questions about other countries that you've never gotten a straight answer to

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
181

You know what, I am from Scotland and I would really like an answer to this one myself. It is a fact that I have bemoaned for years, that if you want to meet people/go out, you have to meet in a pub. And this means that people drink, which often means drinking to get drunk.

I would guarantee that it is not just the sample of Brits that you are meeting…‘we’ are all at it.

I have always just asumed that it has a lot to do with the weather (and lack of light in the winter months). That being said, there are a lot of places afflicted with inclement weather - do they all turn to excessive amounts of alcohol? Can anyone else answer that?

I did notice though, that when I lived in the midwest for a few months, it was a lot less socially acceptable to drink too much, whereas it isn’t frowned upon that much here.

182

For non-Americans trying to understand the appeal of our local dishes, you need to be aware that we also have a near-universal tendency to pour maple syrup over any questionable item.

Biscuits? Great with maple syrup.
Grits? Great with maple syrup.
Scones? Great with maple syrup.
Fritters and sausage cakes? Great with maple syrup
Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes with collard greens? Great with maple syrup.

Any dish becomes wonderful breakfast fare when drowned under the golden flowing nectar of the gods.

183

With regard to the drinking culture in Britain, I wonder about that too.

I have no particular evidence, but I wonder if the lack of a recreational, moderate drinking culture outside of pubs is partly to blame – e.g. no culture of a single glass of wine with dinner – so kids grow used to the idea of alcohol as something they can use to rebel and prove how “mature” they are to their friends – as opposed to actually being mature with alcohol from an early age.

Plus, licensing laws arguably encouraged a lot of drinking in a little time before more recent relaxation. A lot of drinks seem to be heavily marketed towards younger people, particularly sweeter, brightly-coloured drinks that to me seem to encourage drinking alcohol where you wouldn’t normally like a taste.

184

Er, what?? Just what part of these here Unites States are you from, anyway? The French-Canadian portion of Georgia? :smiley:

185

Actually, much as I like maple syrup, I know of no one who was born farther south or east than the Massachusetts border (for those playing along at home, that means Maine, New Hamster, or Vermont) who routinely douses everything with it. I have met the occasional cretin who douses everything with either ketchup or hot sauce, depending on the part of the country. I suppose syrup might have improved the only serving of grits I’ve ever eaten, but it wasn’t offered, and the grits were already pretty soupy.

Hmmm. I just remembered a Canadian I used to know who doused everything with syrup. But, he was from Montreal, which I think is still east of the Mass. border.

186

I don’t know if this is exactly the same thing, but I know that in Boston it’s common for Gen-Xers to drink for the express purpose of getting drunk. I’ve actually had some of them tell me they don’t even like beer, or whatever it is they’re drinking. They’re just drinking it to get drunk.

I don’t know when that became a worthy goal for otherwise adult young people, but apparently it did. My suspicion is that it is a result of a complete lack of exposure to alcohol, prior to the age of twenty one. When I was young, and the drinking age was eighteen, this sort of thing was common amongst 16-18 year olds (enforcement of the age limit was much more lax, back then). It seems that increasing the age limit simply moved the problem to a different decade of the drinker’s life.

187

I don’t know. I don’t follow women’s soccer (and yes, I must). Not because it’s women, but because it’s soccer. But it must be of account to SOMEONE. I mean, they actually play the games, right?

Here’s a :smack: for me for leaving Cuba off the list of countries where baseball is popular. I mean, duh.

188

In my brief time spent in various hotels and apartments in France and Germany, I found that showering was not particularly pleasant. I caught myself thinking long and hard about whether one was really necessary that day.

There tended to be an uncurtained tub, with a hand-held shower head. It was basically impossible to shower without soaking the floor, and to avoid hitting all the walls as well I had to shower while kneeling/sitting in the tub.

It was hardly the relaxing and energizing experience that showering stateside tends to be, IME. If that was typical of European showering facilities, I can’t say I blame those who don’t “partake” daily.

189

gex gex writes:

> American accents on TV don’t sound like American accents from
> real lif people. Except on Survivor, but that’s because they’re
> real life people. Do Americans notice this, or is it my
> imagination? Is there a TV-American accent?

I suspect that what you’re noticing is that a lot of American TV and movies are written, directed, and acted by people who haven’t been out of California for a while and who assume that they don’t need to do any research in the rest of the U.S., since they think it’s all very similar to California. This is why the accents are often wrong. This is also why these TV shows and movies often get the geography of other American cities wrong.

