American Reacts to Mistakes Americans Make in the UK (Part 2)
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2023
- As an American I will openly admit we don't really know how ot behave in other countries such as the UK. Today I am very interested in continuing to learn about the mistakes Americans tend to make when spending time in the UK. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!
We call it the ground floor because it is on the ground. We call football, football, because it is played with the feet. We call a bathroom a bathroom because it has a bath in it.
In the USA they provide special rooms in all the buildings in case visitors get tired. I've seen signs for these 'rest rooms' everywhere. Remarkable idea.
@@MisterChrisInTheUKI had a nap in one of those, would not recommend. It stank and was very uncomfortable. Everyone kept walking by and staring at me. Not restful at all
Also football are played with a ball.
Now I realise why when I asked for a first floor level apartment in America ( as I prefer sleeping upstairs) I was given a ground floor one!
Americans call it’s soccer because British people called it that,first rugby has always been called rugby football and football has always been called association football. It was shortened to soccer football then at somepoint after they went to America Americans kept soccer and the British kept football. Rules of rugby football were changed up and became just football. The rugby club I played for when I was young was called *townname* rugby football club because it’s so old that when it was made everyone in the uk would have called rugby rugby football.
If we don't like someone, we are extremely polite to them. We only insult someone when we know them & they can take a joke.
Insults are part of interaction. Funnily enough I work at a Spar BP garage in Yorkshire and there's been many occasions where I've seen a customer do something daft and I made fun of them when they come to the counter and they laugh about it, like I saw someone my age filling his car up and left his fuel flap open and ran back and nearly slipped to close it, when he got to the counter I said "I'll pretend I didn't see you forget to close your fuel cap mate" just bants like that, I've also called people (only people my age, wouldn't dare with older people) povvos when their card declines, specifically when it's a problem on our side with our card machines messing up, and they laugh about it
Surely if you were told to go to the fourth floor, you'd just get in the lift and press the button with the number 4 on it? You'd be a bit daft to end up on the wrong floor because you're used to a different numbering system! Even if there was no lift and you had to use the stairs, there's usually signage to let you know which floor you're on. Just stop climbing when that signage says 4. 🤷♂️
don’t underestimate the mind of an american lad
never underestimate the power of 'stupid' - tower blocks can cause untold confusion. where my mum lived, there's 11 floors and six flats on each floor and the numbering reflects that - fifth floor, flat 4 = 54. someone got in the lift wanting 54 and assumed '45' and in the short journey between the ground floor and my mums floor, I helped this lost soul and nearly ended up losing my goddamned mind explaining the building and it's layout. told my mum what had happened on my way there, she called the random person 'an idiot at best'.
my mum regularly had to put pizza delivery people right thinking that my mums place was the point of delivery. just a damned good thing that the lifts in the building went to all floors! and an even better thing my mother wasn't on a higher floor! 🤣
To be fair at one of the hospitals I work at, the ground floor is actually Level 2… as in you walk in off of the street on to floor/level 2, it has 2 basement levels (level 1 which is a patient area and level zero which is strictly for staff and the un-alive)
That’s exactly what I thought. All lift buttons are marked to the corresponding floor, as are the doors on the stair.
I don’t know how anyone could be told to go to floor 4, and end up on floor 3. Unless they’re climbing through a window from the outside.
My thought exactly. Stairwells and lifts are all numbered.
In the UK children are taught to behave in an adult manner at an early age and from experience I have found that most American University students tend to behave in a way we would consider immature in a 14 year old.
True, but it's definitely getting worse in the uk, and they should probably do something about it
@@PabloEscobar-ws8rzi would say that brain rot apps like tiktok are primarily to blame
@@PabloEscobar-ws8rz I totally agree
@mothmagic1 - That used to be true, but it hasn't been for forty-odd years.
@@PabloEscobar-ws8rz There is little discipline in homes or schools. Used to be a mark of shame if you got punished at school and you never told your parents as the penalty was a lot worse. Now if kids are disciplined at school the parents now go to the school to take it out on them for enforcing an acceptable standard of behaviour. We lived in fear of the cane which was only used for serious breaches.
As an Englishman, I've never had an issue when crossing the road in countries where the traffic drives on the righthand side of the road. It's ingrained into me to look both ways before crossing the road, so it doesn't matter which side of the road the traffic is travelling.
The problem with common sense is that it's not that common!
@@Fifury161same for common decency
49% of the world don’t have ‘common sense’.
But yeah, it still baffles me that all of these ‘comparison with the UK’ videos always contain something about crossing roads.
Obviously, remembering to drive on the correct side of the road is important.
But as a pedestrian, surely everyone, regardless of country of origin, are taught to look both ways, and to continue to look both ways as you cross the road, until you get across safely?
I refuse to believe that Americans (even on one-way streets) are just going ‘Oh, well I looked to my left and there was nothing there, so now I’ll close my eyes and assume I’ll make it across okay…’
@@lewismantle3887 I suppose that these "road comparison" are more for people that are distracted or on "autopilot" as was said in the video. Distraction on the road is dangerous even in our own country and must be exponentially so when going to UK which has a whole opposite intuition about it for most of us.
