Americans React to Top 10 Things That Are Weirdly Popular in Britain

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In this video we react to things that are weirdly popular in Britain. These are 10 of the most unique aspects of British culture. From using multiple measurement systems and love for Cheeky Nando’s to celebrating garden sheds, Brits have some very interesting quirks.

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👉 Original Video:

welcome back to the channel guys my name is Steve this is my wife Lindsay and today we’re going to be reacting to the top 10 things that are weirdly popular in Britain I’ve been thinking about what could be on this list and I have a few things in mind one of those things is I’m thinking that pubs have to be on this list because I know pubs are very popular in Britain um I’m guessing that what else could be on this list what do you think fish and chips fish and chips but I don’t know why it would be weird no it maybe by it’s not I I don’t think they mean weird being that this thing is weird I mean that it’s it’s weird that it’s so popular okay you know what I mean so I believe fish and chips could be on this but I understand why fish and chips would be on this list because I love Islands I know you probably don’t love fish and chips but I love fish and chips and it is and it is a big island um what else could be on this list really I mean I I’ve got things that are popping in my head but I don’t know really what I could consider them those like weirdly popular or like overthe top popular I don’t know but anyways let’s go ahead and uh just dive in here and check out these 10 things that are weirdly popular in Britain for this list we’ll be looking at things that are popular in Britain but can appear unusual to those from afar as the saying goes one man’s trash is another man’s treasure what may be common place on our Shores can seem peculiar if not downright unacceptable to other cultures number 10 mixing up the metric system most part we British have made the bridge from old to new and I want to stop here real quick because this is something that Lindsay probably doesn’t know about I know about this but in the UK they use a mixture of the imperial system and the Metro System so while they do use the Metro System you also see them using miles per hour or like speed limits might be in Miles embrace the metric system but we ardently refuse to measure long distance in anything other than Miles Britain birthed the imperial system in the first place and we’re not about to relinquish it fully although we measure most liquids in liters with milk and beer we still like to use pints or sometimes both pints and liters depending on the situation pounds and ounces or kilos and GRS it depends how we feel on the day confused yet yeah you should be yeah number nine round what do you know about the Metro System anything really I mean I remember learning it a a little bit about it briefly in school really a little not much but it went in one year yeah unless you’re really interested inally use it so right that’s the I think that’s the thing that I’ve talked about when I’ve talked about the Metro System before is like you know like a lot of people say Metro system is so much better but it’s like when you grow up on a particular system that’s not the Metro System it’s like you everything in the other system so why would you they now some people brought up the fact that for example like if you look at gun ammunition mhm 9mm for example uh you know like certain things that we do use in the US on a you know or know about on a regular basis uh is measured in Metro System but overall in your day-to-day life we don’t really use it so it’s it’s one of those things that unless you’re going to places regularly that use it or if you’re going into some sort of field some science fields and things like that that probably use metric because especially if they have to work cross like internationally but uh anyway that’s a that’s a topic for another video maybe something that we’ll look into together again I’ve looked at the metric system a little bit but it’s something that I you know i’ still like to explore chemistry class it was metric oh I’m sure yeah I mean it’s been on so long since that I don’t really remember but I’m sure there were parts of metric in school it just wasn’t something that we really were focused on they didn’t Focus teach us you know what I mean it was more about the imperi system than anything else even though we probably had some measurements that were I honestly didn’t even know it was called that what our measurements and don’t know oh well I mean I’ve heard metric system but I don’t it honestly doesn’t surprise me again like unless you were like super into that type of subject in school or you’ve had to like if you were in some sort of uh field like a science field that you would be using that term on a regular basis it might not be something that you would even think about I don’t know how I knew that but but I did know that you know but uh yeah roundabouts you turned into a [Music] roundabout Britain loves going round in circles and now we’re not referring to International diplomacy although France has the exclusive bragging rights of having over half of the world’s roundabouts the UK has more per road than those across the channel than any other