@@jamieandtherandomstuff I literally know noone who calls Elizabeth Tower by it's proper name, I have lived in London, my sister lives in London and I have lived close to london nearly my entire life and the only time that I have heared it refered to as Elizabeth Tower is on UA-cam. lol 😂
I hope you had a wonderful time. I wouldn't worry about pronunciation and people picking faults, the main thing is, you came and you explored. You invested your hard earned money and time.
@@paulhenman9907 I prefer Hot Cross Buns sliced, buttered and cold, Mind you I always have cold buttered toast too... guess I don't like melted butter then
I totally disagree with both the above. Hot cross buns, like teacakes, should be sliced in half and TOASTED! Then, of you wish, either eat them as they are or 😮spread margarine/butter and/or jam on each half and eat the halves separately. What you call English muffins we call crumpets. They should also be toasted (but not sliced) and spread before eating.
Born and bred in London and technically we all know the bell is Big Ben but we still commonly refer to the tower as Big Ben. If you showed me a picture of the Tower (The Elizabeth Tower) I would call it Big Ben. Lived in London for 65 years.
Exactly, it's like an American Calling calling it the the Statue of Liberty by its official name Liberty Enlightening the World.. Nobody would say that, they would say statue of liberty And the same goes for Big Ben
I come from a small medieval wool town called lavenham in Suffolk (check it out on UA-cam) we love going to London for concerts ect But we are always glad to get back to our sleepy town.
Oh bless you - don't take the comments to heart, Sierra. People just care and want to help you (and fellow Americans) understand and get a true perspective, therefore enriching your experiencing of the UK. 🙏😉🤗. BTW hot-cross buns should be sliced (like a burger bun), lightly toasted and spread with butter + served with a hot mug of tea 😋
I think most of these were just people being anally retentaive tbh.... The only one would be the hot cross bun... Should absolutely be buttered, ambient or warm, doesn't matter.
Love it! We can be a bit tricky with a few of our quirks, but we love it when people from overseas try to understand our eccentricities. Looking forward to more!
I think it's very cool that so many people are paying attention to each and every detail of your initial England video (which was such a fun video!) and that you turned all this constructive feedback into a new video for your channel that has more than 10K views in about 2 days. GOOD FOR YOU!!! Loving your channel and rooting for your continued success here on UA-cam!!!
@@TesLUCKY Hey friend! Appreciate your encouragement so much! Yes - isn’t it funny that if we listen, people tell us exactly what they want to see? Although… my response video to comments about getting monetized didn’t do nearly as well so 🤷♀️some flop some bop!
The rest of the UK is STUNNING, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have beautiful scenery. Just a word of warning regional variations in English language can change from village to village, let alone county by county. To list the places to visit outside of London would take many days to complete.
Hot Cross Buns are just a seasonal variant of what we call a teacake really, if you go into a traditional tearoom in the UK and order a teacake and a cup of tea you'll be served a teacake which is simply a fruited bread bun, sliced in two and toasted, and they'll give you some butter to spread on it too, and we eat hot cross buns exactly the same way, personally I've never seen anyone eat a toasted hot cross bun or teacake without butter, lots of butter! ...and forget jam or any other spread, just butter.
Pronunciations are tricky. There's much inconsistency you just sort of have to know them. For example, you might fly into Gatwick ("Gat-wick") airport, but if you go to a bit north of London you might go to Flitwick ("Flittick"). The one where an American tourist really baffled me was when they asked for directions to "Looger-Beruga". It took me a while before I twigged they were after Loughborough ("Luff-br'") If you do return and go north, I highly recommend Durham as a great small city. And you have to try the fish & chips in Whitby.
@@simonmeadows7961 inconsistencies are so common with American pronunciations too! Our crazy shared language! OK but my fav part of your comment is the new word “twigged” for me! Googled it and now I twig it. 🤣🤣🤣
I sometimes call the amber light yellow,and im english. And plenty of English people call the Elizabeth tower big ben...some people just like to knit pick.
@@thegroovetube3247 saw a woman at Asda moaning that the Adsa stock cubes was not in fact a cube, i told her to go to sainsburys and see if they have "lifes" for sale because you are in need of one, cashiers burst out laughing
I admire your good humour and willingness to correct prior errors. Also, that you admitted to having been told of your mistakes, and hope not too many people were aggressive in their corrections... Well done for trying the words you dont normally say as we say them. I think its easier to remember the right way to do or say something, if youve got it wrong first, because we all make mistakes, but we try our best to learn, just as your are. Thankyou for taking the time to share your experiences with us and being so kind as to let us share your learning processes too.
@@brigidsingleton1596 I love learning! People were for the most part very sweet in their comments - I always want to improve and learn so didn’t mind at all. Just thought it was interesting when people started commenting on the same things over and over! 😁
The " HAM" thing is very easy to understand. If you say Birmingham, Alabama than your pronunciation is perfect. If you say Birmingham, West Midlands, UK then you need to say BirmingUM. Same as BuckingUM Palace or BuckingUMshire. Get it? US pronunciation is fine in the US but please don't do it in the UK because the pronunciation we use is derived from Norse ( Viking) . Yeah I know, it's strange but that's just the way it is! 😁😁😁
I live near the English town of Harwich which is a port town in Essex. However there is also a town called Harwich in Massachusetts USA. The inhabitants of Harwich MA pronounce the name of their town with a long a and pronounce the w. But the residents of Harwich Essex pronounce the name with a short a and pronounce the w as if it was an r, But my favourite oddity about English place name pronunciations is Towcester, which is pronounced "toaster".
When you say "England" do you realize that the country you visited was the UK. It gets confusing but England is part of the UK. The main island, containing England, Scotland and Wales is Great Britain. The overall country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK for short). However, these can tend to get mixed up, even by the people in UK. It would be similar say you visited California, when you meant to say you visited USA.
Fun fact: Someone who drives through an amber traffic light is known as "An amber gambler".😁 Hot cross buns: The traditional way is to slice them into two halves and heat/toast them and serve with butter. However it's personal taste and you can put jam or honey on them, or eat them cold if you prefer. If you visit the UK again here are some suggestions of places to visit depending on what you like doing. Cities: - Bath famous for it's beautiful Georgian architecture and roman baths. There is also an American museum there which focuses on the early American settlers. - York. aka 'The Bath of the North'. lots of pretty medieval buildings also the national railway museum. - Edinburgh: Again a pretty city known for it's castle and Arthur's seat. be aware that Scotland's a long way from the SE and it's a long trip by car which you may want to break up over a few days and getting the train or a flight isn't cheap. If you like the outdoors we have 15 National Parks which each has their own character and 46 AONBs (Areas of Outstanding natural beauty) which have recently been renamed 'national landscapes' . Basically smalller national parks, but sadly with fewer protections. www.nationalparks.uk/ www.national-landscapes.org.uk/ If you like trees I recommend: - The Royal Botanical gardens at Kew, London. www.kew.org/ - The National Arboritum at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire (prounoced Gloster-sher). www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt-the-national-arboretum - The Eden Project in Cornwall which as a rainforest in a series of huge futuristic domes. www.edenproject.com/ Much of our most beautiful scenery is on the west coast e.g. Devon & Cornwall in SW England, Pembrokshire & the Gower in SW Wales, Snowdonia in N.W Wales, The lake disritct in NW England and the Scotish highlands and Islands. This is due to most of our mountains and hills being on the western side and the West getting higher rainfall which shapes the land and makes it very lush and green. Personally my favourites parts of Britain are the West Country and Western Scotland. Nice bits of the country on the East and south coasts include Northumbria, the Norfolk Broads, New Forrest, the Downs and Dorset on the south coast is lovely, but generally West is best!😃 We also have lots of stately homes and castles, most of which have beautiful gardens. A lot of these are run by either the National Trust or English Heritage. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/
@@speleokeir oh I love that tidbit about the amber gambler! Thanks so much for the impressive lists of suggestions. I can tell you have so much love and pride for your land! We did go to Edinburgh and it was fantastic! I made another video about it which you can watch if you like. We loved it there!
Sierra please don’t listen to some small minded individuals who have nothing better to do than pick up on others opinions and errors. Your vlog from Wokingham was fantastic. I grew up there but haven’t been back for many years so it was great to see that nothing has really changed. Keep going with the good work you are doing and thank you for reminding me about Wokingham x
@@grahvis yes I have noticed this and it’s fine - for the most part I have a relatively thick skin. I do find it an interesting study in humanity that people will comment anonymously things they would never say in person.
I'm disappointed to hear that you had so many picky comments. Thank you for being a traveller and coming to England - whatever bit! I'm going to your country next year and hope that my, probably, loads of mistakes will be treated kindly.
I have noticed a fair number of American's put "the" before landmark names when referring to them, which sounds so strange to the British ear. Examples are "The Big Ben", "The Buckingham Palace", "The London Bridge" and "The Nelson's Column". If we wanted to include "the", we might say "The market at Borough" rather than "The Borough market". But we are so lazy it will almost always be "Borough Market".
