British Couple Reacts to American Social Etiquette

[@juliayoung537]

I was raised not to talk about religion, politics or money 🤷‍♀️, that advice from my parents has served me well for 60 years ❤️ Love y'all

[@peppermoon7485]

Same here !

[@lynnhauenstein4136]

Absolutely true re income except in high school or college asking about income. Wondering if I could get a dollar more at fast food. Ok to ask, but once in your career. Not polite.

[@SherriLyle80s]

Same. Even when others try to steer me into it, I remain neutral and change the subject 😂

[@emilywhitfield2780]

Same here!

[@joshualincoln7191]

If people cannot discuss those things without getting mad, that is their problem.

[@jonadabtheunsightly]

The frequent use of "like" as a filler word is particularly associated with California accents. In the Midwest we mostly use "umm". There are also dialects that use other filler words, e.g., "so".

[@DiamondPreston1234]

I'm shocked that ANY person , regardless of the country, would eat without their company. Children OR adult. Thats shocking for me. Even if I don't have enough food for an extra person , I would rather eat after that person leaves than eat without them. Even if they say no thanks, I still wouldn't eat with them there if they weren't joining me. That's probably a person to person thing than a country to country thing though.

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

Yeah more of a personal decision for you. Certainly not a country thing at all. Pfft

[@elkins4406]

As I remember the report that prompted that discussion, it was Sweden where children are not necessarily invited to eat with their friend's family come dinner time. It does seem shocking to us, but apparently it's not unusual there. Unless arrangements have been made explicit ahead of time, the assumption is that the child will eat later when they return to their own house - and in fact, some people commented that they wouldn't want to spoil the visiting kid's dinner, or insult the child's parents by implying that they couldn't take care of their own child. I can barely even *imagine* adults being willing to leave a visiting child to entertain themselves alone while the host family eats dinner, but I guess if you're used to it, it seems normal. Customs differ.

[@fred6059]

Oh no there is a rule in my house. You must eat if you are in my house. We will share our portions or go to the local pizza shop.

[@samanthamyers4267]

If I offer food twice and they don't want to eat, I will go ahead and eat.

[@christah4102]

I remember when this was trending on twitter. They were saying that (I think it was Swedish people) do not invite their children's guests for dinner. And people were saying that they were forced to sit in a room alone while the family ate. Everyone on twitter was bashing Sweden over this. lol

[@CaseyinTexas]

When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's, a common phrase I heard from my parents and our friends when visiting was, "You're more than welcome to stay for dinner. We'll have more than enough for everyone."

[@erinh8159]

I’ve never run into anyone rude enough to not invite the child to dinner. But there are rude people out there.

[@truthseeker6532]

Yea, I once met this person, Erin H.... so mean, so rude so..... j/k lol!!!!!

[@jenniemitchell7731]

I saw something on, I think, TikTok, where people were laughing and recording that they are all eating this big meal and there was a kid who didn't have money when they went, so he was sitting at the table with no food and looked so sad. EVERYONE in the comment section were just going insane on the others in the video for not sharing or buying him something. I think it says a lot about a person's character to just not care. That comes back on you in some way or shape. It's so rude.

[@gabegood8989]

Friends in childhood always knew they could come to our house either to stay for a night or for a meal, in school it wasn't uncommon to have a few of my older brother friends sleeping in the game room downstairs (basement), they didn't have the best home life so they moved around to stay in school until graduation. Decades later they are considered honorary "kids" by my parents.

[@Maeshalanadae]

Takes a village to raise a child. We seem to have forgotten about such things. When families had doors open to their children’s school friends and all.

[@Alex-kd5xc]

That’s interesting. My home was never quite that open to friends. My parents considered to be more of a privilege, so I could only have friends over infrequently and they definitely reserved the right to tell me no if they didn’t feel like having anyone over. And they’re quite friendly people, so I think it was more of a discipline/authority thing.

[@AstraSystem]

Our doors were also open growing up. My family didn't have much but friends knew they were always welcome to visit or sleep over and we'd feed them what we had. They were family. To this day, my mom has several extra children of different races who call her mom and ring her for advice.

