10 Weird Things Americans Have that non Americans think are cool | BRITISH COUPLE REACTS 

I laughed very hard when he said “Once the baby’s here and we have a little more calmness”. Forget the word calmness for about the next 18 or so years.😂

"Once the baby is here and we have more calmness" HAHAHAHA James, you have no idea how funny that comment is, but you will, you will.

"When the baby is here, a bit more calmness." AHAHAHAHAHA! James you are in for such a surprise! Calmness will be very rare once the baby is here.

Yeah, it’s not common AT ALL for people to get engaged in high school. It happens on occasion, but it’s definitely not the norm. People here are usually shocked when they hear someone is engaged in high school, and it’s not taken seriously and the marriage usually doesn’t actually ever happen. For the most part, it’s definitely not encouraged and is pretty rare. I wonder why this person thinks it’s common…

I am glad to hear baby showers are becoming popular in the UK. They are SUCH a help to the about-to-be parents.

We Americans use our basements for game rooms, extra bedrooms and shelters in case of tornados or other severe weather!

It's not that we embrace weirdness but we embrace a person's right to be who they want to be even if we don't see eye to eye on it, well as long as it doesn't also trample on our rights. (which trust me when you do weird things we judge you for it but won't stop you)

I think we embrace “weirdness” for the same reason that we smile at each other, talk loudly, and are willing to explain things. It’s because we came from so many different places in the world and we had to get along and help each other. If you were of British background and had Italian neighbors, you each had to accept a certain amount of “weirdness” from the other. You learned to accept “weird” things as long they weren’t harmful to anyone. We learned to smile to be friendly to each other when we couldn’t understand the language. Same for talking loudly - it makes no sense - but we talk louder when we’re trying to make ourselves understood to someone who doesn’t speak our language. We explain things for the same reason. My family has been here since the 16 to early 17 hundreds and are of mostly Northern European descent. I grew up in an area of French descendants and lots of 2nd-3rd generation Italian immigrants. We kids would always explain things about our family, homes, food, etc to our guests when we visited each other. We all have our own traditions, but we love experiencing new things and integrating them to make something uniquely our own.

I wouldn’t say a lot of people get married in highschool or college…. I guess it depends where you live in the us. People in larger cities wait longer to marry, 24 and up is the most common

Ohhh trust me, we still question weirdness here in America. We just tend to accept it and move on I guess. We've come to expect weird.

I have several friends who married their high school sweethearts. However, I don’t know any who actually married in high school. That’s not common at all.

On the Resume/CV thing, I was always told to keep it to no more than two pages and if possible get it on one. I also had a highschool business law teacher that said that the confusion is that Resumes and CVs are (or at least were at one time) two separate things. A Resume is supposed to be a concise summary of your CV. The CV should be way more detailed and longer (and something you hold back unless a potential employer requests it ... which won't happen until after you've been through a round or two of interviews). In this day and age of automated application systems (or whatever they're called) this is less of a distinction.

Basements are very regional. Some places don’t have them because of how high the tide or water level is. Others are built with crawl spaces for weather, land makeup, regional natural disaster needs, etc. I’ve lived in California and Washington nearly my entire life. Basements were always the exception, not the rule. I’m nearly 50, and have lived in only one house with a basement.

I had a friend from England who I worked with many years ago . Hearing him pick up a little of a southern vocabulary was great . Strong British accent saying y'all a lot was just one thing . On the other hand , watching Texans trying to understand his fast talking Brit accent was even better . I grew up watching Monty Python and other British comedies on Public TV so I had an ear for the accents . So it goes both ways .

I graduated in 1993, married and pregnant in 1994...and in 2023 I'm still married to the man I married at 19 years old. It depends on the person, family dynamic and the strength of the couple. I wouldn't change a thing all these years later. I'm now a Mimi and my amazing granddaughter is my life! She's 7 and so damn sassy and strong . I'm so proud of her!

Resumes over 1 page are generally thrown in the trash, I know alot of hiring managers won't even interview those with over one page

basements are more than just an extra room. I have 3 bedrooms, a 3rd living room, and a game room/man cave where I have a bar a pool table and darts.. Plus all my hockey collections

I definitely think people who push their dog around in a stroller are strange, unless the dog really cant walk.

I think the reason why she mentioned that their houses don’t blow down is that one purpose of a basement is to protect you from a storm/tornado that comes through.

