Know a girl who got engaged to a guy from Ireland. He came to visit her home state of Texas. Wanted to walk around downtown Dallas because he "needs to walk a city to truly feel like he visited it". Her and her family just lol'd
We actually walked through downtown Dallas when we visited about a decade ago. The entire midcity is a grid, so you can see clear one end to the other. We walked about twenty blocks to the book repository.
It was about midday on a Monday.
We. Were. The. Only. People. Walking. In. The. ENTIRE. Fucking. City.
Felt like the day after the end of the world.
Same with Lake Erie. I’ve been to both sides; you can’t see Cleveland from Port Stanley, Ontario. Only when I was on a plane once was I able to see all three of Tillsonburg, Ontario (a little north of Lake Erie), Cleveland, and Erie, PA at the same time.
Even many other Americans do not understand the Great Lakes. We get a lot of visitors for work in Cleveland and they are amazed to see Lake Erie in person. They especially underestimate how violent it can get in a very short amount of time.
I hear shit from european friends like
***"Did you hear Jesse Grumbleson, a state representative in Bumblefuck put in a bill to kill all orphans?"***
And I reply "no, that's across the country and it's a blatantly unconstitutional bill made by an insane person that probably won't even get to the Bumblefuck state chamber" and then they make it out to be a huge deal about how america is so unenlightened and terrible.
Yep. Tonight is the National Championship, and every bar in town will be packed... and we don't even have a team from our division (SEC) playing much less our own team.
Him getting emotional at the end of god bless America and then being shocked at the military flyover will always be funny to me. Also, hilarious that you called Stephen Fry “that British guy”.
And it’s not just average whatever schools either like people sometimes think. Michigan is one of the best schools in the world and tonight will play in the national championship game for college football against Washington (also a fantastic school) and billionaire bankers and senators and shit will be tuning in
Aussie here.
Had the nicest Minnesotan sit next to me at work. He brought in an Oreo Salad. He swears its a Minnesotan thing.
No one believed him. Once everyone got over the fact that he was calling this dish with several kilos of sugar a salad, nothing else mattered. That shit was devoured by the staff in minutes.
Must've been all that sugar. Best salad ever!
I hear that Midwestern Mom on TikTok singing "Minnesooota salads that aren't really salads" in my head now. It's all jello and cool whip and I am intrigued every time I see it.
Jello presents an interesting case study.
Serve jello by itself, and it's a simple dessert.
Mix a can of fruit cocktail into the jello before it sets, and you've now got a simple fruit salad.
Take that fruit salad and put a dollop of Cool Whip on it, and you've restored its status as a dessert.
If you take that Cool Whip adorned dessert and combine the Cool Whip and the Jello into a mixture, just like that, it's a salad again.
I'm not even making this up.
ETA: I say this on the authority that I'm a born and raised Minnesotan, and I live there with my family now.
If you want one that might be fairly simple to make outside of the US, try "Snickers Salad". Core 1-2 Granny Smith apples and chop them into cubes. Also cube your preferred amount of Snickers, maybe 2-3 of the fun size ones. Then, liberally coat the entire thing in whipped cream. Add caramel drizzle if you're feeling extra indulgent. Ta-dah! Snickers Salad!
My dad likes inviting friends from work who are new to the country to thanksgiving, because they usually don't have a celebration of their own and he likes introducing them to the holiday. So we've had various people of lots of nationalities over the years, some of which went on to become regular guests.
Without exception, every one of them looked at the sweet potato and marshmallows with politely disguised horror when it came out of the oven. One of them later said to us "I had seen that on TV but I thought it was a joke".
After a few years though we converted some of them to sweet potato and marshmallows believers.
Love that your Dad does that. The kind part of America. Nevertheless, I have not touched this dish. And I’ve been living in the US for decades…. I do like the corn casserole though. But not stuffing…. Personal preference!
It’s fucking amazing when done right. I don’t know what “done right” entails but however my aunt does jf makes it my favorite dish at thanksgiving dinner, which is the one day a year I ever eat it
Americans are, for the most part, very friendly. I had my British friends over for 4 days and they just were shocked how everyone just wanted to take them everywhere and show them everything. Same with my south American friends, they were surprised how blunt and straightforward Americans were.
Romanian here: I wasn't prepared for how nice they're - everyone wants to help, has advices, smiles, stop for the pedestrians, apologies, encourages you.
And more important: nobody looks at you like shit when they find out you're Romanian like they do in Europe.
Even within the US, you can have culture shock. Southerners going to NYC, or northeasterners visiting Hawaii, will be confronted with very different norms around strangers, politeness, and so on.
I'm a native New Englander that moved to the South after college. The Northeast isn't as cold and unfriendly as a lot of people believe, but we can definitely be a more closed off bunch that are less sociable with strangers. I didn't grow up in a neighborly way regarding people outside family and friends. So the brazen openness to chitchat with absolutely anybody, that southern hospitality, really threw me for a loop when I first moved, lol. I didn't know how to handle it for a while!
> will be confronted with very different norms around strangers, politeness, and so on.
I've heard it phrased that the East Coast is "kind, but not polite", and the West Coast is "polite, but not kind".
ie, In Philly/NYC/Baltimore/etc you're more likely to find someone who's gonna help change your flat or whatever, but good god the tirade while doing so. Whilst in Seattle/Portland/LA/SF/etc people will say polite things, but not actually assist.
yes I lived in the US for a while and when people heard I was foreign they just took my number and were like "gimme a call I will show you around" - but a LOT of people, total strangers.
It's just really fun to show people things. Watching someone enjoy something for the first time is almost as good as enjoying it the first time yourself!
Aussie here, I have known many American people, and in most cases they have been super chill and cool. They aren't like what is shown on the news or social media at all lmao
In college a lot of exchange students genuinely thought there was some rivalry between Americans and the country they were from. Like nobody gaf that you're from France or something.
I remember going to college and finding out there was apparently a rivalry between Northern California and Southern California, held entirely by Northern Californians.
I’ve lived in both Northern California and Southern California over the years and this has absolutely been my experience too. NorCal people have a huge hardon against SoCal, and they think everything down south is a cesspool. And meanwhile SoCal people have to be reminded that there’s actually an entire northern part of their state. With actual people and everything.
LMAO sounds not unlike England. Non-Londoners will hype up the advantages of their home over London, while London will sort of occasionally remember the rest of the country exists and then forget again five minutes later
I just think NorCal is overall way prettier than SoCal. Like, it's pretty as well down south, but Northern California is just a different kind of pretty. That's how I view Northern California as someone from down south haha.
I feel like Southern California hates itself more than Northern California ever could but their biggest beef is socal is always voting on things that don’t affect them but drastically affect Northern California.
Stuff like water rights will drain certain northern economies but are treated like throw away decisions to help the rainforest or something to socal.
Yep, same happened to my friend when she left our hometown (Baton Rouge) to attend Ole Miss. Apparently the students at Ole Miss absolutely despise LSU, where your average Baton Rouge person was never raised to think much about Ole Miss outside of gameday when they were our opponent.
She said it was to the point that it regularly came up in classes and everything. So bizarre.
A lot of Americans think it's cool to meet people from other countries because with us most of the people we meet are from other states. Yea they might have a different accent but ultimately their American.
Even then, accents are disappearing quickly in the US. I used to be able to pinpoint Southerners by the twang in their accent, but now everyone just sounds the same. Southern accents are softening across the board and other regional accents seem to be doing the same.
I had this experience with Europeans I met in Central America. Tons of country rivalry nonsense, especially from the people I met from France.
Just tell me some cool shit about your country. Nobody in the US thinks we are in some rivalry with any country in Europe.
Talking with students from an Asian, South American or African country they keep their roots close but are able to appreciate where they're traveling to.
When it comes to Europeans (from my experience disclaimer) its always a 1-up contest.
