7 Myths British People Believe About America - Part 1

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Upon much reflection, here are seven myths some British people believe about the United States of America.
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[@MurderMostFowl]

The simultaneous use of “fall” and “autumn” has been in America my whole lifetime at least and I’m 50. I do tend to notice “fall” being used more practically like “fall schedule” and autumn is usually reserved for something more descriptive like “an autumn breeze”.

[@elissahunt]

Seriously. I mean, the song, "Autumn Leaves" was written in 1945. I'm older than you, and I remember terms like "bonkers" and "jab" being used in my childhood. I think a lot of British folks, and Europeans in general, don't realize how many different regional vocabularies there are in the US. TV and the internet have spread them around more, but people still have particular preferences for words. One example can be a carbonated beverage. Is it "Pop?" "Soda?" or, where I am now, "Coke?" (Which can mean any brand or flavor of carbonated beverage.)

[@simonnading]

@@elissahunt I think a helpful tip is to remind them that each state is essentially equivalent to a separate European country. We all use English (some better than others), and the same currency, but having traveled a lot on both continents, it mostly works.

[@elissahunt]

@@simonnading That's a great way to look at it.

[@kennethferland5579]

It's kind of odd that we don't have any alternative for the term 'spring', and once your describing that season with a kinetic verb it feels very natural to do the same with it's oposite.

[@protorhinocerator142]

Autumn is more poetic. Like "The Autumn of our lives". Fall is more practical. It's there, get over it, no pumpkin pie for you, just shut up and get back to school. Autumn is for wearing fancy sweaters and sipping spiced apple cider by some jigsaw puzzle looking picturesque bay in Maine. Fall is for standing in the rain waiting for the stupid school bus to show up.

[@solarfuel]

As an American from the Midwest, I never thought of "bonkers" as a British word. It's just a normal American English word for me. Also, "autumn" and "fall" have always been interchangeable for me.

[@kathywiseley4382]

I'm Midwest also and I totally agree with you.

[@kindredanastasia]

Northern Midwest, and I agree.

[@nicobambino191]

Same, although I make a point to use autumn more because it sounds more pleasant to me

[@thomaswolf4642]

I'm in my mid forties now and I have used the term bonkers for as long as I can remember.

[@GreatCollapsingHrung]

I grew up mostly in Kansas and Nebraska, and it’s the same for me

[@jerometaperman7102]

I once read a comment in a magazine, way before there was an internet, that the tragedy of Canada was that it could have had American technology, French cuisine, and British culture. Instead, it ended up with American culture, French technology, and British cuisine.

[@JonAfek]

Best comment I've read in a LONG time! 🤣🤣🤣

[@mwaters421]

Lol British culture 🤣 😆 😂

[@PedroAce]

thank you for the hearty chuckle :)

[@freewilly1193]

@@meta45354 and look how well capitalism is going, eh bud?

[@casual_speedrunner1482]

@@meta45354 "Everything I don't like is socialism USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" You wouldn't know what socialism was if it slaughtered the entire population of Kansas.

[@caterjunes3426]

This didn't happen in Britain, but it possibly could have. My husband and I were on the Paris Metro, talking to a woman who asked us where we were from (our bad French must have given us away). When we told her we were from America, she said, "You can't be from America. You're not fat!" True story.

[@goldenhate6649]

That sounds like the french lol

[@dianesmigelski5804]

They must not have been from the Midwest 😂. As a base generalization overweight people come from states with heavy snowfall. That’s what I have noticed living in Michigan.

[@MrMojo271]

@@dianesmigelski5804it’s actually the South. MN was once voted the healthiest state

[@Criner05]

Fellow American here. When I was studying abroad in London once, a roommate of mine and I went to see a movie. Neither of us are fat, about 150-170 pounds each. We saw a man who appeared to be in his 20s sitting in the same row as us, about five seats away. He was obese and had a tray full of nachos, cheese, and a cup of pop. I said to my roommate "I bet he's American." After the movie ended we started talking about the movie and the guy joined in on the conversation. Sure enough he was American.

[@sittinandthinkin]

There is one person in each generation of my mothers family line with bright red hair. I never heard the term "Ginger" used (excepting a character on Gilligans Island) until Harry Potter hit the theaters.

[@anniebrowne9253]

My British husband believed that we have stacks of pancakes for breakfast everyday and I found this idea hysterical. I might have pancakes once or twice a year at most.

[@bigscarysteve]

In my family, "breakfast" means one thing, and one thing only--pancakes! I ate ONE pancake (not a stack) for breakfast EVERY morning when I was growing up. But that's because we come from a county where buckwheat is the staple crop. I actually grew up in a county neighboring the county where my extended family is from. When I was seven years old, my teacher asked the class, "What do you eat for breakfast?" I was the only one who answered "pancakes." The teacher looked at me really weird and seriously told me that you only eat pancakes if you're gonna run a marathon that day. Ha! What did she know?

[@Matty06001]

my very Scottish father didn’t care for pancakes, but he would eat everything else that you imagine in a British breakfast. Yes, all at once.

[@TriForce84]

We have pancakes fairly often in our family. Not everyday, but several times each month. I do love to stack them though, that is my favorite way to eat them.

[@TickleMeElmo55]

I tend to make pancakes maybe every other month usually on a Sunday morning. This month, for October, I made pumpkin pancakes.

[@jeanvignes]

I haven't had a pancake in many years. When we were children, they were a special treat (perhaps five times per year, usually on a Sunday.) Far too much mess and fuss for a weekday morning.

[@jordanhicks5131]

"You can just walk into a store and buy a gun no paperwork" Worked at a gun shop and had many foriegn nationals, not just brits, come in and think they could buy a gun on their travels in the USA as a tourist. Even more thought we just sold guns no paperwork or background check.

[@Sheriden.]

My sister and I were asked the same question.

[@Hiraghm]

that's how it's supposed to work.

[@darkwraithraziel6362]

Stop telling fibs! Everyone knows that as soon as you enter the border off the planes you are granted a complimentary gun that's personally delivered by a freedom eagle.

[@bigscarysteve]

I think that actually USED to be true. It came to an end in the late 1960's.

[@jordanhicks5131]

@@bigscarysteve correct, it's been 60 years since you could buy a gun from a shop with no background check, I believe that happened in '64 or '68

[@theeasternfront6436]

My favorite memory of explaining something American to a Britt was when we ran into a young man in Vietnam, he asked why Americans are so obsessed with cars (and trucks). I asked him how long it would take to drive across the UK, he said “from south the north, about six hours”. I pulled out my phone and pulled up a map of the US, I zoomed into the state we lived in, Washington, and I told him to drive West to East across all of Washington state would take you six hours. There was a long pause, his eyes got big, thats when I knew he understood. He finally exclaimed, I didn’t know the US was THAT big!

[@rashakor]

I had a French friend whose head exploded when i told him that driving from New York City to the Niagara falls (in the same state of New York) takes 7-8 hours drive. New York State is not even close to one of the largest state.

[@philipwagner9169]

It's like they say: in the US, you drive a couple of hours and you're still basically in the same place. In the UK, you drive a couple of hours and the accent has changed four times and bread rolls have a different name.

[@WHATTHEHELL666]

@Joe Which state are you from?/genq (I'm not sure which state you're talking about because there's a few states that big./g)

[@killerrosebudiscool]

As a Washingtonian, yeah that's pretty accurate. Spokane to Seattle's a 5 and a half hour drive and you have access to I-90 the ENTIRE way

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Regarding how *BIG* the continental United States is, without including Canada: When I was living in Dade County, Florida -- Miami is located there -- I once drove from there to Mobile, Alabama. I was in the US Coast Guard at the time, working at USCG Air Station Miami {at Opa Locka Airport}. I drove to Alabama to attend a USCG training class at USCG Air Station Mobile. The drive took two days. I could have PUSHED IT in just one, but IIRC regulations at the time limited the maximum amount of daily driving. You can drive ACROSS Florida, east-to-west, in just a couple of hours {depending on location & traffic}. But going north-to-south, that CHANGES THINGS.

[@FSMface]

I honestly think land mass misunderstandings play a gigantic part in stereotypes of American life. Also, regional romantic notions tend to skew more towards fictional , almost comic book like depictions. I live in Texas. I do not own a horse or cowboy boots. But it still takes 10 hours in my Honda to drive to see mum and dad (also in Texas).

[@BambooBob]

Please go buy a cowboy hat and boots. While you are at it, get a duster too! Embrace Texas!!!

[@taggartlawfirm]

I live in Texas, I have owned horses, cows, and any number of guns.

[@rumi9005]

Your comment about the size of Texas reminds me of a quote attributed to a Texas oil millionaire after the US introduced the 55 mph speed limit across the country. "Driving across Texas isn't an ordeal any more. It's a career!"

[@goldenhate6649]

@@rumi9005 Hence why its now 70, and the unofficial speed limit is 100

[@lizzaangelis3308]

Europeans generally believe that Texans ride horses regular

[@jovanweismiller7114]

I emigrated from Kansas to Alberta. Many Canadians didn't even notice my American accent, since the American Great Plains and the Canadian Prairies accents are very similar. One day I met a gentleman who, after about five minutes of conversation asked, 'When did the wind blow you across the border?' LOL!

[@haleywilson520]

I used to have a Canadian friend who could really tell the difference between the way she spoke and the way I spoke. I really couldn't lol

[@rebelsatcloudnine]

As an Albertan I have a really hard time knowing when someone is from the States, sometimes they slip in a "y'all" but that's about as foreign as it gets. A lot of the time I'll work with someone for years before I learn they are American, plus where I live there are a lot of dual citizens so it's not too uncommon.

[@fromhgwaii]

Oh there are definite “tells” in terms of words. Chocolate bar bs candy bar, washroom vs restroom, parka de vs parking garage, toque vs beanie, pronunciation of “lieutenant”. The vowels are different too, but that can be less obvious than choice of words. Edit: Parka de is a typo for Parkade

[@BlackDoveNYC]

From what I’ve noticed I think it depends on where you grew up. My guess is that if you grew up in a state that borders Canada the differences are not immediately apparent (if they exist at all) however maybe it’s easier to tell the further away you are from Canada. When I lived in NZ they insisted they could tell the difference. I found that unbelievable though I did tell them that British, Australian, New Zealand and South African (as a first language) speakers all were indistinguishable to me. Oddly enough I can detect differences in other languages, especially if I’m familiar with them.

[@seed_drill7135]

The way we pronounce “garage” vs. the Canadian/British way it’s pronounced.

[@snooksmcdermott]

I spent a summer in college working in London, and I had a hard time persuading a few people that Ohio, my home state, is hot in the summer because "it's in the North" so it couldn't be hot. They finally believed me when I told them that Ohio is on the same latitude as Spain.

[@tinapomfrey5412]

That is a very good way to make your point. That being said, from one Ohioan to another, it is pretty damn cold in the winter. As a matter of fact, it is snowing, yes, snowing!, at this very moment here in northeast Ohio. This weather completely blows.

[@pattimaska4124]

And Rome and Chicago share the same latitude.

[@mikeh720]

@@pattimaska4124 sadly feeling the opposite ends of the jet stream & Gulf current.

[@maxpowr90]

Boston is also on the same latitude as Barcelona: *very* different winters.

[@rogervanaman6739]

@@tinapomfrey5412 We are supposed to be getting some of that here in Indiana, too. Not seeing it, though. But yeah we get pretty extreme seasonal differences compared to most of the world. Was talking to someone in Tennessee, probably last summer, and he didn't believe me that it gets just about as hot in IN as TN (though not all the time, thankfully). I checked the weather, it was currently hotter in IN, and was looking to stay that way for the week.

[@Big_Tex]

Lawrence being sponsored by Brit Box is the most appropriate sponsorship on KZbin.

[@pollyduron674]

I got BritBox using his deal and have kept it. My favorite streaming service. ❤

[@cssimps]

🤣🤣

[@Fred-ff6bv]

i’d think him being sponsored by the east india trading company would be hilarious.

[@DougPowell01]

I also enjoy a few British programs, mostly Gardening as well as Spring/Autumn/Winter Watch. Oh, and Mary Berry, of course. She's got to be a national treasure.

[@foggylegg6362]

I'm sure he spells his name Laurence but it is a spot-on point.