Note how the warnings are painted down on the road which suggest that they are aimed at people focused more on their own shoes.
Used to have public service announcements teaching children how to cross a road safely. Was a couple of hedgehogs (often see them dead in the road)
I went to a supermarket for bottled water. I picked up a bottle and asked the helpful assistant if this was still water. She said yes - it's not miraculously turned into wine. Cheeky so and so.
She’s quite right. What a clown
😂
Rule of thumb growing up for my friends, If my family insults you, it means we've accepted you.
Typical example was when I first met my nephews girlfriend (now wife of 10+ years), my first question to her was, "So what's wrong with you then? Why are you with him?".
So Americans don't call them taps but faucets?
Yet the water that comes out of one is called tap water 🤔
They also say "Horseback riding" presumably so people don't get on the wrong part of the horse.
Faucet was used as the word in England decades before tap. It’s not an Americanism.
@@Joanna-il2ur it's two different things
@@101steel4 My American husband would tend to disagree.
@@Joanna-il2ur he would do, he's American 🤣
A good rule of thumb is if you are being insulted, they like you. If they call you mate or pal, they are pissed off with you. Generally
Nah I disagree with the mate bit, I use mate far more as a term of endearment than in annoyance.
I call literally everyone I know mate even my dad so round where I live it's the opposite
Sometimes the pal thing applies tho
The look left and look right in London aren't actually just for tourists. We have a lot of one way streets in the UK and therefor the traffic could potentially come from either direction. Since London is so busy, they tend to point out the direction of the traffic when you are crossing the road. They don't tend to do this in the smaller towns because most people will just cross wherever they want and not necessarily cross at a crossing.
I've pointed that out so many times when this subject comes up! Oh well, if Americans want to think we do it just to be kind to them, who am I to shatter that illusion? 😁
the whole 'look left'/'look right' thing extends away from city centres - busy towns tend to have the roads clearly marked at zebra crossings too - except for where there's no room for it to be written.
Exactly what I was going to say.
Additionally, some main street (new) thoroughfares in London have additional 'bus lanes' which go in the opposite direction to the usual traffic flow, with crossing islands in-between the traffic lanes. And they sometimes come into 'force' literally overnight!
They appear all over the UK. Meant to help children know to stop and look before crossing.
Literally everywhere in the world, except the US and many Canadian buildings, count the first floor up as the first floor. It's the Piano Nobile in Italy.
Do Americans not look both ways when crossing the street?! I've heard this so many times and it just baffles me, no matter where I am, I will look left AND right to see if there's traffic?
Americans never cross the street. It's illegal 😂
I’ve always wondered this. I’ve heard a number of Americans concerned that they would get hit by a car while crossing the road. Because we drive on a different side and are used to looking left for oncoming traffic.
We are always taught as children to look both ways before crossing the street. I’ll generally look both ways a few times before crossing. Just to make sure no one is speeding, or pulling out of a side road etc.
I’ve been many countries that drive on the right and it’s never been a issue.
Americans don't walk
Mistakes Americans make, part three: using the V-Sign to mean the number two. In the UK, a forwards facing V-Sign is equivalent to flipping someone off. It's to do with archery and the French and the hundred years war etc
The French feared British longbow archers so much that when they captured English bowmen they would cut off the Index and middle finger, so they could no longer draw the bow string. Hence it was a taunt to the French soldiers that the bowmen still had all their fingers and where a danger to them.
@@avalonm8541Sorry but you're totally wrong on that. There is absolutely no evidence that ever happened, it's an urban myth. Google it
Ah, the classic “Up Yours”
@@FeatherWing162 yep
This is a myth and not true, archers actually use 3 fingers to draw a bow, a captured archer would more likely lose an head not a finger.
We also have a supermarket chain called Iceland but you don't have to get a plane to get there it's a chain whose stock is approx 80% frozen
I actually met the guy who started Iceland and he was the one who invented five a day vegetables. Why five? I asked him. This was a meeting of a cancer charity that was plugging it. He replied ‘easy to remember’. That was it. No nutritional benefit over four or six, just easy to remember
@Joanna-il2ur Iceland was originally called Bejam I always assumed this was a combination of parts of the names of the owners/starters/directors of the company
@@misolgit69 like Waitrose started by messrs Waite and Rose. I forget who t e and s were but the co of Tesco was for Jack Cohen. Debenhams was Debenhams and Freebody. Debenham is a village near Ipswich, on the river Deben, which is pronounced Dee-bn. grocer’s daughter!
The way we Brits say "Alright?" as a standard greeting strikes me as very similar to the strange way you Americans say "What's up?" in the same context. To us, asking "What's up?" is exactly like asking someone what is the matter? Likewise, "What's going on?" sounds - to us - as though you are concerned we seem to be in the middle of some sort of crisis and are asking us what's going on here?