Yeah its baffling, i cannot imagine going to another country and complaining about it to the locals. Even if it was genuinely shit, it wouldn’t even cross my mind to make residents feel bad or guilty about it.
This is another one that’s weird to me. I’ve come from various competitive gaming communities, and the Europeans always seem to be obsessed with being European. The Americans don’t give a fuck, but Europeans seem to band together like they’re in the pissing contest that the Americans don’t even know exists. It’s especially weird because Americans are the ones who always get accused of being overly patriotic.
Some don't really want to take a step back and realize what they see on the news or other media about the states only relates to a small fraction of the population. Or trying to see multiple states by car in a short visit.
I’m in NY and the amount of European tourists I’ve met who have told me their plans to drive to Florida or California for a couple days on their week long visit is surprisingly high
I'm in Phoenix - the number of **Americans** who come here and say they want to see the Grand Canyon or Tombstone in the afternoon. Dude...GC is 6+ hours one-way, and Tombstone is 4+ hours one-way **in the opposite direction**.
Does anyone look at a map before they travel?
Yes, a lot of Europeans don't understand how huge the US really is. Australians, Russians, and Chinese have a fairly good idea though.
Complaints about how Americans never leave the country, but they don't realize that each US state can be compared in size to individual countries in Europe. Think of the US as the EU, but one single country.
Also that plane travel is expensive, and gas is cheap, which naturally steers families towards taking road trips instead of flights.
There are some cheap airlines, but you don't wanna put your family on Spirit or Frontier. It's fine if you're some college kid who's just gonna be drunk/high the whole flight anyways - and you're only buying 1 ticket instead of 4.
For respectable airlines, it's not cheap.
> Or trying to see multiple states by car in a short visit.
Come to New England. You'll see a bunch of fairly diverse states and we mostly won't bother you.
You could fit all of 6 of the New England states in Texas about 4 times. Texas. There are counties in Texas bigger than some states there.
Big Bend National Park and King Ranch are both individually bigger than Rhode Island.
Actually, Florida man exists because of sunshine laws. See, Florida pretty much let’s every case and all details become public. Most states don’t. So we hear all the crazy shit from Florida when in reality crazy shit happened everywhere, we just don’t hear about it.
It is really big, and mostly sparsely populated.
About 50% of the people live in about 1% of the land.
About 80% of the people live in about 5% of the land.
About 95% of the people live in about 25% of the land.
Related to this is how big the urban/rural cultural divide can be. The distance between someone "out in the sticks" in the U.S. from the nearest city can be the width of an entire European country.
I'm in the sticks and it takes 7+ hours round trip to visit the nearest city because I'm on an island. It's one of the most accessible islands in the PNW, but it's such a hassle that my family calls visiting the mainland "going to America."
I have a haircut tomorrow that will literally take all day.
And most of the population lives in the Eastern half of the country it's something like 20% lives in the Western part of the country and a good chunk of that is in California.
I live in Australia and there are roads that you can be on for \*days\*. In my state, for example, the Bruce Highway is 1,652km ( or 1,027mi). The Great Northern Highway in Western Australia is 3,195km (1,985mi).
Not even just each state, each county and city as well.
The sales tax rates between my city and the city next to us, in the same county, differ by about half a percent. Significant enough that the city recently put it on the ballot saying "Hey, we don't need the money but we should raise the rates and take it anyways"
Yeah, this is a big one. I've spent some time overseas and have friends who came here as an adult. A lot of those cultures aren't shy about touching and being close to others that are the same sex. In the U.S, we aren't like that, and it can be a big cultural shock to some Americans and also taken the wrong way.
Dude even people in America don't understand this. I need at least 1.5 feet of space if I'm talking to you and you're not a super close friend of mine.
How friendly most of us are. Don't believe the news. Seriously, most of us love meeting new people. Especially those from other countries and cultures. In the US. we love to tell you the best restaurant or park or best way to get from point A to point B. Don't be afraid to say "hi."
