American living in the UK visits Poundland for the first time - but has one major criticism
Kobie Jordan, who is from the US but now living in London, took to his TikTok @kjordyyy to share a video of himself touring the popular British discount chain.
However as he browsed the aisles, he was confused by the range of prices on items, despite the store's name suggesting a flat £1 cost.
In the clip, which racked up 44,000 views, he said: 'It's automatically giving me Dollar General vibes. But the things aren't a pound, which is kind of crazy. I'm seeing £3.'
UK-based social media users were quick to point out that while the store originally sold everything for £1, its pricing model has changed over the years due to inflation.
One person said: 'When it first opened, everything was a pound. Then lockdown happened!'
Another added: 'It used to literally be everything £1 now it's just a pointless shop full of stuff that's not £1.'
But it wasn't just the pricing that raised questions. Kobie also had a cheeky take on the name itself, hinting that Poundland carries a very different, and much more risqué, connotation back in the US.
'They couldn't choose a different name besides Poundland? Poundland, really? UK... at least it's not called Pound Town,' he joked in the video.
He even captioned the clip: 'Not a bad store... but the name is a bit sus.'
Despite the eyebrow-raising branding, Kobie was surprisingly impressed by the store itself.
He said: 'It's giving like a low key mini Walmart,' before adding, 'I'll be honest, most dollar stores back in the States are kind of like dirty, dingy... but there's something so clean and sterile about this one. Like, it's so pristine.'
As he explored more of the shop, the American stumbled on a beloved British snack that he was eager to try.
He added: 'Also, party rings. Never had them, but apparently all my British friends said they're a staple when you're growing up. Gotta try them one day.
'I'm genuinely shook with the variety of everything, cause it's not a big store from the outside, but they have a little bit of everything, which I kind of like.
'Imagine like a clean, sterile small Walmart mixed with Dollar General- that's what you have. Poundland.
Many rushed to the comments to leave their own thoughts on his fair review of the discount chain
'I think I've explored every square inch of the store. I don't know what I was expecting from a Poundland, but it's pretty legit, innit?
'Living the dream, man. Living the dream in Poundland of all places.'
Many rushed to the comments to leave their own thoughts on his review of the discount chain.
One person said: 'My husband's American and wants a 'Poundland' T-shirt as he thinks the name is so funny.'
Another suggested: 'Please try Greggs, Wetherspoons, Sports Direct and Primark.'
Someone else added: 'Back in the day everything was a pound!!! There's 99p stores as well'
A fourth added: 'Poundland needs to rename itself at this point. Bring back the days when everything was actually a pound'.
It comes after Kobie revealed the British cultural habit of being 'over-polite' is sometimes confusing for visitors.
The TikToker admitted he's still adapting to the famously apologetic and overly polite nature of British culture.
In the clip, which racked up more than 45,000 views, he revealed one train journey in particular left him completely stumped.
He said: 'As much as I love living in the UK, there's just one thing I have to talk about.
'Their over politeness almost to a fault. It's no secret they have a huge apologising culture. Always saying sorry, sorry all the time. But boy, do I have a story for y'all.'
Kobie explained he was on a 'super packed train' from Birmingham to London when an older gentleman boarded the train and began eyeing the seat beside him, but wouldn't take it.
He said: 'Every single seat was taken except for one. Right next to me, there's an older gentleman that just got on the train.
'He kept looking at me. Cause it's not my job to tell you to come sit if he wants to sit. He's a grown man, he can come sit.
'He would even look, look at me and look away. His wife had found a seat, but he was kind of looking at me like I was doing something wrong.'
The American admitted he was tempted to offer the free seat to the man but he hesitated as he claimed the man could just grab the seat if he wanted it.
He said: 'Part of me wanted me to offer my seat next to me to him, but I was like, wait a minute, it's an open seat, he can just come grab it if he wants to sit there.
'And me being from the US, it's hard for me to judge these type of situations here because, one, I don't know if he's actually just being too polite, maybe he's not too fond of me, or it just doesn't make sense.'