[@FEARNoMore]

My mom would always feed my friends if they were here during breakfast, lunch or dinner. She would always say, you never know if other kids have enough to eat at their house or if someone cooks for them or if they cook for themselves.

[@patrickmccarron2817]

Yeah I had a friend who had a really bad relationship with his mom (and it was just him and his mom living together). It was always a given that he could stay at my house. He basically lived at my house for a month or so and thankfully my mom understood and treated him as family. To this day he’s my parent’s favorite among my friends. I had honestly forgot about that period until one day years later he thanked me and my family for it.

[@MomPita]

Growing up , everyone fed each others kids. And as a parent I feed anyone that's at our house.

[@michelehoffman1308]

Growing up the adults would say, "If you want to stay for dinner you need to ask your mother." It was only the polite thing to do to let the other parent know.

[@CrystalNibarger]

The awkward goodbyes he is correct about because I've even had phone conversations with family including my mom and dad where it's the long drawn-out out "bye".

[@duckfan2448]

In Asian households we actually ask everyone who comes over if they have eaten yet. And even if the answer is yes they'll sometimes offer you more food.

[@stephanien8628]

Same thing with Hispanic households 😄

[@johnwray393]

Yeah, from my experience this is the case for pretty much everyone. I grew up in the South where people will basically force you to eat and will be offended if you turn down a meal. You ain't leaving until you're full. Lol Same thing when I visited my Mexican friends growing up. We didn't really have a Asian community but I'd assume it's the same as you said.

[@01mia18]

I’ve seen the guest waiting for the family to finish dinner occurrence in British TV shows. One that comes to mind is the original All Creatures Great and Small. I remember a couple shows where James will sit off to the side while the family has their meal.

[@randallfender96]

I've lived all over the US, and everyone always invites guests to eat if there's a meal.

[@renee176]

You always ask company if they would like to partake in the meal, well at least where I come from in the states (the South) we do. 😊 I know we may say "let's have coffee" or "lets meet for coffee", but I think coffee is a catch-all for any drink you want to drink. It really doesn't matter what you may want to drink or eat for that matter; just phrases meaning "let's catch up" or I'd like to talk with you about this or that.

[@glennallen239]

In Wilmington, NC and mostly in the South we have Lingering Goodbyes. It is very common to stay longer and continue a conversation.

[@kansascitykid58]

There was only one time I didn’t ask a person to join us for dinner. A friend of my husband kept showing up, day after day, at dinner time. The man had money, so it wasn’t due to being in a rut. He got the message one night when we didn’t ask him to join us and he finally stopped showing up for dinner. We felt our generosity had been taken advantage of, awkward not inviting him to join us. We also felt the man put us in this position of rudeness to get him to stop coming when we didn’t expect him, unfortunately.

[@Stevarooni]

Some people have no qualms about abusing social norms.

[@sherribrock2726]

I’m from the US. We told our guests when we were younger that I could only have company until 6:00, knowing I would be eating at 6:30. This alleviated the awkward situation of do they stay or do they go.

[@lynntaylor9681]

Long goodbyes are very common here in the Midwest. Since Laurence moved here there was no chance he'd lose that habit since we do the same thing. Last time my dad and I visited my aunt for Thanksgiving it took 15 minutes for us to leave her house.

[@danielleshaffner3465]

Oh goodness we will always make a seat for you at our table.

[@anndeecosita3586]

My family’s culture and the way I was raised is that you don’t eat in front of people without offering them some. I think most Americans are sensitive to knowing someone especially a child is hungry.

[@debbieheckman]

If y'all live down south, everybody knows to start walking to the door 20 minutes before you've got to leave. That should be enough time to get the goodbyes out of the way. Should be.

