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Post by Brother Fease on Jun 18, 2023 16:58:44 GMT
I did some research on this. As an American, I was unaware that these customs/traditions might be seen as weird for non-Americans. Please feel free to add your own or comment on the ones below.
- Americans love to fly flags 365 days a year. We also like to have pictures of the American flag on our clothing. It is not just for special occasions or watching a soccer match.
- Free refills. There are restaurants which allow you to refill your cup without an extra charge. Also, we have restaurants which allow you to have unlimited amounts of French fries/chips, pancakes, and pasta dishes. - Putting ice into cold water. If you order a non-alcoholic drink, it will automatically come with ice in it, unless you tell them otherwise.
- Anything and everything can be deep fried. That's right -- butter, Oreos, hot dogs/sausages can be deep fried. - Tipping. - Restaurant servers frequently coming back to your table to refill your coffee, tea, or drink orders.
- Required to show ID for alcoholic or cigarette purchases, regardless of age. - Giving directions by using "blocks" as the measurement. If you ask for directions, the persons might say, "It is six blocks north". - Large portions for everything. - Love of firearms. Americans love their guns and love to proudly displace them. - Bathroom stall doors do not go all the way to the ground. You can walk into a bathroom, and you can see people's feet and lower portions of their legs. - Our date order is Month, Day, Year. We do not say, "It's the 18th of June", but "June 18th". - A Pharmacy carries prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, snacks, make-up, lotions, vitamins, and birthday/Holiday/Anniversary cards. - The majority of Americans get their health-care insurance through their employer, not the government.
Did I miss any? I see we have a lot of non-Americans on these boards. Glad to see. We all seem to love American television and film around here. I am curious on what American customs you find weird, strange or different.
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Post by President Ackbar™ on Jun 18, 2023 17:29:19 GMT
Pretty interesting stuff.
As I have not traveled abroad, I was not aware of many of these.
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Post by mhynson27 on Jun 18, 2023 23:37:03 GMT
The ice, deep frying, bathroom stall and pharmacy ones, are all things here too.
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Post by stabcaesar on Jun 19, 2023 3:31:39 GMT
I did some research on this. As an American, I was unaware that these customs/traditions might be seen as weird for non-Americans. Please feel free to add your own or comment on the ones below. - Americans love to fly flags 365 days a year. We also like to have pictures of the American flag on our clothing. It is not just for special occasions or watching a soccer match.
- Free refills. There are restaurants which allow you to refill your cup without an extra charge. Also, we have restaurants which allow you to have unlimited amounts of French fries/chips, pancakes, and pasta dishes. - Putting ice into cold water. If you order a non-alcoholic drink, it will automatically come with ice in it, unless you tell them otherwise.
- Anything and everything can be deep fried. That's right -- butter, Oreos, hot dogs/sausages can be deep fried. - Tipping. - Restaurant servers frequently coming back to your table to refill your coffee, tea, or drink orders.
- Required to show ID for alcoholic or cigarette purchases, regardless of age. - Giving directions by using "blocks" as the measurement. If you ask for directions, the persons might say, "It is six blocks north". - Large portions for everything. - Love of firearms. Americans love their guns and love to proudly displace them. - Bathroom stall doors do not go all the way to the ground. You can walk into a bathroom, and you can see people's feet and lower portions of their legs. - Our date order is Month, Day, Year. We do not say, "It's the 18th of June", but "June 18th". - A Pharmacy carries prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, snacks, make-up, lotions, vitamins, and birthday/Holiday/Anniversary cards. - The majority of Americans get their health-care insurance through their employer, not the government.
Did I miss any? I see we have a lot of non-Americans on these boards. Glad to see. We all seem to love American television and film around here. I am curious on what American customs you find weird, strange or different.
Agreed about most of these. The worst imo are the firearms, the ridiculous tipping culture, and the awful health insurance system. The latter is particularly bad because apparently many employee insurance schemes have garbage coverage, meaning you have insurance ... then still have to pay a shit ton of money anyway because it's not covered. A few other things that strike me as very American: - The imperial units, which are stupid. The only exception is foot/inch which at least isn't too hard to calculate (~30 cm and ~2.5 cm), and I guess pound is tolerable as you can just say it's a little bit half of kilogram. - I hear that it's difficult to call in sick at work in the US. Not sure how true this is now especially after the pandemic. - It seems very easy to fire employees in the US. In other countries it's often very difficult to fire people. - Military worship. I don't find this negative though as we are protected by the US military  . - Having to drive/fly everywhere, though this is more of an Anglophone thing (trash public transportation) rather than a US thing. - A lot of focus/stereotyping on ancestral lineage (Italian-Americans love pasta, Swedish-Americans say yeah a lot etc.), which I guess is common to an extent in all former settler colonies. |
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Post by Martin Stett on Jun 19, 2023 4:31:56 GMT
Our gun culture freaks me out. I think guns are cool. They're interesting machines, and it is cool looking at them and seeing how they work. But there is a cult built around them, and that culture is troubling. That cult straight up worships them as something that is ENSHRINED IN OUR CONSTITUTION and won't tolerate any discussion on how environments can be made safer. Of course, some people in the community around me have literally said that slavery was good for the black population of the United States, so there are even deeper problems.  (I don't want a gun simply because the chance is too high that I'd shoot myself when I'm feeling particularly clear-eyed about how much of a shit I am, but I think they're fun things to examine, just as I find swords or other weapons cool from a purely academic standpoint.) The American use of imperial measurements irks me to no end. The bathroom stalls having incomplete doors is a stupid design decision. What moron came up with that one? On the plus side, iced drinks are nice. I assumed that was the same everywhere it was viable, though. |
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 19, 2023 12:05:30 GMT
Most of the things "strange about Americans" are merely attitudinal - ie the country is unique, its lifespan is relatively short, its economic system is unique too which fosters a very specific swagger or if you're being less nice.........an aggression: Americans love guns, and simultaneously love money ........if you don't live in Amerca you will never quite get that......the government can come to your home and take your driver's license before they can ever, EVER, take your gun ......that will never, ever change.... Weirdly, it also involves a strange sort of selective pariotism - no one in Sweden I'm guessing (?) says they'd rather live in Finland (or whatever) but people looooooooooooooove to tell you stupid shit about how America blows - it doesn't, you (or they) do. In a poll on this board people picked living in Canada - Canada - Americas Hat - over living in the US ....yeah, ok, have fun in Flin Flon dumbasses ........what great bands has Canada produced? Pfffft (don't say Arcade Fire either - you're making it worse now ffs  ) * In terms of what this thread was asking - public transportation is a big one it seems to me....you ride public transportation in Europre you're normal......in America, you really need a car unless you live in a walkable small town.... Not only that, we trade in / upgrade cars to an insane degree......we have an obsessively odd car culture in the US ..again part of our social fabric "Go West Young Man" and all that....... * America also eats snack foods / desserts to an extreme by comparison I think......we're over the top with it tbh |
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Post by mhynson27 on Jun 19, 2023 14:10:13 GMT
I hate getting ice in my drink tbh.
