10 MORE Things That SURPRISED US About the UK (Americans in England) 

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On bonfire night, we, generally are not celebrating the gun powder plot (though some might), we are celebrating that it failed

You have to remember that the UK celebrating Guy Fawkes night is that we are celebrating that this is the last time in UK history that anyone has entered the Houses of Parliament with an honest intent.

British plugs are an engineering masterpiece As for drying clothes... putting them on the line, running out five minutes later and bringing them in, then putting them back out ten minutes later, then back in, then back out, is pretty much a national pastime. One of the big benefits of children is you can put them on weather watch when theres clothes on the line

When you look deeper into the UK electrical plugs, it really is a clever idea that's never really changed over time. Each plug has it's own fuse, so if the appliance on the plug has a fault, it will blow the supply to the appliance but not the circuit breaker at the board. Also the earth prong at the plug is longer than the live and neutral prongs. That's so that the earth connection is engaged first to the system. Children can't stick things in sockets because the live and neutral have an integrated cover which can only be opened when the earth of the plug is inserted. Also the internal fuse is on the live side, so if it blows the appliance is immediately isolated from the electrical system.

Re. bonfire night. I am an older chap and Bonfire Night as an occasion has changed significantly since I was young. It used to be that families or neighbours would have their own bonfires and fireworks and there would be only a dozen or so at each event. In the lead up to bonfire night, kids would make an effigy of Guy Fawkes and take it around the local streets asking random strangers for "a penny for the guy" The children would also go arond the neighbourhood looking for scrap wood to burn on the bonfire - we called the activity "Bunny-Wooding" though my family who lived less than twenty miles away called in "Chumpin'" - I gather it was called various names throughout the country. The street where I grew up would have a gathering in probably every fifth or sixth back garden. The bonfires were relatively small and the fireworks were not so grand. The food, however was home cooked and the atmosphere was cosy and family based. On the downside, although my parents were very cautious and we never experienced it, there were always a lot of injuries from kids (and some adults) getting burned by the bonfire and/or fireworks. Working in the NHS for over thirty years, I can tell you that this number has dropped in my experience, I suppose because most people go to large organised bonfires with professional fireworks displays. Around bonfire night, however, you still see and hear lots of individual bonfire parties and people still get burned every year!

We love Americans who get our jokes.

Guy Fawkes Night is really a celebration of the CAPTURE and prevention off the plot, not the plot itself

For British humour, you can't do better than, if you can find it, 'Yes Minister' and its sequel, 'Yes Prime Minister'.

Another option for Bonfire Night is the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival. It's on the nearest Saturday to the 5th November every year and is one of the biggest illuminated night carnivals in Europe.

Feels like some days that half of RU-vid is full of videos talking about UK plugs lol, never known as many people get excited over a plug before :)

In the UK insects only tend to come in through windows after dark as they are attracted by the light, so if you just close your window when it gets dark you never have to worry about insects.

Not all British people live on take away food!! Some of us live on healthy fresh ingredients!!

We don't celebrate the plot, we celebrate the failure of the plot.

Nov 5th celebrates the FOILING of the gunpowder plot, not the plot itself. That would be silly!

There used to be a TV show called One Man and His Dog (not sure if it's still going) that shepherds used to compete with their sheep dog rounding up sheep into pens. I know I'm probably not selling it but it used to be on a Sunday night and people tuned in to see Mr. Bloggs with his collie dog Ben from a farm in Lancashire versus Mr Jones and his dog Megan from a farm in Wales. Again you can see sheep at agricultural shows throughout the UK, some may have sheep dog trials as part of this. Or perhaps check out in the UK any sheep dog trials in the area where you may be visiting at that time.

I dry clothes outside when the weather is windy and warm but in the dryer when its cold or rainy

Only time I've had a separate laundry room in the UK was when I used to live on a farm, as soon as you walked in the backdoor there was a laundry room with a shower room next to it, so when you'd been muck spreading all day you could have a shower and put your clothes in the washing machine before entering the main house.