He concluded: 'If y'all know me, y'all know I love the UK. And this is just my opinion and I Gotta see how it is.
'As much as I love it, that's one thing that I just can't really get my head around.'
Many British commenters quickly weighed in, offering their own interpretations of what the elderly gentleman may have been thinking.
One person said: 'I think he wanted you to give up your seat so him and his wife could sit together.'
To which Kobie responded: 'Very true, why didn't he ask?'
Another added: 'It polite to offer the seat… especially to pregnant or older people. He may not have wanted to have assumed he should squeeze past you.'
Kobie added: 'Again that's so British. If you want to sit. Sit.'
Someone else added: 'We're just polite to a fault. There's an unwritten rule about sitting next to people, although in PACKED situations usually doesn't apply.
'The 'look' would typically be inferred as a request to sit there and then the other party obliges.'
A fourth added: 'I'm English. if he wanted the seat he would have either taken it or asked'
Another added: 'As a old English lady who loves good manners, you acted in the correct manner. the choice was his to stand.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Kate Nash showcases her sleazy side: best podcasts of the week
Dig out the American Apparel dress, liquid eyeliner and Wayfarer sunglasses – the late 00s' indie sleaze movement is being celebrated for all its messy glory. Kate Nash – an OG sleazer – hosts this nostalgic new series about the scene, speaking to the likes of the Cribs' Ryan and Gary Jarman, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and Razorlight's Johnny Borrell. It's enough to make you want to cut in a badly judged chunky fringe again. Hollie Richardson BBC Sounds, available from Monday 28 July This honest, conversational podcast breaks down taboos by talking to people about the loved ones they've lost. Host Jason Davidson is a social worker and in the latest episode Michael Palin (pictured right) talks to him about trying to come to terms with his wife's death – and why he feels it almost impossible to say 'I' instead of 'we'. It's a thoughtful look at his grief. Alexi Duggins Widely available, episodes weekly This enjoyably chatty look at the everyday products we take for granted combines history with product design. It opens with a look at the 'fabulous innovation' of the tin opener, running from how it wasn't created until 100 years after food tins were invented to its potential future: a luxury item, like 'the craft beer' of can-opening. AD Widely available, episodes weekly Keir Starmer may be in power now (and enjoying varying levels of success, depending on your views), but what of the Labour leaders of old? Izzy Conn of the University of London digs deep into the red team in this comprehensive pod, which begins after the second world war with Clement Attlee and the beginnings of the welfare state. Hannah J Davies Widely available, episodes weekly Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion Widely available, episodes weekly This new podcast from Tortoise Investigates is about mothers who – like Australia's Kathleen Folbigg, whose case sets off this series – have been accused of murdering their children, and whether the experts are always right. The content is highly charged, but the questions it poses around the use of statistics in a court of law feel vital. HJD Widely available, episodes weekly
The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘They're rowdy. They're vibing. I rip my shirt off': the exploding career of Hanumankind, India's hottest rapper
Two weeks ago, halfway through his first ever UK show, Hanumankind instructed the crowd to mimic him by hopping to the right then to the left, back and forth, in unison. But the rapper from India slipped and fell, limping to the end of the gig in evident pain, kept upright by his DJ and inspired by the audience's singalong familiarity with his catalogue. 'We were ready to have a good time,' he sheepishly grins from an armchair at his record label's offices three days later. It turns out he has torn a ligament. 'It was a battle of internal turmoil. The show was like a fifth of what it was meant to be, but I gave it my all. London has a beautiful energy which gave me strength.' Even without the leg injury, the 32-year-old star, who was born Sooraj Cherukat, has reached a testing threshold in his short, explosive career. His tracks Big Dawgs and Run It Up, helped by action-movie music videos, have made him one of the most talked-about MCs in the world. A$AP Rocky and Fred Again are among his recent collaborators. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi even invited Cherukat to perform at an event in New York last September. But as a rare south Asian face in globally popular rap, he feels a certain responsibility. 