Baby showers are extremely helpful for expectant parents. Items needed are numerous and expensive. Especially for a young couple just starting out. Hand me down Items are also a wonderful help.

In the Midwest, “finished”basements have become much more popular with new home builds. Here, tornado warnings have become not common, but I’d say a few every year- so you need to go to the basement. You may need to keep the kiddos calm and occupied. Also comes in handy for kids parties or holiday gatherings during the winter season. Let the kids go downstairs and run out their energy type deal.

I have 3 rooms in my basement. its like having an extra level to my house.

I live in an older house in NYC. We had a "cellar" up until the mid 70's when my parents renovated the cellar. Then it becomes a finished basement. It has a bedroom area, a living area/office area and a half bathroom, meaning a toilet and sink. The other portion of the basement is the laundry room, furnace and water heater. Basements vary depending on the style of the house.

I think basements are awesome! My only experience with them is in the tornado alley of the USA. They obviously need a safe place under ground in case of scary weather. That said, they always made them a fun place that’s basically the kid’s hangout, with TV’s, ping pong tables, bunk beds for slumber parties, etc. There are some scary ones that people didn’t make up into an addition to the house, but most of the time, they made it a fun part of the house. 🤗

I have never heard any American say those slang terms.😅 anyone living in high tornado area likes having a basement for sure.

Some of the acceptance of weirdness comes from our friendly retail personality. A worker in a store would walk up to someone dressed in a pirate costume and ask them if they needed help. I was a public librarian, even mentioning that a male teen with a mohawk, kilt and fishnet tights just walked into the library would get you reprimanded. He proudly talked about the Scottish kilt he had purchased at the Highland Games Festival held in a nearby town. I liked the kilt.

Of the top of my head, the only British slang I have heard from an American is “bloody hell”.

I didn't get married until I was 25, but my parents did get married when they were 21. Marrying age really depends on where you live. In some places there is pressure to get married and start pumping out babies ASAP. In others there is pressuret to not get married until after you start your career and not to have children until you are financially independent.

Not all of America has basements. Florida doesn't have them because of the low water table

My wife had a baby shower given by her many friends. I had a very much surprise baby shower given to me at work by the 30 or so people (mostly women) who I supervised. We didn't need to buy anything for our son for his 1st 6 months. Bless 'em.

For me the best part of having a basement is easy access to everything under the house without having to crawl under. The height of the basement ceiling is over 7 feet which makes it much easier to work on plumbing, etc. I have an old house, but where I live most newer houses do not have basements but are two stories.

The great thing about a basement is during storms you have a place to go.

Living in the Midwest we have lots of storms, with potential tornadoes, this is why I like our basement. However,ours is a family room, spear bedroom and extra bathroom. No spooky basement for me. Lol

One place I used to work, if the resume was longer than 1 page, the job interviewer would throw it out.

Most American houses have a regular door, usually in the kitchen, which leads down to the basement. Sometimes it takes some trial and error to figure out which door leads to the basement, rather than the pantry, or a bathroom, or a closet, or the laundry room. The basements in most modern American houses are almost as large, horizontally, as the house itself. They tend to be big, clean, and well-lit, with 8 to 10 feet high ceilings. Many basements are as finished and carpeted and comfortable as the main floor in a house. Some have fireplaces, big-screen TV's, and comfortable sofas and chairs. For many American families, this is the favorite place to hang out, watch movies, etc. 🇺🇸

My parents met in high school and eloped after my mom turned 18 yrs old. They were married for almost 45 yrs before my dad passed away from cancer.

I actually took a class where they told us to shrink our resumes down to a page if possible because employers were just too busy to read several pages and they would toss your resume aside if it was too long.

The merch conversation was funny while both of you were wearing your merch. 😉

I'm not into gender reveals. I think some people invented as just another excuse to party. My nephew and his wife did not want to know the gender. It's just a wonderful surprise.

In America if we imitate a Brit we would say “Mate” or “Vitamin “ with a soft letter i, or “process “ with a hard letter “o”….😂

I married my high school sweetheart the week after graduating from college. Still happily married 25 years later. My daughter in college now has lots of friends talking about marriage.

Most basements in the US are the size of a 1 bedroom apartment. It's not uncommon for people to convert their basements into apartments and rent them out.

The merch thing is interesting bc it’s only recently occurred over the last 10-15 years, where even local coffee shops and breweries sell their own merch. A lot of that comes from the “support local” mindset we have. A mom & pop bakery that gains any popularity will sell more merch than some big corporation. No one’s walking around in Little Debbie or Folgers merchandise, but everyone has a hoodie/crewneck from their local coffee shop.

