BS: British-American cultural differences 2

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: marymarymary
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 01:43 PM

Ickle Dorritt: In the states that require pre-marriage blood tests (I'm not sure that all of them do) they are testing for diseases or traits that would affect potential offspring of the couple (sickle cell trait in either, or negative blood type, syphilis, or rubella in the mother). In some states, such as Indiana, the premarital blood test is only required of women who are of childbearing age. I guess it's done on the principle that many people will wait until marriage to start a family, and that if there is a reason why you and your future spouse should be cautious about having children, it's best to know that beforehand so that it can be treated or special precautions can be taken. What's actually tested for varies from state to state. The only thing that Indiana tests for is Rubella.

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 04:24 PM

Thanks marymarymary.What about the trifle?

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 08:16 PM

Ebbie, the factually incorrect part of your post was in the first line, where you stated that Thanksgiving Day was the third Thursday of November.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: GUEST,Lyle
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 08:33 PM

John Bond does a funny poem called "Toast." In it, he refers to "up toast." What is that?????

Lyle

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: marymarymary
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 09:37 PM

Ickle Dorritt: Sorry, no idea what a "trifle" is... is it something to eat? It seems like most of the semantic differences are food-related.

Something I always wondered about is this: what is a "vegetable marrow"? In Agatha Christie books, Poirot was always talking about retiring to raise them, and I never knew what they were. I found a picture of one on a webpage, and it looked like a zucchini to me, but someone in this thread said that in the UK zucchinis are called "courgettes", so is a vegetable marrow actually something else? Do we have them in the US by some other name?

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Sep 01 - 10:01 PM

Vegetable marrow :
The plant species Cucurbita pepo, which produces long, cylindrical fruits. These are usually green but may also be yellow, white, or striped. Like their relatives melons and cucumbers, they are climbing or trailing annuals, with large, prickly leaves and stems. In North America these fruits are known as summer squashes, and include the American pumpkin. They originated in tropical America and are now grown all over the world as a vegetable. Other varieties of C. pepo include ornamental gourds, and those with fruit used when young as courgettes, which are also known as zucchini.

Trifle is a confection of layers of cake alternating with whipped cream and fruit, topped with custard. There are many different recipes, I seem to remember my mother incorporated jelly (=US Jello) into her trifle.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: GUEST,allie kiwi
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 03:27 AM

This thread is hilarious! It is interesting to see similarities and differences - paricularly as I am from New Zealand and standing off at a distance.

It seems to me that New Zeland is even more british than Australia is, who have a few more american tendencies than us. (eg pronunciation like 'dance' - and dont get me onto how they say 'six')

In NZ we have a Guy Fawkes celebration, which to me has never really made sense, particularly if one is a Roman Catholic.

Things that have always interested me about american things are:

a) what is a stick of butter? how much does it weigh?

b) why do you drive on the right side of the road? (did you all throw the tea off the boats into Boston Harbour and say 'Guys, from now we're being non conformist and driving our carts and carriages on the other side of the road!'?)

c) why did the letters 'u' and 'h' become such parah's in spelling? (eg in colour and yoghurt)

Allie who is neither a bird nor a green furry piece of fruit

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 06:26 AM

Allie kiwi, blame Napoleon for the driving on the wrong side of the road thing. For some reason he decided to dispense with centuries old tradition, and the Americans followed suit. Dawn of a brand new world and all that. At least the Americans had and still have the sense to resist metrication.

And don't you think the Americam way of spelling "honor" , "color" etc is much closer to the classical roots of these words than the Briitish way is?

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Maryrrf
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 11:02 AM

We once had some guests in from New Zealand here in Richmond. They were staying in a very upscale hotel and would drink at the bar/cocktail lounge every night. They couldn't figure out why the service got downright hostile - the cocktail waitress slammed the glasses down on their table, the bartender glared at them and they were made to feel very unwelcome. The problem was they weren't tipping. You're supposed to tip pretty generously in bars and cocktail lounges (nice looking cocktail waitresses usually earn pretty good money!).

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 11:21 AM

Allie Kiwi: A stick of butter is one quarter pound.

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 11:34 AM

Hello, Can some body make a part two please(It is hard for me to read long threads).thanks.john

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 12:41 PM

This discussion will be continued at BS: British-American cultural differences 3.

Subject: RE: BS: British-American cultural differences 2
From: running.hare
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 06:20 PM

I've read though both threads & picked out a few points to answer from a young English point of veiw. ---------------------- "To serve this purpose they have to be carefully maintained. People prune them and interweave their branches to keep them strong and tight." <- this is called cut & lay, & yes I beleive the are grants availiable for maintaining heges in this manner. "While we're on the subject of horticultural practices: does anyone know, or care to know, what a coppice is? Or a pollarded oak? An espaliered apple tree? I'm full of arcane lore!" A coppice, usualy a hazel coppice, is a perticular type of managed woodland. The Hazel will be coppiced, cut down to almost ground level, on a 3 / 4 year rotation. Ths produces lots of strait thinish shafts of hazel which can be used to make hurdles etc.. & burned to make charcoal. to pollard an oak (or any other tree) is to remove its crown (top grouth) to promote healthy low down side shoots. an espaliered fruit tree, is tied in to a specialy shaped support so it grows to a flat fan shape. -------------------------- some1 said their friend made a peace sign in a bar to signifie2. when using 2 fingers in briten you have to be careful side of your hand is towards the person. Palm towards person is perfectly exceptible, back of hand towards person = rude gesture (which has it's roots in the british mastery of the long bow) -------------------------- explain A leval O level GCSE,

GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education. you take GCSE exams @ the age of 16, but start the course 's 2 yrs prior. before GCSE's where introdused @ 16 you'd either sit O~levels cGCE (General certificate of Education) if you wheren't up 2 O~levels.

A~levels are the main thing studied by 6th form students (16~18) & people whould traditionaly sit 3 / 4 A~levels. (the A stands for Advanced) but now they've changed it all & nobody understands the new AS & A2 system!!!!!!!!!!!

------------------------------

"How common are porches on homes in the UK? I love porches...and some of the old homes in the States where they wrap around two sides of the house...WOW! " porch V verander. we keep our coats etc in the porch. It can also refer to a small roof over the frount door to keep off the rain while you find what you did with your keys. a large covered area atached to the out side of the house etc whould generaly be called a Verander. ---------------------- "The first season or two of "Red Dwarf" seemed more cerebral to me than subsequent seasons. When the show became popular in the U.S., it seemed like they jazzed it up with flashier colors and more explosions, which is pretty much what I would expect if they wanted to market to the majority of people in the U.S. " no they just had a bit of money to put in to it when it became a sucsess, killed the show a bit ;) ----------------- "The kids are supposed to use the money to buy fireworks, which they then stuff into the guy." 1) It is an offence to sell fireworks to anyone under the age of 16 (may have increased to 18 reasently) 2) no1 in there right mind whould throw firworks on to a bonfire! especialy stuffed in the guy! (although I'm told when my dad was a kid a carefully stuffed guy was sucure to the top of a bonfire B4 it was lit.) Nowa days the bonfire & the fire-works are kept distinktly seperate, & no1 except the one adult in charge of the fireworks goes NE where near the lighting area. --------------------- I apologise for my awful speeling ;)

~ Lizabee.