[@Jamie_D]

Here for me (east midlands) it's a light knee tap along with a casual "right", or "well" to show our intent to leave without being direct 😅🤣

[@RyanWitalison]

The Long Goodbye is a big thing in the Midwest, in Wisconsin it usually starts with an I suppose which is followed by a half hour of chatting as everyone gets ready to leave, followed by more chatting as the host escorts the leaving party to their car which is followed by more talking at the car before the guest finally drives away to which the host is on the corner waving until the car is out of sight.

[@funnyusername8635]

The other day I learned about the opposite of this: the Irish Goodbye. It's when you duck out of a gathering or date without saying goodbye. You step away to use your phone and poof, you're gone!

[@ivane5110]

Lol, my grandma never suffered from dragging out a goodbye. When she was done you'd hear a click, get no response when checking and know the conversation was over. For people knew to it they get the added "fun" of calling back thinking they'd accidentally been cut off by phone issues, only to get the reply 'No' and hear the click again.

[@Teresia12]

In our house growing up and in my own home if you were in the house you eat. I've been told it's a southern thing. I don't know about in the north. But down here when you're leaving we you say your goodbye in the house, while gathering coats etc then someone mentions something and the con ersation continues to the car and down the driveway. Tennessee, USA

[@argonwheatbelly637]

Same in NJ.

[@annealissa]

When I was a kid we only fed a friend that was over after they called their parents and asked permission. If my mom hadn't planned for a guest and we couldn't afford to feed them, my friend would have to go home. We never eat in front of a guest without offering them some.

[@nyneeveanya8861]

I’m a southerner from USA. Where British ask want some tea. We usually ask you want coffee or iced tea. And if you stay longer than ten minutes you’re asked if you want something to snack on. If you’re there when a meal starts you’re not asked if you want to dine it is just accepted that you will be eating as well. As far as knowing my parents income the only time I asked about that was when I was applying for student tuition loan. Just needed total income for the previous year. Don’t know how much was moms wages, dads military retirement, or dads job wages.

[@Pappy_1775]

* If you go back to the beginning of the video you'll see that the letter writer was talking about northern Europe, not Britain not letting people stay for dinner. * It used to be in the US that you could get fired from your job if you discussed how much you made with others in the company. It's because some people make more than others for doing the same job.

[@b.slocumb7763]

I think he’s referring to if you went to visit friends or family and if you were staying at their home- if they just went and had their own dinner and never said anything to you, that is totally weird. If you invite someone to stay in your home, expect that you would all be dining together at least for dinner, and be sure to discuss how to handle the other meals.

[@GilaMonster971]

Millie and James misunderstood what Lawrence said. He said Northern Europeans left the kid hungry. Not North Americans. I would feed anyone even if they were not in my home or a friend. If they came to my door and asked if I had any food I would find something for them.

[@wesleybush8646]

Lawrence has come into contact with the Midwest Goodbye. Can't say for sure if it's all across the USA, but it's in contrast to the Irish Goodbye.

[@pfcampos7041]

I think Lawrence said he has experienced both being invited to join and being ignored in the UK. My family is from Brazil, but I was raised in the US. Hospitality is very important in our culture. It is also a common attitude in the south where we lived. In our house a guest was always offered drink and or food when they were over. Even if they just stopped by for a brief chat. Also anyone working in our house. (lawn guy, electrician, cleaning lady...) were always offered refreshments too.

[@teressareeves5856]

Ah, yes, the long goodbye, good memories there. They're pretty standard in my family & friends who are very comfortable with each other. If the people, tho, are strangers or just unliked, the goodbyes are like 'it's been really nice getting together, have a good night, bye' as they are ushered out the door. But the door isn't closed until we make sure that everyone is safely in their vehicles & driving away. That's just common courtesy in my family.

[@robbieh.chafin6202]

Our house was the neighborhood house where everyone gathered as kids so if it's super time everyone would be invited

[@lindaeasley5606]

I think it's very rude to eat a meal with a guest over who sits in the living room and waits. Either invite them to eat with you or hold off eating till they're gone

[@SherriLyle80s]

My child's friend was constantly over my home and it ran into dinner time so I always just prepped for 3 kids instead of two. I think eventually her mother caught on and would make her come home around 5pm 😂 I would have dinner anywhere from 5:50-6:30p and I suppose she had a very late dinner.