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cherry68
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Post by cherry68 on Jun 19, 2023 18:19:56 GMT
The bathroom stalls having incomplete doors is a stupid design decision. What moron came up with that one? I think it's to see if the person inside is fine or passed out on the floor. My husband reminds a youth hostel in Netherlands where the showers had a 30 centimeters door only, around the level of your belly button, and showers were for both genders. |
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Post by President Ackbar™ on Jun 19, 2023 19:10:04 GMT
The bathroom stalls having incomplete doors is a stupid design decision. What moron came up with that one? I think it's to see if the person inside is fine or passed out on the floor. My husband reminds a youth hostel in Netherlands where the showers had a 30 centimeters door only, around the level of your belly button, and showers were for both genders. I always thought it helped with mopping the floor or even hosing it off. |
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Post by Martin Stett on Jun 19, 2023 19:13:54 GMT
I think it's to see if the person inside is fine or passed out on the floor. My husband reminds a youth hostel in Netherlands where the showers had a 30 centimeters door only, around the level of your belly button, and showers were for both genders. I always thought it helped with mopping the floor or even hosing it off. That's what grates are for! |
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Post by Joaquim on Jun 19, 2023 20:02:54 GMT
All our food in America is fucking processed poison
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jun 19, 2023 20:31:39 GMT
The bathroom stalls having incomplete doors is a stupid design decision. What moron came up with that one? 100% positive it was because some corporate suit wanted a lighter balance sheet. |
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Post by Martin Stett on Jun 19, 2023 21:34:59 GMT
All our food in America is fucking processed poison Oh god, absolutely. Is this the same everywhere (at least in larger, wealthier countries)? Because I have to make all my own food. |
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jun 19, 2023 21:39:17 GMT
Americans have a tendency to clap after achieving climax.
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Post by Joaquim on Jun 19, 2023 22:46:02 GMT
All our food in America is fucking processed poison Oh god, absolutely. Is this the same everywhere (at least in larger, wealthier countries)? Because I have to make all my own food. No other country on the planet processes their foods like the US does. You can go to Europe, eat more than you ever have in your life and actually lose a couple pounds instead of gain them. Sure you’ll be walking off all that food you eat but the point is that it’s not that Americans eat too much (we do tho), the food is just poison |
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jun 20, 2023 1:54:43 GMT
You're all after my fritos and frozen Jamaican beef patties, aren't you?!
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Post by cheesecake on Jun 28, 2023 0:32:15 GMT
- Free refills. There are restaurants which allow you to refill your cup without an extra charge. Also, we have restaurants which allow you to have unlimited amounts of French fries/chips, pancakes, and pasta dishes. To-go drinks blew my mind. I couldn't believe I could order a massive pop for the road. |
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Jun 30, 2023 1:34:12 GMT
- Putting ice into cold water. If you order a non-alcoholic drink, it will automatically come with ice in it, unless you tell them otherwise.
-Yeah if I'm drinking water from a cup (I prefer water bottles, so this isn't often), I have to have ice in my cold water. I feel awkward without it.
- Tipping.
Like I said in another thread. I feel like an asshole if I don't adhere to this. Especially because of things like this:
Restaurant servers frequently coming back to your table to refill your coffee, tea, or drink orders.
And down here in the South, at least, the waiters and waitresses tend to be overwhelmingly friendly, energetic and committed to making you feel at home. They aren't making much money in base pay. It just feels like the right thing to do. That's keeping it to the restaurant business.
- Love of firearms. Americans love their guns and love to proudly displace them.
Yeah, that's just embedded in us and it's not going away. I can't imagine a Texas without that. Can you, Americans?
- Bathroom stall doors do not go all the way to the ground. You can walk into a bathroom, and you can see people's feet and lower portions of their legs.
They are right to think this is weird! I avoid public restrooms as much as possible and this is one of the things that has always bothered me.
I like this thread choice. I like to look up strange customs in other countries. One that stood out was Iceland. They supposedly leave their babies outside in their strollers to nap all alone. That to me, as an American raised in a big city, is beyond bizarre.
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(I don't want a gun simply because the chance is too high that I'd shoot myself when I'm feeling particularly clear-eyed about how much of a shit I am, but I think they're fun things to examine, just as I find swords or other weapons cool from a purely academic standpoint.)
) 
