Monday, May 4, 2020

Most American Things That'd Sound Crazy To Non-Americans


This fun AskReddit thread has folks sharing the most American things that'd sound completely absurd to non-Americans. It's funny how the outside perspective helps create awareness over the normalized weirdness of a particular place. Things like giant soda cups, free refills, or how Americans are afraid to call for ambulances due to the costs, are some of the things that pop up in this thread. 

Get some more fun culture content over in this Tumblr thread where cultures clashed over what lemonade is.

1.

Text - MinimumEmotion7 • 4h As a South African what amazed me was the competitors call each other out in advertisements. I couldn't believe it at first it seemed so unusual.

2.

Text - SilentSamamander • 6h As a Brit, what shocked me was learning about just how huge your COLLEGE SPORTS games are. A university/ college football (soccer) team game here might draw a crowd of a few hundred; a friend who went to the University of Texas told me their (American) football stadium seats 100,000. What the actual fuck.

3.

Text - Dugan_8_my_couch • 4h Hospitals buy ad space on billboards. I've never left the country, but we must be the only country that has hospitals advertising like Burger King.

4.

Text - ishcapital • 5h Walmart you can get a haircut, buy a gun and amo, with your groceries

5.

Text - kangarooninjadonuts • 6h Shooting a red sports car into space seemed like a pretty quintessentially American thing to do.

6.

Text - SFBushPig • 6h When purchasing an item, the listed price is actually NOT the amount you'll have to pay at check out....it will be more

7.

Text - Matrozi • 4h One of my canadian friend told me that, back in 2003, when we (France) refused to take part in the war against Iraq, some congress cafeterias and some restaurant in the USA renamed "french fries" in "freedom fries". I think it's the most passive aggressive AND american thing you could have done. Plus, fries come from Belgium, not France...

8.

Text - HangmansWay • 5h Play the national anthem at almost every event

9.

Text - jonnythe5th • 3h I was on a night train in Italy from Rome to Venice. I explained beef jerky and he asked me why we would do that to steak, and I was like blame the cowboys.

10.

Text - TJB2K3 • 6h I live in a "right to hire" state. That basically means that, with a few exceptions, my employer can fire me at any time without reason. With zero notice. It is possible to get a job with a contract, but those are rare unless you have a very high paying position. This is quite common in the USA from what a lawyer told me. I've read stories on this site of other places that are not like this. I always thought this was normal before.

11.

Text - TheTedk • 6h Still weirded out about refills and sizes of drinks specific to soda. The low bar to get a drivers license. Traveling between major cities the distances are insane especially just feeling completely alone in the middle of nowhere

12.

Text - drugdealersdream • 5h 1 Award I honestly couldn't believe people had to worry about calling an ambulance because of the fees. Like... wtf? Imagine being seriously hurt or sick and hesitating to call an ambulance and having to think about how much it will cost. Can't imagine it

13.

Text - Radioactivocalypse • 4h Do you guys in the US get paid holidays? We have weeks of paid holidays (not including the bank holidays) I saw someone saying that in the US they practically work perpetually for their company with NO time off. How?

14.

Text - LeopoldParrot • 3h 3 1 Award Health insurance. Premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, copays, out of pocket maximums, in-network, etc. It's an insane amount of knowledge that you need to have to make a good decision about your health coverage. And no one teaches you any of this shit. You have to go and learn it yourself on the internet.

15.

Text - fuktardy • 5h Do you guys know what S'mores are?

16.

Text - NaSoWirstNedOid • 5h "I'm totally Irish!" meaning "your great-great- grandfather's uncle once had a pint of Guiness".

17.

Text - lolipip2 • 6h hello someone plz explain the imperial system and how tf farenheit works i would like to not set my house on fire setting my oven to 360 degrees

18.

Text - lostsperm • 5h The crazy amount of food you guys serve.. Like.. The french fries you serve as a side and Large glass of Pepsi is enough to fill me up..

19.

Text - jakepauler6969 · 3h Waiters and waitresses are essentially required to tip because their actual wage is very low, in my state they are usually paid $2 an hour. If you don't tip, they'll give you a glare and might even tell their manager. The only reason you shouldn't tip is if their service made you feel worse than you did coming in.

20.

Text - Elmino_248 • 5h From the perspective of a swede • not including tax in price tag shoes on inside healthcare prices gun laws

21.

Text - iRonicH15 • 6h The worrying tendency of the South to deep fry anything and everything

22.

Text - pronkytonk • 6h That it's standard when going out for a meal to ask for the uneaten half of your giant meal to be put into a box to eat later.

23.

Text - AlexeiGilbert • 4h 1. Most americans are monolingual, so they basically only speak English. 2. They spend grands for health care services. 3. Paying student loans will hunt you down, even after having a family.

24.

Text - oldmanjim1 • 6h I am a UK citizen, and I find it strange and confusing the different levels of law enforcement officers there are in the states, and what their allowed to do, while in pursuit of a criminal. For instance if someone crosses a state line, the criminal can't be arrested if his offence was in the other state. Well that's how it seems when I watch american films/tv shows.

25.

Text - adhiyodadhi • 1h Fraternities/Sororities. Yeah so we just join brother/ sisterhoods when we go off to college with secret rituals and traditions.

26.

Text - Komische_Katzenlady • 5h That eating outside/takeaway food is the normal thing while staying at home and cooking is something special. Or at least that's how it's portrayed in TV. Are you guys all millionaires or something?

27.

Text - bounybeard • 3h I'm a British citizen (Scottish) moving to America, a lot of the things that surprise me aren't what reddit Americans think would surprise me. The one that really gets me is what is used in holy communion where grape juice and saltine crackers replace wine and communion wafers.

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