i have a lot of international friends. and with me being american and them being from Literally Anywhere Else, we have discovered a Lot of cultural differences. pair that with curtwen/spies brainrot and you get whatever This is:
- starting off strong with an obvious one: temperature. the age old fahrenheit v. celsius debate. like i imagine the guys just walking around whatever city they’re in for the week and (we’ll say it’s summer idc) curt’s like ‘it’s so hot out here, it’s gotta be like 90 degrees or something’ and owen just looks at him in Horror for a second (maybe he even says something along the lines of ‘mega ik it’s warm but that’s just overdramatic’) before he remembers curt’s american and that’s just Regular hot in fahrenheit and not like INSANELY hot like it is in celsius. and then he’s just ‘no its more like 32 degrees i think’ just to fuck with him bc the same though process will go through curt’s head and owen just wants to see his face before he remembers owen’s british and not just saying the opposite of what he said. and ofc they know both systems well enough; they’ve traveled around enough for that. and usually it’s not that weird; curt’s used to owen using celsius and owen’s used to curt using fahrenheit and they usually get what the other is saying, but Sometimes they just either forget or don’t want to convert what they’re saying for the other, so they just Don’t and let the other suffer trying to figure it out for a minute.
-same with measurement. american measurement names are so weird to begin with, it’s like curt’s asking to get made fun of when he talks about how many feet something is or Whatever. (also just imagine owen mocking curt’s accent the way curt mocks owen’s at the start of the show,, yeah it’s great) Anyway- it’s pretty much the same thing as the temperature situation, but because of the american measurements curt just gets made fun of a lot more. like owen knows what he means when he says it but he’s still gonna respond like ‘what the ✨bloody hell✨ is an inch????’ (extra british to just make it that much worse for curt lol)
-chain stores. listen idk what all types of chains they had in the 50s (britain especially lol) but they for sure weren’t nearly as globalized as they are now (pretty much all i remember is that walmart and mcdonalds existed in the US at that point tbh) but ik based on conversations i’ve had with my international friends it’d go something like this (the same for if you flipped them too ofc): owen: hey have you been to *insert British chain (restaurant, store, Whatever)* curt: sorry to What?? i’ve literally never even heard of that. what is it? owen: ONLY THE BEST THING EVER???? i can’t believe you don’t have those in america, no wonder you’re so miserable… and then the second they have an opportunity to do so, owen drags curt to britain to experience Whatever The Place was lol. curt’s done the same with some american places, too. They both really love those trips :)
-names of every day objects. this one probably comes up between them most often (also the most obvious). of course there’s the difference between apartment and flat, trunk and boot, elevator and lift, etc. these types of differences generally don’t bother them (same with the extra u’s in words like colo(u)r), it just earns the other some classic accent mocking. it’s the pronunciation of some words has nearly ended their relationship a few times. examples include but are not limited to: 1) cicada; i imagine they’re out on like. a stakeout or something and it’s getting dark and curt’s like ‘woah the sic-kay-duhs are so loud right now’ and owen’s just ‘… the What?? are you talking about sic-ah-duhs?? like the bugs?’ ‘yeah… how did you say it???’ ‘sic-ah-duh.’ ‘wrong.’ and it’s just them realizing that this is yet another american/british relationship clash and argue about who’s right about the pronunciation until they almost miss their mission target moving. 2) scone; i’m not gonna write this one out like i did the last one but here’s the rundown: owen: scahn curt: skown. owen goes out to pick them up some breakfast from a coffeeshop or Wherever before a mission and gets them a couple of scones. He brings them back and calls them ‘scahns’ and curt is Appalled at that. they proceed to argue about the pronunciation of their breakfast until cynthia or barb calls to ask them why tf they haven’t even left the hotel yet. eventually they make it to their mission but the argument never stops. not until the end of the day.
(the scone one is literally based on a recurring conversation i have with a canadian friend of mine)
Bonus: y’all know how curt’s from Texas? well i’m from the south as well (different region of the south, yes, but shhhh this is funny ok) and WELL. that opens up a whole new section of cultural differences, but the first one that came to mind was sweet tea. i hate unadulterated sweet tea so much but OHHHHHH does it make for a great headcanon. so i hc that owen is a tea over coffee type of person,, not just bc he’s british (though that certainly doesn’t help) but just because i feel that suits him more. And of course curt very much so makes fun of owen for drinking tea (a la when he mocks his accent at the top of the show) too. but one day curt’s like hey owen i made you some tea. totally harmless right? WRONG! he made sweet tea™️ and it might as well be poisoned bc that shit is sweeter than sugar itself (bc that’s practically all that’s in it). but owen doesn’t pay it any mind and accepts it as his boyfriend just doing something nice for him (though he does give curt a Look when he takes it). but curt knows exactly what he’s doing and waits for owen to taste it. the second he does he just. imediately gags and curls in on himself (yes it can be that bad when you’re not expecting it lol). curt can’t stop laughing. a few moments later when they both recover (kind of) owen’s just. shocked. absolutely speechless. he just sits there staring at curt with murder in his eyes until, “…what the hell did you just give me?” “sweet tea” “no shit, but this isn’t tea by a long shot. how much sugar is in it?” “no clue” “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘NO CLUE’?!?! YOU MADE IT!” “just bc i made it doesn’t mean i measured.” “WHAT??!?!” “that’s just how you do it :)” “NO??????”
owen doesn’t forgive him for a week. he also doesn’t trust curt to make him tea (or really any drink) at all after that unless he can actually Watch him make it :)
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