> Does Orange County really exist? I’ve seen it on maps, but no,
> really… does it actually exist?

There are two Orange Counties, one in Florida and one in California. Interestingly, both of them have a Disney theme park. This probably happened because it was cheap to buy up orange groves to build the theme parks on. Orange Country in California used to have a reputation as being full of hardcore conservatives, but that’s changing, I understand. The Representative from there who had a reputation as the crankiest of the conservative cranks in Congress lost an election a few years ago to a young liberal Hispanic woman.

190

Thanks for picking up my questions (waaay back on page 2, I think), Neeps. :slight_smile:

Here’s a thought: what’s the state of enforcement of liquor licensing laws in the UK? Here, while kids under the 18 can easily buy alcohol through an older friend or sibling (or parent), it’s pretty tough for them to get into licensed pubs and clubs. Kids may slip into some of the smaller suburban dives, but almost all popular licensed venues are VERY strict on asking for age identification.

In fact, bouncers at popular clubs will ask everyone in the line who looks less than 25 to produce some ID. The fines levied if the place is caught with underaged kids on the premises are HUGE.

Some people have indicated to me that it’s a lot easier in the UK for a 16 or 17 year to walk into a pub for a pint and a game of pool. Is this true?

Is eating squid in the US really that uncommon? Squid (called “calamari” in the eastern bits of Australia) dishes are very common in restaurants down here – and not just in South East Asian places. Myself, I had a tasty fresh salad with battered and deep fried squid at a pub just last week.

191

On the west coast of the US, calamari is on at least 50% of the “american-style” restaurant menus (grills, steakhouses, and the like). It’s usually battered & fried, then served with various sauces (Thai restaurants serve with plum sauce, the local grill has spicey aioli, etc.). I love the stuff, but finding someone who also enjoys it enough to share an order can be tough. :wink:

192

How is the US being very good at women’s soccer of “no account to anyone”?

I guess women’s sports just don’t carry the same prestige and importance as men’s, nevermind that most of those girls could kick your butt from here to next Sunday ;). See, ladies don’t DO sports. Men do.

:rolleyes:

I’m proud of the US Women’s team. They are damn good football players, and aggressive as hell. I will never in my life come anywhere near their ability.

193

Yep. Particularly outside cities, landlords and bouncers vary in their attitude, often turning a blind eye if you don’t look like a troublemaker. I have heard that in some countries bouncers and bar staff can be held personally liable for underage drinkers and fined; that’s not the case in Britain. High-profile bars and clubs are usually fairly restrictive, though.

194

Nah. Not really. That’s just my personal take on it. It’s almost always called calamari, here, too. Which, really, ought to be a clue that most people don’t like the idea of eating squid. I guess it’s okay, if they can pretend it’s just some exotic food with a pretty name, like calamari, but not if they have to think about the fact that they’re eating squid. Squid just isn’t an appetizing name. It even sounds slimy.

Here’s another food question for anyone over there, though. I’ve read that, until West met East, Asian cultures did not eat cheese. It was considered simply milk that went bad, and was disposed of. Is cheese still not appreciated over there?

195

Hmmm…ten hours later and no one has called me on that mistake, yet. Either no one’s reading my posts or people have suddenly gotten much more tolerant, around here. :slight_smile:

196

Re Drinking ages in the UK:

It’s 18, which in reality means about 16, unless you look very young. There are plenty of shops that will sell you drink at a younger age again.

Why do we drink so much? We like it. When ecstacy became a mainstream drug there were reports that the brewers were worried about their problems as pilled up clubbers tend not to knock back the Brittneys. So they bought the clubs instead.

197

If you want to understand English Drinking culture then you have to realise that there are actually two very different drinking cultures in England - in fact there are probably a lot more - others feel free to comment on these definitions:

Binge Drinking

Binge Drinking is more an extension of “Clubbing” back a couple of hours - because no-one wants to be first in the club…

This is very much drinking with the intention of getting absolutely and totally drunk. Its what you’ll generally see if you hit any major town or city centre on a friday or saturday night.

Its a very anonymous and transient culture:

  1. you’ll go out with people you already know and generally the only time you’ll ever talk to anyone else is if you are on the pull - i.e. looking for a girl/guy to snuggle up to on cold nights or (which is probably more likely) looking for someone with whom you can have a quickie in the back of your Escort XR3i with tinted windows and steel rims.

