November 11, 2025 • 30 mins
British vs. American Etiquette: Tea, Small Talk, and Politeness Showdown
Join Matt and Jerry in this hilarious and insightful episode of Atlantic Exchange as they dive into the quirky differences between British and American etiquette. From the unspoken law of not speaking to anyone on the London tube, to the American obsession with small talk on the subway, this episode covers it all. Tune in to hear their take on tea-making disasters, the irony-laden British humor, and why saying 'make yourself at home' shouldn't always be taken literally. Plus, find out why Matt insists Brits are better at self-deprecating humor and why Jerry believes American patriotism is unmatched. Don't miss the laughs, the mockery, and the revelations about cultural norms that might just blow your mind!
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:39 Catching Up: Personal Updates
01:40 British and American Etiquette
02:07 Tea vs. Coffee Debate
05:10 Politeness and Stereotypes
12:53 Punctuality and Table Manners
14:11 Small Talk and Public Behavior
15:01 Awkward Train Encounters
15:14 Breaking UK Stereotypes
15:35 American Directness and Positivity
15:51 Tipping Culture and Informality
16:34 Hospitality and Making Yourself at Home
18:31 Patriotism and National Anthems
23:31 British Etiquette and Implications
27:35 Concluding Thoughts and Future Plans
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
good afternoon.
Good morning, wherever you arein the world.
Uh, welcome to AtlanticExchange.
Here's what's coming up today.
If you talk to someone on thetube, you're suspicious and
you'll be reported to thepolice.
You, in the uk you, you are headdown headphones on.
You do not speak to anyone onthe tube.
It's, it's like a law.
I can imagine being in a publicbathroom.
They start playing the American,the American Anthem.
(00:28):
Yes.
And then people on the stoolswould just stand up mid shit and
just absolutely put a hand ontheir chest.
Absolutely.
Well, that all sounds good.
Um, maybe better than last week.
Yeah.
Right.
So first of all, let's justcatch up before we jump in.
Absolutely.
I like to, I like to foreplayyou.
How are you doing, Jerry?
How's, how's your working?
You know, I appreciate a goodforeplay.
It has been fantastic.
(00:49):
Uh, just came back from awedding in the Dominican
Republic, which was lovely.
Um, got some sun, got some beachaction, which was great.
Uh, just some time alone withthe wife and I, and, uh, we're
back home.
How about yourself, Matt?
Um, I bought some new Christmaslights.
Very nice.
Very nice.
Didn't go to any wedding.
We, we should, maybe we shoulddo a wedding episode one one
(01:11):
week.
Uh oh, that would be great.
UK versus US wedding.
Yeah, that's a good, yeah, we'llput that on that.
We'll put that on the list.
Um, yeah, no, my, my week's beenokay, as you know.
Uh, I've got you, you comingover to join me.
That's right.
Uh, what, two days time?
So just prepping for that.
We've got a little trip planned.
Um, not much really work andfamily, but yeah, just looking,
(01:34):
rolling on the weekend is all Isay.
That's right.
That's right.
Let's, uh, let's get startedhere.
We have an incredible topic,probably, hopefully a fan paper.
Yeah, I mean, I think that smalltalks, I mean that small talk is
a good segue into it is todaywe're gonna talk about etiquette
and, and stereotypes ofetiquette as well.
'cause obviously some are justmiscon conceived.
(01:54):
Um, so yes, obviously there's alot of things that you think
about the British that we, welike doing and that we do.
Um, same about Americans.
Um, so let, let's start with theBritish obviously.
Because we're number one.
Um, so the first one is that welove tea.
Now it's, it's, I think it's amisconception.
I do love tea.
I have at least three, four cupssoon as I've woken up.
(02:14):
But yeah, I, you're not reallyhelping the misconception, but
I'm listening.
No, I'm part of the problem.
Not cool.
Jerry, I 40 a day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm part of the problem, not thecool Jerry.
Yeah.
You know that about every singlesubject we have.
Um, but I would say it's a 50 50split over here.
I think.
I think coffee with a, with agrowth of Starbucks and Costa
(02:36):
Coffee now is kind of a 50 50split.
If I go around the office and doa poll, first of all, people
say, oh.
Shut the fuck up.
Whatcha you doing?
Yeah, exactly.
We're just trying to have adrink, but also I think they
would go, it is a 50 50 where Ithink, what do you think the
split of Tea to Coffee is inAmerica?
Oh, it's like 80 20 coffee and,and that might be a conservative
figure.
We're we're, we're heavy coffeedrinkers also, you dunno how to
(02:58):
make a cup of tea.
I mean, I've had tea over thereand it's.
I have, I mean, I You didn'tthink, I can't, you can't get it
that wrong.
It's a tea bag, hot water, bitof milk.
It's not that hard.
But yet I have seen some Yeah,you've, yeah.
Extremities.
I, I, I sent you a video of memaking a cup of tea.
Yeah.
Yep, yep.
In the microwave.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just it shattered yourself.
(03:18):
So did it question you, thisquestion of friendship with us?
It made me question, um, yourmental state more than our
friendship, but.
So I suppose you obviously sentthat as a parody and there's
videos going around, but arethere people that would make a
cup of tea in a microwaveformally?
Yes, absolutely.
They just need the water to behot and the tea bag to go
inside.
(03:40):
And that's because you don'thave a kettle, is that correct?
Correct.
Yeah.
It's, I mean we do, we have onehere'cause we drink tea often in
this house.
Right.
Um, but most American householdsjust, just don't have a kettle.
But they have guns.
Do have guns.
Yes.
Multiple.
They might have guns.
Zero kettles.
Yeah.
Priorities, Matt?
(04:00):
Well, there's nothing in the,there's nothing in the
constitution that you have tohave boiled water at any point
in your life is there.
Exactly.
It's really not necessary.
No.
Um, yeah, I think that thatannoys me.
Uh, and it's, if I go somewherein America, I ask for tea,
they'd bring me just a wa hotwater tea bag on the side.
Obviously the, the tea bag hasto go in straight away.
(04:21):
'cause it's got, it's gotta hitthe boiling water.
Yeah.
So this time it's alreadydropped 10 degrees.
That annoys me.
Then I have to ask for milk.
Sometimes they bring cream andat this point I've just, I've
just given up right now.
Right.
It's just, yeah, I, I know that.
Do you drink, do you drinkcoffee?
Do you drink any coffee at all?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I could drink, uh, I don'tmind a latte.
And so I think now it's, when Icome to the states, I, I, I tend
(04:44):
to drink a latte'cause I knowthat that's pretty universal
across the world.
Right.
I know what I'm gonna get, but Iwould always prefer a tea.
I have that addiction to a tea.
Yeah.
Not where a coffee.
It's just if I need a hot drink,yeah.
I, um, I'm certainly addicted tocoffee, no way around it.
If I don't have it by aroundnine 30 ish, I'm starting to get
a headache.
So it's a proper addiction.
Get punchy, don't you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Feel for your, feel for yourfamily.
(05:04):
Yeah.
Um.
Okay.
The next one would be that we'repolite and we take politeness to
the extreme, and we apologizefor anything.
What's your thoughts of, youknow, you've, you've mixed with
many British, I I, I don't knowif it's a matter of politeness.
We have a phrase here.
Um, and, and, and it's calledbeing mean.
(05:25):
Nice and nice mean.
So I find many Brits to be nicemeans, stop me if I'm wrong,
where um, they don't outrightsay if something is terrible,
they'll just say, well, that'sinteresting.
You know, so there, there, it's,there's still some sarcasm in
there.
They're just not straight toyour face about it.
(05:46):
Yeah.
That's a different way oflooking at it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, or let's say that you'restuck on the side of the road.
Right.
A Brit will drive by and say,oh, that's really terrible.
Best of luck.
Right.
Versus I guess in the New York.
No, no, no.
We'd say we was, I must, I mustinterject.
Oh, please.
We would say you can't parkthere.
You, you can't park there.
You can't park there.
(06:06):
The car could be upside down onits roof.
Some of the occupants could bedead.
The car could be on fire and wewill pull up beside and go, you
can't park there.
Can't park there.
Come on, man.
And just drive off.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Versus I feel like in the, inthe, the, I'm from Jersey, the
Jersey, New York area.
If we see somebody on the sideof the road, we'll say, look at
this asshole over here.
Come on, let me help you out.