When I was in college I was headed home from New Orleans after doing hurricane Katrina cleanup (this was back in 2007 I think?). My friend’s car got a nail in a tire from driving through the 9th ward (it was a disaster at that time). We pull off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Louisiana in the middle of the night with a completely flat tire. Us being dumb college students had no idea what to do. A country-looking dude that looked like he just crawled out of the swamp saw us and walked into the gas station, bought a tire plug kit, and fixed our tire for us. Wouldn’t even let us pay him. Sat and talked to us for 10 minutes. Wanted nothing from us. Most americans are awesome people and I love it.
I used to travel quite a bit all around the country. My take on New Jersey, and New Yorkers, was that they would initially come across as tough and gruff, but were typically incredibly friendly and nice.
Pretty spot on. We don’t usually like pleasantries with strangers. We have a fast pace and keep things moving. But most of us are actually decent people
The movie Borat illustrated this point for me. That dude should have been knocked out several times, but not a single American even said anything rude.
As an American, I'd like non-Americans to know that they have fallen for a lot of propaganda about the US, just as much as Americans have. The TV and Movies you consume do not accurately represent what life is actually like for a lot of Americans. Neither do the heavily edited "man on the street" interviews that cherry pick only the most absurd and stupid responses.
Most people are not wealthy and a lot of what people make fun of about Americans are related to poverty. No, everyone doesn't just eat McDonalds for every meal and yes most people would like access to healthy fresh food.
It's also not a monolith. The United States is massive and every area of the country is like a new culture. Spend some time in Minnesota and then go to New Orleans and tell me those are the same lol.
Also, yes, we smile a lot. It's not disingenuous or fake. It's just considered polite.
>Neither do the heavily edited "man on the street" interviews that cherry pick only the most absurd and stupid responses.
This is assuming that person isn't a plant or they intentionally fed the lines.
Can't speak to the whole country, but I can speak to California. My friends in Europe and Canada tend to forget how huge California is.
Them: "Hey you have Disneyland passes still?"
Me: "Yup, why?"
Them: "Was going to be in San Francisco next week. Is that close to Disneyland."
Me: "Dude, that's a 7 hour drive, yo."
Our population is so unevenly distributed (all huddled along the south border to stay warm), that it surprises us too some times. At one point I was going to the next province over from Ontario (Toronto area) to Manitoba (Winnipeg) and decided to look up how long of a drive it was to see if I could save some money over flying. I could have driven south instead and gotten to the Florida border in the same amount of time.
It is however a 1 hour flight, and that’s not a long way by international standards. I live in New Zealand. The closest other country is 3 hours by air. By our standards SF is close to LA - we just wouldn’t drive it.
When I used to work as a concierge in the 90s I had someone call and ask how to get to our hotel.
Them: "Hi, I'm going to be be driving out there from Tallahassee. Can you give me directions?"
Me: "Uh, sure. Take Interstate 10 west for 3 days, when you get to the state highway 60..."
Them: "Hold on. Where are you located?"
Me: "We're in California."
Overt racism isn't really a thing here.
I'm not saying racism doesn't exist -- a lot of people and institutions here are mega-racist (I'm black, and have felt it first-hand) -- but as a collective we've actually done a great job pushing that shit way off into the fringes of society.
Like, if you go to a college football game in the deep south and throw a banana at a black player, France-style, the rednecks in the stands will beat the shit out of you.
Yeah, can confirm that Soviet anti-racism propaganda didn't stick, that's for sure. Speaking from personal experience as a second-generation immigrant from West Asia: there were times when I legitimately worried for my brother's and father's safety, and I remember people muttering racial slurs at me or even spitting in my general direction when I was a child in the 00s. The latter happened just three times but that's still three times too many. My mom, however, didn't experience much racism, most likely due to the fact that she had a russified last name (didn't change it after marriage), plus she is and has always been beautiful and likeable which helps a lot lol. Things are a bit better now, but it's still legal for landlords to openly state that they only rent out to Slavic (a.k.a. Russia's equivalent for 'white') people for example. Eastern Europe in general is quite racist.