  2. You’ll have no real loyalty to any particular drinking establishment. You don’t care where (within reason) as long as the prices are cheap, the birds/blokes are easy and the music is “hip”. Plus you’re only staying there until the clubs open - then you are outathere…

Obviously drinking this way involves spending a helluvah lot of dosh, so a lot of pubs and bars are focussed primarily around grabbing as much of this section of pub-culture as possible. It’s also why it gets a very high profile - breweries/pub-chains etc. promote it because its a real cash-cow that they can milk. The media like it because its easy to sensationalise and scandalise.
Pubbing

Pubbing fits in more with the “Classic” image of English Pub Culture.

You go out for a drink because you enjoy having one, not necessarily because you want to get drunk (although it may well happen!). You go somewhere to chill, have a laugh, have a chat, maybe shoot some pool or watch the footie.

At the end of the day knocking back a couple Britneys is, in effect, only part of the experience - not the soul aim.

This is a much more static and community based culture:

  1. You find a nice pub (or couple of pubs) that you are comfortable in and like the people in and tend to stick with them - you may have one that you go to if you fancy playing pool, one thats nearby thats good for a quick drink, one where you know the bar-maid/man has a crush on you ( :wink: ) etc. etc.

  2. Because you drink in the same place regularly you get to know the others who do the same. This generally leads to pubs of this type picking up groups of “regulars” - mini-communities in their own right. This can of course be a good thing or a bad thing - a pub with a few racist “regulars” for example may well attract other racists etc.

these days, however, if you find a decent pub you will probably find that the regulars are a nice, friendly, and often remarkably diverse lot.

Because this is a much less extrovert and more subdued culture it tends not to garner a lot of attention, and whilst a helluvah lot of cash is spent - pubbers are much pickier about things like quality of booze, the place they drink, the food, etc. etc.

In conclusion both cultures have their pluses and minuses and obviously appeal to different kinds of people for various reasons, and whilst it is possible to do both, people tend to find themselves drawn to one or the other - and discussions about which is best often turn into full on holy wars.

truth be told either is perfectly valid its just a matter of personal choice.

I would say though that Pubbing is a lot more “traditional” and if you are visiting our fair isle and plan on sampling “pub culture” then make sure you try the second one and not the first - the first is very generic and global - binge drinking in London will be pretty much the same as binge drinking in tokyo, new york or sydney.

The second one though is very, very English :slight_smile:

198

Just as the man above said. There are also:

Event Drinking:

Eg on rugby international days when people will go to the pub to watch the game and get absolutely bladdered. Usually in their team shirt with games such as yard of ale etc.

Default Drinking:

You want to meet your male mate(s), so you go to the pub as it’s the only place you all know.

Afterwork drinking:

Is there anywhere more depressing than the staion pubs? Full of chaps having a few Don Revies before facing the wife.

Also “fun nights out” by David Brent alikes dragging their entire staff out to “fun pubs” to team build. Anyone in a pub in a suit after nine o’clock will be completely brahms. Its a rule.

199

You UK folk make me laugh.

When we were stationed in Italy the only english language TV I had was AFN. One day while surfing for anything to watch I ran across MTV Europe, cool, music!!! Then I realized at certain times of the day they had a british vj. Yippee!!! Only when she started talking I couldn’t understand a thing she said. I recognized the worlds but couldn’t grasp their meaning. Eventually I caught on.

And thanks for Robbie Williams. So when will he get to take over the 007 role?

200

Garius, as a foreign traveller I have to agree that my experiences fit perfectly with what you describe. I had done the whole bumming through europe thing before, but last fall I took things a step further and hitchhiked Great Britain for a couple weeks. When you are in London it may as well be a city in the US as far as clubbing is concerned, though I must say it was remarkable dead for a Thursday night.

Once you get outside the larger cities though, you get this incredible environment that is totally foreign to the states. You walk into a pub with your pack while you wait for the next ferry to let out a new set of lorries with which you can catch a lift. Everyone knows everyone and they all eye you a little funny. You step up to the bar, order a Guiness and take an interest in the pool table (very different from American tables by the way). Within ten minutes someone will challenge you to game and thrash you (I said the tables were different), but will treat you to another drink anyways. Inside of 45 minutes you know everyone in the pub’s first name and are exchanging stories, wit, and humor for as long as you care to stay.

The scene changes a little and certain places tend to be more open than others, but I had that scene play out a dozen or more times in Great Britain. I have never seen any drinking establishment in the states where it is that easy to meet new people, and being an obvious foreigner only makes it easier for you (after a little time where they are sizing you up). I wish we had something like the pub culture over here.