An American woman living in the UK has revealed the top most baffling British customs she has come across since moving to the country – from unique phrases that left her scratching her head to the array of options available in grocery stores.
Content creator Iniki MacColl, 29, who is originally from Saint Cloud, Florida, but now lives in the English city of Peterborough, has made dozens of videos about how things are done across the pond.
Iniki shared in a recent TikTok video that she has faced serious culture shocks from seeing children walking to secondary school alone there and witnessing British people’s calmness during a crisis.
In the clip, she said it was very strange and initially worrying to see British children walking to school by themselves and said that in the States everyone would get a ride to school in a car or a yellow bus.
An American woman living in the UK has revealed the top most baffling British customs to her 66,000 online followers and created an online storm
‘Growing up, I lived in a very rich, affluent town which was super safe and I wasn’t allowed to walk to school at 16 and the school was less than a mile away.
‘My mom was a stay-at-home mom [and] she picked us up and dropped us off every day.’
Iniki believes walking to school is actually helpful in encouraging children to become more independent.
‘I honestly do believe it’s such a good thing because my parents babied me and I’m afraid of my own shadow.’
Her video sparked a lively discussion, with some commentators saying it is also normal in Australia and New Zealand for children to walk to school alone.
‘Imagine, you could have had a whole mile to gossip with your mates on the way to school,’ joked one viewer.
‘Seen cost of petrol in the UK? My kids walk, wind, rain and snow, no excuses,’ said another.
Iniki said she decided to move to the UK after falling in love with her British husband, Sam. ‘I was immediately swept off my feet in love and knew I found the Mickey to my Minnie,’ she said
British customs that an American finds baffling Buses everywhere, even in small townsBritish people appearing very calm in a crisisChildren walking to secondary schoolBritish slang, such as ‘curtain twitcher,’ ‘gobby,’ and ‘Bob’s your uncle’The pronunciation of ‘yoghurt’ Bendy country roads which are both ‘beautiful’ and ‘terrifying’Much smaller houses in the UK versus USA and no laundry room
‘Try being a Brit and then living in CA for college and walking the 45 mins to get there and being told people might think I’m homeless because it means I must be too poor to own a car and because I have to take a backpack,’ shared someone else.
‘Really, have you ever encountered “the school run” when parents basically shut down the town with their parking,’ asked another British viewer.
Another learning curve for Iniki was discovering the slang words of ‘curtain twitcher,’ ‘gobby,’ and ‘Bob’s your uncle’, all of which she said she struggled to get her head around after moving.
Speaking about her decision to relocate, Iniki said she decided to move to the UK after falling in love with her British husband, Sam.
‘I was immediately swept off my feet in love and knew I found the Mickey to my Minnie.
‘I was never really quite sure what I wanted to do with my life so it was easier for me to take the leap of faith and move.
‘One of the things that always took me aback about Brits is how calm they are.
‘They don’t take life too seriously, which I love.
‘I always remember when my husband had his expensive bike stolen from our flat and his reaction was a little something like: “Good morning, I hope you slept well. I have to pop into work for a few hours this afternoon, but I’ve prepped the dinner to go in the slow cooker, cleaned the car, and oh, someone stole my bike when I woke up.”
‘I’ll never forget his reaction, because he’s always just so calm which I am not used to.
‘When I met Sam over six years ago, I would have described him as the typical Brit – beautiful accent, sarcastic humor and that British charm and politeness.
Iniki said because she is American, sometimes she is taken seriously when she is trying to be sarcastic, which can be awkward for her.
‘However, now he uses a lot of the same American terminology as me – chips are now fries to him, football is now soccer.
‘He is also way more obsessed with American football than I ever was and spends all of the fall and winter watching all the games he can, early into the wee morning hours.’
Iniki said because she is American, sometimes she is taken seriously when she is trying to be sarcastic, which can be awkward for her.
‘One of the things that I feel Brits are so much better at than Americans is sarcasm.
‘So while I totally understand sarcasm and can appreciate it, my delivery isn’t so fantastic.
‘There’s a video where I start saying something like: “Wait, British kids walk to school? What?”
‘In it, I am trying to be sarcastic but it’s obviously not interpreted like that since I receive some fun comments, one being: “That is cause there is not any guns so they won’t get shot.”
Iniki said she sadly does get unpleasant comments where people make false assumptions about Americans or try to mock their way of life.
‘I do receive many very ignorant comments, mainly down to guns in America.
‘I shared a video around what I thought was the closest equivalent to a big box American store and what the differences are to a shop in the UK versus America.
‘One of the things I mentioned was the vast selection of alcohol in UK shops, whereas in America, there’s really just some beer and wine available in our big shops such as ASDA.
‘As much as I love the UK and this is now home, my husband and I have said we would love to move back to America,’ she confessed
‘I also [did] add that for hard liquor, you’d need to go to the liquor store, as our stores like Walmart and Target aren’t typically allowed to sell those.
‘Of course, the most common comment I received was how backwards America is, and how we can buy guns at Walmart, but not booze.
‘This is a common misconception that no matter how many times I explain, will always come up.
‘I just tend to ignore the comments, as I don’t speak for the whole of America and don’t necessarily agree with everything that goes on there.’
Iniki said she does miss the United States, particularly her family and living so close to Disney World.
‘Before I moved, I was about a 30 minute drive to the parks, so to leave that behind is still a sore subject.
‘As much as I love the UK and this is now home, my husband and I have said we would love to move back to America.
‘Having come from a big Hispanic family, I really let a lot of people down by moving and it’s really had a damper on my family dynamic.
‘I would love to rebuild all the relationships with my family members and be close with them again, so moving back is not out of the question.
‘I don’t think we would move to Florida though, as my British husband can’t take the heat.
‘For the foreseeable future, this is most definitely where we will be settling.’
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