Moving to the UK (Lakenheath) from the US (with my horse?)

[EventingMum]

I think as long as you are prepared to laugh at language misunderstandings you'll be fine. My cousins from the USA and I always end up giggling at different pronunciations eg tomato, parmesan, oregano etc and things like zucchini/courgette and fortnight (I've just realised that makes me sound like we mainly talk about food!). Tipping is generally expected on bills for eating out and hairdressers but 10% is acceptable.

 

[InklePickle]

Working in hospitality, tipping is Always required as us pub/restaurant staff are woefully under payed and tips make a huge difference to our shifts. It's miserable English people (I'm English) that don't tip mainly and it's really frustrating tbh. You will also find far fewer 'Karens' over here, But they are still her none the less

 

[InklePickle]

Tipping, definitely if a good job done at hairdressers.
Usually a service charge is added at most eating out places (check the bill or - even on menu before ordering). If no service charge then yes, leave a tip.
Yes tip low end paid staff in hotels.
Otherwise no need to tip anywhere else at all.

Little local shops sometimes have a local charity collection box near the till, people often drop in their coinage change into these.

Pub staff appreciate tips as we too are low paid and work out nuts off especially atm with table service

 

[teapot]

Yup, def tip in pubs, high street chains tend to ask for a service charge which the poor staff never see.

 

[SibeliusMB]

Glad you're settling in!

You'll soon realise Brits wear anything and everything to do their shopping in! Onesies, riding kit, suit...

MY PEOPLE!

One my second day out of prison/quarantine, I went out to visit the yard and have lunch at that local pub. As I sat there in the sunshine, eating my fish and chips (I'm from New England, I was raised on fish and chips!), two liveries trotted on their way back to the yard. I was grinning ear to ear and thinking to myself, "This will do!"

The incident ycbm mentioned is this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-56326406 Was a base further west than you are at, but it's not done much for local relations.

I am embarrassed and angered reading that. How awful for the child and his family. I seriously wonder who this woman is and what "job" her husband has, because it's been driven into us (military) that there is no diplomatic immunity. If we break the law or cause an accident, we will face the local justice system if the British authorities want to pursue it (if not, it defaults to UCMJ actions). This was the same when I was in Japan as well. We had several overly eager young airmen who drove after having drinks (legal limit is less than half of what it is here or in the US), and sat in Okinawan jails for 23 days, without ever being charged with anything. Because that's what the local authorities did. And we sure weren't going to argue with that. Make me upset that this woman just left and is not facing what she did.

 

[SibeliusMB]

Noted on the tipping, thank you all for the clarification!

 

[ycbm]

Shall we start the word misunderstandings? Though with US TV being so popular there are fewer than there used to be.

An eraser in the UK is a rubber, a rubber is not a condom.

Chips are crisps. Thicker cut fries are chips. Fries are very thin cut chips, also called French fries.

 

[shortstuff99]

Also (depending on where you are from in the USA this may not apply) please say route like root and not rowt as people may not understand you ?. Don't panic at roundabouts, the Americans from the airbase near me used to nearly kill me everytime from their roundabout confusion.

 

[Caol Ila]

1. Americans smile too much and it's really obvious
2. Don't wear super casual clothing/trainers out to shop or to dinner
3. Apparently the two-fingered "peace sign" in the US means something totally different here
4. The RAF Commander, who is cool as sh!t and I want to ask a thousand questions to, was kind enough to explain pronunciation of several local towns so we don't look like complete idiots, haha
5. Tipping not required in most circumstances

1. Yeah, they do. It seems really weird when you go back for a visit.
2. Cannot remember the last time I wore something that wasn't riding trousers or track bottoms (riding pants and sweatpants to you.... pants here means underwear..repeat this mantra endlessly.... this will cause extreme bafflement/amusement). I think I might own some jeans but I'm not sure anymore. People wear whatever, at least in Scotland.
3. Yeah, it does.
4. Yeah, try Milngavie (pronounced Mull-guy). Try putting the wrong fuel in your car in Milngavie and talking to some dude in a call center in Essex. My post town at one point was Lesmahagow (Les-ma-HAY-go). It's entertaining when you're on the phone to your bank or car insurance.
5. You tip about 10% at a restaurant, but you generally don't tip if you're only buying drinks at the pub, using a taxi, etc. Leaving a pound on the bar after you've bought a pint is definitely not a thing.

