In Japan they say “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” encouraging conformity and agreeableness. In America we say “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” to say if you speak up you’ll get what you need
It’s interesting to hear the phrase “it never rains, it pours” because the American version is: When it rains, it pours. The slight difference says a lot.
@@thatbroad5848 Maybe, but it's also a very real phrase. It's nuts, but common phrases can come from anywhere as long as it's easy to communicate and is a parable for something commonly understood
@@thatbroad5848 Actually it's a song by Albert Hammond... It never rains in Southern California It seems I've often heard that kind of talk before It never rains in California, But girl, don't they warn ya, When it rains, main it pours. 🙂
I am an American. I grew up in New York, and always hated the word "y'all". I managed to get through four years in the Marine Corps without picking up "y'all", even though I did pick up a number of other Southernisms, namely "fixin". I now live in Virginia, in a part that I couldn't reasonably call the South, but I've caught myself saying "y'all" more than once.
@@MrEvanfriend lol, it's hard to stop. After college I took my first 'real' job in the DC Metro area and lived in Annapolis, Md. I don't know how many times I was asked if I was from Alabama or Georgia. I would always react with, "my gawd, I know I have an accent, but it's not that bad". However, once I had the opportunity to return home for a better job opportunity, I took it. I've always lived by the old adage that 'you can take the boy from the mountains but you can never take the mountains from the boy'. I know a lot of 'Northerners' that use "y'all" when speaking. Where in Virginia are you living now?? I've got siblings in Alexandria, Loudon Co. and Winchester. Have numerous other family members in Charlottesville, Richmond and all over southwestern Virginia.
@@SMichaelDeHart I live in the DC Metro area. Hardly the South in any real sense. Oddly enough, I have a similar accent story - I always thought that my accent was relatively neutral, but when I was in the Corps, people seemed to think I sounded like Tony Soprano. Then when I got out and went back to New York, people said that I had a Southern accent. I neither sound like Tony Soprano nor have a Southern accent by any reasonable standard. In Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia, the two places where I've lived since, nobody has commented on my accent at all (though in PA I had a number of debates about what to call a sandwich on a long roll, which they erroneously call a "hoagie", when the proper term is hero).
We have such a large country, lots of people from other counties can’t fathom how vastly different it is from place to place. Even we Americans sometimes have trouble adjusting to the differences. 😃
Yeah I know what you mean I have culture shock from place to place. You don't really think about it till you move because we're all Americans and a lot of the country seems kinda uniform at a glance but there is such a huge difference in life style and general cultural attitudes from state to state and even more so from region to region. Must have sucked moving there from the Mid West. There was a large shift of people who moved from California to my home town out in the mountain region and it sucked and they brought crime with them.
When I go back to Great Falls, Montana where I grew up I realize how much I’ve changed to become Minnesotan. I am impatient with the slower pace of life, especially in Walmart checkout lanes, and driving. I feel like I’m driving an Amish horse and buggy trying to prevent myself from driving over the 25 MPH speed limit in residential areas. I feel Montanans live in a country all by themselves and view the rest of America as a foreign land. However, I haven’t been able to lose my Montanan drawl and switch to the Minnesotan accent (especially the long “o” sound.). I’ve been teased by my pronunciation of “wagon”, “penny”, “burial”, “bag”, to name a few, and I always say “howdy” when greeting people.
When I order something at a restaurant, I start with “Hi” extremely quick smile (smiling with my eyes, too!) as I begin my direct order “May I get a...”. It’s the nonverbal “I’m acknowledging you are a person and not a machine to serve me” I’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve worked at food retail and I’ve been told that 1/3 of their customers sociopathically treat them as if they aren’t people. It’s easy to go too far the other way in being direct.
I always smile and acknowledge the person waiting on me. I tell them what I want politely, and everyone is happy! I’m southerner, and you tend to see that more here. Not always, but more.
@So Who's the Dummy Now? Funny thing for me is that I often thank whoever is giving me the service at the same same time that they say "thank you...". It's kind of awkward for a second and then I say "you're welcome". Although sometimes I'm not sure if my politeness is out of sincerity or if it's habitual.
Not entirely true. At least here in the South, we still have manners. Now we do have a lot of yankees and people from California, so I’ve seen a decline in recent years.
This is a great channel, light-hearted and funny. Lawrence doesn´t take himself too seriously, and that´s a gentle trait that´s in terribly short supply nowadays. He makes a lot of good observations, and yet manages to do so in that inimitable, dry British style. Welcome to America, Lawrence. We need more great UA-cam videos, and Americans need to hear what the rest of the world thinks of us - at least the rest of the world that doesn´t hate us.
Um, well, yes and no. Coffee's history was cemented in European culture well before anybody bumped into Plymouth Rock and idiotically said "let's camp here and die this winter!". The Stamp Act certainly was a catalyst but it's not as cut and dried as all that.
@@darrenswails It's almost like criminals don't obey the law in the first place and it's just to weaken lawful citizen's ability to protect themselves from threat of criminals in and out of office...
Larry, you live on the north side of Chicago. There are many coffee roasters there. Buy a grinder and grind your own beans. You will never darken the doorway of a Starbucks again. Also, buy another pair of wool socks. Winter is coming.
Not all places in the northern parts of america are cold like chicago. Fun fact, Portland, OR is further north than Toronto, Canada. How ever, Portland's weather is about identical to that of England. Cloudy, dark, and raining 9 months of the year. Temps are always moderate with occasional heat waves or the occasional "snowpaclypse" which really only turns into a cm of snow that melts in a day yet every one loses their mind any way. This same story is true for both Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC. Pacific northwest is secluded and far north, but not cold. For this matter, a lot of what you learn about america is completely reversed in the pacific northwest. I didn't travel til I was 18. Going to other states was actually quite a culture shock. It was surprisingly LESS of a culture shock for me when I went to London than when I went to California, detroit, new york, texas, or any other state.
Jared I have to leave oregon due to the swift barometric changes which hurt me worse then the dampness! Lived in oly wash awhile and when it rained it was so cold u felt like ud just come out of the shower!
One of the things the Pacific Northwest has that England doesn't...volcanoes. In recent months the earth has been changing with tons of earthquakes and volcanoes are waking up all over the world.
I can't seem to wipe the smile from my face as I watch this. My husband came to the US from South Africa 16 years ago. Three years ago, he had a similar moment of realization that he'd been assimilated . A few months after that, he applied for his citizenship. Now he insists on identifying himself as American. Unless, of course, there's some Castle Lagers nearby. Then he's true blue Afrikaner again. I also had a moment a few hours ago, watching a You Tube video about South African Christmas, which basically means food, food and food. I found myself so homesick for my mother-in-law's toasties and my father-in-law's biltong I nearly drooled. So I guess assimilation works both ways. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to order biltong from Amazon.
@@ahhitskatie9094 We live in Middle Tennessee. And we have The Carnivore Market right down the street from my work. They're on Amazon and deliver that way. That's from whom I was ordering. They're actually ex-pat South Africans. There's a lot of South Africans around the Nashville/Franklin TN area. I think everyone gets tired of Atlanta eventually and settles here.
@Boots Jew Considering the fact that you said "black Afrikaners", which clearly shows you have no idea who Afrikaners actually are, I'd say this entire list knows precisely who the dumb one is.
@@micheledeetlefs6041 You should see the people fleeing Atlanta for Saint Simons Island. They come down here, recreate their old suburbs with big homes and bad road layouts, and then complain about the traffic (complete with Atlanta's brand of offensive driving) and encroachment by all the newcomers from Atlanta. It's like that episode of South Park where tourists who relocated two seasons ago are calling themselves native Hawaiians and complaining about the Interlopers who relocated one season ago.
From Norway to the U.S. a long, long, long time ago. I learned British English in school as a child/youth in Norway, so I had to change my English pronunciations just a little bit to sound less like a Norwegian with a bad British accent to one with a bad American one. :-) Love your videos. Your sense of humor is decidedly British.
I'm an American and I spent some time in Ireland (Dublin specifically). One linguistic quirk I picked up on is that people refer to things as "grand" a lot in ways we wouldn't really do in the USA (at least not in the NYC area).
I'm watching you too much. Didn't blink when you said versa-tile. No, perhaps I'm watching you just enough. I no longer have to use closed captions when watching Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.
I'm not a fan of hurricanes and sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it to rain sideways (yes, that's a thing) but generally I agree. In particular, I laugh at people when they freak out as the temperature approaches freezing.
@@tolkienfan4815 I've done that. One morning it dawned on me that it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit (55 Celsius) colder outside than in the apartment and I should throw boiling water in the air to see it for myself. I agree it was cold, but I love the feeling of being in that weather. ua-cam.com/video/JO1EWsJYRtk/v-deo.html
@Jason Voorheese I tend to agree with you. I don't care how you're dressed, if a tornado or flood hits, you're clothing choice isn't of any consequence.
@@Lleldorynix that is one of the dumbest things I have heard. You don't have to be anywhere near rich to have 2 cars. It's called going to the junk yard and finding something to fix up or browsing online postings for vehicles near the end of their life. Many people still don't know how to work on their own stuff so it's easy to capitalize on their lack of knowledge. Edit: also you're way wrong. Most Americans do actually own at least 2 cars considering the average cars per person in the US is 1.88 according to the USDOT.
Indeed i have assimilated to another country. I used to live in Northern Michigan and now i live in southern Michigan. So complete is my transformation that no one can tell!
"Pavement" was a tough one for me for some reason, whilst I was living in the UK, but I finally got it, I guess. Helping to run a village fete, as an actual villager, along with everyone else who was helping, was a huge triumph for me and a huge honour. Felt as if I'd finally been accepted. So: pavement, whilst, fete.... And then there's "quite". Oh dear. Save that discussion for another day, perhaps.
"The individual desire to succeed." I can't believe you actually said that. Not that it isn't true, mind you. I just can't believe you ACTUALLY SAID IT!. You may one day come to truly understand this country after all. Maybe.
When I attended Indiana State some of my roommates were from other countries and although they spoke English they spoke with vernacular added from their respective countries. People from Singapore and Malaysia still speak their own versions of Commonwealth English and thanks to them I learned a good deal about soccer, rugby, and cricket.
As a lifelong Cubs fan that's never been closer to Chicago than 30 minutes at the airport in St. Louis, I feel I need to express my eternal gratitude for allowing them to win a World Series in my lifetime. I had lost hope....
Bill of a "baseball cap" sometimes works good paired with the hood of a winter coat. (Though I'm not sure how well it would up north.) Texas tends to have stiff cold winds and stinging sleet more than snow. So the little tilted "roof" helps prevent the sting, stick, melt, freezing wet cold of what is basically tiny hail iceballs to the face. 😆👍
So 6 weeks in Australia left me walking on the left and almost going up the escalator the wrong way, etc numerous times for the next 2-4 weeks when I returned.
I enjoy so many things about your channel, your choice of topics, your humor, your unique perspective on things, but most of all, your thoughtful, (and also thought provoking)way of discussing various topics. 🙂👍
I Love the smell of a coffee shop! But, I brew cappuccino and ground coffee, at home. Yum! Some coffees though..? I try a "special blend" here and there and sometimes it smells the kitchen up like.....CAT! WTH is THAT about?!? ⭐I am a Maxwell Girl!
I've had light roast coffee before on its own, and it tastes way worse than medium roast or dark roast. It tastes like sour water, at least the dark roasts and medium roasts taste like coffee: bitter. Either way, I've never liked coffee, Ibut I can tolerate the taste if I put creamer and sugar or eat bread with it.
Grind ur own beans (i use Starbucks organic) use fresh filtered water; pour over freshly ground beans into Melita cone filter (i add almond flav). I preheat Thermos, pour xtr in 4 l8r.
@@kritikitti3868 I grind beans from time to time. I prefer to for the cappuccino machine. I found it at a resale shop over 15 years ago. I asked the owner how much she wanted for it. She didn't know what is was and asked. I couldn't believe it. I told her it was a single cup coffee maker. 😏Her face squinched and she said, "Who the hell would want to make just ONE cup of coffee? Seems a waste of time to me. I'll take 5 bucks!" Weeee! And I still have that machine that once cost $100!! I love it love it love it!
I'm from Los Angeles, and if I'm being honest, I have a jacket like that one and I wear it when it gets below 75 degrees lol. I find your video's so funny I'm glad I subscribed.😂🤭
I want to explain why Americans are direct. In my life, I have had neighbors from Mexico, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Fiji, Japan, the Philippines, Poland, Egypt, Ireland... and more. In these circumstances, subtle, nuanced communication & literary references just don't work! Even the body language can be different. You need to speak plainly in America.
Doby Gillis you're definitely a monolingual anglophone. People from different parts of the world don't have the same cultural references or body language, and the language barrier causes metaphors and things of that nature to be essentially ineffective.
I live in Virginia about 4 hours away from Philadelphia, but I moved there for 5 years and my vocabulary has shifted ever so slightly since then. My biggest example is that when I didn’t hear someone correctly and wanted to repeat themselves I would say, “what?” Now I say, “pardon?”
If you came to Seattle for awhile, you might find it oddly familiar. People apologize when other people bump into them, express there needs indirectly, and are unaccostomed to really cold weather. But they do drink a lot of coffee.
Time Bandit yes!! Unfortunately I’m WAYYY too young to remember the pennant (18) but that’s a bit how I felt in 07/08 when they won the NL but still lost :(
After watching British TV shows on PBS like Dr Who and Time Team (20 years) I've picked up several English pronunciations that sometimes confuses people. But I still can't understand people from Northern Britain, the Scots or the Irish. Basically I think the people of London , who come from all over, speak the most understandable English.
I come from "Chicagoland" (Yes, they really say that) and have lived in North Carolina for years. I think that may have been a bigger cultural transition than you went through, Lawrence!
I was born in the '50s (USA) and my Irish grandmother would always say "I have to wash my vessels" referring to her pots and pans. I forgot all about that until I befriended a young Indian couple (dots, not feathers) who said the same thing. They were newly arrived from India where the Queen's English (as I sure you know) is still spoken there. I'm from Pennsylvania and they still refer to a bag as a poke (okay, just the older generation) and growing up we referred to boots that you pull on over your shoes as rubbers. By the time I was nine we called then galloshes. Not sure of the spelling. Down south they have a buffet. In the north it's a smorgasbord. Up north the say "We're about to...". Down south they say " We's fixin' to...". Down south it's "y'all" Up north...it depends: New York, "yooz guys" or "yooz". Pa, "you uns"" (you ones) or, simply "yuns". There are many more but you get the idea! Glad you feel at home here and I'm so glad you're here!
You will always be bilingual/binational. I remember when I went to a school in Cheshire in 1967 as a Yankee "exchange student" for a year. I was placed in upper sixth form classes and named a prefect. Bloody hell, I was in way over my head. Fellow students would tell me that I was incapable of logical thought since I spoke American English. My masters butchered me over spelling in essays. Being a prefect and being forced to punish young ones for being kids was about as foreign as it got for me. What I did was grab the young rascals out of our boarding house and take them walking in the Peninnes in very cold rain on week-ends. I made them learn how to use a compass and topog maps. I told them, "If you don't want a repeat of this miserable hike, think twice next time." Weirdly, many lads volunteered for later walks on the moors! After 50+ years, I still retain use of some British words and pronunciations, which cause jokes from my relatives. I don't mind. Aloha from Hawai'i! Where we all speak weird versions of languages, 4 in my household.
Boots Jew only 13 percent of the pop is black... I am most definitely not part black. I’m a white New Yorker with European blood. Specifically Portugal and France
Went to trinity whitgift in the mid to late 80s as a diplomats son. Passed my exit when i was 16. Still had to attend us high school till 18. Best two years of my life. Already ready for uni and 2 years of non stop parties. Thanks england
The Clothes reminded me: Some 15+ years back, working in a C-store, I had a gentleman in and I recognized the style and cut of his overcoat looked Soviet (with insignia removed). Inquiring, it turned out I was correct: his brother was in the US military, stationed in West Berlin when the USSR and the Berlin Wall collapsed. The citizens *and* soldiers from the Eastern side were hungry to get ahold of Western dollars. Thinking of his brother in Chicago, our soldier bought a coat from one of the East-side soldiers as a gift. The coat was designed so a guard at a checkpoint in Siberia could stand his duty all day without getting cold. (That's smart: buy summer wear designed for the equator and winter wear designed for Siberia!)
Regarding "eggplant"... the only reason I knew, when my mother and I moved to New Zealand in 1992, what an "aubergine" or a "courgette" was was because, coming from Canada, I'd been taught French in school. "Capsicum" was more confusing, though...
My assimilation experience, if you wish to call it that, was quite different from yours. As a preschooler, I lived in Peterborough-Huntingdonshire; my parents were Americans of pre-Revolutionary descent, and my father was stationed at RAF Alconbury. However, it does give me an amusing tale that I did not acquire an American accent until I was six years old. I do recall watching cricket being played, which has almost zero interest in the States. Flocks of sheep blocking the road in the English countryside, again, not like the States. And have you ever seen a doubledecker bus on this side of the pond? And we used a teapot over there the same way you guys do; in the States, it's merely used for boiling water. There were also the kerosene (oops, paraffin) heaters. What truly frightened me after moving to west Texas was the hugeness of a tumbleweed; I sincerely wondered if one would swallow me. The vast openness of the Llano Estacado was so different from England. Well into my teens, I had trouble understanding older relatives from the backwoods. On the other hand, they thought my sister and I talked strangely when we returned from England. I am now on my fourth natural accent (due to moving around), but when I sing certain songs, I end up reverting to an English accent.
My parents are from.England so I learned to speak with an English accent. When I went to preschool I picked up an American accent. Every summer from age 5 to 20, we spent summers in England and Greece so I picked the English accent back up. Now I switch back and forth depending on.who im with. It's strange because I think in different accents too and mix up words like windshield / windscreen wipers.
If you ever get a chance to move to Charlotte, NC, take it. We have virtually no snow. We get excited if we have one snow a year, even though we'll get maybe 1 inch and it's gone in two days. We have warm winter days off and on all through the winter. Yes, it does get hot in the summer, but not near as hot as Florida. We're near the Smokey mountains, which are magical and breath-taking in each season. We'd be glad to have you.
I moved back to my hometown of Chicago after spending 6 yrs in LA. I proudly showed off the new winter “coat” I had bought before returning when my mom picked me up at the airport. She laughed in my face. (The following day I was out looking for a parka....you forget what cold feels like after a while!)
The segment about "confidence" seems to have more to do with communication than the one labeled "communication". My pen-pals in S.A. and N.Z. always seemed to regard my American directness as some kind of rough-cut charm or some such.
How do you get pen-pals? This is something I've always wondered ever since I've heard of pen-pals and I've always wanted one. I think it'd be really cool to have a friend on the other side of the world to talk to!
I'm from MN and we have these enclosed bridges between buildings in Minneapolis called "skyways" that allow us to stay inside during the winter and still get around town on foot. Anyway, one January, around lunchtime, a man from Scotland stopped me and asked for directions to his hotel. He had gotten lost in the skyway system. I told him how to get back, but he asked if I couldn't just tell him how to do it by going on the street. (It would be more direct) I looked at him in his leather jacket with no gloves or hat and said, "I can tell you, but I really have to ask you not to try that. If you go out like you are dressed you could be frostbitten in a matter of minutes, would please consider taking a cab? or maybe you would like to go over to Macy's and buy yourself a winter coat and the rest." He informed me he was wearing his winter coat. I could only grimace and tell him that he should follow my directions through the skyway as far as he could and then ask another person. People are very helpful here...please don't go outside...please.
I haven't but with my kids watching peppa pig and ben and holly, and then me imposing my holy grail or periodic nature shows with sir david narrating, our kids start calling us "mummy" and "dahdey" lol and they say you can't teach kids anything with TV. Hmm, yeah maybe less TV ... yep.
Used to have conversations with my English mother regarding becoming Americanized. She came over at age 19 and passed away at 83. There were many Americanisms! She never lost her accent.
We just say you guys or ya guys where I'm from there's no real difference except y'all might be slightly faster to say but I'd prefer to rep my home state and culture also black Americans tend to use a lot of Southern slang even if they're originally from other parts of the country that don't use it.
When you go back to visit England, do you easily slip back into the "apologetic, not wanting to put the burden on anyone" mentality? Or do you feel like you're perceived as obnoxious?
Shaun there are 50 states in the United States and that behavior is more of a City thing you got to meet some new englanders dude. except for Boston a lot of the city people up here aren't even like that. Boston is though we new englanders usually forget Boston is even a part of New England until baseball season comes around, then we like the Boston Red Sox! also we don't say y'all up here like the southerners do we often get mixed up with Canadians based on our accent
@@ashleyburbank3129 I was genuinely asking Laurence the question because of how he said he's changed. Apologies if it came across like I was judging an entire country. The question was for him, not every American who reads this.
@Wilhelm Otto Dusseldorf same. Everyone tells me I say "I'm sorry" way to often lol but the American in me can win just about any debate/argument when given the platform to do so 😂
Maybe not the same thing, but a few years ago my online friend group was almost exclusively aussie. I might have picked up 'oi' for a looong time afterwards.
Well, we in the South were raised to be super polite...at least, if our mamas raised us right we were...lol. But, I guess you English/British folks understand that! However, I have met some really nice folks who were from up North, too. Many people in the "midwest" and in the High North seem very nice, to me. There is a saying about "Minnesota nice", I think. And, I think there are nice people all across the land--from California to New York. Anyway, I love hearing your perspective on England and all the differences culturally. I think it would be cool to visit or live there, too. Many of us Americans often feel like the British Isles is our original "homeland" far away over the sea--so there is something like a deeply instinctive desire to return and see the ancient homeland (and to get to know it better). Anyway, your videos are very positive, thought-provoking, funny, and informative. P.S. I am glad you have discovered the joy in coffee and the joy in wearing a good ole cap! Take care!
I've never been in the Upper Midwest, but I do know that Southerners are nicer than people from most of the US. A couple years ago I went to visit a Marine Corps buddy of mine in Arkansas, from where I lived at the time in Pennsylvania. When we were hanging out in his front yard, cars that drove past would wave at us, and he'd wave back, and I'd always ask "do you know that guy?", and he would look at me funny, like "why wouldn't you wave at a stranger who drives by?" And he also showed me his method of waving at cars coming the other way when driving. I tried it for about a year afterwards, and got a grand total of one person waving back, in rural Upstate New York. There are good people everywhere, and people who are nice to others individually. But the general niceness of the South is something I haven't seen anywhere else in the US.
Evan I agree about the politeness levels in the South. Folks in Oklahoma had wonderful manners, vs. those in the other 11 states where I’ve lived (including upstate NY!) People in Utah come closest to Southern manners and friendliness. Many there would’ve returned your wave, I think. 😄
I’m from San Diego, A vacationing Brit told me we were the most polite drivers of any place they had ever visited. Wow, that was nice to hear. We were chatting at the Cheesecake Factory and having a great time. In my travels I would agree Minnesota nice is real. They are polite, friendly and lack snark. Even in London ‘sorry’ can be snarked at you and clearly means get outta my way. I try not to judge any country’s manners by the large cities I think outside the big cities you get a truer picture of the real hearts and minds of the average person. And, how their Mums raised them. BTW: Southerners are the best snarkers in the world when they want to be, bless their little pea pickin’ 💕. They can also be genuinely sweet. Never stop observing Lawrence and thanks for vlogmas.
American-born here, but delight in the many social & language differences that define our two respective nationalities. Laurence, ❤️ your witty and supremely entertaining commentaries! BTW, Laurence, can you explain (that is if you haven't done so already) the grammatical difference between 'while' and 'whilst', a word Americans never use - or at least to the best of my knowledge?
I had a phase of British commedy, sci-fi, and rap for a while and would find myself accenting some words differently. I also spent alot of time of flights one summer and now I say lavatory, instead of bathroom and it's never gone away!
The first time I watched a Britcom and they said torch, I immediately thought of a stick with fire at the end of it . Lol. It was really weird because the show took place in the 20th century but I did a double take for a second . Whut!?!?!
My dad came from England, but he liked his coffee better than he liked tea. He came over here after WWII, and he acclimated pretty quickly. He still went to the American version of the C-of-E , which my mother grew up because her father was from Scotland. I've never had trouble with Britishisms mixed into Americanisms, and to this day I still can't always tell the difference. He pronounced most words American style, but probably different from what you experienced because I was born and raised in New Orleans, which isn't like any other place in America. No, people down there do not speak French, but New Orleans has its own dialectic bits that, again, aren't heard anywhere else. Welcome to America.
I can appreciate your list of Americanized traits. My mother came to America at the age of 20 until her passing at age 83. We often talked about differences that often led to chuckles and guffaws. She was from Hertfordshire.
I'm glad you've lived in several places in your journey towards Americanization... you've no doubt learned that there's more than one America. Of late, that seems to be something that many Americans have forgotten ... on both the "left" and the "right." So be careful out there.
When we went over to Scotland in 2014 to visit my husband's family, they joked about him becoming Americanized because his accent had become less Scottish and a bit more American, including his vocabulary. However, in that time we were visiting, about two weeks he quickly fell back into his Scottish dialect when interacting with his family and the town locals. Of course at that time he has been living in the states 10 years. Currently going on 17 years in the states and his Scottish accent is quite mild compared to when he first came over.
As someone that was born in the United States, I can tell you with confidence that the USA is five countries that pretend to be one. You have the New England states, the Mid-Atlantic states, the Southern states, the Midwestern states, the Southwestern states, and the Western states. You could even make the argument that the Native American (American Indian) tribes are also separate countries too. You can still make the argument that Alaska and Hawaii are separate countries too. So the USA definitely is countries within countries within countries within countries. A very good example of that is the rules of daylight saving time within Arizona. Study the USA long enough or live in USA long enough and you'll quickly see what I mean by this. The USA is a big country. Merry Xmas. Have a nice day/night.
That just proves the US is a true autonomous country the people rule themselves. Something that Europeans can't understand or what I seen on the internet.
When my family moved to the US in the 50s, I was 5 years old. We stopped for lunch in Salt lake City and I was really enjoying my Mac and cheese. The waitress came by and said "Gee whiz you really need a napkin!". I was totally outraged. Where we came from, a napkin was what you were supposed to wrap around a baby's butt, a serviette was what you wiped your face with. I can never forget this.
Love your posts! I am a voracious reader, and every time a British writer talks about a torch, I have to remind myself that this is not a reference to a flaming stick, but a flashlight. LOL
I always look forward to hearing about your perspective, and love your sense of humor. I do hope, however you are being treated kindly by most Chicagoans. Just remember there are crabby people in every city.
Been watching your videos for quite a while now and love them as I loved traveling around the UK for months meeting people and enjoying talking about the differences. Sorry you have to live in Chicago ,you should visit the South , like Tennessee ,N.Carolina ,S. Carolina etc and see how REALLY friendly everyone is and how laid back it is.
Starbucks overly strong and burnt taste is formulated for people without any sophisticated sense of taste. It’s a lie they’ve created as to what “good coffee” is, and through marketing got much of the country to buy into it. It’s crap.
They call it charbucks in the coffee industry for a reason. Because they over roast their beans, to make more product. Add a pinch of salt to get rid of the sucky under-taste.
Locally-owned coffee shops-- that's the true American cafe experience. ☕ Local businesses are the epitome of 'anyone can make it with determination and a dream', I'd say.
When it comes to coffee, got bless Italy. I love Italian Coffee. What I learned from the UK, never plan for good weather. When you're planning on what do for the upcoming weekend, you don't make plans with the expectations that there's going to be good weather. if you wait for good weather, you won't be doing much. Oh ya, my Liverpool FC jacket, which I brought back to the states, didn't work very well in a Minnesota. winter. What I missed after going home was how clubs & pubs were close to each other. I missed finding a city (like Warrington) and finding pubs & clubs in walking distance to each other. My point is, I really enjoyed my time in England. Now I live in Germany.
I do look cool, anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or my mum.....hahahaha, that made me chuckle :) (Your channel is great, I also introduced my stepmom to your channel as she’s also a Brit who has been in the US for awhile)
No, the problem with Chicago rain is that is can be a very light mist but still soaks you to the bone. There are places like Colorado that only have bullet rain that then turns to hail and only rains in flash flooding, but still only half your body will get wet.
Your phases at the end so relatable those terms rubbish and mobile were hard at first overseas. Interestingly enough I still hear the phrase mind the gap in my head whenever I see or think of British tube and traffic signs. ☺️
In Japan they say “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down,” encouraging conformity and agreeableness. In America we say “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” to say if you speak up you’ll get what you need
NotAWesternSpy I didn’t know that about Japan, so thanks for the lesson!
@mypennyroyal22 Usually it's "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."
Y'all may also know this as
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease"
Small variation but sometimes it makes the difference
I heard this all my life in the Deep South 😜
I think that Americans could learn a bit from the Japanese. They care about one another a bit more.
It’s interesting to hear the phrase “it never rains, it pours” because the American version is: When it rains, it pours. The slight difference says a lot.
yes, this
It’s a salt commercial guys
@@thatbroad5848 Morton's!
@@thatbroad5848 Maybe, but it's also a very real phrase. It's nuts, but common phrases can come from anywhere as long as it's easy to communicate and is a parable for something commonly understood
@@thatbroad5848
Actually it's a song by Albert Hammond...
It never rains in Southern California
It seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California,
But girl, don't they warn ya,
When it rains, main it pours.
🙂
Lawrence, when we hear you use "y'all", your well on the way to being Americanized. Lol.
I am an American. I grew up in New York, and always hated the word "y'all". I managed to get through four years in the Marine Corps without picking up "y'all", even though I did pick up a number of other Southernisms, namely "fixin". I now live in Virginia, in a part that I couldn't reasonably call the South, but I've caught myself saying "y'all" more than once.
@@MrEvanfriend lol, it's hard to stop. After college I took my first 'real' job in the DC Metro area and lived in Annapolis, Md. I don't know how many times I was asked if I was from Alabama or Georgia. I would always react with, "my gawd, I know I have an accent, but it's not that bad". However, once I had the opportunity to return home for a better job opportunity, I took it. I've always lived by the old adage that 'you can take the boy from the mountains but you can never take the mountains from the boy'. I know a lot of 'Northerners' that use "y'all" when speaking. Where in Virginia are you living now?? I've got siblings in Alexandria, Loudon Co. and Winchester. Have numerous other family members in Charlottesville, Richmond and all over southwestern Virginia.
@@MrEvanfriend oh btw, thank you for your service to our great nation.
Evan This would be expected since a large portion of people who serve in the military come from the South or Southwest.
Thank you for your service.
@@SMichaelDeHart I live in the DC Metro area. Hardly the South in any real sense. Oddly enough, I have a similar accent story - I always thought that my accent was relatively neutral, but when I was in the Corps, people seemed to think I sounded like Tony Soprano. Then when I got out and went back to New York, people said that I had a Southern accent. I neither sound like Tony Soprano nor have a Southern accent by any reasonable standard. In Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia, the two places where I've lived since, nobody has commented on my accent at all (though in PA I had a number of debates about what to call a sandwich on a long roll, which they erroneously call a "hoagie", when the proper term is hero).
There are other perks to the hat. Bad hair day? Hat. Bad haircut? Hat. Risk of sunburn due to bald head? Hat.
Hats. Is there anything they _can't_ do?
@@sluttymctits4496 hold your beer... Nope, can do that too
Wear hat inside. Stupid.
Bright sun in your eyes? Hat.
Those baseball hats look childish to me. Newsboy's caps look better.
Im the opposite, ive always loved the smell of coffee and hate the taste
Same here. I definitely need cream and sugar with my coffee.
Me too..although I have to admit that I have never tasted it. Lol
the more you drink it the more it starts to taste how it smells.
I like both the smell and taste, but I have too much anxiety to add more, so I don't have it often anymore
Try it with a table spoon or two of vanilla ice cream.
When I moved from Montana to California to take care of my elderly parents, it seemed like I had to assimilate to a new country.
We have such a large country, lots of people from other counties can’t fathom how vastly different it is from place to place. Even we Americans sometimes have trouble adjusting to the differences. 😃
Shittyfornia.
Yeah I know what you mean I have culture shock from place to place. You don't really think about it till you move because we're all Americans and a lot of the country seems kinda uniform at a glance but there is such a huge difference in life style and general cultural attitudes from state to state and even more so from region to region. Must have sucked moving there from the Mid West. There was a large shift of people who moved from California to my home town out in the mountain region and it sucked and they brought crime with them.
When I go back to Great Falls, Montana where I grew up I realize how much I’ve changed to become Minnesotan. I am impatient with the slower pace of life, especially in Walmart checkout lanes, and driving. I feel like I’m driving an Amish horse and buggy trying to prevent myself from driving over the 25 MPH speed limit in residential areas. I feel Montanans live in a country all by themselves and view the rest of America as a foreign land. However, I haven’t been able to lose my Montanan drawl and switch to the Minnesotan accent (especially the long “o” sound.). I’ve been teased by my pronunciation of “wagon”, “penny”, “burial”, “bag”, to name a few, and I always say “howdy” when greeting people.
You weren't used to civilization that's all.
When I order something at a restaurant, I start with “Hi” extremely quick smile (smiling with my eyes, too!) as I begin my direct order “May I get a...”. It’s the nonverbal “I’m acknowledging you are a person and not a machine to serve me”
I’ve talked to a lot of people who’ve worked at food retail and I’ve been told that 1/3 of their customers sociopathically treat them as if they aren’t people. It’s easy to go too far the other way in being direct.
You can get it. Would you like one?
I always smile and acknowledge the person waiting on me. I tell them what I want politely, and everyone is happy! I’m southerner, and you tend to see that more here. Not always, but more.
@So Who's the Dummy Now? Funny thing for me is that I often thank whoever is giving me the service at the same same time that they say "thank you...". It's kind of awkward for a second and then I say "you're welcome". Although sometimes I'm not sure if my politeness is out of sincerity or if it's habitual.
Not entirely true. At least here in the South, we still have manners. Now we do have a lot of yankees and people from California, so I’ve seen a decline in recent years.
Rεმl Nօωհεɾε Mმղ Ive just noticed a decline in manners overall and an increase in non- native Texans. Lol
At least you called it a FLASHLIGHT and not a TORCH.
This is a great channel, light-hearted and funny. Lawrence doesn´t take himself too seriously, and that´s a gentle trait that´s in terribly short supply nowadays. He makes a lot of good observations, and yet manages to do so in that inimitable, dry British style. Welcome to America, Lawrence. We need more great UA-cam videos, and Americans need to hear what the rest of the world thinks of us - at least the rest of the world that doesn´t hate us.
fun fact Americans drank coffee because of tea tax way back when
AND WE'VE COME FULL CIRCLE GUYS! We did it!
Poor bloke moved house to chicago. Dont worry about knife crime mate. They have guns. Muppet
Um, well, yes and no. Coffee's history was cemented in European culture well before anybody bumped into Plymouth Rock and idiotically said "let's camp here and die this winter!". The Stamp Act certainly was a catalyst but it's not as cut and dried as all that.
@@felixleiter9123 weird how "gun free zones " doesn't stop criminals from having guns
@@darrenswails It's almost like criminals don't obey the law in the first place and it's just to weaken lawful citizen's ability to protect themselves from threat of criminals in and out of office...
Larry, you live on the north side of Chicago. There are many coffee roasters there. Buy a grinder and grind your own beans. You will never darken the doorway of a Starbucks again. Also, buy another pair of wool socks. Winter is coming.
Sound advice!
greets with fire woolies!!!
I can't believe anyone drinks the swill Starbucks serves. That stuff is so bitter and nasty.
@@lightshine6851 went to a Starbucks once to meet somebody so I got a black coffee, nothing added, the way I always drink it. Terribly disapointed
No one should drink Starbucks crap.
My husband (British) and I (American) moved back to my home city a year ago. This channel is helping the transition tremendously!
Not all places in the northern parts of america are cold like chicago. Fun fact, Portland, OR is further north than Toronto, Canada. How ever, Portland's weather is about identical to that of England. Cloudy, dark, and raining 9 months of the year. Temps are always moderate with occasional heat waves or the occasional "snowpaclypse" which really only turns into a cm of snow that melts in a day yet every one loses their mind any way. This same story is true for both Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC. Pacific northwest is secluded and far north, but not cold. For this matter, a lot of what you learn about america is completely reversed in the pacific northwest. I didn't travel til I was 18. Going to other states was actually quite a culture shock. It was surprisingly LESS of a culture shock for me when I went to London than when I went to California, detroit, new york, texas, or any other state.
Pacific Northwest. Duh.
Jared I have to leave oregon due to the swift barometric changes which hurt me worse then the dampness! Lived in oly wash awhile and when it rained it was so cold u felt like ud just come out of the shower!
Jared I didnt know portland was farther north than Toronto thanx! My cousins lives in Toronto it's one of my favorite places!
One of the things the Pacific Northwest has that England doesn't...volcanoes. In recent months the earth has been changing with tons of earthquakes and volcanoes are waking up all over the world.
@@sharondonelow5364 The volcanoes up here have always been active. We are on the ring of fire with huge risk of a major earthquake after all.
I can't seem to wipe the smile from my face as I watch this. My husband came to the US from South Africa 16 years ago. Three years ago, he had a similar moment of realization that he'd been assimilated
. A few months after that, he applied for his citizenship. Now he insists on identifying himself as American. Unless, of course, there's some Castle Lagers nearby. Then he's true blue Afrikaner again.
I also had a moment a few hours ago, watching a You Tube video about South African Christmas, which basically means food, food and food. I found myself so homesick for my mother-in-law's toasties and my father-in-law's biltong I nearly drooled.
So I guess assimilation works both ways.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to order biltong from Amazon.
Michele Deetlefs Where do you live in the US? I live in Wisconsin and several shops here sell biltong! So much better than jerky :)
@@ahhitskatie9094 We live in Middle Tennessee. And we have The Carnivore Market right down the street from my work. They're on Amazon and deliver that way. That's from whom I was ordering. They're actually ex-pat South Africans. There's a lot of South Africans around the Nashville/Franklin TN area. I think everyone gets tired of Atlanta eventually and settles here.
@Boots Jew Considering the fact that you said "black Afrikaners", which clearly shows you have no idea who Afrikaners actually are, I'd say this entire list knows precisely who the dumb one is.
@@micheledeetlefs6041 You should see the people fleeing Atlanta for Saint Simons Island. They come down here, recreate their old suburbs with big homes and bad road layouts, and then complain about the traffic (complete with Atlanta's brand of offensive driving) and encroachment by all the newcomers from Atlanta.
It's like that episode of South Park where tourists who relocated two seasons ago are calling themselves native Hawaiians and complaining about the Interlopers who relocated one season ago.
@@micheledeetlefs6041 I think your comment sums that up pretty well.
From Norway to the U.S. a long, long, long time ago. I learned British English in school as a child/youth in Norway, so I had to change my English pronunciations just a little bit to sound less like a Norwegian with a bad British accent to one with a bad American one. :-) Love your videos. Your sense of humor is decidedly British.
Cool story and glad to have ya here
Larry gets his 'Merica on !!!
Larry??? 😱
My family is mostly of English origin, but have been this side of the pond for 3-5 generations... we've still got the crap hair 🤣😭
@@ericolens3 Only if America has a National Health Service.
Crap hair,what?
@@ericolens3 You best hurry then, I'm afraid Mexico has a good head start on taking us back.
@@ericolens3 In 20 years all of Great Britian will be Muslim and your Empire will be a caliphate. We've gotten nothing to worry about.
I wonder if my hair is the same kind. You can't do anything with it, it's just very fine and thin.
You missed one very important function of the baseball cap. In Chicago it keeps the pigeon crap off your head! lol
“Prompting the cubs to win the rock series”
😂😂
The squeaky wheel gets the grease is a saying that sums up the segment on American directness.
I'm an American and I spent some time in Ireland (Dublin specifically). One linguistic quirk I picked up on is that people refer to things as "grand" a lot in ways we wouldn't really do in the USA (at least not in the NYC area).
From Texas - I think the only time that I've ever said "grand" was for "Grand Slam"
Yes! My work friend from Cork would say grand in place of great. And the word "thousand" would become tousand. The "th" sound was just t.
@@claddagh143 your right...haha also grand canyon maybe
Your soul is half American, Laurence. :)
Lol "Entirely unfit for humans" is exactly how I look at winter.
Now Dan what are you doing in a video not about aquariums. Hahaha. I guess I'm guilty of it also huh. I'll see you on your channel probably tonight.
@@themisto57 Lol I actually watch very few fish videos.
I'm the opposite, I love winter but hate summer. I hate summer with a passion lol. I love the cold and snow, I just hate driving in it of course
Especially a Chicago winter.
thats also how i like at the south with no ac
I'm watching you too much. Didn't blink when you said versa-tile. No, perhaps I'm watching you just enough. I no longer have to use closed captions when watching Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.
One writer to another: that was a very cleverly written script. I truly enjoyed the word play
Okay, okay, okay! This is my FAVORITE "Lost in the Pond" video. Go, Lawrence. You can do whatever you choose to do (if your wife says it's okay).
Watches while eating chocolate covered espresso beans...
I had such a craving for those last night. Mmm
Damn I miss those!
Man, now I want some!
Oh my god, my dad made me try some last week. Those things are dangerous, I had to stop myself from going for the bag several times
Omg those are soooooo good 😋
Sounds like you had a cup of coffee or two for this well-written, witty, and sharply delivered episode. Well done.
there is no 'bad weather,' there is only "inappropriate clothing"
I'm not a fan of hurricanes and sometimes I'm just not in the mood for it to rain sideways (yes, that's a thing) but generally I agree. In particular, I laugh at people when they freak out as the temperature approaches freezing.
@@MatthewStinar when you throw hot water in the air and it freezes on the way down, that's cold.
@@tolkienfan4815 I've done that. One morning it dawned on me that it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit (55 Celsius) colder outside than in the apartment and I should throw boiling water in the air to see it for myself. I agree it was cold, but I love the feeling of being in that weather.
ua-cam.com/video/JO1EWsJYRtk/v-deo.html
I wholeheartedly agree.
@Jason Voorheese I tend to agree with you. I don't care how you're dressed, if a tornado or flood hits, you're clothing choice isn't of any consequence.
When you own more than 2 cars, and one of them is a truck, THEN you'll be American.
@@Lleldorynix I never said they were new, or that all of them ran 😁
Hooda Gooboy or the fact they are rusted out
I myself don’t like trucks & we can only afford one car but yeah it’s true, that definitely is the stereotype.
@@Lleldorynix that is one of the dumbest things I have heard. You don't have to be anywhere near rich to have 2 cars. It's called going to the junk yard and finding something to fix up or browsing online postings for vehicles near the end of their life. Many people still don't know how to work on their own stuff so it's easy to capitalize on their lack of knowledge.
Edit: also you're way wrong. Most Americans do actually own at least 2 cars considering the average cars per person in the US is 1.88 according to the USDOT.
Im born in the ghetto 😆 we cant afford ni cars
Indeed i have assimilated to another country. I used to live in Northern Michigan and now i live in southern Michigan. So complete is my transformation that no one can tell!
"Pavement" was a tough one for me for some reason, whilst I was living in the UK, but I finally got it, I guess. Helping to run a village fete, as an actual villager, along with everyone else who was helping, was a huge triumph for me and a huge honour. Felt as if I'd finally been accepted. So: pavement, whilst, fete.... And then there's "quite". Oh dear. Save that discussion for another day, perhaps.
"The individual desire to succeed." I can't believe you actually said that. Not that it isn't true, mind you. I just can't believe you ACTUALLY SAID IT!. You may one day come to truly understand this country after all. Maybe.
Warmed my heart. He is becoming a true American.
Your videos are SO entertaining....also got to love a guy who knows "It's a Wonderful Life"!
Who in the western world is unaware of it?
@Boots Jew I have NO IDEA what you are talking about! I just said I liked laurence's videos.
@Boots Jew It's not about the dialect, it's about the Christmas spirit, and the triumph of brotherly love over the corporate monster. You knob.
@charlie cheeseface That's nice to know! It's a nice Christmas movie with a universal message❤.
When I attended Indiana State some of my roommates were from other countries and although they spoke English they spoke with vernacular added from their respective countries. People from Singapore and Malaysia still speak their own versions of Commonwealth English and thanks to them I learned a good deal about soccer, rugby, and cricket.
I, too, attended ISU. A sorority sister was from Philly. She spoke so quickly it sounded like a foreign language.
As a lifelong Cubs fan that's never been closer to Chicago than 30 minutes at the airport in St. Louis, I feel I need to express my eternal gratitude for allowing them to win a World Series in my lifetime. I had lost hope....
Bill of a "baseball cap" sometimes works good paired with the hood of a winter coat.
(Though I'm not sure how well it would up north.) Texas tends to have stiff cold winds and stinging sleet more than snow. So the little tilted "roof" helps prevent the sting, stick, melt, freezing wet cold of what is basically tiny hail iceballs to the face. 😆👍
In idaho, can confirm on the coat hat thing
So 6 weeks in Australia left me walking on the left and almost going up the escalator the wrong way, etc numerous times for the next 2-4 weeks when I returned.
I enjoy so many things about your channel, your choice of topics, your humor, your unique perspective on things, but most of all, your thoughtful, (and also thought provoking)way of discussing various topics. 🙂👍
11:10 I have never once in my 30 years of life as an American heard anyone, American or otherwise, pronounce "versatile" like that.
That “hey guys” and your Jimmy Stewart impression were both spot on!!
Trust me we get negative temps on Arizona every winter.
Sure, up north, but not in the valley. It's called the "Valley of the Sun" for a reason.
Oh I'm the opposite! I think brewing coffee is a heavenly scent. The taste on the other hand, you couldn't pay me enough to drink it, yuck!
I Love the smell of a coffee shop! But, I brew cappuccino and ground coffee, at home. Yum! Some coffees though..? I try a "special blend" here and there and sometimes it smells the kitchen up like.....CAT! WTH is THAT about?!?
⭐I am a Maxwell Girl!
I've had light roast coffee before on its own, and it tastes way worse than medium roast or dark roast. It tastes like sour water, at least the dark roasts and medium roasts taste like coffee: bitter.
Either way, I've never liked coffee, Ibut I can tolerate the taste if I put creamer and sugar or eat bread with it.
@@ivetterodriguez1994 ooo.. maybe that's it. I Do prefer Dark Roast Maxwell House and specialty bags aren't nearly as rich! Ya... weak.
Grind ur own beans (i use Starbucks organic) use fresh filtered water; pour over freshly ground beans into Melita cone filter (i add almond flav). I preheat Thermos, pour xtr in 4 l8r.
@@kritikitti3868 I grind beans from time to time. I prefer to for the cappuccino machine. I found it at a resale shop over 15 years ago. I asked the owner how much she wanted for it. She didn't know what is was and asked. I couldn't believe it. I told her it was a single cup coffee maker. 😏Her face squinched and she said, "Who the hell would want to make just ONE cup of coffee? Seems a waste of time to me. I'll take 5 bucks!" Weeee! And I still have that machine that once cost $100!! I love it love it love it!
I'm from Los Angeles, and if I'm being honest, I have a jacket like that one and I wear it when it gets below 75 degrees lol. I find your video's so funny I'm glad I subscribed.😂🤭
I want to explain why Americans are direct. In my life, I have had neighbors from Mexico, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Fiji, Japan, the Philippines, Poland, Egypt, Ireland... and more. In these circumstances, subtle, nuanced communication & literary references just don't work! Even the body language can be different. You need to speak plainly in America.
Or maybe you should learn how to listen.
@@dobygillis2720 Damn.
I'm deliberately a bit pedantic just to spread confusion. It's altogether too easy.
Doby Gillis you're definitely a monolingual anglophone. People from different parts of the world don't have the same cultural references or body language, and the language barrier causes metaphors and things of that nature to be essentially ineffective.
But, of course, not rudely. Directly.
That Jimmy Stewart was good!
Sure was!!😉🤭
You haven’t been in England recently, coffee is everywhere! Even pubs have espresso machines.
I live in Virginia about 4 hours away from Philadelphia, but I moved there for 5 years and my vocabulary has shifted ever so slightly since then. My biggest example is that when I didn’t hear someone correctly and wanted to repeat themselves I would say, “what?” Now I say, “pardon?”
If you came to Seattle for awhile, you might find it oddly familiar. People apologize when other people bump into them, express there needs indirectly, and are unaccostomed to really cold weather. But they do drink a lot of coffee.
My great grandfather was born in West Ord ? Northumberland. Great grandmother in Durham. Love this channel!
Lawrence: mentions the cubs winning the World Series
Me: starts applauding loudly at 1 am even though I share a room
Time Bandit yes!! Unfortunately I’m WAYYY too young to remember the pennant (18) but that’s a bit how I felt in 07/08 when they won the NL but still lost :(
After watching British TV shows on PBS like Dr Who and Time Team (20 years) I've picked up several English pronunciations that sometimes confuses people. But I still can't understand people from Northern Britain, the Scots or the Irish. Basically I think the people of London , who come from all over, speak the most understandable English.
Indiana Brown and the American Assimilation.. Coffee, strong and black. Confidence. Communication. Caps. CHICAGO.
ROFL on the silly part. I'm in TX... we don't get much snow but people wear parkas with shorts here at some points even when it "is" cold :P
I come from "Chicagoland" (Yes, they really say that) and have lived in North Carolina for years. I think that may have been a bigger cultural transition than you went through, Lawrence!
I was born in the '50s (USA) and my Irish grandmother would always say "I have to wash my vessels" referring to her pots and pans. I forgot all about that until I befriended a young Indian couple (dots, not feathers) who said the same thing. They were newly arrived from India where the Queen's English (as I sure you know) is still spoken there.
I'm from Pennsylvania and they still refer to a bag as a poke (okay, just the older generation) and growing up we referred to boots that you pull on over your shoes as rubbers. By the time I was nine we called then galloshes. Not sure of the spelling.
Down south they have a buffet.
In the north it's a smorgasbord.
Up north the say "We're about to...".
Down south they say " We's fixin' to...".
Down south it's "y'all"
Up north...it depends: New York, "yooz guys" or "yooz".
Pa, "you uns"" (you ones) or, simply "yuns".
There are many more but you get the idea!
Glad you feel at home here and I'm so glad you're here!
Hmm....recently learned 'fixin to' is the origin of 'finna'
pig in a poke.
Sir, I have a pig in a poke. An ole American saying. Not just in Pennsylvania. Don't you just love the ole USA?
@@Sorrowdusk Huh what? Neither one seem English to me.
@@rogerwilco2 Not British English. American South. Deep South,
You will always be bilingual/binational. I remember when I went to a school in Cheshire in 1967 as a Yankee "exchange student" for a year. I was placed in upper sixth form classes and named a prefect. Bloody hell, I was in way over my head. Fellow students would tell me that I was incapable of logical thought since I spoke American English. My masters butchered me over spelling in essays. Being a prefect and being forced to punish young ones for being kids was about as foreign as it got for me. What I did was grab the young rascals out of our boarding house and take them walking in the Peninnes in very cold rain on week-ends. I made them learn how to use a compass and topog maps. I told them, "If you don't want a repeat of this miserable hike, think twice next time." Weirdly, many lads volunteered for later walks on the moors! After 50+ years, I still retain use of some British words and pronunciations, which cause jokes from my relatives. I don't mind. Aloha from Hawai'i! Where we all speak weird versions of languages, 4 in my household.
Boots Jew only 13 percent of the pop is black... I am most definitely not part black. I’m a white New Yorker with European blood. Specifically Portugal and France
Boots Jew where the hell did you get that info from??
Went to trinity whitgift in the mid to late 80s as a diplomats son. Passed my exit when i was 16. Still had to attend us high school till 18. Best two years of my life. Already ready for uni and 2 years of non stop parties. Thanks england
You forgot Texas which actually was its own country once 😉
The first time you succumbed to immediate gratification, Laurence, you became an American
The Clothes reminded me: Some 15+ years back, working in a C-store, I had a gentleman in and I recognized the style and cut of his overcoat looked Soviet (with insignia removed). Inquiring, it turned out I was correct: his brother was in the US military, stationed in West Berlin when the USSR and the Berlin Wall collapsed. The citizens *and* soldiers from the Eastern side were hungry to get ahold of Western dollars. Thinking of his brother in Chicago, our soldier bought a coat from one of the East-side soldiers as a gift. The coat was designed so a guard at a checkpoint in Siberia could stand his duty all day without getting cold. (That's smart: buy summer wear designed for the equator and winter wear designed for Siberia!)
Regarding "eggplant"... the only reason I knew, when my mother and I moved to New Zealand in 1992, what an "aubergine" or a "courgette" was was because, coming from Canada, I'd been taught French in school. "Capsicum" was more confusing, though...
My assimilation experience, if you wish to call it that, was quite different from yours. As a preschooler, I lived in Peterborough-Huntingdonshire; my parents were Americans of pre-Revolutionary descent, and my father was stationed at RAF Alconbury. However, it does give me an amusing tale that I did not acquire an American accent until I was six years old. I do recall watching cricket being played, which has almost zero interest in the States. Flocks of sheep blocking the road in the English countryside, again, not like the States. And have you ever seen a doubledecker bus on this side of the pond? And we used a teapot over there the same way you guys do; in the States, it's merely used for boiling water. There were also the kerosene (oops, paraffin) heaters.
What truly frightened me after moving to west Texas was the hugeness of a tumbleweed; I sincerely wondered if one would swallow me. The vast openness of the Llano Estacado was so different from England. Well into my teens, I had trouble understanding older relatives from the backwoods. On the other hand, they thought my sister and I talked strangely when we returned from England. I am now on my fourth natural accent (due to moving around), but when I sing certain songs, I end up reverting to an English accent.
My parents are from.England so I learned to speak with an English accent. When I went to preschool I picked up an American accent. Every summer from age 5 to 20, we spent summers in England and Greece so I picked the English accent back up. Now I switch back and forth depending on.who im with. It's strange because I think in different accents too and mix up words like windshield / windscreen wipers.
If you ever get a chance to move to Charlotte, NC, take it. We have virtually no snow.
We get excited if we have one snow a year, even though we'll get maybe 1 inch and
it's gone in two days. We have warm winter days off and on all through the winter.
Yes, it does get hot in the summer, but not near as hot as Florida. We're near the
Smokey mountains, which are magical and breath-taking in each season. We'd
be glad to have you.
You described by my exact experience with coffee in America, and I'm American. Except, I still cannot get past the smell or taste of the stuff.
I moved back to my hometown of Chicago after spending 6 yrs in LA. I proudly showed off the new winter “coat” I had bought before returning when my mom picked me up at the airport. She laughed in my face. (The following day I was out looking for a parka....you forget what cold feels like after a while!)
The segment about "confidence" seems to have more to do with communication than the one labeled "communication". My pen-pals in S.A. and N.Z. always seemed to regard my American directness as some kind of rough-cut charm or some such.
How do you get pen-pals?
This is something I've always wondered ever since I've heard of pen-pals and I've always wanted one. I think it'd be really cool to have a friend on the other side of the world to talk to!
I'm from MN and we have these enclosed bridges between buildings in Minneapolis called "skyways" that allow us to stay inside during the winter and still get around town on foot. Anyway, one January, around lunchtime, a man from Scotland stopped me and asked for directions to his hotel. He had gotten lost in the skyway system. I told him how to get back, but he asked if I couldn't just tell him how to do it by going on the street. (It would be more direct) I looked at him in his leather jacket with no gloves or hat and said, "I can tell you, but I really have to ask you not to try that. If you go out like you are dressed you could be frostbitten in a matter of minutes, would please consider taking a cab? or maybe you would like to go over to Macy's and buy yourself a winter coat and the rest." He informed me he was wearing his winter coat. I could only grimace and tell him that he should follow my directions through the skyway as far as he could and then ask another person. People are very helpful here...please don't go outside...please.
I haven't but with my kids watching peppa pig and ben and holly, and then me imposing my holy grail or periodic nature shows with sir david narrating, our kids start calling us "mummy" and "dahdey" lol and they say you can't teach kids anything with TV. Hmm, yeah maybe less TV ... yep.
Used to have conversations with my English mother regarding becoming Americanized. She came over at age 19 and passed away at 83. There were many Americanisms! She never lost her accent.
The word "Y'all" should be used everywhere. Say what you want about the south, that's just a useful contraction.
@Gage Daliere it is better formal etiquette to say "all y'all".
All y’all know it
@@bbb462cid y'all is already "you all" why would anyone ever say "all you all"? Y'all is just fine on its own.
@@alec4672 they don't say all of you all. Overthink much?
We just say you guys or ya guys where I'm from there's no real difference except y'all might be slightly faster to say but I'd prefer to rep my home state and culture also black Americans tend to use a lot of Southern slang even if they're originally from other parts of the country that don't use it.
I absolutely love the humor you slip into your storytelling!
When you go back to visit England, do you easily slip back into the "apologetic, not wanting to put the burden on anyone" mentality? Or do you feel like you're perceived as obnoxious?
Shaun there are 50 states in the United States and that behavior is more of a City thing you got to meet some new englanders dude. except for Boston a lot of the city people up here aren't even like that. Boston is though we new englanders usually forget Boston is even a part of New England until baseball season comes around, then we like the Boston Red Sox! also we don't say y'all up here like the southerners do we often get mixed up with Canadians based on our accent
@@ashleyburbank3129 I was genuinely asking Laurence the question because of how he said he's changed. Apologies if it came across like I was judging an entire country. The question was for him, not every American who reads this.
I live in Spokane, Washington and we always talk like that besides a few people of course
@Wilhelm Otto Dusseldorf same. Everyone tells me I say "I'm sorry" way to often lol but the American in me can win just about any debate/argument when given the platform to do so 😂
It’s called politeness. I admire it. I live in the south and we have mastered the polite way to be assert😉
Rapmaster Ell. Yeah, boi!
"The latte that necessitated the latter." Clever.
Maybe not the same thing, but a few years ago my online friend group was almost exclusively aussie. I might have picked up 'oi' for a looong time afterwards.
I'm a Wisconsin girl. Winter is an experience for sure. It is beautiful when the snow glitters in the moonlight
Well, we in the South were raised to be super polite...at least, if our mamas raised us right we were...lol. But, I guess you English/British folks understand that! However, I have met some really nice folks who were from up North, too. Many people in the "midwest" and in the High North seem very nice, to me. There is a saying about "Minnesota nice", I think. And, I think there are nice people all across the land--from California to New York. Anyway, I love hearing your perspective on England and all the differences culturally. I think it would be cool to visit or live there, too. Many of us Americans often feel like the British Isles is our original "homeland" far away over the sea--so there is something like a deeply instinctive desire to return and see the ancient homeland (and to get to know it better). Anyway, your videos are very positive, thought-provoking, funny, and informative. P.S. I am glad you have discovered the joy in coffee and the joy in wearing a good ole cap! Take care!