I think there's a, that's what Imean by nice mean, mean nice.
(06:28):
What do you, what do you think?
Am I off here?
Cool.
And also, and then you help meout, correct?
Yes.
Look at this jerk off wasting mytime.
Now I'm gonna be late.
You know?
But you still gotta help themout.
No.
See, the thing is, we could bestuck on a motorway five hour
queue because there's a, there'sa car stuck in a lane.
Right?
And when we get to the front ofthat queue and we get past, then
we go, right, fuck, we're out.
You think if I got out that car,push that car, it'd take two
(06:50):
minutes outta my time.
It'd free up thousands of othercars.
Yes.
Yes.
Now I'm like, when I'm passingit now, fuck him.
Fuck him.
What?
What's that?
Gotta do with me?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, it's not myproblem anymore.
I'm free.
I'm free from this.
I'm past it.
Um, yeah, I think there is athing that we say Sorry a lot.
Yes.
Oh goodness.
And I'm sorry about that.
What can I say?
(07:11):
Yeah, yeah.
What, what, what is with the,uh, with the consistent
apologies from, from the Brits,it's called being polite.
Jerry.
Is that what it is?
Oh, I'm not a fan of it.
Yeah.
Have you ever considered justsaying, get the fuck outta my
way or something within thatrealm?
The only time when any Britbecomes a different person is
when inside the safety of theircar, and then they are swearing
(07:32):
and calling everyone under thesun.
So, you know, this is, you couldhave someone and they're
literally taking five seconds tomove at a green light and you're
going, you are.
Eddie Expletive is, is free forall.
So this is the ion right here.
So essentially, Brits areAmericans when in the privacy of
their own car or home.
To some degree.
Yeah, to some degree, yes.
Right.
But once you're in public,there's a level of composure.
(07:55):
Yeah.
We, you know, we wouldn't wannabe known as American in public,
is that we're just happy being,being private.
You know, I've got, that's,that's just plane.
I'm expressing, I'm expressingmy southern views in the car.
And then as soon as I got thatcar, it's, oh, hello, sir.
Yeah.
I'm really sorry.
Completely there.
It now Qing.
Now there's this thing that welike to cue that's, oh goodness,
(08:16):
why again, but what do you meanwhy?
I just don't understand it?
Give an example where we cueeverywhere.
The bathroom for a cup ofcoffee, a cup of tea.
What I do gonna the newest, thenewest croissant in, in, in a
bakery.
Okay, so queing for thebathroom.
The toilet, yeah.
What am I gonna do?
There's, there's other peoplewaiting.
(08:37):
I'm just gonna push in.
We, we talked about this, if, ifanyone's ever listened, uh, to
any of our prior episodes, theba the answer is no.
The bathroom.
The bathroom is what you makeit.
And yeah, we haven't done ourbathroom episode yet.
That's interesting.
That's a good one.
No, but um, yeah, I mean,you've, you've got to wait your
turn, you queue, right?
(08:57):
So, I mean, I've, the I thingthat's annoying me is the only
time we don't queue.
Is in bars, you line along a barand it's kind of a, it's like a
free for all.
It's Russian ette, right?
I hate it when I go in a bar andI've seen people are actually
queue it, it's kind of a youngergeneration actually form a queue
at the bar and wait for thebarman to, to call someone
forward.
No, no, no, no.
That's not how a bar works.
You, you, you wait.
And then that's down to the,this is a fully trained expert
(09:20):
behind the bar and he'sobviously registered Rainman
style, who is in which order,and he should be able to, to
pick them out.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's, and it takesaway doing, it takes away from
the bar patron trying to get thebartenders, uh.
Sort of, sort of wave their handand, and get their attention.
Right.
And, and you get that feelingof, I I need to assert dominance
(09:42):
in order, in order to drink.
Yeah.
And also this isn't gonna workfor you.
Nonsense going in your mind.
This is where whoever tips highis gonna get served quicker.
That's right.
You've got a whole hierarchygoing haven.
You do.
If you had a Q system, it'sjust, that takes away that, that
need to tip high, doesn't it?
Absolutely.
So, just too bad for poorpeople.
What are you gonna do?
You know, it's.
You got, you got a queue.
(10:03):
To be fair.
Poor people are in line.
That's just, that's just what itis.
No.
Now the next one.
The next one I think.
I think this is written by anAmerican, uh, that we talk about
the weather and we don't talkabout the weather.
Our weather's pretty much shit80% of the time.
That is true.
So why we talk about that?
That's true.
I've never, I've never been tothe UK and someone brought up
the weather.
We know what it is.
(10:23):
It's cloudy.
Next question, right?
Yeah.
Like, it's just not, it's not areal, it's not a real thing.
I agree with you a hundredpercent.
I used to also think that by theway, that you guys were obsessed
with the weather, when in factyou try to get it out of your
head as much as possible.
It's, it's, it's, it's prettymuch gonna be between, for se,
six, seven months, a year, 20degrees.
(10:45):
We've got two weeks of the yearwhere it might be 30 degrees,
and then for about two monthsit'd probably be freezing.
Yeah, there you go.
That's the weather done.
Move on.
Um, that we, we under, weunderstate stuff, so we might
say things not bad when we meanit's good.
Like if you gave me, if you mademe a nice meal and I go, that's
not bad.
That's quite nice.
It's, it's not that I'm beingunderstated, it's more the fact
(11:07):
that it might just just be whatit is.
It's not bad, it's not amazing,but it's, it's not bad.
So I don't believe that one.
Apparently.
Irony is one that we are, welike iron, but I get that it's
our humor.
Yes.
We have better humor.
That is an outrageous statement.
Sweet Jesus.
Did you say better humor?
Yes, of course we are.
Yeah.
Um, better is self-deprecatinghumor.
Self-deprecating?
Absolutely.
(11:29):
And we invented that.
I think that was.
Come from us.
And I think that's some of thebest humor.
And I, I think the Americanhumor you are enjoying has come
from a spinoff of that.
So if we go back to the office,I wouldn't say that that's just
'cause it's a spinoff of a UKshow, that style of humor, that
self deprecating, even thingslike Kirby Enthusiasm.
Yes.
Where it's kind of that you kindof, it's a anti sort of hero
(11:52):
joke.
It's all come from us.
So I think that's what America,fuck yourself America in general
is that, to be fair, I thinkit's essentially just taking,
uh, information and customs fromother cultures and enhancing
them, and I will die on thathill.
I know you are not a fan of thatstatement.
I could see it in your face.
Are you gonna respond to me in aBritish way and say, that's
(12:14):
interesting.
That's an interesting way,that's an interesting way of
looking at it, Joey.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Instead of saying, go fuckyourself, Joey, as I look at
this list, I mean it's uh,whoever made this list, they
can, I dunno, because the nextone is table manners.
We don't eat like animals.
Everyone has table manners.
I mean, I dunno what we'recomparing this to, but I would
(12:35):
agree that's, uh, I, I thinkthat there are some, I think
that there are some differencesthough.
So the Brits are super punctual.
I will say that in comparison toAmericans, see that is actually
on a punctuality is on there.
That's so being a few minuteslate is actually frowned upon in
the uk.
So.
You know, if I was two to threeminutes late, I'm late.
(12:55):
I mean, in some, in somecountries, like, uh, some
countries in Asia, if you're 30seconds late Yeah.
Or if you're on time, you'relate.
But so what's, what's on time inAmerica, on time in America is
essentially we're alive andwe're there.
Right.
For example, even this podcast,I was 15 minutes late.
Right to you, you're on time.
That stereotype held.
(13:16):
Yeah.
Really the first 15 minutesshould have been you sitting in
silence Exactly.
Mumbling, being polite, swearingabout you.
And then as soon as you joinedbeing absolutely two face and
polite to you going, it is fine.
It's fine.
That's absolutely not a problem.
I'm really upset that you're notdrinking a cup of tea.
As we're having thisconversation just to drive the
point home.
I've just got water there.
You, sorry about that.
Yeah.
Um, a pub etiquette that we buyin rounds, but surely you buy in
(13:39):
rounds.
Of course, don't you?
That's not, that's, I mean,we've, we've been out, I've been
out with your friends.
You've been out with my friends.
We're.
Everyone catches around.
Okay, well let's move on to youlot your people.
That's right.
Can, can I don't, I don't meanyour people.