I 'code switch.' A lot. I'll swap between British/Scottish English and American English in the same sentence.

 

[Zuzan]

I will never forget when I went to stay in nice mid West suburban family as a kind of exchange when I was 17 asking for a rubber ................

 

[ycbm]

I always tip taxis, I know a lot of people who do.

 

[SibeliusMB]

Another benefit of being a native New Englander...

Very familiar with roundabouts. They're not at nearly every junction like here, but they are quite common in most New England states. We always hated the tourist season because the Virginians (or literally anyone outside NE) were sure to try to kill you in the roundabouts. Even when you saw it coming.

They recently installed a roundabout in Kentucky...me, watching all the locals trying to work that one out:

Route...check! I never understood the "rowt" pronunciation.

 

[Caol Ila]

Unless New England has changed from my uni days, you will find that the multilane roundabout of death (sometimes, but not always, with traffic lights) where people just make up which lane they drive in has no equivalent in the US. The one outside of Durham city scared the sh1t out of me when I first moved here.

 

[Caol Ila]

As an aside to my previous post,"pants" also means rubbish, or sh1t. Like, "the weather is pants."

 

[ycbm]

Though hot pants aren't underwear, they are very small shorts. ?

 

[SibeliusMB]

Unless New England has changed from my uni days, you will find that the multilane roundabout of death (sometimes, but not always, with traffic lights) where people just make up which lane they drive in has no equivalent in the US. The one outside of Durham city scared the sh1t out of me when I first moved here.

NH had a few larger ones, everyone drove too fast in them. We called the local, larger traffic circle/rotary (funny enough, also in Durham) the "speedway." Was fun when the Virginians would get in there and stop in the middle of it because they thought they had to yield to inbound traffic. My favorite. The large ones are traffic circles, lots of smaller ones (referred to as roundabouts in NE) have been installed to replace intersections and traffic lights.

I thought you were in MA? The number one rule about driving in MA, especially Boston, is there are no rules! At least they were always predictable in their unpredictability.

Kentuckians though....The most bipolar drivers I've ever seen. WTF.

 

[TPO]

Where I live is quite horsey so the supermarket always has people in riding/yard clothes. It seems to be quite a posh/snobby area and no one blinks at the horsey attire

Tipping is normal for hairdressers (generally for the juniors doing the hair washing and cleaning); meals out leave cash on the table or add it to the bill, sometimes theres a tip jar at the till; tip bar staff if buying a round at the bar, generally just 50p-£1 if you're going to be there a while and buying lots of rounds, if you have opened a tab bung a tip on at the end; tip taxi drivers, generally it's a "keep the change" situ; tip delivery drivers if getting take away delivered.

Follow Very British Problems on twitter/insta/facebook and you'll be up to speed in no time!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

If you want to have some roundabout fun, have a trip to England and try the magic roundabout in Hemel Hempstead. It is six small roundabouts arranged in a circle (there maybe other similar ones that I don't know about).

 

[teapot]

Biscuits are our staple too, the McVitites choc digestives do not require gravy and are eaten in mulitples of ten, especially on yards.

 

[Caol Ila]

I asked English OH what one does in a magic roundabout. He said, "Sh1t yourself, put your foot down, and hope for the best."

Sibelius, that's Durham, England, not Durham, NC. Very confusing! I was at uni in Western Mass, which had some big 'rotaries,' while CO has a fair few mini-roundabouts. None are as traumatizing as the ones here.

