6 American Things That Are Actually British 

Really, when Americans think Pomp and Circumstance that sounds more like British Royalty than anything else...

"As an American, I've never thought" Sums it up pretty good.

​@@windowsseven8377oh come on

@@leaffinite3828 Where are we going? lol

I have questions. Were you in band? As an American, it was the only time I ever heard it. How you connected it to an English song, I am curious about.

🤣🤣🤣

I definitely read that in his voice.

😂😂😂

A RU-vid sensation!

Before discovering this channel at my house, we used to say, “Oooh, cool!” We now say, “Oooh, Laurence!” 😂

I know. He makes it fun.

I did love history class, but yes, he is more fun than most of my teachers were!

My high school history teacher used books that were older than me by a decade lol. He also looked like the preacher in Poltergeist 2.

No your lazy. just an excuse to play on your phone and prioritise what yor friends were doing.

I would also have liked my sports classes if Michael Jordan was my teacher.

If memory serves that expression dates from a 1930's advertising campaign.

I figured it's because we use it as a staple for many of our social get-togethers

I've definitely met Americans who were unaware that it was an imported dish.

​@capitalb5889 I personally wouldn't consider it imported. Yes, the English invented it, but they brought it to the new world before America was even a thing. In this way, while is not wholly American, I'd say it certainly has a bit of American DNA tossed in

@@dinoguy6177 - I think that's fair enough - things always change over time, even pies. After all, tempura is seen as quintessentially Japanese, but was originally an import from Portugal some 400+ years ago.

Yes it is, but now I want somebody to write a mystery thriller with a detective named Sam Hain. 😉😁

see i'm confused about that, because a gourd is still a squash, isn't it? all cucurbits are basically the same. and I know asia had squashes and melons going way back.

@@KairuHakubi A squash is a gourd, but not necessarily the other way around. True, the many members of the squash family (or at least, _many_ members _of_ the squash family) are gourds, but gourds are the more general term here. Squash is basically the many varieties of _Cucurbita pepo_ that include pumpkins and zucchini (the latter known elsewhere as marrows). Gourds include not only members of the _Cucurbita_ genus, but also the _Lagenaria_ genus, and can be found worldwide.

​@@KairuHakubitechnically all squash are native to the Americas

oof, the idea of a squash and apple pie... not sure about that.

@@nobody8717 Oh, I don't know about that. The thought of a pumpkin pie with apple slices in it sounds pretty good. If I was a decent cook, I might even try making one. Maybe someone else is up to it?

fuck man the Empire really is dead

Really? I heard Pomp and Circumstance is supposed to be satirical and about the boys marching off to war just to die.

@@ferretyluv Weird, it doesn't seem bombastic, or grandiloquent enough for anti-military satire.

I thought he said Algar

@@ferretyluv No, not at all. It was written in 1900.

@@digitalnomad9985 P & C No. 1 is extremely nervous, never easily settling into a comfortable key. Elgar was always quite proud that his "March in D" begins with a unison E-flat throughout the orchestra.

Yes, and I think it was a wonderful gift.

Yeah, we know. Still not the subject of this video…

Did you not notice that on the screen?

And has been an iconic symbol of America ever since

She was offered to the Germans who declined. Our gain!

But the apple trees were for cider not pie.

Yes, and where do u think he got the Apple seeds from

@@ivettezepedamedelSadly prohibition put an end to that. Alcoholic ciders seem to be starting to make a comeback though.

Pumpkin soup is still eaten in the UK today !

@@gooner_duke2756 Pumpkin soup was one of George Washington's favorite winter foods.

@@here_we_go_again2571 ah nice. Its very nice, plenty of black pepper, some nice bread. Good in winter for sure

Xanth! Isle of View. 😍

@@ellenmarch3095 Yes! And the Of Man and Manta trilogy, the Incarnations of Immortality series, But What of Earth... I have quite a few of his books, but I have to find space for more books before I get the rest ☺

Wish the library in Hollywood would carry his work, only thing they’re doing is remaking, sometimes remaking the remake.

@@ellenmarch3095I still shake my fist at King Cumulus.