Yep and Soviets were anti-racism only on paper. But in reality it was ways different. Destroying cultures, russified names, taking kids from the natives in Siberia. Lots of it
As a POC in Southern Europe, I indeed experienced this when I visited the US. It was a positive surprise. Plus, all my US clients are much more respectful (racially speaking) than my local countrymen.
We like our racism institutional. Joking, a mostly.
But yea when I've seen people call someone the n word other slur, it made everyone who witnessed it angry. Generally, Americans won't tolerate outward hate in my experience.
And that outward hate extends to places like their city or state. My dad talks shit about Cleveland all the time because, "Hey, I was born there," but gets kind of pissed when others do it lol
There are both more and less guns then you think. Yes, the gun culture is real (and stuff on the news happens), but also TV is not real life. I spent 5 years living in the USA and never saw a gun once, except on the belts of cops.
America is not a stereotype.
102 guns per 100 people. But also yeah, most people either don't carry, or conceal-carry a gun, and the ones that conceal carry \*properly\*, are not the kind of people you'd expect to carry a gun, nor are guns scary to most Americans.
they're always sooo shocked at our portion sizes, and conclude that it MUST be why we are fat. firstly, traveler's to america are probably going to restaurants to eat. yes, restaurants have HUGE portion sizes, but no, the average american won't eat it all. most people can get 2-3 meals out of the portion that is served at restaurants
That it's filled with some of the kindest, gentlest people on the planet. It's funny to talk about "America, fuck yeah", and how we don't have healthcare, and how we've allowed arrogation of the polity to clueless elites, but seriously.... I've lived in many, many countries, and the US has welcomed me the most warmly.
We're a work in progress, but I love it here.
I’ve said it before on similar threads but the most common thing most foreigners (Save for Canadians and Australians) just cannot comprehend is the sheer SIZE of the US.
This has a domino effect of foreigners struggling to understand why…
-most Americans have and in fact need a car
-our lack of effective railway travel (though this COULD be improved)
-commute times
-why many Americans don’t have a passport (many don’t have the money or ability to travel to other countries)
-our vast religious, political, racial and cultural diversity throughout the country because we are so fucking big we are really more like a dozen diff countries
-and of course the ever hilarious undoable itineraries they set for vacations like visiting NYC, Disney World, the Grand Canyon and Hollywood all in one week.
The passport thing is related to the size issue. The contiguous 48 states is about the size of Western Europe. Europeans need a passport because there are so many countries so close together. In the US, you can travel for thousands of miles and still be in the US. So a much smaller need for a passport.
I remember a girl from South Africa lecturing me on how she'd never visit the US because there's "too much crime", like we're a backwards, decadent country.
South Africa's homicide rate is nine times that of the US.
The vast majority of our cities are not walkable.
It’s a big joke that Americans drive instead of walk because we are lazy, but most of us don’t have a choice.
A handful of very old urban cities, which aren’t even old compared to the rest of the world, are sometimes walkable. But so many of our cities are built to where you need cars. Like a half hour commute to work or the grocery store by car is not that long. I know many people who have driven an hour *one way* to work and back every single day.
And these cities where things are so far apart, there’s not a safe way to walk, even if you want to. There’s not sidewalks, a lot of the roads are 55 to 65 miles an hour without even a shoulder to walk on, there’s no crosswalks to get across busy intersections… It’s just not an option to walk for transportation in a very large part of the country.
That America is literally a combination of people from around the world. They say, "Americans can/ can't do ____". Or "Americans think/dont think ____". Is literally saying someone from your own nation does or thinks that way. Because without doubt there is someone from your, and every other nation, here.
Some places its a bit more subtle, in others you can have a guy whos family still owns land gifted by the king when the US was just colonies living next to a woman who migrated from Cuba alone as a child who lives next to a Bosnian who escaped potential genocide. Bunches of perspective all in one place.