 

[SibeliusMB]

Where I live is quite horsey so the supermarket always has people in riding/yard clothes. It seems to be quite a posh/snobby area and no one blinks at the horsey attire

Tipping is normal for hairdressers (generally for the juniors doing the hair washing and cleaning); meals out leave cash on the table or add it to the bill, sometimes theres a tip jar at the till; tip bar staff if buying a round at the bar, generally just 50p-£1 if you're going to be there a while and buying lots of rounds, if you have opened a tab bung a tip on at the end; tip taxi drivers, generally it's a "keep the change" situ; tip delivery drivers if getting take away delivered.

Follow Very British Problems on twitter/insta/facebook and you'll be up to speed in no time!

That's it...I'm unlearning everything this lady told me earlier and I'm just going to ask you guys. Because the only thing they said about tipping was "sure, for a good job at the hair dresser. Never leave money on the table that's RUDE." In sincerely appreciate the correction because I just don't want to be an a$$hole!

@Meowy Catkin whaaaaaat! I want to meet the traffic engineer who came up with that. Wow!

 

[SibeliusMB]

I asked English OH what one does in a magic roundabout. He said, "Sh1t yourself, put your foot down, and hope for the best."

Sibelius, that's Durham, England, not Durham, NC. Very confusing! I was at uni in Western Mass, which had some big 'rotaries,' while CO has a fair few mini-roundabouts. None are as traumatizing as the ones here.

I knew you were talking about Durham, England. I was referring to Durham, New Hampshire, not NC. Not sure if roundabouts are even a thing in NC.

 

[teapot]

If you want to have some roundabout fun, have a trip to England and try the magic roundabout in Hemel Hempstead. It is six small roundabouts arranged in a circle (there maybe other similar ones that I don't know about).

There's one in Swindon too.

OP - don't ever go to Swindon. It'll make you want to die, once you get off the magic roundabout that is.

 

[InklePickle]

1. You tip about 10% at a restaurant, but you generally don't tip if you're only buying drinks at the pub, using a taxi, etc. Leaving a pound on the bar after you've bought a pint is definitely not a thing

This is the problem!!!! It most certainly IS a thing and should be done far more often than it is. Leaving money on the table is not at all rude. Some places put tips in a jar and then devide it at at the end of the week, others just let who ever receives the tip keep it and these days is restaurants/hotels with a service charge it does get added to the pay of the servers at the end of the month.

 

[Caol Ila]

OH has reminded me that you can't make a left on red (equivalent of a right in the US!), ever, in the UK. In the US, that's legal in some states but not in others.

 

[SibeliusMB]

The magic roundabout is starting to make sense to me, but only after studying the aerial view for 10 minutes. I can't imagine rolling up to that with no warning.

 

[shortstuff99]

This is the roundabout of doom (in Cambridge)

 

[Meowy Catkin]

The magic roundabout is starting to make sense to me, but only after studying the aerial view for 10 minutes. I can't imagine rolling up to that with no warning.

I found that it works fine if you just take each small roundabout individually and don't panic.

That one looks difficult Shortstuff. *eeek*

 

[InklePickle]

Sorry about ranting about tipping, can you tell I have worked in hospitality for years? ? Even saying 'keep the change' works well as can really turn a horrible shift into a good one ?

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Another benefit of being a native New Englander...

Very familiar with roundabouts. They're not at nearly every junction like here, but they are quite common in most New England states. We always hated the tourist season because the Virginians (or literally anyone outside NE) were sure to try to kill you in the roundabouts. Even when you saw it coming.

They recently installed a roundabout in Kentucky...me, watching all the locals trying to work that one out:

Route...check! I never understood the "rowt" pronunciation.

Wait till you use a magic roundabout, those things are confusing to even the pro UK drivers ?
This one is near me and I used to use it alot for work. My mum had her second driving lesson on it.... You can guess how worried she was ?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Hemel_Hempstead)

Also don't be upset if people lock eyes then suddenly look down and skitter away, it's a self preservation thing so we don't have to feel like we need to stop and say hi.

Sarcasm is imbued in our language, we take the pee out of everything.

Football is big, you guys call it soccer.
Rugby is big, you guys call it football and Wear lots of body armer for protection.

The m25 is nicknamed the car park. Avoid where ever you can.