Nonsense. Dental care is not at all hard to come by in Britain - you can phone a dentist, even if you are not already registered with them, and get an emergency appointment the same day, and an non-emergency one within a week or so - and medically indicated care is available either for free or very cheaply (compared to what it costs even for most Americans with dental insurance) via the National Health Service. In fact, in stark contradiction to the American stereotype, the dental health of British children is probably the best in the world, easily outstripping that of the United States.
British dentistry differs from American, however, in putting much less emphasis on cosmetic matters (which are not covered by the NHS), such as perfect whiteness, invisibility of fillings and crowns, and, in particular, on perfectly straight teeth. Although such cosmetic procedures are available for a price, most people don’t bother. Thus, average British teeth are not so white and straight as those of middle and upper class Americans (who are often prepared to pay a lot for cosmetic dentistry), and you may be able to see stains, dark fillings or gold crowns. However, they are as healthy or healthier than average American teeth, and far fewer British children and teens are tortured with devices such as braces and orthodontic headgear.
Israelis certainly have that reputation among themselves - meaning that Israelis love to shake their heads and sigh and say how all of the *other *Israelis travelling abroad were so loud and pushy - but I don’t know how true it is in fact.
I’m from New Zealand and was surprised to find that UK primary schools don’t have on-site dentists. In NZ, my primary school had a dentist and one of the most feared moments was when you were called up to go and visit the ‘murder house’.
I think my experience was pretty typical for New Zealand. I was allowed sips of Dad’s beer from about the age of 12. Around 15, I was allowed a 50/50 drink of wine/orange juice at special occasions, moving to full glasses of wine by 16/17.
I’ve never, ever heard of a school dentist. My school district didn’t even have a nurse for my last few years (and even before the nurse retired, she had to travel around to do her nursely things at all four schools). I think they had us file past an outside dentist once, but it was a one-off thing, and all he did was stick a flashlight in our mouths for a second or two.
sandra_nz - we never had an on-site school dentist but there was a dental practice in the area that was specifically regarded as “the school dentist” so all of the kids would go to that particular one.
I don’t have perfect teeth by any stretch of the imagination and I haven’t seen a dentist in over 20 years. However, I use a good quality toothpaste and change my toothbrush regularly. I have no problems with my teeth, they are strong and healthy - if at some point I do develop a problem, then I will see a dentist to get it dealt with. I don’t see my doctor unless I am ill (or need something from him) so why bother to see a dentist unnecessarily?
OK, so my teeth aren’t brilliantly shiny white and there are gaps between them, but that’s purely cosmetic and would (it appears) bother an American far more than it has ever bothered me. Maybe if Americans were less obsessed with cosmetic stuff…right?
The dental topic is interesting. I’m a Canadian who was born in the UK and moved here as a child. My parents never took us to the dentist on a regular basis. You went to the dentist when you had a toothache, etc.
Unfortunately that philosophy carried over into my adult life. Just 4 months ago I had my first real toothache as an adult and had to have a molar extracted. I have since had cleaning appointments and they have identified 6 small cavities that require attention.
Regular dental checkups are a pretty good idea. My dentist was actually pretty amazed that my teeth were as good as they were considering I hadn’t seen a dentist at all in about 30 years.
Depends on area I’m afraid- I spent 7 years without a dentist, living around Lancaster, which has a massive dentist shortage. I moved away for a bit for uni, and when I cae back, literally no-one would take me on. There was an emergency dentist, but it took me two weeks of phoning every morning when I got toothache to get an appointment.
Around where I live now though, NHS placements are ten a penny.
Kiwis are very keen on the whole tourist practical joking thing- I had guides and bus drivers try and persuade me: kiwi (birds) will attack on sight so everyone wears kneepads in woodlands; the parks are infested with carnivorous snails that will attack if you lie down (they do have carnivorous snails, but they’re about 15cm wide, at the most); and I spent a very frustrating evening with some daft English girls who were hunting for glowworms with a torch, having been persuaded that they were in fact ‘glow in the dark’ worms- they kept shining torches under bushes and looking for the glow, as they’d been told by some tour guide with an evil sense of humour- they’ll actually stop glowing if you shine a light on them.
I also worked at a hostel in NZ that had a policy of not accepting groups of more than 2 Israelis. I did meet quite a few Israelis who explained that the reputation was basically due to gangs of lads who’d just finished in the army, and then went travelling in a group together, which tended to act pretty similar to a group of squaddies on leave.
I met a few groups who pretty well exactly met that description (the only time the hostel broke that rule while I was there, the group trashed the room, and there were twice as many people in there in the morning as had paid), as well as plenty of really lovely Israeli backpackers.