[@fixedG]

Not only is America not the same as Canada, America is not the same as America a few hours in any direction.

[@johncooper4637]

Absolutely!

[@katrinat.3032]

So true

[@malissahays1352]

I saw a video short of another Brit in America commenting on the European nothion that Americans aren't well traveled. The gist of the video was that Merica is so big, as a country, and American language & culture varies so much state to state/region to region, that Americans don't necessarily feel the *need* to leave America to have the same sort of experiences that come from international travel.

[@ElizabethThompson-tj7qw]

Sounds like the creator would agree, as do I

[@gertrudevanshandy]

@@malissahays1352 That's absurd. America varies far less from state to state than Europe does from nation to nation. Texas and California are far more similar than the UK and Italy. And the distance is about the same. So your example is a weak excuse for American provincialism.

[@joeyahoo3902]

A Canadian, an American, and a British couple are having a dinner party and at the end tea is served. The American speaks up and says "pass the sugar, sugar" to his wife...everyone giggles. The Canadian gentleman hears this and says "pass the honey, honey"...again giggles. The British husband wants to join the fun and says "pass the tea, bag".

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

🤭🤭🤭🤭🤭

[@Hellheart]

I very much enjoyed this. Thank you.

[@RagingCanuck]

Except the British normally use loose tea….the mind boggles.

[@susanma4899]

@@RagingCanuck Pass the tea, Lucy!

[@Trobtwillis]

Brilliant! 🫖☕

[@Amm1ttai]

I think the main reason Americans are loud in restaurants is because we are so used to a lot of restaurants here in the US playing loud music over the speakers or having TVs playing loud sports, and you have to talk really loud to be heard over them. I hate it because I have a very soft voice and I hate talking loudly. I remember Autumn being used a lot when I was a kid (a very very long time ago) and fall was just a less formal way of saying it.

[@garryferrington811]

I detest loud music and/or television monitors in restaurants, passionately. I don't appreciate having entertainment shoved down my throat.

[@Intrusive_Thought176]

Yes but i still remember going out on a walk in Long beach California and seeing peopel speaking french or russian Or a language that sounds like its from the balkans and they are loud

[@grumbotron4597]

In regards to the fall/autumn debate, they seem to be used interchangably in Tennessee, but Autumn seems to have a more elegant feeling to it. You might plan a campout with some friends in the fall, but you'd plan your wedding to be in autumn, if that makes sense.

[@animal0mother]

The Latin (French)-inherited words are typically seen as bougier than old English ones ever since the Norman conquests. This goes for food as well, with words for living animals being Anglo-Saxon words, but their meat coming from French (pig vs pork, cow vs beef, chicken vs poultry, etc.).

[@Belenus3080]

That’s a good way of explaining it. We use both in New England

[@Fro.Asia.Gaming]

It's interchangeably in most of the US.

[@goldenhate6649]

Autumn is very common when looking at a more formal setting. In casual conversation, fall tends to be used. Though those are generalization and definitely not a rule, and they are very much just used as flat out synonyms and sound better in different contexts.

[@jackcarlson4358]

I don't think it's anything Americans picked up from British people, at least not recently. Even as a little kid I knew that Fall and Autumn were interchangeable words. If you say "I like the cool Fall weather" or "I like the cool Autumn weather" to any American I doubt they'd take any notice of the word choice.

[@jaydee975]

The big difference is that Canada was Britain’s nice little child while America was Britain’s wild rebellious naughty child!

[@esverker7018]

The big difference is that one only had a brief fling with France while the other had a whole affair!

[@msmoniz]

I once heard a story about a Canadian visiting Scotland, and a Scot refer to them as an Yank(American) based on their hearing speak not affected english. The Canadian corrected them that he was a Canadian, with the Scot replying "Same thing". The Canadian then cheekily said the Scot must be Irish. The Scot got incredibly incensed if not out right insulted and insisted they were a Scot, to which the Canadian replied " Same thing." The Scot then understood the difference.

[@terryomalley1974]

It makes the point, though, doesn't it?

[@bigscarysteve]

There's a movie called "Yanks" about American soldiers in the UK during WWII. In the very first scene, an American is standing guard at a roadblock. A car with a British officer pulls up, and the guard speaks to him a little bit before letting him proceed. As the officer pulls away, he refers to Americans as "you Yanks." After the officer is gone, the guard mutters under his breath, "I ain't no Yankee--I'm from Oklahoma!"

[@californiadreamer2580]

@@bigscarysteve Yes. In the US, most people would only refer to those in the Northeast states (original colonies) as Yanks or Yankees. I ain't no Yankee, I'm from California LOL! My late husband's family was from Vermont , Yankees all!

[@deepcoder1845]

Name one difference between America and Canada. Oh, it's spelled different. One has a large military and the other has a national healthcare system. And one country has the word god in its national anthem 5 times. The other zero as it should be. If there was a big difference why do 80% of Canadians live 100 miles from the American border? The French in Canada don't count... ; ))

[@O2life]

Here's the way I've heard it, originally written by American author E.B. White: "To foreigners, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner. To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner. To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter. And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast."

[@susanbowman2731]

In regards to the American use of fall as well as autumn, in 1986 there was a fascinating series hosted by Robert MacNeil "The Story of English." The third episode covered the Elizabethan age, and the English that was brought to the New World. The Elizabethan usage of words like fall (for autumn) and mad (for angry) continued in America while they were no longer used in the UK.

[@pyrovania]

Appalachian English is particularly archaic.

[@joebloggs396]

Mad can be used for angry still, as in 'you make me mad'.

[@debbylou5729]

Thank god. How teeny, tiny is the UK again?

[@gokuss15]

@@joebloggs396isn’t that more in line with the crazy definition? You’re making me mad = you’re driving me crazy.

[@joebloggs396]

@@gokuss15 I don't think so, that suggests anger. But if someone says 'you're mad' to someone it's telling them you think they are crazy.

[@bob_._.]

When I started school back in the Stone Age of the early 1960s, we were taught that 'Autumn' is the official name for the season but 'Fall' was acceptable to use in casual conversation. I don't know why the other three seasons don't have both formal and casual names as well.

[@stephen1991]

Around here, at times, we also had "Fricking" preceding both Winter and Summer, depending the the extremes of both.

[@rosemarybarron4256]

I was going to say this as well. When I was in grade school, the teachers referred to Autumn as “Autumn.” But yes, casually with friends, we’d say fall. I always used the words interchangeably.

[@shells500tutubo]

@@karenjones1897 Dinosaurs hadn't yet evolved when I was in kindergarten, during the Carboniferous period.😅🤣😂.

[@baigandinel7956]

Fall's not just casual. It's in old poetry and such. It may not be the term the government uses, but it's hardly slang.

[@karenjones1897]

@@shells500tutubo lol

[@ClayBo21879]

As an American, I had a British colleague refer to The Colonies. I had to remind him we hadn’t been The Colonies for over 2 hundred years. In fact, we fought a big war over it.

[@yankeegonesouth4973]

Thank you so very much for bringing up Cahokia. Hardly anyone in America knows about it, but it was a massive city 1000 years ago.

[@gingers6231]

I'm from Alabama and I visited years ago when we went to St. Louis. It was my absolute favorite part of our trip! We have local, much smaller mounds near me (Oakville) but even a Moundville, AL near Tuscaloosa. I absolutely love the native American history! 💕 As kids, my cousins and I played under rock bluffs, imagining we were in the same place where native Americans resided. As we grew up we realized it was too small to actually be a shelter and tried as hard as we could, we never found arrowheads or anything.

[@helenclarke4735]

Speaking of Native American history, what about the Anasazi ruins, I believe at the 4 corners, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. They are at least 10,000 years old and beautiful, homes that are carved into the cliffs. The people there are believed to have disappeared.

[@dawnchesbro4189]

It's been on my list of places to visit for a while now

[@yankeegonesouth4973]

@@dawnchesbro4189 You and me both! :)

[@edwardofgreene]

Anyone from the greater St. Louis area is well aware. St. Louis is basically new Cahokia. The oddest thing is that Cahokia disappeared entirely by about 100 years before European contact in the area. When European explorers asked local people about the mounds there they had no more of an idea than the europeans did. Nor any knowledge about the large city having been there. The "natives" were a different people than the folks who built Cahokia. (And obviously only a little more native to the region than the Europeans). Archeologists have learned much about the ancient city. However the cause of its decline then complete demise is still very much a mystery.

[@tyrannosaurusrhett]

My Swedish friends and I discussed American history and how the US (not even getting into the extensive Native American histories), comparatively, doesn't have a long history but has a very dense history.

[@xCindyLouWhox]

Maybe that’s why we’re so fucked up. So much trauma, so little time. 🫠

[@666kingdrummer]

Well you're not wrong about that. I have to remind myself every once and a while that The U.S. as we know it today, has only been around for about 250 years. That may seem like a long time on paper, but in the grand tapestry of human history, its nothing.

[@pyrovania]

@@666kingdrummer Many non-indigenous Americans have ancestors that arrived in the 1600s, before the US was a country. Some even longer ago than that if they are from New Mexico or Florida and are of Spanish ancestry.

[@WaluigiisthekingASmith]

@@pyrovania thats not really the US as we know it though.

[@pyrovania]

@@WaluigiisthekingASmith Who's "we"? You sound like someone from the East or South.

[@zarajn6982]

I'm an American that taught English overseas, and after being asked questions about the meaning and common usage of certain terms, I realized that in my area and generation, there's a lot of overlap in words that feel "old fashioned" and "British". I can't count the number of times I'd answer a "Do you use this word often?" question with "I don't use it often, but I'm familiar with it. I feel like I usually hear older Americans or British people use it." I wonder if it's an indication of a cultural shift of British influence in the US slowly fading out from a time when it was once more dominant.

[@user-ff4tw8uf4b]

It seems obvious that it is …

[@tjones44236]

I loved how my grandmother used to call her couch a Davenport

[@micah06v8]

I've only ever really had to dispel one myth about Americans. This was with some Germans that I met in New York when I was a kid. They were under the impression that everyone in Louisiana, where I was from, had a pet alligator. Yet somehow we all still had all of our fingers and all of our toes 🤣

[@AlexKS1992]

I guess they didn’t understand that alligators like crocodiles are pre-historic, big, mean, lizard bastards and if given the opportunity they’ll eat us.

[@Liselledeiane]

I’ve had to dispel the myth to my northern in laws that we don’t live in a swamp. There is a lot of water around, but there is dry land under our feet unless we elect to go fishing or something. I had to pull out photos of my parents home with oaks in the front yard to prove it. 😅

[@xaiyab6892]

@@AlexKS1992 if you give an alligator or crocodile an inch, they'll take a foot, literally.

[@bonecanoe86]

To quote the meme: "Be a lot cooler if you did"!

[@AngelaMastrodonato]

Where did this myth come from?!?! I know there are Alligators In Louisiana. But we have squirrels here in Massachusetts and no one has one as a pet.

[@willfrillman]

Super happy that you brought up Cahokia Mounds. It’s an incredibly important part of understanding the geography of North America and the massive reach of Native American cultures, pre-colonization.

[@Jones4Leather]

The trading relationships of the Cahokia çulture went far south into Central America.

[@debbylou5729]

There wasn’t a ‘massive reach’. Native tribes were loosely organized and very small. Sometimes the tribes would meet, but it wasn’t often

[@josephescott3263]

@@debbylou5729 I have been reading that they are finding out that before the Europeans came over with their plagues and diseases, the Americas were possibly way more populated than europe at the time, while the technology and forms of writing or lack there of sucked compared to europe, they were possibly just as big and traveled and traded far and wide. However when the spanish and others came over and raped and pillaged they also left behind deadly diseases that were so devastating that when the Europeans returned with more boats to haul more plunder back to Europe with years later, most cities had been overgrown and practically erased, because 99% of them had been killed off by disease. I wish they would correct the history books that they teach in school but they dont, its well documented that christopher columbus did not discover america, there were already french and spanish fur trading posts here, same with lewis and clark exploring the west, there had already been many explorations west, lewis and clark actually refered to previous made maps so they knew where they were going.

[@tricorvus2673]

I’m Cherokee and we still teach the kids about how we once had a mighty empire.

