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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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 Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
I have some Scouser friends who came to visit me in Iowa in 1990. Iowa is a fine place to be from, but it is not very exciting as a vacation destination. One night we bought some beer at the gas station and drove out in the country, parked along the side of the road, climbed the barbed wire fence and sat in a corn field to see if we could hear the corn grow.  |
Do you know Garrison Keillor? Of course you do. Anyway, you frequently remind me very much of him. I only know him from his piece which appears in the International Herald Tribune every week, but I swear I think of your posts every time I read his articles.
..And.. thanks for the support..
And, were the Scousers disappointed with Iowa? I bet they weren't because even a boring town in a different country is exciting. In fact frequently boring towns are more fun than the big cities. At least that's been my experience in the US, Canada, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, Taiwan, Australia and many other places I've visited. My most memorable times have always been in the 'boring' towns rather than the famous ones. |
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Pligganease
Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Location: The deep south...
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Dome Vans wrote: |
| Pligganease wrote: |
| Dome Vans wrote: |
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| (30% of Americans being obese, 23% of Brits). |
Just a small side point here. The OP noticed a lot more obese people.
23% of 60 million is 13.8 million compared with 30% of 300 million is 90 million. That's a significant increase in the actual number. |
Yeah, and it makes sense if you have zero rational or logical thinking ability.
The population density of the US is 31 people per square km. In Britain, it's 246. So, in the US there are 10 fat people per square km while in Britain there are 57.
So, you'd see more fat people in the UK than you would in the US. |
Yes, yes, of course P.
Knocking about in America's urban areas you will see far more obese people. They have the world's third largest Urban population that's 232 080 000 people. With on average 30% of them being obese. Obviously out of town you're less likely to see that many because of the size of the country. Britains Urban population is just over half living in cities (with populations of over 100 000 people). To the casual traveller you're more likely to see more obese people therefore in America especially in the urban areas. Hence the OP's original post, musings from a traveller's perspective.
Add in American's sensitivity to what was a harmless thread and then you're just about there. |
Is this again where you show your ignorance of America?
Yes, I believe it is.
Most of the obese, particularly the morbidly obese, live in rural areas. They also tend to live in southern states. Therefore, you are less likely to see obese people in northern or metropolitan areas in any similar numbers to the amount that you would see in Britain.
I think it's funny that this "not intended to be an anti-US thread" is drawing out the likes of Dome Vans and bovinerebel. I think that says a lot about the thread itself. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Pligganease wrote: |
I think it's funny that this "not intended to be an anti-US thread" is drawing out the likes of Dome Vans and bovinerebel. I think that says a lot about the thread itself. |
I'm sorry it's going that way.
Hopefully some people will share their experiences, 'culture shock' or not of living in or visiting the USA. |
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dtown
Joined: 06 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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Hyeon Een:
Not trying to hi-jack your thread, I'm American so I really shouldn't be posting but just out of curiosity...What the HELL do Brits eat for lunch? I am not lying when I tell you I had either a PB&J or grilled cheese every day of my life from the time I could chew until I graduated from high school. I can't imagine my life without those 2 things. I even bring peanut butter whenever I travel outside of the country because I found out the hard way that not everybody in the world shares my love.
Oh, I am going to add that I have had culture shock inside my own country and state for that matter. I am from the midwest but seriously could not believe the first time I went to S. Carolina to visit my aunt and uncle.
-Everybody called me a Yank or Yankee, and not always in a friendly way
-They sold confederate flags everywhere and had confederate flags on everything
-My uncle owns a modern day plantation, had no idea this sort of thing was still acceptable |
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Dome Vans
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I think it's funny that this "not intended to be an anti-US thread" is drawing out the likes of Dome Vans and bovinerebel. I think that says a lot about the thread itself. |
Pikanese, at the end of the day, if living in Korea has taught me something it's just to let things go. That's why I don't really bother with the Anti-US jibes anymore. There was nothing in my post to say that I was being anti-US at all. I was meerly pointing out a few statistics as you did in reply. Nothing malicious there. End of. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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| dtown wrote: |
Hyeon Een:
Not trying to hi-jack your thread, I'm American so I really shouldn't be posting but just out of curiosity...What the HELL do Brits eat for lunch? I am not lying when I tell you I had either a PB&J or grilled cheese every day of my life from the time I could chew until I graduated from high school. I can't imagine my life without those 2 things. I even bring peanut butter whenever I travel outside of the country because I found out the hard way that not everybody in the world shares my love.
Oh, I am going to add that I have had culture shock inside my own country and state for that matter. I am from the midwest but seriously could not believe the first time I went to S. Carolina to visit my aunt and uncle.
-Everybody called me a Yank or Yankee, and not always in a friendly way
-They sold confederate flags everywhere and had confederate flags on everything
-My uncle owns a modern day plantation, had no idea this sort of thing was still acceptable |
Spotted Dick. Beefburgers, Bangers and Mash, Faggots and Pea's |
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b_jinx
Joined: 27 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Fishead soup wrote: |
Spotted Dick. Beefburgers, Bangers and Mash, Faggots and Pea's |
Could you explain this for the non-Brits please... |
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dtown
Joined: 06 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: |
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 I wiki'd them...uhhh....hmm...to each their own I guess? Brits sure do like their meat. I definitely will not be planning any trips to the UK in the foreseeable future. Those seem like very time consuming lunches. I never ate school lunch though and PB&J is super fast and could probably sit in a backpack for weeks without ever going bad.
