People Are Sharing Things That Americans Do In The UK That Horrify Them

Over on Reddit, people are sharing all the things they believe are socially acceptable in the US, but would be 'horrifying' in the UK.

Redditor u/TownImmediate9060 started off the thread - which now has more than 46,000 comments - by posing the question: "What is socially acceptable in the U.S. that would be horrifying in the U.K.?"

As people weighed in on the debate, topics ranged from social norms and the pronunciation of certain words through to religion and travel.

Some people threw out some fairly straightforward concepts like 'not pronouncing the "h" in "herbs"' or 'naming your child Randy', while others dug a little deeper.

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One person brought up the idea of how you pay for things in the US, which Brits just can't get their heads around.

They wrote: "Stores showing the price pre tax. Here in the UK the price you see is the price you pay."

Agreeing, someone else replied: "As someone terrible at maths - shopping in the US stressed me out so much."

On the topic of money, another user said: "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."

Others seemed to share their stance, with one person adding: "Yeah, and then bring you the receipt to sign it... I'm in Europe and I haven't signed a credit card receipt in over a decade."

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Some also pointed out that contactless payment is something that some parts of the US are 'really behind on', while it's obviously become the norm in the UK - and even the preferred method during the pandemic, due to hygiene reasons.

Similarly, others discussed how tipping is often different in the two nations, with one saying: "I explained to my American bf that we rarely tip in my country too cuz the bill that you pay includes service tax for the servers (10%). Tipping is only if you think the server goes out of their way to deliver exemplary service. Even then, the servers are not offended if you don't tip."

Another person suggested travel could be vastly different as well, given just how big America is, saying: "Anything taking over an hour to get to being a 'short trip'."

A second Reddit user added: "There's an insane amount of Americans that have an hour or more as their daily commute."

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And what about socialising?

"When somebody says you should come to their house sometime, actually going by their house sometime," someone said.

One person chirped up saying they'd learnt this one the hard way, explaining: "REALLY wish I knew this one before spending a year in the UK. I did some serious prep on the cultural norms but missed this one... Cue me chatting to someone at a luncheon who says very enthusiastically 'You should come over for dinner sometime!' and me responding 'I'd love to! Would next weekend work?'"

In the thread, there were also mentions for 'commercials advertising prescription drugs', 'addressing a stranger as "Sir"', 'sharing dorm rooms in college' and the use of the term 'fanny pack', which is what Americans call a 'bum bag'.

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On the topic of religion, examples included 'politicians mentioning religion when campaigning' and 'asking new neighbors, "Have you found a church yet?"'.

Someone else pondered the difference between how Brits and Americans eat, writing: "Huge portion sizes. Kids meal in U.S is like a adult meal in U.K."

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Another user echoed the idea, saying: "My observation, Brits drink like Americans eat. Americans eat a lot more and have bigger portions, but holy s*** folks from the UK drink waaaay more than your standard American. Hard to explain how much more. I remember drinking with Brits the first time. I was fresh out of college in my drinking prime. I reached the point where I normally hit the brakes and take it easy, and instead they just hit the gas."

Also in the field of food, someone else raised the American obsession with ranch dressing, commenting: "Putting ranch dressing on everything. Baked potato? Ranch. Spaghetti? Ranch. Chicken and waffles? Yup. Ranch."

Check out the full thread - and add your own ideas to it - on Reddit here.

Topics: UK News, News, US News, Reddit

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman