USUAL in your country but NOT anywhere else.
what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa?? like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.
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Easy: school shootings, together with politician denial about the causes of this, guns, and lack of regulation for who owns them, make owning guns easier than getting a driver's license.
Super sad, but here we are.
The police kills more people every year than the amount of people killed in mass shootings since 1983. They also repeatedly ignore reports of people who go on to commit school shootings.
You should look into common sense pig control. I think that would save more lives than just being hysterical about AR-15s.
2024
Police- 1270
Mass shootings- 500ish (actually a down year)
While I agree we need police reform, let's be accurate.
Both problems need extensive work.
Mass shootings are likely now what we all imagine. I think most of us are imagining the left side of this chart. And I'd say the leftmost three sources are hardly conservative. :)
Yeah, the "high schooler shoots up a school" or "crazy guy shoots up a mall" school shootings are incredibly rare. The majority of "mass shootings" are gang related violence. And even if you include all the instances and assumed you were equally likely to be involved in any of them (you aren't), it would still be incredibly unlikely for you to ever be involved in such a situation.
Gun deaths in general are not what most people imagine they are. 2/3 of them are suicides. Of the remaining 1/3, they will almost certainly be perpatrated by someone the victim had a pre-existing relationship with.
Not to say that gun violence is not a problem. But the view some of the lunatics on this site seem to have - that going out to eat lunch in America is more dangerous than living in Gaza - is just completely false.
We're mostly agreed. But suicides and "gang violence" and "man shoots family" shouldn't be discounted, but OTOH, they don't count as random, and random is what most people fear. Gun violence isn't random. Vehicular death is random, at about the same rate. And we don't talk about that.
Always said, America doesn't have a gun problem. We have a culture problem.
Oh whoop, wrong. There's been only 14 deaths. Which one of these are actual mass shootings and not something the FBI defines as one but the media doesn't? Like a bunch of gangbangers shooting at each other, wounding nobody, and causing a stampede that results in people twisting their ankles? That's considered a mass shooting by the FBI.
I pulled the numbers straight from here. Since 1983, 1176 people were killed in mass shootings.
Also, implying that the "mass shooting problem" requires "extensive work" is not good optics. All that America needs to do is suppress extremist right wing bullshit and mass shootings will cease to exist. Controlling the police on the other hand would require a lot more political power and a lot of reforms, but it would both reduce the amount of deaths AND curb down mass shootings at the same time because literally every single mass shooter only got to commit it because the cops didn't care.
1: Your source uses FBI data.
2: The criteria is clearly spelled out in your own source, and it changed in 2013 to be more strict.
3: Our mass shooting problem definitely requires extensive work.
4: Extremist violence does account for the vast majority, and right wing is the vast majority of extremist violence, especially if you count religious extremists. However, the abundance of guns certainly adds more since we are not the most extreme religious country, nor do we have the most percentage of right-wing idealologically aligned people.
5: Forcing cops to care has never worked because, according to SCOTUS, they're not required to do their job, even while on shift and present. Also, the most red flag sign of gun violence is domestic abuse, which most cops do on the regular, as well as right wing extremist ideation, which most cops engage in already. We'd be better off firing the domestic abusers and domestic terrorists that make up the majority and hiring social workers for most roles.
Switzerland has more guns per capita.
27.6 per 100 people vs US, which is 120.5. Where are you sourcing that from?
Abundance of guns does not indicate that the country is more prone to violence, though. Switzerland has significantly laxer laws on who can own a gun than over 20 US states, EVERYONE is obligated to own a fully automatic SG550 from their military service, and a vibrant gun culture, and yet, no one's going around shooting people. It's a result of right wing extremism, decades of propaganda running on people's TVs, toxic right wing gun culture that is not countered by responsible gun culture from the left because liberals hate guns (and only because it became a problem for them after school shootings became common), and the refusal of government to address those issues. To add to that, white liberals literally take over ANY gun control talk and make it about their white feelings. That's exactly what's happening here with you. Despite minorities being the lead in support for gun control, we literally do NOT ever get to talk about our experiences. The only thing that matters in gun control discussions is white liberals putting their feelings and their feelings ONLY in the table, and advocating for assault weapon bans (which wouldn't matter), universal background checks (that already exist) and "common sense gun control" (which they change the definition every time to suit what they think). And liberal politicians also add fuel to the fire by EXCLUDING COPS FROM CERTAIN BANS and giving them more and more budget to "fight crime" every year.
There is no such thing as a "mass shooting problem" because it literally kills less people per year than GETTING STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. The media turns every single one of those into a spectacle and that's why the majority of people think it's such a problem. Police violence, on the other hand, is NOT statistically insignificant, and especially not for POC. After the assassination of the UHC CEO, the media literally turned every other time a CEO died into just a damn footnote, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT COPYCATS. The media can stop making those mass shootings a spectacle, but they won't, because IT GIVES THEM MONEY.
The gun control movement has a HUGE problem with white supremacy, including from people who THINK they're not being racist, and then proceed to support liberal politicians with tough on crime policies who give 12 gorillion dollars to the cops of big cities so they can purchase MRAPs, IFVs, fully automatic rifles and tons of other shit they don't fucking need. And the SCOTUS ruling doesn't matter, just get yourselves a SCOTUS that would rule cops have an obligation to help and investigate everything.
Please listen to us. Common sense cop control WILL solve all of this shit you mentioned without ever touching gun laws.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. I'll try and do a better response later when I have some time.
In an ideal world we could replace SCOTUS members who, for example, lied under oath to congress. That would allow a lot of problems that seem impossible to solve to be pretty easily solved. I think the US is an example of a cascading system of measures to make it hard to undo the rot. For example: We need better rulings on cops, so we need a better supreme court, so we need to pack the court or get rid of the fascists on it, so we need a majority progressive congress, so we need campaign finance reform, so we need more people to vote, so we need laws against electioneering... I mean there are things that could be done that ate lynch pins for huge progress, but the system is certainly stacked against us. Not a reason to give up, but it explains a lot of the nihilism generally in our culture.
On a brighter note, apparently our casual friendliness with strangers is unusual elsewhere. So we've got that going for us, which is nice
French here: had to work with an American girl who was doing her internship in my company: absolutely. Same for an English teacher at my university during my studies: very nice. Americans people are very friendly and nice people.
That was my first thought too.
Oooh! I know this one! Pick me!!! is it.... Singapore??
Losing a ground war against flightless birds.
One of my favorite bits of weird history trivia.
Small dinosaurs.
@[email protected] , meet @[email protected]...
dude's airing your dirty laundry in public.
I'm more than happy to replace him in your country. I'll blend in 'swimming-costume-wearing-at-lunch' in no time.
As long as you use those swimmers in the pool we named after the prime minister who drowned at a beach.
Bagged milk
Lots of countries have bagged milk
East Germany used to have them but they disappeared during the nineties and good riddance as well!
TIL
the upper-midwestern u.s. lost their bagged milk when kwiktrip quit selling it that way a few years back.
Bonjour, mon aime.
Also calling soda “pop”, although I think parts of the US do this too
Tipping as a social obligation when eating at dine in restaurants which in turn allows the waiter to be paid less by the employer and theoretically lowers menu prices.
The Asshole Subsidy. Extra money is taken from the people who are kind enough to worry about the waiter getting paid, effectively giving assholes who choose not to tip a discount.
Are you calling non tippers the assholes, and not the business owners or practice of tipping in general? Tipping is out of control and a stupid obligation as it is currently being used.
Little bit of each. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation. The tipping system enables low wages. The traditional response to a bad system is to try to not participate. But then the underpaid waitstaff are paid worse until the system is changed, and unless a critical mass is reached, no change will happen anyway, so refusing to pay a tip in order to help the staff long-term hurts the staff short-term, and can only be said to be enough to make a change if it's really hurting them. It sucks as a whole situation.
Yeah, but many servers make serious bank. You won't find those people bitching about tips. Worked IT at a payroll firm, frequently saw the numbers.
Servers who bust serious ass make serious bank. Worked as a server. Bad servers have bad numbers, skilled servers have good numbers
Italy: always offering (and accepting) food or drinks while visiting. It’s impossible and/or incredibly rude to pass by a friend’s house without getting at least a coffee or a glass of water.
Netherlands: cold lunch. Traditionally, you’d have only one hot meal a day, and lunch would be sandwiches. I don’t mean to say that sandwiches don’t happen in other countries, but that hot lunches are basically unheard of in NL.
US: everyone has one or multiple cars. Walking to the grocery store means you are basically destitute. (That was quite the culture shock!)
The Italian food thing is pretty common in many cultures, I’ve seen it in a few countries myself and it’s big deal here in Lebanon. My own parents used to be livid about me bringing friends over and not offering anything to eat when I was younger. It’s a part of my culture I’m a bit resistant to doing, I don’t know, it’s pretty intuitive if it’s time to eat or not, and if someone’s dropping by between meals I am totally fine not setting the whole ass table. Maybe a beer or coffee (the good stuff, it’s a nice thing to share) nowadays.
The Dutch food thing has zero resemblance to my culture but it is in line with something I’ve read before about western (at least the description I read was western) food habits. Going completely off the top of my head here. As far as I remember, historically you had one heavy meal and everything else was a smaller meal. I think I was looking up “dinner” vs “supper”. The impression was that the word “dinner” was originally for the big meal of the day, and that “supper” was for a light meal at the very end of the day. “Breakfast” is more of literally breaking a fast than it is a whole meal and lunch referred to a small mid-workday meal.
So I think the idea of temperature might be connected to the size or heaviness of the meal in your Dutch thing.
Or maybe my nerves are completely cooked after work and this is more word salad than word coherent comment.
As a clarification, that last one is definitely NOT true about all places in the US, it very much depends on which area you live in. In NYC few people own a car even if they're quite well off. No one here drives to get their regular groceries.
I lived in NJ. When i randomly said i didn’t have a car, some colleagues gave me pitying looks. I heard NY is its own little microcosm, but it seemed in general US is very car centric, so much so that there were areas I literally couldn’t reach by foot.
It's hard to generalize any aspect of life in the US because of how damn big it is. People in metropolitan areas can get by just fine without a personal vehicle but it's much harder in the suburbs and all but impossible in rural communities unless you're very self-sufficient. I live near a city (Seattle), sufficiently so that I can easily walk to a bus and connect with the regional transit system. If that was my only option I'd have to majorly restructure my life, but it could be done.
In Canada, people do not run from the rain... if they are out and about and it starts raining, they just ignore it, they don't walk faster, rarely improvise coverage, etc
In Venezuela, my country of origin, people run from the rain like it's lava falling from the sky
Huh, thought everyone ran from the rain. I usually have a hat if I'm outside so the rain doesn't annoy me.
Canadian here, from the wet coast. I've run in the rain before, but it needs to be monsoon level before that's necessary. Anything less is just meh.
It really depends on what rain is like in your location in my limited experience. In the pacific northwest rain is usually a drizzle, it's fine, you don't run. In the american Midwest, you get a feel for the air pressure, listen for thunder, and look at the sky, then you make a comment about your prediction and keep going if you predict a drizzle but start running if it seems like a downpour.
The Brits don't either. So probably cultural heritage.
When I visited London (around the year 2000), I noticed that every man walking in the streets either wore a hat or carried an umbrella.
Not much point in running from it, you're already getting wet if you're caught out in it 🤷♀️. I'll run if I hear thunder though, don't want to get electrocuted.
I actively go out when it's raining. Refreshing af
that's a new level of crazy!!!
just kidding, I remember doing that as a kid... fond memories
Apparently Germany is one of the few (the only? Who knows) country to prefer carbonated water.
Ugh i hated that about Germany. When you ask for a water they bring you a seltzer. If you want water you have to specifically ask for "still water". Like what?! That's crazy nonsense. Water is one of the most basic elements of life as we know it, you can't make the word for water mean anything other than what it's always meant. I mean obviously you can, but it seems insanely dumb
Is it normal to feel dehydrated after drinking carbonated water? That's why I avoid it, personally, but I wonder if I'm just fucked up.
I definitely feel less hydrated. A lot of carbonated waters haver a higher sodium level, so that might be part of it. Or it's just the bitter taste of carbon dioxide.
No, it isn't. At least not for anyone I know.
Ah, so I'm fucked up 🫠
Is it just carbonated water (preferably naturally carbonated mineral water) or is it some kind of soda, with added sugars and whatnot?
Because the first one shouldn't make you feel dehydrated, no. Just burpy, and soothed if you had a stomach ache.
I'm not sure I've ever had naturally carbonated mineral water before, but yeah, the stuff I'm talking about has no sugar or anything, it's just water. I'm not sure why it does that to me!
"klassik oder ohne?"
"mit scharf bitte, danke"
You have 2 neighbors where it's basically a public good.
I saw a guy in a park in Milan at almost midnight filling up a few 5 liter bottles from the carbonated water station. He clearly lived across the street and just...needed to bathe in fizzy water right then? No idea. But it's not just you all.
Austrian here, and it's the default at restaurants etc. as well. I hate it, it hurts my throat. Leitungswasser bitte, danke :)
When visiting France the carbonated water was ubiquitous. The company I work for have water fountains with the option of carbonated water in all of their French offices.
It's literally called "Danish water" here in Denmark, though I don't like it
It is everywhere. I prefer water straight from the tap, which is usually better quality anyway (say the labs, not me).
Ich fucking liebe Sprudel ich trinke den ganzen Tag nichts anderes Sprudel ist so gut ihr habt alle keine Ahnung HAHAHA
France.
You're at the grocery store and want to buy a single bottle of milk or coke, but they're only sold in packs of 6? Just tear open a pack and take one bottle.
Austria - same.
I think that's a thing in many Central European countries
I see that lots in Canada as well, but often the 6-pack is way cheaper per unit, to the point where sometimes a 6-pack is the same price as a single.
Belgium, same.
Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion.He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up, Just as the founding fathers intended.
Close enough
Welcome back, Kevin McCallister
It's I.C.E.
The Kkklansmen aren't N I C E
Armed Minorities are harder to oppress.
I haven't seen anyone using parasols/umbrellas when it's too sunny in UK, but it's pretty common in Korea. I don't think I've seen them in Europe in general either. No idea for anywhere else to be honest.
lol
Is that the British term for “it stopped raining for five seconds”?
I remember a British ad where police is in front of a bank where a robbery with hostages is taking place.
The sun shines and both police and criminals enjoy it and together (I think they were doing a BBQ and the ad was for a BBQ sauce)
East and Southeast Asia in general. Umbrellas are not just for rain, but protection from the sun as well.
They don't protect you against the sun, unless you've got one with a special layer on it.
Sri Lankan sun burns should change your mind.
Pretty sure they meant it protects you from the heat of the sun. Like a cowboy hat or rice hat protects you from the sun
A lot of umbrellas in Asia have a UV protection layer on them. Also, like the other comment said, it protects against heat and direct exposure.
Seen it in the Caribbean, I expect it's plenty common in places where the sun is a deadly laser.
Southern Europe here where the sun is also a deadly laser. Only parasols you can see are held by Asian tourists. Most people don't even wear sunscreen.
I live in Spain, when I started to use an umbrella in my way to work during the worst days of summer I expected to receive weird looks, nope, a couple neighbours even copied me.
That's also due to the still very widespread asian beauty ideal of white/pale skin.
We europeans used to idolize that too, if you look at old paintings and portraits the women have porcelain skin almost every time, because it meant you were of high enough status and wealth to not labor in the sun as the well tanned peasantry.
Oh believe me it's coming. UK pays weather roulette a lot, and an umbrella is the perfect weapon
Only a matter of time until it is adopted globally.
This message is brought to you by Global Warming(TM)
I saw a college student walking with an umbrella in plain daylight.
My first thought was, "That's a bit dorky. Is this guy cosplaying a Victorian lady?"
My second thought was, "You know what, it's hot as hell outside. You do you, my guy."
In Germany people seem to like opening windows when entering a room, even in the middle of the winter. Or maybe I only know weird Germans.
A few central/northern European countries also don't believe in curtains.
German here. The Germans you describe seem fairly normal. Air quality > temperature
I understand, it's just a weird behavior from a southern Europe point of view: when it's cold outside we close the windows to keep it out.
Also weird from my UK point of view: it's fucking freezing out them I'm not opening the windows. I do get that it's nice to have fresh air and you can always put the window in the vent position, but even when it's really cold you can feel it.
To be fair: Every single appartment/house stayed in in the UK was so poorly isolated that it felt fresh and cold already when entering a room with outside walls/windows. In Germany/Switzerland many modern houses are basically pretty much airtightly sealed and well isolated
Some people open the windows for they cool fresh air and turn on the heat or set the fire place.
I've read some time ago that in some region of the world it is normal to leave a baby outside in a crib (bundled up, of course) in freezing temperatures or around freezing temps. Seems to provide some health benefit. I imagine the temp is not too far below freezing.
This is why they make better engineers. More neurons that haven't died of carbon dioxide poisoning.
https://youtube.com/shorts/_TaXiLs2_go
Hospital bills. I guess some of y'all have some kinda universal health care? Wild. Here, illnesses can lead to bankruptcy. Cool. Yeah.
I hear peoole mix up these terms a lot: FYI "Universal Healthcare" doesn't necessarily mean "Free Healthcare".
Cool. I'll be sure and be way more specific and accurate when I make my next glib comment on the internet.
Thank you, much appreciated
How could they possibly be different. If it's not free, then it's not universal because it doesn't include the destitute.
China is labeled as "Universal Healthcare" but its not "free". They have a system equivalent to the US's "ACA", most people purchase insurance through employers. Unemployed people have no insurance. Its not "free". And insurance doesn't cover a lot of things, just like in the USA.
I know because my parents regularly call our relative in mainland China over wechat, and I just asked my dad today because of a discussion on another Lemmy thread.
Seems like a drastic mislabeling if their “universal” care is the same as the US. That’s like saying we have universal thousand dollar bank accounts. Sure, everyone can get one. You just need to get the $1k first.
Crippling medical debt and outrageous student loans.
Mass shootings in the US. It's become so common here that most if not all are desensitized.
What's a mass shooting? This chart lines it out nicely I think. Bet you, like most of us, are defining the term according to the leftmost three stats.
What I find to be far more weird, we lose about the same number of people to vehicular death as we do gun violence (and guns are almost half suicides). Yet, we just accept that as normal. Couple of people get shot? Headline news, if they're white. Entire family dies in a car wreck? Meh, you probably won't hear about it unless there was an unusual angel to the story.
Our scientific branch of government telling people paracetamol (acetaminophen) can cause autism and leucovorin (a anti cancer treatment regimen) may cure autism. Also legelise ivermectin (worm pills) over the counter for COVID
Our government endorses them.
Wtf
Well, you don't wear shoes indoors in any of the Nordic countries.
We have pineapple and banana and kebab and salad on pizza¹. Apparently it is considered weird.
¹ not the same pizza, obviously. That would be weird.
Taking your shoes off is expected in some parts of America, almost unheard of in other parts. Chicago? Shoes off. Florida? Why?
Most of Asia and Canada also... You take your shoes off because shit is outside on the ground, and I don't want that tracked into the house!
Florida? Don't care. Our floors are mostly tile, tracking in sand, sweep.
nonono, I want to see that tropical kebab pizza
Indoors meaning a home, right? Because i doubt everyone is kicking their shoes off once they get to school/work/grocery stores
I had to take off my shoes in multiple resturants, "hotels" and museums in Japan for example.
People don't wear shoes indoors in any civilised country. Only Americans do that.
Pineapple and kebab on pizza is available in Germany too, although I think it may be illegal in Italy.
Where I live in Germany it’s very common to leave shoes on indoors (unless there’s a carpet)
Pretty common to keep your shoes inside in France. It's more common in houses with a hard floor than in apartments with a wooden floor, but there's absolutely no standard so you usually end up asking.
You've never been to a black woman's home that owns carpet have you? Lol
Yellow school buses, apparently.
That's because US/CANADA cities are not designed with public transport in mind.
The rest of the world uses actual run of the mill normal buses, regardless if it is for school or not.
Several of the large cities like New York or Chicago genuinely don't use yellow school buses because the city DOES provide public transport.
Where you see schools having their own buses are the rest of the nation. Cousinfuck, West Virginia, population 182 has at least one school bus, because THAT town certainly doesn't have a subway.
Large-scale evacuations because of unexploded WW2 ordinance.
That’s every country in central Europe I think
The societal problems if the US has been covered by others, but here are some culture shock ones I've experienced, in no particular order:
When I moved to the PNW, it was a shock to me that most people did not have air conditioning, especially in apartments. My first apartment had none, and summer was pretty unbearable. I think it's climate change doing it's thing and maybe it wasn't needed before.
Had several coworkers in the PNW when that monster heat dome sat on them a few years ago. I too was shocked at how many didn't have AC. My boss, who makes bank, had just had it installed the previous year.
Yeah, the heat dome was what made me finally get a heat pump installed. It was 117°F (47°C) and we had to huddle around a crappy dual hose portable a/c
Born and raised in the PNW, it's a combination of climate change and more development of green spaces. Trees and wetlands do a LOT to keep the local temperature down, high-rises and parking lots do the opposite.
When you walk outside and are practically swimming in the humidity that ac is a godsend. My windows mostly stay closed so I don't drown/suffocate lol
A lot of these are really regional (alcohol drive-throughs, horse and buggy, air conditioning, gas appliances) . I think it's been years since I saw anyone write a check for anything, though, with the exception of something to put into a birthday card. Horses also aren't allowed on highways, but they are allowed on country roads that people drive pretty fast on.
Double hung vs single hung windows it not something I would have noticed, but I suspect you are right.
Doorknobs, I dont know why we seem to like them. I guess the only benefit vs handles is that you won't snag your clothing on them when walking by. That doesn't beat the convenience of being to open a door using your elbow while carrying something.
The water bottle thing is relatively recent thanks to all of the companies somehow becoming trendy.
I mostly threw these out of the top of my head. You're mostly correct:
what the fuuck
Thats "American style", while keeping the fork in the non-dominant hand is "European style". Allegedly, it dates back to when meals were served "service à la française", which is when all courses are brought out at once, which is obviously the more common method of home cooking. Restaurants started doing "service à la Russe", which is where courses are brought out one at a time.
With service russe, you have new sets of silverware with each course (or they are arranged in order), so if you are eating a course that doesn't need a knife, you won't be given one, and you'll have your fork in your dominant hand. If you need a knife, that goes in your dominant hand, and you leave it there for the duration of the course.
With service française (or regular home cooking), you just have one set of silverware, and you only use the knife when you need it, so you might switch your fork to your dominant hand when you are done needing the knife.
For example, in America, no one eats a steak switching hands for every bite (cause that would be dumb and inefficient), and in Europe, you probably wouldn't eat a meal that doesn't need a knife with a knife in your dominant hand (cause that would also be dumb and inefficient).
I wonder are there cultures where you hold the knife in your non-dominant hand because switching the fork around always seemed inefficient.
This whole conversation is weird to me. Fork in my dominant hand and knife in the other. Never seen anyone put their knife down or switch grips.
I was discouraged from doing that as a kid so ended up just cutting everything beforehand and then switching hands because it was faster.
the fork should always be on the left, and the knife on the right, no matter your handedness.
(According to certain styles of manners, which are of course entirely arbitrary and subjective)
yeah but i grew up with them so they're objectively correct
knife is always on the right, not the dominant hand. it's to make sure you don't bump into your neighbor by both doing the same movement at the same time.
Yeah, this is not typical.
Ive never even been to the US but a big one for me is the lack of electric kettles. Theyre in basically every home here in the UK.
They're not as common. I think most people either use a coffee maker (for coffee), or their microwaves to heat water. However, I have an electric kettle in my office for tea. One thing you may notice in the US vs Europe in that regard is that the standard outlet is 120V, so most small appliances can't pull as much power as their 240V counterparts in Europe. So my electric kettle is probably a little slower than yours.
That's because of your power grid/building code is optimized for 120V - and you need more juice for cooking.
We actually get 220V to the house that gets split up into two different phases of 110. Kitchens and laundry rooms get 220 for ranges and dryers. IIRC the gas appliances are because of marketing and lobbying but I could be wrong.
Germany: public benches are specifically placed to be full view of the sun for as long as possible, a wild proportion of people have bread slicing machines, and you’re not allowed to prevent someone from using even a private toilet if they really need it.
It's so pleasant that DM has clean toilets for when I've poorly planned my liquid intake, shops in France don't generally have toilets for the public and the malls that do don't really care if they're clean it seems.
It's absolutely acceptable to go to a university lecture at 8 am, and sit in the front row with a beer. The professors won't mind. You can buy beer in the cafeteria as well as in a vending machine at the library.
Pulling out a bottle of hard liquor is frowned upon tho.
As a Canadian who graduated quite a while ago now. Jealous!
Don't be, we all graduated as alcoholics
Yeah does seem a bit dangerous.
Germany ?
Yes. Bavaria specifically.
Heh, that's real nice how beer is normalized there.
I mean, it's fun and all for a while, until you realize that 8/10 people have developed a moderate to severe drinking problem by the age of 25.
ah, I thought it came with some guardrails
Cheating on your spouse with someone at the company julefrokost (christmas work thing).
Denmark 🫤
https://cphpost.dk/2016-12-07/news/a-shocking-affair-danes-lead-european-infidelity-charts/
How normal are we talking?
Like: "Happy New Year, dear. I cheated on you on Christmas with Sarah from Finance. How is your affair with Fyodor in Marketing going?"
"Oh, Fyodor is so last year. They fired him because he was too loyal to his husband. I went with Peter in Accounting. Here, he bought us cupcakes for our anniversary."
Dane here, it's quite normal, no idea why
I remember something similar happening in the US recently...
Large, pristine pickups
Pavement princesses. The North American Man®'s gender affirming vehicle.
I lnow multiple dudes that work as box throwers in Walmart warehouses that drive $100k trucks, trucks that will never see any kind of work that's appropriate for their size. Might haul a few 2x4s from home depot every once in a while.
They want to own a home, but they're making massive payments on a huge truck instead. 🤙
You sure? Making that kinda money doesn't give you the credit for a $100K vehicle.
Working at Lowe's was eye-opening. Those princesses rolled in daily, but a great many were hauling massive loads on a trailer. They just don't put construction crap in their pristine bed.
100k CAD to be fair. And yeah, I don't know exactly what they paid, but it's the dually Super Dutys, the Denalis, the Longhorns, etc...
Maybe they're a few years old too. I don't give two shits about trucks so take my words with a grain of salt I suppose.
Fair enough. My opinion on princess trucks changed a bit when I saw them roll in. LOL, one night me and the lumber manager were laughing with a guy as we loaded his trailer.
"Sure you can handle that?"
"Think I better come back for the rest tomorrow!"
"Agreed!"
Monoculture. I live in Canada, and it's pretty rare for a person, and especially a group, to have only one culture they draw from to firm their habits and identity. Even immigrants have their home and whatever mishmash of a culture their work ends up with. Its somewhat easy to tell travelers apart from residents by them having a discernible accent. If I can tell your accent is Irish, and not just some combination of Irish, British and Ukrainian, then your not here permanently.
And honestly that's what I love about Canada and why we are the best country in the world. We're a mosaic rather than a melting pot. Each culture that comes here contributes something to the Canadian Zeitgeist that gets disseminated to everyone else, like spicing up an otherwise boring W.A.S.P existence.
When my family moved here from Portugal, they managed an apartment building in order to have a place to live while my father worked construction and my mother was a housekeeper. (Yeah...yeah...I know...it doesn't get any more Portuguese than that)
Anyway, I was just a toddler and the family was immediately befriended by the older Ukrainian lady next door and we soon became a part of her extended family for everything from christmas to birthdays, etc. My first memories are of toddling down the hall in my pjamas first thing in the morning to "Auntie Anne's" apartment. She was more my grandmother than my biological grandmothers who lived in Portugal at the time.
Through them, we learned kaiser. My mother learned how to make peirogies, cabbage rolls, etc...
We are without a doubt the most Ukrainian Portuguese family to have ever existed and I love it.
Sorry...got nostalgic there for a moment. Auntie Anne passed away decades ago and I still think about her sometimes.
I had a prof in college from Canada, whose parents were German and Korean, and you could hear both accents at the same time. I never encountered such a thing. Also funny that he didn't have a single bit of Canadian accent.
Wearing thongs (flip flops) in a grocery store.
Kangaroos littering the side of the road (they have about 4 neurones and all of then are suicidal)
The only place I have seen young kids (think 6 years old) swear similarly to here in Australia is in Scotland, and they are just as feral as we are.
Walking down the street at night. In the UK and USA it was apparently just not a thing you did. Here I will walk home at 2am no worries, and tonnes of people walk home from the pub drunk enough to not always make it home and sometimes just pass out on the footpath. Never had a problem, never been mugged or similar in that situation, and after living in the UK and visiting the USA I can definitely say I would never do that there.
Wearing swimmers (bikini or budgie smugglers) and going for food and drink on the same trip. The number of times I've gotten coffee, had lunch, or jumped into the bank while dressed for the beach is uncountable, but never ever outside Australia.
Hitting your kids is rare here. Spanking is not really normal and is definitely not common in public compared to my visit to the USA or my time in the UK. In both of those people would cuff their kids or slap their hand when they were being unruly. That is uncommon here and I have seen people intervene when someone was hitting their kid in public on more than one occasion. The same goes for animals, people don't like you hitting your dog either. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it is not considered OK.
Healthcare. We have it. We love it. In the UK the NHS was OK, not great, and the USA is terrifying. My meds would cost me about $310 per month but end up costing a max of $38, unless I spend $1200 in the year at which point the rest are free. As in, no cost, just pick them up, zero dollars. Mine are half medically necessary and half for better function, but for some people they are way more necessary and I am so happy they can just go get them, no risk of rationing meds.
People do talk about politics and religion here, but not with random people and not in public. If someone isn't interested you are generally going to back off quickly and leave it be. Religion and politics are mostly private and the few people who do talk tend to not be too intense about it. Certainly most don't become a registered Labor or Liberal party member with the group identity associated. It is much more loosely held and less culturally relevant.
First of all,
You fuckers need to bring out your own dictionary.
Budgie smugglers? I thought that's Australian for Gum Boots. Turns out, it kinda is actually, but for your Johnson & co.
Secondly, When wearing a thong (the real sexy kind) in a grocery store becomes a norm in your part of planet, I'm moving there permanently.
Third,
Lunch\Cafe in your beachwear?
Bro, you should've started with this.
Imma land there now.
I want you to pause for a second and think what the average person looks like.
Yep, though self selection plays a role here. If you feel like you look bad you will probably be less likely to go out in swim gear. The average you will see in swimmers is well above the actual population average.
I am average!
To be fair to them, cutting across the path of a predator is pretty effective right up until the predator is a two-tonne death machine.
Still pretty dangerous for women, I've gotten plenty of harassment at night. But definitely far safer than the US.
I think it depends. People are still fairly likely to talk about what they think is a "fair go", and we've had some massive political protests lately. But it feels like each party has to meet in the middle a lot more, so stuff isn't as polarising, and things that are don't get talked about as openly.
Also in the US they have to register for a party when they register to vote. Feels like they heard about the concept of the secret ballot from us and then just failed completely on the execution.
Most states in the US don't require you to register for a party, although there are some that do.
Also, there are places in the US that are incredibly safe, but most of the big cities are not. But the US is very large and diverse.
Being able to go basically anywhere by bike, foot, or public transport. And just our bike infrastructure in general. I honestly don't know how I could live in most other countries because it seems like basically everything happens by car or foot. Being able to bike anywhere is so much nicer and gives a lot of freedom from an early age.
Strangely we Dutch people also seem to be quite alone in our view that helmets on normal bikes are not really necessary. They make bikes more prevalent imo, because you don't have to drag a helmet along everywhere. You just park you bike and the only thing you have with you because of it is a key, no special clothes, helmets, etc. I think that's also possible because of our bicycle infrastructure and culture.
Kids learn to bike from a young age, in traffic. You see very young kids just cycle on their smol little bike with a parent on the outside sort of shielding them from traffic. Safely on bike roads, but also just on shared roads with cars. In general kids are quite free to just play outside. I live close to a school and I see plenty of kids all across the neighborhood, just playing without parental supervision. It's what we did back in the day too, without mobile phones or anything. We'd usually be home on time for dinner or our parents would find us somewhere in the neighborhood and tell us it was time to get home.
We came from far but we're working on it. Flanders is steadily moving to that utopia.
Dutch isn't a country, therefore the utopia you describe doesn't exist and is impossible to create.
Thanking the bus drivers when exiting the bus.
Depends on the bus type though. A lot of buses have a rear door, and sometimes it's kinda rude to go out through the front when there's a lot of people coming in through the front. So then you end up leaving through the rear and it would be awkward to shout 'Thank you!' to the driver, over everyone's head.
In Dublin, everyone would enter and leave via the front door. Only Covid changed that, and drivers started opening the second doors in the middle of the bus. Still, people are used to exit through the front, or shout their thank-yous from the other door.
It was like this in the Bay Area when I lived there, like in Alameda county at least. People exited at the rear doors and gave a thank you to the driver. Became a habit for me. I moved to Norway a few years ago and absent-mindedly said “Takk!” as I exited and I was quickly educated that, we don’t do that here.
I started doing it years ago in Belgium and I see more people do it these days. I don't shout but wave at the mirror. Bus drivers watch the mirror to check when to close their doors. After a while they get to know you and they trend to be more welcoming when you enter the bus.
i always have, even as a grade school kid--back then the bus rides to and from school were so long, i saw the bus driver more on school days than my family.
Ireland?
Could also be Canadia
Got it in one :)
Damn i just heard one person doing that today first time in my life..
That's a lot of thanks. It's in a highly populated city.
Not a lot but only once
Bzzt, unless you're Australian this isn't true. It's not universal here, but I'd say around 50% do, moreso if you're somewhere regional.
Happens where I live in Denmark
Germany: Workers have rights, and can go to court easily if needed.
You're not alone in that, sincerely, a dutchie
Poutine.
I was in Canada and I wanted to poutine. I could hardly find any. Ask I had just gravy on fries
Where in Canada? That sounds like a 'berta thing lol. I can go to just about any random restaurant here and if they serve fries, chances are they have some sort of poutine option
Yeah, in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, you can get authentic poutine. It starts getting rare to find a good one the further west you go. Its a French-Canadian cuisine and thus Quebec-centric.
In BC the poutines are usually all wrong. Chicken gravy and shredded cheese instead of room-temp curd and a properly dark beef gravy.
When the place actually tries to make it an original take, its better. Like the Brown's Social House Rocky Mountain Poutine, or that place that does it with tater tots. 😂
Tabarnac oui!
Civilians openly carrying handguns
I'm with the other commenter below. I'm not sure this is terribly usual, even where legal.
I keep an eye out for this sort of thing just sort of out a professional interest, and in terms of openly carrying firearms (not knives), I've only spotted two people doing it this year. And one of them was a guy who I think was intending to carry concealed, but was not doing a very good job due to an ill-fitting shirt.
Still haven't seen this, even in open-carry states.
Seconded. Not just Tokyo, either, but even up in sendai
Congratulate everyone with someone else's birthday. Netherlands.
So... As I read this, this comes to mind: "Gefeliciteerd met Rita's verjaardag, Johnny."
That's not what you meant, did you?
Yes, that's exactly what I meant. When you arrive to someone's birthday it's common to go around, shake everyone's hand and congratulate them (with Rita's birthday). Or just do a wave when you enter and collectively congratulate everybody.