I've never been in the Upper Midwest, but I do know that Southerners are nicer than people from most of the US. A couple years ago I went to visit a Marine Corps buddy of mine in Arkansas, from where I lived at the time in Pennsylvania. When we were hanging out in his front yard, cars that drove past would wave at us, and he'd wave back, and I'd always ask "do you know that guy?", and he would look at me funny, like "why wouldn't you wave at a stranger who drives by?" And he also showed me his method of waving at cars coming the other way when driving. I tried it for about a year afterwards, and got a grand total of one person waving back, in rural Upstate New York.
There are good people everywhere, and people who are nice to others individually. But the general niceness of the South is something I haven't seen anywhere else in the US.
Evan I agree about the politeness levels in the South. Folks in Oklahoma had wonderful manners, vs. those in the other 11 states where I’ve lived (including upstate NY!) People in Utah come closest to Southern manners and friendliness. Many there would’ve returned your wave, I think. 😄
I’m from San Diego, A vacationing Brit told me we were the most polite drivers of any place they had ever visited. Wow, that was nice to hear. We were chatting at the Cheesecake Factory and having a great time. In my travels I would agree Minnesota nice is real. They are polite, friendly and lack snark. Even in London ‘sorry’ can be snarked at you and clearly means get outta my way. I try not to judge any country’s manners by the large cities I think outside the big cities you get a truer picture of the real hearts and minds of the average person. And, how their Mums raised them. BTW: Southerners are the best snarkers in the world when they want to be, bless their little pea pickin’ 💕. They can also be genuinely sweet. Never stop observing Lawrence and thanks for vlogmas.
Evan Wrong. Where ever you go, people will react to you by your behavior.
Ant. A. Sledd Personally, I’m thrilled I have NO English heritage. And I’m Minnesota nice.😁
Wow! I'm not sure I've ever heard you be so philosophical. Be safe! Stay. Healthy!
Coffee black. Thank you
Oddly enough, my US condo building's trash chute has the word "rubbish" embossed on it. I adore that word.
Always loved the smell of coffee as a kid, had to learn to like drinking black coffee. Now I drink decaf so I can sleep at night.🤣
Try black coffee with a lemon wedge
American-born here, but delight in the many social & language differences that define our two respective nationalities. Laurence, ❤️ your witty and supremely entertaining commentaries! BTW, Laurence, can you explain (that is if you haven't done so already) the grammatical difference between 'while' and 'whilst', a word Americans never use - or at least to the best of my knowledge?
People in my office think you look like Ricky Gervais or Russell Crowe
All British guys look like Ricky or Russell.
He delivers his lines in a similar way to Ricky Gervais.
Apparently your coworkers think all English people look alike then because he looks nothing like either of those two lmao!
I see it .
It's those, uh, bedroom eyes ladies. jus sayin' ! ooh, 2 Americanims :)
I had a phase of British commedy, sci-fi, and rap for a while and would find myself accenting some words differently. I also spent alot of time of flights one summer and now I say lavatory, instead of bathroom and it's never gone away!
The first time I watched a Britcom and they said torch, I immediately thought of a stick with fire at the end of it . Lol. It was really weird because the show took place in the 20th century but I did a double take for a second . Whut!?!?!
My dad came from England, but he liked his coffee better than he liked tea. He came over here after WWII, and he acclimated pretty quickly. He still went to the American version of the C-of-E , which my mother grew up because her father was from Scotland. I've never had trouble with Britishisms mixed into Americanisms, and to this day I still can't always tell the difference. He pronounced most words American style, but probably different from what you experienced because I was born and raised in New Orleans, which isn't like any other place in America. No, people down there do not speak French, but New Orleans has its own dialectic bits that, again, aren't heard anywhere else. Welcome to America.
If a Radiohead shirt makes you feel young, this must be a really old story.
I can appreciate your list of Americanized traits. My mother came to America at the age of 20 until her passing at age 83. We often talked about differences that often led to chuckles and guffaws. She was from Hertfordshire.
I'm glad you've lived in several places in your journey towards Americanization... you've no doubt learned that there's more than one America.
Of late, that seems to be something that many Americans have forgotten ... on both the "left" and the "right."
So be careful out there.
When we went over to Scotland in 2014 to visit my husband's family, they joked about him becoming Americanized because his accent had become less Scottish and a bit more American, including his vocabulary. However, in that time we were visiting, about two weeks he quickly fell back into his Scottish dialect when interacting with his family and the town locals. Of course at that time he has been living in the states 10 years. Currently going on 17 years in the states and his Scottish accent is quite mild compared to when he first came over.
As someone that was born in the United States, I can tell you with confidence that the USA is five countries that pretend to be one. You have the New England states, the Mid-Atlantic states, the Southern states, the Midwestern states, the Southwestern states, and the Western states. You could even make the argument that the Native American (American Indian) tribes are also separate countries too. You can still make the argument that Alaska and Hawaii are separate countries too. So the USA definitely is countries within countries within countries within countries. A very good example of that is the rules of daylight saving time within Arizona. Study the USA long enough or live in USA long enough and you'll quickly see what I mean by this. The USA is a big country.
Merry Xmas.
Have a nice day/night.
You forgot the Amish regions. 😉😄
As I recall, the actual attempts to study this come up with numbers around 11 or 13. There have been books dedicated to the subject.
That just proves the US is a true autonomous country the people rule themselves. Something that Europeans can't understand or what I seen on the internet.
Lol many countries within one country.
James Kirk I mean, there are many states that are larger than several countries, and each one has its own personal government.
Thanks for helping the Cubbies. Me and my dad really appreciate it.
When my family moved to the US in the 50s, I was 5 years old. We stopped for lunch in Salt lake City and I was really enjoying my Mac and cheese. The waitress came by and said "Gee whiz you really need a napkin!". I was totally outraged. Where we came from, a napkin was what you were supposed to wrap around a baby's butt, a serviette was what you wiped your face with. I can never forget this.
Its called a nappy mate .
🤣
Barry Johnson
In England it’s called a “nappy”, not napkin.
@@GTVAlfaMan serviette sounds Canadian, not English.
@@robclark3095 Specifically a French word, although it is the same in Spanish.
Love your posts! I am a voracious reader, and every time a British writer talks about a torch, I have to remind myself that this is not a reference to a flaming stick, but a flashlight. LOL
I always look forward to hearing about your perspective, and love your sense of humor. I do hope, however you are being treated kindly by most Chicagoans. Just remember there are crabby people in every city.
Been watching your videos for quite a while now and love them as I loved traveling around the UK for months meeting people and enjoying talking about the differences. Sorry you have to live in Chicago ,you should visit the South , like Tennessee ,N.Carolina ,S. Carolina etc and see how REALLY friendly everyone is and how laid back it is.
Can’t stand Starbucks coffee. Taste burnt. DD coffee or green mountain
DD and green mountain is starter coffee for kids. Starbucks sucks also.
Starbucks overly strong and burnt taste is formulated for people without any sophisticated sense of taste. It’s a lie they’ve created as to what “good coffee” is, and through marketing got much of the country to buy into it. It’s crap.
They call it charbucks in the coffee industry for a reason. Because they over roast their beans, to make more product. Add a pinch of salt to get rid of the sucky under-taste.
Locally-owned coffee shops-- that's the true American cafe experience. ☕ Local businesses are the epitome of 'anyone can make it with determination and a dream', I'd say.
The only can drink Starbucks in flavored Latte, Cuppcino, and Mocha.
When it comes to coffee, got bless Italy. I love Italian Coffee. What I learned from the UK, never plan for good weather. When you're planning on what do for the upcoming weekend, you don't make plans with the expectations that there's going to be good weather. if you wait for good weather, you won't be doing much. Oh ya, my Liverpool FC jacket, which I brought back to the states, didn't work very well in a Minnesota. winter. What I missed after going home was how clubs & pubs were close to each other. I missed finding a city (like Warrington) and finding pubs & clubs in walking distance to each other. My point is, I really enjoyed my time in England. Now I live in Germany.
If there was an IV drip for coffee, we Americans, would use that top.
Kylez McGee sign me up
I do look cool, anyone who says otherwise is either a liar or my mum.....hahahaha, that made me chuckle :) (Your channel is great, I also introduced my stepmom to your channel as she’s also a Brit who has been in the US for awhile)
The problem with Chicago rain, is that sometimes it's bullets.
No, the problem with Chicago rain is that is can be a very light mist but still soaks you to the bone. There are places like Colorado that only have bullet rain that then turns to hail and only rains in flash flooding, but still only half your body will get wet.
@@LifeLostSoul ....it was a crime joke. Wow...
Your phases at the end so relatable those terms rubbish and mobile were hard at first overseas. Interestingly enough I still hear the phrase mind the gap in my head whenever I see or think of British tube and traffic signs. ☺️