The older I get, the more I realise that my country, England, is a very very old country. The only way to understand the present is by exploring the past in England, and sadly that past has some very hard and sad elements… but also some proud and wonderful parts too. It is not in the least difficult to find medieval buildings and landscapes in England, and it is not even difficult to find Roman ones. I recently went to a church and stood in the very spot that John Ball, one of the key people in the 1381 “Peasants’ Revolt” would have stood. He has sometimes been called the father of British democracy. It’s a lovely idea and if we keep fighting, we might have something like it one day. I am very proud that Mary Wollstonecraft was British. I am proud of John Stuart Mill. I am rather sorry that there is plenty to feel ashamed of, too. But not everything. And I would add that I have lived in other countries and the British three-pin plug is just best!

Difference between American and British humour, it's the second u!

Re all the sheep: three things - 1) we eat lamb much more than you do in the States, 2) wool cloth was so important economically for England in the Middle Ages that the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords still sits on a wool sack and areas like the Cotswolds were full of wealthy wool towns which then became much poorer when imported cotton took over, hence preserving all that old grand architecture 3) the sheep crop the grass in the fields and so contribute to the overall look of much of our countryside.

Shepherd and sheep farmer aren’t really the same. The shepherd is (in uk) the person who, with the aid of his trusty sheep dog, manages the movement of the sheep. A sheep farmer may be a shepherd (especially on smaller hill farms), but on larger farms the sheep farmer may employ shepherd(s). An interesting aspect of British humour is the fact that the audience are often left to fill in the punch line themselves; this can often mean that the real laughter can build as we individually construct the elements. I agree that a lot of American humour (certainly 20 years ago) ended with the joke being virtually explained to the audience (which for Brits was like “yeah we got it and don’t need it explains”). If you come to Cov’ again you should think about the castles of Warwick and Kenilworth and Stratford upon Avon.

Sunday opening hours only apply to stores over a certain floor area and this tends to exclude smaller store. The main supermarkets have "express","metro", "local" stores that stay open much longer than the large stores on Sundays. Also the UK has a large number of stores run by families that don't observe Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter. These shops are extremely useful when you realise that you have forgotten a pack of AA batteries for one of your kid's new toys.

Bonfire Night: go to Ottery St. Mary for the barell run!

Bonfire night is weird because most people miss the point , including I think some British people. We don’t celebrate the plot, even though it failed, we celebrate the failure, as in the King lived, and Parliament wasn’t destroyed. Basically after the plots failure the King forced the whole country to celebrate with a huge party, and we the British people said Ok that sounds cool, and we have done that ever since.

Bonfire night started as a celebration that we CAUGHT Guy Fawkes. It all started with effigy burning. Modern times it’s pretty much flipped around though and is very much the weird way that you see it. A nice celebration of anti-establishment dreams.

Would it ve awfully British of me to say you were in the wrong lane on the roundabout clip? 😆

In the US convenience is king. In the UK convenience is only one factor, we also consider: space, history, cost and the environment. What I mean by that is, having a laundry room and a separate dryer is convienent. Space: Our houses are smaller. History: Our houses are often old enough to have been built without plumbing and electricity, so it's difficult to add those things. Cost: Dryers are expensive to run. Environment: Dryers are awful for the environment Those same factors play into a lot of our differences. Cars and roads for example. I would never buy a car in the UK that got less than 30mpg, in the US I rode in vehicles that got 10mpg! Cars are smaller here because of space (less room), history (narrow, winding roads built for horses), cost (we value better mileage) and environment (we don't want to pollute our planet.)

When I was young the kids all used to make a life size dummy of Guy Fawkes and push it around in a wheelbarrow asking for “a penny for the guy” in order to raise money for fireworks. Then on November 5th it would be placed on top of the bonfire before lighting it. It is purely symbolic as that is not how he died.

We desperately need Guy Fawkes and his friends now.

