Hello everyone. So today in Lulu’s Happy Hour, we're going to launch a new segment called Across the Pond 《英美大不同》. Hello, James. Hello, Anlan.

Hello everyone.

Hi everyone.

OK, question 6: you are sitting in the quiet carriage of the intercity express and another passenger breaks the silence by chatting on their cellphone just as you are trying to take a nap, what would you do? Um, James?

We don't have quiet carriages in America, so being on a bus, train, subway, uh you are free to talk or talk on the telephone. I mean Americans do have a reputation for being kind of loud in compare to say European and the European countries in the UK.

So on your public transport is perfectly fine if I talk on my cellphone? People will not give me the looks?

They wouldn't, no. Um they would give you looks if you were talking too loudly or if you were listening to music without your headphones.

Ok. I suppose this is going to be very different in the UK. Let's hear from Anlan.

I would say that in the UK what they would do is they would probably cough or kind of you make your... how should I say, you make your displeasure known, you make it known that you're annoyed without actually confronting that person.

It sounds like one of your biggest weapons; one of your most frequently used weapons is like you will hint, you’ll cough and tut.

Well yeah, that’s because we just don't like to be direct and I think this is also kind of something from our culture. These are things that British people do recognize and they would actually feel quite embarrassed when people doing this.

Sure that, you know, when you hear cough all the time for displeasure, you might get an American to say like ‘Are you ok? Would you like to get medicine? ’

That's what we call like a judicious cough. So we call it a cough to show unhappiness. So it's quite exaggerated, it's like that. If anyone actually had that cough for real then they should be in the hospital.

Well that's why James is asking, are you OK. Alright, next question. So this is more sensitive in any culture because this is, there's a power distance. You and your boss, your boss invited you to his house or her house for dinner, but you were there and you discovered the bread they're serving is moldy. So it's, you can't eat it, it's bad, the food has gone off. But he or she is your boss. What would you do? Anlan first.

I would say I'll try to eat the bits that are not moldy or not bad and...

You will still eat it?

I would still eat little bits of it and, but I would not, I would always make sure that I compliment them on their food.

Oh, so if I say oh how is the food?

I'll have to say oh, it was really nice. I really enjoyed it.

This simply wouldn't work in China because then we would say, oh have some more. What about James?

I would start writing my new resume.

Why, just because they serve you bad food? They may not be aware of it.

Well, if my boss isn't aware enough to not serve your guest moldy food, there's a good chance they might not be that good of a boss. But in the real, in the situation itself, most Americans would actually do pretty similar to what British would do. They would eat bits of it and then they would lie.

Ah but if I say as a Chinese, if I say to you, since you said the food is nice, I would probably say, oh have some more!

Oh no. Thank you. I'm so full, I've had enough. I can't eat anymore.

Ah. OK, good good. So I guess this is something that you do share like you wouldn't really embarrass your host.

Yeah, there's lot of things there that covers some areas where there are a lot of similarities. It's all about trying to limit people's embarrassment I guess.

I think the difference is really whether you will actually eat that moldy bread. I cannot believe Anlan is saying that he's still gonna eat parts of it.

Well, for me as an American, I just have a hard time seeing that someone would do that because that would be so embarrassing for the host. They would, they would feel awful, Americans would feel terrible because if you're a host, you want everything to be perfect; you want things to be nice. Even if it was your boss, they would still feel really terrible once they found out.

Okay, good good. Thank you. And then let's move on to next question. The next question is you're at a social event. You immediately forget the name of someone you have just been introduced to. But now the situation is, even though you forgot their name, you have to now introduce them to someone else, very embarrassing situation. I actually don't know what I will do. I would feel too embarrassed to ask for this person's name again, but I don't know how I will do. But let's get Anlan first.

I would say in the situation, I woould just try to remove myself as quickly as possible.

You will run away.

Yeah, I would feel really embarrassed if I can't remember that person's name and I would just try to make up an excuse so that I could leave.

I'm quite curious, what kind of excuse will you make up?

Oh, maybe uh I need to go to the toilet or I need to make a phone call that's quite a common one.

Or you can cough?

Oh cough yeah, that goes to response for any British person.

What about James?

