Reflecting

I've been trying to jot down funny English lingo, differences between the UK and the US, and other random stuff, which I've compiled on here.

First of all, I had no idea the difference between "United Kingdom" and "Great Britain" before I started preparing for the trip.  Basically, Great Britain is Wales, England, and Scotland.  The UK is all of this plus Northern Ireland.  This video is extremely informative and concise, definitely worth a watch if you're interested.

Accents were something that took me awhile to distinguish.  When I first got here, everyone sounded pretty similar to me- they were all just British! ...Not so fast.  There is a HUGE amount of variety in accents among the UK.  The first thing that I started to notice was the difference between Northern and Southern English accents.  It's funny because the North/South stereotypes are sort of flipped here compared to the states; Northern accents are quite rough and dirty sounding, while Southerners sound really proper and many times "posh".  It makes sense, since Northerners are closer to Scotland, so they have that sound influence.  But then there are certain cities/towns that have their own little niche and sound completely different than any other area.  One example is Liverpool... people from Liverpool are "scousers" and they have "scouse" accents.  This one guy does really great impressions of all of the UK accents here (only about the first half is the UK, really entertaining, sorry if the language offends you).

I've always been curious about what non-Americans think of the American accent.  Plenty of friends back home have asked me about this, so I had a little discussion with my flatmates about it.  Here are some of the words they used to describe the way we sound: loud, cheesy, corny, friendly, expressive, "out there", and animated.  Any time you ask a Brit to impersonate an American accent, they either sound like a valley girl ("OH MY GAWD, that is like, sooo cute") or like a redneck.

They also mentioned that Americans in general seem a lot more egocentric and in love with their country more so than Brits.  We talk about ourselves more and are inwardly focused, while they focus more on what's around them.  From spending half a year here, I definitely see this difference.  It's obviously a stereotype, but we stereotype the Brits as well.  Something I've heard over and over again here is that Americans seem to think that British people are all proper and polite (what a terrible thing to think...) but that this, for the most part, isn't true.  My friend Rachel mentioned that Americans tend to immediately think of afternoon tea (cup of tea, scones with cream, pastries...) when they think of British culture, but it actually plays a really minor role (at which point my friend Miranda says "What?! Oh god, afternoon tea is my favorite thing ever").  The USA is a lot more fast-paced than European counties, which was immediately obvious to me once I got here.  Brits say it seems like we're always in a rush and that we don't really enjoy the moments.  But then us Americans just see Europeans as so slow.

Brits definitely have their own set of lingo.  It took me awhile to get used to, and in some cases it was a bit awkward when I didn't understand what someone was saying.  For example: the first thing that threw me off is the way that Brits greet one another.  Instead of saying "what's up?" or "how are you?", they ask "you alright?".  The first person to say this to me was a cashier, and I had no idea how to respond.  I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of "...yes... why?".  In the states, if we would ask this, it would imply that the person looked upset and that something was wrong.  But here, it's just used as a general greeting.

Here's some stuff that I think England's got right and America should adopt:

1. Here's the big one: university tuition and student loans.  First of all, tuition is way more affordable here ($9000 a year for three years).  Secondly, if you get a student loan, you don't have to start paying it back until you start earning a certain amount from your job.  Then, a small percentage of each of your paychecks goes toward paying off the loan, which isn't really noticeable.  If you never reach that amount, you don't pay back the loan.  In the states, it's obviously a different story, which leaves students in a ridiculous amount of debt that needs to be paid off regardless of what you earn.

2. Alright, another big one.  It took me a really long time to figure out how I felt about this, but now I'm pretty sure that universal health care is the way to go.  At first, I didn't like the idea of it.  Why should my tax money go towards treating people who could have easily prevented their condition?  America eats terribly and doesn't move enough, and heart attacks are the main cause of death.  I wonder why.  Same goes for smoking... I don't want my money to contribute to lung cancer treatment for people who smoke a pack a day.  You get the idea.  But then again, that isn't really something that crosses the mind of people in the UK.  The money is just taken out of their pay, and just like the loan stuff, it's not particularly noticeable in the long-run.  And then if there is some terrible accident that requires ambulances/hospitalization, there isn't the added stress of "how the hell am I going to pay for this?"  Send any of your opinions my way.

3. Public transportation: although delays and annoyances occur, it is in general really easy to get anywhere in the UK within a reasonable time. 

4. Drinking age of 18: I feel as though the drinking age of 21 in the states is a bit of a joke, especially since we go off to college at around age 18.  We all know that kids drink in college.  And if anything, I think that the drinking is more excessive in American universities than in England (from what I've experienced), so that dispels the idea that lowering the drinking age will make kids drink more.  If anything, it's safer here because the drinking happens in public places (bars, clubs) where there is sober supervision, rather than at house parties.