He was my childhood. Definitely one of the best children's authors along with Brian Jacques who wrote the Redwall series. It was children ls novels that didn't say away from serious issues. Both were great. Piers Anthony wrote some sad books too, about real life experiences wrapped in fantasy. I am sad I don't still have all of his books :(

Hey, didn’t the guy sitting 4th on right side at picnic table kinda look like😊 comedian Jim Carey?

So true 😅

Sarcasm and dark humour: That is how good humour should be. Who cannot understand it, seems rather dumb.

According to Alan Moore, at least in Yorkshire, All Hallow’s Eve was a thing but much more solemn.

In the 70s it was apple dunking and toffee apples only. Bonfire night, November 5th was more important to us kids

I celebrated Halloween in the 60's in England well before ET. Then it would have been considered rude to knock on people's doors demanding sweets. That part is definitely American

Not exactly a "pub" drinking song, but a gentlemen's club drinking song - The Acreontic Society.

From Glasgow.

White Chapel was home to more serial killers than just Jack. He was just the most famous, which unfortunately means the rest have nearly been forgotten.

Fire your history teacher

@@windowsseven8377 Why?

@@LyleFrancisDelp For leaving out crucial details like where the bell was cast. For not conveying the all important part about the 13 colonies were NOT the United States at that time. It was to honor the anniversary of a British guy (William Penn) who valued freedoms of all sorts of people. You simply shouldnt claim somthing for yourself (America) without sufficient historical backround.

The Liberty Bell was recasted in Philadelphia

My grandmother tried many recipes for pumpkin pie, but decided she liked that one best, and baked it every year. I like to tell people that Grandma’s pumpkin pie recipe was so good that to this day it is printed on every Libby’s pumpkin label. I found a variant with no milk, eggs, or wheat (dietary restrictions) that still tastes good, and that’s the one that I bake every year for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas.

And cranberry sauce is best served in the shape of the can in which it was delivered.

My grandmother always used the Libbys recipe. Then one year, running short on granulated sugar, she added ¼ cup of brown sugar. Everyone raved about how good her pie was, so she continued to make it that way every year. I added my own tweak, as I really like cloves, so I put a little extra spice in mine.

​@@525Linesamen!

@@525Linesbest comment yet.

Pies were invented in ancient Greece an apples are from Asia

Americans call them "bowling"

@@jeffhampton2767 And the apple pie, specifically, come from the British colonists 🤷‍♂ which is the point here.

That sounds like the pumpkin soup a friend of mine made for a pumpkin feast a few years ago

@@FallacyBites Love homemade pumpkin soup !

A swede is a rutabaga.

To English viewers, a turnip is a turnip and a swede is a swede. They are different vegetables, even if they look quite similar.

@@capitalb5889I always think of them as separate vegetables, like you do and most other English people do, but I’m sure I remember reading that Geordies follow the Scottish convention of calling swedes ‘turnips’ (aka. ‘neeps’ in Scotland). They’re not technically wrong as a swede is a type of turnip (in fact it’s short for ‘Swedish turnip’) but it’s nonetheless useful to make a distinction between the two and only ever use ‘turnip’ to refer to small white turnips.

​@@fuckdefedthis is spot on. I was super confused about why everyone kept calling those little pink and white veg 'turnips' when I moved south from Newcastle. I'm pretty sure that as a kid, the big yellowy pink things that got carved for Halloween or eaten with haggis were turnips and the little pinky white things were called swede

You think that's funny?

A lot of things seemed to have happened in Whitechapel apparently.

OUCH

I think the whole concept of graduating from school devalues proper graduations i.e. from university. In Britain if you call yourself a graduate it means you have a degree.

Flavour*

Sweet potato pie is very similar to modem pumpkin pie.

John Josselyn reference isn't actually about a pie nor a recipe, its was just a comment about how it tasted after mixing with a little ginger and what it did to the urine. Hardly a pie recipe, I think you are really trying to stretch it out there ;)

If it was in the colonies then he came from the British colonists... English writer Hannah Woolley’s 1670 book ,'Gentlewoman’s Companion' has a recipe for pumpkin pie.

