Topic: Cultural Quirks

[Johnny Slick]

Yeah. Irn-Bru. Didn't have anything like it till these god awful energy sodas started trending in the states not too many years ago.

I'd be game for a cultural exchange through the post. Say, like some yellow mustard for some Vegemite (I seem to remember a lack of yellow mustard in Oz. I could be wrong on that). Vegemite and Marmite; nothing like it hear. Very alien.

Also, here, Doctor Who is almost completely unheard of, beyond nerdish circles. Quite nearly 100% of the populace have never heard of it (just to make up a percent that is very likely accurate). That's always been odd to me.

I think that although it tastes totally different, Irn-Bru is analogous to root beer: a sugary drink the locals enjoy a lot but which tastes like medicine to everyone else.

I'm ashamed to admit that when I went to Cardiff a couple years ago, when I said I was doing so (in the midst of a longer trip to London) my London-based friends said "oh, you're a Torchwood fan then?". Apparently it's filmed there. I had no idea. 

[WC]

I've heard that people outside of the US don't "get" root beer.

They don't "get it" because they're not aware of the root beer float potential of it.

Now, why we called root beer floats "brown cows" in Chicago when I was a kid is beyond me 

Even I knew Torchwood was filmed in Cardiff 

[Tatyana]

I was thinking earlier today as I was putting pickled beetroot onto my veggie burger (a common thing in NZ)

Very common in Aus as well. (Im assuming its pickled because its definitely not raw, although Ive only heard it called simply beetroot). McDonalds and Hungry Jack's (the name for Burger King here) over here both have burgers with beetroot in them.

I have only been to Aus once, but I have spent about a year in total in New Zealand.


I personally think that NZ has the best burgers I have ever tried, and the two major chains, Burger Wisconsin and Burger Fuel. MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

All of the burgers are quite unique and unusual as well.

[Tatyana]

Australia strangely has exceptionally good Espresso based coffee when compared to the rest of the world. I’ve learnt when travelling overseas to switch to Tea as the coffee is undrinkable in most places.

It compensates for our terrible food at least.

Both NZ and Aus have absolutely fantastic coffee.

I think the only other place you can have such consistently great coffee is Italy and France.

[Citizen Skeptic]

Cuba and Brasil have good coffee. I like my coffee like I like my liquor - strong shots.

[Zytheran]

Australia strangely has exceptionally good Espresso based coffee when compared to the rest of the world. I’ve learnt when travelling overseas to switch to Tea as the coffee is undrinkable in most places.

It compensates for our terrible food at least.

Large immigration from Italy to Australia post WW2 I think would be the reason. I live in an heavily Italian based suburb and every coffee shop has awesome coffee. All have the best machines and some are starting to roast their own beans on site. It's getting rather silly but the competition and trendiness over the the last 20 years has done wonders. The latest in-thing for domestic kitchens is your own commercial grade expresso machine, at a cost of many thousands of dollars. For home use...    Seriously, a great coffee is great however...

[Johnny Slick]

I've heard that people outside of the US don't "get" root beer.

They don't "get it" because they're not aware of the root beer float potential of it.

Now, why we called root beer floats "brown cows" in Chicago when I was a kid is beyond me 

Even I knew Torchwood was filmed in Cardiff 

TAKE YOUR BIG BLACK COW AND GET OUT OF HERE

Steely Dan - Black Cow (Song & Lyrics)

[WC]

In Utah, they call green jello with marshmallows and grated carrots a "salad".

They don't pronounce the letter T if it falls in the middle of a multi syllable word, like the city Layton is pronounced "Lay 'ehn", and sometimes the letter N gets that "eh" shift, like mountain becoming "mou 'ehn". We call this U-bonics. A lot of quirks in the Mormon accent; the lazy man's western drawl.

[Johnny Slick]

Most people on the West Coast do that glottal stop in place of the t with words like "mountain" and "button", to be fair. I know that's how I say the word. OTOH they believe in golden discs and magical underwear, so that counts as a weird cultural quirk I think.

[WC]

Yeah, I know what you're saying. It's the slow speed in Mormon Utahans' pronunciations that really emphasizes the lack of Ts or Ns (also the maddening slow rate at which they speak). Also, words like "fill" are pronounced "feel".

[Demosthenes]

Large immigration from Italy to Australia post WW2 I think would be the reason. I live in an heavily Italian based suburb and every coffee shop has awesome coffee. All have the best machines and some are starting to roast their own beans on site. It's getting rather silly but the competition and trendiness over the the last 20 years has done wonders. The latest in-thing for domestic kitchens is your own commercial grade expresso machine, at a cost of many thousands of dollars. For home use...    Seriously, a great coffee is great however...

The large Italian immigration was definitely the catalyst, although I think its adoption by non Italians and competition focusing on quality is unique.

My local coffee shop’s machine is a customized 4 Group Synesso Hydra that cost a very reasonable $36,000.
Makes me feel like I’m getting a bargain when I pay $3.80 for a coffee, which is nice.

[arthwollipot]

In Utah, they call green jello with marshmallows and grated carrots a "salad".

They don't pronounce the letter T if it falls in the middle of a multi syllable word, like the city Layton is pronounced "Lay 'ehn", and sometimes the letter N gets that "eh" shift, like mountain becoming "mou 'ehn". We call this U-bonics. A lot of quirks in the Mormon accent; the lazy man's western drawl.

Dr Steve Novella has this quirk as well.

[smithkhome]

I was thinking earlier today as I was putting pickled beetroot onto my veggie burger (a common thing in NZ)

Very common in Aus as well. (Im assuming its pickled because its definitely not raw, although Ive only heard it called simply beetroot). McDonalds and Hungry Jack's (the name for Burger King here) over here both have burgers with beetroot in them.

I have only been to Aus once, but I have spent about a year in total in New Zealand.


I personally think that NZ has the best burgers I have ever tried, and the two major chains, Burger Wisconsin and Burger Fuel. MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

All of the burgers are quite unique and unusual as well.

Burger Wisconsin? Did that chain deliberately use the US state Wisconsin in their name? Cute.

[mindme]

Canadians like to put gravy and cheese curds on their french fries.

[Kayto]

U.S.A.

Guns (While there are other countries that have a lot of guns, U.S. seems to have a "love-affair" with them.)

Cars (Same as above. Also cars are often status symbols and fashion statements.)

Peanut Butter

"Over-the-top" action scenes in movies.

ADVERTISING!!!

Canada

Curling

Canadian Bacon