My parents married at 19 years old and just celebrated their 71st anniversary.

Basements are common in the Northeast and upper Midwest as it gets cold enough in winter the house foundations have to be over a meter and a half deep, and trenches that deep are a collapse hazard. So digging out a full basement is safer, and gives additional space.

We have doggy pools and splash parks. We have "boutiques" that sell dog and cat clothing, strollers, scooters. Near my home there are several doggy day-cares, a doogy bakery with vet approved recipes, and doggy ice cream parlors. : )

As an American, I've always been taught to keep your CV, or resume, to one page, because your interviewer will flesh out the details with you in the interview.

I push my cats in a pet stroller because they are indoor cats and can't get outside from my apartment on the 5th floor. They enjoy listening to nature and sniffing the air. Plus, it's so much easier on my body to take them to the vet in the stroller than carrying them in a carrier even if it's a tote. More people now than in the past take their small pets around in strollers.

Mainly we have basements where there is a risk of tornado. Or in the days when people preserved things they were used as a root cellar. My grandmother had beaucoup preserved jams, etc. Down there.

I have always hated gender-reveals. My husband and I freaked when the Dr.tried to tell us-it was much more fun being surprised at the birth ! Lol

The average age people get married in the USA is 29 for men and 27 for women.

Different strokes for different folks. That's my philosophy. 😊 life would be boring if everyone was exactly the same.

Our basement was the greatest room in our house! My parents had it completely finished when we were in our early teens. It was a huge TV room, video games, we could turn the music up, a refrigerator and microwave -- the perfect place for us to hang out with our friends and out of my parents' hair! (I'm an 80s kid, so we were always at each other's houses - no cell phones - we actually hung out together.) A finished basement is great! Our basement was the 'hangout'. The fridge was always stocked with snacks; everyone's parents knew where everyone was and that they were safe and together. Good times and great memories! As for marrying young, my parents were married at 20, and I was born the following year. I was engaged at 19 when in college, and married three weeks after college graduation, and my parents at 23. He was my high school sweetheart, but unfortunately, we grew apart and had different goals in life by the age of 27. I'm grateful we have three amazing kids, but I wish we both would have focused on ourselves instead of the family pressure we had to marry young. Getting married young is changing. It still happens, but usually due to family pressure to marry young and not the desire to marry young. One of my kids married at 23, and the other at 30. No pressure on either of them. They both married their high school sweethearts, but my older son focused on completing his education to his Ph.D.; my other finished his bachelor's degree and was ready to settle down. It really has changed and depends on the person when they are ready to get married.

The biggest plus to having a basement in America is for safety. You can hide in a basement during a tornado for protection. It's also a great place for storage without having to use any of your rooms. Basements are only dark and spooky if you don't buy the right kind of lighting for them. They are great to make into a man cave with a pool table and other things for entertainment.

Basements are very useful for when we have bad weather like Tornadoes. Basement is a below ground shelter. You don’t always want it to be carpeted.

Basements are VERY Common in a lot of places.. But the issue is the land. I grew up in Milwaukee WI.. I thought all folks had them. IN some areas they are finished and are large living areas.. rec rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry rooms.. ect.. In Maine the basement was musty.. In Colorado We had basement.. My Dad's home in Colorado had a big lived in basement.. In California it's 50/50.. now I'm in AZ, and there are very few basements, because the land is ROCK!!! so most homes are built on slabs.

Basements are big in the midwest...good tornado shelter, plus yes, you can finish it off and it's nice!

My basement is not finished and it has creaky wooden stairs. It's decently lit but not bright. It's really only used for storage and laundry plus the heater / water heater for the house.

My sister was HR Director at EWU and she advised me to only have one page. If more they would toss them out.

We don't call it weird. We call it individuality.

Millie, I completely agree with you. I was born, raised, and currently still live in Phoenix, Arizona. I have always been taught the same thing, to make sure that it's just one page. Bloody is a slang word that a lot of Americans love. However, personally I think it sounds odd without a British accent.

Basements are a regional thing. Depends on the composition of the soil. I would love one because in our part of Texas we have tornadoes but we have too much clay which creates problems with foundations and basements.