Some people are so anal, I’m a born & bred Londoner & have no problem with the tower being called Big Ben, amber lights being called yellow or any of the other perceived mistakes, I challenge those people to travel to another country & get everything right, we’re just happy to see tourists from around the world coming here to appreciate our beautiful country, I would say that people that say to go up north too are so correct, the Lake District or the villages in Yorkshire will blow your minds, go to Wales, go to Scotland, you’ll be amazed, thank you for visiting us & hope to see you again 💙
@@grampstin9375 🤣🤣🤣your comment is cracking me up. I honestly took no offense and love to learn. We did visit Scotland while we were there too! Check out that video if you like. Thanks for commenting! 😄
I've seen a lot of comments on here telling you hot cross buns must be buttered or toasted or never with margarine or other spreads. Absolute load of cobblers, by all means try them buttered or toasted or with or without a cuppa, but it's totally subjective. If you like them best on their own, that's fine.
As a generalisation, Buckingham Palace is the office and Windsor Castle the home. The monarch will normally have Mon-Thursday at the Palace & the weekends at Windsor. Obviously, that's not strict as various events, ceremonies and whatnot will cause things to be changed around here and there. The other way of telling if the Monarch is in the Palace is by looking at the two entrances that lead into the Quadrangle. If there's just one guard at each entrance, that means that the Monarch is not there. If there are two guards at each entrance, then the Monarch is there.
If I have hot cross buns that are very fresh, I slice them, butter them, and add either apricot or blackcurrant jam. If they are not fresh, I slice, lightly toast, and butter them, etc.
With regards to pronunciation, the three cities which Americans have trouble with are Worcester, Gloucester and Leicester which are pronounced Wooster, Gloster and Lester respectively (any English towns or cities ending in caster, cester or chester were originally sited as or near Roman forts or military camps).
I think you’re lovely and especially so in trying to patiently and charitably address what was obviously an avalanche of people correcting you. Please don’t think that we’re all offended pedants because we’re not. As a British person who lives in London all I’m interested in is that you had a nice time and that my fellow British people were kind to you, and that’s all that really matters. Bless you and your family.
@@albertsmyth9616 thank you so much. We had an amazing time and this video was really more for fun than anything. We’ll be back - everyone was very nice in person! 🤗
If you asked most British citizens what the tower was called, they would call it big ben. You are correct that the King primarily lives at Clarence house which is a 2 minute walk from Buckingham Palace, the reason is that the King prefers Clarence house as that is where he had his London residence and offices when he was the Prince of Wales, also Buckingham palace is being renovated so its not practical, For dropping the H's, it depends where you could from, in Yorkshire we drop a lot of H's especially for places, eg Hull is pronounced 'Ull, Harrogate, is 'Arrogate, Huddersfield is 'Uddersfield. Its always fun to watch an American try to pronounce Worcestershire, which the British pronounce pronounced 'Wustershire' not Wor-Cester-Shire (the same applies to Worcester except without the shire), Warwick is another one as its pronounced Warrick not War-Wick.
Hi Sierra, love your channel and your accent don't worry about saying things wrong because people in the UK, miss pronounce words all the time... I'm from Wrexham Wales UK, I love my Hot Cross Buns hot with butter and jam their delicious🥰
@@tinawilliams-adftina omg you are!!!???? We are obsessed with Welcome to Wrexham and saw the team play Chelsea here in California two weeks ago. Do you watch the show? Do you love it/hate it? Are hooligans real? And I will def have to try the bund with butter and jam! 🤗
@@sierralovesdogs Yes I watch the show, the whole of Wrexham are obsessed with Ryan and Rob what they have done for Wrexham football club and the town is fantastic ..they're amazing 🥰 ... unfortunately we do have a few hooligans here which spoils everything good going on ..... yeah do try butter and jam on the hot crossed buns they are yummy😄
Please stop spreading this ridiculous lie. It's the Union Jack everywhere it's flown. This was discussed and agreed in parliament in the 19th century so you have no excuse for this being a new thing. Whoever told you it was only on a ship - go and slap them.
According to the flag institute it has been interchangeable since 1902 and an act of parliament in 1908 officially classed it as the Union Jack. It's the Royal Standard she put up that surprised me, not seen a dragon on it before.
@@Rick-me3xr There is no act of Parliament about the Union Flag (or Jack). What the Flag Institute cite is the answernto a Parliamentary Question, but such answers have no legal basis (not least because many answers to PQs being famously wrong!). There have been several attempts to introduce legislation about the Flag (including to make it an official national flag, which technically it isn't) but all such attempts have failed.
Manchester , Liverpool , Sheffield , Leeds , York , Durham , Newcastle and Carlisle are all great cities in the north of England all are surrounded by lovely countryside and dotted with small towns and villages with plenty of history and great things to do
Hot cross buns - definitely toasted. Definitely butter (lots!!!) jam if you want - why not? I used to work with a guy (this is true I promise!) who would squash a Cornish pasty in between his two halves of bun!!!!! Sadly he’s dead now - not sure if there’s a connection. Most people tend to refer to the entire tower as Bug Ben - but then you take now take great satisfaction in correcting them. You are then halfway to being British!! Ignore the Tesco stuff, Waitrose is a much better shop. Costs a bit more though that’s why the more skinflint Brits prefer Tesco! You visited mainly the south - good for you you were in the best bit!
Lovely video, yes most British people call it Big Ben. Many have buns cold. Thanks for visiting, we travel a lot and are always finding out about new countries and make mistakes too. Too many Brits head to Spain and just want to have roast beef and English beer. Thanks
I would pronounce Buckingham Palace as "Bucking-em Palace. I would pronounce Hampshire as Hamp-sher, soft r, rather than Hamp-shire. Hope this helps. 🙂
In the UK, when I was a kid, hot cross buns were only sold on Good Friday, would have to be specially ordered from the baker and collected early in the morning. Don't worry about your pronunciation, I'm English and live in Wales, take a look at some Welsh place names.
Big Ben is the name most folk use for the tower. The correct name for the tower is the Elizabeth Tower now, but before it was re named after our late Queen, it was officially called St Stephens Tower. both names are more often than not ignored in favour of Big Ben though.
Good that you can see the funny side of being taken to task so much! And at least you are not defensive, and are willing to learn! Despite these comments, your original video showed you had a good time, at least, which is the whole point of travelling after all.
We had a great time. I actually loved that it generated so much feedback - proves to me how much pride residents feel in their country which I appreciate and admire! I'll be back!
I always eat hot cross buns cold. I cut them in half and butter them without toasting. I understood they were called hot cross buns due to the spices in them, not because they had to be eaten hot.
The lake district( beatrix Potter)lakes in close proximity and countryside ,Yorkshire dales in the North ( james herriot country ) Cornwall in the south West is great for summer beaches so is Devon. Norfolk is good for the Norfolk broads for boating holidays.
As a Brit, I loved watching your recent visit and getting your perspective. You dealt with the nitpickers beautifully here! PS. You and your friend were correct about Buckingham Palace - King Charles is NOT residing there while there are ongoing renovation works taking place at the palace over the next 5 years... He lives just along The Mall at Clarence House. When he is in residence in London, though, the Royal Standard will still fly from Buckingham Palace even though he's eating and sleeping just down the road. 😀
My Whippy is a completely different product from Mr Softee, at first Mr Whippy was just a copy of Mr Softee but they didn't copy the recipe, just the idea of a soft serve ice cream, they actually developed their own production process and recipe to make it, and famously Margaret Thatcher (UK ex-Prime Minister) who had a Chemistry degree worked in the lab where they created Mr Whippy ice cream and actually helped develop it, I've had both and they are very different but I would say equally awful, not a fan of either! 🤣 I just much prefer normal ice cream!
When I was growing up in the 1960’s Mr Whippy and Wall’s Ice Cream was considered Number One, Mr Softee was considered and Lyon’s Maid was considered Number Two, and Toni bell Number Three. 😂
Although we call the middle traffic light ‘the amber light’ it did help in a traffic safety campaign making drivers aware that they should stop and not go through on a single amber light - “Don’t be an Amber Gambler”. That was over 40 years ago and I still remember it!!
Hi Sierra, just discovered your channel and was laughing that you actually made a video about the mistakes you made on your video of your trip to England. I haven't quite got to 1,000 subscribers yet (plenty of watch hours!) mainly making videos about the island I live on and I regularly make mistakes in them, but try to forget about them! Well done to you! Oh and by the way, you possibly made another small mistake in this video.......but maybe not! I was always led to believe that the Union Flag is only called a Union Jack when used as a jack flag on a ship. However, today this seems to be a matter for debate!
If you return to the UK, travel to other areas of the country. Scotland is beautiful, Edinburgh is a fab city. Belfast in Northern Ireland is also a great place. As is York in Northern England. Cornwall in the southwest of England is beautiful too. Also visit my home city of Cardiff, its a great place. North and West Wales are beautiful places too. All four countries that make up the United Kingdom have rich and fascinating places to see. I found this video really refreshing to hear you admit your mistakes, but the one about big Ben, I think most people in the UK call the tower Big Ben even though we know it's the bell.
