Things I've had to explain about the U.S.

[VW2024 0]

What about the measuring???

Here You have to use ºF and many countries use ºC

ºC = ºF – 32 x 0556 or

ºF = ºC x 1,8 + 32

so if you use celsius 30ºC is 86ºF

----

Kg Vs Pouns

if you weight 58Kg , you weight in lbs is 127.8

---

meters vs feet

if you height is 1.65m , you are 5.41 ft

---

kilometers vs miles

so if the speed is 60mi, in km is 96.56km

and that is just starting... there's also inches / cm, grams /ounces, ml/oz, liters/gallons

[Ladylethal 12]

That will be an issue for me. Clothe sizes, shoe sizes (well, I actually know that one), temperature, speed, etc.

[thndrdancr 0]

I do love this thread, so fun.

My hubby is taking GED classes, and we were working on the reading comprehension one. Well, it was going over punctuation, which he already knew, but I was making darn sure of it. Anyhow, we went over comma's, question marks, exclamation points, then we came to what I grew up in the United States calling a period.

Well we came to that one, and he said "full stop". I had bandied the "period" term about in various ways since he has been here, but didnt have a clue he didnt know what it meant when it came to punctuation! lol I asked "you call them full stops?" He replies "yes", I asked, you never grew up calling them anything else? "no"...I then replied...the light going on...."ohhhhhh. In our country we call them periods". He..with perfectly straight face..says..."I thought periods were something else!". I was dying...cuz I know when I was showing him how to use the computer, and he needed to do a dot.com...I kept using the term ..period..so lookin back no WONDER he acted confused...

[ChristinaM 0]

We have full stops in the UK too

I love some of the pronounciations. It leads to some explaining on both sides at times...

Oregano, the herb as an example:

"orra-gah-noe" - UK

"orr-ray-ganoe" - US

[germangel 0]

oh yes, the temperature and size thing.

When someone asks me how tall I am I'm always sitting there going "one inch is appr. 2.5 cm so I am...." and the temperature, especially when cooking is getting me too. But my math got better, at least with x1.8 +32

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

My nickname was Oraygano with some UK friends because they found it so funny.

Do you realize how many seperations of our common language occur in the herb garden (or should I say erb garden?) and vegetable patch?

Baysil=bazzill

oraygano-orrygano

erbs=herbs

cilantro=coriander

arugula=rocket

etc, etc, etc

[anya-D 8]

I always made mistake saying the words that start with "h" like "herb" that doent have the "h" sound when you say it... i'd say "herb" as is and everybody have no clue what i'm saying. ;p

and yea.. have no clue about miles and lbs , yards, acre and sq feet (we r looking for a new house for us so have to deal with thouse things and I have a hard time imagine it.)

ahh.. one questio.. what is the different between shives and green onion?

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

chives are a herb, I mean erb -- they are usually thinner than green onion (or scallions, or spring onion for UK types), which is the onion before it matures. They have a similar flavor but I guess a green onion is a bit more sharp.

[pj1959us 0]

cilantro=coriander

In the US (at least around here) we say both....Cilantro is the plant and leaves of the "erb" while the seeds (dried and used as a spice) are called Coriander.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Yes -- in the UK, coriander is leaf and seed.

[Heracles 417]

Radacos, I dont know about you, or about Romania, but i do know this, Jordan is a very well developed country, and they do study american history etc....i know in high school in chicago, i studied every darn country in this world.....and by the way...isnt this what this thread is about....laughing about the things our SO needed to get explained to them.....yes it is....so go somewhere alright!!!!!!

Hey, In Australia I didn't study anything about the US apart from Columbus who discovered it.

[Beisbol101 0]

Hee hee...I couldn't pass this post up without a link to Victor Borge: http://www.kor.dk/borge/b-mus-1.htm go down the page about halfway to "Punctuation"

I do love this thread, so fun.

My hubby is taking GED classes, and we were working on the reading comprehension one. Well, it was going over punctuation, which he already knew, but I was making darn sure of it. Anyhow, we went over comma's, question marks, exclamation points, then we came to what I grew up in the United States calling a period.