[@josephescott3263]

@@tricorvus2673 Thank you, I really wish they would teach the real history or more factual things about history in public schools.

[@toyfreaks]

Growing up in the American Midwest, I remember using "bonkers" to describe things like a friend's stupid idea, "he's bonkers to think she will go out with him!" or as an expression of bewilderment, "that Death Star trench run scene was bonkers!" or as a general expression of dismissal when you find out she really won't go out with you, "that's bonkers"

[@ToniaElkins]

Same here. Grew up in the 80s in Illinois saying that

[@SeanSinclair821]

Agreed. I grew up in Pennsylvania, and bonkers was a normal word. I've never associated it with British English.

[@TickleMeElmo55]

I use bonkers as well. Grew up in the Midwest too.

[@phonyzebra3848]

I grew up in the south and we use bonkers too

[@O2life]

Yes, my parents used bonkers, too. I used to, but it's pretty ableist, so now I try to say something like "wild" or "smoking bananas" instead.

[@lauriehallcolemandowns7364]

I grew up in Northern California and there was a bakery that made Cornish Pasties. We got them nearly once a week and they were my favorite food. There were many descendants of cornish miners (and their tommyknockers) who came to northern CA as miners during the gold rush beginning in 1849. I had to learn to make Cornish pasties myself because I adore them! Pardon my digression!

[@Technically_classic]

I grew up in SoCal but I love NorCal. There's a certain magic about it. I lived in the town of coloma near mother lode and the amount of adventures I had was incredible

[@yeshayaamichai1512]

As an American, a myth I never quite understood was when Brits would say that we don't understand British humor or that American humor is completely different. Now maybe I just grew up in a particularly dry sarcastic house but I think, and many Americans I know, not only understand Brit humor but find it hilarious and joke in a similar way.

[@robertgronewold3326]

The problem with British humor that I've found is that some of it is hyper into regional in-jokes. So it's not that it's a bad joke, I just can't laugh because I don't get the reference at all.

[@STho205]

To understand British humour....one must first learn how to spell it. Old joke. Typically a British comedian makes fun of themselves in a quirky situation. Think Mr Bean, early Black Adder, Faulty Towers.... American comedians usually make fun of the straight man or other object. Think: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ghost Busters, ... This is not always the case. The last Black Adder series were more of the American style with jaded Captain Adder setting up the stiff or silly other officers and Baldrick as buffoons. That is very similar to MASH.

[@spugintrntl]

If it were true I don't think Monty Python would be nearly as popular in the states as they are.

[@neilbradley]

British humor is often based on irony and understatement. US Humor is generally more about put-downs.

[@STho205]

@@neilbradley yes that definitely describes Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Mitchell and Webb, Enfield and Friends.... No wait a minute, it doesn't. You're bullocks.

[@Jourell1]

I'm Canadian and when we visited Scotland, the landlady at our B&B asked if we were American. When we replied Canadian she said to the effect of "we'll that's the same isn't it?" I had actually prepared for this, and answered "That's like saying the English and the Scots are the same." Being a good Scot, she puffed up a bit but it got the point across

[@freedo333]

It is, kinda. Canada, the US & the South American countries are all in the Americas so the citizens are called 'Americans'

[@Jourell1]

@@freedo333 Not here in Canada. Maybe other countries think that way about us but if you refer to us as American to our face you will be corrected. We've always had a bit of an ambiguous definition of exactly who we are but one thing pretty much all Canucks agree on is that we are NOT Americans. Yes, geographically speaking we are part of North America and the Americas in general but nope! We're never to be lumped in with our neighbours to the south.

[@georgeemil3618]

@@freedo333 In that case either say that we are all from the Americas or that we are North Americans. But never contract it by saying we are Americans. Only citizens of the USA can say that because they don't call themselves USians or United Statians.

[@melissaharris3890]

It's like when I say I'm from NY, alot of people, including Americans assume I'm from New York City. No. New York is a state. Live in a rural town. Know more people that have hit a deer driving than have not

[@kellharris2491]

@@freedo333 The US citizens are called Americans not because of the continent but because of the United States of America. Though I suppose it is similar to calling people from the UK European. It's just not very specific and it encompasses many different countries, cultures, and political entities.

[@KamasKirian716]

Two stories relating to the size of the US: 1) When I was a kid, several decades ago, my godfather hosted some of his distant relatives from Finland at his house in Minot, ND. When the relatives started talking about the day trips they wanted to take, they started of with Disney World and Epcot. That's roughly 2000 miles and will take several days. "But it's only this far on the map!" they exclaimed. 2) Phil Hansen was drafted by the Buffalo Bills from NDSU (Fargo, ND) and drove there. Middle of the continent (basically) to (almost) east coast, a little over 1000 miles. After his playing days ended he moved back to the Fargo area and followed the NDSU team as they played University of Montana. North Dakota and Montana are next to each other, but Fargo to Missoula is also roughly 1000 miles.

[@MrPotsy81]

I had Finnish friends ask me if I knew Bruce Springsteen as I was from New Jersey. So I must be his neighbor. New Jersey has 8 million people and Finland has 4 million. So cute.

[@-Subtle-]

NYC to Montreal is 603.504km 350 km of that is driving through the Adirondack mountains which are 13,000 Sq km. Literally the size of the country of Montenegro. A park that is less than a 10th of New York's total area. People just don't understand the size.

[@kellyalvarado6533]

From El Paso TX you can drive west to the pacific ocean quicker than you can drive east to get across Texas.

[@lizzaangelis3308]

We get this problem a lot in Texas. A person checked into the hotel around 2 am and asked (New England like) when they would have to leave to go down to Houston and make it back for dinner. I looked at the clock and considered the route they’d have to take. And then I asked how long do you want to spend in Houston. They gave me the answer and I said you’d have to leave in the next thirty minutes to achieve their objective as it would take 10 hours of driving to get there and back from our location, and then they’d have to spend the few hours they’d wanted. And that was assuming construction wasn’t an issue or traffic was moving. They looked at me like I had grown a third eye and didn’t believe me. Also had a person step into the hotel at 11 at night and ask “how much further it was to El Paso” and then they’d balk at me when I answered 12 hours. And told them that I don’t recommend they try to drive straight through tonight.

[@bradystockert6113]

I'm just here to give a shoutout to ND. I rarely hear about it. Also, yeah, despite being "one state away," North Dakota and Montana can have hundreds of miles in between them.

[@kiyote437]

Regarding house numbers, a lot of places in the US, including parts of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN) where I live, use block numbering instead of distance-based numbering. A suburb like Richfield is built on a grid, and all of the streets running one direction are numbered. House numbers between 1st and 2nd Street will be numbered 100, 101, 102, 103, and so on, switching sides for each house. Then between 2nd and 3rd the houses will be numbered 200, 201, 202, and so on. It's a very convenient system; if you know a house's number is 3229, you know it'll be between 32nd and 33rd Street. It only really works for these strictly grid-based areas but it works very well for them.

[@user-yf3cr5ev5p]

In my hometown, I worked at the local Pizza Hut. For the grid-like city streets, there was a vertical street (Main Street) that divided the town into East and West and a horizontal street (Mitchell Street) that divided it into North and South. The numbering started at 100 for the first block starting from that intersection, 200 for the second block, etc. The blocks were not all the same length so it's not based on miles, but the numbers 100-199 are divided through a block as an approximation of it's position within that block. A house midway on the block should be about 150 or 151, or 250/251 etc. So it might go 101, 104, 129, 134, 153, etc. for a block with maybe 5-6 houses on each side. The odd numbers are always on the North or East side of the street and even numbers are always on the South or West side. Because Main Street went above and below Mitchell, there was a 100 block north and a 100 block south, 200 block north, and south, etc. Before GPS was widespread, this was necessary to understand for the delivery drivers. Roads in subdivisions tend to use 4 digit numbers (sometimes 5) and follow the developer's own numbering logic.

[@90Degrees_]

Cool, I'm also from the Twin cities.

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

In Ireland, I think I've only seen a number above 100 once (not counting apartments). I live in 29.

[@marysews1]

Much of Pinellas County, FL (St Pete and Clearwater), is like that. The area also has certain North-South or East-West directions for Avenues, Streets, Boulevards, etc.

[@settame1]

Thank you for mentioning this! I'm from the twin cities (although I've lived in other big cities and I guess I didn't notice it) and got so confused by his miles analogy, I didn't realize the twin cities were different!

[@charcat1571]

I am a citizen of Osage Nation, and some of my ancestors were from Cahokia. I really appreciate you mentioning that we had (and still have) a sophisticated society. Indigenous Americans in general are treated poorly by EuroAmercan culture, yet we are still here!

[@feralbluee]

you’re darn right you’re still here !! 😋🤰🏻👩🏽‍🍼🤱🏾🪄🌽🫘🍠🛶🐴☀️🌖🌻🌎🌬🔥🌊⬆️⬇️🐢〰️➰🌀🔆🪨🦌🦬🐕🐺🦅🐡🐑🐐🌵 ⛰🏔🗻 🛖 🍁🌱

[@patricialavery8270]

Very much still here.Many people in Texoma had Comanche or Cherokee in their family and my Kentucky guy has some native heritage though the name of the tribe has been forgotten.

[@G_Signer]

i guess it has a lot to do with the fact that you guys got conquered and repressed, if you had won against the settlers you would be the rulers

[@TheBLGL]

There’s also Taos Pueblo, which is still inhabited, Chaco Canyon, the Gila cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde, the Aztec ruins (a misnomer, of course), Montezuma’s castle (another misnomer), Casa Grande, etc etc etc. I live in New Mexico so most of my examples are from the US Southwest, but of course there are more examples all over North and South America.

[@diane9247]

I think "poorly' is an understatement."

[@ceciliamannino8503]

I once had a customer support person from Ireland be amazed upon learning that here in Michigan in August it was 90 degrees. He thought we had snow year round. He also thought Michigan had nothing but factory after factory and that everyone who lived in Michigan worked in them.

[@alexanderfretheim5720]

The truth is far more tragic...

[@Morna777]

I heard a story about a woman from somewhere in Europe whose son and daughter in law lived in Arizona. She was very disappointed when she found out not all of Arizona looks like Monument Valley and there are no ostrich-sized roadrunners that go "beep beep."

[@monty4336]

I'm a Michigan resident and I have to agree with you. Even people from other US states think the same wrong things about Michigan. They have no idea about the weather or the fact that we have so much farm land outside the few large metropolitan areas.

[@dr.j3245]

Actually the saying about the Upper Peninsula goes “Nine months of winter and three months of rough sledding” 😎

[@OtakuMomokoHime]

That might have been the case 100 years ago

[@catlady1171]

Hey Laurence my 9th great-grandmother was Mary Chilton, the first woman to step off the Mayflower in 1620 and my 9th great-grandfather John Winslow, she married, came in 1621 on the Fortune. All these years later I do a DNA test thinking I might find all kinds of interesting diversity especially being in the South. However, I am still virtually British in my DNA. I had to laugh because I have always been such an Anglophile! Always drawn to EVERYTHING British. Many of us are still tethered to British genetically and in interests. We are still very connected. 🥰

[@ericburton5163]

To go with the history bit, another intersting one I've heard from Europeans is that Native Americans don't exist anymore. I've had conversations and watched videos/read things online where people from Europe (and elsewhere but my experience has been mainly Europe) equate Native Americans with like Ancient Egyptians (sure some descendants might exist, but their "culture/civilization/identity" is gone) which simply isn't true. Because the US is so huge, Native Americans don't make up a huge percentage of the population, but there are more just single race (non-mixed with another race) Native Americans in the US than the population of Armenia, Bosnia, Lithuania, Albania, Latvia, etc. And there are almost as many Navajo as people in Iceland! And there are more native Navajo speakers than Scottish Gaelic native speakers!

[@bigscarysteve]

It also depends on WHERE you are in the USA. In some places, Native Americans are completely extinct. I believe that in in South Dakota, Native Americans are 12% of the population.

[@paulsengupta971]

Iceland has a smaller population than large towns here in the UK.

[@sifridbassoon]

Tell them to go to Santa Fe.