Either the only Israeli tourists I’ve ever seen were Orthodox Jews who generally kept to themselves and who were very likely to have a book open if seen sitting down*, or every other Israeli tourist has been indistinguishable from the rest of the travelling world. I hope that doesn’t break your heart too badly.
And of course, these groups may perfectly well have been from any other country.
I’ve never actually met an israeli tourist - though a friend of mine swears a group of them pissed on his tent once. How he knew they were israelis, I don’t know. He was quite drunk himself at the time.
My understanding is that the reputations comes from young people traveling after their required military service. Often at that point they are extremely interested in partying, not in a culturally sensitive frame of mind, and often a little unbalanced.
In Canada, you don’t register your address with any government agency. And while you are required to show ID to vote, everyone has (or should have) a medicare card that, in Quebec at least, has a photo but no address. You can go to any motor vehicle office to get it. And while it is easier to vote if you have preregistered, you don’t actually have to be on the voter’s list. You do give an address when you register and that is where they send information like polling location, but there is no control over the accuracy.
Drinking age: I think the federal age is 19, but provinces are allowed to raise that. I think it is 20 here. But it is probably easier to get a drink than a pack of cigarettes underage.
It’s 18 in Alberta and Manitoba too. In theory the drinking age is set at the state-lever in the US too, but in practice the federal goverment won’t provide highway funding to any state that doesn’t set it at 21 (ironically it’s still 18 in all the territories).
A play-date is a very real yet obnoxious phenomenon most typically associated with upper middle-class women in American suburbia. It means that you meet a parent with a small child about the same age as yours and agree to get together so that the kids can play somewhere whether it is a specific park or the back yard a McMansion. The reason it is obnoxious is because it is so structured with set start and stop times. You don’t even know if your small kids actually like each other. They just have to play together for a set amount of time while the parent (usually the mother) chats with the other over coffee or something.
I have a general question about western Europe in general. They always say that Americans are almost puritanical about nudity and sex in general. I can see that in a way because what are essentially pornographic magazines and sex shops are available everywhere I have ever been in Western Europe and they make no attempt to hide them like they do here.
I have also heard it the other way. Europeans sometimes say they like the American idea about sex because it makes it special and it isn’t there. I can’t really wrap my American mind around this. I don’t think every European women takes her clothes off and puts out on demand but I don’t understand the conventions involved. You have to work pretty hard for it here and there is a clear hierarchy of acceptable levels of intimacy especially among some subcultures.
Play dates are organized, scheduled times for kids to play together. A Date…to Play. For instance, a mother might come up to me after school when we’re there to pick up our kids. “Ellie really wants to have a play date with Caileigh! Is she available on Saturday?” Then I have to say “yes,” or “no” (and risk wrecking my daughter’s social life) or “I have to check” or “she’s with her dad this weekend” or whatever.
Generally, the parent who brings up the play date hosts, but sometimes we make plans to meet at the playground, or the art studio or some other place where I would rather poke out my eyeballs with hot pokers. But…social development…
I’ve gotten play date invites by phone and email, too. Hurray for the school directory. :rolleyes:
Mostly play dates are for one invited kid, sometimes two. They’re not a party, in that it’s no one’s birthday, but they usually last about two to four hours and often involve a snack, an art project (which is then sent home for me to dust until the cat knocks it off a shelf and breaks it) and maybe some unstructured play time. Maybe.
And then you have to return the invitation. Within a week or two is preferable, but it better be within a month or your kid is a social pariah.
I would much, much rather tell my kid, “Go out and play” and let her wander over to Ellie’s house and ring her doorbell and see if she wants to play. But that’s just Not Done anymore. Seriously - my son is 20, my daughter is 8, and never ever not even once has a kid just rung our doorbell to see if they want to play. It’s always play dates. And we’re NOT upper middle class. We’re regular working class. It’s trickled down.
FWIW, when I visited England a few years back (I’m an American) it didn’t seem as though the people I saw had unusually bad teeth other than there being perhaps more overbites than I was used to seeing. I assume this is because fewer people there have orthodontic work to correct minor overbites. But I didn’t notice a lot of brown teeth, missing teeth, or otherwise nasty looking teeth.
I am a bit surprised by the non-US posters here saying they haven’t been to a dentist in years. In the US we’re advised to see a dentist twice a year for a cleaning (performed by a trained dental hygienist, not the actual dentist) and checkup. I haven’t had any dental problems in years, but I still go for my cleaning and checkup every 6 months. These appointments are covered by the health insurance I have through my employer.
I’ve always wondered why the names of countries and cities and the like aren’t “isolingual” (for lack of a better word.) For example, Germans call their country Deutschland, we call it Germany, the French call it Allemagne, etc. So why isn’t it just normally referred to as Deutschland (or Bundesrepublik Deutschland if you want to be precise) or at least whatever close approximation is possible for a given language?