Just from your description, that is not what I would call rudeness -- in fact, it sounds like heaven for an introvert. Aside from not feeling the need to make conversation, is there much hostility? A lack of regard for other people? To me, rudeness is when someone speeds up past me when I am trying to change into their lane. (Speaking of which, drivers in Los Angeles / Orange County are quite different from drivers in Oregon. As in, ruder. Not sure if cutthroat driving is a quirk of LA/OC or if driving like Grandma is a quirk of Oregon...)
Wow thanks this info will be very useful as I'm planning on moving to Scotland next year to study, and I will be in Glasgow to visit next week . Did you have trouble understanding the Scottish accent at first ? Because even though I'm fluent in English, I'm afraid that I won't understand a word what people at university say lol since when I watch scottish tv shows I sometimes have to listen a few times to the same sentence.
And I thought Alabamians were bad... Speaking of introverted nations, we're the exact opposite. Anyone who wants to be alone, quiet, and not talk all the time are seen as weird. Being an introvert myself, it can be taxing and a bit annoying when people wonder why I don't stay up until midnight partying and stuff. Sorry, I want to stay home and read.
In this particular corner of the world we refer to soft drinks as ginger. Prepare to be utterly discombobulated from the moment you get off the plane. What university are you applying to?
When my husband was bleeding to death, literally, on the curb, a guy passing by asked if he's ok. My hubby said, sure, the ambulance is coming. The guy walked off. I guess you could call that caring. I don't think this is a nation of introverts as such. The culture seems to encourage a brand of introvertness, but not everyone fits the mold, so you end up toning down your behavior. It's this stoic, quiet, grumpy type of introvertness, not the social anxiety kind. I'm not even making this up. My Belgian boss told me when he had shown a picture of Finns raising their glasses for a photo to his British friend, the Brit had immediately guessed the people in the pic were Finnish. Why? 'Cause no one smiled. Of course there are smiley, open people and proper chatterboxes, but they do get ridiculed, like my sister-in-law's sister or my aunt. Extroverts are scary and suspicious.
I'm going to Ireland for six months before I move to Scotland, so maybe I'll get used to strong accents by then haha. I'm going to apply to Glasgow Caledonian university, the university of Strathclyde and the university of Glasgow.
Well, I didn't have much trouble, but that's probably because I spent so many years singing Scottish traditional folk music, and was quite familiar with how it sounds and what it means. (And listening to Billy Connolly records, to fill in the gaps!) However, there isn't such a thing as a Scottish accent. Glasgow is very different from Edinburgh, which is very different from the Borders, which is different from Aberdeenshire, which is different from the Highlands and Islands, Shetland, Orkney, etc. Some accents are easier to pick up than others, but just listen and don't feel bad about asking for a repeat if you don't understand. I'm an ex-Yank, so I was in the weird position of usually being understood, but sometimes not quite picking up what was being said. (Scots are very familiar with how an American or Canadian accent sounds.) Just immerse yourself as quickly as you can. Get Scottish friends, hang out with them, and you'll pick it up quickly, I'm sure.
Seriously? It's definitely ginger here ...in Lanarkshire, and in Glasgow. However, my husband has a funny story from when he was a youngster and traveling by car with his parents down in England. They stopped at a petrol station, and he went inside and asked for a bottle of 'ginger.' The lady behind the counter told him sorry, they didn't have any. My husband was quite put out, because she was lying to him. He could see she had a whole cooler full!
Y'see Anglos wouldn't say 'cooler,' J...you mean the fridge. And taking off your shoes...considered lower class, or foreign in UK, I believe so, willing to debate mores... ... Greeting all the shop staff when visiting France is difficult for English people. It is civilised, and revolutionary in a 1789 kind of way: 'Bonjour madame...' 'Bonjour monsieur.' 'Bonjour, bonjour tout le monde...eh...fromage?' But then we are not so different over here as we think we are. I taught Scandinavians and also Finns last Summer. The Finnish lads were exasperated by our manners. 'All vis please and thank you is so fake! I want coffee, she give me coffee,' said the Finnish lad. 'Well, it is just good manners,' I replied. But certainly translation was very subtle. 'Yes, young man?' says the cafe assistant, stood behind her counter. 'One chicken pie,' says the Finn, direct, firm, and straight to the point. He turns, leaves the shop. 'What a rude fellow,' says the cafe lady, because he omitted the word 'please' from his request, and probably a 'thank you' on his departure. 'All this, your English bullshit,' he says, well he would if you asked him. The worst thing was that the Swedes and Finns spoke better English language than most of us British aboriginals [and were richer, more sophisticated than their host families - which was interesting]. I struggled with Swedish/Finnish names. Everybody was seventeen, I was forty-ish. Several Swedish students were called Faaany [that's not funny, is it] and also Ptitie - which was the worst of stumbles, addressing the woman - I felt such a fool, so unprofessional: 'So, Titty...' Forty sniggers. 'As I was saying, Titty...' hee hee hee 'Settle down class.' 'Scuse me Mat. It is not Titty, it is Tittie.' 'Oh, okay, thank you, Titty.' 'Mat - your name is ridiculous,' they all said this. 'In Sweden you are food, ha ha, ha ha ha.' 'Shut up, eat your princess cake, Lagom, Lagom.'
