Differences between United States and England

Recently I traveled to England for a nice three week vacation (July 13th through August 1st, 2014). I usually go every 2 years. Afterall, that’s where my wife and kid are from. This is the third time I went back there. Every time I go I am amazed at how many differences there are between the US and UK. I decided to put up just a FEW of the many. How many did you realize there were out of these? How many more can you think of?

They drive on the left side of the road!

Their merging from the left street sign

Therefore, their steering wheel is on the opposite side as well!

They have ‘Roundabouts’ EVERYWHERE! Their signs are all the same. In the USA we have them too, but no where near as many. And our signs are not all the same.

They are required to have license plates on the front (ALWAYS white) and back (yellow). All of them look the same, weather your in Ireland, London, or wherever. Of course in the USA, we have license plates on the back only (front is optional) but each and every state has a different plate! And sometimes each state has more than one ‘style!’

Their street lights go from red, to yellow, then to green, where as ours go from red right to green.

Nearly all of the cars there are standard (stick). Although we have alot of them here, most of ours are automatic.

This sign means ‘National Speed Limit’, which is 65. I don’t even have anything to compare it to in the USA, because we don’t even have such a thing.

This street sign means there is a major road that turns to the left and a road that joins it on the right.

This is what their speed limit signs look like.

No Stopping. We have several different variations of this sign, but for the most part, they kind of look the same.

Gas prices are terrible! That is not 1.319 per gallon. That is 1.319 per liter! One gallon is
3.78541 litres. So 3.78541 times the price of 1.319 is 4.99 per gallon. THEN, that amount is NOT in dollars. At the time of me desigining this webpage,  4.99 is $8.40! So stop complaining about gas prices!

This means that its a new driver behind the wheel! Someone who just got their ‘learners permit.’ Its required for all new drivers.

What month is the 30th month of the year? LOL. Of course ours would be 9/30/14. They also mostly use 24 hour time.

So many different products we don’t have in the USA. We had nearly a suitcase full of different items to take home. Hot dogs in a can? Chocolate cheese? WTF! Again, notice the . With most of their stores, they sit down while they do your order. The only place I know that does that here is ALDI.

Spelling is different on MANY words. Look at this auto shop. TYRE? No, England, its TIRE. Others are COLOUR, FAVOURITE, and their Claritin medicine is Clarityn. There are LOADS more!

Don’t think you could just buy a DVD from England and take it home to play on your player. Some players in the USA do play PAL, their format, but mainly ours are NTSC.

Odd-shaped outlets. :) Theirs are 240 volt, ours are 110. PLUS - on alot of their power strips like you see here, there is an off and on switch for EACH outlet. One night I plugged in my phone, next morning it wasn’t charged. Forgot to flip the switch!

This lanwmower has no wheels! It HOVERS with air blowing from underneat. That is SWEET! We don’t have these here in the USA. Click the picture for a larger image of it.

Car boot! AKA Flea Market. A “CAR BOOT” is our “CAR TRUNK”. Their hood is called “Bonnet.”

Fish & Chip shops can be found anywhere. Probably just like we have too many pizza shops (not common in England)

NCR equipment! Self check-out, registers, and printers. Yup, sad, I know. Here I am, on vacation, and thinking about work. At least I know if by some chance I do move, I may be able to keep my job - as long as I learn to spell differently, drive differently, learn street signs, learn the money - which coins are which, and talk with a cool accent,

The classic red phone booth. Not too common anymore there, but I have still seen quite a few.

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