[Susan27490]

I'm an American living in a foreign country where there are also a lot of British ex-pats. I have noticed that when the British do dishes, they usually just wash their dishes with soapy water without rinsing them with clean water. Why is this? It certainly seems strange to me - wanting to eat off dishes with soap scum all over them.

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Name : Susan27490, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 35, City : Istanbul, State : NA Country : Turkey, Occupation : travel, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Eve25278]

I don't know, either, and I'm a Brit! I was always taught to rinse the soapy dishes under the tap after washing, but lots of people do not do this.

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Name : Eve25278, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Exeter, State : NA Country : United Kingdom, Occupation : Law student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Rachel30201]

I lived in the UK for some years and also noticed that Brits like to wash their hair in the bathtub (not just under the faucet, but immersing hair into old soapy water), wash their faces in a sink full of soapy water, mop floors without rinsing off the soap, take baths without rinsing....you get the picture. I don't know why they do it, though. Just used to it, I suppose.

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Name : Rachel30201, Gender : F, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Vail24473]

I worked with a guy who'd wash his lunch dishes in the lunch room. He'd build up this huge lather that he never fully rinsed off his dishes. I wondered why he couldn't taste the soap, especially in his coffee mug. I also knew another guy who insisted that Southerners never wash the outsides of pots and pans.

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Name : Vail24473, Gender : Male, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : mutt, Religion : Atheist, Age : 40, City : Philly, State : PA Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Matt22022]

It's called saving water. I've had friends from the States comment on this as well, as we do the same thing in Australia. Here it's more a matter of not wasting precious drinking water on something so redundant. You dry the dishes with a dish cloth anyway after they have drained, so there's no soap scum to speak of.

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Name : Matt22022, Gender : Male, Age : 26, City : Melbourne, State : NA Country : Australia, Occupation : Teacher, Social class : Lower class, 

[Kyle]

I grew up in a house with only a single sink in the kitchen and my mother seldom rinsed the dishes after washing. It wasn't until I grew up and moved into an apartment with a double sink in the kitchen that I began rinsing dishes. And now that my mom has moved to a house with a double sink, she now rinses. So maybe it's something similar with the Brits. Maybe double sinks aren't real common in British kitchens.

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Name : Kyle, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 36, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Carol]

It saves water! Also, if you dry the dishes with a dishtowel after washing, that gets the bubbles off.

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Name : Carol, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 24, City : Berkshire, State : NA Country : United Kingdom, Social class : Middle class, 

[Sofia]

I am French and live in Denmark, but have been many times to the UK, so I'll give this a try. About the dishes, the same applies in Denmark. You wash the dishes in soapy water and don't rinse them. On the other hand, you dry it right away (vs. letting it air-dry), which would remove the excess soap. I think this is a common practice in many countries where water is expensive and people try to be environmentally conscious (at least, this is what I was told by several Danes). About the bathing and other practices, I have no idea. But then again, I'm rarely in the same room as people when they bathe!

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Name : Sofia, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 28, City : Odense, State : NA Country : Denmark, Occupation : Graduate student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[SadhbhDC]

I'm Irish but here we do the same thing. If you're washing dishes you'd usually lather them and rinse them but if soap gets on rinsed dishes it's just left to dry. The water is supposed to be hot, so that kills bacteria, anyway.

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Name : SadhbhDC, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 15, City : Dublin, State : NA Country : Ireland, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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