I mean your people.
Of course.
Your people.
Your people, of course.
Um, uh, so friendliness andsmall talk.
You are very outgoing, so, yeah.
So you would, would you chat tosomeone on the subway?
(14:02):
I mean, yeah.
Why not?
Who cares?
No, that's, that's terrorist.
Uh, sort of land there.
You calling me.
You do not talk to anyone.
Somebody makes a conversationwith you on the train.
If you talk to someone on thetube, you're suspicious and
you're being reported to thepolice.
You, in the uk you, you are headdown headphones on.
(14:23):
You do not speak to anyone onthe tube.
It's, it's like a law.
I don't know.
I mean, on the subway, if.
Someone's chatting with you,it's gonna happen.
It's just so common.
There's entertainment on thesubway.
Uh, there's just so much.
It's like a, it's like a, a formof entertainment all in its own
being in the subway, it is an Ato B.
It's an A to B for us.
Yeah, it's, there's noentertainment.
(14:45):
I mean, and there's nothingworse when you get a bus go and
they come on the train.
They get on your train.
That's definitely there.
My, my, my.
Eyes at my feet.
I'm not looking up at all.
Yeah, it's, I think, I think itwould be good content if when I
go to the uk, um, I'messentially breaking all of
these UK stereotypes and normsand just start chatting with
(15:06):
people on the tube and just sortof get their reaction.
It is, but then I haven't gottime to go down to the police
station to bail you out.
I just, I don't have that in mydiary, I'm afraid.
Jeremy, just move on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So directness, so Americans arevery straightforward and
confident.
Very much so.
I mean, yeah, that's anyone thatknows, you knows that's true.
(15:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No way around that.
Enthusiasm, positivity.
You're very enthusiastic abouteverything We are.
That's true.
We we're, and even the air, airculture, when you're here, you
don't, you don't get thatdifference that, that the sweet
smell of freedom.
That's why the rock always takesthat big whiff, you know?
Is that what that's for?
(15:47):
I just thought he let one gobefore he walked out The grid of
position.
Uh, in informality.
So is this true?
So it says here, using firstnames quickly, even with bosses.
I mean, I don't call my boss byhis last name, so that's cool.
Yeah, so I, I, I, I think maybethat, that one's a bit older.
Um, e even even in the states,folks would use, uh, last names,
but now everyone's calling youfirst name or asshole or
(16:10):
dickhead or something withinthat realm.
Uh, okay.
Hospitality, inviting guestsover, that's obviously you do
that and the make yourself athome.
Now, I don't think that's anAmerican thing.
I hear that all around theworld.
But when you say make yourself ahome, how much at home can I
make myself keep your pants on?
Right.
So I think that's fair.
Okay.
Yeah.
Keep your pants on so thenyou're lying.
(16:30):
You're lying.
You.
Uh, or, or try it out.
Go to someone's home that says,make yourself at home and take
your pants off.
Right?
What I would suggest is takeyour shoes off like you normally
would have a drink.
I think it's just relax.
You know, a lot of times we gosomewhere new and we're a bit
uptight.
We want to sort of check out thespace.
It's just a, just a form ofmaking sure your guest feels
(16:52):
welcomed.
But then if I wanna just helpmyself to a drink, would that be
weird?
I think if you came here oncefor the first time, it would be
weird.
You've been, you've been over acouple times already, but No,
but you, if you've said it'sfirst time over, you said make
yourself at home.
I go into the kitchen, open afridge, there's a can of Coke in
there.
I get a Coke, open it.
I stop making myself a sandwich.
(17:13):
Right, right.
I would, I'm making myself athome, but that's a great
example.
I would, I would usher my kidsupstairs and then I would call
the authorities.
Okay, I've got my pants on.
I should find it at this point.
Even.
Even if you went straight to thefridge, I would, first time I'm
calling the authorities forsure.
Okay.
It's good to know.
It's good to know.
Second time's, okay.
I don't own a gun, but I wouldgo out and buy one just at, at
(17:35):
that moment.
Just'cause that, that wouldprove the point that I need a
gun in the how many visits untilI can just help myself in your
fridge.
Maybe three, four.
I think that's fair.
You, you've been enough time, Imean visits, so I can just take
my, and when can I take my padsoff?
That's a good question.
When you start paying the rentor the mortgage, I think that's.
They, they, they, then you havea, to take your pants off.
(17:55):
Well, it's not, I I, I'veliterally made myself at home,
haven't I?
Yeah, exactly.
I've contributed financially.
Yeah.
So that's a, thats a goodstandard I'm on.
When you contribute financially,you can take the pants off.
Fair enough.
Uh, your patriotism andobviously I would say that.
I wouldn't say that Rich and arewell British pride is a, is a
strange thing, but um, obviouslyyou are very, you know, a flag,
(18:18):
a flag on a doorstep is verynormal.
On your front lawn is quitecommon and you, you love the
Nash anthem.
It's, it's, it's everywhere.
I mean, of course you get it,but you get it.
Every sporting event you go to,it doesn't matter.
Um, Matt, it could be friendly.
There are, there are restaurantsyou'll be eating and then the
middle of your meal and thensuddenly people stand up and
(18:39):
just.
Very odd.
I mean that, that I do find oddsporting events all the way.
Okay.
At least you see it's, at leastyou see it's odd.
Yes.
It's middle of a meal or a barto start playing the national
anthem.
I, I just in case people are, dopeople forget they're American
while they're eating their meal?
Um, uh, I think that peopleutilize patriotism here as a
(18:59):
blanket.
My life is shitty, but at leastI'm an American sort of
situation.
It's a good reminder for them.
I, I do like the way that Britsutilize their patriotism though,
because their humor in generalis very self-deprecating.
So patriot, from my eyes, froman American's point of view,
British patriotism is, I'm gonnamake fun of myself, but fuck you
(19:22):
if you try to, right?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's very true.
I mean.
Just going back to the Nashanthem, the, I'll give you some
scenarios, which I haven't seen.
Mm-hmm.
But I could imagine, and I thinkthey would have a, I could
imagine being in a publicbathroom, they start playing the
American.
The American anthem.
Yes.
And then people on the stoolswould just stand up mid shit and
(19:42):
just absolutely put their hat ontheir chest.
Absolutely.
I mean it, they could be halfwaythrough a drop and they would
just stand up, complete it, sitback down 100%.
See that.
I know.
I'm not saying, oh, that'sobviously a made up scenario,
but it's something that couldhappen now.
I've never had it on an airplanein America, which is strange.
I thought you might have itbefore or after take off.
(20:03):
No, not, not on an airplane thatthat would even be stranger.
What I would say is this.
Do you, do you guys, you know,sort of sing God, save the King
at any event at all or even likeduring, even during championship
games, let's say.
Not a regular league game.
No.
It's the only time, the onlytime you would hear it are when
England play.
(20:24):
'cause it's their nationalanthem.
Right.
Versus another country calleddomestic games.
Yeah.
Domestic games though.
Club games.
Yeah.
You wouldn't hear it at all.
Even if they're playinginternationally.
Um, I dunno actually May No, Idon't think they, like, if, if,
if Man, city and Manu areplaying, they're not playing.
God save the king before thegame starts.
(20:44):
No, no, no.
Not so.
Because everyone knows they'reBritish.
What's the.
Yeah.
Other times maybe on sort oflike, uh, athletics, if a Brit
wins and they're on the podium,well, obviously, you know, you
see the Olympics, of course,Olympics, the time, things like
that, and motor racing.
Uh, well, I've seen in FormulaOne, whoever the winning country
is, they get their anthem.
But it's just, if it was apurely sport in England as in
(21:08):
not playing international, thenno, we're not playing our
anthem.
Fuck it.
Let's get on with it.
Right, right, right.
Normally'cause we can't drink atsome of these.
As I said before, you can'tdrink at these football events.
Why, why do you wanna addanother two minutes into it?
We're like, come on, get thefuck on with it.
We gotta drink.
You know?
Yeah, yeah.
No, I agree.
I agree.
It's, um, I guess you're so usedto it, right?
It's just become a part of, I'vebeen to a ton of sporting
(21:31):
events.
It doesn't matter what sport,it's baseball, basketball,
hockey, football.
But when it's at a restaurant orwhen it's outside of a sporting
event, I'm like, all right,maybe we're taking it a little
too far.
