# Answer the funny foreigners' questions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2011, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036 "2011-08-01T13:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/21 "2011-08-02T17:04:49Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > So when you turn 18, you get kicked out of the house? How does that work? When I was 18, I was still living with my parents, all through college pretty much, and even after I started work. I only moved out when I got married, and not until a month or so after that! Why pay for one more apartment when, you know, your parents have space, given that, you know, you were living in there? So how do you concentrate on college if you have to work to get enough money to pay for your school fees AND rent AND “living money”? Very few people get “kicked out” at 18. Most people do leave, but by mutual agreement. America is a big place, and even individual states are pretty big relative to Singapore. That means our colleges and universities are all over the place, so lots of people have to leave town to attend one they like (or attend one at all, in some cases). Kids at university rarely live alone. Mostly they’ll live in college dormitories or share apartments with roommates (either random strangers or friends). US bachelor’s degree programs are less intensive than in most of the Commonwealth. They take 4 years, and you generally only have 15 hours of class per week. You can take more classes and finish quicker, or less and finish slower. Given a 15 hour class schedule, you have plenty of time to work. My wife worked full time all the way through university, and graduated with honors. I worked sporadically, and graduated near the bottom of my class (the perils of whiskey and apathy). Student loans are readily available to nearly all students, assuming you don’t get scholarships. At the very least, almost everyone qualifies for a government subsidized loan to cover the cost of tuition ($5,500 per year if you’re still a dependent). ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/22 "2011-08-02T17:21:51Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Maryland, where I am, is a very crab-intensive area. Mostly it’s blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay. Even around here though, crabs are normally eaten as a processed meat — in crab cakes, or as a stuffing in other fish dishes. > > I’d prefer to get my crab meat already processed. No offense, but saying the crab meat is ‘processed’ is a bit misleading. It conjures up images (at least to me, that is) of chicken nuggets and other things where the meat is ground up, mixed with fillers and re-formed into the appropriate shape. In good crabcakes, or other crab dishes, it’s more desirable to leave the meat in lumps, pretty much how it was pulled from the shell. Lots of people around here will buy live crabs, and steam them at home. Like lobsters, they need to be steamed alive. If you find any already-dead ones in your bushel, they have to be thrown out. Steaming your own crabs is not for a casual, mid-week dinner. It’s nearly always done for a cookout, with friends over and lots of cheap beer. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/23 "2011-08-02T17:38:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Eating cockles is pretty much unknown in America. Most people wouldn’t even know what a cockle is. And I guess I’m proof of this. When I was talking about cockles I was thinking about winkles. Some Americans may eat cockles but if they do, they probably call them clams or shellfish. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/24 "2011-08-02T18:16:48Z")
In Anglo Saxon countries they are really hard up about letting young people drink. You are not allowed into bars or to buy alcohol until you are 21 in many states in the US. So a thing that Americans do when they turn 21 is go out and drink until they fall down, and then do that for some time afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/25 "2011-08-02T18:53:53Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > In Anglo Saxon countries they are really hard up about letting young people drink. This is only true if you define “Anglo Saxon countries” as “the US and Canada”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/26 "2011-08-02T18:57:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Some Americans may eat cockles but if they do, they probably call them clams or shellfish. It’s so rare that in many parts of the country, eating cockles was prohibited by law until the [Lawrence v Texas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_v._Texas) decision! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/27 "2011-08-02T20:31:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > This is only true if you define “Anglo Saxon countries” as “the US and Canada”. I’d suggest that in the context that **Throatwarbler Mangrove** was using, just “the US” would fit the definition better. Here in Canada, the drinking age is 18 or 19, depending on the province. Unlike their American counterparts, our young people in Canada have most of the “binge till you fall down” mentality out of their systems by the time they turn 21; and so, they treat alcohol pretty responsibly in their early 20s and subsequently. Heck, most of our colleges and universities have fully-licensed student pubs! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/28 "2011-08-02T22:03:37Z")
