Mundane but Significant Differences Between Countries

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

Does the white cheddar actually taste any different, though? Is there some deliberate attempt to differentiate it from orange cheddar in any way other than colour? Or is that really just it, some people prefer their cheddar to be white? (Cheesists…)

Actually, I’m really liking that nutritional information is mandatory on packaging these days. It makes a world of difference when deciding what had nutritional value and is genuinely healthy as opposed to loaded with fats and empty calories. I’ve actually stopped buying a lot of imported products (from other than the US) because many of them do not have this nutritional labeling, and without being able to see what’s in them I’m less likely to want to eat them.

I’m not sure if this is a language barrier or what. While “cock-a-doodle-doo” isn’t a terribly accurate onomatopoeia, I think it sounds a lot closer to what a rooster crow sounds like than “kikarakee” – which strikes me as more an attempt to describe a particular song bird’s call.

Doh! I knew that. I did! I just got my acronyms confused. I blame the beer. :smiley:

I was kinda wondering how it was regulated in other provinces. Having lived in Ontario all of my life I’m so used to seeing the LCBO and the Beer Store as separate entities that it never occurred to me to question how other provinces fare in that area.

This is probably regional. The supermarket closest to my home has the produce section as the first thing you encounter when you enter. (There are two entrances, but the second one, which opens into the mall it is located in, requires you to loop back to the first) The one closest to my work has two entrances at either end; the one is the produce section (which is actually furthest from the main road but is also in the larger parking area), and the other opens into the aisle that contains the bakery, butcher, and deli.

On the other hand, when I walk into Costco, the first thing I encounter after passing the electronics section is the candy & gum aisle.

So what do you folks call a fruit … uh … pie? A tort?

At least you don’t have to be subjected to The King.

Um … what? Basically there’s real mayo, which is made with egg whites 'n stuff. Then there’s salad dressing (which may or may not be related to salad creme in the UK, which is also available here), which is kind of mayo-like, but decidedly sweeter.

102

Yes. Not that this only applues to provincially-maintained highways (in, I think, officially-designated bilingual zones). Municipally-maintained roads may not be bilingually-signed even in the same area.

You can notice this when exiting the 427 south at Dundas Street, for example. On the 427, the sign says, [5] Dundas Street, Exit/Sortie. At the end of the offramp, there is a huge sign that says:


[5] Dundas Street
--------+--------
  East  |  West
------- | -------
  Est   |  Ouest

However, once you’re off the offramp and on to Dundas Street itself, you are on a street maintained by the City of Toronto. The sign directing you to the onramp for the 427 north says 427 NORTH -> only. No French.

Incidentally, I believe that words like Street on road signs are considered part of the name and are not translated, at least around Toronto. On the other hand, in Ottawa you see signs that say, “Ch. Hunt Club Rd.” Ch. = Chemain = Road. So it gets translated there.

I think a lot depends on whether the area is an officially-designated bilingual zone.

It’s so much easier to use symbols. :slight_smile:

It also seems there are some gaps in the symbol set, though; we need ones for NO STANDING and NO PASSING, for example. And one for STOP HERE ON RED SIGNAL.

103

I can’t speak for Europeans, but in India it is generally believed that drinking iced beverages (or bathing frequently for relief from the heat) is an invitation to gastrointestinal and respiratory illness.

104

The American tradition is that if it’s your birthday, then you are treated by everyone else. The birthday boy or girl, as the guest of honor at any occasion, does not contribute a cent to the cost of the food or entertainment.

105

In Norway we keep the things we want to keep cool in the fridge. :wink: Then if we want to take it somewhere else and want to lug along a cooling system, we bring a cooler. If packing it with cold stuff wont keep it cold for long enough, we add some cooling packs (plastic bricks filled with some sort of liquid) from the freezer.

That way we can keep other stuff in the cooler along with the beer, without it getting wet.

106

You would think so, but I’ve seen an American teen-ager go into hysterics at the sight of a “raw” egg. Sheesh.

107

Again, I can’t speak for Germany, but in India no one drinks untreated tap water – it’s not considered safe. Most people keep bottles of boiled or filtered water in the fridge.

108

If American TV shows are anything to go by (which I try not to assume too much) embalming and open caskets are very common. In Norway, embalming is done at hospitals and only in special cases. (Such as when the body is to be transported abroad for burial.) Open caskets are uncommon.

109

? Around these parts, at least, the entrance practically always dumps you directly into the fruits and vegetables section, for reasons once explained by Eddie Izzard (“This is a fresh store! What if the entrance were in the toilet paper section? You’d think this is a poo store! Everything here is themed on poo!”)

Sounds like we’re midway between the two: we don’t have banking services in post offices, but they sell some kinds of stationery, and you can get various types of government form there, such as for passports, hunting and fishing licences, etc.

In Manitoba you buy beer at the liquor store (or at least you did in 1995, which is when I last lived there). And they accept your empties back (where my dad bought beer, there was this cool conveyor belt thing for the empties, which for my pre-teen self was the most interesting part of the whole excursion).

So if you don’t throw your own parties, how does anyone find out it’s your birthday in the first place?