I think let's keep it withinsporting events.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Even then, even then, it's like,you know, I, I, it makes sense
if we're playing against Canada.
(21:51):
Right.
And there's even Americans thatget upset when the Canadian
National Anthem, which I'mpretty sure is, is it God Save
the King as well?
It's O Canada.
It's so Canada.
I'm an idiot.
It's O Canada.
It's so Canada.
Yeah.
It's O Canada.
O Canada is played at sportingevents because there's a lot of
Canadian teams that are part ofjust the majors, right.
So whether it's the N-B-A-N-F-L,not NFL, but uh, MLB, um, and
(22:15):
there's Americans that get upsetwhen O Canada's played in the US
Right.
But you're playing against aCanadian team.
What's the problem?
That is pride in your country,isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
It is very heavy on the prideand that's what we should do.
By the way, we should bring onsome, a Canadian guests or a, or
a German or a Spanish, not theFrench, they're a bit much, but
(22:38):
just to see what their, yeah,what their competitive, yeah.
Now we've essentially northern,we've essentially removed all of
France.
Um, yeah, we've had no downloadsin France and let's be honest.
Yeah.
Which is fair.
I'm always sleep.
Yeah.
Yeah, they're too busy looted ofwriting at the moment.
Anyway.
They always seem to have a lot.
They love a write, so it's fine.
Yes, it's fine.
(22:58):
But I, I, I would agree.
I think that in a general sense,etiquette in the US is big.
It's obvious.
And in the UK it's verycomposed.
Yeah.
We, we know self composure.
It's, that's You do, I think wedo well.
And also I think it's just, webecome bothered, you know?
Yeah.
It's, it's more effort to beenthusiastic.
(23:20):
Why, why are we wasting thateffort?
Everything, you know, evenseeing the national anthem,
that's, it's all effort.
It's true.
I, I just, the one thing I can'twrap my head around, and maybe
you could help with this, it's,again, we're very obvious with
our statements and ourcommunication, but the Brits
love to imply they'd love toleave a little gray area there,
(23:40):
just in case.
It's all about the implication,isn't it?
It's serious.
It really is.
Yeah.
Yeah, sometimes, uh, it's, it'smainly'cause we're shitty.
It's, it's that, yeah, it, deepdown inside we're terrible.
And if I, like, if I saw someonecrying, I'll just go up to and
go, Hey, what's what?
Why are you crying?
Is it because of your haircut?
And just walk off?
(24:01):
Is it because of Yeah.
Or one of my favorite things todo is, um, when you're a party,
got to random a person and justgo.
Personally, I didn't have aproblem with you coming tonight
and then walk off.
It's just that you just gottaleave that, you gotta leave that
little implication.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's plenty of those sort ofthings.
They're brilliant to do.
The, the best part of thatcrying joke, uh, is that a
(24:23):
British person would care ifanother person was crying.
Wouldn't care.
You wouldn't care at all.
You, you, you wouldn't even walkup to that person.
You would probably say, excuseme, sorry.
And just get outta my way.
Yeah.
I'd cue behind them exactly.
Yeah.
Can, can you walk up please?
It's your turn.
If I see someone, no, I, Iwouldn't say that.
I think it's more, uh, I,there's, there's different
(24:46):
people.
Some people see very caring andthey go over, but I, if I see
someone crying, I'm just gonnahave, move away from that.
I've seen that before in anoffice.
A woman start crying.
I'm just back to why I someoneelse, someone else will deal
with this.
Someone more caring and that candeal with this situation.
Yeah.
Who's more emotionally equippedto deal with the situation
where, I'm just gonna generalpat on the back.
And ask him.
It's'cause of a haircut.
Yeah, exactly.
(25:07):
Yeah, even that's a great point.
Even when it comes tocompliments, not just with
negative stereotypes, I, I willoutright say, Matt, you look
fantastic.
If you got a new suit on ordressed nicely, whatever that
looks like, right.
Uh, but a Brit will walk up toyou and say, new haircut or new
clothes, just, it won't outrightsay that you look great.
The compliment isn't all the waythere, but they'll give you some
(25:30):
positive.
It's a question.
It's just a question, isn't it?
Exactly.
It's a, yeah, it's a question.
Do you look nice or am I off?
Like it's not really.
Yeah.
I had this a true story, so I.
I had to meet with hr, not forthe reasons you think it was
more just had a meeting with hr.
Careful now.
Um, and I, and I've only, I'veonly ever spoke to this lady in
HR time, this smart Matt.
(25:51):
Yes.
I have like a recurring meetingin my diary now.
Yeah.
So I'd never actually, I'dnever, I don't think I'd even, I
know I never video spoke to thispersonal teams, but I obviously
have the teams icon and thefirst thing she said to me, and
this is covers your stereotypeperfectly, she went, oh, you
look different in person.
That was it.
Now, do I read that?
Is that could have meantanything?
(26:11):
You look, you look, do you lookbetter in person?
Yeah.
Or do you look worse in person?
'cause either way it's, it's theslightest scale.
I didn't say anything.
It's just that power trip.
And then she carried on with herday.
I'm like, well that's gonnastick with me for the rest of
the day, isn't it?
You really fucking will.
Yeah.
You look different in person.
You look different.
We, well, you look the samebitch.
(26:32):
What am I supposed to, up tothat, you know?
No.
Oh.
Mean, I mean, it, it could beworse.
You could say, think.
Well, you look, you, you, youknow, you're larger than
Exactly.
You know where Larger than Iexpected.
Wow.
Wow.
This, yeah.
None of that weight's in theface on your profile.
Yeah.
Which is it?
Ooh.
All down below.
(26:53):
Well, I think we've coveredeverything.
I think now we've, we've joinedthese two nations.
I know Trump's trying to push itapart by suing the BBC by
billion.
That's right, yeah, yeah.
Does he realize the BBC doesn'thave a billion pounds?
I dunno what he thinks, but hesued, he sued a, B, C here,
which is not, not an equivalent,but a again, a very large, uh,
or probably the largest cablenews, uh, network.
(27:17):
Did he win?
Oh, uh, probably he, he hasn'twon, but they capitulated
they'll, they'll, they'llsettle.
I'm sure.
Okay.
So, I mean, the, the B BBC iskind of not, not for profit, so
it's not gonna have a billionskind of sitin there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, and does he know that it'sowned by.
The people of Britain.
So it's kind of a governmentlyowned.
(27:38):
So really what he's saying thereis everyone in the in Britain's
gotta just chip in and pay him abillion dollars.
It's not, I don't think hecares.
He does not care.
It's not gonna help Britishrelations.
It's not a private company,it's, it's, it's a national, it
means nothing government ownedTrump.
Do you have the, he's abouthimself.
Do you have state or governmentowned TV in America?
(27:58):
We do, yeah.
We have PBS and um.
The current administration istrying to defund it.
Right.
So how does that pay for it?
From your taxes?
Yeah, yeah, from taxes.
It's, it's essentially it'sfunded directly, uh, from the
taxpayer, right?
Yeah.
So it's the same thing as our B,B, C, then.
Same.
So although WePay, which youfind strange that we pay a
(28:20):
license to have B, B, C.
Very odd, very odd.
Even that, I mean, we shouldhave incorporated that in our TV
episode.
Yeah, I mean, it's a strangething.
It's not really, it's called aTV license, but it's not a
license.
It's more, you've gotta think ofit like a Netflix subscription.
We're just paying asubscription, I think it's about
70 pounds something.
Right?
Um, and we're paying that ayear.
(28:40):
So basically it's like payingNetflix.
Exactly.
It's the same, it's the samething, but they call it a
license is a strange thing.
I think it's'cause it is, youknow, it's gone back sort of
many decades and at the time itwas more of a.
A legal license you brought towatch tv and they even had
different costs.
If you wanted just a black andwhite one, it was a bit cheaper.
Yeah.
But obviously now we don't haveblack and white TVs, so I fix
(29:01):
that.
Okay.
I think we're gonna caught itthere.
I think we're, I think we'vecovered it.
I think now we'll just, I mean,I was gonna say, I think we're
start, if we go in longer, we'regonna really start sort of, um,
scraping for content.
But I think you could say thesame, uh, about two minutes in.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's really, it's all relativereally.
I'm really interested to seewhat the, the best of bits were
this week.
Yeah, yeah.