country for that matter but are they really so necessary everyone else manages to avoid blu’s Brothers style pilot without them perhaps they’re just a longstanding joke made by British Road designers I just want to take a look at this real quick and see like theistic yeah I’ve seen some roundabouts and and I can’t I must say a lot of people have talked about this in the comments that the roundabouts are very um uh they keep traffic moving and I can see how when you like everybody like think about if we’re at a Crossroads we have to wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for people to go but on a roundabout you would just be a pull pull in and just continue going around until you get off on your circle and I mean on your exit I mean that’s cool but I just I’ve never felt like it’s been a problem no it hasn’t I I don’t think it’s been a problem but you have to wonder about designs like this would if we did have them would it improve certain traffic situations I could see in higher traffic areas yes I I can too or an elaborate excuse to bust out the spirograph they got for Christmas last number eight cheeky nandos it’s Friday night and we’re all feeling a bit peckish Lads you know what that means a cheeky nandos said no one outside of Britain ever restaurants can be found worldwide but the chain has basically become a British institution just compare the UK’s 280 plus branches to the much bigger USA’s only 40 Outlets when you’re a bit tired of Sunday roasts and fish and chips some Portuguese style chicken dishes are the obvious alternative it wasn’t it wasn’t called this but I feel like we went somewhere similar in Thailand it was like a Portuguese okay I I need to look up Cheeky nandos to see if see if like he said that’s in the US right wait there’s one there’s I I he said something about there’s the 280 or whatever uh chains there are in um the UK versus the 41 that are in the US but I’ve never heard of it never heard of it let me check that out real quick okay so it’s Nando nandos I wonder if it’s called cheeky nandos in the UK and then nandos everywhere else maybe they no I think maybe they just add that when they say it you know what I mean it was founded in uh South Africa South Africa that’s so random that it’s really popular in the UK Perry Perry chicken yes we went somewhere like this it wasn’t called n hold on let’s see Asia no see it in Thailand saying it wasn’t this chain but it was a similar I remember Perry Nando open his first restaurant location within the United States in 2008 H okay uh ju there are 45 of these I’ve never heard of it only present within DC Baltimore Chicago Houston and Dallas so uh wait 12 in Illinois well that’s the Chicago area uh Virginia that’s why it’s only in a few different states that’s why we’ve never heard of it okay interesting all right let’s let’s go back but the UK is Nando’s largest market it’s random all right Nando’s marinades are available in supermarkets too so you can have that Perry Perry perfection even if you’re having a night in number seven okay by the way uh that is a very weirdly popular thing yeah because like origin in South Africa right and and and the UK is its biggest market for some reason and so that’s one of those things would consider consider weirdly popular something that was originated another country that is now uh somehow a thing yeah that’s interesting Curry might be one of those other things Cur that’s true T and Curry would be one of those other two things I don’t know if they I know I don’t think I don’t see T being on here but maybe the garden shed oh yes I follow so many accounts on Instagram in the UK and they all have these like beautiful little book sheds in their Gardens love it book shed yeah well like they use it as their like little book material you would know that like I would love it Lindsay follows a lot of like reading accounts and things so she’s always uh looking at things like that but uh I love a good garden shed I mean they’re useful but I don’t know if that’s exactly do that that doesn’t look like what we’re seeing here what is used for the G shed’s used for I don’t know but I feel like here in the US it’s a she shed a what she shed have you heard of that like men have their man caves and now women want she sheds no I I get what you’re saying but I’ve never heard that term before is that term you made up no it’s what it’s called it’s a she shed M she sh I I usually decorated all cute and feminine no kidding okay I don’t know if that’s what this is but H I don’t know the garden shed inhabitants of more spacious nations may simply store their lawnmowers and other gardening equipment in their garages and such but in the UK every square meter or that is every square foot counts and a shed at the end of the garden can be highly practical in addition to the norm however some residents have decided to pimp out their sheds even having some homemade bars Arch Studios or saers yes I love that if that wasn’t extravagant enough the phenomenon has been rewarded with a shed of the Year competition wow did you see that yeah shut of the year or two that’s like a greenhouse shed with a living roof what is going on with the internet today okay there we go wow got like a garden on top of their Garden do you guys I mean like like I could appreciate a shed right I can appreciate a garden shed for usefulness of like