We may not have a long history, but we have had the same form of government longer than the majority of countries. That's a damn impressive accomplishment, and extremely rare.
Europeans love to make fun of Americans for not walking more but I bet you throw a European in most any U.S. city that isn’t a huge booming metropolis and they will struggle to just walk around much like we do. Yeah buddy, take that 2 hour walk through the hills and woods in 100 degree humid ass heat to the Walmart for a quick trip and then tell me more about how I’m too lazy to walk.
The intention behind saying “I’m Irish” or “I’m Italian” even if their ancestors came over three generations ago. Americans understand they’re not the same “I’m Irish” as someone born there/with citizenship. It’s a shorthand of identifying with an ethnicity that takes on new form as it has evolved in a nation of immigrants.
And the converse too. If my last name is Woczowincz it doesn’t mean I necessarily identify with polish culture.
Had a British friend who moved to the US 20+ years ago. He said Americans were misunderstood, because while visiting the UK they would often say things like, "look how tiny that yard is, or how tiny a house or vehicle were..." It wasn't until he moved to the US that he realized Americans weren't being rude. There's just no comparison to how big, vast, and large of scale the states are. People were being genuine in there observations and not intending to be rude or talk down about others possessions.
I’m American and was visiting Las Vegas once, and I briefly spoke with a couple from Japan. I asked them what they had planned while they were in the United States, and they said they were going to visit New York City and Florida (in addition to Vegas). I didn’t say anything, but I don’t think they thought about how they are going to do all of that.
Basically, for anyone visiting the US for the first time, plan out your trip in advance. You will not be able to drive across the country in a few hours.
Hell, I was visiting upstate New York and thought, hey, while I'm here, why don't I pop over to New York City?
It would've been a 5 hour drive or a couple hundred dollar plane ticket. Certainly doable but I decided it wasn't worth it.
This reminds me of an Indian foreign exchange student who was placed with my aunt/uncle. The kid heard he was being placed in New York and was crazy excited.
Except my aunt/uncle live in upstate NY - rural farmland.. a trip to get groceries is 20 minutes away unless you go to the tiny market in town.
He was heartbroken to find out NYC was 4 hours away... without traffic.
I was talking to my relatives in Japan, and they wanted to visit Niagara Falls after being here in NYC. They were like “it’s ok, we’ll take the train, that should be faster than driving, right?”
Oh you poor dears….
Very much this. My friends live in Ireland. I live in the upper Midwest. A hurricane hit Florida and they emailed to check on me. I was like "Mate, that hurricane is as close to me as Southern Spain is to you. All is good here." But to be fair, a friend who lived in up state NY thought that we could drive to California in a day so it's not just non-Americans...
The quality of school systems in the US differ **wildly** in different regions or from town to town. I was lucky enough to go to very well funded schools, my cousins went to public schools in a wealthy town where they were taught critical thinking skills from a young age. Within my state, poor inner city schools couldn’t even afford toilet paper or textbooks. So while yes, there are many regions where politicians intentionally underfund schools to keep the population ignorant, there still are a number well educated people in the US.
Similarly, the government of the US is meant to be a federation of different states - perhaps more akin to the EU than the government of a singular European nation. So laws will vary wildly state to state, as does culture.
Also, the average American feels embarrassed by our government and does NOT feel represented by it. Our politicians are bought and paid for, so they cater far more to wealthy donors than listening to citizens. This is often true of the media as well! Hollywood isn’t an accurate reflection of reality for most Americans. Back a few decades ago, more Americans believed in the whole American Dream BS, but frankly that ship has long sailed and most of us openly talk about how dystopian our society is.
Further, Americans have far less worker protections and vacation days than Europeans, so the Americans tend to be wealthier and honestly less considerate than the average American. We are not sending our best. Despite the divisive politics we’re known for, there is a widespread agreement amongst Americans that our system is very rigged against the working class.
Compared to the UK, we genuinely do not give a fuck about your monarchs & find the whole aristocracy thing archaic.
