# Non-Americans - name a thing you know about the US you got from the SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930 "2012-09-07T00:30:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/201 "2012-09-22T17:05:10Z")
> [@gms453](#): > > “Gun-toting Creationist” is a pejorative term used to belittle fundamentalist Christians who own guns. \ I thought “gun-toting Creationist” _was_ the polite term? ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/202 "2012-09-22T17:18:36Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I thought “gun-toting Creationist” _was_ the polite term? Cute, and definately smug. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/203 "2012-09-22T17:30:17Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Well, who isn’t? This post is an excellent example of what being smug is all about. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/204 "2012-09-22T18:31:00Z")
> [@gms453](#): > > This post is an excellent example of what being smug is all about. Oh, peel me a grape. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/205 "2012-09-22T18:42:35Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Oh, peel me a grape. Yet another great example of smugness. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/206 "2012-09-22T21:09:27Z")
Those of you who’ve commented on the unbelievable length of our political campaigns: try living in one of the “swing” states, like Ohio. Constant commercials, one after the other, several phone calls every day. I’d be happy if they’d just omit the entire last year of every campaign. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/207 "2012-09-23T00:11:53Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Well, who isn’t? _Burrrrrrnnnnn_ ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/208 "2012-09-23T00:28:52Z")
I had a discussion in the pub tonight, admittedly only with a couple of folk, and they find the US thing of re-rinsing hilarious, making fair objections like that if you are rinsing the thing again then eventually the water is going to have this alleged “soap” in it anyway once you get to the end of things. And again pointing out that there’s no taste at all because the stuff is scrubbed off when you dry the plates. So there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/209 "2012-09-23T01:50:38Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > I had a discussion in the pub tonight, admittedly only with a couple of folk, and they find the US thing of re-rinsing hilarious, making fair objections like that if you are rinsing the thing again then eventually the water is going to have this alleged “soap” in it anyway once you get to the end of things. And again pointing out that there’s no taste at all because the stuff is scrubbed off when you dry the plates. > > So there ya go. You are missing the point you filthy English person 🙂 We all have dishwashers here but, even if we don’t, you don’t just have standing pools of water that you dip your used plates and utensils in. You run them under _running_ water before your dry them. The rinsing side of the double sink isn’t filled with water. It is for rinsing. It is no wonder the Native Americans thought the English were disgusting when they first landed. That group was but they learned better. Not so much back at home… ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/210 "2012-09-23T02:13:42Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Moving over for funeral processions is the law here in PA. > > Cite: [Information | Legal Beagle](http://www.ehow.com/list_7411792_pennsylvania-funeral-traffic-laws.html) It doesn’t say anything about stopping for funeral processions going the other direction. You yield the right of way to a funeral procession that’s going the other way simply by not being in their lane (which is sensible and mandatory at all times anyways because of physics). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/211 "2012-09-23T02:58:31Z")
> [@gms453](#): > > Cute, and definately smug. Thanks, and you spelled “definitely” wrong. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/212 "2012-09-23T03:36:22Z")
He might have meant “defiantly”. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/213 "2012-09-23T03:41:58Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Thanks, and you spelled “definitely” wrong. 🙂 …so I did. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/214 "2012-09-23T07:23:17Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > I had a discussion in the pub tonight, admittedly only with a couple of folk, and they find the US thing of re-rinsing hilarious, making fair objections like that if you are rinsing the thing again then eventually the water is going to have this alleged “soap” in it anyway once you get to the end of things. And again pointing out that there’s no taste at all because the stuff is scrubbed off when you dry the plates. > > So there ya go. No one I know dries their dishes with a towel. They are left to dry on a rack and then put away later. And Shagnasty’s right about rinsing dishes - running water, not stagnant. A shower as opposed to a bath. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/215 "2012-09-23T11:16:28Z")
Yes, you rinse them under the tap, not in the dirty dishwater. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/216 "2012-09-24T00:23:50Z")
