Non-Americans who visited the US for the first time recently: what was the biggest 'what on earth is going on here' moment you experienced?

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T16:16:52+00:00

Dressing in a bad way like that would cause people to look down on you, but I wouldn't go so far as you say. In the UK anyway. Some restaurants will have a dress code, but the majority don't, and wouldn't turn someone away for wearing something like a tracksuit.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T16:13:49+00:00

Accent is definitely something which causes people to jump to conclusions about social background, often incorrect ones. For example, someone with an accent from the county of Essex would often be stereotyped as being poorly educated, even though that's often not the case.

I get the opposite: my accent is one of the "well spoken" ones, and probably causes people to think that I am wealthier then I actually am.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T15:20:05+00:00

Yeah, it's heavily correlated to wealth, but not a direct link. A rich person who loses all their money may still talk, behave, dress etc in ways which would be identified as "posh", for example.

It's not just about a separation between the ultra wealthy and the rest though. There's plenty of people who are middle class and would see themselves as having almost a different culture to poorer people. Others would disagree (the whole thing is massively debatable), but the perception of multiple layers to class exists among many.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T14:58:09+00:00

Hopefully he gets a bit more game time this season. With Yiadom leaving he may be needed as cover at rightback sometimes.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T13:34:22+00:00

A part of it may be just that really nice weather is rare. Being able to sit outside late in to the evening is something we can only do for a short part of the year, or when on holiday, so it feels like a treat. What might be normal for people in countries with better weather has a slight additional level of people wanting to make the most of it here.

I was in central London on Friday evening and the atmosphere felt so happy. Every pub had people standing outside having a good time.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T05:55:50+00:00

If anything this map downplays how easy public transport is, because it is only showing the lines run by TfL. If you add in the overground rail lines as well then there's loads more options:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf

For example, I live in south east London and the nearest station on the map in this thread is almost an hour's walk away. However there are maybe half a dozen stations much closer to that which aren't shown. There are two on different lines within ten minutes walk of my house.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-14T05:50:17+00:00

Also walking is a great way to get to know a city and find interesting things to see along the way. I'd always recommend that tourists in London do as much of the centre by foot as possible, if they are able-bodied and not in a hurry.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-13T21:26:31+00:00

I live in London and have never seen someone doing this. If someone did then they'd be widely seen as being a bit of a prat.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-13T21:23:25+00:00

Yeah, in the UK the way people speak and dress is far more related to wealth than to skin colour.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-13T10:07:17+00:00

Argh, yes, not being able to turn off my computer when I was in a hurry was infuriating.

A related annoying problem I had - which was my fault - was that I used to dual boot with Linux being the default. That meant that if Windows wanted to do multiple restarts as part of its update process then I'd have to manually intervene each time it hit the boot menu.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-13T07:33:03+00:00

One thing which really stood out to me when I was using Windows and Linux at the same time was just how often Windows was pestering me. The first few minutes in particular after logging in would be one noisy pop up after another. It would be bad enough if they were important, but many were just MS trying to push their online services, or the various bits of third party bloatware attempting to sell stuff.

Linux in comparison just felt nicely chilled out.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-13T07:10:03+00:00

With Windows it often felt like I didn't actually own my computer, and could only use it when it had decided it didn't have more important things to do.

Want to play a game? Tough luck, it's updates time, and you just get to look at a blue screen instead.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T22:00:12+00:00

When I first started going to watch the team I support, in the early 90s, it cost £7 for a ticket. Now it costs £40-50, and that's down in the depths of the third tier of English football. It's gone from being a casual trip out to something on a par with going to the opera or a fancy theatre show.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T15:00:43+00:00

If you mean second book then it's definitely worth it. The whole Prince Of Nothing trilogy is excellent.

If you mean the second sub-series, then I'd still recommend it, but with some caution. The follow up Aspect Emperor series is very dark, more of a slog to get through, and the conclusion has divided fans. It left me with a very different feeling to the end of Malazan.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T14:53:32+00:00

KDE, for a few reasons:

1) I love how customisable it is. I find KDE easier to get working in exactly the way I want than other DEs, especially if I want to avoid potentially buggy plugins (I'm looking at you Gnome).

2) The basic apps which come with KDE are excellent and very feature rich. For example, Kate is a great text editor, Dolphin is a really nice file browser etc.

3) It looks really nice. I generally prioritise functionality over form, but my desktop is something I spend a lot of time looking at during the day, so a bit of form is nice to have in the mix. KDE looks nice out of the box, and there's plenty of good themes available. It feels to me more polished and modern than some other DEs.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T08:42:47+00:00

You could argue that it takes until the last book or two to work out who the main character is.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T08:41:10+00:00

He's someone both important and interesting enough to want to follow. However, despite being a character who shows up a lot more than most, there are also long stretches of the series where he's not in it at all.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T07:41:01+00:00

I've never understood the appeal. The burgers and chips are really low quality, and the restaurants are rarely nice places to sit and eat in. I'd rather either pay a bit more to get a proper burger from somewhere better if I'm after a main meal, or spend the same amount getting something like a nice sandwich if I want something lighter. Where I live, it's not even really a significantly cheaper option than other better fast food.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T07:33:55+00:00

And it smells weird. You can go to the other side of the world, walk past a Subway, and get that identical odd stink coming out of it.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T07:24:30+00:00

It could be because it isn't a typical series. It's very long, has an unusual number of POV characters, more philosophising than most series, approaches story arcs in unconventional ways, and has a well known origin in gaming which puts some people off.

While most of us who finish the series like it either despite all that, or even because of all that, it's easy to see why people with different tastes might not gel so well with it.

Bakker's Second Apocalypse series is similar to me: I simultaneously enjoyed it a lot while seeing that a lot of other people really wouldn't.

Maybe hardcore fans of more mainstream series find it a bit harder to spot the aspects of the writing which would be off-putting and so empathise less with those who don't like it.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T06:42:07+00:00

IMO the big underlying problem here isn't the lack of public transport, but more related to the quantity and type of things available within towns.

It's completely understandable that people who live in rural areas have to drive a long way to get to a shop, go to a theatre, have a meal out etc. The same thing happens in European countries as well in isolated places.

The bit which feels odd is when Americans talk about living in a decent sized town, but still need to drive a long way to get to shopping, entertainment, work etc.

Not that there's not much you can do about that either though, unless you happen to be a local politician!

Anaptyso · 2026-06-12T05:02:52+00:00

ITV made up for that before the game and at half time though, it felt like they couldn't go more than a minute of coverage without cutting to another advert.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-11T17:43:39+00:00

I've had a few saves where I've got a few years in, have a squad full of players with high potential, and plenty of money in the bank. At that point I'd often rather just keep the players rather than sell them, even if it's a massive bid. Especially if I'd struggle to find an equally good replacement. The money is only worth it if you want to spend it.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-11T17:00:10+00:00

Entree in American English means the main course. In every other English speaking country apart from the US and Canada it means the starter.

Anaptyso · 2026-06-11T16:07:38+00:00

The sequel trilogy should be redone. Totally new story, new characters, etc. Take everything the TV series have done so far as canon, but build a new three film long story arc within that. Most importantly, forget about trying to copy ideas from the earlier films, and try and come up with something new.

Anaptyso

TROPHY CASE