(29:22):
Maybe we just, all I could do isjust copy and paste the whole 30
minute podcast into that introbit so it makes it an hour.
So it goes, it's what coming upplays the whole 30 minute
podcast, and then we go backand, and then we play the
podcast.
That's right.
And hopefully in a couple monthswe can, we have some fillers in,
with some commercials.
Yeah.
I mean, long shot.
Yeah.
Listen.
Yeah.
(29:43):
Let's see.
Maybe you can make thoserelationships up, up in the
north next week.
That's right.
No, I'm sure they'll love me.
Yeah.
Okay, well I will you and get ona plane.
That's right.
And I will see you next week.
Cheers.
Okay.
See you later.
good afternoon.
Good morning, wherever you arein the world.
Uh, welcome to AtlanticExchange.
Here's what's coming up today.
If you talk to someone on thetube, you're suspicious and
you'll be reported to thepolice.
You, in the uk you, you are headdown headphones on.
You do not speak to anyone onthe tube.
It's, it's like a law.
I can imagine being in a publicbathroom.
They start playing the American,the American Anthem.
(00:28):
Yes.
And then people on the stoolswould just stand up mid shit and
just absolutely put a hand ontheir chest.
Absolutely.
Well, that all sounds good.
Um, maybe better than last week.
Yeah.
Right.
So first of all, let's justcatch up before we jump in.
Absolutely.
I like to, I like to foreplayyou.
How are you doing, Jerry?
How's, how's your working?
You know, I appreciate a goodforeplay.
It has been fantastic.
(00:49):
Uh, just came back from awedding in the Dominican
Republic, which was lovely.
Um, got some sun, got some beachaction, which was great.
Uh, just some time alone withthe wife and I, and, uh, we're
back home.
How about yourself, Matt?
Um, I bought some new Christmaslights.
Very nice.
Very nice.
Didn't go to any wedding.
We, we should, maybe we shoulddo a wedding episode one one
(01:11):
week.
Uh oh, that would be great.
UK versus US wedding.
Yeah, that's a good, yeah, we'llput that on that.
We'll put that on the list.
Um, yeah, no, my, my week's beenokay, as you know.
Uh, I've got you, you comingover to join me.
That's right.
Uh, what, two days time?
So just prepping for that.
We've got a little trip planned.
Um, not much really work andfamily, but yeah, just looking,
(01:34):
rolling on the weekend is all Isay.
That's right.
That's right.
Let's, uh, let's get startedhere.
We have an incredible topic,probably, hopefully a fan paper.
Yeah, I mean, I think that smalltalks, I mean that small talk is
a good segue into it is todaywe're gonna talk about etiquette
and, and stereotypes ofetiquette as well.
'cause obviously some are justmiscon conceived.
(01:54):
Um, so yes, obviously there's alot of things that you think
about the British that we, welike doing and that we do.
Um, same about Americans.
Um, so let, let's start with theBritish obviously.
Because we're number one.
Um, so the first one is that welove tea.
Now it's, it's, I think it's amisconception.
I do love tea.
I have at least three, four cupssoon as I've woken up.
(02:14):
But yeah, I, you're not reallyhelping the misconception, but
I'm listening.
No, I'm part of the problem.
Not cool.
Jerry, I 40 a day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm part of the problem, not thecool Jerry.
Yeah.
You know that about every singlesubject we have.
Um, but I would say it's a 50 50split over here.
I think.
I think coffee with a, with agrowth of Starbucks and Costa
(02:36):
Coffee now is kind of a 50 50split.
If I go around the office and doa poll, first of all, people
say, oh.
Shut the fuck up.
Whatcha you doing?
Yeah, exactly.
We're just trying to have adrink, but also I think they
would go, it is a 50 50 where Ithink, what do you think the
split of Tea to Coffee is inAmerica?
Oh, it's like 80 20 coffee and,and that might be a conservative
figure.
We're we're, we're heavy coffeedrinkers also, you dunno how to
(02:58):
make a cup of tea.
I mean, I've had tea over thereand it's.
I have, I mean, I You didn'tthink, I can't, you can't get it
that wrong.
It's a tea bag, hot water, bitof milk.
It's not that hard.
But yet I have seen some Yeah,you've, yeah.
Extremities.
I, I, I sent you a video of memaking a cup of tea.
Yeah.
Yep, yep.
In the microwave.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Just it shattered yourself.
(03:18):
So did it question you, thisquestion of friendship with us?
It made me question, um, yourmental state more than our
friendship, but.
So I suppose you obviously sentthat as a parody and there's
videos going around, but arethere people that would make a
cup of tea in a microwaveformally?
Yes, absolutely.
They just need the water to behot and the tea bag to go
inside.
(03:40):
And that's because you don'thave a kettle, is that correct?
Correct.
Yeah.
It's, I mean we do, we have onehere'cause we drink tea often in
this house.
Right.
Um, but most American householdsjust, just don't have a kettle.
But they have guns.
Do have guns.
Yes.
Multiple.
They might have guns.
Zero kettles.
Yeah.
Priorities, Matt?
(04:00):
Well, there's nothing in the,there's nothing in the
constitution that you have tohave boiled water at any point
in your life is there.
Exactly.
It's really not necessary.
No.
Um, yeah, I think that thatannoys me.
Uh, and it's, if I go somewherein America, I ask for tea,
they'd bring me just a wa hotwater tea bag on the side.
Obviously the, the tea bag hasto go in straight away.
(04:21):
'cause it's got, it's gotta hitthe boiling water.
Yeah.
So this time it's alreadydropped 10 degrees.
That annoys me.
Then I have to ask for milk.
Sometimes they bring cream andat this point I've just, I've
just given up right now.
Right.
It's just, yeah, I, I know that.
Do you drink, do you drinkcoffee?
Do you drink any coffee at all?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I could drink, uh, I don'tmind a latte.
And so I think now it's, when Icome to the states, I, I, I tend
(04:44):
to drink a latte'cause I knowthat that's pretty universal
across the world.
Right.
I know what I'm gonna get, but Iwould always prefer a tea.
I have that addiction to a tea.
Yeah.
Not where a coffee.
It's just if I need a hot drink,yeah.
I, um, I'm certainly addicted tocoffee, no way around it.
If I don't have it by aroundnine 30 ish, I'm starting to get
a headache.
So it's a proper addiction.
Get punchy, don't you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Feel for your, feel for yourfamily.
(05:04):
Yeah.
Um.
Okay.
The next one would be that we'repolite and we take politeness to
the extreme, and we apologizefor anything.
What's your thoughts of, youknow, you've, you've mixed with
many British, I I, I don't knowif it's a matter of politeness.
We have a phrase here.
Um, and, and, and it's calledbeing mean.
(05:25):
Nice and nice mean.
So I find many Brits to be nicemeans, stop me if I'm wrong,
where um, they don't outrightsay if something is terrible,
they'll just say, well, that'sinteresting.
You know, so there, there, it's,there's still some sarcasm in
there.
They're just not straight toyour face about it.
(05:46):
Yeah.
That's a different way oflooking at it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, or let's say that you'restuck on the side of the road.
Right.
A Brit will drive by and say,oh, that's really terrible.
Best of luck.
Right.
Versus I guess in the New York.
No, no, no.
We'd say we was, I must, I mustinterject.
Oh, please.
We would say you can't parkthere.
You, you can't park there.
You can't park there.
(06:06):
The car could be upside down onits roof.
Some of the occupants could bedead.
The car could be on fire and wewill pull up beside and go, you
can't park there.
Can't park there.
Come on, man.
And just drive off.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Versus I feel like in the, inthe, the, I'm from Jersey, the
Jersey, New York area.
If we see somebody on the sideof the road, we'll say, look at
this asshole over here.
Come on, let me help you out.
I think there's a, that's what Imean by nice mean, mean nice.
(06:28):
What do you, what do you think?
Am I off here?
Cool.
And also, and then you help meout, correct?
Yes.
Look at this jerk off wasting mytime.
Now I'm gonna be late.
You know?
But you still gotta help themout.
No.
See, the thing is, we could bestuck on a motorway five hour
queue because there's a, there'sa car stuck in a lane.
Right?
And when we get to the front ofthat queue and we get past, then
we go, right, fuck, we're out.
You think if I got out that car,push that car, it'd take two
(06:50):
minutes outta my time.
It'd free up thousands of othercars.
Yes.
Yes.