Some basements are used for safety in the Midwest in case of tornados. Washers and dryers and a place to hang clothes to dry are also used in lots of basements. The furnace and hot water tank are also placed in basements. This is in addition to having finished spaces for extra living. Some basements actually have exterior entrances so you don't have to go from the house proper into the basement.

Foreigners often have a misunderstanding about American freedom. With freedom comes responsibility. Your freedom extends to the other person's boundaries. You allow others the same degree of freedom that you have-+no more, no less.

Most peoples basements here are finished and are nice.

Here in Canada, basements run the gamut from a single utilities room (old homes that started out without a basement) to a whole entire extra floor in the house that is instead of being above the ground level floor is built below it. Basements are usually an entire floor level with multiple rooms, usually a family room (for the children’s use normally, with most of their toys), utilities rooms (laundry, furnace room, and anywhere from one to three bedrooms) depending on square footage of the house layout. Growing up in a family with 5 siblings allowed a lot of privacy for the older of us. Youngest shared rooms until the two older siblings left home.

Basements are only found in cold weather environments. Hot environments don’t have basements. Cold weather cities have basements to keep the pipes warm, preventing them from freezing.

A basement is your best friend when you hear the tornado siren.

Resumes are usually written for the job you are applying & are targeted & shorter but CVs are usually required if you are working in academia, the school system, or the job has security clearances & more detail is required

Lately, I’ve noticed people (Americans) on social media saying “full stop” verses period and “jab” instead of shot.

Its getting more rare but in my day 70's me and all my friends were married in their early 20's. And almost everyone I know has a basement and its called a finished basement with any rooms you want. Kitchen,Rec room, bathroom, bedroom etc.

11:15 - basements in US homes are not just a single room, but usually half a dozen or more rooms because the basement is the same size as the ground floor. Most of them have a second living room (often called a "family room" when it's in the basement), a small bathroom, one or more extra bedrooms, a "den" for the father to do work in or have some privacy; a laundy room (with a washing machine and a bunch of other large utilities including the furnace, freezer, etc); and often at least one "unfinished room" which is often used for storage. Some basements have a nuclear fallout shelter.

Was actually just reading about résumés recently. A recruiter at Google said that you should keep your résumé to about 1 page per 10 years of work experience. They also toss out résumés that have blocks of text on them because it shows you don't know how to be succinct/concise, which they consider to be an important skill in the workforce.

I love people in general so i always try to help whomever i can..

Having a baby is extremely expensive. So everyone gives gifts or cash. Sometimes we kick in cash and buy the big things like the crib, or stroller. ❤ They do help with finances 😊

Our basement growing up had lots of well windows and was great to hang out in in the Summer because it was cooler, especially before we got proper air conditioning.

Millie looks like she is SO ready for this baby to arrive. 🤣👶

I've been in IT for 25 years. i keep my resume to about 3/4ths of one page maximum. Skills for one paragraph, background one paragraphs, goals 2 sentences and a list of where i worked including no more detail than position and company and years. This has worked extremely well for me.

I got married when i was 20 and she was 19 and we had our first kid when I was 21 and i am still married and we now have 5 kids and the oldest is 33 and a boy and the others 4 are girls who are 18, 13, 11 and 10. I also have 3 grandchildren that are girls and they are 13, 11 and 10. Basements are great family rooms. They stay cool and we have a pool table and Foosball table. It's looks just like the rest of the house. They are usually wood framed and carpeted

Some basements are really nice, I redid mine to have a sitting room, office and bathroom so when I need alone time I just go to the basement.

I never saw a basement till I lived in Montana. Texas born and raised here. North East Texas in the piney woods area. We dont generally have them. Cant have one where I live. My house is right next to a lake. A really huge one.

We love them too. Not needing a passport is one of these best things about America. Lol

Diane's early videos were really cringe because she focused everything on movies/shows. Her latest videos are a bit more experienced since she's actually travelled to the US more.

I married my high school sweetheart...so did my Sis and 2 of my my friends from HS...only 2 of us are still married. 2 out of 5 isn't great lol...❤.

Forgive Me If I'm Wrong Yall But One Of My Favorite British Slang Words Of All Time Is "Wanker!" LOL!! Can't Even Write It Without Laughing!! 😂❤😂

Basements are great in the Midwest because it give a safe place to go when Tornados occur. They are also great to use as rec rooms where you can play pool (billiards) and darts and pinball games. You get the idea.

Our basements have windows and doors too. The newer ones anyway.