19 is still kind of pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/29 "2011-08-02T22:24:38Z")
Crabs: Well, when I was little, you dangled a raw chicken leg over the pier and then dragged in the crabs that tried to eat it, and then gave them to your mom, who did arcane things with picks and lots of bad words, and the crab magically appeared at dinner with it’s guts removed and all of the meat and stuffing nicely deposited back inside it’s shell. I have no inkling of how that process happened, but it was fun to catch them, and I believe that most of the meat is in the front claws, as that was the defining characteristic of what we kept vs threw back. Kicked out at 18: I don’t know a single person who was\* kicked out _of their house at any age. I know LOTS of people who_ left \*voluntarily as early as they were able. In my case, I was 17 when I left home, my best friend left her home at 14 (to live with me) and several college friends left home in their early teens to live with other family members or friends. I think that part of the reason for that is individualism and that whole “teenage confrontation with parents” stereotype is really expected here, so people internalize it, and if their parents drive them batty, there’s no stigma to them moving away - it’s just what happens when a kid grows up. If you’re able to get to a school or go to a place where you can find cheap housing (usually with other students) then there is often a very strong motivator to keep that precious adult status by not moving back home again. That’s less powerful now because the economy is shit, but when I went off to school at 17, that was the last time I spent more than 2 nights in a row at my parents’ house. At least one of my college acquaintances hasn’t spent a night back at his childhood home at ALL, and he graduated in 2002. Cockles: Clams are po’folk’s food, and not very tasty. Oysters are eaten, but I have never figured out why. Chicken Wings: Fried and barbecued, or fought over when you have a whole chicken. They’re also considered “poor” cuts of meat, and are less expensive when bought in a store raw/frozen. I imagine that’s why there aren’t that many things done with them - they’re still recovering from the stigma. Friendly Greetings: Very prominent in the south - you’d be considered rude if you didn’t wave to people on the sidewalk as you drove by. Just the way society expects things to go around here. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/30 "2011-08-02T22:36:12Z")
When I don’t feel like cooking (which is most of the time), there is a huge selection of frozen dinners at any grocery store. Just pop it in the microwave and take it out 5ish minutes later. I’ve never been too lazy to microwave something. I microwave lots of stuff that says “microwave preparation not recommended” on the side, too. I don’t care if it makes my pizza a little soggy or my pierogies a little rubbery, as long as my food is hot and done within 5 minutes. I don’t have the patience to wait 30-60 minutes for my dinner to cook. When I get home from work, I’m hungry **now** , dammit! Cute questions. I had never eaten crab before, until I dated a Filipino guy. We picked up live blue crabs at the store, his mom boiled them alive, and they showed me how they ate them. Which was to just break em in half and start picking! ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/31 "2011-08-02T22:50:53Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > How do you cook crabs? Whole? Steamed? Fried? Boiled? I know you guys do crab cakes, but I mean like the whole crab. How do you break the shell? We use nutcrackers. Do you guys use nutcrackers, or bring our a mallet, or what? There are different kinds of crabs and I don’t know how to distinguish a British crab. However, here in the Chesapeake Bay region we have Blue Crabs. Typically they are dredged in [Old Bay](http://www.oldbay.com/) and steamed for 20 minutes. Turn them upside down and remove the carapace and the top, too. Then break in half down the middle. Use a knife (there are special crab knives) to cut each half in quarters. The rear quarters contain the back fin meat. Yum. Using the knife peel the shell off the backfin meat, dip once in apple cider vinegar and dip again in Old Bay. Enjoy. Wash down with beer. Silver Queen corn on the cob makes a great side dish. Softshell crabs are blue crabs that have shed their shell. This is how they grow. There are growers who monitor the crabs and harvest softshells soon as they have shed (or a bit after). Clean the softshell crab by cutting off the face, the gills and the carapace. Squeeze the mustard out through the front. Dredge in flour and saute in butter about 3-4 minutes on each side. Squeeze some lemon and enjoy. You eat the entire beast… legs, claws innards everything. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/32 "2011-08-03T01:01:04Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > In Anglo Saxon countries they are really hard up about letting young people drink. You are not allowed into bars or to buy alcohol until you are 21 in many states in the US. So a thing that Americans do when they turn 21 is go out and drink until they fall down, and then do that for some time afterwards. Hmmm..I guess that New Zealand is not “anglo saxon” then? Our legal drinking age is 18…but I think you are allowed into bars and such at 16 if accompanied by parent (or spouse older than 18) ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/33 "2011-08-03T01:17:56Z")
