Ask a foreigner

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

Have you eaten jellied eels? What do they taste like?

I haven’t but my dad (who’ll eat just about anything under the sun, a bit like me) had some once, hated them and fed them to the gulls LOL

I’d be curious to try it still just to find out… I don’t think I’d like the texture at all though.

—-

For Americans, how big (or small) is the belief in cryptids in your area?

 

[Freddyt]

Nothing. Same in other European countries.

......and Canada....

 

[Rose White]

For Americans, how big (or small) is the belief in cryptids in your area?

In my area the most cryptid-ish belief that people are likely to talk about that I’ve encountered are “weird big cats.” In a nutshell, some people have seen a kind of biggish cat that looks similar to a species that only occurs south of here but it’s never been confirmed scientifically.

 

[Friday]

What do people generally use for self protection in the UK?

Knives & fire.

The knife violence in the UK, per capita, is virtually identical to the gun violence in the US, by capita. (Somewhere in an old post I have the actual US & UK documents supporting that statement).

Explosive & incendiary device violence, in the UK, (petrol bombs, IEDs, real bombs courtesy of old IRA training & modern Middle East training) doesn’t have a US equivalent; but the US has other forms of violence that aren’t equivalent in the UK, either.

BASICALLY???

People are people.

Take away one weapon? They’ll come up with 2 more.

 

[Friday]

......and Canada....

Canadians are ave lot scrappier than you give them credit for. I’ve been come at with bricks, crowbars, knives, broken bottles, AS WELL AS firearms in Canada. RCMP can’t just wear ballistic-protection, like US police do, they also have to wear stab-protection. Every Canadian I’ve ever met, in a pinch, will grab metal or glass, and come atcha. Not in a pinch? Most carry pocket knives a helluva lot longer than what’s legal length south of the border.

Snicker… Americans are keeeerazy afraid of knives. (According to Pew Research, and a few other institutes who study cultural violence; on par with how afraid of firearms people are in countries that limit their sale/use). Basically? (For both). Too much TV, not enough lived practical experience.

 

[Freddyt]

Canadians are ave lot scrappier than you give them credit for. I’ve been come at with bricks, crowbars, knives, broken bottles, AS WELL AS firearms in Canada. RCMP can’t just wear ballistic-protection, like US police do, they also have to wear stab-protection. Every Canadian I’ve ever met, in a pinch, will grab metal or glass, and come atcha. Not in a pinch? Most carry pocket knives a helluva lot longer than what’s legal length south of the border.

Take away one, you get the other....and you are right. I used to ride motorcycle and the only time my dear old Guardian wasn't in my boot was when I went across the border.

That was a totally, absolutely, and no questions illegal weapon here. But, on the few occasions it came out of its sheath it helped people decide that just moving along was a good plan.

 

[Rose White]

My dog helps me feel a little safer when I go out at night because of his extra senses and he growls at people who are too close. Idk if he would attack but he pretends like he would.

 

[Movingforward10]

The knife violence in the UK, per capita, is virtually identical to the gun violence in the US, by capita. (Somewhere in an old post I have the actual US & UK documents supporting that statement).

Explosive & incendiary device violence, in the UK, (petrol bombs, IEDs, real bombs courtesy of old IRA training & modern Middle East training) doesn’t have a US equivalent; but the US has other forms of violence that aren’t equivalent in the UK, either.

But these aren't being used for self protection. They are being used for terrorism and crimes.

A lot of youth do carry knives and they will say it is for self protection. But that is born out of the criminal exploitation they have been groomed in to and the 'neex'/social status/normalising they experience. and then those knives are being used on each other (youth on youth violent crime related to gangs/criminal exploitation is a big problem).

Bombs - never about self protection and all about ceath and destruction. And mostly related to terrorist groups. Though the gay bombings about 20 years ago were a lone person.

 

[Friday]

But these aren't being used for self protection. They are being used for terrorism and crimes.

A lot of youth do carry knives and they will say it is for self protection. But that is born out of the criminal exploitation they have been groomed in to and the 'neex'/social status/normalising they experience. and then those knives are being used on each other (youth on youth violent crime related to gangs/criminal exploitation is a big problem).

Bombs - never about self protection and all about ceath and destruction. And mostly related to terrorist groups. Though the gay bombings about 20 years ago were a lone person.

England & Wales population = 62 million or so
Recorded Arson Fires in England & Wales 2024 = 463,500

Population of the US = 340 million or so
Recorded Arson Fires 2024 = 34,209.