Basements are rare in the South because the water table is so close to the surface. I think basements are more common up north. Americans are waiting longer to get married now, so it may be closer to the average age in Europe. The US has 330 million people, so there is a much larger market for niche products that might not have enough customers to work in a smaller population market like Ireland. The other thing that helps is the internet and sites like Amazon that you can affiliate with and sell your products through their website (for a fee). To use her "embrace the weirdness" example, if I saw someone dressed in Victorian clothes (or dressed like a Viking, etc.) I certainly would not be critical of this and would probably admire their willingness to be different in public. It is the same with someone from another country wearing a native costume - if anyone comments on it, it probably would be to connect with that person and to learn about the costume and culture it represents.

In the US they yell us to keep it to 1 page. Maybe refererces can be on a second page, but employers just isn't going to read it all anyway. So tailor it to that specific job.

Baby showers in America from my farm culture it just helped a couple to start out with their first child. Its rare for other children that arrive. Basements: grew up on a farm. Farmhouses tend to be big because they housed a large family. There 8 of us kids in a farm house with one bathroom. We had a blended family also, the bedrooms upstairs were incredibly cold in winter until mother made dad put a heater upstairs. Large family meant we all had a roommate. So to deal with the cold upstairs in winter and steamy in summer. Daddy decided to dig out from underneath the house, jack up the house and use RR ties to support the house. We helped, we replaced the old creepy basement, and he was able to get four bedrooms in the basement. It was comfortable, we also had a bathroom shower, toilet and sink down there. It wasn't creepy. The walls were covered with wood paneling, brand new carpeting and we got to pick our own colors and paint for the walls. Our carpet ended up with a yellow and green shag, but our walls were lavender and I got a purple bedspread for my very own bed. It was nice. warm, solitude, got even better after my step-sister got married.

Sometimes, that "short" resume is actually a functional resume. I have used it one time when I jumped from a different industry to a new one. It's also good for someone who doesnt have any experience at all or no very extensive experience.

You can definitely be weird without judgement in medium to large cities. In small towns and rural places you’ll probably get looks and judgement more often. But yeah, for the most part, as long as you aren’t hurting someone, be as weird as you want.🤗❤️🐝 btw… a dog in a baby stroller wouldn’t even be weird in a small town in the US🤗

When it comes to merchandise, “people don’t buy what you make. They buy why you make it”.

I know Diane Jennings from her being on the "Try" Channel. In '63 We moved to Daytona Beach, FL from Upstate NY. In 9th grade some kids would drive up across the Florida/Georgia borders and get married. I am thinking about how the young Brits dressed in the '60s. lol

Two big reasons basements are so common in the U.S., especially in comparison to the UK: tornados/extreme weather events and heat. What were once “storm cellars” - to stay safe from storms and store all your perishables in the much cooler air below ground level (hot air rises, cold air descends) - basements are now often “finished” with extra bedrooms, game rooms, etc. (in addition to any utility/laundry/storage areas). Basements furnished with big TVs, bars, pool tables, beer fridges, sports paraphernalia, etc. - where husbands would descend below ground to get away from the outside world -also gave rise to the term “man cave.”

The ABSOLUTE BEST part of the USA (at least before obiden)was that the States was called the “Great Melting Pot” because we would absorb different cultures,customs,religions, foods, and people who were willing to do the same, with open arms.Having spending time in Europe, people were astonished that most Americans didn’t know ,much more didn’t care, what religion ,race, or customs that the people living next door believed in, as long as they didn’t force their beliefs onto everyone else. We celebrate just about every holiday that there is on the planet and embrace ALL of the various kinds of foodstuffs,world wide!🌎🌍🌏If you are willing to embrace the American Dream and adapt like everyone else,while keeping the best part of your heritage,you will be welcomed by just about everyone,happily.But if you come here and eminently start bashing everything and everyone,just like every place else,we will tell you,if you hate it so bad,go back to your utopia!

“Brilliant” (when something is really great) and “Oh my days” are two things I only hear Brits say. As far as basements go, I have lived in 11 houses in 3 states and none had basements. The only people I ever knew that had one were my great grandparents in Nebraska.

Depends on where you live, some places the subsoil is not conducive to basements

Basements are the best. As a kid I had my train set down in a basement and could make all sorts of ruckus down there and it would not impact the rest of the house.

Slang words... i really wish America would take on BLOODY. I love that. "It's bloody hot innit?" "That's bloody brilliant"