[@ellenjk1957]

True story, when I first got to Britain in 1985, I saw on TV an ad for Clan brand pipe tobacco. It featured a handsome young "Red Indian" man smoking Clan tobacco in his peace pipe, while a bunch of "Red Indian" women oohed and aahed. The man turned to face the camera and said "Quit the tribe. Join the Clan". I am still sputtering.

[@mbrennan459]

Middle aged Midwest viewer here. Fall and autumn have always been interchangeable in this part of the country. My parents born in the 30s and my grandparents born in the 1890s used both. We have always used the term Bonkers too. In the 1970s there was a Bonkers board game.

[@colbymcarthur7871]

I feel like it’s kinda comparable to “bathroom” vs “restroom”- one is clearly a bit more formal but we obviously understand both

[@bluebaron6811]

Here in Iowa, summer, autumn, AND fall are all interchangeable with one word: HĚLL. Like, bruh, the temperature goes from 102 degrees Fahrenheit to 46 in *8 days.*

[@pirategamer6630]

@@bluebaron6811 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@pirategamer6630]

Interchangeable here in the Southeast aa well (but a MUCH wider use of fall).

[@bluebaron6811]

@@pirategamer6630 yeah, this place is just God's sandbox.

[@thunderwolfaz]

As an American, I have a few American friends who love to put down the US by stating that we don't have history, while bluntly ignoring the Native History. That really pisses me off. So thank you! Thank you for pointing that out!

[@thunderwolfaz]

@Scott Marlott Agreed, but it also depends on the school and the school district. I had the interesting experience of going to 5 different schools, in 4 different states, which were in 2 different regions (Southwest, and Northeast). And the school experience was vastly different. I had one teacher, in 8th grade, try to tell us that 9/11 was a major psychological blow to us because it was the first time our territory was ever attacked excluding Pearl Harbor. He got annoyed at me when I asked "What about the Aleutian Islands during WWII?" And I lacked the confidence in my historical knowledge to mention the War of 1812, even though I thought it was another example. Needless to say, the teacher wasn't pleased. However, in the following year, my freshman history teacher taught about American Exceptionalism, along with Manifest Density, but did so in the way of "cause and effect." Here's the history that lead up to these themes and ideas, and why people bought into them, and here are the consequences. He covered Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears, along with how the Supreme Court ruled against Jackson, and Jackson just shrugged and was like "well, enforce your ruling then." So, there's just an example of a teacher who actually cares and one who doesn't, and the effects there. I would also say it depends upon the student. I was one of those history nerds, because my father loved talking about history, which taught me to enjoy it. I tried to encourage my friends, but all I got from them was "it's about a bunch of old guys who are dead. Who gives a fuck." So, yes, the way the history was taught to us makes a major different, and it is also dependent upon the location where one grew up. However, it's also down to the individual and their own personal views as well. Sorry for writing a book.

[@thunderwolfaz]

@Johnny Rep Sure, but that leaves out a lot of details. The french were developing colonies here as well, but they never imported as many people as the Brits did so their colonies were smaller. But, their impacts are still felt today- even outside of Louisiana due to the French fur trappers. The Dutch also had a major impact as well. They were the ones that founded New York City (originally called New Amsterdam). But, they ended up fading away. Then there's also the Spaniards and their role in places like Florida and the Southwest. We are an extension of the Brits, and the Brits helped create us, and we have a lot of their culture- especially the language. The various philosophy, while a lot of it was British base, was not unique to the Brits- as in other countries were picking up that philosophy as well. But, they did not create the US. And then there were both the roles of the slavery and the Natives that played their own unique, often terrible parts as well. I see saying that only the Brits could have created the US at their particular stage of history to be akin to saying that the grandparents created their grandchildren. Certainly the grandchildren couldn't exist without the grandparents, but, the grandparents were not the "creators." All of the folks living chaotically on the continent were the ultimate "parents" of the US.

[@andrewbunch6596]

Willis Haviland Carrier (November 26, 1876 - October 7, 1950) was an American engineer, best known for inventing modern air conditioning. Carrier invented the first electrical air conditioning unit in 1902. In 1915, he founded Carrier Corporation, a company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. And don't forget about the Wright Brothers!

[@Slane583]

@@thunderwolfaz The war of 1812 is a big part of the history of my region. There's the remains of an old fort about 6 miles away from me in the next town over called Fort Montgomery that's from that era. It's known as Fort Blunder to us locals because the first fort was accidentally built over the border line on Canadian land when Canada was still occupied by the French. The fort that sits there now is the second fort to be built on US soil and is one of few forts in the US at the time to have a full moat around it's perimeter with a draw bridge at the main entrance. Which was an uncommon thing from what I've read. Don't know how true that is though.

[@Lightw81]

Even without the aboriginal history the US still has history going back several hundred years (at least on the east coast). I'm thinking in terms of buildings particularly. Yet most English towns are 90% Victorian or later.

[@worldtraveler930]

I saw a quote from an ex Canadian Prime Minister that Canada was supposed to be a Great Experiment in which it had French culture and British politics but the experiment went Horribly and Horrendously Wrong leaving Canada with British culture and French politics!!! 🤠👍

[@BrendenTurtle]

As an American, I have always seen Autumn/Fall used interchangeably depending on context. Personally, I've noticed most people just say "Fall", but if you call it Autumn nobody is going to look at you odd or confused. Most people I've met have understood that Autumn means Fall and vice versa. Not sure why we all agreed to use two words for the same thing, but it's interesting either way.

[@stevenschwartzhoff1703]

It seems to me that Autumn is mostly used in more fomal contexts (like "autumn foliage") where you are evoking a sophistocated or accademic air, while daily interactons Fall is more common. But, yes, they are essentially interchangeable. I do not think this is new (I was a kid in the 70s and 80s). The question seems rather: why do the British percieve Fall to be strange?

[@elias6570]

In the nicest way possible synonyms are quite common.

[@hdufort]

As a French Canadian I never know which one I should use. I make sure I used a capital letter because "fall" in lowercase doesn't look very glorious. In French it's automne anyway.

[@speedspeed121]

I think Fall/Autumn is one of those words like soda/pop/cola where each is used in a different region of the country

[@kingslaphappy1533]

@@hdufort oui! A lot of words trace their origins back to the French language due its its long history and proximity to Great Britain.

[@smarttraveler8232]

Growing up in Indiana my house was on rural route #5 mailbox #65. It was abbreviated RR5 Box 65. When my sister was registering for college classes on the East Coast, the lady looked at her and asked Railroad 5? My sister winked and said Boxcar 65!

[@BJGvideos]

Also from Indiana, would never have figured that out

[@amandadeloff4278]

Yes! In upstate New York, we had the same house numbering system. It was changed when the 911 emergency number/system was implemented. Which makes sense. But I still remember my "old" address.

[@kimberlysimpson343]

Southern Indiana here and my address growing up was RR2, Box 29. It only changed long after 911 service was readily available in rural areas.

[@Cillana]

People who are not familiar with the way rural roads are named where I live might see an address like 320 County Road 501 might think that meant apartment number 501 at the address 320 on a road called County Road. But instead it means the address 320 on a road called County Road 501. It is not correct to abbreviate these as County Rd on pieces of mail. You must either write out County Road entirely or use the abbreviation CR. So the short form address would be 320 CR 501.

[@jovetj]

LOL!! When I was young, we had Rural Routes here in eastern Nebraska. I don't remember what displaced them (seemed like random addresses) but then the E911 system formalized everything.

[@rollomaughfling380]

I was born in the US in '67, and autumn and fall have always been in use in my life, but to different purposes, Laurence. _Fall_ is pretty much utilitarian, where _autumn_ is a bit more flowery. For instance, upon graduating high school, you might ask someone "So, what are your plans for the fall?" whereas "What are your plans for autumn?" would seem a bit precious, posh, with Ivy-League implications (Harvard/Yale vs. City College/State U). But for reflective speech, or poetry/songs, _autumn_ is often the choice. "I remember the beginnings of those golden autumns as my family left our summer retreat in the Catskills . . ." You'd never say _fall leaves_ - it's _autumn leaves,_ which scans more satisfyingly. Then again, when describing something more visceral, "The fall winds whipped through his thin, tattered jacket" might be more appropriate.They're interchangeable, but according to context.

[@BambooBob]

I would love to see episodes where you visit the old country and get their reactions to what you learned in the USA

[@pathslesstrampled9906]

I was born in Canada, lived both there and in the USA for 30 years each. The similarities FAR outweigh the differences. Yes, there are differences in pronunciation, food, government, ways of doing things, etc., but these are minor compared to the overwhelming similarities. Also, I delivered furniture to Bret Hart, but I had no idea who he was at the time 😂

[@brianburns7211]

My job is with a U.S. subsidiary of a Canadian company. Therefore much time is spent in Canada interacting with Canadian colleagues. On the whole our lifestyle is very similar. Lawrence pointed out how Canada used a mix of British and American spelling, as well a phrasing a sentence. We all know how the political system is different too. In the end it’s really like driving via two different roads to arrive at the same place. As far as spelling and speaking goes, My usual way is to address the recipient in their way of phrasing or spelling, whether my Canadian coworkers or my British relatives.

[@pjj5824]

It’s interesting to me that Americans think Canadian culture is so similar to theirs. Canadians would most likely disagree. There are significant differences- Canadians use sarcasm to insult someone more than a direct cut, our humour is much drier - we will get UK humour much faster than an American will. We appear polite, but we actually can give backhanded compliments instead of being rude. Our culture - at least in the large urban centres is more British than American. All of the ways Brits are careful not to offend are much like Canadians. Our political system is much closer to England and not like the US. Our Prime Minister has much more power in our government than the US president has in the US government. (Which is not necessarily a good thing). We understand what a Tory is or a Whig. We’re very patriotic, but we don’t show it the same way. We don’t get the whole ‘right to bear arms’ thing. We really don’t. We are a melting pot of many different cultures and so I think may be a bit more aware of cultures outside of our own. (Maybe just my assumption?). These are just a few of our differences.

[@itcu185]

@@brianburns7211 canadian company ??? is it CCM or Bauer???

[@cooldudicus7668]

One big difference between Canada and America is that in America we rebeled against England and became an independent nation. Canada,I think, benefited from this and when Britian offered Canada more leeway to run itself as a nation in return for staying a British colony, they agreed to the deal. America even let the Tories ( Americans in the American Revolutionary War who supported England) leave America and be resettled in Canada by the British government. I like to think that was a good step first step in the long process that ultimately led to Britian and America becoming friends in 1917.

[@RandomManIncorperated]

You Met The Hitman!!!! AWESOME❤

[@janehex]

I've heard that almost every food culture on earth has some kind of "protein/veg encased in a bread" handheld dish -- samosas, hand pies, pastys, empanada, pirozhki, gyoza, etc etc. All of them yummy!

[@bigscarysteve]

In West Virginia, it's the pepperoni roll.

[@BonaparteBardithion]

I'd say the corn dog qualifies.

[@scoxocs]

Hot Pocket!

[@JudgeJulieLit]

America got its "sandwich" from England's Earl of Sandwich, who assumably invented it. And "frankfurter" (hot dog) and "hamburger" respectively from immigrants from Frankfurt and Hamburg, Germany.

[@Hiding11]

@@garryferrington811 Don't ever get a cheese and onion pasty from Gregg's. I just know it guaranteed me a heart attack sometime in the next decade.

[@donaldcollins7993]

When I was in college, I worked one summer in a textile mill. Our company had a young engineer visiting from its UK counterpart. From the start I was fascinated with his accent and speech. I had bragged so much about my college campus he decided to go see it for himself. Next work day, I asked him if anything exciting happened. He said he was driving around the campus, looked in his rear view mirror, and saw a "constable" in a car behind him. He said the officer, "Blew his hooter at me!" He said he officer walked up to his window and told him that he had driven through a "halt sign" back by the "ball grounds". I knew exactly what he meant, but I had to smile at his choice of words. Probably because of his accent, he got off with only a verbal warning, along with friendly suggestions of other sights to see on the campus.

[@Emme4047]

During the pandemic my husband and I binge watcher BritBox everyday. One day my husband said, I’ll sort it later. Yes, by 2021, our adult children said we definitely sound British. We were thrilled. Love your channel

[@dedestephens4229]

So glad you brought up Cahokia mounds, I grew up in the village of Cahokia and it's about 20 miles from the mounds but we played on the mounds many times while the top was mark of for archeologist were digging on the tallest mountain. There is a lot of arrowheads out in those fields. After a good rain and plowing they would turn up.

