I am still enamored by British culture and Britain in general

But after attacks on my character from some Fodor Brits - yes for being anti-Brit and the bogus charge of plagiarizing and only cutting and pasting has left a bad taste in my mouth - the 'don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out' was the last straw, especially from one of the most constantly zealot anti-American posters on Fodors.

zeppole: Well, it definitely won't offend anyone if you call it a Ferris Wheel - but the London Eye isn't one. It is an "observation wheel" which is a different animal. (Now - wikipedia will say a ferris wheel = an observation wheel. But a lot of the info on wikipedia is worth what it costs ;)

Zeppole thanks for correcting this British misconception about Ferris Wheels - spot on as they may say. The Eye appears indeed to be a Ferris Wheel. Great that you point out even the Guardian calls it a ferris wheel!

First, I didn't read as of the replies, so forgive me if this has been mentioned. One thing I found is that we Americans tend to be thought of as being a bit rude. I remember the first time I purchased train tickets by stating "two tickets to Bath" or where ever. It wasn't until later that I noticed the local greeting each other and being polite " Yes please, could I purchase two ticket to Bath, Thank you very much indeed". So, be polite, say thank you and smile!

About the Tube escalators, standing on the right, passing on the left seems perfectly sensible to me. But isn't this the opposite of how you drive? On the road it's drive on the left, pass on the right. So how did the Tube practice develop? Were escalators in use before cars?

And when someone from the Midlands or East London or Wales or Scotland says something to you, it is not polite to ask them "Do You speak English"?

Queues are still at times a tradition it seems when it involves middle class Brits and up but not the many ethnic elements IME - esp at bus stops where the polite queueing seems a thing of the past it seems

Yes, I think that "please" and "thank you" are expected.
I was also a bit put out when an American tourist came up to me and just snapped, "Which way to the Walls?"

I would be more likely to say, "Excuse me, but could you please tell/direct me.....etc."

As to the OP's question.
If you want information or directions, call it the London Eye or the Eye.
Apart from that, I can't imagine anyone caring if you call it a hamster wheel.

<i>Look RIGHT for traffic when crossing a street.</i>

Look BOTH WAYS. Streets have a nasty habit of reversing direction without notice.

esp at bus stops where the polite queueing seems a thing of the past it seems


Fiddlesticks!
I visit London quite often and regularly get a bus from the East End of London.
All along the route, I always find people good humoured and polite and far friendlier than tube passengers.
I am always impressed by how often people will get up and offer their seats to older people (including me) and women with small children.
Perhaps that particular route has real Londoners travelling, rather than tourists.

View thru the Prism may be more the rule than i've experienced - this Feb i rode several buses and queues evaporated into chaos when the bus pulled up - it was mainly immigrant types i noticed and no one was giving up any seats. But perhaps i had exceptional bus experiences. Prism no doubt has more experiences than I.

I don't know what you mean by immigrants, but I find both on the tube and bus that young black men are the people most likely to give up their seats.

I imagine them hearing their Jamaican grannies saying, &quot;Show some respect, son. Give the old lady your seat!&quot;

&gt;&gt;I can't imagine anyone caring if you call it a hamster wheel.&lt;&lt;

Boy, that hamster's huge...

And as for bus queueing, it's a bit more subtle nowadays (in London at least), mainly because there are more buses about and it's rare not to be able to get on the first one that comes along. Even so, the amorphous crowd tends to go in for a certain amount of &quot;will you won't you&quot; as they cluster round the door, which includes some deferring, mostly to the obviously infirm and people with prams and some demonstrative shoulder-broadening to the people who are too obviously pushing. I do notice an interesting exception in my morning commute, though: there's one stop where the pavement is narrow, and there everyone forms an old-fashioned queue.

Thanks to flanner, for stating the simple facts in a way (I hope) most folks here will understand.

And if you leave the train, step away from it to let the other people behind you get out, do not stand or party in front of the ticket vending machines, you'll not find out how to operate them anyway... JUST ASK A LOCAL!

To the people with small kids: Don't use your &quot;buggy&quot; as a weapon, cutting into crowds of people.

And if you ever jump a queue, we germans will kill you!


Just be civilized!

&quot;And if you ever jump a queue, we germans will kill you!&quot;

And you wonder why Germans were voted the unfriendliest tourists in Europe? :)

&quot;D&uuml;sch is fei n&uuml;t des &Auml;nd d'r Schlang&quot;
:-).
hallo schuler, we're just mean people.
Is &quot;Schlang&quot; correct?

Well they have abolished the law that said you MUST queue for a bus, oh and it is queue not a line.

Good advise to look both ways when crossing the Rd - there are parts of London where bus lanes go in the opposite direction to the one way system - Picadilly springgs to mind.

Mimar

yes we drive on the left, but I was taught as a child to walk facing oncoming traffic - and we had to walk on the right hand side of the corridor in school - that one is so ingrained I still do it on corridors.

One that you are not likely to do in London, but might else where.

A friend of lived in Bridgenorth - pretty little place in Shropshire and her house was a 400 year old cottage.

In the summer she got fed up of American tourists looking through the window and shouting to each other how quaint it was.

If a house has a door straight onto the street with no garden or path it is not OK to go look through the window.
ne that

&quot;If a house has a door straight onto the street with no garden or path it is not OK to go look through the window&quot;

Oh yes it is.

I've hardly ever lived in any other kind of house. If I don't want people looking, there are curtains. Practically no-one in a civilised street ever uses them.

The fashion among the middle and upper classes (if you've got an inherited title you're upper class, whether you're living in Toffs Hall, Gloucs or 14 Minimews, W10) for at least the past 40 years has been not to draw the curtains, unless you're bonking or you've got student relatives kipping on the sofa. And to art-direct the front room on the assumption you'll be getting gawped at.

The working classes, OTOH, still keep their front curtains closed (as I did when I was a proper pleb). This is a far more consistent social marker than what you call the loo, whether you put the milk in first or whether you stack the plates.

&gt;for example in Hawaii, when someone refers to The mainland - its not taken very well....... &lt;

As someone who is from Hawaii, this statement is just baffling. Everyone refers to the continental U.S. as &quot;the mainland&quot;. I really can't think of any situation in which someone would be offended by such a reference.

On the other hand, it does not go over very well when the locals are referred to as &quot;natives&quot;, though.

&quot;The Mainland&quot; is interesting.

In England, there's a bit of a fashion of referring to what everyone used to call the Continent as &quot;mainland Europe&quot;. For some people using &quot;the Continent&quot; has a sort of blimpish quality to it.

In Northern Ireland, however, referring to the big island in the British Isles as &quot;The Mainland&quot; apparently gives offence - or at any rate lots of people in Northern Ireland get all antsy about it. In fact there are lots of similar elephant traps throughout Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where getting on your high horse about nothing in particular is a way of life. Should you visit one of these perpetual whining factories, re-post your question.

As a general rule, we of the Irish Republic care just as little about apparent offensiveness as we English. Some Ulsterpeople in the Republic get irritated about the British habit of using &quot;Ulster&quot; to describe Northern Ireland, and many of us get very offended indeed when ill-informed visitors think we have any time at all for the murdering scum in the IRA or the idiots abroad who support them. Otherwise, practically the only exception is calling our country, when you're speaking English, &quot;Eire&quot;. PalQ knows this, and why he goes out of his way to use this mildly offensive, and anti-Irish, term is one of life's little mysteries

I'm aware of the &quot;Eire&quot; thing, flanner, but what's the reason? Wasn't that what appeared on the coinage at one time (or is my memory failing me)?

&quot;Mind the gap&quot;

:S-