When I was growing up Wednesdays was half day closing 😊

Odd coincidence this year: the UK General Election was on July 4th while the US General Election is on bonfire night (November 5th)!

In Britain we had nets for the windows.

As an experienced "Bonfire" goer Lewes bonfire night is always the 5th November unless it falls on a Sunday in which case it will be held the day before It is the equivalent in Sussex and beyond to the Rio Carnival in Brazil or the Diseyland grand parade but with a little more risk. Bonfire season starts on the 1st weekend in September and runs through to around three weeks beyond the 5th Nov, with a different Sussex village or town having their celebrations, (bonfire, parade and firework display), on successive Saturdays. Sometimes a couple of villages/towns will hold it on the same day. Each Village and town have their own "Society" this normally comprises of members who fund raise for local charities and fund raise for the fireworks used for the display. Each Society over the years would have formed a 2 basic dress theme that a lot of members adhere too. The main one is the bonfire jerseys a loosely based on English Smugglers outfits the colours i.e Red & Black hooped jerseys means they represent one of the Societies from Lewes or Green / Black Hoops, a local town around 8 miles from Lewes,( Jerseys are always hoops). The other dress code can be a novelty theme that individual societies concentrate their interest in such as Native American indians, Vikings, Cavaliers, Tudor costume, American Civil war etc all costumes mostly hand made and trying to be as authentic as possible. Each society takes great pride in their outfits. If you do manage to get to Lewes check out the strong historical links to Tom Paine and a local village Ringmer connections to William Penn and John Harvard who both married gals with links to the village. Sorry I digress. Lewes is split into what Americans call "Wards" and each one of these have their own Society to name as many as i can, There is "Cliffe" Bonfire Society (BS), "South Street" BS, Waterloo" BS, Borough" BS, "Commercial Sq" BS, "Southover" BS, & Neville Juvenilles" BS. Each marches with invited local village/town societies on Nov 5th in a separate small parades around the town, culminating in what is called the United Grand Parade where they all join forces and put on a very noisy colourful spectacular show. Please be aware to grab a good vantage point you need to get there late afternoon as crowds of up to 10,000 people have been known to flood the small streets of Lewes. I will guarantee it is an experience you will never ever forget. Oh I forgot to say it's great to hang around in the town after a lot of the crowd has gone as there are a few things still going on to see. please watch this as a taster. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gvMiYN9BGrc.html

2 fun facts for you about UK plugs and sockets; They have their very own British Standard, BS1363, on top of the CE general requirements for electrical safety. Most people don't realise but we should thank the engineers who created the standard post war for making the system much safer. The 3rd pin is officially known as the 'ISOD' - internal shutter opening device - as that is all it normally does nowadays. Now you are really ready for that trivia quiz!

I remember watching an episode of M.A.S.H once when they’d accidently left the laughter track on! (The BBC usually removed it). It’s was awful,just so inappropriate.

Sheep are not just in the countryside, they are arguably responsibly for creating a lot of the countryside as we know it. Without the sheep there might be a load more forests, which would probably be much better environmentally. But you wouldn't have the wide open views of the hills if you were standing in a forest.

Most of us can’t afford to run tumble dryers. Electricity prices are expensive. Why not hang your clothes outside - it’s free.

COMEDY: *UK* a Sharp kitchen knife *USA* a Blunt Heavy Axe

Yikes! Who hung that laundry out!!? If you can get it in the US, try 'Green Wing' from Channel 4! It's mad, dark and brilliant!

I think we don’t mind laughing at ourselves, and often the comedy is spontaneous.

I'd love to know where Americans go to eat when they say "I didn't like the food in England" because like you said there's so much variety from around the world to choose from. You'll have to catch a new BBC comedy called Daddy Issues. It's hilarious.