[@BTinSF]

The Wall Street Journal had a fun article just the other day on how to train yourself NOT to use words like "like", "um", "well" and so on. But the use of "like" is very much a thing that has arisen in the last couple of decades. Never heard it when I was growing up in the 1950s.

[@ESUSAMEX]

In the northern Europe : Sweden, Norway and Denmark, it is common to NOT invite friends to stay for dinner. Lawrence was pointing out that he has been invited and not invited to eat in the UK. In America, it is very rude to eat in front of other people without offering some food. If the invited person declines the meal, it is ok to continue eating.

[@mcsmoothie7052]

I can’t imagine staying if you aren’t going to join. Wouldn’t you just politely say “ goodnight” at that point and leave? Who stays and watches other people eat? How cringe. LOL

[@ESUSAMEX]

@@mcsmoothie7052 It doesn't matter if someone stays or goes. The idea of not inviting someone is the real problem. I find so rude that I do not think the English language has the correct term to describe how rude it is. Yes, I would leave but I never have had someone not invite me.

[@mcsmoothie7052]

@@ESUSAMEX agree. That that is even a consideration in some countries was shocking to me when I watched the original video a while back.

[@JennyDM92]

As an American, I could never even imagine not feeding someone in my home at a meal. Even if I was just bringing out snacks. In front of them or not. Like that entire idea or thought process has literally never crossed my mind. I imagine that would just feel awful.

[@jenniemitchell7731]

My parents would feed anyone and everyone!!! If we had ordered pizza and there wasn't enough for an unexpected guest, they'd take out a head of lettuce and some veggies, some bread and make some non-fancy cheesy garlic bread toasted in the oven... That pizza would stretch when you can pass around a few more options to go with it. No child or adult ever left my parents house hungry, even a lot of the time with something my parents had in the freezer like a bag of frozen banana muffins or some chocolate chip cookies! 🤣💕💗 My best friend and her kids dropped some things off before Thanksgiving and she laughed because I took out a bag of frozen Dove chocolate caramel candies and threw it at them! 🤣 She said "I didn't drop all this off to walk out with a full bag of chocolate!" 🍫

[@livingwiththepets]

For the first one, you guys said youll leave if not invited to eat- which i think counts the same as sitting and waiting for your friend to return from their dinner in a room. Here, if youre at a friends house at any meal time, its assumed youre getting fed there 😂

[@katielaroche7950]

I’m so good at the long goodbye that I annoy my fellow midwesterners 😂 I’ll drag it out a solid 60+ minutes.

[@ChristaFree]

Americans feed anyone around. It doesn't even have to be dinner time. I've never known anyone who didn't offer food. That would be rude.

[@mcsmoothie7052]

I feel like using a tag question at the end of a statement in the U.S. would have the exact opposite effect. It can come off as aggressive. A tag question could easily be the predecessor to a fight.

[@stephanien8628]

Yeah, it would sound kind of condescending

[@scottm2649]

I agree completely. If someone said that to me I would think it would be passive aggressive and it would piss me off. A simple don't burn the fries I would be ok with but still would answer with a "no shit".

[@scitizenkane1]

Or a "thanks for that, because I definitely was going to stand up here and just twiddle my thumbs while watching the fries burn"

[@ginnys9831]

Now that you've bought a new house, it's time to get separate headphones!

[@ske-pho3049]

As an American, the number one annoyance that this video touched on is how long it takes for people to say goodbye. I’m an introvert with social anxiety. I want out when I want out and I’m reasonably ok with shoo-ing people out.

[@cryst2hu]

That's when you just leave early, there's one holiday I hate going to but being family we have to go, we eat do presents quickly and get out, we're just lucky it's Christmas eve and we have an excuse to get out of there without being rude.

[@terrycarter1137]

James and Millie, everytime i hear the word "like" as a sentence filler i think of "valley girl speak" from the 1980s. example "like narly, gag me with a spoon." or "like he's so like awesome, like ya know."