As the Beng Ang Mo (I’m pretty sure it should mean something to you) perhaps I could tack a crack at some of these as well… > [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > That said, I was eating me some crabs a while ago, and I realised that I don’t actually know how Americans/Brits eat crabs. Never seen a movie on crab-eating before, and I doubt I ever will! I know that some of you eat crabs, but I just don’t know how. And this is the internet, so I can get as inane as I like, right? So here goes. > How do you cook crabs? Whole? Steamed? Fried? Boiled? I know you guys do crab cakes, but I mean like the whole crab. How do you break the shell? We use nutcrackers. Do you guys use nutcrackers, or bring our a mallet, or what? Until I reached Singapore I had never eaten whole crabs. EVER. Or Stingray for that matter. Back home, if we catch stingray it gets thrown back. But for me it’s not so much the crab I like (it’s messsy and labour intensive) as a really good chilli sauce. And I must admit, some Sambal Stingray is to die for these days. I certainly remember cooking fresh cooked flounder (which is similiar) but that was just steamed with a bit of lemon juice, so not as flavour intensive. > [@](#): > > Who eats cockles? And how do you eat them? Here, we mostly stir fry them with a bit of spicy gravy. When I was in London I never saw anyone selling cockles, much less eat them, and yet you have Mary with her garden quite contrary full of those shells, and you have people dying when going “cockling”, so SOMEONE’s eating those guys. If you’re not sending them all to China. Again, until reaching Singapore I had never eaten cockles (mmmm…sambal LaLa - gotta love it!) But oon the other hand, mussels are realtively rare here. Something I used to take a lot back home. Battered and deep fried, fresh in brine with lemon or garlic, Steamed on the half shell. Also Paua patties - great stuff that can’t be found in Singapore. > [@](#): > > So when you turn 18, you get kicked out of the house? How does that work? When I was 18, I was still living with my parents, all through college pretty much, and even after I started work. I only moved out when I got married, and not until a month or so after that! Why pay for one more apartment when, you know, your parents have space, given that, you know, you were living in there? So how do you concentrate on college if you have to work to get enough money to pay for your school fees AND rent AND “living money”? I grew up in a rural area, the nearest (respectable) place I could study for my Pre U u year was a 90 km drive away - I was 16 / 17. I went boarding while I studied my final year of secondary school. I worked weekends to pay for it. For me, I was a “talented” but very lazy student. I just rocked up to school, didd the assignments and got pretty good grades (above the 80th percentile) without studying. So it didn’t really matter that I worked - I wouldn’t have spent the time cracking the books anyone. Once I started uni, I shared a half house / flat with my brother. I worked as a cleaner for 3 hours every evening, and most weekends drove home to see my parents. I couldn’t have imagined living with my parents (they would have driven me insane) or having a 1 hour plus commute each way to school. > [@](#): > > So what kind of food do you get if you just don’t wanna cook, and are grabbing something quick for dinner? Do you do takeout all the time? Chinese takeout? Or order a pizza? MacDonald’s? Every night? How do you guys get enough fibre like that? When I was cooking for myself, we ate 100 pizzas in six months, plus fish and chips at least twice a week. I used to be off on a Thursday so a friend and I would go to the local bar in the afternoon for happy hour - that was chicken with vegess and 3 or 4 jugs of beer each. I would mostly cook pasta with a canned sauce plus rump steak - fast and easy. Otherwise saveloys (you can’t get them here) with macaroni and cheese. > [@](#): > > What’s with all the beer? Every night, I see white people hanging out at the bars, sometimes by themselves, even on weeknights, sometimes even alone (?!), drinking. How does that work? Does everyone do that? Most people I know only drink on special occasions, like Friday nights out (and not even most fridays), like they’re going out partying or something. Putting aside the expat experience - talking more about how I would behave “back home”. A quiet beer in the evening is so relaxing. Again coming from a rural area, it would be quite common to stop in at the local pub for a “couple of twelves” on the way home. Catch up on the gossip, wind down. Also I find a different attitude to drinking here in Singapore - it tends to be “all or nothing” - whereas back home might have two or three beers and call it a day, a lot more people here seem to drink to get drunk - not because they just like to chill out at the end of the day. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/34 "2011-08-03T01:23:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Cockles: Clams are po’folk’s food, and not very tasty. Oysters are eaten, but I have never figured out why. Really? Clams are not po-folks food where I come from (fried clams? pasta with clam sauce?). (I’ve lived in Illinois, California and Texas and found clams in all those places.) And oysters are pretty delicious prepared a variety of ways. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/35 "2011-08-03T03:09:02Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Really? Clams are not po-folks food where I come from (fried clams? pasta with clam sauce?). (I’ve lived in Illinois, California and Texas and found clams in all those places.) And oysters are pretty delicious prepared a variety of ways. Charleston and southern islands - yeah, there’s a lot of history of lobster, shrimp, crab, crawdads, and clams being what the house-staff and field-staff ate, while the moneyed people ate “real” food that was imported or harder to find in the wild. Doesn’t stop me from eating them all, and the stigma has mostly worn off of crab, lobster and shrimp, but yes, my grandmother has actually warned me not to ever eat clams or crawfish in polite company, because genteel ladies didn’t eat food like that in public. 🙂 And I know I’m in a minority on the oysters, but I have never ever found them even remotely edible, in any form I’ve ever tried. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/36 "2011-08-03T03:10:44Z")
I grew up outside Chicago, and my dad grew up in Chicago. It was a given that, once you’re able, you get the hell out of the house and onto your own feet. 😛 Was easier for him than me, as he joined the Air Force right out of high school and I graduated high school at 17 and had to wait 6 agonizingly irritating months before I could legally move out. University isn’t a given, either; we \ were expected to get good grades throughout high school and get scholarships. I didn’t do that, and was 23 before I could get student loans on my own. Somehow the government won’t believe you are on your own just because you say you are, and your folks don’t claim you on taxes, so in order to get student loans completely on your own with no input from your parents, you have to be 23. Or did, 20 years ago. Hope the hell that has changed, 'cause even WITH the loans you generally still have to work full time to pay things like rent and food. 😛 Just had to throw that in there to balance out what seems like the easy life for American 18 year olds. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/37 "2011-08-03T04:49:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > 19 is still kind of pointless. Depends on your point of view. Like I said, on college and university campuses, there are student pubs; and many private establishments exist around the campuses as well. Fake IDs are unnecessary, nobody needs to hide a bottle or a case or a keg when they enter a dorm, and I don’t recall any “pre-gaming” happening at the schools I attended. There was no need to get loaded in secret before you went out; you were old enough to get a drink if the place you were going served alcohol. And those under-21s who do not go on to any kind of post-secondary education can still go out for a cold beer with their workmates when the shift is over. In addition, being under 18 (or 19) and possessing alcohol is not a criminal offense, as I understand it is in some states of the US. It is a provincial (i.e. non-criminal) offense, that would result in nothing more than a ticket for the minor. Fines are quite heavy for those who provide it to the minor, whether a store employee or an adult who gave/sold it to them; but again, it is only a provincial offense–no criminal record will ensue if convicted. There is no prohibition on parents serving their children alcohol at home. We may not allow such things as selling alcohol in grocery stores (in most provinces); but compared to the US, I’d say that we’re pretty liberal when it comes to young people and alcohol. It is very true that some people, of any age, still drink themselves silly from time to time. However, from what I can see, most of our young people have a very different attitude towards alcohol than I understand exists among 18 to 21-year-olds in the US. I think **bengangmo** makes a very good observation by saying, “it’s two or three, and call it a day.” ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/38 "2011-08-03T10:56:33Z")
could it have anything to do with changing patterns in employment opportunities and demand for a college education? NB: i am not an american. what i do notice are (maybe harmless) remarks that their kid is already 21 and still living in their house. nothing wrong with pointing out something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036/39 "2011-08-03T13:05:49Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > We may not allow such things as selling alcohol in grocery stores (in most provinces); but compared to the US, I’d say that we’re pretty liberal when it comes to young people and alcohol. Fair enough, then. I still think Canada is a bit too nanny-state-ish on alcohol, but certainly you’re miles ahead of us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answer-the-funny-foreigners-questions/591036.md?page=1)