@gooner_duke2756 except the Native Americans that created pumpkin pie simply didn't have a written recipe... It existed though, it just hadn't been written in a cookbook...

@_Clivey ah yes, nothing existed in the New World until the Bri'ish "discovered it" theory... well, good on you old chap.

You'll find the English Babbel course pretty similar to your 'American'... funny enough, just another thing you inherited 🤷‍♂

And did those feet, When 'twas half time, Jog upon Wemb-bul-ey's, Green sward? And did the ho- -ly hand of god, Let the Argies win, 2-1 at full time? Bring me my pie! Is that some mould? An' bring me some beer! Pro-gram unfold! Oh look you've spilt some spesh, Spilt some spesh, On Mickey's green and pleas-ant vans!

Was it, "who's the wanker in the black?"

That's an exaggeration, but he did set a phrase from a football report to music, for fun - "He banged the leather for goal".

I know, right?

He didn’t say it how we pronounce it in Ireland but a good attempt!

So non Gaelic speaker here, why are the M and H pronounced so differently?

@@maireadr Yeah, I was just excited he got close and didn't say Sam Hane

@@laurat7232 Differently than in English? I suppose it's because the Gaelic languages are Celtic languages and not comparable to the origins of English. Fun fact: Irish is still the first official language of Ireland.

Keep rubbing that one in! 😅

pie! It's about pie right!?

Ok but dressing up and getting candy is fun even if it is silly 😊

One of the best versions of the Halloween story appears in the novel "Faerie Tale," by Raymond Feist: Every year at Samhain all manner of supernatural critters have to move house, so you see them roaming the streets at night, looking for new abodes. And if you don't leave a "treat" out for them, they just might move in with you and haunt your house for a year.

I want to learn Mongolian but I have not seen that in babl.

​@@nmgg6928damn right

He didn't mentioned the many laws, which are so vital to American society. Trail by jury, 'innocent until proven guilty', 'beyond reasonable doubt', 'due process of law', etc., etc., from English common law. All came/inherited from England.

Ahh I'm so glad that other people enjoy his eye movements! I'm pretty sure it's just him looking at the auto-cue that's been placed in different spots in different shots, but in any case, it makes me feel like I'm having a conversation with a person. You know, like how people naturally go in and out of eye contact while talking.

@Levacque The eye movements make me think Laurence is being forced to make these videos against his will, and is constantly checking to see if his narration is suitable to his captors.

Much better song.

@@garryferrington811 Listen to 'land of hope and glory', from the proms at the Royal Albert hall. You might change your mind...

Right. Who knew !?

In the battle between Anglicized Native American names and Anglicized Gaelic names, I think the Gaelic ones win. Native American ones are different, but recognizable from the spelling. Gaelic is a mystery.

@@davidskidmore3442 , you may be correct, but I think these would give Samhain a run for its money: Mquqᵂin = MUCK-wuh-in (BC, Canada), Xlukwskw = shlooksk (BC, Canada), S-chuchuligk = shkoo-COO-lick (AZ), Canyon de Chelly = Canyon de SHAY (AZ), Kwakwaka'wakw = KWOK-uh-wok (BC, Canada), Ksi Xts' at'kw = sis-AT (BC, Canada), Pugughileq = boo-woo-CHAY-look (AK; ch is like in 'Loch' and 'Bach'). Oh, 1 more: Sequim = skwim (WA).

​@@davidskidmore3442I'll just say that Irish spelling is that way for a good reason, and it's not to confuse people. It's trying to fit two tonnes of phonology in a one tonne bag. The Latin alphabet is a poor fit for Irish in multiple ways, and it doesn't help that only one European language has been a continuously written vernacular language longer than Irish, and that's Greek. That said, the rules behind it are simple and consistent, and have largely stayed the same since Irish was first written, neither of which is true for English. People run into issues with Irish because they expect it to work like English, but it very much isn't.