Well we came to that one, and he said "full stop". I had bandied the "period" term about in various ways since he has been here, but didnt have a clue he didnt know what it meant when it came to punctuation! lol I asked "you call them full stops?" He replies "yes", I asked, you never grew up calling them anything else? "no"...I then replied...the light going on...."ohhhhhh. In our country we call them periods". He..with perfectly straight face..says..."I thought periods were something else!". I was dying...cuz I know when I was showing him how to use the computer, and he needed to do a dot.com...I kept using the term ..period..so lookin back no WONDER he acted confused...

[Cali Gal CPA 0]

I'm nearing the end of my day here at work and found myself daydreaming about some of the interesting things I've had to explain to Marlene (Philippines) about the U.S.

1. Deciduous trees. Why we don't cut them down when the leaves all fall off.

2. annual vs. perinneal flowers ... and why we can't put most of them outside in Oklahoma in February.

3. The government actually refunding overpaid taxes.

4. Why manicures are $25 - $35 instead of $4

5. Same reason why the taxi is $25 instead of $1

6. Same reason why a 60 minute massage is $125 instead of $15

7. Distances ... we drove to see my mother .... it was 700 miles but just in the next state.

..... many many more but to difficult to put into a bullet

I'm sure there will be many more ....

hello, not to pick on you or anything...but if your wife-to-be went to school and finished college (and even if she didn't...she watched enough movies/tv and/or read books/newpapers/magazines)...you don't really need to explain to her the falling leaves or how the government of the US works. as i can remember, it was covered in my Science and World History/Government classes...in highschool.

also, it's common knowledge that everything in the US is ten times more expensive than the Philippines. for this reason, when we go back and visit...we try to do all the pampering we can get for cheaper (massage, hair done and other spa stuff)...well...at least, i do.

maybe this approach will work...answer whatever questions she has about life in the US without being condescending. (i think she'll be asking about the English slang usage and other "cultural" stuff...like...people you don't know will say HI to you just to say HI.) you'll be surprised on how much Filipinos know about the US. it's not surprising because no matter how much we want the US out of our country...we so want a lot of things american.

so yeah...in a nutshell. this is the least of your worries.

Actually these ARE the things she has asked about.

I just thought I'd add a couple of comments. My wife is a college graduate and has worked for international companies for most of her adult life. She is very bright and witty, but she had some rather endearing questions. Perhaps you were just condescending to me because you are such a young pup that you wouldn't understand the situation when those much older than yourself attended school there. Marlene has told me stories about what it was like going to school during the Marcos martial law era and I'm surprised they were able to concentrate a many nuances of life in other countries.

I just hope mychelle didn't mean to be condescending. As a college graduate, with a degree in Economics from UP and 5 year work experience with international companies before coming here, I still had to ask a number of questions about a lot of things and how stuff work in the US. Knowing is different from actually living the lifestyle, although there is sufficient information out there about the US from the media and stories from the people who have been here, nothing compares to physically being here and living in a culture so different from what we were accustomed to.

I'm still amazed by simple things like autumn, the sight of falling leaves and changing of colors, discussions about the government (which is btw bedtimes stories too ) social system, wide roads, speed limits, driving and online shopping/banking, etc. Lack of knowledge about the US is not tantamount to lack of education, void of exposure maybe a factor, but a college degree doesn't guarantee sufficient knowledge about how the US works.

Just my 2 cents.

[Fischkoepfin 1]

Without attempting to turn this into a political threat, I'm always surprised at the the way in which the term "liberal" is employed as the opposite of "conservative." Where I'm from "liberal" refers to someone who is into free and unregulated markets and against too much state involvement, sort of like libertarians in the US. I'm still looking for an explanation why there is this difference in terminology...

Edited April 20, 2006 by Fischkoepfin

[patricks 0]

Why can a person DIE for their country @ 18 yrs old, but can't drink a legal beer until 21?

The first thing my wife said is, where are the people?

(Asian cultures are very sociable on the streets and sidewalks)

Plus, my wife sometimes points out when people are "insincere" or "others who make personal remarks but they don't really mean it", especially from workalcoholic overachievers that know everything.