62,000,000/463,500 =133.765
340,000,000/ 34,209 = 9,938.905
9,938.05/133.765=74.295

(Nearly!) SEVENTY FIVE TIMES as much arson in (the English bit) of the UK, than the US.

That surprises me. I’d have guessed 15x, from experience/observation. Not 75x. I mean. Even TWICE as much, of anything, is kinda crazy. 15 sounds like exaggeration on steroids. But? Nope. 75x.

In the US, most arson is insurance fraud or kids being kids (lighting off firecrackers in a basement, not realising the building above them… yeah. Stupid is). Only the teeniest tiniest minority is directed at an individual or group. It DOES happen, it’s just fawkin rare.

In the UK, most arson is directed at an individual, or group; by another individual, or group.

AKA, in self defenese, in their own minds / they “had to” protect themselves, or send a message, or this that the other be taken seriously ( “brandishing” is the term in the US, when you’re showing someone you’re armed; lighting up something that belongs to someone else, that isn’t “important” but is “just” a shed, car, etc. is the equivalent in the UK. I CAN hurt you. But I haven’t, yet. Be warned that I WILL.). Don’t know what the term for “fire a shot off their bow” is, when it’s arson. I expect there is one.

Coming from a nation that DOESNT think torching your ex’s car, your neighbour’s shed after you take back the tool they didn’t return, the religious family’s home you want out of your community, the “weird kid’s” locker at school, the shop whose owners you don’t like, moltov’s at police, etc. when you’re angry/scared/righteous/want to send a message? It was a bit shocking going to the UK the first time. Fire happy mofo’s the Brits. So much so all the “kid” stuff at school was largely ignored. Kids being kids. Standard tool of bullying & social outcasting, burning someone’s locker, or backpack, or treasured XYZ. I kind delighted in that as a kid, that you could LIGHT IT UP, and just have adults roll their eyes, as long as school property wasn’t too badly damaged… and you didn’t target a “valued” person, or “historic” tree everyone felt keenly about. Seeeeeriously. We got more in trouble for torching a TREE, than the kids who burnt a KID, that was unpopular & on scholarship. (Which, is, by the by, why we lit up a tree “everyone” loved; because NADA was done to the kids who burned another kid. They gave the gross kid 3rd degree burns, and were suspended for 2 days, “during the investigation, nothing on their perm records”??? REALLY??? I like this oak. And I didn’t like the gross kid. But fair is fair, and adults are f*cking stupid. “Got in more trouble” is marginal. Unlike with the gross kid, police were called, and it was all VERY serious. Until we named the kids who burnt the kid in the hospital. Then it all MAGICALLY went away. No more being interrogated, threatened with expulsion, our parents careers threatened… named names, and …. Crickets… Whoosh. Suddenly “no one” cared about the beloved tree, anymore. So our protest failed. ). As an adult, it makes me nervous as hell. Bombs are indiscriminate motherf*ckers, but fires have ideas of their own.

 

[Movingforward10]

England & Wales population = 62 million or so
Recorded Arson Fires in England & Wales 2024 = 463,500

That figure isn't just arson. It's criminal damage and arson. So unless the US figures also include criminal damage, it's not a like for like comparison.

 

[Friday]

That figure isn't just arson. It's criminal damage and arson. So unless the US figures also include criminal damage, it's not a like for like comparison.

The US figures are for ALL intentionally lit fires. All of ‘em. Including riots, campfires that got out of hand, all of em. The only “smudge” is in the opposite direction… as flipping a cigarette out the window, in fire country, counts as “voluntary” (and a 70,000 dollar fine), as well as campfires, BBQs, & other “I made this, on purpose, for ABC or XYZ) and there are a few hundred to few thousand of those per year. So the US numbers for “real” voluntary are actually “lower”. Also more embarrassing. Like over 5 deaths & 60 injuries from fires resulting from deep frying a turkey. >.<

As a people, Americans don’t tend to think of fire as a “weapon”. And it’s reeeeeally rare for Americans to use it as a weapon, unless you’re military. It’s exceedingly common in the UK, but not as common as blades.

The UK didn’t used to be a nation of firebugs, but it has been since the voluntary recall, and then the required by law recall, of all firearms without special license (gun clubs, farmers, etc.).

It’s not just the UK. ALL nations which have exceptionally difficulty in accessing firearms? Have exceptionally high stats of blades, arson, & explosives.

 

[gorgonzola]

Recorded Arson Fires in England & Wales 2024 = 463,500

In 2024 there were 136,702 fires in England, in total.