@@johnevans799 Yes we visited Edinburgh as well (a different video)! i actually enjoyed learning from the comments and will definitely have to come back!
Hi, I thought your video was really good and I watched all of it, some of it twice, and I didn't notice any of the mistakes others mentioned - and I live in England! I did know that Big Ben was the bell and not the clock tower, but to be honest I usually refer to the tower as Big Ben as that's what I thought it was called for years and don't want to change it now! The hot cross buns can actually be eaten cold, I used to take them to work sometimes and have one with a cup of coffee. At home I would put them in a microwave oven for about 20 seconds with some butter on. Or you can put them in a toaster and butter them once they're cooked!. Your pronunciations were absolutely fine 👍🙂 I live in Hampshire, and many locals would pronounce it "Ampshire", but we all know what we mean, and Hampshire is really the correct pronunciation. It's always interesting to see someone from another country comment on our customs and places etc, and you did an excellent job and made it interesting too, so carry on the way you make your videos, you don't need to change anything (plus the fact I'm learning a lot from you for my own videos!😊).
@@pbcreative6388 I just think people are really proud of England and eager to share their knowledge so didn’t any offense and thought it would make a fun follow up video. Good to know about pronouncing Hampshire. Others have said cold buns are acceptable too! Thanks for your comment and encouragement! 😁
@@sierralovesdogs I think most people are proud of their home country, and it's a compliment people want to visit us! Especially in all the rain we have! ☔🙂. I went to Florida one Christmas and the weather was like our summer! I'd love to make a UA-cam video in the USA, I will start saving up! Thank you also for your support, it's good to have some help/advice and encouragement 👍
Take note some words & names have a letter E that's pronounced A For example Berkshire is pronounced "BArkshire." Derby is pronounced "DArby." Clerk is pronounced "ClArk "
Both Big Ben (the bell) and the Liberty Bell were cast in the same foundry (Whitechapel Bell Foundry). Of course they both cracked but the returns policy didn't include intercontinental travel so Big Ben got fixed. The Liberty Bell is out of its warranty period now anyway.
A must for all Americans visiting the U.K. is understanding the difference between England, Britain and the U.K. England is one of 4 countries that make up the U.K. It's obviously the best of the 4 countries but Wales and Scotland aren't bad. I forget the name of the 4th country but it's on a separate island so doesn't really count. Great Britain (or Britain for short) is the name of the biggest of the two islands that make up the British Isles and contains England (mostly) and Scotland (the tiny bit at the top) and Wales (the tiny bit on the side that looks like a butt cheek). And now I've got to go. I've just started a civil war in the U.K. and I've got a bunker to build.
Hi, The 'ham' pronounced h'm or maybe just 'm, is only at the end of a word, so Buckingham, is normally (often) Buckin'm. We tend to drop vowels in the last syllable of a place, so Shire would be pronounce as you might expect but put it after Hamp, and it becomes Shur or Shr. No I don't think its offensive, but it does sound wrong. The worst sounding to me is Birmingham, in US pronunciation. Jay Foreman has some good videos on English place name pronunciation.
OK this sounds very reasonable and as I'm reading your comment I'm saying it (you can't hear me lol) but I think it sounds British after all. Thank you for taking the time to write it out! 🤗
Fair play to you for doing an apology vlog. Sometimes American pronunciation is the pits. Mostly when an American asks, you tell them and they come straight back with nothing like you told them! At least you properly try!
Next time you are in the UK if you get as far north as County Durham consider visiting the Beamish museum. Try to make it a sunny day and bring walking shoes as much of it is open air.
Fun fact that annoys my sailing friends is that the Union Jack is only called that when it is flying on a boat or ship. All other times it is the Union Flag. Often this is a pub quiz question that catches people out 😂
I loved this - but also agree with the many on here that say - ignore the nay sayers - the whole point of your content is that it is genuinely you and how you experience life's adventures. My big takeaway was to definitely heat up those buns!
A US English muffin is more like a UK crumpet. There are 2 types of muffin in the UK. One is more like a cake with chocolate or fruit and the other is a small round plain 'bread' type thing
lmao the pronunciation. fellow american here. watch some british youtube videos! you'll hear the pronunciation. the -ham at the end has more of an -um sound so it sounds like full-um for fulham. bucking-um for buckingham. i went for the first time in march and had a fabulous time! i didn't know that they'll toast the toastie for you at a pret and so waited until the last couple of days to try it. omg...it's amazing! a ham and cheese toastie. so simple and so good!
Lincoln is a bit of a hidden gem, if you’re travelling to York by train you can get off at Newark (also a great little historic market town) and get another train for about 25 minutes
Waitrose is a great shop, but any supermarket will do if you just want a few items for a snack. TBH hot cross buns aren’t all that amazing unless you get some freshly made by a bakery. Most breakfast type items need some butter or jam to make them palatable.
I really enjoyed your vlog thankyou. You have no need to make any apologies. I do have a fact you may like though? The Union Jack is actually the Union Flag. Its only referred to as the Union Jack when fyling on a ships mast. Keep up the good work.
The people who point out that "Big Ben" is the name of the bell, not the tower, are the same people who are likely to point out that the British flag is simply the "Union Flag". It is only a "Union Jack" when on the bow of a ship.
Great vid. I keep seeing tic toks about all the pick pockets. Crazy and seems scary. Too bad. Bad guys rolling up on bikes and yanking your phone and purse outta your hand on the street.
If you look at the colour of traffic lights and compare with a railway signal (preferably a non-LED one). The difference between the "amber" traffic light and the "yellow" railway signal is quite distinct.
Hi , I think the important point is that people watched your vlog, they enjoyed the experience, and were so involved that they wanted to contribute. Brits' can be pedantic, but we are very proud of our nation, and getting the facts right is not an aggressive 'thing', it's just about 'putting it right'. The issue about 'north' and 'south' is akin to a competitive edge between sibling rivals, where the head of the household favours one over the other. Sheffield South Yorkshire.
@@user-man-guinon80 Yes that’s what I took it as: National Pride which I loved! We have the same thing with Northern and Southern California (North is better in case you were wondering).
The majority of Brits call the tower Big Ben and we enjoy the muppets who pipe up saying actually the tower blah blah blah, then we just ignore them and carry on calling it Big Ben, it's been this way for decades, but internet trolls love to bleat on about it, but rest assured, most Brits still call the whole tower/bell etc. Big Ben and we simply couldn't care less, whenever I see some Brit berating a UA-camr about calling it by the towers real name I just roll my eyes, just call it Big Ben!
@@sierralovesdogs Every time I see a London Vlog mentioning Big Ben I expect to see a couple of comments about the towers real name, I think some people live for correcting others on the internet! 🤣
@@markjones127yes and the other thing they say is the Union Jack isn’t the correct name for our flag unless it’s on a ship which is actually wrong and not just pedantic.
Just watched this, thank you for this video, I do think a lot of commenters were being nitpicky here, as far as I know, most brits call it Big Ben even if we do know its the bell and not the tower. I will say if you are interested, Buckingham palace is actually open, during the summer for visitors to visit the staterooms. If you're interested in our monarchs, its quite fascinating. The King is usually away for the summer. Its a bit expensive but I think if you are interested in that side of things, worth it. If you do ever visit the staterooms though, don't bring a huge bag or a big backpack, since you'll be told to hold it in your hand or wrist, since it gets super busy. When I visited, I saw other visitors make this mistake and have to carry around huge bags with them. I also heard that its best to book for early morning or one of the later time slots But yeah, you book tickets for it and other places on their website, for the staterooms specifically, only in the summer though :)
Hot cross buns are eaten differently in different places. The Scottish tend to favour jam in some areas, whereas where I was born they slice them and toast them and then use a very small amount of butter. Some use more butter like you would making a sandwhich but where I come from about 1/4 that amount is right. As for dropping the A in place names it depends on the place. EG Birmingham is more pronounced Birmingum or Birmingam dependant on accent. Then there are places like Tuppenhow and you have to know how to say that as it is not even close to the spelling and is pronounced tra-penny. With the vowel shift and Victorians changing names all over the place it is a bit of a pain.
Seems like there were an awful lot of people starting their comment with 'I think you'll find...' - which happens. It is true that the south east is a bit of a different world from other parts. But so is every other part. I imagine much of that had to do with the 'north/south divide'. Everybody is absolutely certain they know where the boundary is.
Hi Sierrra, with the king bit at the palace, yes the royal standard is on show, but instead of two guards that you saw, their is usually 4 guards when the king is in the palace, the palace, is really used as an office, nice one at that. the king has gone through some health issues, and like his time with the queen, he also loves, the quiet, nature, as he is big on all things saving the planet
I often eat hot cross buns cold, they have to be extra fruity though. They are undoubtedly better hot and buttered but sometimes there's no toaster around.