uh you know storing your mowers and your your trimmers and your let us know in the comments do you have like this type of shed that’s like extravagant more than just something you store your goods in have you turned it into a man cave or a Sheed as she is a book Cottage or a book Cottage um or anything other than anything Whimsical I want to know about it right like I would love to look into some of those we love like interesting uh building designs and and Tiny structures tiny structures and things like that yeah we really enjoy that type of thing and usefulness like look at this this is cool I love that um but that’s not something we generally see here I mean you you talk about something on a sha that I’ve never heard of man caves which I’m sure usually in the house of right it’s sure it’s usually in a in an unused bedroom or maybe the garage or something they might have a little bar and some like a like a TV and a c you know some bar stools and stuff like that but there’s generally speaking the garden shed is used as just tools and stuff so this is interesting to me competition number six public drunkenness we may be admired by the rest of the world for our many traditional English pubs but with a lot of drinkeries comes a lot of drunkenness and traditionally enough we Brits have seemingly no shame in getting unabashedly intoxicated in public particularly when there’s a World Cup on in fact any sport event will do just fine Cricket rugby darts the list goes on with the crowds getting merrier and merrier and that’s not to mention music festivals or Royal weddings or every lunch break at work number five the is that weird ly popular is that is that something like is it I don’t know if that’s something I would consider weirdly popular is it but I feel like in this scenario he’s talking about more just public acceptance of this is how our culture the drinking culture yeah I I I did want to bring up what you said about the laws though because here there are lots of laws against public drunkenness if you’re drunk in public you’re probably going to be taken to jail um and I’m curious is that well you can be drunk but like if you’re stumbling around and like causing a scene well yeah but I’m saying like I don’t know where the line is in regards of where you’d be arrested for that I don’t think it would be a big deal unless you’re causing trouble for people like like yeah if if you if someone literally is been drinking and they’re walking down a sidewalk and they’re nobody’s going to know they’re drunk if they’re not so drunk but if they’re stumbling and like you know they’re probably going to get arrested if the police see them let us know in the comments guys what are the public drunkenness laws where you’re at because um here it’s if you are making some sort of s and don’t even have to really be a big scene but if you if you are if the police know you’re drunk in other words like stumbly walk straight yeah they’re going to they’re going to take you on probably the downstairs toilet cly popular I mean I feel like that’s a thing here but is it weirdly I mean if you have a twostory house yeah if you have a twostory house usually you’ll have at least half bathroom where it’s just the toilet I’m trying to think and a sink yeah pretty much I think well I will’t say like if it’s an older two-story house probably not like a house that was built in the 30s or 40s but if it’s an older two-story house most likely the bathrooms in the bottom floor right yeah so I mean so yeah I’m not really sure where this is going downstairs toilets not only are downstairs toilets untraditional in most places outside the UK they’re often not even referred to as to at all really apparently going to the bathroom is the more polite substitute for when one’s in need of the lavatory it’s easily Lost in Translation for an outsider in Britain though as the so-called downstairs bathroom as in toilet doesn’t usually include the supposedly expected tub and shower but beyond that the downstairs L is actually seen as an ultra convenience in the UK negating the need to climb the stairs every time you need to go number four okay so yeah that’s like what we would call half bath mhm and it is interesting that we call Bath of any sort bathroom bath um but it’s just I don’t know I don’t know why we call a half bath a bath because it doesn’t have a bath in it because we generally bathroom yeah we generally say bathroom a restroom so yeah and they use the word toilet usually football stickers is obviously what we would call soccer stickers but I’ve never seen soccer stickers here um and wait wait I just realized what is a what is a football sticker because I was thinking for a second I was thinking of baseball and basketball cards M so that’s obviously I don’t know what this is what are you use them for I don’t know football stickers why collect stamps and have all those images scrapbook when you can compile football stickers and have the likes of JN Joe Shelby smiling out at you against a super shiny background and if you don’t have the album at hand you can stick your favorite player or anything the possibilities are endless many of football fans grew up desperately trying to complete their Premier League sticker albums they will always seem you a one David Sean away from Victory it’s a passage but it does get a little weird when grown adults shell