores, but they're mostly run by charities, so I'm not entirely certain if they're the same thing. They do have some amazing bargains, though, depending on which one you go to: I managed to pick up one of the Sly Cooper series for only ?1, which was pretty impressive to me.

But they sell similar things to what thrift stores do. I honestly get about 90% of the books I own from them.

As for differences... well, one thing that comes to mind is the differences in taste between everything. For instance: take Diet Coke or something. I found that it tastes much more bitter overseas, to the extent that it's kind of unbearable if you notice it. My Canadian parents have noticed that chocolate- most notably Aero- tastes a lot sweeter over here as well. Not that I have a problem with it- I love sweet things. I do wish, though, that we got more Hershey's chocolate over here. I'd say I'm one of the few who prefer it to Cadbury's.

 

[Jarrad]

You guys seem to have better TV shows than us. I'm seriously addicted BBCA. Lol. Also my husband pointed out that British food tends to be a lot gamier -- like rabbit and duck. Things like that aren't usually sold in American grocery stores. You have to special order it from a butcher. Oh, and my penpal from Ireland told me how the UK has a problem with Irish travellers and the Roma. I'm not sure how much of it is true or how much of it is, like, prejudice, though, cause I know the Roma are highly discriminated against. We don't really seem to have a problem with any of the Romani that live in the US. I actually wasn't even aware there was a large minority of them here until TLC came out with the American version of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
Oh, also, the UK doesn't have thrift stores. I have no idea how you live without them, either. Pretty much everything I buy comes from thrift stores -- clothes, books, movies, etc. I even buy dishes and video games there. I was able to buy a PS1 for $15 at one store! Another store, however, that was actually a Goodwill wanted $50 for a Super Nintendo 64 system. Made me so mad cause that's the system I grew up with, but it was way overpriced for a used system that old. Seriously, though, someone needs to bring thrift stores to the UK.

Head on the nail. That's one of the main reasons why I prefer other cuisines to my own. I'm not that big of a game fan

 

[MagicalCat590]

You could say we technically do have thrift stores, but they're mostly run by charities, so I'm not entirely certain if they're the same thing. They do have some amazing bargains, though, depending on which one you go to: I managed to pick up one of the Sly Cooper series for only ?1, which was pretty impressive to me.

But they sell similar things to what thrift stores do. I honestly get about 90% of the books I own from them.

The ones here are run by charities, too. The ones near are run by the SPCA, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and one store in the next town is run by a hospital. I won't go to the ones run by the Salvation Army, though, cause they donate to hate groups.

 

[Jarrad]

Oh, and we do have "thift" stores, only they're called second-hand shops.

The popular ones are owned by charities, where you donate things and then your things go on to be re-sold to make profit for whichever charity the shop supports. Most charity shops are full of clothes.

There are also privately-owned second-hand shops, though they tend to sell only furniture and collectables as opposed to what you're used to seeing in normal charity shops.

 

[Brackets]

NHS.. we have free healthcare in the UK

this is the best thing we have over the US imo. It would be strange getting a bill after going to the doctor. And, since I'll be a doctor soon, I'm glad I won't be having to deal with patient's insurance companies and wotnot as well as treating them.

 

[MagicalCat590]

Oh, and we do have "thift" stores, only they're called second-hand shops.

The popular ones are owned by charities, where you donate things and then your things go on to be re-sold to make profit for whichever charity the shop supports. Most charity shops are full of clothes.

There are also privately-owned second-hand shops, though they tend to sell only furniture and collectables as opposed to what you're used to seeing in normal charity shops.

There are privately owned ones here, too. But I tend to stay away from those because the owners are usually very, very Christian (I live in the Bible Belt) and they tend to overprice their things.

 

[Earth Wolf-Howl]

The ones here are run by charities, too. The ones near are run by the SPCA, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and one store in the next town is run by a hospital. I won't go to the ones run by the Salvation Army, though, cause they donate to hate groups.

Yeah, I'd say they're essentially the same. I wasn't entirely certain; all I knew was that thrift stores sold second-hand stuff.

 

[MagicalCat590]

Yeah, I'd say they're essentially the same. I wasn't entirely certain; all I knew was that thrift stores sold second-hand stuff.

Ahh, really? That's cool. I thought you guys didn't have 'em cause a bunch of people from the UK kept commenting on the LGR thrifts about they didn't have thrift stores. I guess maybe that was just in their part of the country, huh?
But, yeah, they're awesome. I love buying books there cause they sell two for 50 cents. So if I was, like, into Twilight (used to be, not anymore) I could go down there and buy the entire book series for a $1.

 

[Earth Wolf-Howl]

Ahh, really? That's cool. I thought you guys didn't have 'em cause a bunch of people from the UK kept commenting on the LGR thrifts about they didn't have thrift stores. I guess maybe that was just in their part of the country, huh?
But, yeah, they're awesome. I love buying books there cause they sell two for 50 cents. So if I was, like, into Twilight (used to be, not anymore) I could go down there and buy the entire book series for a $1.

They're conventionally just referred to as charity shops here (unless that's just my family), so I guess it could be just them not really knowing about the similarities.

Agreed! A couple of ones near me sell books for around 25p each if they're paperbacks, which is really quite handy for me.

 

[Tao]

Ahh, really? That's cool. I thought you guys didn't have 'em cause a bunch of people from the UK kept commenting on the LGR thrifts about they didn't have thrift stores. I guess maybe that was just in their part of the country, huh?

I think it's more likely that they weren't the brightest of sparks and didn't realize that we do essentially have 'thrift stores', they're just called something else.

Pretty much every town or city I've been to has charity/second hand stores in the UK, and that's including a lot of the country.

 

[MagicalCat590]

Nah, they said the only things they had were flea markets.

Right? So much better than going to huge chain bookstores. I mean, I love Barnes & Noble, but they are way too expensive. They charge $5 for a freaking bookmark just because it has a tassel on it.

 

[Mercedes]

I just like that we don't have tea time

 

[-Apples-]

I just like that we don't have tea time

What are you going to do? Dump it in the harbor?

If the British like tea, what do Americans like?

 

[JamesParker]

We love a good car boot in the UK. Held on Sundays. I disagree about adaptations of our shows being better. The skins and inbetweeners was just awful imo... BUT bbca has some cracking shows on it.

 

[Aradai]

If the British like tea, what do Americans like?

we like freedom

 

[MagicalCat590]

What are you going to do? Dump it in the harbor?

If the British like tea, what do Americans like?

Coffee. Lattes. Espresso. Cappuccino. Starbucks.

And tea is actually fairly popular here. A tea parlor actually just opened up in my area. I'd actually go there if the woman running it actually bothered offering milk or cream. She gives you straight tea, though, and I don't even drink black coffee.

 

[Cariad]

One thing, which kind of ties in with the whole adaption thing, is that, from my experience, Americans want everything changed into their own culture and speech and phrases, whereas in the UK we watch the TV shows as they were broadcasted in the U.S., or we investigate and understand which school year is grade 8. I don't know if that's just me.

 

[Moddie]

I just like that we don't have tea time

Apparently Americans don't have dinner.
Honestly though, I love that Americans think tea time is a set time in which we English drink tea when it literally just means dinner, or rarely lunch to some posher people. It's a cute misconception, I don't like tea but I wish we had tea time in the way Americans believe it to be. It'd be a fun social opportunity, it'd be nice if it was more normal to ask friends out to drink tea/coffee and just chat.