No-one else shared your personal experience, the critics are prolly hampered by inadequacy, you gave it a shot, I for one from these islands respect your efforts and sincerely hope you return to make much more reaction content about these islands, never apologise to a critic that you know could never be you or do what you do. You keep on, ya got it, just be you an do a little research. Bon chance!
I'm British born and bred (from London) and I and my family sometimes have hot cross buns (or current buns without the cross) cold. Always sliced in 2 with butter though. My rule of thumb is if they're fresh they're fine cold but once they start to go stale then they need to be toasted. I don't find the mispronunciations of place names offensive. It can definitely be funny hearing how Gloucester and Cirencester (and many, many others) get pronounced by some people. Even British people get some pronunciations wrong though if they don't hear how some of the difficult place names should be pronounced. There even seems to be some discrepancy about how to pronounce Shrewsbury amongst British people! I've seen other people mention this but it's true, a lot of British people call the the clock tower Big Ben despite knowing it's wrong. It's pedantry to correct people about it at this point.
I think some folk just like to correct people to make themselves feel more knowledgeable or just like being pedantic. The light colour is ridiculous as we all know what you mean, I’m 48 and have always called it Big Ben and never heard anyone call it any other names. It’s also ok you just visited the places you did especially if your staying with someone, as to fully appreciate everything in that area you did the right thing. But the main thing is you enjoyed yourself and thanks for coming over you visit our country. If you did decide to come over again I’d definitely recommend trying to stay near the middle of the country like around Sheffield or Leeds. Because there lots of day trips you can do to other places like York and your not to far from Whitby a beautiful seaside town.also the countryside is incredible around the Yorkshire area.
As a Beatles fan I'm quite bothered that I've never made it to Liverpool too! That's high on my list! And we have distant relatives in Dover so that's another one! It is hard though because we want to soak up time with our friends so that's always been a priority when we've come. Appreciate your kindness - I thought it was mostly humorous that people were so passionate in their accuracies! 🤗
HAM as at the end of a placename is really very easy to say after practice, as in HM equals BuckingHM just no a pronounced, try saying HMPH (a bit like humf) as if your thinking aloud when pondering on something.
Cold hot cross buns - you certainly can eat them room temperature, it won't kill you but just be aware you are not eating it at it's best. Cut it in half, toast it, spread butter then jam on it. But you need a kitchen with a grill for that.
Hot Cross buns used to be only available at the Easter weekend hence the cross on them, I prefer them not only hot but a bit burnt too with runny butter. Waitrose stores are fine but tend to be a bit more expensive than others. The clock tower has had many official names 'St.'Stephen' 'Elizabeth' etc but Everyone calls it Big Ben so you were actually right...ask a Londoner where the 'Elizabeth Tower' was and they probably would not know what you were talking about LOL
H.A.M at the start, such as in Hampshire, is 99.9% pronounced as ham, but when it is at the end, such as in Buckingham, or Notingham we drop both the H and A, so it sounds like "um". so we'd say Noting-um, but to confuse you even more we'd drop the G,H & M so we'd say Buckin-um, usually, though some would still use the g and say "Bucking", instead of "Buckin". Though I was born in East Anglia & spent holidays etc up there I've lived in and around East & N.E. London most of my life and place names are pronounced pretty much how they're spelt, with a couple of exceptions: Dagenham is usually said as Dagnum & Rainham as Rainum and Stratford is Stratfud...etc Newham is pronounced as Newum, but East & West Ham is still Ham. It gets even more complicated the farther out of London you go.
You have a great attitude towards being corrected. I love how you're addressing these with a smile on your face. Don't take it personally. The English LOVE correcting Americans on these kinds of things. The only thing they like more than correcting Americans is pissing off the French.
As an example of how much the English love to piss off the French, its no mere coincidence that the London end of the railway that goes from Paris to London via the Channel Tunnel, terminates at Waterloo Station.
I have to admit the tower name change passed me by to. Plus were a small country life changes every 20 miles or so from dialect and language styles. To attitude and lifestyles. London is like most big cities and not really representative of the country or its people. It has history and all that stuff but its like any tourist area expensive compared to elsewhere. I live just north of Cambridge and basically a commuter hub for London which is 42 mins away by train.
As a Londoner, I can confidently say we all call it Big Ben. Thank you for coming and appreciating our country, ignore the fault pickers.
@@ChurchyXo ha ha I didn’t mind at all. I love learning new things! But thanks for the encouragement!
We certainly do. We all know it's the bell but we use the name for the tower. We just do.
No we don't! Please don't speak for me and the vast majority of people I know. lol 😂
@@jamieandtherandomstuff I literally know noone who calls Elizabeth Tower by it's proper name, I have lived in London, my sister lives in London and I have lived close to london nearly my entire life and the only time that I have heared it refered to as Elizabeth Tower is on UA-cam. lol 😂
@@robtucker19 maybe we just hang with different people? LOL
Don't let peoples negative comments get you down. The important thing is that you enjoyed your visit.
@@paulypops1 thanks for the kind comment! I didn’t mind at all. I loved hearing from people and learning new things!
I hope you had a wonderful time. I wouldn't worry about pronunciation and people picking faults, the main thing is, you came and you explored. You invested your hard earned money and time.
When you put butter and jam on your hot cross bun have it cold,
@@paulhenman9907 I prefer Hot Cross Buns sliced, buttered and cold, Mind you I always have cold buttered toast too... guess I don't like melted butter then
@@paulhenman9907 really?
@@Zephyrines interesting! I feel like this is a minority group! 🤷♀️
I totally disagree with both the above.
Hot cross buns, like teacakes, should be sliced in half and TOASTED!
Then, of you wish, either eat them as they are or 😮spread margarine/butter and/or jam on each half and eat the halves separately.
What you call English muffins we call crumpets. They should also be toasted (but not sliced) and spread before eating.
Born and bred in London and technically we all know the bell is Big Ben but we still commonly refer to the tower as Big Ben. If you showed me a picture of the Tower (The Elizabeth Tower) I would call it Big Ben. Lived in London for 65 years.
Exactly!
Exactly ...99% of people call it Big Ben
Indeed, Londoners refer to both what they hear and what they see as Big Ben.
0:02
Exactly, it's like an American Calling calling it the the Statue of Liberty by its official name Liberty Enlightening the World..
Nobody would say that, they would say statue of liberty
And the same goes for Big Ben
I don't thinnk 'Elizabeth Tower' is a common name for that clock tower.
Everybody just calls it 'Big Ben'.
I come from a small medieval wool town called lavenham in Suffolk (check it out on UA-cam) we love going to London for concerts ect But we are always glad to get back to our sleepy town.
Oh bless you - don't take the comments to heart, Sierra. People just care and want to help you (and fellow Americans) understand and get a true perspective, therefore enriching your experiencing of the UK. 🙏😉🤗. BTW hot-cross buns should be sliced (like a burger bun), lightly toasted and spread with butter + served with a hot mug of tea 😋
i just butter them but each to their own
No, it should be a mug of hot tea.
@@whome1615 Well pointed out! 👍😄😉
@@MarkmanOTW ok I love that you added hot tea to the recipe! And I wasn’t upset at all - I loved hearing everyone’s comments!
@@sierralovesdogs 👍😊
I think most of these were just people being anally retentaive tbh....
The only one would be the hot cross bun... Should absolutely be buttered, ambient or warm, doesn't matter.
I disagree. I don't eat butter on anything. Just don't like the taste.
We never butter it. Never.
@@wncjanIf it's really good real butter, once in a blue moon, but never margarine or fake butter.
Well I like my cold with butter! It's just my taste.😋
Love it! We can be a bit tricky with a few of our quirks, but we love it when people from overseas try to understand our eccentricities. Looking forward to more!
I love learning all I can! Thanks for commenting! :)
I think it's very cool that so many people are paying attention to each and every detail of your initial England video (which was such a fun video!) and that you turned all this constructive feedback into a new video for your channel that has more than 10K views in about 2 days. GOOD FOR YOU!!! Loving your channel and rooting for your continued success here on UA-cam!!!
@@TesLUCKY Hey friend! Appreciate your encouragement so much! Yes - isn’t it funny that if we listen, people tell us exactly what they want to see? Although… my response video to comments about getting monetized didn’t do nearly as well so 🤷♀️some flop some bop!
@@sierralovesdogs Bop till you drop!!!
The rest of the UK is STUNNING, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have beautiful scenery. Just a word of warning regional variations in English language can change from village to village, let alone county by county. To list the places to visit outside of London would take many days to complete.
Yes! We visited Edinburgh as well! Here is a video of our time there if you are interested: ua-cam.com/video/-URT6jsKCvc/v-deo.html
Hot Cross Buns are just a seasonal variant of what we call a teacake really, if you go into a traditional tearoom in the UK and order a teacake and a cup of tea you'll be served a teacake which is simply a fruited bread bun, sliced in two and toasted, and they'll give you some butter to spread on it too, and we eat hot cross buns exactly the same way, personally I've never seen anyone eat a toasted hot cross bun or teacake without butter, lots of butter! ...and forget jam or any other spread, just butter.