At one time all shops were closed on a Sunday in UK

Sheep- in the 1600s and later wool was a major export from England to Europe celebrated by the House of Lords Speaker sitting on the Wool Sack

Bonfire Night: If you choose a year when the 5th is in the middle of the week, you could do Lewes Bonfire one time, pick the other weekend for a big one with a county type fair and also do a smaller charity one on the 5th. To make a complete week of it, you could follow the London to Brighton Veteren Car Club Run where several hundred pre-1905 early ‘horseless carriages’ travel the 50 miles from Hyde Park to Brighton seafront on the first Sunday in November. This takes between two and ten hours, starting at 7am depending on each cars top speed and number of breakdowns. 😎😇

If you wanted to, you could get a UK plug socket installed. This can be done by simply doubling the wiring to the socket. In US homes, this is done for the kitchen stove, and sometimes for the tumble dryer. It is also often done for thermostats for baseboard heating. A house owned by my parents in the UK had been owned by a U.S. airforce colonel based in the UK. The front part of the house was a very old cottage, while the much larger part of the house was a long single storey addition that he had had built. Since he was able to get goods delivered free on Air Force flights to airbases in the UK, the new part of the house was quite American. It had forced air heating - unknown of in the UK at the time, it also had both UK and US outlets everywhere. And came with appliances like the huge US fridge, waste disposal system etc.

Lewes Bonfire IS overwhelming! But well worth a visit if you can get there - the town basically closes to traffic and most public transport as they try to restrict the number of peope crowding into a very small town. The other thing Lewes is famous for is that Thomas Paine, one of the American Founding Fathers, lived and worked there before he met Benjamin Franklin and moved to America.

You must give these two comedies a watch, The IT crowd and Father Ted 😅

An electric jug/kettle is used for any reason you need hot/boiling water quickly. I never think of using anything else.

Fun fact - the reason we have a lot of sheep is down to the Black Death. Prior to that we were mainly a cattle farming nation, but that required whole teams of workers. Afterwards, when there was hardly anyone left, we focussed on sheep because that can be done with one person and a couple of well trained dogs. Massive oversimplification, of course, but broadly true.

What are considered normal store opening hours in America are thought of as exploitative and deprive the workers of a reasonable work life balance.

A place to go for Bonfire Night is Ottery St Mary in Devon to witness the tar barrels.

Laugh tracks exist in some older British sitcoms too. My favourite sitcome is The IT Crowd despite its laugh track.

It's actually pronounced, Donna Kebab, not doner kebab. Sorry to be that guy, absolutely no offence meant, just pointing out guys, Love your channel, keep it coming 😊

I was a retail manager for ten years in England. I am English. I grew up before we had any Sunday opening. Iam still shocked when I visit from Scotland. The north West and islands of Scotland is much more religious than the rest of Scotland and much of Britain. You will find stricter opening by choice up there.

Guy Fawkes - The last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions.

Our plugs in the UK are also much safer, you are unlikely to get an electric shock as the long prone at the top has to go far in before the power is connected and the bottom 2 have insulation on them so you can’t get a shock.

Everything about living in the UK is better than America. Can you tell me anything in America that is better than in the UK because I can't? Our Healthcare, Education, Housing, parental rights, workers' rights and in general our overall way of life are considerably better. In America you live to work in the UK we work to live. By the way our plugs are considerably safer than those in the US.

If you have window screens any flies coming in the doors can't get out again.

The Sunday shopping hours is a really peculiar one. I understand why it remains in place in England as it's the "Sabbath" and England being culturally Church of England. But what makes it really peculiar is that religion isn't really a big thing here anymore and in America religion really is much more prevalent in a modern day comparison. So I would expect the opposite to be the case. Where America would have more respectful Sabbath rules than England. But then I guess America although more heavily religious especially in some states more than others still doesn't concede religion to the $ It is a peculiar quirk tho.

Roundabouts are generally an excellent way to handle traffic flows at junctions to keep traffic moving efficiently. Sometimes traffic lights are needed because one dominant flow can lock out the others. We also have mini roundabouts which take little extra land, there's one very near me, and the central island is only about a metre in diameter.

Instead of screens we have net curtains. It deters flies and nosey Parker’s looking in your living room.