I remember once phoning my American aunt in North Carolina, and her first words to me were, "What's up with you?". Of course, to my British ears, it sounded like she was asking me what the matter was, so I responded by saying, "Nothing...I just thought I'd phone to see how you all are."!
When my American friends said what's up I would say the sky.
We certainly do enjoy insulting each other for fun, and will very rarely waste the effort of trying to be funny on someone we don't like, not when we can be passive aggressive instead :D
Bottled water in the UK is normally spring, mineral, or distilled water. But bottled water in the US is normally bottled tap water.
There is a whole episode of Only Fools and Horses. Where Del Boy is running a scam of bottling tap water, and selling it Peckham spring water.
You shouldn’t drink distilled water on a regular basis!
@@Jeni10 It’s perfectly safe to drink but lacks the minerals or calcium in tap or spring water that your body needs. So long as you’re getting those from other things, you’re fine.
Yeah, that episode kinda revealed that Coca Cola was literally selling us Brits tap water and the media had a field day.
@@Volkuth tom scotts dasani video czcams.com/video/wD79NZroV88/video.html
There was a brilliant Tom Scott video about it, it focused on Dasani, which was a US bottled water brand that they tried to launch in the UK that failed spectacularly.
The more we like you, the more we will insult you. Its just our way of friendship 👍🤣🤣
totaly agree, i think us brits only do that,
@seanmc1351 Yea I can't think of any county's that do the same. 🤔💪
@@camerashy273 i worked with a guy, big strong guy, but he could not off the no break a smile joke prank, you never you whether he was serious or not, we didnt take it bad, just tried to figure him out lol, best in the place at his job, but sandwhich short of picnic, he once put pie on micro wave for 35 mins because it said put in the over for 35 mins, wonderful guy tho, taught me alot, nothing was to musch trouble
@@camerashy273 I guess you haven't meet, or spoken to, many Australians then. They will insult a friend in just the same was as we do. They can be pretty polite to an idiot too.
@@AlanEvans789 Yeah Aussie humour is pretty similar I find to our humour in the UK.
Wow! The Spar thing.. so much to explain here.
They only pronounce it "sp-ah" (like spa) in certain areas South of the Border but, here in Scotland, we not only pronounce the "R" we emphasize it by rolling it. Like "sp-arr" (almost like a pirate 😛).
The Spa thing, though. That, also, has a different meaning here. A place where people go to get their hair and nails done might by called a nail-bar, salon or hair dresser (largely dependent on region) but never a Spa. A Spa in the UK, however, is a place to relax and get pampered. Maybe a massage or a bit of physio. They're often connected with gyms, swimming pools or saunas.
I was going to post on this topic too - in Northern Ireland the R is included in the pronunciation (we also have a slightly different logo - the text is red on a white background). I guess it depends on what region you are in how they pronounce it - similar to Primark (some places pronounce it PREmark, some PRYmark)
In the UK it is expected that if you are paying for water, then it will be spring water. People have a strong objection to paying for "tap water". I always look both ways, after being nearly wiped out a couple of times by cars on the wrong side of the road, or even reversing etc. I have a local T junction where cars come at you on the wrong side of the road, when they are overtaking a parked car on the main road. So I always look both ways before pulling out.
I was knocked down by a van travelling the wrong way down a one way street in my late teens, thankfully I wasn't badly injured. I've never failed to look both ways since, even on a one way street because some motorists are idiots.
Aren't restaurants and cafes legally obliged to provide free tap water? Maybe that's just a myth.
@@caw25sha .
If they are licensed to serve alcohol, they must provide free tap water if requested.
'Ground floor' is on the ground - so how can it be 1st floor if it is already on the ground.
British sense of humour is very similar to Canadian. We grew up laughing our arses off at British TV. Where I grew up, many of my friends and their families were from Britain, so this sense of wit and banter is very much what I am used to. American humour is more surface based, physical, and slapstick. Also enjoyable, but it doesn't force you to be on your toes when communicating, and you don't feel exhausted afterwards, whereas going one on one with a witty British person is comparable to. a mental/verbal gymnastics workout.
Absolutely, and the higher the education level the more exhausting it can be when you not only get dry humour but may get bilingual or trilingual puns interjected. My mother used to complain that one of my brothers and I gave her a headache when we got together, as she had to be so agile to catch the jokes.
The ground floor is tge same in Europe too, not just Britain
Spar rhymes with car. That's how we pronounce these words. She must be a bit dim
I look both ways when crossing the road as I don't trust anybody
Then why do Americans use the term "Ground Zero"? There shouldn't really be any confusion. First you have the 'ground' and then all else are 'floors'. 😀
Good point?
Ground Zero is the point at which a nuclear bomb detonates - named after the codename for the first atomic bomb test. Nothing to do with floors.
Spar shops originated in the Netherlands and the name derives from the Dutch word meaning "saving". Although they used to be more common here fifty or sixty years ago, we don't see them as often today. At least where I live? I also believe that most Spar shops are franchised, hence why many are found in petrol stations.