'The past year has been hard,' he says. 'I'm trying to navigate through it.' What's more, although he expresses a deep pride about life in India, 'a lot of things are off. There is a mob mentality. There's a lot of divisiveness because of religion, background, caste. It doesn't sit well with me. I'm in a unique space to change the way people can think within my country.' Born in Malappuram, Kerala, which he remembers as a 'green, beautiful environment', Cherukat spent his childhood following his father's work abroad, from Nigeria to Saudi Arabia to Britain. 'We'd traverse different countries and I'd sing songs in whatever language I was picking up,' he says. 'Wherever I went, I had to get involved and be ready to leave. I learned to connect with people. That's why the power of the word is so important to me.' At the age of 10, he landed in Houston, Texas, and found a rare stability. It was the early 2000s and the city was an engine room for rap innovation. Cherukat's set his accent to a southern drawl. Already a fan of heavy metal – which makes sense given his grungy, rockstar leanings today – he became hooked on the local chopped-and-screwed subgenre pioneered by DJ Screw, Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat. In his teens he was 'burning CDs full of beats, riding around smoking blunts and hitting hard freestyles'. He returned to south India just before hitting 20. 'The only place I had roots,' he says. He completed a university degree in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, before working a corporate job in the tech hub of Bengaluru. Seeing rap as 'a party thing, a way to de-stress and stay connected to the art form', he performed at open-mic nights, softening his US accent and perfecting his stage show for an Indian audience. 'Friends would come to watch and be like, 'Dude, you're not bad. You should lock in.'' So he did. At the end of 2019, Cherukat played his first festival: NH7 Weekender in Pune, Maharashtra. The crowd went wild, quickly morphing from a small handful into a packed moshpit. 'They're rowdy and they're fucking vibing,' he says. 'I rip my shirt off. I'm like, 'OK, I can do this!'' He quit his job and began plotting his next move, filling notebooks with lyrics throughout the pandemic. These are a blend of cheek and grit delivered with a flow that keeps respawning at different speeds and scales. Soon, Cherukat was signed by Def Jam India. Part of a movement to reject the remnants of British colonialism in favour of local expression, the proud, rebellious patchwork of Indian hip-hop encompasses the vast country's 'hundreds of languages, each as deeply rooted as the next', Cherukat explains. 'Someone who speaks Hindi or another regional language will give you a vast amount of depth and detail in what they're doing.' His decision to rap mostly in English therefore came with risks of being perceived as inauthentic at home, but it has certainly helped his global crossover. Besides, he has found other ways to communicate a homegrown aesthetic. Run It Up marches to the beat of Keralan chenda drums, while its video features martial artists from disparate corners of India. Cherukat performed it with a band of drummers at Coachella festival, his debut US gig. 'Most people don't know what is going on in my country,' he says. 'Maybe I can open up some doors, open up some eyes, break out of these bubbles and stereotypes.' Although not religious, Cherukat has a divine figure woven into his performing name. Over recent years, Hanuman, the simian-headed Hindu god of strength and devotion, has been employed everywhere from the car stickers of hypermasculine Indian nationalism to the bloody, satirical critique of Dev Patel's 2024 thriller, Monkey Man. Where does Hanumankind fit into this: traditionalist or progressive? 'I need to make music for myself first,' he says simply. 'But when you have a platform, you can bring about change through your words and actions.' Some fans were disappointed that he accepted the New York invitation from Modi – whose Hindu nationalist government has been accused of democratic backsliding and Islamophobia. Cherukat has defended his appearance, describing it as 'nothing political … We were called to represent the nation and we did that.' But today he claims his 'political ideology is pretty clear' to anyone who has been following his career. In one of his earliest singles, 2020's Catharsis, he rails against systemic corruption, police brutality and armed suppression of protest. 'I'm not just trying to speak to people who already agree with me,' he says. 