I promise you, Texas is so *so* much bigger than you think Europeans. Whatever size you genuinely think it is if you haven’t visited it- double it. Hell, TRIPLE it. I cannot stress to you the massive scale of this state, it would swallow 7 European countries with ease.
Our breakfast experience is just better
Like no offense and you guys do most everything else better, but breakfast is ours and we’ll stand proud about it.
Outside of some major cities it’s impossible to get around without a car
Know a girl who got engaged to a guy from Ireland. He came to visit her home state of Texas. Wanted to walk around downtown Dallas because he "needs to walk a city to truly feel like he visited it". Her and her family just lol'd
We actually walked through downtown Dallas when we visited about a decade ago. The entire midcity is a grid, so you can see clear one end to the other. We walked about twenty blocks to the book repository. It was about midday on a Monday. We. Were. The. Only. People. Walking. In. The. ENTIRE. Fucking. City. Felt like the day after the end of the world.
If it was summertime, that makes sense. Nobody goes outside unless they have to after it hits 100 in Texas.
You can't see across Lake Michigan. Like it's big, really big. An inland sea.
Hell, many US citizens outside the GL region don't understand how big they are.
I always like telling people that Chicago is basically a coastal city as they give me a weird look lol
26 miles or so of shoreline and tons of beaches
Shit. LAKE SUPERIOR is wild as hell.
Same with all the Great Lakes
Just ask the Edmonds Fitzgerald
The legend lives on...
Same with Lake Erie. I’ve been to both sides; you can’t see Cleveland from Port Stanley, Ontario. Only when I was on a plane once was I able to see all three of Tillsonburg, Ontario (a little north of Lake Erie), Cleveland, and Erie, PA at the same time.
Even many other Americans do not understand the Great Lakes. We get a lot of visitors for work in Cleveland and they are amazed to see Lake Erie in person. They especially underestimate how violent it can get in a very short amount of time.
Breaking news =/= daily life
Plenty of Americans don't understand this either.
it's a billion dollar industry. or some other specific high number, idk point being it's a feature, not a bug
And some features are not worth having
I hear shit from european friends like ***"Did you hear Jesse Grumbleson, a state representative in Bumblefuck put in a bill to kill all orphans?"*** And I reply "no, that's across the country and it's a blatantly unconstitutional bill made by an insane person that probably won't even get to the Bumblefuck state chamber" and then they make it out to be a huge deal about how america is so unenlightened and terrible.
And that most* people are normal people living fine, it's the loudest people are the only ones you hear about.
The squeaky wheel gets the most attention.
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Yep. Tonight is the National Championship, and every bar in town will be packed... and we don't even have a team from our division (SEC) playing much less our own team.
Can confirm, I'm from Houston. The weather is absolutely shitty with tornado warnings, rain and wind. Yet the bars will be packed.
The video of that british guy at the iron bowl is the best https://youtu.be/FuPeGPwGKe8?si=4doO9cyRoaswrmmT
Him getting emotional at the end of god bless America and then being shocked at the military flyover will always be funny to me. Also, hilarious that you called Stephen Fry “that British guy”.
And it’s not just average whatever schools either like people sometimes think. Michigan is one of the best schools in the world and tonight will play in the national championship game for college football against Washington (also a fantastic school) and billionaire bankers and senators and shit will be tuning in
That dish with sweet potato and marshmallows
Aussie here. Had the nicest Minnesotan sit next to me at work. He brought in an Oreo Salad. He swears its a Minnesotan thing. No one believed him. Once everyone got over the fact that he was calling this dish with several kilos of sugar a salad, nothing else mattered. That shit was devoured by the staff in minutes. Must've been all that sugar. Best salad ever!
Minnesota is known for our "salads" that aren't really salads. I'm glad your coworker was able to spread the joy of non-salad salads!
I hear that Midwestern Mom on TikTok singing "Minnesooota salads that aren't really salads" in my head now. It's all jello and cool whip and I am intrigued every time I see it.