[@bigscarysteve]

My father told me there was a field just outside his hometown that was just full of arrowheads. He surmised that there had been a big battle there at some time in the past. The thing is, there really wasn't any Native American history until the white man showed up to write it down. I suppose it will forever remain a mystery.

[@RoseKindred]

@@bigscarysteve I think it is more that each had their own oral history that got "lost" as they were removed or died out. I mean, there is also pictographs, carvings, and more, but many traditions were usually passed on in group settings.

[@ObsidianxAlice]

@@bigscarysteve There's a lot more to history than what was written down by 'the white man'. It's not even that much of a mystery, at least not too much more than any other place, since there's still Native Americans around who have both written it and told it.

[@SuperDrLisa]

@@RoseKindred the Narragansett tribe near me is attempting to ressurect the language and oral history. ❤

[@RoseKindred]

@@SuperDrLisa That sounds cool. Hope it continues on.

[@katheryns1219]

Thanks for the bit on drunk Brits. I was in the US Army stationed in Frankfurt in the early 1980's, and we all knew about the "Ugly American" stereotype, which said Americans were the worst, rudest tourists. I assumed it was true, but my three years there taught me otherwise. The hands down winners were the Brits. They would stumble along the streets extremely loud, crude and rude. Drinking always seemed to be involved. Now I see the connection.

[@TickleMeElmo55]

I visited London with my family in 2014. We crossed paths with several Americans who were aware of the "Ugly American" stereotype. Non of the fellow Americans we met were naturally loud or rude.

[@katheryns1219]

@Nicky L No, they were tourists - I was in the Army, not them - and the women were worse than the men. I didn't know until then that Brits were such drinkers. I lived in Russia awhile right after the fall of the USSR and didn't see any such displays although alcoholism was/is certainly rampant there. Anyway, "getting sloshed" just ain't my idea of fun, especially the next day's hangover.

[@katheryns1219]

@Nicky L My guess would be students. Saw them in Bavaria, too.

[@daphnepearce9411]

I lived in Landstulh in the early 80s when my dad was in the Army. We were always told that Americans were loud and obnoxious, however I always found it interesting that any foreign visitors I met who traveled to America said Americans are by far the nicest and most helpful people they've ever met. So are we loud and obnoxious or are we the nicest and most helpful people?

[@TickleMeElmo55]

@@daphnepearce9411 That's funning part about all this negative American stereotypes. Non-Americans step on their toes . It's as if the world doesn't know how "to use" the US - damn if we do and damn if we don't.

[@colettemurphy959]

The first time I heard an American say jab was when I got my first covid van dose. I told the nurse I had never heard it called a jab in America and the nurse told me that they were getting away from the word shot because it not only invoked a violent image but didn’t accurately describe what they were actually doing. So they were encouraging the medical staff at that location to use the word jab and because that did more accurately describe what they were doing.

[@bigscarysteve]

I first heard the term "jab" on KZbin in the last couple years because everyone feared having their videos deleted for "medical misinformation."

[@KeilaBevins]

I thought “jab” was more violent. Like aggressive sounding. Like you just jabbed it into my arm. Instead of like, you gave me a shot. You can’t be given a jab. You are jabbed. You don’t say you were shot. You were given a shot. Jab invokes the violent image. Lol at least for me.

[@goblinqueen4991]

That's weird. "Jab" is also a violent action. If they want to actually be non-violent AND describe what they're doing, it should be called an injection.

[@KeilaBevins]

@@goblinqueen4991 I feel like that sounds worse 😂 like mad scientisty It is very proper, though. Injecting a substance into your arm. Proper, but creepy. So is it still a flu shot? Or is it a flu jab? A flu injection?

[@AMKB01]

A lot of people started to use the word "jab" when social media started flagging posts and comments that used the word "vaccine" for potential censorship. Eventually, the words "jab", "shot" and "injection" were also flagged, so people had to come up with more inventive alternative words.

[@arlettasloan6453]

We use "autumn" to be fancy, poetic, remind ourselves prettiness. We use "fall" to remind ourselves of cracking leaves and jumping in them, and having to rake them up, and the fact that ice is likely to be on the ground so watch out or you might .. Americans have always also used English or at least British words. Not all Americans, but quite a few and that's because many of our ancestors came from there or about, plus Shakespeare and other great English writers, and Monty Python, and, of course, because many Americans went to school over there or visited at least and British the same , in reverse.

[@TheRealInscrutable]

I heard a good one once... In the US they think that 100 years is a long time and in the UK they think 100 miles is a long way.

[@cynthiajohnston424]

Brilliant ! 😀

[@curtischildress9580]

I live nearly 100 miles away from my folks & we don't consider that distance to be that big a deal to travel back & forth for regular visits just anytime.

[@surlyogre1476]

You possibly (or, even probably) heard that here on Lawrence's channel.

[@James-hj5ov]

Funny "fanny pack" story. I worked security at the California state capitol, and we had a tour group of elderly British ladies come in. My co-worker asked them to put their fanny packs on the x-ray machine belt, and was confused by the giggling that followed. I had to explain it to my co-worker, who was mortified.

[@randy9simmonsup658]

Fanny means the kitty not the butt in Britain

[@James-hj5ov]

@@randy9simmonsup658 ...yes

[@pyrovania]

Don't ask for a napkin in a UK restaurant.

[@EebstertheGreat]

@@pyrovania That's sort of a myth. "Napkin" gets used a lot in England to refer to a cloth or paper used to clean your hands. Diapers are always just "nappies," never "napkins," and "sanitary napkins" are more likely to be called "pads." The word "serviette" does get used too, it's just a synonym for "napkin." Supposedly it's a U/Non-U thing, though I think these days, "serviette" is not very popular in any class.

[@pyrovania]

@@EebstertheGreat Maybe things have changed since the 1980s, when I was in London - then a napkin was a sanitary pad and a serviette is the cloth you put next to or under the silverware, aka a napkin in American English.

[@Mindseye299]

YT suggested this channel and it's freaking awesome!! I immigrated to the US as a kid and have traveled the entire country and it still amazes me how the USA is so different than other countries I've traveled. It seems that most other countries are on the same page about a lot of things like stores, housing and whatnot, but the US is so different. Happy to actually hear I'm not the only one that's noticed this

[@erinwojcik4771]

Did you notice in your travels how things change from one state to another? I think it is because most of our states are the same size or bigger than most European countries. It makes sense that language, food, and habits would change when you put it in that perspective.

[@urphakeandgey6308]

The US can kind of be split into distinct regions that are almost like their own countries. The West Coast and East Coast are so different that if America was Europe, they probably would've been completely separate cultures. Like going from Germanic to Slavic. It's just less pronounced in America because everything is still in English and everything is still clearly American.

[@-Subtle-]

In the northeast you may still find some schools refer to the "washroom" as the lavatory. The pass in the classroom will have "Lav" written on it.

[@damianjblack]

It's the bog. Or the crapper. 😂

[@col.mustard1233]

I live in Florida and the tourist will wear fanny packs at places like Disney so they can carry their room key, disposable camera, sunscreen, and other such items, this allows them to get on water rides and what not while easily putting their items into a locker before getting on the rides!

[@RandomNonsense1985]

Disposable camera? What year are you living in?

[@jonevansauthor]

@@RandomNonsense1985 Not sure if you think you're being edgy but Mustard didn't say they use them, just that people do. And yes, they still do sell them even on the high street in the UK, people do still buy and use them. They even make Polaroids again, believe it or not. *shrugs* Does it seem pointless to most of us? Sure. Does that mean it isn't a thing? Nope.

[@col.mustard1233]

@@RandomNonsense1985 you can still get them at the tourist traps

[@kate4781]

I was going to say something similar as a Floridian. They are associated with tourists so perhaps some American tourists wear them elsewhere.

[@BasilOnatopp]

I live very close to Disney and have annual passes with my wife, kid, and some friends. We go to Disney a few times per month and, while I've seen a fanny pack here-and-there, they're not really very prominent in the parks.

[@Sn0wjunk1e]

a fun thing with living close to the border is that you'll sometimes just find Canadian coins in circulation, especially the pennies. So few ppl actually look to make sure it has Lincoln and not a monarch that it effectively just gets used as a US penny. I have seen a few loonies too, but that's alot less common compared to the pennies

[@robadams1645]

We discontinued the penny in 2013 so you probably see more of them than we do.

[@kimberlykinsinger2612]

Sadly that will become a rarity, as in Canada we no longer have pennies in circulation. 😕

[@pauleff3312]

What is a "looney"? (I am English living in England and have never crossed the Atlantic)

[@DigitalMoonlight]

@@pauleff3312 A loonie is the Canadian $1 coin, it has a picture of a loon (a bird) on it. The toonie is the $2 coin and has a polar bear.

[@protorhinocerator142]

Fun fact: The USA doesn't have a penny. The USA has the cent, which is short for centi-dollar (metric) meaning 1/100th of a dollar. But since the American cent and the British penny look about the same and serve the same purpose (smallest denomination of fungible currency) people still call it a penny. Canada doesn't have a penny either. It's a cent.

[@pantheratigris00]

As an American paramedic, I was always astounded that my trainees didn't understand our house numbering system. It is very useful on rural roads to know how many miles down the road I'd have to go before I started to look for the house.

[@walrus4248]

I live in DC so it seems like it's each block is 100 numbers more, like 4100, 4200 etc.

[@corey2232]

@@walrus4248 In some cities, if the address was 4100 Quaker Ave, that implies it's near the intersection of 41st Street & Quaker, while 4200 Quaker Ave would be 42nd Street & Quaker.

[@intheparlance]

I was surprised just now, as a 63 year old American, that in many cities the house numbers begin with how many miles from downtown the streets are. I never even wondered why in my hometown of Warren MI, the house numbers are 4 digits, and in nearby Roseville they are 5 digits.

[@AnnieWarbux]

@@corey2232 that's how I usually find it to be. At least for addresses running from North to South. For houses that begin at the State line, running West to East, the first block will be 100's, the second block 200's... and up. Once the numbers run high enough the Street will be labeled "East" whatever... and the numbers begin again...

[@davidmorris7696]

Exactly!!

[@glossaria2]

As an NYer (so, moderately close to Canada compared to the rest of the country), I've always thought of Canada as closer culturally to Britain than to us. British Commonwealth, socialized medicine, British spellings, &c. (Except, of course, for the bit closest to me, which predominately speaks French.)

[@tonyrae86]

We're certainly closer to British than the USA but closer to the USA than Britain. The only thing America kept from old-school Britain was the Imperial system... And I'll never understand that. 🤣

[@glossaria2]

@@tonyrae86 Oh, you "let's make all of our systems of measurement match up in easy-to-calculate base 10" metric people! We would MUCH rather use measures based on grains, royal body parts, outdated wine measures, and how much ground a team of oxen could plow in a day. :D

[@Intrusive_Thought176]

​​@@tonyrae86Imperial system isnt that hard A mile is 5280 feet A foot is 12 inches An inch is 25 MM A pound is 16 ounces But 2.205 pounds make up a kilo

[@damianjblack]

@Intrusive_Thought176 1000 grams make up a kilo. 1000 kilos make a metric ton. 1000 metres make a kilometer. The speed of light is approximately 300,000 km/sec.

[@-8_8-]

"I'm Canadian, it's like an American, but without a gun." -Dave Foley, Kids in the Hall

[@jeff-hopkins]

Ha-ha-ha!.... 😀 Love your nation.... but your socialized medical system makes me nervous. --I busted my head up a couple times as a teenager as well as other injuries. My needs were very critical and due to my multiple private insurance policies, I was put in the helicopter and flown to the best hospital available. Slept 10 days in a coma but then woke up and showed good signs, so I was shipped off to another high quality recovery hospital. My 4 private insurance policies covered multi million dollar bills that gave me the best care available and I recovered quicker than originally thought possible. 10 years later, I developed a disability due to those combined head injuries but because of my private insurance, my medical bills are covered for life. I do not wait in lines and no doctor's decide if my needs are imparative or not. No questions asked, I'm just given what I need. --I have been lead to believe that my case might be handled differently in Canada(?)