*markjones127*
And the best teacakes (small) are from Bird's the Bakers in the East MIdlands.
@@markjones127 just butter! Got it! I didn’t realize hot cross buns are tea cakes. Thanks for the explanation!
Pronunciations are tricky. There's much inconsistency you just sort of have to know them. For example, you might fly into Gatwick ("Gat-wick") airport, but if you go to a bit north of London you might go to Flitwick ("Flittick"). The one where an American tourist really baffled me was when they asked for directions to "Looger-Beruga". It took me a while before I twigged they were after Loughborough ("Luff-br'")
If you do return and go north, I highly recommend Durham as a great small city. And you have to try the fish & chips in Whitby.
@@simonmeadows7961 inconsistencies are so common with American pronunciations too! Our crazy shared language! OK but my fav part of your comment is the new word “twigged” for me! Googled it and now I twig it. 🤣🤣🤣
@@simonmeadows7961 Durham… 🤔
I sometimes call the amber light yellow,and im english.
And plenty of English people call the Elizabeth tower big ben...some people just like to knit pick.
Talking of knit picking ... it's nit picking.
Interestingly (or not), on the railways in the UK the "amber" light on railway signals is always refered to as yellow.
@@thegroovetube3247 saw a woman at Asda moaning that the Adsa stock cubes was not in fact a cube, i told her to go to sainsburys and see if they have "lifes" for sale because you are in need of one, cashiers burst out laughing
@@johnevans2044 oh so amber on the street but yellow for the trains? 🤔
@@thegroovetube3247 😂😂
Sliced, toasted then add butter.....MMMmmmm Nice!
@@nickhuckle6298 people seem to agree! 🧈
I admire your good humour and willingness to correct prior errors. Also, that you admitted to having been told of your mistakes, and hope not too many people were aggressive in their corrections... Well done for trying the words you dont normally say as we say them. I think its easier to remember the right way to do or say something, if youve got it wrong first, because we all make mistakes, but we try our best to learn, just as your are. Thankyou for taking the time to share your experiences with us and being so kind as to let us share your learning processes too.
@@brigidsingleton1596 I love learning! People were for the most part very sweet in their comments - I always want to improve and learn so didn’t mind at all. Just thought it was interesting when people started commenting on the same things over and over! 😁
The " HAM" thing is very easy to understand. If you say Birmingham, Alabama than your pronunciation is perfect. If you say Birmingham, West Midlands, UK then you need to say BirmingUM. Same as BuckingUM Palace or BuckingUMshire. Get it? US pronunciation is fine in the US but please don't do it in the UK because the pronunciation we use is derived from Norse ( Viking) . Yeah I know, it's strange but that's just the way it is! 😁😁😁
@@user-ev1tl5rf7o so drop the H not the A?
@@sierralovesdogs Almost! Drop the H but pronounce the A as U! Fun isn't it? 😃
@@sierralovesdogs The English language is really odd, just pronounce it how you want don't get hung up on it.
I live near the English town of Harwich which is a port town in Essex. However there is also a town called Harwich in Massachusetts USA.
The inhabitants of Harwich MA pronounce the name of their town with a long a and pronounce the w. But the residents of Harwich Essex pronounce the name with a short a and pronounce the w as if it was an r,
But my favourite oddity about English place name pronunciations is Towcester, which is pronounced "toaster".
@@BarnabyRudge-sx3pb love that!
When you say "England" do you realize that the country you visited was the UK. It gets confusing but England is part of the UK. The main island, containing England, Scotland and Wales is Great Britain. The overall country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK for short). However, these can tend to get mixed up, even by the people in UK. It would be similar say you visited California, when you meant to say you visited USA.
UK is NOT a country, England is just one country that makes up part of the United Kingdom.
Fun fact: Someone who drives through an amber traffic light is known as "An amber gambler".😁
Hot cross buns: The traditional way is to slice them into two halves and heat/toast them and serve with butter. However it's personal taste and you can put jam or honey on them, or eat them cold if you prefer.
If you visit the UK again here are some suggestions of places to visit depending on what you like doing.
Cities:
- Bath famous for it's beautiful Georgian architecture and roman baths. There is also an American museum there which focuses on the early American settlers.
- York. aka 'The Bath of the North'. lots of pretty medieval buildings also the national railway museum.
- Edinburgh: Again a pretty city known for it's castle and Arthur's seat. be aware that Scotland's a long way from the SE and it's a long trip by car which you may want to break up over a few days and getting the train or a flight isn't cheap.
If you like the outdoors we have 15 National Parks which each has their own character and 46 AONBs (Areas of Outstanding natural beauty) which have recently been renamed 'national landscapes' . Basically smalller national parks, but sadly with fewer protections.
www.nationalparks.uk/
www.national-landscapes.org.uk/
If you like trees I recommend:
- The Royal Botanical gardens at Kew, London.
www.kew.org/
- The National Arboritum at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire (prounoced Gloster-sher).
www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt-the-national-arboretum
- The Eden Project in Cornwall which as a rainforest in a series of huge futuristic domes.
www.edenproject.com/
Much of our most beautiful scenery is on the west coast e.g. Devon & Cornwall in SW England, Pembrokshire & the Gower in SW Wales, Snowdonia in N.W Wales, The lake disritct in NW England and the Scotish highlands and Islands. This is due to most of our mountains and hills being on the western side and the West getting higher rainfall which shapes the land and makes it very lush and green.
Personally my favourites parts of Britain are the West Country and Western Scotland.
Nice bits of the country on the East and south coasts include Northumbria, the Norfolk Broads, New Forrest, the Downs and Dorset on the south coast is lovely, but generally West is best!😃
We also have lots of stately homes and castles, most of which have beautiful gardens. A lot of these are run by either the National Trust or English Heritage.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/
@@speleokeir oh I love that tidbit about the amber gambler! Thanks so much for the impressive lists of suggestions. I can tell you have so much love and pride for your land! We did go to Edinburgh and it was fantastic! I made another video about it which you can watch if you like. We loved it there!
An "Amber Gambler" sounds like Johnny Depp before he married her.
@@Psmith-ek5hq 😂😂😂😂
Sierra please don’t listen to some small minded individuals who have nothing better to do than pick up on others opinions and errors. Your vlog from Wokingham was fantastic. I grew up there but haven’t been back for many years so it was great to see that nothing has really changed. Keep going with the good work you are doing and thank you for reminding me about Wokingham x
There does seem to be a percentage of UA-cam watchers who delight in picking faults in videos, which they gleefully point out in not a pleasant way.
@@tobycollins1636 thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts on Wokingham! Glad you enjoyed it! Appreciate your remarks!
@@grahvis yes I have noticed this and it’s fine - for the most part I have a relatively thick skin. I do find it an interesting study in humanity that people will comment anonymously things they would never say in person.
I'm disappointed to hear that you had so many picky comments. Thank you for being a traveller and coming to England - whatever bit! I'm going to your country next year and hope that my, probably, loads of mistakes will be treated kindly.
@@karenbartleet3744 yay! New Orleans right?
@@karenbartleet3744 I think people were just sharing. Lots of English pride which I adore! 😍
I have noticed a fair number of American's put "the" before landmark names when referring to them, which sounds so strange to the British ear. Examples are "The Big Ben", "The Buckingham Palace", "The London Bridge" and "The Nelson's Column". If we wanted to include "the", we might say "The market at Borough" rather than "The Borough market". But we are so lazy it will almost always be "Borough Market".
Some people are so anal, I’m a born & bred Londoner & have no problem with the tower being called Big Ben, amber lights being called yellow or any of the other perceived mistakes, I challenge those people to travel to another country & get everything right, we’re just happy to see tourists from around the world coming here to appreciate our beautiful country, I would say that people that say to go up north too are so correct, the Lake District or the villages in Yorkshire will blow your minds, go to Wales, go to Scotland, you’ll be amazed, thank you for visiting us & hope to see you again 💙
@@grampstin9375 🤣🤣🤣your comment is cracking me up. I honestly took no offense and love to learn. We did visit Scotland while we were there too! Check out that video if you like. Thanks for commenting! 😄
You are welcome here anytime. Loads more to see. Look forward to seeing next visits videos.
Come to Cambridge.
Thank you! Yes, Cambridge would be on the list for sure!
I've seen a lot of comments on here telling you hot cross buns must be buttered or toasted or never with margarine or other spreads. Absolute load of cobblers, by all means try them buttered or toasted or with or without a cuppa, but it's totally subjective. If you like them best on their own, that's fine.
I love them fresh, cold, unbuttered and in peace 😂
As a generalisation, Buckingham Palace is the office and Windsor Castle the home. The monarch will normally have Mon-Thursday at the Palace & the weekends at Windsor. Obviously, that's not strict as various events, ceremonies and whatnot will cause things to be changed around here and there.
The other way of telling if the Monarch is in the Palace is by looking at the two entrances that lead into the Quadrangle. If there's just one guard at each entrance, that means that the Monarch is not there. If there are two guards at each entrance, then the Monarch is there.
