19 Differences Between the USA and the UK?
Some are funny, and some are strange!
1 — I panicked the first time I paid my restaurant bill in Utah by card, and the server just picked it up and left! It’s usual for your server to take your card to the machine, which was not the case in the UK.
2 — Toilets are called bathrooms or restrooms in the US. There are, not surprisingly, no baths in the bathroom and no sofas and beds in the restroom!
3 — No Bonfire Night, of course, in the US, but instead a massive Halloween celebration where whole families come to knock at your door and want candy and chocolates. My dentist friend always gave them toothbrushes!
4 — An over-exuberance of patriotism in the US is shown by literally seeing millions of flags everywhere you go and crowds suddenly bursting out at events shouting “USA, USA, USA.”
5 — Upon returning from 24 years in the US, I had forgotten the UK did not have electrical outlets or switches in the bathrooms. The US does.
6 — Shopping for eggs in the US means looking in refrigerated areas.
7— Watching American tv was interesting the first time around as, of course, there are ad breaks even in the middle of the credits! Also, I was shocked to see the number of medical drugs advertised on tv and many ads for lawyers. Car ads in the USA spend more time telling you what is wrong with their competitors than what is good about their own vehicles.
8 — In the US, you can marry, have children, drive a car, attend college, serve in the military, and in some states, shoot and carry a firearm, yet you can not drink alcohol until you are 21.
9 — Sugar is the primary drug in the US. There’s sugar in everything. I was even surprised to find sugar in my bread and baked beans!
10 — The amount of annual leave in most US is tiny compared to most European countries, and many Americans consider it wrong to use their vacation time!
11 — When the Americans ask “how you doing,” they are not interested in how you are. It’s their way of saying hello.
12 — A regular coke at Mcdonald’s in the UK is a child-size in the USA.
13 — I do miss my drive-thru banks, coffee shops, restaurants, pharmacies, etc., in the USA.
14 — Food ‘To-Go’ boxes are not standard in UK restaurants.
15 — The British are obsessive about rules, whether they make sense or not.
16 — As my English-born daughter found out on her first day at High School in Provo, Utah, an English ‘full-stop’ is an American ‘period’!
17 — In the UK, you can’t make a turn at red lights, even if the road is clear.
18 — British bacon is the bomb! US bacon is made from the bits the Brits usually throw away.
19 — Lastly, it is normal for a public bathroom (toilet) in the USA to have inch-wide gaps around the door and stalls. I thought this was odd as most Americans are loud on the outside but prude on the inside. The Brits are usually the reverse.
© Stephen G. Arrowsmith 2022
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