110

This varies, depending on which state you’re in. You can buy alcohol 7 days a week during normal business hours (and there are some grocery stores and drug stores that sell alcohol that are open 24 hours) in California, for example. A lot of states restrict where you can buy certain kinds of alcohol, and beer, wine, and spirits are often treated differently from each other (usually with the greatest restrictions on spirits, then wine, then beer). In California, you can buy those things in the grocery store or drug store. Some states also restrict when you can buy alcoholic beverages, but California doesn’t. If you go from a state with more restrictive alcohol laws to one with less restrictive laws, you will often see a lot of liquor stores near the state line.

One thing I noticed in Australia- bringing your own alcoholic beverages to a restaurant seems much more common there. In the US, that’s something that is pretty much only done by hard-core wine geeks. I have no idea if it’s legal to do that at a restaurant that doesn’t have a liquor license. Restaurants that do allow this often charge fairly high corkage fees.

Pavement and curb markings differ from state to state, as well. California has a fairly elaborate system of colored curbs that I haven’t encountered anywhere else (they indicate whether parking is allowed and for how long). A lot of traffic laws vary between states, too- in some states you are required to turn on your headlights when you’re using your windshield wipers, in others you aren’t.

You probably could have gotten a glass or small carton of milk if you had ordered milk, at least at most restaurants I’ve been to that serve breakfast. I drink my coffee black, though (unless I’m getting a fancy coffee drink like one gets at Starbucks), so I’m not an expert on getting milk for coffee. But yes, what you get with your coffee will probably be some sort of creamer, not milk.

When I was in England in 2000, I got some odd looks at Starbucks when I tried to convey the idea that I wanted my frou-frou coffee drink made with skim milk. Is it unusual to drink skim milk there?

They’re associated with Thanksgiving by some Americans. Our Thanksgiving falls in late November (I know Canada’s is earlier in the year), so they are in season then. Like most produce, they’re best when in season.

I thought Brits ate goose at Christmas.

111

I thought this “sprout” was referring to sprouted grains or legumes, such as mung bean sprouts.

112

Maybe. Here “sprouts” in the context of food is always short for Brussels sprouts.

Re confusion over “skim milk”, just possibly it might have been because we call it skimmed milk. I don’t know, they might have thought you were issuing a request, asking them to skim the milk?

113

Heh. Me too. Having grown up with hippie parents who put alfalfa sprouts on random things on a regular basis, that’s what I pictured. That’s almost always what Californians mean when they say “sprouts”, though it’s also possible they mean the Chinese sort of bean sprouts. I’ve never heard of Brussels Sprouts being just called “sprouts” before.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever been served a Brussels Sprout. I’ve heard jokes about how bad they are, but I’ve never actually eaten one.

114

Turkey has been the “standard” Christmas fowl for a long time now.

115

Buying over-the-counter medication in the U.S. is easy. Go into any pharmacy or most grocery stores. I must have visited a dozen places in Mexico before I found an antihistamine I could buy without a prescription. It was what we’d call a drugstore, and had just one tiny rack of over-the-counter medication.

Where you purchase alcoholic beverages varies more among U.S. states than it does among many countries. In California, you buy it all in the grocery store. In Montana, wine and beer can be sold in grocery stores, but “hard liquor” is sold in state-franchised stores. Last time I was in Massachusetts, I was sent to a “package store” to buy a bottle. The rules on whether a bar can sell a sealed bottle of booze vary from place to place. It’s all very complex.

I did enjoy getting a cup of beer from a vending machine in the company cafeteria when I spent a few weeks working in Germany. And it seemed very odd seeing wine on the menu at McDonald’s in France.

Eighteen inches? I’ve never seen such a thing in my nearly half-century of living in the U.S. A foot, maybe. A foot and a half? Never.

That’s rare, from my experience. In the cheap (“fast food” or “deli-style”) restaurants, you pay up front. In most of the mid- and upper-scale restaurants, you get your food, eat it, and the waiter comes by to inquire whether you’d like dessert. If you say no, you get the check. I eat out quite a bit, and I can’t recall more than one or two instances ever where I’ve received the check with the meal.

This is quite common in the U.S. I think every single restaurant in this town that’s higher-scale than Denny’s has their menu posted where you can read it from the sidewalk.

What are nappies, and why would I want holes in my pants?

116

Only in Dickens novels. I’ve never even *seen *goose for sale anywhere.

Edit: Oops, I see **Struan **beat me to it.

117

I’ve seen frozen goose in Tesco. If you ever get the notion to try it - beware the rivers of fat! It’s a very tasty bird though.

118

Perhaps I misunderestimate. Or maybe it’s newer installations - I know my daughter (20some inches tall) can bend over to walk under the ones at the new Target without crawling.

Nappies are diapers. I assume he means that baby and toddlers go bottomless, or that there’s an actual hole in their pants for urine and feces to exit.

119

Nappies = diapers

But I agree. Why would you put a hole in the baby’s pants? That sounds disgusting.

120

Daipers

Not unusual at all. You were probably just unfortunate to get the kid who had only been there two days, and until then only ever drank PG Tips with semi-skimmed at home.

Oh, I’d have loved to have been there, to explain that this makes it possible to dunk the blood sasuage into the yolk :smiley:

I don’t agree that we only call savoury things pies. If it’s fully encased in pastry, it can be an apple pie, or a rhubarb pie, or whatever. Without the pasty top, then it’s often a tart. Unless it’s a specific item with another name, to confuse things, of course.