I used to live in Manchester and we had a Spar very close to the shared house I lived in. We did notice that food in their fridges wasn’t as cold as you would expect. Abruptly it closed. for good. Apparently they were turning off the fridges at night. Spar weren’t at all happy and it was a franchise. Their reputation was tarnished so they closed it and if was sold off.
Several of these are Europe v. North America differences, e.g. bottled mineral water in restaurants, 1st floor being one one floor up from ground floor. And Spar shops exist in Germany ("spar" means "save" in German).
Were you never told as a child, growing up and learning how to negotiate footpaths, pavements and roads, to
Look both ways to check the way is clear, before stepping out and, remember to keep looking, whilst crossing as vehicles may suddenly appear, usually when you least expect them to... ?!!
We Brits were and we continue to follow that advice as, in its wisdom, it has kept most of us alive for so many years !! ❤️
Probably not, they never walk anywhere.
My cousin lives in florida, his stepson is 16 and I kid you not, he's never crossed a road 😂😂
He's literally driven everywhere.
The standard road training in the US (at least back when I was small) was simply "stop, look, and listen" or just "look both ways". It's been proven that young children who are told "look both ways and then you can cross safely" take it literally as a sort of magical protection -- as long as you glance left and right, you can step out into traffic and be fine.
The Green Cross Code was designed specifically to prevent that, which is why it puts so much emphasis on checking, perceiving, and thinking.
“A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneotherapy. “. The name comes from the town of Spa in Belgium.
SPAR is a Dutch chain of small supermarkets that have been in the UK since 1959. I was confused for months by a neighbour who kept telling me to go to the "Farm Shop". Which turned out to be the local "Farm Foods" store. A national chain of frozen food stores.
In some parts of the UK, notably the West Country, West Wales and parts of Scotland, Spar is pronounced rhotically, i.e. as in the States.
Your right that would be confusing, as most "Farm Shops" where I am now are proper Farm owned shops.
I remember a Spar opening round the corner from my parents house in Hertfordshire in the early sixties. It was a "wonderment" at the time, although small as it was most peoples first experience of a modern style supermarket. Everywhere else you were still served at a counter by people in white coats.
@@johnp8131 I lived next to a new build small Essex town centre in the mid 1960s. That included a SPAR supermarket. Long gone now, it was a KFC for a while and is now an independent "greasy spoon" café. I remember that they did their own savings stamps.
It's an acronym when translated means "Through united co-operation everyone regularly profits". Yeah, really.
Spar is a voluntary chain, consisting of privately-owned shops that take a proportion of their wholesale supplies from Spar-appointed wholesalers, again privately-owned, of which there are several distributed around the country. The shops participate in the promotions and decide for themselves where they actually buy the promoted goods from. They aren't obliged to stock anything that is part of a promotion, but, if they do, it is sold at the promotional price during the its course. All the shops use Spar marketing materials to some extent, and usually, but not always, have Spar-branded fascias and shelving labels, bags, own-label products, etc. The brand is Dutch, but not much else is.
Tap water is free. Mineral water is bottled, still or sparkling.
thanks to the industry standards and regulations UK has some of the cleanest tap water in the world, but sometimes depending on the local area water authority it can taste a little over chlorinated but chill it and it's usually OK no Flint River scenarios here
Unless you live in Camelford….
@@skipper409 Oh dear
Some areas have more lime scale than other areas. Which is just minerals but they can build up a chalky residue on taps and in pipes. Which can make it taste different to what you’re used to.
But yes there no setting fire to our tap water like in Flint.
@@JarlGrimmToys yup. Bedfordshire water is so hard it's got knuckle tattooes. I'd never seen truly hard water until I stayed with family over the span of a few summers. you couldn't wash with it because using soap was damned difficult, it made the worst coffee - boiling water had no influence on it regardless of filtration. you never felt good stepping out of the shower - because soap wouldn't lather that well. and if you were boiling anything in a pan on the cooker - it was horrendous! and bottled water way back up to the mid 1980's was not a cheap or easy find, but if you needed it, you had to get what was available. my aunt and uncle used to have to order their drinking water through a water supply company - and it was used sparingly because it was expensive back then.
the only respite came from being in the town centre where the water was softer.
we are spoilt though here in the NW England - we have the softest water in the country.
although, I'll shut up. there's been a lot of redevelopment work and other works done here that required losing water quality - and the only way to flush that crap out of the system once work had been done, was to run every tap until the water ran clear. but it's not bad - it's ok to drink on its own.
The numbers are basically, how high up do I need to go? Up 4 floors.
Kids here in the UK were always taught to look both ways before crossing (part of the green cross road, which i've never known an American to react to or know about), not just the direction we expect traffic to be coming from, and i assume it is still a thing.
I don't remember the order either in all honesty, either left right left or right left right, but right left right seems to make more sense here and cba to check right now, but people will happily correct me if i'm wrong 🙃
I had Rupert Bear wallpaper on my bedroom walls for too long as a kid. and the pattern included Rupert Bear holding a sign that said 'Always look both ways before crossing the road' - which makes more sense than it doesn't and simplifies it brilliantly.