Now I'm like, when I'm passingit now, fuck him.
Fuck him.
What?
What's that?
Gotta do with me?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, it's not myproblem anymore.
I'm free.
I'm free from this.
I'm past it.
Um, yeah, I think there is athing that we say Sorry a lot.
Yes.
Oh goodness.
And I'm sorry about that.
What can I say?
(07:11):
Yeah, yeah.
What, what, what is with the,uh, with the consistent
apologies from, from the Brits,it's called being polite.
Jerry.
Is that what it is?
Oh, I'm not a fan of it.
Yeah.
Have you ever considered justsaying, get the fuck outta my
way or something within thatrealm?
The only time when any Britbecomes a different person is
when inside the safety of theircar, and then they are swearing
(07:32):
and calling everyone under thesun.
So, you know, this is, you couldhave someone and they're
literally taking five seconds tomove at a green light and you're
going, you are.
Eddie Expletive is, is free forall.
So this is the ion right here.
So essentially, Brits areAmericans when in the privacy of
their own car or home.
To some degree.
Yeah, to some degree, yes.
Right.
But once you're in public,there's a level of composure.
(07:55):
Yeah.
We, you know, we wouldn't wannabe known as American in public,
is that we're just happy being,being private.
You know, I've got, that's,that's just plane.
I'm expressing, I'm expressingmy southern views in the car.
And then as soon as I got thatcar, it's, oh, hello, sir.
Yeah.
I'm really sorry.
Completely there.
It now Qing.
Now there's this thing that welike to cue that's, oh goodness,
(08:16):
why again, but what do you meanwhy?
I just don't understand it?
Give an example where we cueeverywhere.
The bathroom for a cup ofcoffee, a cup of tea.
What I do gonna the newest, thenewest croissant in, in, in a
bakery.
Okay, so queing for thebathroom.
The toilet, yeah.
What am I gonna do?
There's, there's other peoplewaiting.
(08:37):
I'm just gonna push in.
We, we talked about this, if, ifanyone's ever listened, uh, to
any of our prior episodes, theba the answer is no.
The bathroom.
The bathroom is what you makeit.
And yeah, we haven't done ourbathroom episode yet.
That's interesting.
That's a good one.
No, but um, yeah, I mean,you've, you've got to wait your
turn, you queue, right?
(08:57):
So, I mean, I've, the I thingthat's annoying me is the only
time we don't queue.
Is in bars, you line along a barand it's kind of a, it's like a
free for all.
It's Russian ette, right?
I hate it when I go in a bar andI've seen people are actually
queue it, it's kind of a youngergeneration actually form a queue
at the bar and wait for thebarman to, to call someone
forward.
No, no, no, no.
That's not how a bar works.
You, you, you wait.
And then that's down to the,this is a fully trained expert
(09:20):
behind the bar and he'sobviously registered Rainman
style, who is in which order,and he should be able to, to
pick them out.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's, and it takesaway doing, it takes away from
the bar patron trying to get thebartenders, uh.
Sort of, sort of wave their handand, and get their attention.
Right.
And, and you get that feelingof, I I need to assert dominance
(09:42):
in order, in order to drink.
Yeah.
And also this isn't gonna workfor you.
Nonsense going in your mind.
This is where whoever tips highis gonna get served quicker.
That's right.
You've got a whole hierarchygoing haven.
You do.
If you had a Q system, it'sjust, that takes away that, that
need to tip high, doesn't it?
Absolutely.
So, just too bad for poorpeople.
What are you gonna do?
You know, it's.
You got, you got a queue.
(10:03):
To be fair.
Poor people are in line.
That's just, that's just what itis.
No.
Now the next one.
The next one I think.
I think this is written by anAmerican, uh, that we talk about
the weather and we don't talkabout the weather.
Our weather's pretty much shit80% of the time.
That is true.
So why we talk about that?
That's true.
I've never, I've never been tothe UK and someone brought up
the weather.
We know what it is.
(10:23):
It's cloudy.
Next question, right?
Yeah.
Like, it's just not, it's not areal, it's not a real thing.
I agree with you a hundredpercent.
I used to also think that by theway, that you guys were obsessed
with the weather, when in factyou try to get it out of your
head as much as possible.
It's, it's, it's, it's prettymuch gonna be between, for se,
six, seven months, a year, 20degrees.
(10:45):
We've got two weeks of the yearwhere it might be 30 degrees,
and then for about two monthsit'd probably be freezing.
Yeah, there you go.
That's the weather done.
Move on.
Um, that we, we under, weunderstate stuff, so we might
say things not bad when we meanit's good.
Like if you gave me, if you mademe a nice meal and I go, that's
not bad.
That's quite nice.
It's, it's not that I'm beingunderstated, it's more the fact
(11:07):
that it might just just be whatit is.
It's not bad, it's not amazing,but it's, it's not bad.
So I don't believe that one.
Apparently.
Irony is one that we are, welike iron, but I get that it's
our humor.
Yes.
We have better humor.
That is an outrageous statement.
Sweet Jesus.
Did you say better humor?
Yes, of course we are.
Yeah.
Um, better is self-deprecatinghumor.
Self-deprecating?
Absolutely.
(11:29):
And we invented that.
I think that was.
Come from us.
And I think that's some of thebest humor.
And I, I think the Americanhumor you are enjoying has come
from a spinoff of that.
So if we go back to the office,I wouldn't say that that's just
'cause it's a spinoff of a UKshow, that style of humor, that
self deprecating, even thingslike Kirby Enthusiasm.
Yes.
Where it's kind of that you kindof, it's a anti sort of hero
(11:52):
joke.
It's all come from us.
So I think that's what America,fuck yourself America in general
is that, to be fair, I thinkit's essentially just taking,
uh, information and customs fromother cultures and enhancing
them, and I will die on thathill.
I know you are not a fan of thatstatement.
I could see it in your face.
Are you gonna respond to me in aBritish way and say, that's
(12:14):
interesting.
That's an interesting way,that's an interesting way of
looking at it, Joey.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Instead of saying, go fuckyourself, Joey, as I look at
this list, I mean it's uh,whoever made this list, they
can, I dunno, because the nextone is table manners.
We don't eat like animals.
Everyone has table manners.
I mean, I dunno what we'recomparing this to, but I would
(12:35):
agree that's, uh, I, I thinkthat there are some, I think
that there are some differencesthough.
So the Brits are super punctual.
I will say that in comparison toAmericans, see that is actually
on a punctuality is on there.
That's so being a few minuteslate is actually frowned upon in
the uk.
So.
You know, if I was two to threeminutes late, I'm late.
(12:55):
I mean, in some, in somecountries, like, uh, some
countries in Asia, if you're 30seconds late Yeah.
Or if you're on time, you'relate.
But so what's, what's on time inAmerica, on time in America is
essentially we're alive andwe're there.
Right.
For example, even this podcast,I was 15 minutes late.
Right to you, you're on time.
That stereotype held.
(13:16):
Yeah.
Really the first 15 minutesshould have been you sitting in
silence Exactly.
Mumbling, being polite, swearingabout you.
And then as soon as you joinedbeing absolutely two face and
polite to you going, it is fine.
It's fine.
That's absolutely not a problem.
I'm really upset that you're notdrinking a cup of tea.
As we're having thisconversation just to drive the
point home.
I've just got water there.
You, sorry about that.
Yeah.
Um, a pub etiquette that we buyin rounds, but surely you buy in
(13:39):
rounds.
Of course, don't you?
That's not, that's, I mean,we've, we've been out, I've been
out with your friends.
You've been out with my friends.
We're.
Everyone catches around.
Okay, well let's move on to youlot your people.
That's right.
Can, can I don't, I don't meanyour people.
I mean your people.
Of course.
Your people.
Your people, of course.
Um, uh, so friendliness andsmall talk.
You are very outgoing, so, yeah.
So you would, would you chat tosomeone on the subway?
(14:02):
I mean, yeah.
Why not?
Who cares?
No, that's, that's terrorist.
Uh, sort of land there.
You calling me.
You do not talk to anyone.
Somebody makes a conversationwith you on the train.
If you talk to someone on thetube, you're suspicious and
you're being reported to thepolice.
You, in the uk you, you are headdown headphones on.
(14:23):
You do not speak to anyone onthe tube.
It's, it's like a law.
I don't know.
I mean, on the subway, if.
