Would You Like Fries With That??
Well, That's me back from the states! I had a really good time, and I'm sure I shall post at greater length on the subject in time. But for now I'm going to note a few thoughts I had about the similarities and differences I found amusing/annoying between the Americans and ourselves.
Firstly language. It's often said that we are two countries seperated by a common langauge, and in some cases it's very true. What screwed me up most was the slightly different uses of words describing food. Particularly fast food. I couldn't resist being a gut bucket over there!! In Scotland, we call chipped fried pototoes (the ones you get in McDonalds) Chips. In USA, they're Fries. In USA, Chips are what we call Crisps. (The kind you get in small bags in flavours like Salt and Vinegar). You can see how that would screw a guy up! I ordered a hot dog and chips, expecting to get a hot dog and 'fries' and all I got was a lousy packet of crisps!!
And what we would call a biscuit ie. a small crumbly snack sometimes covered in chocolate, the Americans call a cookie. Now we all know this and it wasn't annoying, nor did it cause me any hardship whatsoever, but it amused me as what the Americans call a biscuit is what we call a scone (pronounced scon for any Americans reading this) and a scone is most often eaten here with butter and jam (jelly USA) and clotted cream and enjoyed with tea, but they eat it with fried chicken and cover it with gravy. What's that all about?!
I did like the service you got in restaurants and diners. It was top class. I got a real shock when I was asked how I would like my eggs, as here you get told what kind of eggs you're getting, like they're either fried or scrambled but there they ask you how you like them and you can get them fried hard or runny scrambled boiled, whatever. Well cool. If you asked for them done a different way here you'd get a slap.
I have to say, the Americans are sooooooo polite. it was quite humbling actually. There was a lot of sincerity there. I don't think I met one single sullen individual the whole time I was there. This was a really pleasant surprise to me. I have to admit, I've read a lot of American news and current affairs since 2000 and I was expecting either Loonyland or Mordor, but that's obviously limited to Tallahassee and the administrative centres of each of the republican states. (Where do you dig up these politicians?).The people on the streets were warm and welcoming, and I'd like to thank them for that.
The weather was glorious. But I'm glad we left before the start of Hurricane season!
Why do Americans drive such big cars? I got into the car rental place and the guy said, 'now, you've booked an economy car, it's tiny'. I said yeah. That's fine with me. He said 'are you sure you don't want something bigger, I've had cancelletions for this week. I just want you to have the best possible time here..' I was quite worried about driving over there anyway, as I've never driven an automatic before, we just don't get them here, and I drive a sporty supermini on a daily basis (smaller than the economy car) and that's not to mention driving on the other side of the road. So I was delighted with the economy car. Plus I was amused at the thought that the size of car I had would somehow have an effect on how much enjoyment I got out of my holiday? Anyway, he just couldn't help himself, and he gave me this big bloody Chrysler Sebring thing, which was like driving an oil tanker, and carried just about as much petrol (gas USA). Any way, I thought my car was big. as soon as I got out on the road, I realised I was in toytown. It was like being in an austin mini in the middle of a monster truck rally. No wonder the USA is responsible for 75% of the worlds carbon emissions! And as for talking about 'pain at the pumps' they wanna see what we have to pay for gasoline. It was $2.70 per gallon. That's about £1.50 roughly. Now, there's just under 4 metric litres in an American gallon, and we pay 94.9 pence per litre so for an American gallon, we pay nearly £4 which is roughly equivalent to $7.40! They do travel over longer distances than us, in their defence.
All in all though. We had a thouroghly enjoyable time, and I'll no doubt post more in the future!
Firstly language. It's often said that we are two countries seperated by a common langauge, and in some cases it's very true. What screwed me up most was the slightly different uses of words describing food. Particularly fast food. I couldn't resist being a gut bucket over there!! In Scotland, we call chipped fried pototoes (the ones you get in McDonalds) Chips. In USA, they're Fries. In USA, Chips are what we call Crisps. (The kind you get in small bags in flavours like Salt and Vinegar). You can see how that would screw a guy up! I ordered a hot dog and chips, expecting to get a hot dog and 'fries' and all I got was a lousy packet of crisps!!