'I'm trying to give people who are otherwise not going to be listening a chance to be like, 'OK, there is some logic to what he's saying.'' Monsoon Season, his new mixtape, is just out. It features the mellow likes of Holiday – performed on the massively popular YouTube series Colors – as well as raucous collaborations with US rap luminaries Denzel Curry and Maxo Kream. It is less a narrative album, more a compilation, with songs gathered over the years before the spotlight shone on him. 'I have a lot of memories of coming into Kerala during the monsoon,' says Cherukat of the project's name. 'You can have days where things are absolutely reckless, flooded, out of control. There can be days where you get introspective and think about life. There are days where you love the rain: it feels good, there's that smell in the air when it hits the mud, the soil, the flowers. Your senses are heightened. You can fall in love with that. Or it can ruin all your plans and you hate it.' Cherukat's knee will take some time to recover before he embarks on a North American tour later this year. It's clear he needs a break: not just to heal, but to continue processing fame, adapt to its changes and return to the studio. 'I'm still adjusting,' he says. 'The attention, the conversation, the responsibility, the lifestyle, all this shit. Things have been a little haywire. So I just want to go back to the source – and make music.' Monsoon Season is out now on Capitol Records/Def Jam India
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Sacha Baron Cohen, 53, admits to using Ozempic to help him achieve his revenge body for new Marvel role
Sacha Baron Cohen claimed he used Ozempic to help him achieve his ripped physique. The actor, 53, who is starring as Marvel's newest supervillain Mephisto, underwent an incredible body transformation for his role, which he revealed this week. As he showed off his chiselled abs in the new issue of Men's Fitness UK, Sacha, who split with Isla Fisher in 2023, after more than two decades together, re-shared the photoshoot to his Instagram Story and got candid about how he achieved his results. He wrote: 'Some celebs use Ozempic, some use private chefs, some use personal trainers. I did all three.' Sacha's representatives later insisted to MailOnline that the Borat star was 'only joking' and his new buff physique 'all down to hard work'. In a second post, Sacha added: 'This is not AI. I really am egotistical enough to do this. Debuting my new character. Middle aged man who replaced beer with protein shakes.' Sacha then thanked his personal trainer, writing: 'Thanks @theangrytrainer for doing the unthinkable - putting up with me for 25 minutes a day.' He revealed he had just three weeks to get into superhero shape, putting in the 'hard work' ready to portray Mephisto, a devil-like figure who makes Faustian bargains. Speaking to Men's Fitness UK, the actor revealed he turned to Matthew McConaughey to get the phone number of celebrity trainer Alfonso Moretti, who has well-established reputation for transforming physiques on impossible deadlines. Sacha went on to have a FaceTime meeting with Alfonso, who got him to strip down to his underwear during their first chat. Due to the short time frame and Alfonso workout methods, Sacha was tasked with being 'consistent' by doing '100 push ups a day'. Sacha's incredible transformation was far from marathon workouts and extreme dieting, as they concentrated on short workouts and a diet high in fibre and protein as well as low in sugar. He said: '25-minute workouts that were sustainable. Even while filming, the workouts happened. In the past, I would've thought you needed hour-long sessions'. He admitted at the beginning of the regime he 'had the core strength of an arthritic jellyfish... but the short sessions made it so much easier to stay consistent - even with the demands of being on set.' By the two-week mark, Sacha's wardrobe team had to spend $5,000 (£3,600) altering costumes because his body had changed so significantly. He was leaner, stronger, and fitter than ever before. His trainer also shared the magazine's photos to Instagram and wrote that he 'could not be more proud' of Sacha after working out with him. In a recent press conference, Marvel chief Kevin Feige confirmed that Sacha will be portraying MCU character. Sacha first rose to fame in the 1990s with his Ali G character, the infamous spoof wannabe gangster who became a comedy star. He also starred as Borat, a journalist from Kazakhstan, and played the role of flamboyant Austrian fashionista Bruno. The actor made his Mephisto debut in the finale of miniseries Ironheart earlier this month, marking the first appearance of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after years of speculation. One of Marvel's key villains, Mephisto is a demonic entity who acquires souls by making pacts with mortals and has battled the likes of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange.