I think most Americans would just bite the bullet and apologize and just ask “what was your name again?”

Very honest. And would Americans generally, would you feel offended if someone does that to you if they forgot your name immediately after you've been introduced to them?

Not really, as long as you apologize first. For a lot of Americans, this can be very difficult to that some Americans have complicated names or if they're like they're Chinese descent, then they have a Chinese name and those can be difficult.

I would probably just say, oh, I'm sorry I'm so bad with names. Could you say your name again? So I'll blame myself.

That would work.

OK, thank you. Let's move on. Next question, you were in a supermarket shopping and you bump into some, well, friends, acquaintance, a couple. After a brief catch up, you go your separate ways, but then you met them again in another part of the supermarket. You just said goodbye to them and you met them again. What would you do? Let's have James first.

A lot of Americans would make a joke, like you following me?

Using jokes.

Yeah just joke, then they'll just go about their business. I mean it’s a supermarket, you bump into people.

You wouldn't feel embarrassed?

No.

Okay. What about Anlan?

I would say I would feel quite embarrassed if I couldn't escape, if I couldn't get away or like go down another aisle. I might just say, Oh, fancy seeing you here. Also I'll make a joke. But I'll just try to get away from the situation as quickly as possible. I don't know why but we do feel slightly embarrassed after saying goodbye to someone if you still see them again. I have no idea why.

It sounds like British people get embarrassed quite easily.

It's true. Well we do, we do get very embarrassed very very easily. And it's, as I said before, it's the lack of confidence with dealing with other people. I think there's a lot of social embarrassment to things like this.

What about Americans?

In certain situations would be embarrassing like if you said goodbye because you thought you were leaving a party and then you ended up staying longer, that would be awkward. But in just on public you bump into people and then you bump into people again, most Americans, especially those of us who come from small towns, don't pay any attention to it, doesn’t bother them at all.

Ah. Yes. I do think the density of the population does play a part in this. I mean if you live in a place that's got lots of land and not really that many people, you probably feel excited bumping into people over and over again. Alright, last question of the day. You are eating out with people you have never met before. They can just be your friends of friends and or you know, business associates. And the restaurant staff was asking you, would you like to taste the wine? We know someone needs to taste the wine first, but you don't know anything about the wine. But out of all these people at the table, they asked you. Being British Anlan, what would you do?

Well I would say that it is really matter if you know anything about the wine or not, you would feel quite embarrassed for example you'd always say that it's good no matter what. So I would always say oh this one is is excellent, or is really nice whether or not it is nice or whether or not I know anything about, I'll still say the same thing.

Ah. So what about James?

Well there are few things you do. First is you actually ask the other people at the table whether they drink because if they don't drink, you don't drink either. There are many Americans who don't drink. If they are willing to drink, then an American would probably ask of other people in the table would like to try before themselves?

Oh, and it's not seen as rude, is not seen as they are trying to push it to other people?

Oh, no, it's just, for us it's seeing as you know, it's like someone offered something to me. I should also offer it to them as well.

Ah. OK. So that's the end of the ten questions. Uh maybe in the future we’ll do more. But how do you guys feel about this especially listening to each other's answers?

Honestly it sounds English are a bit on the repressed side in terms of these social situations.

I think to me it's just that, it sounds like English people are so easily embarrassed in various situations.

I feel that's definitely, definitely true. Because our society, it has so many unwritten rules are and it's really difficult for people that do come to the UK to really understand them, even some people have lived in the UK for years and years and years, it's still quite difficult to fully understand, fully grasp these kind of tiny little rules. But it's something that we grew up with. So if everyone else is acting the same way, we would probably feel more compelled to act like that as well.

I think for Americans, the fact that we are an immigrant culture. I mean all of us come from someplace else and everyone brings their own unique, you know cultural traits with them when they immigrate to the United States and we just get used to you know the fact there's all these different ones. So we don't tend to get bothered by when people do things differently. Okay.

Yeah, it's just part of everyday life I guess. So thank you very much for participating in today's across the pond conversation. And next time maybe we will choose another topic and see how you guys will react differently. Thank you very much. Thank you, James. Thank you Anlan.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks for having me.

We’ll see you next time.