[@lisarogers3393]

We are the Beverly Hillbillies when saying goodbye. We follow each other outside while waving bye 👋…lol.

[@julielifejusthappens1232]

I don't talk about money or politics and I didn't use to talk much about religion but that has changed over the years. I will answer questions about my beliefs but I will not argue about them. I don't talk loud and I know this because most people ask me to repeat myself. That is when I'd pretty much yell.

[@gazoontight]

My family ate early and my aunt’s family ate later. My cousin and I would hang around my house for early dinner and then go hang around his house. We regularly ate two dinners.

[@jasonmistretta4295]

3:30. I am agreeing with James & Millie on this. I know growing up in the 1970s & 1980s (I'm clearly an older viewer) I was never invited to dinner when I played at my friends house. "It's time for dinner" meant that I had to go home to MY HOUSE for dinner & that play time was over--hahaha.

[@jstrie275]

In America put another potato or 2 in the pot and make things stretch, everybody eats

[@yossiea]

I thought of you guys when I was at a casino and a group of young Brits just moved inches away from my face to talk to me.

[@joshuagenes]

On the phone I usually say "Well I should probably let you go" which is then responded to with alright I'll see you later bye" and then I say "bye".

[@frederickknapp5340]

My Mom always expected our friends for dinner, hell, even breakfast or lunch.

[@happycactus]

When I was a kid here in the US and I was a friend’s house playing. Their mother would politely say they are having dinner now and it’s time for me to go. They were right, my mother was going to have our dinner ready. However, that it little kid stuff.

[@JasonJrake]

I wonder if the no-feeding-young-guests thing in Scandinavia is an echo of the starvation they faced during WW2?

[@marieneu264]

We would feed the kid too, unless they’re that kid that is around EVERY SINGLE DAY and prefers your home cooking to their own. There’s moms that get home from work late and will actually ask the neighbors to please not feed their kid.

[@madhatter909]

We had about four kids who practically lived with us through High School. It got to the point I got a kid in trouble by saying he wasn't there but he was in the basement the whole time. I couldn't keep up.

[@zuzax1656]

When I was growing up and one of my friends was still around at dinnertime, my mom would call the friend's mom to see if it was alright for them to stay. Since most families ate together, nine times out of ten, their mom wanted them home for dinner. If their mom ok'd it, then she would ask my friend, and say it was ok with their mom. Usually, my friend would still go home because, again, it was when most families were together, for a while, at least.

[@danielleshaffner3465]

It has always been instilled in my brain from childhood that you never discuss politics, religion or money unless it’s extremely close friends or family and even then it’s touchy. I tell my children the same and I have two adult children and two much younger ones.

[@Msflamingo-wl4qo]

British people seem very polite even during an arguement. I've watched videos of British people getting into lil fender-benders & they're like, "You hit my car. Well get on with it." Here in the US it seems we drop curse words even when we're happy! 🤭

[@navydoc43]

I'm from Minnesota and leaving in the midwest takes forever. You guiltily come up with an excuse to leave, you talk as you walk to the door. you talk at the door for 20 minutes, then do the same outside the door. then you get in your car and talk as you get fed up and back your car out. Funny thing is that neither person wants to talk that long, it's just painfully polite.

[@judithham2320]

I would be truly embarrassed to eat in front of guests without offering them something. That is horrible manners. Everyone in the house is fed if they are there at mealtimes.

[@boondoggled1]

“Like” is from Valley Girl days in 80s and in tv and movies. It’s passed on heavily after that. Some people sound really stupid cuz that’s all they say 😂

[@bigtrucks78]

I can't speak for people in the North. But here in Texas or for that matter in the south. If dinner is being fixed or served. The guest or company is always invited to a meal. It's called Southern Hospitality.

[@AD-fb6qf]

Lol the multiple bye thing made me laugh, I did not know that. We definatly don't do that here in the US, sometimes I think I have said bye too quietly and it may have sounded like I just hung up on the other person lol, but no one cares if that happens

[@terryomalley1974]

Apparently, I've heard that, in in Nordic countries like Sweden snd Finland, it's not customary to invite someone visiting your kid to join you for dinner. They're quite the frigid types in Scandinavia, I guess.

[@runrafarunthebestintheworld]

Oof

[@cjpreach]

I've never heard of the visitor sitting while others eat. Every culture I've ever heard of feeds visitors.

[@mmc8539]

The long goodbye is a Midwest thing. It's known as the "Midwest Goodbye," and yes, it takes at least 30 minutes.

[@madhatter909]

I've learned to thank the hostess and sneak out!!!

[@mmc8539]

Teach me, oh wise one! I beg you! 🙏 Do you also manage to walk out without leftovers you will never eat, or things you don’t, want, need, and/or will never use?

[@marianncadmus9572]

My Grammy would offer food as soon as you walked in her house!

[@adriannecote5319]

We grew up poor but my mother could always spread out what she had to feed the kids visiting. If all of us were outside everyone would go home when Mom called us in. If they were indoors when supper was ready they usually stayed unless it was something they didn’t like. In my generation it was Ahh when you are gathering your thoughts and the younger generation now use like after the 80s movies with mall girls from southern CA.

[@zyzor]

Usually my friends parents would offer me food if I happened to be there while they were eating, sometimes I’d know that was my cue to go home, other times my friend would finish dinner and want to play afterwards. Never come across any rude families

[@Ameslan1]

Hey James and Millie.. When you finally come to the USA for a Holiday trip and go to any restaurant no matter if it is fast food or fancy dinner restaurant, it is not bad manners if the servers bring your dishes and if something is wrong or missing or cooked cold or not enough like steak if you ordered medium or medium well and the steak comes to your table rare, you can kindly tell the server to fix whatever is wrong with your dinner. You do not have to be angry or rude, just nicely and firmly tell the server what is wrong with your order and the servers will gladly fix any errors! :) If you order something at McDonalds or other fast food restaurant, make sure you check inside the bag if your order is correct and if something is wrong, kindly inform them to fix the error It is YOUR MONEY so you should get what your ordered especially if you make specifics to your order!

[@aquiamorgan2416]

And American's have this little "mm" noise to soften the sudden goodbye, so it sounds like "Mmbye" sometimes if we're feeling cute it's "mmbuh-bye". Lol

[@anniebalsbaugh2093]

You gotta watch "the Midwest Goodbye" on Charlie Berens KZbin channel, he is soooo funny, my family came from WI., so I get his humor

[@carolgage4569]

I was 5 or 6 and was invited to lunch at my playmate’s house. I BEGGED to be allowed to stay. When I went home, they wondered why I was hungry, and I had to admit that I had been offered peanut butter….which was (for me) a no-go!

[@PaulieVavoom]

Inserting the word "like" between every other word has it's origins circa 1980 in the California San Fernando Valley (north LA) better known as "The Valley" and home of "Valley Girls" who constantly insert "like" into like every sentence so it can be like really superfluos, like so repetitve, like oh my god! They made a movie about it called Valley Girl and before the movie, Frank Zappa's daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, released a song that perfectly captures Valley Speak, and it's worth listenting to on KZbin, Spotify or your favorite streaming music service, and it's called "Valley Girl."

[@marieneu264]

Those two Brits, or something like that, won a travel channel award recently.

[@michelehoffman1308]

I don't recommend them. All they do is put down America and laugh about how people get triggered by it.

[@abaddon2864]

Just FYI - Voting is closed on the blogsphere awards.

[@anneboban2002]

I know many people that are hard of hearing, and they don't want hearing aids. So, they talk louder and I have to speak louder to them. The "like" is usually the younger people.

[@harveythepooka]

In the US it would be considered rude NOT to invite someone to stay for dinner at dinner time. To hold dinner or say well, we're about to eat . . . (so get out) would be considered rude. So long as there's something in the fridge you will fill out the meal to feed everyone.