5. Hostels.  America doesn't really have cheap places to stay that are catered to youth.
6. Grocery deliveries.  Maybe this does exist in the states, but if it does, I've never known of it.
7. Wednesdays are a half-day at university; there are no lectures past noon.  I think it's called sporting day or something because most of the sports teams  meet up on Wednesday afternoons for practice.  I like this idea... gives you a nice little break mid-week.
8. Incentive to recycle: in some areas, you get an extra 30p charge or so per plastic bottle that you purchase.  You get this money back if you come back to the store and recycle it.  Obviously it's good incentive, but what about the people who recycle at home?

...And American stuff that could improve Europe:

1. A decent amount of public trash cans.  They can be hard to find in England.

2. More free wifi

3. Windows with screens

4. Jeans with sneakers being an acceptable fashion choice (it's COMFORTABLE)

5. Checking ID when using a credit/debit card.  They don't ask for ID in England; they look at the signature on the back of the credit card and compare it to your signature on the receipt.  How easy would it be to forge that?

6. Four years in undergrad.  Three doesn't seem long enough to get a good grasp.  But UK students are sort of forced into choosing their degree much quicker than in the states, and then follow a pre-determined course schedule for three years.  They don't really choose their classes or take electives.  My friends here find it ridiculous that although my degree is Biology, I am forced to take Calculus, Chemistry, English, foreign language, etc as a requirement to graduate.  Just a side-note: their "minors" are funny to me.  They're required to pick a minor for the first year and must pass it in order to move on to year two, but then they are allowed to drop the minor.  Nearly everyone drops it.

7. Tuition costs varying depending on the university.  In the UK, you pay the same amount no matter what school you attend (Oxford costs the same as Lancaster).  I can't really explain why I don't like this, but it just doesn't seem right.  But then again, I suppose from the UK perspective, the American way only lets wealthy people get the best education. Hmm... thoughts, anyone?
8. Tap water at restaurants... it's not really a given in Europe.  When you ask for it, you have to specifically ask for tap otherwise they'll bring out a bottle and charge you.

Other random stuff:

-Month/date is switched here.  So October 14th 1991 is written 14/10/1991 (which makes sense... smallest to largest).  This transfers over to the language as well; they wouldn't say "October fourteenth", but "fourteenth of October".

-What we call fries, they call chips.  What we call chips, they call crisps.   Hence the weird reactions that I got when I said I was craving chips and salsa.

-Lemonade is a fizzy lemon soda here, like Sprite but without the lime.  They don't really have American lemonade.

-I always knew that the Brits' spelling is different with some types of words (added "u" to words like color/colour, "s" instead of "z" in words like realize/realise...), but I've just recently noticed that "y" replaces "i" in many cases, such as tires/tyres and pijamas/pyjamas.  My British friends love to remind me that they "were here first".

-I went to go see The Great Gatsby and noticed quite a few differences between English and American cinema.  First of all: the popcorn.  My housemates were SHOCKED when I told them that we put butter and salt on our popcorn.  Theirs is usually covered in sugar, which seems a bit odd, but is actually quite tasty.  Secondly, you get assigned seats for the movie theater.  There's one special row with extra comfy chairs that are supposedly in the most ideal part of the room, and these cost an extra three quid or so.

-They don't use measuring spoons here (tablespoons, teaspoons).  My flatmates are convinced that any large spoon is a tablespoon, and any small spoon is a teaspoon.  It must be close enough, because their baked goods always turn out alright.

-"Cheers" is used all the time, mostly meaning "thanks"

-"Tea" means dinner.  Obviously, they do drink tea, but when it's suppertime, they say that they are "making tea" or "having tea".

-"It's all gravy, baby"  <--- I'm convinced that my friend Ben was messing with me on this one.  We would say "it's all good".

-A fortnight means "two weeks ago".  I just found out that it comes from shortening "fourteen nights".

- necking = kissing

-Something is a "doddle or a "piece of piss" it's really easy, what we would call "a cinch".

-"Bits and bobs"... hard to translate over, but it's comparable to "odds and ends"

-One of my favorites; a "wanker" is a jerk.

-They don't whine here.  They whinge.  (pronounced as spelled)

- I just discovered where the word "posh" comes from.  I knew that it refers to someone who is upper-class, and it's usually discernible from their accent (very southern, very proper).  The word itself comes from the cabins used in early voyages from England to India.  The coolest and most expensive cabins were Portside on the way Out and Starboard side on the way Home.

-A "lad-lad" is comparable to our "bro's" or frat boys back home.



I'll continue to add on if I come by anything else worth mentioning