I've lived in London for almost 3 months now—I can't believe it's been that long! I've been collecting some observations about the differences between the UK and US since I've been here, and here they are! There are probably more that I just forgot but... this list is long enough already:
-They don't have 'garbage cans' here... they have 'rubbish bins'! Sometimes it can be really hard to find a rubbish bin, because I guess they're had problems with bombs being planted in them.
-"Take away?" When you're ordering coffee or a sandwich, they'll always ask this. At home we would say "I'd like this to go" or we'd call it "take out".
-A 'trolley' is a shopping cart.
-On some preparation instructions on food that needs to be heated up, it will refer to the stove as 'the hob'.
-A cell phone is always a 'mobile'.
-When talking about a person, you would say "He's called John" instead of "His name is John". To me saying "He's called John" gives the impression that that's what he's called, but it might not be his real name!
-When you're riding the tube (the subway, I think that's a well-known difference), you will always hear "Mind the gap", which just means watch the area between the platform and the train because you don't want to get your foot caught in there or something. I think at home we would just say "Watch your step" or something... never 'Mind the gap'.
-Of course, money is a bit different here. Coins can actually buy things, ha ha. There's a 2 pound coin, a 1 pound coin, 50 pence, 20 pence, 10 pence, 5 pence, 2 pence, and 1 pence coin. Pence basically = cents. A 'quid' is the same as a 'pound', and sometimes people just say "50 p" instead of "50 pence".
-"I lost 2 stone!" A stone = 14lbs.
-Of course, some things are spelled different, for example 'colour' vs. 'color', 'defence' vs. 'defense', etc.
-Some words are pronounced completely differently. For example, advertisement. In the States, we would say 'TIZE' in adverTIZEment. Here, they say "advertissment". I'm not sure if I explained that well. They also say 'glacier' differently... like "Glassier". There are a lot of other words that are pronounced differently but those are the two that come to mind!
-Along the same line as the last one, the letter 'Z' is said 'Zed' instead of 'Zee'. For example, there are these A-Z books that have very detailed maps of London. "Do you have your A to Zed book?"
-A crosswalk is called a Zebra crossing, pronounced 'Zebbrah'.
-As I'm sure you know, they drive on the 'wrong' or opposite side of the road here. Traffic can be kind of scary. On the ground, it will usually say "LOOK RIGHT" or "LOOK LEFT" so you know which way to look for oncoming traffic. At these crossings, cars seem to have the right-of-way, whereas at the Zebra crossings, cars have to stop for you.
-Here, a 'diary' is a planner/schedule. The first time I heard it, a woman was telling us to write down certain dates in our diaries and I thought it was a bit funny but I quickly realized what she meant.
-There is CCTV everywhere. "You are being monitored by CCTV". I'm not entirely sure what this means. Because if it's true in every instance, there's a LOT of people sitting around watching cameras filming people doing really boring things. But I suppose it helps cut down on crime? Buses have cameras and sometimes there is even a screen where you can watch people on other parts of the bus. Big Brother? I mean personally I don't really mind, it's just the idea of it all.
-They definitely have fast food here—I've only noticed McDonalds and KFC thought. And Subway, if that counts. Instead of Taco Bells and Wendy's and all of that 'rubbish' everywhere, they have Pret A Manger EVERYWHERE. Really, you can't walk 5 minutes without coming across one. They're shops that sell fresh, healthy sandwiches that are made new every single day. They also sell coffee, some other beverages, wraps, sushi, yogurts, and fruit. America should really catch onto this! They're also quite reasonable in price. I get coffee there for 99p sometimes (about $1.50).
-If you want milk in your coffee, you ask for a 'white coffee'. I remember the first time someone asked if I wanted a white coffee I said "What's that?" Ha ha.
-Sometimes at museums or in tube stations, there will be a sign that says 'Meeting Point'. I assume this is for people meeting each other! Ha ha. What a good idea though.
-The drinking age here is 18, but if you look under 21 you can still get carded. I usually get carded because I look like I'm 15.
-At a lot of clubs, there will be a woman sitting in the bathroom with an assortment of cosmetics, lollipops, mints, and honestly I don't know what else. She will hand you a paper towel and there is a little dish where you can tip her. You don't HAVE to tip but they're really happy when you do I think. Also... every single time I've seen a woman in a bathroom doing this (which has been several times), she has ALWAYS been racially black. (I almost said African-American but obviously that doesn't quite work here). I have no idea why this is so.
-You don't really tip here. It's not expected, although sometimes it will already be included in the bill as a 'service fee'. Tipping is still nice though, if you feel like it. Sometimes it just FEELS rude to leave without tipping.
-You have to ASK specifically to get your check at a restaurant. They won't just bring it to you because it's seen as being kind of rude, like they're trying to kick you out. At home, I would just wonder what was taking them so long if they didn't bring me my check.
-Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, etc.: Before I went to these places, I thought they might be really fun places with rides or something. HAHA. All it means is that it's sort of a central location with crazy traffic zooming in all directions.
-'Ring 0012334556789' just means to 'Call'.
-When I'm just walking around, I am always really confused about whether to walk on the left or the right. I try to stay to the left, but sometimes other people don't go by this rule so there's that awkward moment when you move, they move, you go back, etc. Can we have a national meeting and sort this out? Please? I would also really like to know which side of the staircase to walk on! At home, easy: Walk on the right and I think everyone's happy.
-Not a single day goes by that I don't hear more than one language being spoken. London is SUCH an ethnically diverse city!