out hundreds for that Derby County left back they desperately need number three your vision I like that concept better than cards yeah it because it’s it it probably uh you could have more yeah that’s what I was get and easier to save although I will say with like our baseball cards and trading cards like that M you can’t really sell those into individually make money off of them got s the whole yeah you got to sell the whole thing okay that’s interesting yeah I had a ton of baseball basketball cards when I was little when I was growing up and um I ended up giving them all to my uh nephew and now I’m sure a lot of more I know a lot of them are worth a ton of money but uh I was just like trying to be a minimalist getting rid of stuff yeah Eurovision a lot of people want me to show you euro vision I check it out a little but I don’t know what it is is the only thing in Britain that’s popular despite us not being very good at it see International football but all the same the UK has won Eurovision far more times than the countries within it have taken the World Cup home and far more recently as well British entries who have conquered Europe’s mushy pop scene Through The Years include Sandy Shaw’s puppet on a string in Kina and Wes a performance comp there have been some low points but that won’t stop us throwing Eurovision parties every single year for the rest of our lives will it number two Pancake Day Tuesday was originally a day for Christians to make a confession to their priest ahead of starting a 40-day fast but similar to how Christmas has essentially become an annual excuse to binge on Turkey drove Tuesday has become an excuse to shove your face with fried flour smothered in butter hence it’s better known name Pancake Day it is celebrated elsewhere being more bluntly known as Fat Tuesday in the US but not many take it as seriously as Bri oh yeah until you’ve seen or compete in a pancake flipping race you just haven’t lived number one secondhand stuff no everyone’s got in on the act of purchasing and selling secondhand goods for discount prices in the 21st century but long before the internet took over everything Brits were hoovering up deals at their local car boot sales these aren’t subtly trendy thrift stores All America they’re good oldfashioned non nonsense bringing by bonanzas if there’s not a boot sale on there’s an abundance of charity doors to rummage through and when we Brits aren’t poking around for the perfect pre-owned purchase we’re watching daytime TV shows where people sell the content of their assets for profit no bargain goes unhunted in these parts do you agree with our pics all right guys okay number one is my favorite that was interest I love I love secondhand stuff I love old stuff I love antiques I love yeah uh Lindsay is the queen of thrift say queen no you are you’re the queen of thrift runs in my family yeah your mom all a uh yeah my mom my aunt well I work there too but they had their own like con like not Consignment like antique thrift store kind of place and I loved it so that’s something I can get behind I know you can you love Thrift it’s one of your favorite things auctions too are auctions a thing in the UK that’s true I well I’m sure they are they have to have like a state sales stuff like that but i’ I’ve never really looked into it or know I don’t know anything about it but uh yeah but what I want to say about euro vision real quick is that I’ve only looked into a little bit so it’s all of Europe yeah it’s it’s a big thing yeah and if I’m not mistaken don’t Australia and Canada I’m not sure about that but I think Australia and Canada might be a part of M I don’t know I can’t remember but it seems like they were um let us know in the comments guys what company I mean countries are part of Eurovision usually but um I remember like a lot of the country’s competitions are like they like get dressed up in like costumes and it’s like funny and like sometimes they’re over-the-top bad performances and people you know just people laugh and uh it’s it is something that is very interesting I’d love to catch it one year when when we can I don’t know what time what time of year it comes on but I don’t even know how he would probably I don’t know where we’ see it that like live pretty cool but uh yeah like I’m surprised most of these were things that I really hadn’t heard of either heard of or thought about very much I mean you know a couple of these like really stuck out of me as like that’s interesting but uh yeah the the the this is what Lindsay wants to do she wants to come over there and go thrifting now we probably we probably come back with like a whole suitcase full of like old pay the the gate or what she does I’m not it’s not an exaggeration Lindsay loves to Thrift Shop I do I’ve tried not to as much anymore because I’m trying to be more minimalist yeah and I just always find something I have to have so yeah we call them thrift stores here us uh the Goodwill um consignment shops uh Salvation Army Salvation Army what if the other one St Vincent oh yeah but but uh yeah anyways guys um but thank you so much for stopping by guys please click that like button feel free to drop your comments or suggestions about this video or others and don’t forget to subscribe to continue to follow us on our journey to discover our British and Irish ancestry till next time guys peace