BIG BRAIN OF SWEDEN (IN BRIGHTON) SCANDINAVIAN & BALTIC CHAMPIONSHIP – INCLUDING FINLAND GENIUS, QUIZ simplified version max 80 minutes teaching, use the extra proverb translation round – only in extremis. ROUND ONE, INTELLECTUAL 1 What is the life expectancy of (in) Sweden? 2 What is the life expectancy of (in) Finland? 3 Where is Scandinavia’s largest shopping centre/mall? 4 In what year did construction begin on the Stockholm palace? 5 How many lakes are there in Finland? 6 How many public telephones are there in Finland? 7 School starting age in Finland? 8 What % of Finland lies inside the Arctic Circle? 9 Apart from Finnish, name two other members of the Uralic family of languages. 10 Where does Father Christmas live? 11 Finland has been an independent country since which year? 12 PM of Finland? President of Finland? PM, or equivalent of Sweden? 13 In Sweden where does father go when Santa Claus arrives? 14 What is (sorry) smultronstallet? (sorry) …4 possible answers 15 How long is Sweden? 16 What does Viking mean? 17 Year of Sweden’s last war? 18 Translate: glida in pa en rakmacka….. 19 What shall we eat on Thursday? 20 What cake is green with a bright pink sugar rose? 21 How many cinnamon buns does the average Swedish person eat per year? 22 What’s the party in August? In English, hehehe… 23 Who is Snufkin? Draw him. Who is Moomin, draw him too. 24 Who won Fifa goal of the year 2013, with what sort of kick? 25 Explain JANTELAGEN 26 Explain LAGOM 27 Who invented LINUX? 28 ‘Take a man by his word and a bull b……… ………’ 29 Explain the difference between Sina and Te 30 Seen in Lapland hotel: Help us to save water. If you need fresh towel , throw yourself on the floor. If you don’t need fresh towel, hang yourself. What is wrong here? Fix it with two words only. 31 Why shouldn’t you drive over Norwegians? 32 Who is August Strindberg? 33 Show me how to do a Finnish toast. 34 …A Swedish toast 35 …and sing a famous drinking song commonly used before downing your schnapps. Thank you Mat Woolfetcetera
Errmmm....just discussed this with Scottish hubby. He said he'd call it a 'cooler cabinet' if it has a glass door, where stuff is visible without opening it. A fridge has an opaque door. And as for taking off shoes....I take it you haven't got cream-coloured carpets in your home?
It would be 'cooler cabinet' upon consideration, but not in conversation. No, I am not using myself as the example, it is social science, lifetime's observation and father-in-law who never removes shoes, but always dresses for dinner.
That's actually a really interesting question, what does it mean? I'm honestly really looking forward to an answer.
The taking-off-shoes thing is so interesting. I was bought up in a shoeless household and all my family and friends' houses were the same. It's only in recent years I've learned that this isn't universal in the UK and some people find it really rude to be asked to remove their shoes. I don't understand why anybody would want to wear shoes in the house.
I know a lot of people who don't like shoes worn in the house, because it tells them you want to leave.