@@TripsandFeasts1 oh that’s a new one to look at the number of guards! Thanks for sharing! Also makes sense about the Palace vs Windsor!
Hot cross buns should be buttered. English muffins are from New York.
We all make mistakes, the good thing is we can correct them and learn from them. Hope you had an enjoyable time in England and visit again.
If I have hot cross buns that are very fresh, I slice them, butter them, and add either apricot or blackcurrant jam.
If they are not fresh, I slice, lightly toast, and butter them, etc.
@@whattiler5102 very sound habits!!!
You might enjoy this YT vid - 'Why are British place names so hard to pronounce?' by Jay Foreman. It's fun
With regards to pronunciation, the three cities which Americans have trouble with are Worcester, Gloucester and Leicester which are pronounced Wooster, Gloster and Lester respectively (any English towns or cities ending in caster, cester or chester were originally sited as or near Roman forts or military camps).
I've lived nr London almost 56 years and ur Always welcome, we can all make minor errors in reference no biggie ❤🤗
Thank you! I didn't mind the corrections - it was fun to read through them all and I love to learn!
I think you’re lovely and especially so in trying to patiently and charitably address what was obviously an avalanche of people correcting you. Please don’t think that we’re all offended pedants because we’re not. As a British person who lives in London all I’m interested in is that you had a nice time and that my fellow British people were kind to you, and that’s all that really matters. Bless you and your family.
@@albertsmyth9616 thank you so much. We had an amazing time and this video was really more for fun than anything. We’ll be back - everyone was very nice in person! 🤗
If you asked most British citizens what the tower was called, they would call it big ben.
You are correct that the King primarily lives at Clarence house which is a 2 minute walk from Buckingham Palace, the reason is that the King prefers Clarence house as that is where he had his London residence and offices when he was the Prince of Wales, also Buckingham palace is being renovated so its not practical,
For dropping the H's, it depends where you could from, in Yorkshire we drop a lot of H's especially for places, eg Hull is pronounced 'Ull, Harrogate, is 'Arrogate, Huddersfield is 'Uddersfield.
Its always fun to watch an American try to pronounce Worcestershire, which the British pronounce pronounced 'Wustershire' not Wor-Cester-Shire (the same applies to Worcester except without the shire), Warwick is another one as its pronounced Warrick not War-Wick.
@@Jason_L10 and yet we do and you don’t drop the h for “Herb” - aren’t languages so funny? 😂
@@Jason_L10 I couldn’t even attempt Worcestershire! 😆
Hi Sierra, love your channel and your accent don't worry about saying things wrong because people in the UK, miss pronounce words all the time... I'm from Wrexham Wales UK, I love my Hot Cross Buns hot with butter and jam their delicious🥰
@@tinawilliams-adftina omg you are!!!???? We are obsessed with Welcome to Wrexham and saw the team play Chelsea here in California two weeks ago. Do you watch the show? Do you love it/hate it? Are hooligans real? And I will def have to try the bund with butter and jam! 🤗
@@sierralovesdogs Yes I watch the show, the whole of Wrexham are obsessed with Ryan and Rob what they have done for Wrexham football club and the town is fantastic ..they're amazing 🥰 ... unfortunately we do have a few hooligans here which spoils everything good going on ..... yeah do try butter and jam on the hot crossed buns they are yummy😄
@@tinawilliams-adftina Wow! We’re definitely obsessed and hope to visit! Thanks so much for commenting! You made my day! A real life Wrexhamer!
@@sierralovesdogs No thank you, please keep doing your fantastic channel I love it, speak to you in your next one 💗👍🤚
@@sierralovesdogsThe other ham you mentioned should be Woke ingum, in sound.
Learning is great but saying what you feel and know at that time is perfectly fine. Your passion for learning is enduring.
@@kenhobbs8565 thanks. I appreciate that! I just don’t want to offend anyone!
@@sierralovesdogs no one should be offended. I'm sure it's the same when Brits come to the states. ☺️
Oops. The flag is NOT the Union Jack, unless it is on board a ship (Ships have jackstaffs not flagpoles). It is just the Union Flag.
Please stop spreading this ridiculous lie. It's the Union Jack everywhere it's flown.
This was discussed and agreed in parliament in the 19th century so you have no excuse for this being a new thing. Whoever told you it was only on a ship - go and slap them.
@@janus1363 🤦♀️ another error! So much to learn about England!
According to the flag institute it has been interchangeable since 1902 and an act of parliament in 1908 officially classed it as the Union Jack. It's the Royal Standard she put up that surprised me, not seen a dragon on it before.
@@Rick-me3xr There is no act of Parliament about the Union Flag (or Jack). What the Flag Institute cite is the answernto a Parliamentary Question, but such answers have no legal basis (not least because many answers to PQs being famously wrong!).
There have been several attempts to introduce legislation about the Flag (including to make it an official national flag, which technically it isn't) but all such attempts have failed.
Manchester , Liverpool , Sheffield , Leeds , York , Durham , Newcastle and Carlisle are all great cities in the north of England all are surrounded by lovely countryside and dotted with small towns and villages with plenty of history and great things to do
@@johnhankinson1929 lots to add to the list!
I would also add to that - Norwich & Cambridge among others.
Hot cross buns - definitely toasted. Definitely butter (lots!!!) jam if you want - why not? I used to work with a guy (this is true I promise!) who would squash a Cornish pasty in between his two halves of bun!!!!! Sadly he’s dead now - not sure if there’s a connection.
Most people tend to refer to the entire tower as Bug Ben - but then you take now take great satisfaction in correcting them. You are then halfway to being British!!
Ignore the Tesco stuff, Waitrose is a much better shop. Costs a bit more though that’s why the more skinflint Brits prefer Tesco!
You visited mainly the south - good for you you were in the best bit!
In general, English never stresses a final syllable. The most common vowel sound is the schwa (ə) - the a of Buckingham.
Lovely video, yes most British people call it Big Ben. Many have buns cold. Thanks for visiting, we travel a lot and are always finding out about new countries and make mistakes too. Too many Brits head to Spain and just want to have roast beef and English beer. Thanks
Ha ha - well that's like going to McDonalds in another country! But sometimes people just like what is familiar. Thanks for commenting!
Most British people would not know that the bell tower is called the Elisabeth Tower and would call it Big Ben, some folks are just being pedantic.
@@joemorris5288 I actually got that comment quite a bit!! But that’s what I thought - that the “common name” was likely acceptable.
I would pronounce Buckingham Palace as "Bucking-em Palace. I would pronounce Hampshire as Hamp-sher, soft r, rather than Hamp-shire. Hope this helps. 🙂
We would pronounce Hamp"sher" the same way in California! Thanks for the tip!
In the UK, when I was a kid, hot cross buns were only sold on Good Friday, would have to be specially ordered from the baker and collected early in the morning.
Don't worry about your pronunciation, I'm English and live in Wales, take a look at some Welsh place names.
Big Ben is the name most folk use for the tower. The correct name for the tower is the Elizabeth Tower now, but before it was re named after our late Queen, it was officially called St Stephens Tower. both names are more often than not ignored in favour of Big Ben though.
I'm a Londoner, have been all my life. I completely understood everything you were pointing out. Love the vlog!
@@simonbaker5972 so is London England? 😁
Good that you can see the funny side of being taken to task so much! And at least you are not defensive, and are willing to learn! Despite these comments, your original video showed you had a good time, at least, which is the whole point of travelling after all.
We had a great time. I actually loved that it generated so much feedback - proves to me how much pride residents feel in their country which I appreciate and admire! I'll be back!
I always eat hot cross buns cold. I cut them in half and butter them without toasting. I understood they were called hot cross buns due to the spices in them, not because they had to be eaten hot.
Yep, I'll happily scoff my way through a 4 pack of cold Hot Cross Buns and agree that the 'hot' refers to the fact they are spiced buns.
The lake district( beatrix Potter)lakes in close proximity and countryside ,Yorkshire dales in the North ( james herriot country ) Cornwall in the south West is great for summer beaches so is Devon.
Norfolk is good for the Norfolk broads for boating holidays.
@@philtyke747 need to go back!
As a Brit, I loved watching your recent visit and getting your perspective. You dealt with the nitpickers beautifully here!
PS. You and your friend were correct about Buckingham Palace - King Charles is NOT residing there while there are ongoing renovation works taking place at the palace over the next 5 years... He lives just along The Mall at Clarence House. When he is in residence in London, though, the Royal Standard will still fly from Buckingham Palace even though he's eating and sleeping just down the road. 😀
@@glenp6301 well there you go!!! See I was right! Lol thanks for the extra information!
ST. Stephens Tower, that's the name I grew up with. It's had a few names and it's now Elizabeth Tower.....hmm?
That's what I found on wikipedia... as of the Diamond Jubilee, but what do I know?
St Stephen's Tower is a quite different structure.