And what we would call a biscuit ie. a small crumbly snack sometimes covered in chocolate, the Americans call a cookie. Now we all know this and it wasn't annoying, nor did it cause me any hardship whatsoever, but it amused me as what the Americans call a biscuit is what we call a scone (pronounced scon for any Americans reading this) and a scone is most often eaten here with butter and jam (jelly USA) and clotted cream and enjoyed with tea, but they eat it with fried chicken and cover it with gravy. What's that all about?!
I did like the service you got in restaurants and diners. It was top class. I got a real shock when I was asked how I would like my eggs, as here you get told what kind of eggs you're getting, like they're either fried or scrambled but there they ask you how you like them and you can get them fried hard or runny scrambled boiled, whatever. Well cool. If you asked for them done a different way here you'd get a slap.
I have to say, the Americans are sooooooo polite. it was quite humbling actually. There was a lot of sincerity there. I don't think I met one single sullen individual the whole time I was there. This was a really pleasant surprise to me. I have to admit, I've read a lot of American news and current affairs since 2000 and I was expecting either Loonyland or Mordor, but that's obviously limited to Tallahassee and the administrative centres of each of the republican states. (Where do you dig up these politicians?).The people on the streets were warm and welcoming, and I'd like to thank them for that.
The weather was glorious. But I'm glad we left before the start of Hurricane season!
Why do Americans drive such big cars? I got into the car rental place and the guy said, 'now, you've booked an economy car, it's tiny'. I said yeah. That's fine with me. He said 'are you sure you don't want something bigger, I've had cancelletions for this week. I just want you to have the best possible time here..' I was quite worried about driving over there anyway, as I've never driven an automatic before, we just don't get them here, and I drive a sporty supermini on a daily basis (smaller than the economy car) and that's not to mention driving on the other side of the road. So I was delighted with the economy car. Plus I was amused at the thought that the size of car I had would somehow have an effect on how much enjoyment I got out of my holiday? Anyway, he just couldn't help himself, and he gave me this big bloody Chrysler Sebring thing, which was like driving an oil tanker, and carried just about as much petrol (gas USA). Any way, I thought my car was big. as soon as I got out on the road, I realised I was in toytown. It was like being in an austin mini in the middle of a monster truck rally. No wonder the USA is responsible for 75% of the worlds carbon emissions! And as for talking about 'pain at the pumps' they wanna see what we have to pay for gasoline. It was $2.70 per gallon. That's about £1.50 roughly. Now, there's just under 4 metric litres in an American gallon, and we pay 94.9 pence per litre so for an American gallon, we pay nearly £4 which is roughly equivalent to $7.40! They do travel over longer distances than us, in their defence.
All in all though. We had a thouroghly enjoyable time, and I'll no doubt post more in the future!
posted by Stouff at 11:46 am
5 Comments:
OK, the bisciut thing? That's totally southern U.S.A. If you come up north, we eat them with butter and jam like normal people.
I cannot believe that you only paid $2.70 for gas/petrol. I'm currently getting raped and paying $2.93. Once it hits $3.00, I'm switching to roller skates. For real.
Next time you cross the pond, you should come to the North East!
I shoulda said that $2.70 was the cheapest we paid. There were some Chevron gas stations charging $3.15 for regular unleaded. Still our £4 a gallon ($7.40ish) trumps all. It's gonna hit £1 a litre here soon, and that'll be a shocker. At the moment It costs me £35 to just about fill my tank, and that lasts me about 2 weeks. That's about what $75. And I drive a 1.4litre Seat Ibiza (small car) that gets 53miles to the gallon motorway. Sheesh.
I've always wanted to see New England (better than the old England, hehe) and it's a priority. Our trip across the water has really whetted the appetite to see more of the US! It really is a cool place!
Yeah, I guess I can't talk too much over here because I've been trying to get my ass over to the United Kingdom for years now. Soon though.
It's quite expensive to come here, but it'd be worth it. We're quirky! And we're all different aswell! Four different countries to explore, different cultures and customs, languages the whole shebang. Scotland's the best, though. Not that I'm biased or anything....ahem....
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