Credits: Social Media
5 normal things about life in the UK that would shock Americans
They may speak the same language, but people in the US and the UK have incredibly different lifestyles.
An American woman living in England has shared eight things about her life that would “send Americans into a coma” – a popular TikTok phrase that means they would be really shocked.
8 things about UK life that would shock Americans
1. The sugar tax
The first thing that would have Americans in disbelief is the sugar tax, a levy put on sugary sodas to encourage manufacturers to make their drinks healthier. The law was introduced in April 2018, making manufacturers pay a tax on drinks like full-fat Coca-Cola and Fanta. It’s 18p per litre for drinks with 5 to 8 grams of sugar and 24p per litre for drinks with 8 grams or more, and stores often make full sugar drinks more expensive for the consumer to cover this.
2. Christmas starts so early
Everyone wants to go to New York at Christmas, but it’s actually people in England who take it to a whole new level. Christmas is a huge event that starts in October or even earlier – and that’s not a joke. The stores start getting their festive decorations and food ready ridiculously early, and it’s not unusual to start seeing holiday items on the shelves in September. However, people in the US don’t tend to get festive until the start of December, after Thanksgiving is over.
3. The number of roundabouts
Another thing that would confuse Americans about the UK is roundabouts. Almost every single junction is a roundabout, and there are different types – mini roundabouts, normal roundabouts, double roundabouts and even magic roundabouts! Yes, that’s a real thing. Magic roundabouts consist of multiple mini-roundabouts arranged around a big roundabout. To put things into context, the UK has 25,976 roundabouts, while the entire US only has 9,000.
4. Doctors office has another name
If you’re an American heading to the doctor’s office in England, you might not be able to find it because it has another name. Brits call it a doctor’s surgery, which is a bit strange because you don’t go there to have an operation. It’s just the regular general practitioner where you go when you have a concern. By definition, the word can also mean a place where you go to seek advice, hence why it’s called the doctor’s surgery.
5. Some people don’t drive
Finally, there are people in the UK who don’t drive. They never learnt to drive, either because it’s too expensive, they just don’t want to or the test is really difficult to pass. It seems like a strange concept to Americans because everyone has a driver’s license in the States, but that’s because so many towns are designed for cars and things are so far away. In England, everything is close together and you can easily get to most places via public transport.
Here are some more weird things about Britain that ‘don’t make sense’ to Americans.