Someone's chatting with you,it's gonna happen.
It's just so common.
There's entertainment on thesubway.
Uh, there's just so much.
It's like a, it's like a, a formof entertainment all in its own
being in the subway, it is an Ato B.
It's an A to B for us.
Yeah, it's, there's noentertainment.
(14:45):
I mean, and there's nothingworse when you get a bus go and
they come on the train.
They get on your train.
That's definitely there.
My, my, my.
Eyes at my feet.
I'm not looking up at all.
Yeah, it's, I think, I think itwould be good content if when I
go to the uk, um, I'messentially breaking all of
these UK stereotypes and normsand just start chatting with
(15:06):
people on the tube and just sortof get their reaction.
It is, but then I haven't gottime to go down to the police
station to bail you out.
I just, I don't have that in mydiary, I'm afraid.
Jeremy, just move on.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So directness, so Americans arevery straightforward and
confident.
Very much so.
I mean, yeah, that's anyone thatknows, you knows that's true.
(15:27):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No way around that.
Enthusiasm, positivity.
You're very enthusiastic abouteverything We are.
That's true.
We we're, and even the air, airculture, when you're here, you
don't, you don't get thatdifference that, that the sweet
smell of freedom.
That's why the rock always takesthat big whiff, you know?
Is that what that's for?
(15:47):
I just thought he let one gobefore he walked out The grid of
position.
Uh, in informality.
So is this true?
So it says here, using firstnames quickly, even with bosses.
I mean, I don't call my boss byhis last name, so that's cool.
Yeah, so I, I, I, I think maybethat, that one's a bit older.
Um, e even even in the states,folks would use, uh, last names,
but now everyone's calling youfirst name or asshole or
(16:10):
dickhead or something withinthat realm.
Uh, okay.
Hospitality, inviting guestsover, that's obviously you do
that and the make yourself athome.
Now, I don't think that's anAmerican thing.
I hear that all around theworld.
But when you say make yourself ahome, how much at home can I
make myself keep your pants on?
Right.
So I think that's fair.
Okay.
Yeah.
Keep your pants on so thenyou're lying.
(16:30):
You're lying.
You.
Uh, or, or try it out.
Go to someone's home that says,make yourself at home and take
your pants off.
Right?
What I would suggest is takeyour shoes off like you normally
would have a drink.
I think it's just relax.
You know, a lot of times we gosomewhere new and we're a bit
uptight.
We want to sort of check out thespace.
It's just a, just a form ofmaking sure your guest feels
(16:52):
welcomed.
But then if I wanna just helpmyself to a drink, would that be
weird?
I think if you came here oncefor the first time, it would be
weird.
You've been, you've been over acouple times already, but No,
but you, if you've said it'sfirst time over, you said make
yourself at home.
I go into the kitchen, open afridge, there's a can of Coke in
there.
I get a Coke, open it.
I stop making myself a sandwich.
(17:13):
Right, right.
I would, I'm making myself athome, but that's a great
example.
I would, I would usher my kidsupstairs and then I would call
the authorities.
Okay, I've got my pants on.
I should find it at this point.
Even.
Even if you went straight to thefridge, I would, first time I'm
calling the authorities forsure.
Okay.
It's good to know.
It's good to know.
Second time's, okay.
I don't own a gun, but I wouldgo out and buy one just at, at
(17:35):
that moment.
Just'cause that, that wouldprove the point that I need a
gun in the how many visits untilI can just help myself in your
fridge.
Maybe three, four.
I think that's fair.
You, you've been enough time, Imean visits, so I can just take
my, and when can I take my padsoff?
That's a good question.
When you start paying the rentor the mortgage, I think that's.
They, they, they, then you havea, to take your pants off.
(17:55):
Well, it's not, I I, I'veliterally made myself at home,
haven't I?
Yeah, exactly.
I've contributed financially.
Yeah.
So that's a, thats a goodstandard I'm on.
When you contribute financially,you can take the pants off.
Fair enough.
Uh, your patriotism andobviously I would say that.
I wouldn't say that Rich and arewell British pride is a, is a
strange thing, but um, obviouslyyou are very, you know, a flag,
(18:18):
a flag on a doorstep is verynormal.
On your front lawn is quitecommon and you, you love the
Nash anthem.
It's, it's, it's everywhere.
I mean, of course you get it,but you get it.
Every sporting event you go to,it doesn't matter.
Um, Matt, it could be friendly.
There are, there are restaurantsyou'll be eating and then the
middle of your meal and thensuddenly people stand up and
(18:39):
just.
Very odd.
I mean that, that I do find oddsporting events all the way.
Okay.
At least you see it's, at leastyou see it's odd.
Yes.
It's middle of a meal or a barto start playing the national
anthem.
I, I just in case people are, dopeople forget they're American
while they're eating their meal?
Um, uh, I think that peopleutilize patriotism here as a
(18:59):
blanket.
My life is shitty, but at leastI'm an American sort of
situation.
It's a good reminder for them.
I, I do like the way that Britsutilize their patriotism though,
because their humor in generalis very self-deprecating.
So patriot, from my eyes, froman American's point of view,
British patriotism is, I'm gonnamake fun of myself, but fuck you
(19:22):
if you try to, right?
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's very true.
I mean.
Just going back to the Nashanthem, the, I'll give you some
scenarios, which I haven't seen.
Mm-hmm.
But I could imagine, and I thinkthey would have a, I could
imagine being in a publicbathroom, they start playing the
American.
The American anthem.
Yes.
And then people on the stoolswould just stand up mid shit and
(19:42):
just absolutely put their hat ontheir chest.
Absolutely.
I mean it, they could be halfwaythrough a drop and they would
just stand up, complete it, sitback down 100%.
See that.
I know.
I'm not saying, oh, that'sobviously a made up scenario,
but it's something that couldhappen now.
I've never had it on an airplanein America, which is strange.
I thought you might have itbefore or after take off.
(20:03):
No, not, not on an airplane thatthat would even be stranger.
What I would say is this.
Do you, do you guys, you know,sort of sing God, save the King
at any event at all or even likeduring, even during championship
games, let's say.
Not a regular league game.
No.
It's the only time, the onlytime you would hear it are when
England play.
(20:24):
'cause it's their nationalanthem.
Right.
Versus another country calleddomestic games.
Yeah.
Domestic games though.
Club games.
Yeah.
You wouldn't hear it at all.
Even if they're playinginternationally.
Um, I dunno actually May No, Idon't think they, like, if, if,
if Man, city and Manu areplaying, they're not playing.
God save the king before thegame starts.
(20:44):
No, no, no.
Not so.
Because everyone knows they'reBritish.
What's the.
Yeah.
Other times maybe on sort oflike, uh, athletics, if a Brit
wins and they're on the podium,well, obviously, you know, you
see the Olympics, of course,Olympics, the time, things like
that, and motor racing.
Uh, well, I've seen in FormulaOne, whoever the winning country
is, they get their anthem.
But it's just, if it was apurely sport in England as in
(21:08):
not playing international, thenno, we're not playing our
anthem.
Fuck it.
Let's get on with it.
Right, right, right.
Normally'cause we can't drink atsome of these.
As I said before, you can'tdrink at these football events.
Why, why do you wanna addanother two minutes into it?
We're like, come on, get thefuck on with it.
We gotta drink.
You know?
Yeah, yeah.
No, I agree.
I agree.
It's, um, I guess you're so usedto it, right?
It's just become a part of, I'vebeen to a ton of sporting
(21:31):
events.
It doesn't matter what sport,it's baseball, basketball,
hockey, football.
But when it's at a restaurant orwhen it's outside of a sporting
event, I'm like, all right,maybe we're taking it a little
too far.
I think let's keep it withinsporting events.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Even then, even then, it's like,you know, I, I, it makes sense
if we're playing against Canada.
(21:51):
Right.
And there's even Americans thatget upset when the Canadian
National Anthem, which I'mpretty sure is, is it God Save
the King as well?
It's O Canada.
It's so Canada.
I'm an idiot.
It's O Canada.
It's so Canada.
Yeah.
It's O Canada.
O Canada is played at sportingevents because there's a lot of
Canadian teams that are part ofjust the majors, right.
So whether it's the N-B-A-N-F-L,not NFL, but uh, MLB, um, and
(22:15):
there's Americans that get upsetwhen O Canada's played in the US
Right.