My Whippy is a completely different product from Mr Softee, at first Mr Whippy was just a copy of Mr Softee but they didn't copy the recipe, just the idea of a soft serve ice cream, they actually developed their own production process and recipe to make it, and famously Margaret Thatcher (UK ex-Prime Minister) who had a Chemistry degree worked in the lab where they created Mr Whippy ice cream and actually helped develop it, I've had both and they are very different but I would say equally awful, not a fan of either! 🤣 I just much prefer normal ice cream!
When I was growing up in the 1960’s Mr Whippy and Wall’s Ice Cream was considered Number One, Mr Softee was considered and Lyon’s Maid was considered Number Two, and Toni bell Number Three. 😂
Advice: Mr Wippy is not ice cream, but a bunch of chemicals to resemble it. Margarine is not Butter, but trying to resemble it. It’s not worth eating.
@@brahnseer3512 What's Mr Wippy? It's not something I'm aware of?!?
@@QPRTokyo The other 'big' brand of ice cream (in my area… West Middlesex/Surrey) was Nielson's Canadian ice cream, from vans etc.
Although we call the middle traffic light ‘the amber light’ it did help in a traffic safety campaign making drivers aware that they should stop and not go through on a single amber light - “Don’t be an Amber Gambler”. That was over 40 years ago and I still remember it!!
The mark of a great campaign is when you can remember it years later (and not the website password you set up minutes ago! 🤣)
Don't be so hard on yourself, I enjoyed your video, and was glad to see you and your family had a great time here in the UK.
Hi Sierra, just discovered your channel and was laughing that you actually made a video about the mistakes you made on your video of your trip to England. I haven't quite got to 1,000 subscribers yet (plenty of watch hours!) mainly making videos about the island I live on and I regularly make mistakes in them, but try to forget about them! Well done to you! Oh and by the way, you possibly made another small mistake in this video.......but maybe not! I was always led to believe that the Union Flag is only called a Union Jack when used as a jack flag on a ship. However, today this seems to be a matter for debate!
@@thereluctantoutdoorsman I’ll have to do a mistakes part 2 😂😂😂
It’s called the Union Flag. It’s called the Union Jack when it’s on the stern of a ship.
@@mosless1 still so much to learn! 🥰
If you return to the UK, travel to other areas of the country. Scotland is beautiful, Edinburgh is a fab city. Belfast in Northern Ireland is also a great place. As is York in Northern England. Cornwall in the southwest of England is beautiful too. Also visit my home city of Cardiff, its a great place. North and West Wales are beautiful places too. All four countries that make up the United Kingdom have rich and fascinating places to see.
I found this video really refreshing to hear you admit your mistakes, but the one about big Ben, I think most people in the UK call the tower Big Ben even though we know it's the bell.
@@johnevans799 Yes we visited Edinburgh as well (a different video)! i actually enjoyed learning from the comments and will definitely have to come back!
Hi, I thought your video was really good and I watched all of it, some of it twice, and I didn't notice any of the mistakes others mentioned - and I live in England! I did know that Big Ben was the bell and not the clock tower, but to be honest I usually refer to the tower as Big Ben as that's what I thought it was called for years and don't want to change it now! The hot cross buns can actually be eaten cold, I used to take them to work sometimes and have one with a cup of coffee. At home I would put them in a microwave oven for about 20 seconds with some butter on. Or you can put them in a toaster and butter them once they're cooked!. Your pronunciations were absolutely fine 👍🙂 I live in Hampshire, and many locals would pronounce it "Ampshire", but we all know what we mean, and Hampshire is really the correct pronunciation. It's always interesting to see someone from another country comment on our customs and places etc, and you did an excellent job and made it interesting too, so carry on the way you make your videos, you don't need to change anything (plus the fact I'm learning a lot from you for my own videos!😊).
@@pbcreative6388 I just think people are really proud of England and eager to share their knowledge so didn’t any offense and thought it would make a fun follow up video. Good to know about pronouncing Hampshire. Others have said cold buns are acceptable too! Thanks for your comment and encouragement! 😁
@@sierralovesdogs I think most people are proud of their home country, and it's a compliment people want to visit us! Especially in all the rain we have! ☔🙂. I went to Florida one Christmas and the weather was like our summer! I'd love to make a UA-cam video in the USA, I will start saving up! Thank you also for your support, it's good to have some help/advice and encouragement 👍
I asked where the bathroom is, instead of the WC, water closet. Happy Monday.
Could eat a scone cold .Go for a cream tea with scones jam and Devon or cornish cream tea.
@@philtyke747 scone cold better than stone cold 🤪
Next time come to SOUTH WEST England ! Beautiful coastline , beaches , surfing and the glory of Dartmoor !!
Yes, so much more to explore!
Take note some words & names have a letter E that's pronounced A For example Berkshire is pronounced "BArkshire." Derby is pronounced "DArby." Clerk is pronounced "ClArk "
@@jennyk488 so much to remember! 😄
Both Big Ben (the bell) and the Liberty Bell were cast in the same foundry (Whitechapel Bell Foundry). Of course they both cracked but the returns policy didn't include intercontinental travel so Big Ben got fixed. The Liberty Bell is out of its warranty period now anyway.
Googling BRB
Well Hell's Bells! It checks out! That's a fun bit of trivia! Thanks so much for sharing (my exclamation seemed appropriate, don't you think? ) 😜
A must for all Americans visiting the U.K. is understanding the difference between England, Britain and the U.K. England is one of 4 countries that make up the U.K. It's obviously the best of the 4 countries but Wales and Scotland aren't bad. I forget the name of the 4th country but it's on a separate island so doesn't really count. Great Britain (or Britain for short) is the name of the biggest of the two islands that make up the British Isles and contains England (mostly) and Scotland (the tiny bit at the top) and Wales (the tiny bit on the side that looks like a butt cheek). And now I've got to go. I've just started a civil war in the U.K. and I've got a bunker to build.
@@dominicjohn8954 🤣🤣🤣🤣ok this is the funniest comment yet!!!!
Hi,
The 'ham' pronounced h'm or maybe just 'm, is only at the end of a word, so Buckingham, is normally (often) Buckin'm.
We tend to drop vowels in the last syllable of a place, so Shire would be pronounce as you might expect but put it after Hamp, and it becomes Shur or Shr.
No I don't think its offensive, but it does sound wrong.
The worst sounding to me is Birmingham, in US pronunciation.
Jay Foreman has some good videos on English place name pronunciation.
OK this sounds very reasonable and as I'm reading your comment I'm saying it (you can't hear me lol) but I think it sounds British after all. Thank you for taking the time to write it out! 🤗
Fair play to you for doing an apology vlog. Sometimes American pronunciation is the pits. Mostly when an American asks, you tell them and they come straight back with nothing like you told them! At least you properly try!
@@jessgibson4790 😂😂 English accents seem easy but they are hard to do! Maybe we should all watch more Harry Potter!
Next time you are in the UK if you get as far north as County Durham consider visiting the Beamish museum. Try to make it a sunny day and bring walking shoes as much of it is open air.
Fun fact that annoys my sailing friends is that the Union Jack is only called that when it is flying on a boat or ship. All other times it is the Union Flag. Often this is a pub quiz question that catches people out 😂
Well that's another mistake! I'm going to have to do a round two of mistakes from THIS video now! 🤣🤣
Ignore the negative comments.
Love your post, thank you, thank you :-)
Sincere best wishes for your next visit to the UK.
I enjoyed them! People are passionate and I love that! Thanks for your comment! 🤗
definitely go north especially liverpool York and Edinburgh especially liverpool though in fact anywhere from Birmingham up is great
@@patrickmcnamara8575 yes! We did Edinburgh. Check out my Edinburgh if you like. But that’s not England, that’s Scotland, right?
I loved this - but also agree with the many on here that say - ignore the nay sayers - the whole point of your content is that it is genuinely you and how you experience life's adventures. My big takeaway was to definitely heat up those buns!
take no notice of people picking faults i hope you had a great time in england and your welcomed back anytime
A US English muffin is more like a UK crumpet. There are 2 types of muffin in the UK. One is more like a cake with chocolate or fruit and the other is a small round plain 'bread' type thing
@@user-yu9uw8wo9o well heck - now I need to try a crumpet!!!
lmao the pronunciation. fellow american here. watch some british youtube videos! you'll hear the pronunciation. the -ham at the end has more of an -um sound so it sounds like full-um for fulham. bucking-um for buckingham.
i went for the first time in march and had a fabulous time! i didn't know that they'll toast the toastie for you at a pret and so waited until the last couple of days to try it. omg...it's amazing! a ham and cheese toastie. so simple and so good!
Lincoln is a bit of a hidden gem, if you’re travelling to York by train you can get off at Newark (also a great little historic market town) and get another train for about 25 minutes
Waitrose is a great shop, but any supermarket will do if you just want a few items for a snack. TBH hot cross buns aren’t all that amazing unless you get some freshly made by a bakery. Most breakfast type items need some butter or jam to make them palatable.
I really enjoyed your vlog thankyou. You have no need to make any apologies. I do have a fact you may like though? The Union Jack is actually the Union Flag. Its only referred to as the Union Jack when fyling on a ships mast. Keep up the good work.