The green cross code was..."Stop, look, listen and Think" and i think there was a green cross man superhero advertising it. I also remember the "Charly says always look both ways before crossing the road" campaign, the Prodigy turned it into a banging tune....
@@jezlanejl The green cross code man (Dave Prowse) became Darth Vader.
@@peterjackson4763But sadly they dubbed his voice. Cultural vandalism.
I was taught 'Look left, look right, then left again'.
Spar is a store, spa is somewhere you go for a massage or some sort of treatment. We just pronounce them the same. P.s. Spar store started in the Netherlands in 1932.
An example of British humour would be when I was shopping in our local supermarket. There was a big crash of shopping trollies when someone was trying to just push mine out of the way. We ended up having a big fight on the supermarket floor (a purely verbal fight - we were literally shouting at each other). All the other shoppers were staring at us and keeping well away. A few minutes later we met again in another aisle and were laughing about what happened - he was actually a very close friend. Another shopper came up to us and just said, "You were not serious back there were you?" and we admitted the whole thing was an act. He just burst into laughter.
10:41 My thought is "Ground floor" dates back to when that floor was literally the ground (think earthen floored building), and the first floor was the first floor that actually needed to be constructed.
In the 1960s in Suffolk (not far from Ipswich), a close friend of my Gran's lived in a house with a beaten earth floor (covered by carpet, of course). I bet there are still some old houses around with that arrangement.
I'm surprised that anyone would have problem with the floors in buildings. If you use the lift, and press 4, you'll go to the 4th floor, even if it's one higher than you'd expect. If you use the stairs, you may have a greater climb, but most buildings will label the floors, in the stairwell.
A lot of lifts have a voice telling you which floor you are on too.
The only time I could see an American getting confused is if they were told something was on the first floor. They'd be looking all over the ground floor. Otherwise they'd just hit the matching button in the lift (who counts the floors?) or understand the term "ground floor".
I have seen Americans get confused in lifts with the ground floor button labelled as zero. It's not exactly a Mensa-level puzzle, but it does look odd if you're not used to it.
I think SPAR is pronounced differently depending on where in the UK you live. I definitely pronounce the R and don't say SPA. Never heard anyone say spa. 🤔
American's never seem to take account of the fact that floors go down as well as up. With the ground floor or floor zero - you have the first floor up or the first floor down. How do you count going down?
The Spar thing is funny! In Birmingham a few years ago a man took his wife on a "Spar day" for her birthday! She thought she was going to be pampered and have her hair done etc! Instead he took her on a tour of all the Spar shops in Birmingham!! 😀
😂
Older Brits will remember "The Kerb Drill", "Look right, look left, look right again ......"
Replaced many years ago with "The Green Cross Code". "Stop (at the kerb), Look (all around), Listen (for traffic)" This works in all countries.
And keep looking both ways as you cross
I was sat in traffic the other day and saw a man come out of a road side pub, for a smoke. Then I heard "F@%king Hell! Are you still alive?" shouted from the van behind me. "Yes I am." said the man laughing. "How's it going? Wife, kids ok?". West Yorkshire. England.
A health spa is spelt (not spelled) 'spa'; and the shop (not store) is spelt 'Spar'. Both however are pronounced the same. In Britain you're expected to understand the context of a conversation, and so would never confuse the two.
They are only pronounced the same in certain regions, probably mostly southern England. We certainly pronounce the .'r' in Scotland. Also pronounced in Ireland, North and South, and many parts of England
that thing about 'floors' is true, but if you visit Staircase House in Stockport, the floor you enter at at ground level is actually the 6th floor - because the building extends downwards and upwards but doesn't look it from what is assumed to be the ground level.
the driving thing is what side the steering wheel is then you drive on the opposite side on the road. When you walk into a building with floors then you walk into the place on the ground floor because you are on the ground floor. Spar is like star it's so easy.
Spa = health/ beauty! SPAR = local corner convienience store. Other local stores, Tesco extra, Sainsbury local, Premier & independent stores.
We actually 2 ways to describe the floor of taller buildings. When we use "floor" the floor at ground level is the "ground" floor. Then the first floor if the floor above that. We also use Storey. The first storey is at ground level and the second storey is the level above. Now that's made if easier for you to understand.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but some UK buildings will have "lower ground" and "upper ground" floors. This is only needed when there are entrances to ground level (the street outside) from two different floors, as is sometimes the case eg if a building is built on a hill.
The funniest thing about the British is we like to look very serious at a lot of times but inside we are less so. A big difference between UK and US is politics and religion, the US take these things very seriously, in the UK we at the very least pretend to take it seriously but most of the time we really dont care that much internally but will keep the appearance externally (depending if we think it directly effects us), there are exceptions of course. Tou can see this with British comedy which make fun of politics and religion equally, and some of British comedy sails the edge of offense ( some people enjoy appearing to be offended)
In my life I have been to Europe many times so got used to traffic either way. Basement, ground, 1st floor in our lifts etc. We have luxurious spas here too, also spa towns. I went to an equivalent of a spa town in Italy outside Rome, lots of fountains with healthy water.