As to "mh", that indicates that there's an underlying etymological "m", but for grammatical/phonological reasons, it's pronounced in a different manner. This change in pronunciation is 100% predictable and thus it makes sense to preserve the etymological spelling. Changing the "mh" to something else would actually make the spelling system _more_ complicated and obscure the relationship between words. Also, consider the case of the various digraphs English has (sh, ph, ch, gh) and how the sounds they're meant to represent get represented in other ways in non-obvious ways (-ti-, su- in sure), are redundant (ph is almost always there for etymological reasons), or aren't even used consistent (ch and gh, the former due to borrowings and the latter because it became a hot mess in the 1600s). Irish has _nothing_ on English in this regard!

Hello, fellow West Virginian. I really enjoy the way he educates us. I knew some of the info, but I was surprised about a few things. I truly appreciate and enjoy these videos.

Some of my ancestors lived in West Virginia.

Lea & Perrins? My dads fav too

​@@samanthab1923the only real Worcestershire sauce. The rest are imposters!

@@Birdbike719 😉

My husband grew up watching Danger Mouse. He quotes it to me often, and now has the DVD set.

"pumpkins" as we know it today were discovered in the Americas. "pompion" was just another name for "gourd". It was probably made with squash.

@@WGGplant All squashes, including pumpkins, originate in the Americas.

Us Brits do not eat Pumpkins. We only use them for decoration at Halloween as they see easier to carve than a turnip

@@heatherboardman7004 Yet there are several websites with British recipes for dishes with pumpkin in them.

@@chiprbob of course. you can find british recipes with chinese ingredients, too. it is irrelevant. pumpkin is by and large almost never eaten here in the uk, i should know, im actually from here. naturally you prefer your pumpkin pie because it is some horrific sweet and savoury abomination only your tastebuds are acclimatised to

The melodic range also happens to be an octave and a fourth, which is the general maximum range for non-trained singers!

@@frenchbassguy right, that too! I remember my 7th grade choir teacher having us sing that to suss out our ranges and assign us the different placements.

It was one of 4 "cross-quarter" holidays of Witchcraft. Though originally Pagan, they got (very quickly) naturalized into Christianity during the early Dark Ages. ●On August 1st, *St. Peter in chains Day* (formerly "Beltane.") ●On May 1st, *St. Phillip & St. James's Day* (formerly "Luganash.") ●On February 1st, *St. Bridget's Day* (formerly "Imbolc.") and ●On November 1st, *All Saints' Day* (formerly "Samhain.")

​@@grantorino2325Not witchcraft. Wiccans decided to take the traditional Celtic holidays and intercorporate them into their practices. Witches aren't a thing in the Gaelic mythological tradition: that's a distinctly Germanic thing. Our traditional quarterly holidays marking the transitions between the seasons have nothing to do with witchcraft. 🤦

@@talideon "Have nothing to do with"? It's *in no way relate to* , you semi-literate! 😝 And you're right that the Dark Age Germanic peoples had *volvas* (priestesses) who used spells and divination. Nevertheless, the idea of *incantations* and *grimoires* containing "words of power" that could bewitch men was very much of Celtic origin! From legendary figures such as Merlin and Morgan le Fay, to historical writers such as Alfred Lord Tennyson, wizards and warlocks are very firmly embedded in the Gallo/Scoci/Brythonic tradition! FUN FACT: The very word *glamour* came to us from a Scottish naturalization of "grammar," first introduced to upper-class, English literature by Sir Walter Scott. Mind you, in the 21st Century, "glamorizing" is no longer done by old men in holocaust cloaks, but rather by young women in miniskirts! 💖💖💖💖

As a Canadian, these videos have been fun to see which British things we have and which American things. Generally speaking through my whole life, Canada has seemed like a cultural midway point between the UK + Ireland and America, with a bias towards American tendencies. Are there any things you've found living here that seem quintessentially British?

@@FavoriteThings606 Here is a Halloween joke. One Halloween a little boy and his friends decided to push the boy's family outhouse down the hill. They snuck up and pushed and pushed until it went rolling down the hill and crashed into a tree. When the boy got home his father confronted him and asked if he had any part in the destruction of the outhouse. The boy denied having any part in the prank. The father told the boy about George Washington cutting down the Cherry tree and when asked, told the truth. Nothing happened to him, and he even became the first President. The little boy confessed, and his father immediately beat the crap out of him. The boy tearfully asked, "I thought nothing happened to George when he confessed?" The father replied, "George's father wasn't sitting in the tree when he cut it down."