And that, my friend, is why Flanders and The Netherlands will never unite ;-) That, and juderans.
Also where we have laws but we make mental exceptions for it because of reasons.
Gefeliciteerd.
Dankjewel.
Wearing tracksuits in Ireland as regular day clothing. They are not nearly as common now as they were before, but many young people still wear them because they're comfortable and cheap. I remember German foreign exchange students asking the teacher why do Irish people always go to gym because of the tracksuits.
Do old people just stop right in a doorway blocking everyone behind them outside the US? I've been to other countries (specifically Ireland, Germany and Mexico), and didn't experience this but I spent much less time there than I have here.
Farofa.
I don't feel like I learned much by looking up what that is.
It's added to the plate to add flavor and texture and to absorb moisture. It's a side dish to feijoada and to churrasco too, but you can eat it with any meal.
There's corn and soy farofa too, but cassava is the main one.
Tipping
Almost everyone has a sauna or at least access to one at or near their home.
Finland for those wondering.
So you get naked for using the sauna in your home?
You sluts!
Hearing gunshots in the wild and not giving a shit. I came straight out the woods, not even off a trail, and there was a young couple by the creek. Having a .22, though really wimpy, didn't want to frighten them. Not the sort of place you typically see other humans. Also, I look like a well-outfitted homeless guy when hiking. I waved and smiled, walked up to introduce myself.
The were super nice. "Sorry if I worried you. I was popping beer cans down the creek and I never fire any other direction." "Oh! That must have been you we heard!" Given how sound carries over water, I must how sounded like I was very close. No worries.
LOL, how many non-Americans would hear gunfire in some lonely woods and not run like hell? :) We're rednecks, or redneck adjacent, so it's plenty safe to assume we know how to be safe. Shooting is a brutally Darwinian sport for dumbshits.
I live in City/Suburban (its like within a city but no tall buildings), and I hear what sounds like fireworks all the time and nobody gives a shit. And sometime I hear "fireworks" going off in rapid succession like pop pop pop like idk maybe its fireworks, maybe its gunshot, who knows. Just another day. 🤷♂️
(Yes, this is USA, its a liberal city, so its not the hillbillies)
I'm WAY more concerned with pops in a city. When I lived in Elgin, IL (Chicagoland), the 4th of July made me a bit nervous.
Apparantly nobody cares. Didn't even hear police sirens lol. And "stop and frisk" is a thing here.
What's this raygun looking contraption?
Italian-made Chiappa Little Badger Extreme. $209. My god. I have never had so much fun with a new gun. Breaks in two pieces, 3.5lbs., hella accurate. Got it two weeks ago, probably took it out 10 times since.
Wanted a Chiappa Rhino, not practical, just for giggles, can't afford it. Talk about a science fiction weapon, it was even in The Expanse!. And yes, the barrel is on the underside.
Being very touchy and physical.
Cheek kisses are usual for strangers. And it's normal to touch people you barely know or have a small friendship.
Country is Spain.
How small does the friendship need to be for me to casually smooch all the pretty members of your society?
Please immediately stop this line of thinking. It is verging on creep territory.
Hmmm...
Hmmmmmm....
Yeah, i can see what you mean.
Okay. I take that comment back.
I will consider Grindr.
Depends on the region. Where I live mostly as soon as they know your name.
Change of plan.
I am now schooled on preferring positive physical greetings.
But I appreciate your input.
How did covid go for you guys?
Among european countries we were one of the worst, afaik.
Two front doors for a single terraced 2 bedroom house.
OK, that's a new one. Pics?
Any Vietnamese photos of people doing weird things
Look up cursed images Vietnam and you'll find some good ones I swear
Sorry but here is a reddit post of some of them:
https://old.reddit.com/r/VietNam/comments/18q72y7/vietnams_cursed_images_113/
Not reddit:
https://saigoneer.com/saigon-culture/16779-the-discomforting-poetry-of-vietnamese-cursed-image
Queuing apparently. Which I really don't understand wtf everyone else is doing to wait their turn. Well I guess except Japan.
I think the way we treat The Law as a Suggestion is very much a national exclusivity. Other people, especially first worlders, are a lot more reverent about it.
Staring, the only patriotism you get is local patriotism about once city/region, no national flags, bread,
Germany? What's up with the staring thing?
guns. you can guess where im from
Canada? Or maybe the Falklands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country#List_of_countries_by_estimated_number_of_guns_per_100_people
TIL lol. I meant the united states, but tbh good for canada
Yeah I was just joking. Although seeing that Canada has a ton of guns and not nearly the same issues means that it's gonna take some doing to fix the problems of the US. Who knows, maybe if we ever get decent mental health care and stop people from being wage slaves with vast wealth inequality it'll go a long way to fixing things.
Ireland: chicken fillet rolls, spice bags
Scotland: deep fried pizzas, macaroni pies
UK
Proper fish and chips. I've seen American fish and chips and it's nowhere close
I’ve had fish and chips in both the U.K. and the U.S. No offense to the Brits, but it’s better in the U.S., because they use this thing called “seasoning.” The only thing I prefer about the U.K. version is the paper cone the chips come in.
I miss the ink flavor from when they used to be wrapped in newspaper.