We do know the difference between Spa and Spar, Spa’s were introduced by the Romans. It is an acronym of Salus Per Aquam Latin for Health from Water
There is no such thing as “An American Spa” just a version of something first implemented some 1,800 years before America was established.
It’s named after the Belgian town of Spa, not an acronym.
@@Joanna-il2ur How did Spa in Belgium get its name then?
From Latin to do with its waters
@@BKKMekong in Roman times it was known as Aquae Spadanae, which is where the city name derives. That is probably the name of a local deity Spadana, similar to Aquae Sulis, modern Bath in England. Sulis was a local goddess, equivalent to Minerva. The Romans didn’t use acronyms.
@@Joanna-il2ur if the Romans did not use acronyms why does the Roman Standard bear the letters SPQR Senatus Populusque Romanus (Senate and People of Rome)
Or how about every crucifix with INRI Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum, Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews
I could go on but I will save my breath but the Romans certainly did use Acronyms
@@BKKMekong SPQR isn’t an acronym it’s an abbreviation. An acronym is something you can say, like radar and NATO. INRI never existed. The local Jews spoke Aramaic and, in the temple, Hebrew. Jesus spoke some Greek, as he calls Simon Peter, the rock on which I will build, from Greek petros. Nobody there spoke Latin and Jesus was never called that, while Christos is Greek, translating Messiah, which he was never called. The -us of Jesus is a Latin construct, because a masculine name of the second declension has to end with -us (Julius, Claudius etc). His actual name was Yeshua, same as Joshua. The concept of Rex iudeaorum would not have been meaningful to anyone.
With driving on the other side of the road, the most difficult parts are typically emerging from driveways or side street. One rarely gets confused on major roads where things like street signs (and other traffic) remind you.
The one about looking the wrong way when crossing the road caught me out a couple of times when I moved from UK to Hungary, even though I also drive in both countries. I think with driving it helps that I bought a left hand drive car. Getting in the car the wrong side reminds you that you also have to drive on the wrong side!
Here in Canada you have to ask for the bill at a pub or a restaurant.
We don't have bars we have pubs and you have to go up to the bar to give your drink order.
When you go to a restaurant you have to ask for water to get it served to you plus your drink order.
Here in Canada make sure you look both ways before crossing the road.
Here in Canada in Apartments, Condos and businesses is the Ground Floor or Lobby floor. The next floor is the 1st floor and up. You press the floor you want to go to on the Elevator.
Tyler men get pedicures and manicures as well not just women.
So we usually look at the sign to tell what floor we are on, most big hotels will have the floor number in the room so 002 is ground 2, 201 is floor 2 room 1 etc. the floor arrows on the road were out there for children crossing the road rather than tourists.
Reminds me of Emily in Paris…when she doesn’t realise the floor at the base is 0 not 1. Most countries in Europe are the same as us.
The 'Look right', 'Look left', 'Look both ways' signs just off *some* pavements in London are for the benefit of natives, too. Junctios can be complicated, and there are a lot of one-way streets, so it is not always obvious where the traffic is going to come from.
There is tap water, sparking water (which is fizzy) and still water, which is usually mineral water
It’s not floor number zero. The ground floor is G because everything is built on the ground. The floor above that is the first floor above ground level. It’s the same in Australia and most of Europe. The subsequent floors are counted above G, aka Ground. The levels of a building are counted once you leave the ground, clearly!
Signs on the road at traffic lights are very common in the uk even outside of London. At most crossings & traffic light crossing the edge of the pavement/sidewalk have raised bunpy dots to help the visually impaired & blind to know where the crossing is by feel through their shoes
Spar shop is a small local shop and its "bigger brother" is called Interspar. Similar would be Tesco express as the small one and Tesco Superstore as the bigger one.
If Americans took the piss out of each other, Tyler the Panderer would say, "Americans aren't as respectful as people from country x."
I've noticed on most if not all of his videos you don't seem to like Tyler. I'm just curious if you don't like him why do u watch his channel 🤔 🤷♂️👍
Water - tap water comes in a jug or glass for free! Or you can get still bottled or sparkling(fizzy) water that you pay for!
Asking for different types of water comes down to how much you trust the regular water supply in a place. In most places in the UK tap water is perfectly clean and fine, but if you have reasons not to trust the tap water getting bottled still water is the way to go. Then if you like sparkling water that's more about preference and if you like fizzy water. In some places I've heard it said you should always only drink bottled water. As the tap water, the local water supply isn't safe to drink.
In most cafes and restaurants in the UK tap water is perfectly safe to drink and also free.
SPAR, the retailer, has been around since 1932. It's Dutch, so the name is also Dutch. It's an acronym (originally DE SPAR) for a phrase which translates to something like "Through united co-operation everyone regularly profits". SPAR is also similar to words in common European languages that mean something like "financial saving", effectively "we'll save you money". So yes, silly word in English, but a lot of Europe isn't English.
