I’m an American dwelling within the UK… a mistake I made left me mortified

An American woman living in Britain has revealed the ‘mortifying’ mistake she made while visiting a coffee shop. 

Posting to her account on TikTok, Kristen Howell revealed the embarrassing error she made while attending a study group session during her time at university, when someone asked to ‘borrow a rubber’.

While asking for a rubber during a study session at university would not seem out of the ordinary to Brits, the same cannot be said for Americans, who use the word as a slang term for condoms. 

Kristen said: ‘This girl came over and asked me if she could borrow a rubber. I initially thought, ‘You know what, get it girl. 10am in a coffee shop, not really my vibe but here you go’. And I gave her one.

‘It wasn’t until a few weeks later when I was talking to someone completely different that I found out that in the UK, a rubber means an eraser. Not a condom. 

‘I gave this girl what I thought was a rubber, which was a condom, and this girl had just asked for an eraser.’

Another dramatic turn of events followed when the girl Kirsten handed the condom to did not even question why she had done so – proceeding to take it and walk away with explaining why. 

Reacting to the story in the comments, other users were tickled by Kristen’s unfortunate incident, posting: ‘I held my breath waiting to laugh’. 

Posting to her account on TikTok, Kristen Howell revealed the embarrassing error she made while attending a study group session during her time at university, when someone asked to ‘borrow a rubber’

Another said: ‘That’s English politeness for you!’. 

One person wrote: ‘As a Brit who has worked in both countries the subtle differences can be very entertaining.’

Another said: ‘Aww bless she was way better than me!’

One shared: ‘This is great but I love how sound you were about it and not judging her!’

A follower wrote: ‘More to the point is why are you carry rubbers to a coffee shop at 10am’. 

Another said: ‘That’s so funny. Bet she’s still dining out on that tale’.