The people who point out that "Big Ben" is the name of the bell, not the tower, are the same people who are likely to point out that the British flag is simply the "Union Flag". It is only a "Union Jack" when on the bow of a ship.
Thank you for pointing that out...oops!
Shouldn't that be the stern?
@@paigehastings3221 nope. That would be an ensign.
Great vid. I keep seeing tic toks about all the pick pockets. Crazy and seems scary. Too bad. Bad guys rolling up on bikes and yanking your phone and purse outta your hand on the street.
If you look at the colour of traffic lights and compare with a railway signal (preferably a non-LED one). The difference between the "amber" traffic light and the "yellow" railway signal is quite distinct.
Hi , I think the important point is that people watched your vlog, they enjoyed the experience, and were so involved that they wanted to contribute. Brits' can be pedantic, but we are very proud of our nation, and getting the facts right is not an aggressive 'thing', it's just about 'putting it right'. The issue about 'north' and 'south' is akin to a competitive edge between sibling rivals, where the head of the household favours one over the other. Sheffield South Yorkshire.
@@user-man-guinon80 Yes that’s what I took it as: National Pride which I loved! We have the same thing with Northern and Southern California (North is better in case you were wondering).
The majority of Brits call the tower Big Ben and we enjoy the muppets who pipe up saying actually the tower blah blah blah, then we just ignore them and carry on calling it Big Ben, it's been this way for decades, but internet trolls love to bleat on about it, but rest assured, most Brits still call the whole tower/bell etc. Big Ben and we simply couldn't care less, whenever I see some Brit berating a UA-camr about calling it by the towers real name I just roll my eyes, just call it Big Ben!
@@markjones127 oh so this is a common occurrence? Correcting youtubers? Wow! People have a lot of free time! 😂😂
@@sierralovesdogs Every time I see a London Vlog mentioning Big Ben I expect to see a couple of comments about the towers real name, I think some people live for correcting others on the internet! 🤣
@@markjones127yes and the other thing they say is the Union Jack isn’t the correct name for our flag unless it’s on a ship which is actually wrong and not just pedantic.
Oddly Windsor has two railway stations not one, they are not connected to each other but both go off to London from different directions.
Just watched this, thank you for this video, I do think a lot of commenters were being nitpicky here, as far as I know, most brits call it Big Ben even if we do know its the bell and not the tower.
I will say if you are interested, Buckingham palace is actually open, during the summer for visitors to visit the staterooms. If you're interested in our monarchs, its quite fascinating. The King is usually away for the summer. Its a bit expensive but I think if you are interested in that side of things, worth it.
If you do ever visit the staterooms though, don't bring a huge bag or a big backpack, since you'll be told to hold it in your hand or wrist, since it gets super busy. When I visited, I saw other visitors make this mistake and have to carry around huge bags with them.
I also heard that its best to book for early morning or one of the later time slots
But yeah, you book tickets for it and other places on their website, for the staterooms specifically, only in the summer though :)
Hot cross buns are eaten differently in different places. The Scottish tend to favour jam in some areas, whereas where I was born they slice them and toast them and then use a very small amount of butter. Some use more butter like you would making a sandwhich but where I come from about 1/4 that amount is right. As for dropping the A in place names it depends on the place. EG Birmingham is more pronounced Birmingum or Birmingam dependant on accent. Then there are places like Tuppenhow and you have to know how to say that as it is not even close to the spelling and is pronounced tra-penny. With the vowel shift and Victorians changing names all over the place it is a bit of a pain.
Seems like there were an awful lot of people starting their comment with 'I think you'll find...' - which happens. It is true that the south east is a bit of a different world from other parts. But so is every other part. I imagine much of that had to do with the 'north/south divide'. Everybody is absolutely certain they know where the boundary is.
@@alexfletcher5192 we have the same thing in Northern / Southern California! I even did a school report on it!
Hi Sierrra, with the king bit at the palace, yes the royal standard is on show, but instead of two guards that you saw, their is usually 4 guards when the king is in the palace, the palace, is really used as an office, nice one at that. the king has gone through some health issues, and like his time with the queen, he also loves, the quiet, nature, as he is big on all things saving the planet
I often eat hot cross buns cold, they have to be extra fruity though. They are undoubtedly better hot and buttered but sometimes there's no toaster around.
No-one else shared your personal experience, the critics are prolly hampered by inadequacy, you gave it a shot, I for one from these islands respect your efforts and sincerely hope you return to make much more reaction content about these islands, never apologise to a critic that you know could never be you or do what you do. You keep on, ya got it, just be you an do a little research. Bon chance!
I'm British born and bred (from London) and I and my family sometimes have hot cross buns (or current buns without the cross) cold. Always sliced in 2 with butter though. My rule of thumb is if they're fresh they're fine cold but once they start to go stale then they need to be toasted.
I don't find the mispronunciations of place names offensive. It can definitely be funny hearing how Gloucester and Cirencester (and many, many others) get pronounced by some people. Even British people get some pronunciations wrong though if they don't hear how some of the difficult place names should be pronounced. There even seems to be some discrepancy about how to pronounce Shrewsbury amongst British people!
I've seen other people mention this but it's true, a lot of British people call the the clock tower Big Ben despite knowing it's wrong. It's pedantry to correct people about it at this point.
I think some folk just like to correct people to make themselves feel more knowledgeable or just like being pedantic. The light colour is ridiculous as we all know what you mean, I’m 48 and have always called it Big Ben and never heard anyone call it any other names. It’s also ok you just visited the places you did especially if your staying with someone, as to fully appreciate everything in that area you did the right thing. But the main thing is you enjoyed yourself and thanks for coming over you visit our country.
If you did decide to come over again I’d definitely recommend trying to stay near the middle of the country like around Sheffield or Leeds. Because there lots of day trips you can do to other places like York and your not to far from Whitby a beautiful seaside town.also the countryside is incredible around the Yorkshire area.
As a Beatles fan I'm quite bothered that I've never made it to Liverpool too! That's high on my list! And we have distant relatives in Dover so that's another one! It is hard though because we want to soak up time with our friends so that's always been a priority when we've come. Appreciate your kindness - I thought it was mostly humorous that people were so passionate in their accuracies! 🤗
HAM as at the end of a placename is really very easy to say after practice, as in HM equals BuckingHM just no a pronounced, try saying HMPH (a bit like humf) as if your thinking aloud when pondering on something.
Cold hot cross buns - you certainly can eat them room temperature, it won't kill you but just be aware you are not eating it at it's best. Cut it in half, toast it, spread butter then jam on it. But you need a kitchen with a grill for that.
Hot Cross buns used to be only available at the Easter weekend hence the cross on them, I prefer them not only hot but a bit burnt too with runny butter. Waitrose stores are fine but tend to be a bit more expensive than others. The clock tower has had many official names 'St.'Stephen' 'Elizabeth' etc but Everyone calls it Big Ben so you were actually right...ask a Londoner where the 'Elizabeth Tower' was and they probably would not know what you were talking about LOL
H.A.M at the start, such as in Hampshire, is 99.9% pronounced as ham, but when it is at the end, such as in Buckingham, or Notingham we drop both the H and A, so it sounds like "um". so we'd say Noting-um, but to confuse you even more we'd drop the G,H & M so we'd say Buckin-um, usually, though some would still use the g and say "Bucking", instead of "Buckin".
Though I was born in East Anglia & spent holidays etc up there I've lived in and around East & N.E. London most of my life and place names are pronounced pretty much how they're spelt, with a couple of exceptions: Dagenham is usually said as Dagnum & Rainham as Rainum and Stratford is Stratfud...etc Newham is pronounced as Newum, but East & West Ham is still Ham. It gets even more complicated the farther out of London you go.
You have a great attitude towards being corrected. I love how you're addressing these with a smile on your face. Don't take it personally. The English LOVE correcting Americans on these kinds of things. The only thing they like more than correcting Americans is pissing off the French.
As an example of how much the English love to piss off the French, its no mere coincidence that the London end of the railway that goes from Paris to London via the Channel Tunnel, terminates at Waterloo Station.
We don't say mall,it's a shopping center
@@michaelmccann-5958 🤦♀️ need to make another video!
With Center spelt Centre.
@@stevealharris6669 ahhh yes like theatre!!!
I have to admit the tower name change passed me by to. Plus were a small country life changes every 20 miles or so from dialect and language styles. To attitude and lifestyles. London is like most big cities and not really representative of the country or its people. It has history and all that stuff but its like any tourist area expensive compared to elsewhere.
I live just north of Cambridge and basically a commuter hub for London which is 42 mins away by train.
"How Do you like your Hot Cross Buns?" Left on the Supermarket shelves suits me, they are vile, even the smell makes me feel sick.
@@luvstellauk 😂😂😂I feel like you are in the minority on this one!
The King and Queen live at Clarence House just down the Mall.
@@isabellajones-hyde9194 so not at Buckingham then?
@@sierralovesdogs No they doing up the Palace at the moment