That's odd! UK Marathons were rebranded 'Snickers' 30-odd years ago, but Curly Wurly has ALWAYS been Curly Wurly - although it is pressed out of a sheet of toffee instead of being laid in that shape with thin nozzles. I bought Curly Wurlys right from the original time they appeared in the shops. Incidentally, the American Marathon is nothing like the UK one, the Mars Bar has the texture of a Milky Way, and Butterfingers are the best chocolate bar in the world (after Crunchie and Bounty, of course).

Where can I get one. Loved marathon bar!!!!

@@theboyisnotright6312 Do you mean the UK Snickers bar? As I said, that's not the same as the US Marathon bar. And I don't know if you can get it in the US.

@@leoniemarks4594 the curly wurly I guess they call it. Like a carmaly toffee covered in chocolate.

See also; The Flump

Oh dear. That's troubling.

Bad history, that. Let them count the stars in a WW2 American flag. Six rows of eight stars. For some months in 1959 we could have flown a 49-star US flag, 7 rows of 7.

Not surprising, unfortunately.

Interesting facts. The British apple pie of today is definitely different from the lattice style you mention. I'm not sure what the type of apple pie early Americans ate, but it was likely the kind popular in England, and then it mutated over the decades.

Do any Brits actually mistake them for actually being British in origin? I feel like the German name would have tipped them off.

I bought some Heinz Baked Beans made in the UK in Warrendale near Pittsburgh, oh the irony.

As a native Pittsburgher. I ca mmmm attest that English Heinz beanz taste very different than our American Heinz baked beans!

@@conniecrawford5231 Yes. I used to attend a brit expat meetup group and we had a taste-off and every brit picked the Heinz. I did actually run across some US Heinz beans a while back so they must have been testing the market. They were barbeque flavored though.

@@stevethepocket I think many Brits know Heinz as an American brand, but when referring to the best baked beans, they say “Heinz” obviously but specially make it known the English/Brit version… they know the difference ingredients change through UK production enough to state this when I’ve watched many UK celebs interviews, RU-vidrs etc 😂🤷🏻‍♀️ From what I’ve heard it quite a lot different. 😆🤷🏻‍♀️

I think he was joking. Simon doesnt even like England. Hence why he lives in the Czeck republic.

Shame on Applebee's; that might border on the fraudulent! (I usually refer to that chain restaurant as 'Pineapple Q's'.) Have you been to a Village Inn restaurant here in the US? They make many different types of pies (though not as many as they used to do), and it would be a good place to see about apple pie.

That's because Applebee's is trash

Why is it called "Apple" if there is no Apple (pie)?

Laurence's Annunciation. Very famous painting.

Wow, interesting! I like how different cultures have different assumptions. Thanks for sharing :)

I was going to say that A1 sauce is quite controversial in the states, many people think sauce ruins steaks

Yes, my mother used to tell me what a special treat it was to get an orange and a few walnuts in your Christmas stocking. In our family that morphed into tangerines because my mom liked them better.

@@Birdbike719 Wow! We always had an apple and orange as Dad was from Connecticut, Mom from California. Dad 1915, Mom 1923. their folks the 1800s. So much has changed re fruits and vegetables, have to look up on the cell phone all the newer types of produce when shopping!

We always got apples, oranges, and a variety of unshelled nuts in our Christmas stockings. I know it isn't as common now, but it was when I was growing up.

@@donnagoring250 Yes ! My parents , born in 1921 , also told we kids about getting an orange at Christmas - how special it was & considered " exotic " ! Also , my parents & grandparents talked about other fresh fruits , like pineapples , & veggies not common when they were growing up .

@@cynthiajohnston424 Thank you Cynthia! Happy Holidays!

Go online and see if you can find a similar recipe. It’s amazing how many variations you can find.

My sister used to make pumpkin pie with nutmeg. It was delicious.

(OK it is a Sousa march, so was written by an American. But I think that Monty Python gave it British ownership!)

Very nice! You like.