I just thought of more culture shock within the US:
-people outside of the midwest calling pop 'soda' or 'coke' <--that especially bugs me because coke is a type of pop so it makes no sense asking 'what kind of coke?' or I even heard 'phosphate' in Montana.
-gas stations in big cities make you prepay for the gas, I've never done this because how the hell am I supposed to know how much money I'm going to need to fill up? |
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aarontendo
Joined: 08 Feb 2006
Location: Daegu-ish
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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| you mean there's a person that DOESN'T like bangers and mash? What the hell? |
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DRAMA OVERKILL
Joined: 12 Apr 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:35 pm Post subject: Re: Non-US people: Things you did/saw/experienced 1st in the |
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| Hyeon Een wrote: |
| - Fat people. Britain has fat people, but the US can take it to another level at times. For the first time in my life I saw a person SO fat that they had to drive a cart around the supermarket to buy their food. It was mostly junk food.. voyeur that I am I was so fascinated by someone of such size that I followed her and her trolley-pusher around for several minutes. I felt sorry for the supermarket-worker who had to pile-up and push her trolley full of crap, no offense intended towards the American snack food producers. By the way, 'trolley' is the British English word for shopping cart. |
During a pit stop at a gas station / convenience store (somewhere outside of Tampa, Florida) I saw this INCREDIBLY fat slob with the most gigantic softdrink in one hand, and the most gigantic chocolate bar in the other. Stuffing her face. Talking with her mouth stuffed. Wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts made out of spandex or something. I just wanted to smack her. Disgusting. Put down those snacks already!!! |
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BS.Dos.
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Hyeon Een wrote: |
| Got to study a variety of courses in college. In Britain, generally, you study your 'major' and that's mostly it. |
My experience tells me otherwise. I did a joint Hons; Business & Information Systems and I studied loads of different modules, both related (core modules) and unrelated (options).
I first went to the US in 1990 and have been back 8-times, the last time in 2002. My biggest surprise was in respect of the number of Americans' who still think that Brits' still wear cloth caps and cycle about on penny farthings and who still ask if everything is rationed. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:01 pm Post subject: |
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| BS.Dos. wrote: |
| Hyeon Een wrote: |
| Got to study a variety of courses in college. In Britain, generally, you study your 'major' and that's mostly it. |
My experience tells me otherwise. I did a joint Hons; Business & Information Systems and I studied loads of different modules, both related (core modules) and unrelated (options).
I first went to the US in 1990 and have been back 8-times, the last time in 2002. My biggest surprise was in respect of the number of Americans' who still think that Brits' still wear cloth caps and cycle about on penny farthings and who still ask if everything is rationed. |
RACETRAITOR wears one of those cloth caps. With Big long side burns. |
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Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| BS.Dos. wrote: |
| Hyeon Een wrote: |
| Got to study a variety of courses in college. In Britain, generally, you study your 'major' and that's mostly it. |
My experience tells me otherwise. I did a joint Hons; Business & Information Systems and I studied loads of different modules, both related (core modules) and unrelated (options).
I first went to the US in 1990 and have been back 8-times, the last time in 2002. My biggest surprise was in respect of the number of Americans' who still think that Brits' still wear cloth caps and cycle about on penny farthings and who still ask if everything is rationed. |
Well I guess your University was different to mine. In my first year I could choose one option (I chose Ancient History). I was in the US for the second year where I got to choose lots of options. The next two years had options but they were all related to what I was reading; I couldn't choose anything outside of it at that point.
With regards to American perceptions of us.. I had one dumb guy ask me in all sincerity why my country shut down at 4pm every day for afternoon tea. I think he had us somewhat confused with the Spanish and their siestas or something. A tea break around 4 is quite common, but it doesn't mean the country shuts down for an hour haha. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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| And, were the Scousers disappointed with Iowa? |
I think they were puzzled by it. It surprised them that every third person on the street (town of about 4,000) stopped us to ask who they were. D & K thought Americans were exceptionally friendly. When I got back to town after delivering them to Toronto my friends/students said they knew who they were--everyone in town knew who they were within 30 minutes of them arriving. They said they just wanted to hear real English people speak. They were too polite to ask them why they didn't sound like English people in the movies.
They loved fresh corn on the cob, tenderloins and Mississippi catfish. I was appalled when they put pork and beans on their toast.
We stopped in Jackson, Tennessee for supper. A young man came over to take our order and spoke in a Southern accent thicker than any molasses. Karen couldn't understand him at all. I translated his question. She answered in her best Scouse accent and the poor boy just went pale. He had no idea what she'd said. I translated her English for the waiter.
We didn't go into any really big cities but they didn't mind. They said they felt they had seen the 'real' America.
PS: You mentioned Garrison Keillor (from Mini-SO-ta where they talk funny). Did you see Robert Altman's 'Prairie Home Companion'? Great flick. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:52 am Post subject: |
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Even though there's hardly a massive difference between UK and US obesity stats, I too was knocked out by the fat people in the US first time I visited - especially the women (and especially the black women).
My experiences in the US are for the most part in Brooklyn and rural Pennsylvania. Brooklyn was a surprise because it's completely safe to walk around at 3am. Rural PA and I assume rural elsewhere was and is a massive surprise and shock, because very blue collar people have the most enormous properties with huge areas of surrounding land. The lifestyle for the blue collar rural American is superior to even wealthy Britons in many a case. PA is also shocking for the amount of US flags on houses (and the first time I visited was before 9/11). The majority of houses have flags on them and some people wear 'America' t-shirts. I enjoy patriotism so it's far from being a problem, but it was a big surprise. |
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