Only last year I learned that British and Americans use knife and fork differently - goes back to Revolutionary Wars, I think? Americans cut the food up, then place the knife down upon plate, use the fork as a spade. British use the topside of the fork in combination with the knife. Knife usage is another class indicator - for those of us with very tiny minds...how you hold the knife... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English
That doesn't make sense to me. If a restaurant were to set their prices the way they have, then I can assume they've priced their items according to their value. And if they haven't, that's not my problem. If the restaurant only asks for $1 for a lobster dish, then I'm paying $1. Do not expect me to then tip $200 that a lobster dish should actually cost. Want $200 - actually state that that's how much it costs, then I may decide to get another dish lol. Out of sympathy for the waiters, as well as out of politeness/respect for cultural norms, I would tip in the US and would certainly try to tip the amount expected. However, bottom line is what another poster has already said - businesses should simply actually pay their staff a wage they can live on. Waiters work an honest job - why shouldn't they get proper pay for it, proper pay they can actually count on rather than rely on cultural norms and human compassion as though they were beggers on the street? Anyway, customs... Well in Chinese culture, it's a sign of respect, appreciation and love for your parents when adult children give money to their parents, or buy them gifts, or send them off on holidays with all expenses paid. It's also rare that parents and children would count every penny - it's kinda expected that it's a sort of give and take that you would follow if you had any love or appreciation for each other. In Hong Kong it's also norm to live with your parents until you're married. So you can be 30 and still living at home and that's perfectly fine as long as you have a job. In the Czech Republic, it is still expected that women do all the housework. Sure they can have a job, but housework!! The Czechs are prone to extremely long monologues and it is expected that you will listen without interruptions. And then when it's your go, they will listen without interruptions. All things can be blamed on the weather and communism. When the English ask you, "How are you?" "Fine, thank you," is the expected answer. He does not really want to know. I can't count how many times I've passed an acquaintance on the street and we'd both say "How are you" at the same time without stopping to hear the reply or looking back. I usually feel a little awkward when this happens cus I can't decide if it's rude. When you say "How are you?" to a Czech, though, they will pour out their day's woes. However if you speak English, they've learnt the standard "fine, thank you" response. Czechs don't really ask each other this question unless they're actually friends and want to know. The Chinese, however, will rather ask, "Have you eaten yet?"
We have cultural quirks over here from all our foreign partners. 1: Learn to shorten every word, Arvo (Afternoon) Servo (Petrol Station) Maccas (McDonalds) Tinny (Can of beer) Grog (Beer and/or spirits) Barbie (Barbeque) Most of our shortened words ends in -ie or -y. (Ciggie, Aussie, Chrissy, Mossie, maggie, Umpy, Sickie etc) Bogan Language is plentiful here 2: We dont usually care about shoes in a house (usually only migrants who have lived that way usually complain or ask for you to take off shoes) and we (personally) dont usually care who pays for a bill, usually its the one that wins the argument after dinner. 3: 'thongs' (Flip-flops for you weirdos ) are a essential part of life... 99.9999% of Aussies wear these. (Please dont do what one of my visitors did and come with hiking shoes to go out to dinner in because you think the terrain is all over the place >.> 4: Worshipping meat pies! 5: When we say 'hows it going?' we dont actually care...Unless you can read our body language that tells you we want to know. 6: We use 'Drop bears' to scare foreigners into coming here. As well as spiders and Snakes galore. 7: We hate fosters (Never believe Paul Hogan speaks for us Aussies, because we also dont put shrimp on a barbie... So stop saying that joke, instead use prawns.. much more appropriate, if you're gonna joke, joke properly ) 8: Our city names usually come from their founders... except John Batman... They didnt name Melbourne, batman... >.> 9: Insults to a friend are very common. Some insult their friends more often than they do to someone they dont like 10: We Despise any door knockers...(No we dont want jehovahs witness, no we dont want 7th Day Adventists..) The most polite way is listening to it all... but the common is a slammed door. and a shout from inside... '**** Off!' 11: Get used to swearing, as a lot of us do it... Sometimes without realising or any maliciousness. 12: We are very honest...in most cases. So if your expecting a compliment after asking 'does my butt look big in this dress?' you'll most likely get 'Yes, is that a problem?' XD
Well, of course I hied off to Wikepedia, and found more than I bargained for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings Very interesting. I'm inclined to buy the theory about the rowers changing places on a long voyage (every sea mile.) Also interesting when the term entered the English language. Cool stuff. Just what I need to take my mind off the work I'm supposed to be doing....
Ah, you'll struggle to beat the Scots when it comes to compliments. This actually took place at one of those mandatory touchy-feely roleplaying workshops that certain industries are fond of sending their employees to. This was at a Highland affair, company shall remain nameless: Q: Does this dress make my butt look big? A: No, your fat arse makes your butt look big.
I once rang the student loans company up in Glasgow and had to ask the guy to repeat himself 4 times... I felt so bad I did apologise profusely, but I think the guy was actually used to it lol. Anyway, my sister studied in Scotland and she coped fine - by the end she could tell which part of Scotland someone was from I think!
