UK/USA Differences/Similarities

[Super Segale]

I’ve never been to the UK or outside of America, but to any user who is either from the UK or who knows about it, what are some of the ways it differs from the USA? What are ways the two nations are alike, also?

 

[Specific Neptune]

Oune majour diffeureunce is our louve of the letteur U

 

[Moldomré]

I’ve never been to the UK or outside of America, but to any user who is either from the UK or who knows about it, what are some of the ways it differs from the USA? What are ways the two nations are alike, also?

What is "it"? Mario games in general? Well, I know that one thing Kamek says in a MP game is considered a swear word in UK (I think I'm remembering this right), so they had that changed.

Also, not related to the UK, but Japanese versions of any game tend to be more risque or gory. For example, in PM:TTYD, there is a house with blood and a Toad chalk outline on the ground in the Japanese version.

 

[Koops]

That word in MP8 was spastic.

My version of the game has no problem showing that.

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

What is "it"? Mario games in general? Well, I know that one thing Kamek says in a MP game is considered a swear word in UK (I think I'm remembering this right), so they had that changed.

It's not really a "swear" as it's more of a slur (like replace "spastic" with "retarded" and that's a pretty accurate for the UK equivalent). On the other hand, Chunky's line in the DK rap has "hell", which I guess is milder (Rare, DK64's developer) is a British company).

The British also like to separate "percent" into two words and they like substituting "z" for "s" (e.g. organise, recognise, realise)

 

[winstein]

I am fascinated by British slang, because I thought they sound very authentic and charming. Some examples include "knackered" (tired), "mate" (friend), "miffed" (irked), "snog" (to make out), and for some reason, I like "up the stick" (pregnant). Also, "bomb" means differently between UK and US, where it's something positive in the UK but the opposite for US.

Oh, and don't forget Dennis the Menace! The UK and US versions are very different that debuted in the same month and year (US is a bit older though his in-universe age is younger).

Thank you for reading.

 

[YoshiFlutterJump]

That word in MP8 was spastic.

My version of the game has no problem showing that.

In the American version, he just says "Let me use my magic to make this all a little more interesting..." That's just a difference between the UK version and other European versions.

 

[Specific Neptune]

The British also like to separate "percent" into two words

wait do we?

 

[BBQ Turtle]

The British also like to separate "percent" into two words

wait do we?

I've seen it done in a few places, but I don't think it's hugely common. It probably comes from the fact it is derived from two words, but it's most commonly written as one. Except my spell checker currently thinks it should be two. It's one word in my maths textbooks.

 

[Magikrazy]

one big difference is the size, you could fit about 39 of the united kingdom into the united states

 

[Shyghoul]

only one of them has mass shootings every month

 

[LeftyGreenMario]

and over 300 shootings this year which is terribly close to one shooting a day


also people in the us think uk/great britain/england are the same thing and people in the uk think uk/great britain/england are all different

 

[Specific Neptune]

england is the part that's not including scotland, wales and northern ireland

great britain is the part that's not including northern ireland (basically the name of the mainland)

uk is the part that includes all of them

that's why the uk's full title is "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"



...that's just in case people didn't know of course

also an addendum: the title "the british isles" refers to britain and ireland and any extra territories in that area

 

[fantanoice]

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

 

[winstein]

This is probably an obvious difference, but it didn't occur to me until now:

Z

Thank you for reading.

 

[Specific Neptune]

​

Am I missing something here? Star Fox is still called Star Fox over here.

EDIT:

Star Fox 64,[a] known in Australia and Europe as Lylat Wars

W H A T​

 

[fantanoice]

Yeah and the SNES game was called Star Wing not Star Fox.

 

[Plumber]

Well for starters, the UK has the Queen, while the USA has a presidential system. The UK's parliamentary system of governance is basically path-dependency Calvinball, while the USA is more formalized (although Trump is breaking a lot of norms.)

I've only been to England and Scotland, but have many friends who live there. It's easier to make generalizations about the UK than the USA, because of the vast population and size differences. The USA is more comparable to other continental countries like India, China, Brazil, Australia, or Russia. But language is still key.

Honestly, they're pretty similar in a lot of ways. Narcissism of the small differences plays things up. English people are much more shy than American people, but Scottish people are less shy.

Americans know how to say jalapeño in Spanish (Brits say JA-LA-PEE-NO), while Brits say croissant in French. Those are the two secondary languages taught in each country. Polish is the second most spoken language in the UK, and Poles are often demonized by UK racists in the same way Mexican Americans are; people tend to look down on low-wage laborers. Poles are treated much better in the USA, and Mexicans are treated much better in the UK. Asian usually means Eastern Asian in the USA (awkward for South Asians), but South Asian in the UK.

There's a European saying that Americans "live to work, not work to live." England is closer to the USA than Europe in this regard, and this will probably accelerate under Brexit. Scotland seems closer to the continent than England, and it is probable that they will leave the UK to join the EU. There are no serious secession movements to break up the USA. One of the key things I noticed was that EU citizens immigrated to the UK for a significant part of their life do not identify as British, while people who immigrate to the USA identify as American pretty proudly. I think this is largely due to the UK not having birthright citizenship, which has made the British identity weaker since the loss of Empire. An English guy I met in Germany once corrected me when I called him a Brit: "well, I'm English... I don't know about the whole British thing nowadays." Londoners of immigrant backgrounds from the former Empire are most likely to identify as British. Ads in London are much less racist than American ads, though. American ad executives don't like to show multiethnic couples, while UK ones do. There is a phrase that in the USA, "race was invented so there would be no class." Class and race have always been perhaps the dominant themes of the UK and USA, respectively.

The USA is much more diverse than continental Europe, but London and New York are more alike than New York and LA. But London is so expensive that you immediately understand why people in the rest of England voted for Brexit: to punish London for being full of opportunity at the expense of the rest of the country. The USA does have this dynamic, but with the coasts instead of just one city. A Tunisian friend of mine said "when I went to London, I could tell it was once the capital of an Empire, but an old empire." The USA deliberately chose to make its capital a smaller city to avoid the European model.

Food major USA cities usually tastes pretty good, while "traditional" British food was so bad they conquered the world to find other foods. The UK national dish is chicken tikki masala, which is delicious and amazing. The USA parallel is pizza (Italian pizza is quite different, look up the pizza effect) and the burrito, which was invented in Texas.