But you're playing against aCanadian team.
What's the problem?
That is pride in your country,isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
It is very heavy on the prideand that's what we should do.
By the way, we should bring onsome, a Canadian guests or a, or
a German or a Spanish, not theFrench, they're a bit much, but
(22:38):
just to see what their, yeah,what their competitive, yeah.
Now we've essentially northern,we've essentially removed all of
France.
Um, yeah, we've had no downloadsin France and let's be honest.
Yeah.
Which is fair.
I'm always sleep.
Yeah.
Yeah, they're too busy looted ofwriting at the moment.
Anyway.
They always seem to have a lot.
They love a write, so it's fine.
Yes, it's fine.
(22:58):
But I, I, I would agree.
I think that in a general sense,etiquette in the US is big.
It's obvious.
And in the UK it's verycomposed.
Yeah.
We, we know self composure.
It's, that's You do, I think wedo well.
And also I think it's just, webecome bothered, you know?
Yeah.
It's, it's more effort to beenthusiastic.
(23:20):
Why, why are we wasting thateffort?
Everything, you know, evenseeing the national anthem,
that's, it's all effort.
It's true.
I, I just, the one thing I can'twrap my head around, and maybe
you could help with this, it's,again, we're very obvious with
our statements and ourcommunication, but the Brits
love to imply they'd love toleave a little gray area there,
(23:40):
just in case.
It's all about the implication,isn't it?
It's serious.
It really is.
Yeah.
Yeah, sometimes, uh, it's, it'smainly'cause we're shitty.
It's, it's that, yeah, it, deepdown inside we're terrible.
And if I, like, if I saw someonecrying, I'll just go up to and
go, Hey, what's what?
Why are you crying?
Is it because of your haircut?
And just walk off?
(24:01):
Is it because of Yeah.
Or one of my favorite things todo is, um, when you're a party,
got to random a person and justgo.
Personally, I didn't have aproblem with you coming tonight
and then walk off.
It's just that you just gottaleave that, you gotta leave that
little implication.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's plenty of those sort ofthings.
They're brilliant to do.
The, the best part of thatcrying joke, uh, is that a
(24:23):
British person would care ifanother person was crying.
Wouldn't care.
You wouldn't care at all.
You, you, you wouldn't even walkup to that person.
You would probably say, excuseme, sorry.
And just get outta my way.
Yeah.
I'd cue behind them exactly.
Yeah.
Can, can you walk up please?
It's your turn.
If I see someone, no, I, Iwouldn't say that.
I think it's more, uh, I,there's, there's different
(24:46):
people.
Some people see very caring andthey go over, but I, if I see
someone crying, I'm just gonnahave, move away from that.
I've seen that before in anoffice.
A woman start crying.
I'm just back to why I someoneelse, someone else will deal
with this.
Someone more caring and that candeal with this situation.
Yeah.
Who's more emotionally equippedto deal with the situation
where, I'm just gonna generalpat on the back.
And ask him.
It's'cause of a haircut.
Yeah, exactly.
(25:07):
Yeah, even that's a great point.
Even when it comes tocompliments, not just with
negative stereotypes, I, I willoutright say, Matt, you look
fantastic.
If you got a new suit on ordressed nicely, whatever that
looks like, right.
Uh, but a Brit will walk up toyou and say, new haircut or new
clothes, just, it won't outrightsay that you look great.
The compliment isn't all the waythere, but they'll give you some
(25:30):
positive.
It's a question.
It's just a question, isn't it?
Exactly.
It's a, yeah, it's a question.
Do you look nice or am I off?
Like it's not really.
Yeah.
I had this a true story, so I.
I had to meet with hr, not forthe reasons you think it was
more just had a meeting with hr.
Careful now.
Um, and I, and I've only, I'veonly ever spoke to this lady in
HR time, this smart Matt.
(25:51):
Yes.
I have like a recurring meetingin my diary now.
Yeah.
So I'd never actually, I'dnever, I don't think I'd even, I
know I never video spoke to thispersonal teams, but I obviously
have the teams icon and thefirst thing she said to me, and
this is covers your stereotypeperfectly, she went, oh, you
look different in person.
That was it.
Now, do I read that?
Is that could have meantanything?
(26:11):
You look, you look, do you lookbetter in person?
Yeah.
Or do you look worse in person?
'cause either way it's, it's theslightest scale.
I didn't say anything.
It's just that power trip.
And then she carried on with herday.
I'm like, well that's gonnastick with me for the rest of
the day, isn't it?
You really fucking will.
Yeah.
You look different in person.
You look different.
We, well, you look the samebitch.
(26:32):
What am I supposed to, up tothat, you know?
No.
Oh.
Mean, I mean, it, it could beworse.
You could say, think.
Well, you look, you, you, youknow, you're larger than
Exactly.
You know where Larger than Iexpected.
Wow.
Wow.
This, yeah.
None of that weight's in theface on your profile.
Yeah.
Which is it?
Ooh.
All down below.
(26:53):
Well, I think we've coveredeverything.
I think now we've, we've joinedthese two nations.
I know Trump's trying to push itapart by suing the BBC by
billion.
That's right, yeah, yeah.
Does he realize the BBC doesn'thave a billion pounds?
I dunno what he thinks, but hesued, he sued a, B, C here,
which is not, not an equivalent,but a again, a very large, uh,
or probably the largest cablenews, uh, network.
(27:17):
Did he win?
Oh, uh, probably he, he hasn'twon, but they capitulated
they'll, they'll, they'llsettle.
I'm sure.
Okay.
So, I mean, the, the B BBC iskind of not, not for profit, so
it's not gonna have a billionskind of sitin there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, and does he know that it'sowned by.
The people of Britain.
So it's kind of a governmentlyowned.
(27:38):
So really what he's saying thereis everyone in the in Britain's
gotta just chip in and pay him abillion dollars.
It's not, I don't think hecares.
He does not care.
It's not gonna help Britishrelations.
It's not a private company,it's, it's, it's a national, it
means nothing government ownedTrump.
Do you have the, he's abouthimself.
Do you have state or governmentowned TV in America?
(27:58):
We do, yeah.
We have PBS and um.
The current administration istrying to defund it.
Right.
So how does that pay for it?
From your taxes?
Yeah, yeah, from taxes.
It's, it's essentially it'sfunded directly, uh, from the
taxpayer, right?
Yeah.
So it's the same thing as our B,B, C, then.
Same.
So although WePay, which youfind strange that we pay a
(28:20):
license to have B, B, C.
Very odd, very odd.
Even that, I mean, we shouldhave incorporated that in our TV
episode.
Yeah, I mean, it's a strangething.
It's not really, it's called aTV license, but it's not a
license.
It's more, you've gotta think ofit like a Netflix subscription.
We're just paying asubscription, I think it's about
70 pounds something.
Right?
Um, and we're paying that ayear.
(28:40):
So basically it's like payingNetflix.
Exactly.
It's the same, it's the samething, but they call it a
license is a strange thing.
I think it's'cause it is, youknow, it's gone back sort of
many decades and at the time itwas more of a.
A legal license you brought towatch tv and they even had
different costs.
If you wanted just a black andwhite one, it was a bit cheaper.
Yeah.
But obviously now we don't haveblack and white TVs, so I fix
(29:01):
that.
Okay.
I think we're gonna caught itthere.
I think we're, I think we'vecovered it.
I think now we'll just, I mean,I was gonna say, I think we're
start, if we go in longer, we'regonna really start sort of, um,
scraping for content.
But I think you could say thesame, uh, about two minutes in.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
It's really, it's all relativereally.
I'm really interested to seewhat the, the best of bits were
this week.
Yeah, yeah.
(29:22):
Maybe we just, all I could do isjust copy and paste the whole 30
minute podcast into that introbit so it makes it an hour.
So it goes, it's what coming upplays the whole 30 minute
podcast, and then we go backand, and then we play the
podcast.
That's right.
And hopefully in a couple monthswe can, we have some fillers in,
with some commercials.
Yeah.
I mean, long shot.
Yeah.
Listen.
Yeah.
(29:43):
Let's see.
Maybe you can make thoserelationships up, up in the
north next week.
That's right.
No, I'm sure they'll love me.
Yeah.
Okay, well I will you and get ona plane.
That's right.
And I will see you next week.
Cheers.
Okay.
See you later.
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