>What is a HOB you speak of?
Amazing isn't it. I think that we are entering the world of bread rolls and English as a local language. If someone talks about macroeconomic indicators, transcendental meditation or transubstantiation everyone knows what we’re talking about. The minute we get down to the gas or electric hotplate on the top of a stove, all our communication skills fail us!
The hob is the bit on top of the stove (or maybe recessed into the work-surface) that provides the heat for cooking.
The point about electric kettles is that when one is young, one assumes that everywhere is a bit the same. Travelling provides insight into life at home. It had never occurred to me that an electric kettle was a very British item, probably to do the fact that we have traditionally drunk more tea than coffee.
On the other hand … American fridges … wow!