[@BancroftDae]

@@jeff-hopkins In my province (health care is administered at the provincial level), which is a bigger one, if you had been injured away from a big city you would have been flown via an air ambulance helicopter to an appropriate hospital. All cities have "best" hospitals with specialist medical teams and equipment -- often they specialize so that a neurology case might end up at hospital X while a cardiac case at hospital Y. If you were brought into a smaller rural hospital and they were not able to accommodate you, you would have been stabilized and medivac'd to a larger center as appropriate. If, as you imply, no doctor assessed your needs, I wonder who decided your needs were critical and that you needed medivac? Here, if you were not already at a hospital, the field EMTs would have been in communication with a ER doctor who would be very involved in the medivac decision. In the hospital, doctors would be actively assessing your condition and deciding whether or not transfer to a more specialized hospital is necessary. If it is necessary, they'd transfer you using appropriate means (ground transport or helicopter). If transfer is not necessary, they'd leave the bed in the specialized hospital open for somebody who needs it. So --- probably your treatment would be much the same here as it was for you there. The only appreciable differences that you would notice is that here everything would be covered by 1 insurer (the government) instead of 4 (the private companies) and you yourself would have basically zero work to do with getting things paid for ... it all just happens "magically", usually without even telling patients about the costs :-) The differences between the two countries becomes most apparent in so-called "elective" procedures. Here, we wait our turn (as determined by medical need) rather than buying private health care ... the idea being that good health care is a universal right and one's ability to pay shouldn't be a factor. The overall effect is a more efficient system (in terms of overall per capita costs and buying power that a single payer provides), none of the medical bankruptcies that happens in the USA, and it removes a huge stress inducer (for both people and employers) that seems to press down on most Americans (that is, the constant worry about finding/keeping medical insurance). Granted, it's a hard concept for people and societies that value net worth above all else. In practice, there are people here who do purchase their way into faster treatment but they must purchase it overseas -- I don't know the numbers on that but would love to find them out. Also, there are some procedures here that are done in private clinics, eg. laser surgery on eyes -- but I think they are (mostly) still paid for by governments -- with maybe a certain percentage of queue jumpers being allowed to pony up, I'm not sure of the rules/practices there. Cosmetic surgery is another one -- if you hamburger your face in a bike accident, you're not going to pay for the surgery ... but if you want a nose job, you are. Anyway...always consider the source of anything you hear about how things work elsewhere (including random dudes in KZbin comment sections :-)

[@-Subtle-]

Canadians have guns and they love em.

[@goldenhate6649]

@@-Subtle- For now at least...

[@Criner05]

Swap "a gun" with "the free speech."

[@mah6183]

Growing up with an American father and a Canadian mother, it really did feel like the US and Canada were one country. Crossing the border was very easy. The accent and linguistic differences between Nova Scotia and Pennsylvania was actually less than between Pennsylvania and my Georgia cousins.

[@samsmythe937]

I feel really sorry for Canadians, I truly do. From my experience of the Canadians and yanks I have met, they are completely different. Canadians are friendly, empathetic, non judgemental, down to earth and trustworthy. Yanks on the other hand, again going from those I have personally met, are ignorant, arrogant, rude and stupid. Only one of the 200 odd I have met was a decent human being. The reason I feel sorry for the Canadians is that with their accent, they are immediately labelled as being a yank, To all Canadians.....I am sincerely sorry for the insult.

[@texasyojimbo]

We Americans are just Canadians with guns. 😀

[@HorseBawlz]

@@samsmythe937 Sounds like those “Yanks” didn’t bow down to you, that all. Just because you’re a Brit or whatever, doesn’t mean that everybody has to lay the red carpet for you.

[@samsmythe937]

@@HorseBawlz Wow, now that's an interesting response. Displaying that arrogance that not just I, but the rest of the world know the yanks are infamous for.

[@Channel-23s]

@@texasyojimbo that and bit bigger and more people and focus on different things

[@ZipplyZane]

My experience growing up in the 1990s is that *fall* was indeed the more common name for the season, but *autumn* was often considered the more formal name. It wasn't like, say, *elevator* vs. *lift,* where we thought of *autumn* as the British word.

[@gaywizard2000]

What was it like growing up in the 1990s???

[@garryferrington811]

I would imagine it was like being a luxurious convict, never leaving the house alone, endlessly supervised...you people today lead really sad lives. Thank god I wasn't born in this time.

[@ZipplyZane]

@@gaywizard2000 Not entirely sure how to talk about it without something to compare it to, but I'll try. I live in a rural area, so chances are that my experience was closer to those who grew up in the mid-to-late '80s in more urban areas. Honestly, I tend to find the stuff Lawrence talks about quite relatable, despite the divide. The stuff he mentions he learned when he arrived in the US are the same things I experienced as a teen. I'm still at the age where I remember not having a computer, getting access to an old Apple II at school at age 6, and then my own computer around age 10 from my techy uncle's hand-me-downs. This was earlier than most, which is why I basically became the teachers' tech support starting in junior high. And, no, Mr. Ferrington, I was not in the helicopter parenting situation. I live rurally, but not so far rural that I don't have neighbors, and we played outside a lot, heading down to the creek and so on. My parents weren't of the "children must be seen but not spoken to" generation, and were generally very supportive. But I think you're thinking about kids born in the 00s. And, even then, it's not as bad as those "millennial" memes would make it seem.

[@nunyabidness674]

You started talking about houses being numbered based on distance. Here's a fun little bit of trivia. When you get out on the road and you see a sign saying a town name and then a distance in miles, that distance is measured from post office to post office. Since cities normally continue to grow and expand, the city limits of two cities will get closer together over time. Rather than keep changing the signs every year, the DOT uses the post offices since they normally don't move and it also allows the US Postal service to better handle logistics. As to the actual measurements, it's the Postal service that recorded the distances. Who knew Postage stamps helped pay for highway research? Edit: "As a brit who has been here for almost 7% of a century..." and shortly after "I've been here 14 years" ... I'll take a wild guess that maths wasn't your best subject... especially after you simulated using a calculator. 7% = 7/100. A century is 100 years. 14 years is 14% of a century... I'll get my hat and coat now lol

[@DanielBerke]

To be fair, what he actually said (at 0:54) was "I've lived here about a *seventh* of a century," which is indeed roughly 14.3 years. 🙂

[@sifridbassoon]

I heard that the distance measuring was from city limits of one town to the city hall of the other. So if one town is small and the other is a large city, the distance values will be different depending on which direction you are driving.

[@Baritone45]

Yep, he said 1/7th. Which is roughly 14%. Ole LB was "spot on" as they say across the pond. That and "no worries" are phrases the US picked up. Did "No worries" start in Australia? I first heard it on the ski slopes of Whistler in British Columbia.

[@garycamara9955]

Math is the plural of math. The word math's doesn't exist.

[@nunyabidness674]

@@garycamara9955 UK terminology. Instead of labeling which specific math you are using, the common term is "Maths" (slang).

[@deborahlongworth4904]

Reminds me of a story of when I was standing in line waiting to go through customs in the Vancouver airport and someone behind me kindly told me how much they enjoyed hearing my canadian accent upon their arrival. I really hated to burst their bubble by telling them that I am from northern Indiana. So exotic!

[@BJGvideos]

Northern Indiana huh? I'm from South Bend (originally) and I'd say it would depend where you go in Canada. I went to Ontario around the lake and didn't hear a difference, but I went to Alberta and oh boy did I stand out.

[@deborahlongworth4904]

@@BJGvideos we have friends from Ontario and after so many conversations with them I would think that I would be desensitized. But words like “ about” pronounced like boo instead of bow still gets me. Same with my friend from Alberta.. I am from New Carlisle BTW. The other thing is when in conversation and listening to sentences peppered with “eh” s, I start throwing lots of “ huh”s into mine.

[@Paradox-es3bl]

Literally when we learned the seasons like ~25 years ago for me, we learned fall as both autumn and fall. And it confused the hell out of 4 year old me. "Why does one season get 2 names?" Anyway, autumn and fall have been more or less completely interchangeable in my experience. Almost anyone would know what you meant unless there was a girl named Autumn around and they only heard like, "It's Autumn!" Then they'd look for the girl, probably. (Went to school with at least one Autumn.) Anyway, I think you get the point.

[@HALberdier17]

Yeah both a interchangeable, Autumn is the official name. Fall is used a lot mainly for sayings reminding you which way the clocks change "Spring forwards Fall backwards" or when someone trips sometimes they would make a joke "Have a nice trip see you next Fall."

[@kitefan1]

I've always used and thought of Autumn and Fall interchangeably.

[@hello-cn5nh]

@@kitefan1 Autumn Falls has entered the chat ( . )( . )

[@z-licious]

Over 40 years ago for me as well

[@markhonea2461]

Fall was never a popular girls name.

[@nimravus01]

I think "bonkers" has been around for a long time in America. There was also a (admittedly obscure) cartoon on Disney in the early 90's titled "Bonkers" in which the wacky titular character was some kind of jungle cat who was also a police officer.

[@kikiholland3695]

Let's go bonkers! lol

[@charismer100]

@@kikiholland3695 yeah! Totally nuts!🎶

[@elizabethnavarre7972]

I live in a coastal, tourist area. When I went to college, everyone wanted to come party at my beach house. My parents lived about ten miles from the beach, about 30 minutes because of the awful traffic here. It was amusing that everyone thought I lived in a house on stilts over the sand dunes because that's what they'd seen on tv or rented in the summer for vacations. It's like they didn't realize there was an entire city of normal people just off of the beach and outside the tourist areas.

[@Asparagaceae]

Another myth I'd like to to debunk: Americans do actually learn the metric system. We are generally taught both imperial and metric in schools and how to convert. Our standard measuring sticks have both inches and centimeters on them.

[@patrickdare5356]

I read years ago that the primary reason for not converting to the metric system in the late 20th century was the immense cost of replacing all the road signs in America.

[@ericeric3117]

My Canadian parents did the same thing in Wales with their taxi driver.

[@greneellen8]

I was in Canada once and turned on my cell phone and it dinged off one of the towers there. ATT charged me all these international fees. I spent an hour on the phone trying to convince the ATT rep that Canada wasn't really an international country, that it was really just America's hat. That argument didn't get me very far and I had to pay the fees.

[@terryomalley1974]

I live in a town on the Ontario-Michigan border. Same thi ng happens to me sometimes when I'm driving by the river, which is the actual dividing line.

[@neolithic3]

The US is Canada's underwear.

[@pj9654]

They may not be "America's hat," but they sure borrow American culture! I've recently discovered Corner Gas and every episode predominantly uses American cultural references. Very few ever reference a national identity as Canadian. However, I do enjoy the local references about Saskatchewan. :)

[@anndeecosita3586]

😂😂

[@renshiwu305]

Doesn't Canada use the +1 calling code? Calling to/from Canada with an American line should be no more expensive than dialing from a different - even an in-state - area code.

[@francishaight2062]

I have a fun memory of a teacher back in 6th grade who completely lost her $#!+ at the whole class because we were saying fall instead of autumn 😂. And thank you, Lawrence, for dispelling the myth that all Americans walk around wearing fanny packs! What a mortifying myth. No doubt you’ve heard it a gazillion times already, but welcome to America!

[@claregale9011]

They are just stereotypes as you have of us brits , we don't all drink tea or have bad teeth lol

[@CormacMacCormac]

I have a fanny pack, I love it.

[@billolsen4360]

I had a old maid 6th grade teacher that called rubber bands "rubbers" making all of us boys always snicker.

[@bethanythatsme]

Tons of fanny packs on active people here in the PNW

[@kennydavis2276]

@@billolsen4360 That's hilarious. Galoshes are also known as rubbers, I believe.