Everyone I know has a separate tumble dryer except my mum, who has a combined washer/dryer. And laundry rooms are far from unusual. But we all try to avoid using them if we possibly can, We have washing machines in the kitchen because we have supplies of electricity, water and drainage in the kitchen, whereas for electrical safety, we don't have sockets in the bathroom. We take electrical safety very seriously, see the sockets... partly because we have more dangerous, 240V, electricity, which means electric kettles boil faster, as you point out.

When I was a child, all stores were closed all day on Sunday. I believe it was a religious thing about not working on Sundays. So when they changed the rules to allow them to open for 6 hours, it was a major change for us. Additionally, most towns and villages had an "early closing day" when all the shops closed at about midday. This was usually, but not always, a Wednesday. If you're ever in the UK in early November, Lewes is definitely worth visiting. Yes, there are several bonfire societies. Just pick one at random - they're all good. Burning torch-lit processions through the streets, burning crosses, flaming tar barrels, effigies of Guy Fawkes, the Pope and disliked politicians are burned. There have been as many as 80,000 people attending the Lewes bonfires.

As a Brit, I learnt that Sunday used to be a day that shops were never open as it was “the day of rest” but as time has gone on, shops are open but a limited time as you discovered

All British cities have something on bonfire night - either big public shows or small household ones. His old school in York didn't celebrate - a past headteacher said 'we don't burn old boys'! There's a very nice hotel in York called the Guy Fawkes Hotel which I think you'd like to stay at - it's very quirky and the dining room is lit by candles.

Talking about humour the sopranos has some great sarcastic one liners that I nearly wet myself when I first heard them

If you are ever in the UK at lambing time, try and visit a farm that allows visitors - they are all over the place - and try your hand at hand feeding orphaned or abandoned lambs their milk. you can thank me later.

With regards to roundabouts, if it has lights on or approaching it, it isn't a roundabout, it is a circulatory. A lot of US roundabouts are circulatories. The roundabout in the UK gives the right of way to anyone on the roundabout (and is why you should signal at least after the turn you DIDN'T take that you are taking the next one: it lets the people know you are not going to be on the roundabout for the people waiting to get on ahead), so it has a preferred route and as it gets busy, that preferred route becomes the only effective route that can be taken. Hence you need junctions to get more throughput or lights to stop that preferred route being the only available route. As to Guy Fawkes, part of why it isn't as big is because we have more cars now and so a single event can have a large catchment area. It also needs some significant space to hold, and since it has fireworks (for the gunpowder) and a bonfire, many places can't have them any more because it is a risk or they paved over things. But families is mostly what it is for, rather like halloween (which used to be followed by hiding from cars, which nowadays would mean you can't get anywhere because cars are so common), so expect it to work best either in London or middling to small towns with a vibrant family culture and local jobs to afford a family life.

Please make a note that when talking about British Humour to spell it correctly. This is a large part of what makes it different from American Humor. Thank you :)

Oh, and humour.. I'm generalising, but, US Comedy - laugh at others, British Comedy - laugh at ourselves British humour generally is very self-depracating

Steaks stew , chicken, cheese, pizza, pieand mash, there's a lot.

IT Crowd you would love

Alec from technology connections says the reason electric kettles aren't popular in the USA is just because Americans don't drink either tea or instant coffee much, and they have electric coffee machines instead of electric kettles.

On my first trip to America in 1982 I noticed how the electrical sockets and switches seemed primitive and flimsy compared to ours, great videos by the way ❤️

Nobody celebrates Guy Fawkes, it's just the yearly fireworks and a chance to meet friends "Are you going to the fireworks" most towns will do their own display and usually have a fun fair etc.

We need to celebrate bonfire night more. Its been hijacked by Halloween. You don't need bug screens When you move in to a house, the first thing you unpack is the kettle

Had my open window for about 6 months, except for two or three days when the ' artic blast' visited

Consider making your own curries. Buy curry powder (the generic) and all you need to do is add onions and chicken and you have the basic chicken curry. Tumeric, et al are all good additions, and they are to make different curries, but once you get a few powders bought, just add pork or beef or lamb (nowadays the UK should go more for mutton, it is a good way to use ex-wool sheep and is cheap but not "cheap meat"). Add rice or mashed potatoes or rice and job done: curry made. Cube it small and the meat cooks quicker.

