What is perfectly appropriate and normal in one country can raise some eyebrows in another. Or, to put it another way, welcome to Planet Earth, where you will find a diverse range of countries and cultures that will astonish you as you travel.
This time, we’ll compare and contrast the gaps between the US and the UK. Though we should not forget that the two countries have a “unique bond”, and we love both cultures equally.
TownImmediate9060, a Redditor, went to r/AskReddit to find out what is socially appropriate in the United States but would be shocking in the United Kingdom. The thread went viral, and the responses made us realize how important the gaps between the two allies are. Take a look at some of the best responses below.
1. “Cashiers being forced to stand… give them a fucking chair you masochists”
2. Always horrified by the ads – both the content and the recurrence! Bloody hell, all your TV has like an ad a minute
3. Paying more than the price you see on a price tag in a shop due to taxes. WTF just put how much it costs!
4. New mothers going back to work almost immediately after giving birth, because they don’t have paid maternity leave
5. An $800, four-block ambulance ride.
6. That whole thing where American kids pledge their allegiance to the flag. That is completely weird and scarily totalitarian to us Brits.
––Naugrith
7. Overworking. It’s rewarded and encouraged in the U.S., but during my time in the U.K. my colleagues were horrified by the long hours and lack of holidays that was the norm in the U.S.
––CuriousAboutLife0,Alex Kotliarskyi
8. Telling me how much the tip is going to be.
9. Not pronouncing the ‘h’ in ‘herbs’.
10. When my Brit friends were visiting, they were horrified when the waiter took their credit card to swipe back at the terminal. This made them REALLY uncomfortable.
––cn45
11. Asking new neighbors, “Have you found a church yet?”
12. Greeters in supermarkets. Just feels fake.
13. Huge portion sizes. Kids meal in U.S is like an adult meal in U.K.
14. I don’t know how common it actually is there, but going fucking wild at the cinema during a hugely popular film like Avengers: Endgame or a Star Wars film. There’s a bunch of videos on YouTube of the audience reactions to various big franchise films and I don’t know how anybody lasts more than a few minutes in that room.
When I saw The Force Awakens like two people half-heartedly cheered when the title screen came up and then someone immediately told them to shut up.
15. Spray on cheese
––Stew32
16. Cutting lines for things, I’ve seen some people when going to Disney world trying to cut lines for random reasons. Queueing in the uk is like our national sport
17. Chanting the acronym of your country at any given opportunity.
––NeonDave
18. Responding to work emails while on leave/vacation.
––rekharai
19. Addressing a stranger as ‘Sir’
20. Greeters in supermarkets. Just feels fake.
According to you what is socially appropriate in the United States but would be shocking in the United Kingdom?
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