[@harvardgrad4411]

I have lived, attended university, worked, and paid taxes in both Canada and the United States. The similarities between the two countries (ranging from governmental structure to cuisine to speech habits, etc., etc.) FAR outweigh the differences. ENORMOUSLY. The similarities tend to run north-south, rather than east-west. If one is in the Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island), one can easily imagine that one is in New England. If one is in the industrial heartland of Canada (Ontario), one can easily imagine being in the industrial heartland of the States. Saskatchewan is very agricultural, and very similar to Kansas or Nebraska or Iowa. Alberta is largely ranching country - and very similar to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas. British Columbia is very similar to Washington and Oregon (especially the major cities). Even a LOT of retail chain stores, major industries, supermarkets, banks, and restaurant chains are identical in the two countries (the Canadian ones being subsidiaries of American parent companies; and vice versa - as in TD America Bank being a subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank). There is a joke that pretty much sums up everything - "How does one distinguish the Canadian at the dinner party? He's the one speaking with a Minnesota accent."

[@Tom_Ka_Guy]

Excellent analysis.

[@damianjblack]

The difference is there is rather less rabid evangelical Christianity in Canada.

[@mocrg]

I think you’re quite right. This is because the US cities are actually closer to the Canadian cities than to other Canadian cities.

[@SummaGirl1347]

If you believe that all British people are reserved and quiet, you haven't been in a pub in Wales when a (Sir) Tom Jones song comes on....They go absolutely, ear-splittingly, (but perfectly in tune) INSANE.

[@greggi47]

Isn't group singing in perfect pitch genetically inherent in Welsh people?

[@ladyofthemasque]

Thumbs up for mentioning "the thousands of years of Native History." Thank you! Also, Autumn & Fall have always been around. Little kids probably learn how to spell Fall first, then Autumn, but we get to use both of them all the time. And for the daylight savings time twaddle, It's "Spring Forward & Fall Back!" as the mnemonic. (Lastly, there was a surge in recent decades for Americans wanting to learn "britspeak" due to the Harry Potter novels. So...yeah.)

[@spankynater4242]

No, there was no big push for Americans wanting to learn British English because of some books.

[@blackfox4138]

As a Native American myself, I also get a fun little kick whenever I see an Old Worlder come to a startling realization that there was an entirely separate race of humans living on this continent before they did. Such a fun little experience we get.

[@johnp139]

First of all, there’s no such thing as a Native American. People from Asia migrated to the continent about 14,000 years ago (unlike aboriginal people in Australia). Which also means that they aren’t a separate race since there are only 3 races.

[@ryzardt]

So true! Everyone else apart from yourselves are immigrants!

[@petelobl]

@@johnp139 How about much-more-native American? Quite-a-bit-more-like-ten-thousand-year-more-native-American?

[@drearyplane8259]

@@johnp139 there's no such thing as a native Asian they're migrants from Africa

[@dongquixote7138]

@John P that's completely false. I was born here, making me a native

[@toddlytodd]

I jumped for joy hearing the mention of Cahokia Mounds. I live in St Louis area and go once or twice a year. Not a lot of Americans are taught that we had one of the largest cities in the world in it's heyday right here in the pre-Columbian midwest.

[@marthamcginty7444]

It’s amazing that Americans don’t know about Cahokia mounds. They’ve been to Paris London and Rome but not St Louis and Cahokia Mounds

[@DaytonaRoadster]

havent been to those, but i did visit Dixion Mounds...pretty sure they changed the name..saw it when it was unburied, got me into history when i was a kid

[@higgme1ster]

Laurence, in 1976, I was enlisted in the USAF and stationed in Sacramento. My wife and I, for those two years, took advantage of the proximity to all of the Northern California attractions, one of which was the Gold Discovery Site at Sutter's Mill. We were very pleasantly pleased to learn that a large contingent of world-renowned miners had arrived there in 1849 from Cornwall. They brought their genius tin lunch buckets with them, which included their Cornish pasties, and they settled there where you can still find their delicacies. I agree with you about the magical Cornish pasties but I haven't had one in forty five years.

[@erichoppe1227]

There's a bakery near by in Grass Valley that still makes Cornish Pasties.

[@user-zp4ge3yp2o]

There must be something about pasties, because everywhere the Cornish miners ended up it seems you can still find people eating them to this day.

[@notworthyourtime9799]

This is also the case for the Upper Peninsula in Michigan where Cornish miners emigrated in large numbers.

[@margaretbedwell3211]

and yet they are so easy to make.

[@reaperthemad8731]

finally looked up what these were.... it's British calzone for those wondering

[@draconity]

I’ve had to dispel the myth of eating huge portion sizes all the time. You’ve seen this I’m sure but: One, gigantic portion sizes at restaurants have a few conditions. Normally they are 1) eaten as a special event, 2) sharing with others, or 3) intended to be partly eaten and taken home. (A lot of people said that restaurants don’t allow them to take their unfinished food home, which would probably cause a riot here.) People see restaurant portions and think we’re always eating that much all the time. Then they see fat Americans, and they think that’s why we’re fat. This leads to how I have to dispel the myth of American obesity being a result of stuffing our face. (TV shows that turn people with disordered eating into sideshows isn’t helping perception here either.) You probably noticed since living here, but for others: our most obese population is the poor, by a long shot. We have immense corn subsidies to the point where corn is trying to get high fructose corn syrup put in everything, even injected into cuts of meat. It takes more money to afford food without lots HFC and wheat in it, both of which have made obesity skyrocket. Our food is trying to kill us and nobody cares because it’s the poor that it’s hurting. But we have to eat SOMETHING, and fresh food is prohibitively expensive in much of the country, and you must have the time and energy to cook it-hard when you’re working two jobs.

[@bigscarysteve]

"The food at that restaurant is terrible--and the portions are so small!" ----Woody Allen

[@SuprousOxide]

Don't allow you to take unfinished food home? Don't their women have purses?

[@katiesoderling3596]

Bingo!

[@Sashazur]

Actually the huge portions thing is being threatened by inflation. Eating at restaurants has gotten a lot more expensive the past couple of years, so they’re reducing the amount of food served (and also still raising prices).

[@BJGvideos]

Quite a few people care. What are you talking about? It's really just a handful of idiot politicians who don't care, and the douchebags who keep voting them in.

[@graylor1]

In my rural area addresses are now simplified for emergencies. What was something like Rural Route 5, Box 123 is now 1476 Big Creek Road, where the number means 1.476 miles from the beginning of the road. Even if the address isn't clearly visible paramedics can estimate where the house probably is from the number. There are neighbors who still don't speak to each other because they disagreed as to what to name their road, but having only one Big Creek Road instead of three means less confusion for everyone. There are still glitches like Old Hwy 7 East and Old Hwy 7 West which no longer connect and are in different parts of the county, nevertheless, emergency services can get to their destination faster with less confusion, so it works. So endeth my dissertation.

[@cowantom]

The thing about addresses was the one I genuinely didn't know. I did assume that those large numbers were in certain places that the area/ street was so large that there was a need for large numbers. I suppose if you think about it having the number 6000 is pretty staggering if that implies there are at least that number of other houses in the same street/ area. Even more fascinated that it in fact relates to a distance measurement. He skirted over it a bit so is this actually how it is mostly done - the way you have in your example?

[@RandomNonsense1985]

@@cowantom In my county in upstate NY, rather than numbers being based on distance, there is an address number every 50 feet, regardless of any buildings being present. It makes it easy to assign an address if a new building goes up. When I was a kid in the 90s, before my county did their big re-addressing project, only the villages/hamlets in my county (it has no cities) had "standard" street addresses. Anyone in a rural area had "Rural Route 1 Box 123" as their address. Houses didn't have numbers, so any new mailboxes set up in between existing numbers were assigned "Box 123A", "Box 123B", etc. Sometimes people would also list their road name in their address, but it wasn't neccesary.

[@cowantom]

@@RandomNonsense1985 I think thats a really clever way of numbering. I really like the idea that you can almost estimate a location, and its distance to other places, based on the number. The way you describe in NY is also very clever. We (Scotland, but across the UK) just have the traditional incremental numbers within the defined streets. Unless you are actually in the street and can follow the numbering its often difficult to find a particular address.

[@davidcashin1894]

Crazy thing around N VA is that old long farm roads have been broken up, cut off, intersected by new roads. So we have a couple of roads that follow the same line, but stop or dead end only to start somewhere else, or they have one name along a stretch, changes names for another stretch then change back............

[@RandomNonsense1985]

@@davidcashin1894 My county's re-addressing project also cleaned up a lot of road names, with some getting all new names to avoid duplication with other towns in the county.

[@cmbara102]

One of the things that caught me of guard when I joined the U.S. Army, is that you don't call it a restroom / toilet / bathroom. The Drill Sergeants made a point to erase that word. It's called a latrine. Whats even more wild to me is that the U.S. Navy and U.S.M.C. they call it the head. So, just within American English alone, there is a myriad of ways to call the room that you take a crap in.

[@damianjblack]

Us Brits call it the bog or the sh*tter.

[@jasonpatterson8091]

In most places in the US house numbers go up by 100 for each block. So you'll start a block (the side closest to the center of town) at say 400 on one side and 401 on the other. The houses go up by twos, even on one side, odd on the other. Every block it jumps up by 100, even though there might only be 5 houses (or one, or none at all) on that block. The numbering system tells you how far from the center of town the house is and which side of the street it's on. Out in the country this can lead to skips of 1000 or more between neighbors who are widely separated.

[@bigscarysteve]

That's a nice, succinct summation of how it works in my town. There's only one street in my town that's long enough to have a 1000's block. The highest house number on that street is 1004.

[@guppy719]

Housing numbers go up 1000 for each mile blocks are usually a tenth of a mile.

[@jovetj]

City block sizes vary drastically in the US. Some are big, some are small, and there's rarely much regularity in the same municipality. The "average" is about 6 blocks to a mile. There are three types of address numbering systems in the US that I know of: - starting at 1: numbers increase according to distance or existing addresses, often with addresses odd on the south/east side and even on the north/west side. - starting at 101: numbers increase according to city block and existing address, often with addresses odd on the south/east side and even on the north/west side; blocks tend to be counted by the 100s; without distance-based reserved numbers, new addresses can be squeezed in as ½. - random numbers: assigned as needed. (A good example is rural E-911 address schemes.) Similarly, there are many, many names for municipal streets that you will find in a town, city, village, or elsewhere. (These include: Street, Avenue, Way, Boulevard, Parkway, Freeway, Expressway, Road, Plaza, Lane, Drive, Alley, Terrace, Place, Court, Circle, Corso, Loop, Path, Trail.) Each municipality has their own system for organizing and naming these, and the popularity of these varies by region. Sometimes these names mean things, sometimes they don't. Putting it all together, you can encounter addresses like: - 14 Portia Road, 47 Circle Drive, 111 Dow Street. - 123 44th Street, 3724 Davidson Drive, 11157 Maple Place. - 2132 Magnolia Trail, 4739 Lincoln Lane, 10396 County Road 21

[@cynthiajohnston424]

In the US , rural addresses are " quirky " at best - most do not have a sequence due to selling off acreages & the assigning an address once a property / house gets building permits , etc. That's why we give directions like : " Follow the road to the Y , hang a right , go past the black angus farm & it's the third white house on the left w/ two dogs & a Dodge Ram by the barn . Don't bother to knock , just come on in . " 😂

[@viddork]

Where I live, the blocks on either side of the division between East and West are zero-hundreds, so those two blocks have 2-digit street numbers. I don't know how they assign house numbers on any given street, though. (Since there are 100 to choose from, but only about a dozen will be needed for any given block.) One thing is, they seem not to use the same last two digits on adjacent streets. Eg. if you're looking for 153 14th Street, there won't be a 153 on 13th or 15th Streets (and probably not for several more blocks). I assume this is to help avoid going to the correct house number, but on the wrong street.

[@andianderson3017]

I was taught that Autumn was the proper word but that we call it fall because of the leaves. So I think most Americans grow up with one as the regular word and one as the one you use in school and to impress people.

[@anndeecosita3586]

I’ve never been told one was better than the other. Most Americans I know use Fall and Autumn interchangeably.

[@stephenbenner4353]

As an American I probably use “Autumn” about a third as much as as I use “Fall.” I prefer the former, as it sounds nicer, but I probably use the latter more because it is shorter, and we all know how expensive additional syllables are.

[@settame1]

Autumn is also a semi-common name.