[@natemalnaa1]

I feel like people should talk about money more especially if you're in the same field/company that way you know if you're making the same as another person/gender, it's not illegal to ask about it and there's always gonna be a pay gap

[@Scorpio-19]

I hate coffee but beer? I am there❤️😎. It's always 5 o'clock some😂

[@FEARNoMore]

I think you too have to also consider your age difference with Lawrence. Back in his younger years when he lived in the UK, etiquette may have changed and he's speaking from what he knew 10, 20 yrs ago.

[@corinnepmorrison1854]

I grew up in Southern California... My friends were always welcome to eat at my house... My dad did a lot of barbecuing, so we ate a lot of burgers, steaks, chicken and spareribs!!

[@josephharrison5639]

The only reason I know how much my parents make is cause I had to enter that to find financial aid for college. However my local country radio station has a segment in the mornings called share your salary where a bunch of folks share how much they make and the hosts have to guess before they give it away

[@doommaker9813]

American here and I would never not invite a kid to eat. I always feed everyone. 😂

[@lacey9896]

We say "Like" because it's just like that you know.

[@Mkproduction2]

Here in the South, You DO NOT go to someone's house and expect NOT to be offered... to the point of being FORCED to eat and/or drink SOMETHING. Dinner, desert, leftovers, cookies homemade/ store bought OR COOK YOU SOMETHING WHILE YOU WAIT. Frankly, to refuse is not just poor manners on the guest part. To turn down an invitation to break bread is akin to insulting someone's mother and has lead to family fueds that last Generations. So pro tip.. If you're in Charleston or the South in general, just say Thank you Ma'am or thank you sir.

[@hannelinorrgard2403]

I've never known an American who would not feed guests at the house. Often, if the guests are kids, and staying that late wasn't planned, the owner would have the kids contact the parents to see if it's ok first, though. When I was younger, our house tended to be the hangout house for my older sister and her friends because there were no rules and they were all welcome, and my mom would never have thought to not feed any that were there during a meal (even if we were having takeout, and she had to buy food for them).

[@GilaMonster971]

Yeah, Lawrence said Norther European countries....and I think Millie and James thought he said North American.

[@Aussiesuede]

If my mom was cooking something for dinner I didn't really want to eat, I'd always ask some friends over because when there wasn't enough to feed everyone, she'd just order out for pizza and put what she cooked in the fridge. Operation Avoid A Dodgy Meal? Mission accomplished! Now Dad on the other hand got the dodgy meal when he arrived home. Poor fella had to look longingly at those empty pizza boxes that he paid for but didn't get to enjoy whilst he chummed down some liver & brussel sprouts, or some other gawd awful gastronomic monstrosity that mothers enjoy punishing innocents with.

[@dianabodemer1889]

You need to take your father out for a steak for Father's day, his choice. Absolutely epic, lol.

[@donnymiddlebrook]

A lot of Americans would serve their guests.

[@Therealhoopangel]

it's fun seeing people actually learn American culture instead of bashing it constantly. As an American, I to enjoy a bit of America slander but it's fun seeing people learn ab it too.

[@PaulieVavoom]

I think I asked my father, just one time, how much money he made. I must have been about 12 years old. Not only did he not tell me, but he pointed out that that was not a question I should be asking anyone.

[@yugioht42]

during business meetings you don't have time to talk things out. its literally get to the point fast and outline the plan. once done get that plan into action.

[@gilbertoesquivel9668]

I dare say, the reason we Americans hate talking about money is because we’re, on the average $100,000 in debt! In our dotage, we’ve forgotten our national wisdom: “Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” -Benjamin Franklin

[@kylesummers1565]

If we got invited to eat somewhere else, we had to ask permission from our parents. That actually served a dual purpose. Why was their kid at someone else's house at eating time? And, did my parents reciprocate? Looking back, I think they did. Peace, Love!!

[@SherriLyle80s]

He was nominated for Blogosphere but didn't win this time. Maybe next year!

[@MeanJohnDean]

Some people say "to be fair" every other sentance.