For me, and a lot of people the best comedy ever was John Cleese's Fawlty Towers.Only 2 series of 6 episodes each

Great Video & Happy Belated Birthday 🎂 to Jeremy here!

Halloween & Bonfire night are close together in the UK. So a week of fireworks and weirdness is fairly normal.

Lewes, Sussex is great on Guy Fawkes Night, the other place is Ottery St Mary in Devon, where guys run through the streets carrying lit tar barrels.

Yes, go to Lewes, you won't be disappointed. Nice beer too! 🍻

Bonfire night is celebrating the failure of the Gunpowder plot.

As a sheep lover get yourself to one of the sheep herding contests next time you are in the UK. Watching the dogs working is amazing.

Many people I know have a separate dryer? Or as you say a condensor which does wash and dry. Drying outside is amazing - everything smells so nice. Clothes must be made differently in the US because many things shrink in the UK if we tumble dry them. There are also still some launderettes in towns which you can use to try your clothes if the weather is bad

I think you're being a little optimistic about comparing Independence Day fireworks with bonfire night. If you wan to go to an organised bonfire event, be prepared to shell out a fair bit for a ticket and the worst hot dog you may ever eat. Then everyone crams in around the bonfire as the only source of warmth while oohing and ahhing over some fireworks that you're usually too close to see properly. By all means do it once, then you'll never need to do it again. Fun fact, it isn't a celebration of a group who wanted to blow up parliament, but the capture, torture and execution of the one man who was caught with the gunpowder beneath the houses of parliament, Guy Fawkes (actually "Guy Fawkes night" rather than bonfire night). The others met similar fates, buy Guy is the one children make effigies of to throw on the bonfire. There's even a commemorative poem (Remember, remember the fifth of November..). It's pretty grim, really.

We let the bugs in to feed the spiders. As long as they're well fed they leave us alone.

Hello Cara and Jeremy. I heard US comedy described as the hero wise guy making fun of the clown. Top Cat gets the better of officer Dibble. British humour was described as the clown being the hero, suffering all life throws at him, but making the best of his lot, like the majority of the audience. Examples you would know are Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.

If I make myself a cup of tea, I only put water to minimum mark and it takes around 1 minute to boil.

US-style screens wouldn't work in the UK because we don't tend to have sliding windows. However, you should look up net curtains, which are our equivalent of screens.

We just put our washing on the radiators if the weather is wet.

You think you've seen sheep? Come to Wales! If we don't close our front gate we get sheep in our garden within the hour 😁

Everyone loves the sheep. I feel sorry for countries where they are not roaming across the hills. Sheep farmer and shepherd are totally different jobs.

Sunday shopping hours drives me CRAZY. It's about time they changed all that stupidity.

It warms my heart that you went to Coventry! A much maligned city, looked down on by some -- but you went on your UK travels with open minds and found so many hidden gems. If you ever come back you'll get a welcome (and a pub crawl) from me! p.s. You like doner kebabs and curry; you're British now

Please watch Stephen Fry on why American and British humour differ , It will answer your question, :) All the best from Wales Bhaaaa Bhaaa ( Sheep noise ) x

Lewes is 15 mins from me. These days they ask that people dont travel to the procession unless they are local as they have had 80,000 people and it is becoming unmanagable in such a little quaint county town with its narrow one way streets

Hiya. Gravy. People did used to make gravy the old fashioned way, in a baking tray on top of the cooker, (stove). My mum used to do it. A bit of plain flour, some Bisto powder, (not the same as gravy granules), and meat juices. Not sure what else. I was always banned from the kitchen because I always made a mess, ("Whatever you touch, you leave lying around! Get out!" 😁