[@just_kos99]

Sad to say, one classic British TV show BritBox is missing is "The Young Ones." Please do something about this. (Although it DOES have lots of Doctor Who!!) When I was in England in March 1996, we were on our way to Avebury and Stonehenge (my sister lived in London). A road sign said "Cardiff 100 Miles" so I pleaded with sis for us to go but she said it wasn't on the itinerary. She said that to us Americans, 100 miles is a side trip but to Brits it's like on the other side of the world!

[@johnl5316]

I have heard 'bonkers' for many decades just as I have heard both 'autumn' & 'fall' for decades

[@GrimmFLawless]

I think fall is used generally but autumn is a pretty sounding word for a pretty season. Also Autumn is a pretty popular girl’s name. Another reason Fall might have caught on me is because of daylight savings time. Spring ahead and fall back was a good way to remember when everyone only had clocks to rely on.

[@lanaj1107]

Autumnal is one of my favorite words. So pretty sounding.

[@trickygoose2]

I'm British and use that one to remember which way the clocks change!

[@STho205]

This is a generational trend in English to move toward the more germanic root word in favor of the french for common speech or brevity. When one falls in deep water, one typically shouts HELP not Aid....even though both are short.

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

I named my kid Fall, Autumn was too hard to spell. 😅

[@mayloo2137]

the only Autumn I know of is former Canadian Autumn Kelly who was married to the late Queen's grandson Peter Phillips.

[@AZFlyingCook]

My friend from the North East in England nearly didn't make his first trip to the USA because he beleived it was too dangerous, based on all the American TV shows he'd watched. Luckily for me (as this was the trip where I met him), his wife and child said they were going to go with or without him. I sometimes think it's hard for people outside of the US to understand just how large and diverse the country is, as much as it's hard for those inside the US often to understand that outside of our country is also very, very different to how it is here. 🌎

[@bigscarysteve]

Some Jewish friends of mine once had some visitors from Israel stay at their house for a few days. After the visitors left, my friends were all laughing about how their guests talked. They kept talking about going to California as if it were no different than walking around the corner. We live on the East coast.

[@lizlee6290]

That's because the dangerous stuff makes the news because, believe it or not, it's rare. That kind of stuff makes for good drama on a tv show. It gives a distorted perception of the entire U.S. Most of us (over 300 million of us) don't make the news because we live ordinary, boring lives. We sure as heck don't have dramatic tv shows based on our lives!

[@AZFlyingCook]

@@bigscarysteve I've heard stories like that before. When I showed my friend a map of his home over one of the US, he remarked how much bigger many states were than the UK

[@AZFlyingCook]

@@lizlee6290 That's very true. However, he consumed very little US news. It was mostly movies and TV shows that had influenced his perceptions. That's almost worse than what's shown on the news!

[@claregale9011]

Unfortunately bad news travels so we hear about the shootings over there .

[@petrafied99]

My favorite pronunciation difference between American and Canadian: a grocery store employee might sort fruit & veg, aka process the produce. Americans prah-sess the proe-doose, Canadians proe-sess the prah-doose.

[@thecraigster8888]

Born and raised in Wisconsin, but have lived in the U.P. of Michigan for a few decades. Both places have pasties where Cornish miners settled to work local mines. SW Wisconsin was the first place the territory was settled due to the lead mines. The central U.P. had and still has copper and iron mines. We have several places that have small stores that are exclusively Pasty Shops.

[@bigscarysteve]

Cornwall has tin mines. The pasties have a thick crust on one side which you use to hold the pasty while you eat it--and then you throw the crust away so you don't get tin poisoning--but I suppose the principle remains true regardless of what kind of mine you're working in. I'm from West Virginia. The Italian housewives here invented something called a pepperoni roll. It's designed so their husbands would have something to eat for lunch when they were down in the coal mines.

[@lizlee6290]

I would imagine the coal region of Pennsylvania would have stores with pasties. Anybody know?

[@momcat1761]

@@lizlee6290 I am not sure about that, but do know that pasties are quite popular in Butte, Montana due to the large number of miners who moved there to work the copper and silver mines. However, Montana pasties -- and, to some extent Michigan ones -- are unusual in that they are NOT handheld pies with one thick crimped edge, but symmetrical meat-filled (mostly) bread and invariably served on a plate and covered with gravy. When I asked to have one without gravy, or even on the side, I was met with confusion and/or disgusted looks. Those would make for very messy mine food. On the other hand (pun intended) The Cornish Pasty Company is based in southern Arizona (I think the original was/is in Tempe) with several locations in the state along with one in Boulder City, NV and even one in Las Vegas. They have wonderful handheld pasties with dozens of traditional and international filling options, served with dipping sauces on the side, plus soups, salads, sides and desserts like Sticky Toffee Pudding and Banoffee Pie. The ambience of the three I have visited is rather pub-like as well. I highly recommend them.

[@billolsen4360]

You mean they moved all they way across the Atlantic to a unspoiled new land and just went back down into a hole the ground again?

[@billolsen4360]

@@busimagen Okay, my mistake. Interesting how that opportunity came along at the right time. Good for them. Could probably still do better much underground than as pioneer farmers.

[@aletaschulz1108]

We Americans tend to use Fall and Autumn interchangably.

[@bigscarysteve]

True. However, there is a difference between active vocabulary and recognition vocabulary. Where I live, everyone knows both words, but pretty much everyone only ever says "fall."

[@elvismansoncpa]

I find that we say "fall" when the sentence includes another season ("got to break out my fall and winter clothing"), and autumn if it doesn't ("the trees are beautiful in autumn").

[@edminchau811]

I was in a bar and three rather large women were having a loud conversation in a foreign accent. I was the only other person in the bar so I figured I'd talk with them. So I asked them "what part of Scotland are you ladies from". The one woman said "It's Wales, ya idiot". So I said "I'm sorry.. what part of Scotland are you whales from?" That's the last thing I remember.

[@andreastudebaker3722]

That's hilarious!!

[@shellyroke]

😂😅😊

[@isabellaereshki]

6:52 grew up in Pennsylvania and live in North Carolina now and i've heard them Lavatory, Bathroom, Restroom, Ladies' Room, Gentlemen's Room, Powder Room, Little Girl's room, Little Boy's room, Women's Room, Men's Room, Toilet, Loo((usually only people visiting from England/Britain/Great Britain/United Kingdom seem to call it that word)), Washroom, Executive Washroom, Executive Closet or Executive Bathroom or Cloak Room or Lavatory.... and blue prints, architectural plans/drawings, draftsman plans/drawings all generally label them Water Closets or W.C.s at least as of the late 1990s when i took cad and drafting classes in high school.

[@jerseyboy406]

You forgot ‘the pisser’… lol

[@f.k.e.parsons2113]

Also the room of changeable gender, and the litterbox. 😀

[@Sheriden.]

When my sister and I went to Ireland a lot of people asked if we carried around guns. It was a valid question but it still was odd to be asked that.

[@bethannevandagriff7054]

It's a really strange disconnect. The assumption that guns are everywhere here, but also that the mere presence of a gun in any situation whatsoever is incredibly dangerous--if people examined these two beliefs, they'd realize that if both of them were true, we'd all be dead. But of course, neither is true.

[@elultimo102]

In rural Arizona, about half the population carries a gun. It takes getting used to, after living your life in two Marxist states like CA & IL.

[@KeilaBevins]

Now the American stereotype is only true for some Texans, huh?

[@Sheriden.]

@@KeilaBevins naw I’m from a country town in Washington state and it’s pretty common here.

[@xo2quilt]

@@Sheriden. I'm from a farm outside a country town in eastern Washington...I always assume everyone is carrying a gun since most people are. Amazing how polite folks are!

[@ObiWanShinobi67]

When i was little i used to think fall was a nickname for autumn since the leaves change and "fall" to the ground.

[@JoshColletta]

As a Michigander, yes, I agree, Kalamazoo IS an excellent word 😄

[@thudthud5423]

Have you ever been to the Kalamazoo foreign animal sanctuary?

[@BacktheBlue60]

I kinda like Hell, Climax and Intercourse

[@howlinhobbit]

Kalamazoo is lots more fun to say than it is to live in. but I’m trying to adjust.

[@greggi47]

@@howlinhobbit I agree. I spent 10 months at Western Michigan University, which was no fun at all, and the major attraction of being there was to refer to returning to Kalamazoo.after a weekend away. Actually, I liked the town more than the campus. It had a nice Art Center, a couple of local theater companies, and a rather depraved statue near the town center that depicted a Pilgrim fellating an Indian--or maybe it was the oppposit? That sojourn was a long time ago.

[@TheWolverine-ff2rs]

I grew up in Otsego, went to WMU and lived for 2-3 years in Kalamazoo - on Douglas Avenue - the downtown part - not the country part.

[@veepotter307]

When my German traveling friend and I (from the U.S.) were in Scotland, a young airport attendant asked, “Is that your bog.” Neither of us understood what he was referring to until he pointed to her luggage and asked again, “Is that your bog.” We still laugh at that and sometimes laughingly refer to our luggage as “a bog”.

[@sifridbassoon]

"bag" maybe. That vowel shift would make sense in Scottish.

[@frisco21]

Brits: the American accent is different _to_ the British accent Americans: the American accent is different _from_ the British accent

[@bigscarysteve]

YES! The British usage here drives me absolutely BONKERS!

[@robertmiller9735]

The American accent is also different from all the other American accents. I once attended a lecture by a fellow from coastal Georgia: after a few minutes he realized none of us had understood a word he said!

[@stevewood8914]

Brit here, I certainly hear both here, but anecdotally I'd say that we say "from" more often than "to" in that situation. Perhaps it's an Americanism that has caught on?

[@onespiceybbw]

Thank you. That was making me mental.

[@ericericson4]

American accent? which one?

[@deepmind299]

Actually Canadian provinces are often more culturally similar to their nearest American state than to each other. My home province of British Columbia certainly has more in common Washington state than Albeta or Ontario.

[@pamc2538]

I started watching your videos when I was imprisoned (aka working from home) during COVID. As a shameless Anglophile, I have enjoyed your takes on many things American. I also love your wry sense of humor. During my time of COVID imprisonment, I also got into genealogical research and found out that I had far more English ancestors than I ever dreamed! My earliest American Ancestor came from England to York, Maine in 1650! I find it both enlightening and humbling to hear about America from the perspective of someone from a different (but in many ways ) similar culture. It is a great antidote to the solipsism that we Americans often suffer. I recall going into St. Paul's Cathedral for a visit and listening to the American ahead of me in line complain about the fee charged for admission. It was truly embarrassing and led me to apologize to the clerk when it was my turn to enter. In listening to other Americans gripe about things in Britain, I was moved several times to remind them, "Hey, it's their country." I live in Philadelphia, and love encountering British tourists (I am an occasional tour guide here in the city) to whom I love to extend the warmest welcome and help them with finding their way around. I hope you will come back to Philadelphia and do a video devoted exclusively to our city. I would love to get your perspective.

[@susandevinenapoli7649]

My mom's family emigrated to the US from Quebec in the 40s. Not only did she speak only French but we had long dinners in the evening. It was a culture shock for her. I visited and found it very different.

[@corey2232]

That same thing can also be said for many people moving to Quebec, even other Canadians 🤣 Let's be real, Quebec is like its own pocket country inside Canada. The US & Canada are extremely similar in so many ways, but if you isolate Quebec, it stands out in comparison to both. It's one of the reasons why I supported Quebec separatist movements as a kid growing up, even though I had zero idea of what that'd entail. I just imagined how cool it'd be to have a new, primarily French-speaking country in North America

[@BasementEngineer]

@@corey2232 An ancient proverb says: "Be careful what you wish for, because you may just get it, good and hard".

[@corey2232]

@@BasementEngineer Wise words, especially the "good and hard" part! 😉

[@ashe_h1]

As an American, I've always had fall and autumn used interchangeably; not necessarily just casual vs formal either, often autumn is used in places where the term fall could be possibly misunderstood to mean the verb.

[@snowangelnc]

I was born in the 80's. My first association with the word bonkers was the candy. Anybody else remember the commercial with the old lady laughing hysterically after the giant fruit fell on her?

[@tracyveronika]

Yup!

[@goblinqueen4991]

Not born in the 80s (I was a teen then), but I do remember that!

[@CommodoreFan64]

I was born in July 81, but I remember Bonkers Candy, and the commericals. 👍