As a Canadian who lived in UK for a few years I would also add for those American and Canadian to use caution when turning on the taps. In North America the hot water tap is actually where the cold usually is in UK and the hot water is really hot. A couple of us got a few bad burns till we acclimated.
When I grew up I remember watching an advert about crossing the road, it featured a cartoon hedgehog and it said look both ways before you cross, not just the direction the traffic is coming from
Have seen several videos of American cops asking some variation of Are You OK/alright as a way to try to pressure the victim
You need to pay attention to the LOOK LEFT/LOOK RIGHT because it will sometimes be coming from the "wrong way" if its a ONE WAY STREET
Have a look at the TV series BLACK BOOKS it had quite a lot of deadpan humour (and Bill Bailey)
You probably call still water "mineral water". It's cleaner and comes in bottles
Hopefully the USA will adopt the idea of painting which way to look on the crossings to help visitors to the States from the many countries which still drive on the correct side of the road. Also, if she was directed to the 4th floor in the UK she'd simply press the button marked '4' in the lift, just like in an American 'elevator'.
There are signs in many high rise buildings in the UK indicting what floor you're on and the office names that are on that floor. So it's not confusing. Though do bare in mind when traveling up the stairs that we ascend and descend the stairs on the left as part of being courteous to others who use the stairs aswell. I think where the problem will lie though in any country, is if the building complex is huge and of elaborate design like Hogwarts. In such cases it's better to ask for directions:
Speaking of directions; we were taught to look both ways for traffic and never assume anything when talking of road safety. Some motorists depending on road perdicument would use the other side of road, coming from the opposite direction, this would happen for emergency vehicles that are bypassing traffic or when there is road maintenance. So look both ways.
Some areas of the UK the tap water is not very palatable. When I visit London and the South East, the very hard water tastes unpleasant to me because I live in a soft water area with fewer minerals and a water supply that is less processed/recycled.
That is why people buy bottled water from supermarkets and why people are happy to pay for bottled water in restaurants.
I live in London so am used to the water but have got a Brita filter which I prefer.
Mate u make me laugh love this channel !!
When we visited Chicago the train guy said “just get off the Ell at 15th and Jefferson”. We in the UK do not have grid based cities…. I am sure it was obvious to everyone but to us in the US for the first time, how do we know when we are at Jefferson or 15th? Help!
I've lived in France for short periods over several years and they drive on the same side as USA. I've never had a problem in France because you are hypervigilant the problem comes when you return home 😬
If you lived there you presumably had a LHD car which makes it easier than if you'd taken a British car across for a holiday.
@caw25sha no I used my British car
as said before, insulting someone, at work, calling them a stupid b**tard, or f**cking idiot, we like you, its true what she says., we have alot of bannter, between friends at the pub at work, We dont use the F work as a cuss, the F word at work is in every sentence, its part of work laguage, depending where you work, on sites factories that sort of thing its normal
Tyler, There are several brands of natural still mineral/spring water sold both in the UK and America, I know that Evian and Fiji is available in the USA
Alright mate?! Extra confusion…a ‘spar’ is also an engineering or construction term for a long thin rod or beam of supporting structure. Spar shop: We don’t emphasise the ‘rrrr’ as much, but it IS usually there, typically spoken like “Spaah” The nail salon or ‘Spa’ has a more truncated short ‘a’, especially when pronounced in northern UK speech. Road crossing and pulling out of a junction when driving….Always look right, then left, then right again before moving…continue to stay aware in BOTH directions as you cross., because it only needs one idiot driving in the wrong direction or backing up, to ruin your life! On foot also stay aware of sound as you go to cross…and NEVER do this teenage thing of shuffling along staring at phone screen with ear phones/buds on…it could get you killed (or mugged).
Spar is a brand like Tesco, Asda etc. You dont find them all over the UK, mainly smaller towns.
Spar shop is pronounced the way the TV advert used to sing it, we have spa s which are health clubs often around ground springs, towns with spa in the name often have them its where victorians used to go for magical healing lol. Incidentally still water is associated with mineral water which comes from spa s
🎵 So near so Spar 🎵
Looking left or right signs aren’t just for people from other countries we have had signs for many years because we have 2 way traffic and 1 way traffic it just pays to look in all directions
We also have potable (drinkable from the tap) taps and non-potable (not to be drunk from the tap) taps
Regarding the British flooring system, to confuse matters even more we also sometimes have a lower ground floor and an upper ground floor in buildings on slopes which have an entrance at street level on two different levels.
For the Spar/Spa, we also have Spa's in the Uk, as well as the Spa(r) shops.
The ground floor conundrum has been mentioned on previous videos he's done.
yeah but he never reads the comments.
An easy way to remember which side is the right side of the road is the driver is always in the centre of the road regardless of which way traffic goes or which side the steering wheel is on, this is universal no matter which side of the road a country drives on.
Insults are our love language. Example below we took my nan out for the day for her 92nd birthday and my Brother in law drove.
