While this is only tangentially related to Americanism in the English language, I’ve also realized the hard way that good advice given in the States is not always the best advice for someone on your side of the Ocean of America.
Last year there was a user that appeared to be worried about a potential stalker, so I noted that a measure she could take to protect herself is to keep pepper spray on her person when out and about. Apparently not only is that illegal in the UK, it also seems to be considered horribly immoral and disgusting as well lol. Here it’s so ordinary that nearly every woman has a small one-use canister of mace on their keychain.
While this is only tangentially related to Americanism in the English language, I’ve also realized the hard way that good advice given in the States is not always the best advice for someone on your side of the Ocean of America.
Last year there was a user that appeared to be worried about a potential stalker, so I noted that a measure she could take to protect herself is to keep pepper spray on her person when out and about. Apparently not only is that illegal in the UK, it also seems to be considered horribly immoral and disgusting as well lol. Here it’s so ordinary that nearly every woman has a small one-use canister of mace on their keychain.
Sorry but this made me laugh a lot. Not because someone thought they had a stalker. Just your absolute surprise that your suggestion was illegal and thought of to be immoral.
Oh yes, you have trash, what do you call the containers you put trash into?
The whole self defence thing here is a nightmare and you could be prosecuted by your assailant for injuring them with a mace spray. But before mace sprays were ever heard of people used cans of hairspray and perfume. In reality if you beat ten bells out of an assailant then the police are unlikely to do very much and tell your assailant 'tough, you should have thought of that before hand'. Some wanted rapists and muggers have been caught because the victim has fought back successfully and the police have arrested them the hospital.
Most attacks go unreported though, the police can't be bothered or are to understaffed, there's to high an evidential threshold to make prosecution worthwhile in many cases and it takes so long to reach court that many victims drop out. It's a terrible situation