This thread just got really boring. LOL ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/217 "2012-09-24T00:33:23Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > I just remembered one! > > Toilet. Americans refer to the bathroom because the word toilet freaks them out. They like to pretend people are just going to wash their hands and maybe fix their makeup when they ask to use the bathroom. If their guests ask to use the toilet, they are assailed by mental images of that person actually using the toilet, which they find unbearable. I don’t understand this. Americans and Canadians say they’re going to the “Bathroom” or “restroom” (The term varies regionally) because that is the common expression for that _room_. The TOILET is a plumbing fixture, not a room. Here, saying you are going “to the toilet” would be like going to the kitchen and saying you’re going “to the microwave.” As to why people in other English-speaking countries use the term “toilet” to refer to a room that has more than a toilet in it, I’m not totally sure, but I think it’s a holdover from England. In visiting there I twice was in someone’s home where the toilet was actually in its own room, separate from a room right next door with a bathtub and sink. I’ve never in my life seen such a thing in North America, where those fixtures are more or less always in the same room, unless a house is additionally outfitted with a “Half bathroom,” e.g. a toilet and sink. So it may be that “the toilet” as the name for a room is from the fact that the English actually have rooms with just toilets in them. Most Americans (and Canadians) have never, in their lives, seen such a thing, so that word wouldn’t make sense to describe a room. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/218 "2012-09-24T01:17:36Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t understand this. > > Americans and Canadians say they’re going to the “Bathroom” or “restroom” (The term varies regionally) because that is the common expression for that _room_. The TOILET is a plumbing fixture, not a room. Here, saying you are going “to the toilet” would be like going to the kitchen and saying you’re going “to the microwave.” > > As to why people in other English-speaking countries use the term “toilet” to refer to a room that has more than a toilet in it, I’m not totally sure, but I think it’s a holdover from England. In visiting there I twice was in someone’s home where the toilet was actually in its own room, separate from a room right next door with a bathtub and sink. I’ve never in my life seen such a thing in North America, where those fixtures are more or less always in the same room, unless a house is additionally outfitted with a “Half bathroom,” e.g. a toilet and sink. So it may be that “the toilet” as the name for a room is from the fact that the English actually have rooms with just toilets in them. Most Americans (and Canadians) have never, in their lives, seen such a thing, so that word wouldn’t make sense to describe a room. Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/219 "2012-09-24T02:42:29Z")
That Americans don’t routinely put butter or margarine on their sandwiches. That, in some areas at least, you guys vote for every single possible person who could be voted for. Water boards, etc. I remember one bloke (in California, perhaps?) counting up his total possible votes for that year to something like 38. The religion thing I can agree with, from my UK perspective. I know it’s not like it’s the subject of every coffee break conversation in the US, and people pay lip service to religion a lot of the time, but it still seems SO much more prevalent than it is in the UK and I had previously assumed otherwise. I mean that those Americans on this thread saying that religion hardly ever comes up at their work probably - based on my impression from these boards - have it come up more often than it would in the UK. > [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t understand this. > > Americans and Canadians say they’re going to the “Bathroom” or “restroom” (The term varies regionally) because that is the common expression for that _room_. The TOILET is a plumbing fixture, not a room. Here, saying you are going “to the toilet” would be like going to the kitchen and saying you’re going “to the microwave.” > > As to why people in other English-speaking countries use the term “toilet” to refer to a room that has more than a toilet in it, I’m not totally sure, but I think it’s a holdover from England. In visiting there I twice was in someone’s home where the toilet was actually in its own room, separate from a room right next door with a bathtub and sink. I’ve never in my life seen such a thing in North America, where those fixtures are more or less always in the same room, unless a house is additionally outfitted with a “Half bathroom,” e.g. a toilet and sink. So it may be that “the toilet” as the name for a room is from the fact that the English actually have rooms with just toilets in them. Most Americans (and Canadians) have never, in their lives, seen such a thing, so that word wouldn’t make sense to describe a room. Yeah, it was formerly pretty common to have the toilet in a room separate to the bath. However, most US restaurants and other public facilities do not have baths in them either, and people still refer to it as the bathroom. ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930/220 "2012-09-24T03:11:33Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > That Americans don’t routinely put butter or margarine on their sandwiches. > . The thought makes my stomach curdle. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-name-a-thing-you-know-about-the-us-you-got-from-the-sdmb/633930.md?page=12)