Nan: I have had such a lovely day today thank you for taking me
B/L: nods head
Nan: your supposed to say no problem it was my pleasure
B/L: I can't do that, it would be a lie
Nan: slaps B/L and calls him a swine
Whole car uncontrollably laughing
Re 8:30 crossing the road. If there is traffic you look in both directions and see the traffic. The nightmare is crossing the road where there is no traffic (I’ve suffered this as a UK person visiting France), if you doubt where the traffic is coming from you have to look: left near side; left off side; right near side; and finally right offside. As this takes some time you have to repeat the process.
I kind of understand the confusion over water. Thing is, cafes and restaurants want to sell you a drink, so “water” means bottled spring water. However, a lot of spring water in the Uk is actually free if you go directly to the spring. An example would be Malvern Water which you could buy in bottles but was, and is free at a spring on the Malverns. Same with Buxton Water, same with the spa waters at Leamington Spa. You get the idea. Basically if there’s a particularly important spring, there’s somewhere it’s free. You can’t just bottle it and sell it, there’s a requirement for a tap for locals to use that water. American companies have kind of a problem with this. They tend to buy up brands like Malvern Water and then try to impose a charge on the locals who use the free water. Invariably that gets them into (if you can please excuse me, I couldn’t resist) hot water. It’s a right that’s kind of written into law so long ago it’s now just a law that a spring must be accessible to everyone who wants to use it. I think it’s actually so old a law it’s actually older than our written statutes. Like rights of way it’s a law that will actually trump land ownership, company property and even military land rights. You really can’t deny anyone access to a spring that has traditionally had access.
The ground floor is at ground level. The first floor is the first floor you get to when you go up the stairs. The second floor is the second floor you get to when you go up the stairs, etc. Quite straightforward.
The thing about still and tap water is that, this is actually a marketing strategy. I used to work in a restaurant and we were told we have to only ask if customer wants still or sparkling water only and never give option of tap water to boost sales. Most people, even british, sometimes asks for still without meaning to and end up having to pay for it. I think most british people will know this and actually asks specifically for tap water when asked if the want still or sparkling. Because i know this is a tactic i always asks for tap water at restaurants
I also suggest asking for tap water with ice as the ice is always made from tap or mains water and never from bottled water because it is not economical to buy water to make ice from the costly bottled water.
Spar is a European supermarket chain; spar means 'save' in German (the company started in Germany).
Some towns and cities in the UK we’re founded in locations where there are natural springs that people claim the waters contain minerals and are sometimes also naturally heated and so they can be said to have healing properties. These cities are generally known as Spa Towns or Spa resorts and people who had assorted medical conditions, would go to “take the waters or the cure “ by either drinking or bathing in the spring water. Some people would actually go to live in the Spa Towns while others would go to stay in a hotel so many of the hotels became some of the largest and grandest buildings in town. On the other hand a Spar shop in the UK is what an American person would call a Mom and Pop store that has been absorbed by a larger group of stores as a part of a chain of stores like aSeven-Eleven. Sometimes they are combined with a service station, or petrol station (American; Gas Station). The opening hours of these stores tend to be longer than the usual type of small business stores and until fairly recently they were often the only shops around that were open late nights and weekends, but the larger supermarkets have started offering 24 hour openings in multiple locations, these smaller Spar stores usually have to offer openings on Sundays(and Bank Holidays) in the early morning and evenings when the larger stores are closed to do their best trading of the week.
If you can't figure out what floor you are on Never go to our local hospital as you will never find your way out and be stuck in there for ever as the ground floor is the 6th floor 😂
The only issue with the floors really is the first floor. Someone may search the ground floor assuming it's the first floor. Usually, if it's anything higher than 1, eg 2nd floor, you'll have gone either in the lift or up the stairs, which will have explicitly labelled which floor you're on so it's not a problem. The ground floor is self explanatory
The look left and look right painted on roads, is not for tourists, it's for everybody and just a coincidence that it helps tourists. It is there because its integral to the British Highway Code. Although a little dated now, it is still a good idea just to look both ways more than once to check both ways are clear. There are also American signed elevators/lifts in London and the UK the confuse UK citizens just as much as normal signed elevators confuses American Citizen. Nowadays many lifts have signs with Reception etc to indicate the street level or way out.
I have a work colleague whom, is a bit of a (likeable) oddball, has a very vocal dislike of animals (because he is allergic!)… so we pointed out to him the not liking of animals is the first sign of a psychopath 😮😂 now we constantly ask him if he has dead animals in that big old backpack of his or if his plans for the evening includes taking out a few cats or dogs 😂😂 all of which he takes on the chin! now that’s how British humour works 🎉
In UK we have no 'jaywalk' laws. It is easy for people to suddenly cross the road, in a city or town, anywhere they want. London is a fine example.
When in a lift (elevator) what do you call it when going down below ground level, because we can have lower ground, basement, lower basement, and sometimes car park.
The spar hing is only a very specific area of England. I call it a spar and so does almost everyone for a couple hundred miles where I’m from you might hear more people say sper