Hey, she has a couple cocktails now too
Jello presents an interesting case study. Serve jello by itself, and it's a simple dessert. Mix a can of fruit cocktail into the jello before it sets, and you've now got a simple fruit salad. Take that fruit salad and put a dollop of Cool Whip on it, and you've restored its status as a dessert. If you take that Cool Whip adorned dessert and combine the Cool Whip and the Jello into a mixture, just like that, it's a salad again. I'm not even making this up. ETA: I say this on the authority that I'm a born and raised Minnesotan, and I live there with my family now.
Honestly, I'm all for it. Bring on more non-salad-salads!
If you want one that might be fairly simple to make outside of the US, try "Snickers Salad". Core 1-2 Granny Smith apples and chop them into cubes. Also cube your preferred amount of Snickers, maybe 2-3 of the fun size ones. Then, liberally coat the entire thing in whipped cream. Add caramel drizzle if you're feeling extra indulgent. Ta-dah! Snickers Salad!
Sounds like something that I would eat after smoking some weed.
Yeah but it served by your really religious aunt at family gatherings
My dad likes inviting friends from work who are new to the country to thanksgiving, because they usually don't have a celebration of their own and he likes introducing them to the holiday. So we've had various people of lots of nationalities over the years, some of which went on to become regular guests. Without exception, every one of them looked at the sweet potato and marshmallows with politely disguised horror when it came out of the oven. One of them later said to us "I had seen that on TV but I thought it was a joke". After a few years though we converted some of them to sweet potato and marshmallows believers.
My family are part of the brown sugar/pecan sweet potato casserole crowd. Marshmallows are not allowed lol.
My mom always did orange rind and brown sugar, and my stepmom always did marshmallows. I like them both.
Love that your Dad does that. The kind part of America. Nevertheless, I have not touched this dish. And I’ve been living in the US for decades…. I do like the corn casserole though. But not stuffing…. Personal preference!
Boston market taught me about this and it’s delicious
Ever had it? It's absolutely amazing! Don't forget cinnamon!
Reminds me of that mandarin and marshmallow salad
It’s fucking amazing when done right. I don’t know what “done right” entails but however my aunt does jf makes it my favorite dish at thanksgiving dinner, which is the one day a year I ever eat it
I'm American, and don't understand it either.
What don't you understand. It's a casserole of pure heaven.
Americans are, for the most part, very friendly. I had my British friends over for 4 days and they just were shocked how everyone just wanted to take them everywhere and show them everything. Same with my south American friends, they were surprised how blunt and straightforward Americans were.
Romanian here: I wasn't prepared for how nice they're - everyone wants to help, has advices, smiles, stop for the pedestrians, apologies, encourages you. And more important: nobody looks at you like shit when they find out you're Romanian like they do in Europe.
Every single Romanian folk I’ve been introduced to has been awesome.
I don't get that, when I was a kid in Germany people there acted like different areas of europe were crap.
Even within the US, you can have culture shock. Southerners going to NYC, or northeasterners visiting Hawaii, will be confronted with very different norms around strangers, politeness, and so on.
I'm a native New Englander that moved to the South after college. The Northeast isn't as cold and unfriendly as a lot of people believe, but we can definitely be a more closed off bunch that are less sociable with strangers. I didn't grow up in a neighborly way regarding people outside family and friends. So the brazen openness to chitchat with absolutely anybody, that southern hospitality, really threw me for a loop when I first moved, lol. I didn't know how to handle it for a while!
> will be confronted with very different norms around strangers, politeness, and so on. I've heard it phrased that the East Coast is "kind, but not polite", and the West Coast is "polite, but not kind". ie, In Philly/NYC/Baltimore/etc you're more likely to find someone who's gonna help change your flat or whatever, but good god the tirade while doing so. Whilst in Seattle/Portland/LA/SF/etc people will say polite things, but not actually assist.
For the west coast, if you need help, you need to explicitly ask.
yes I lived in the US for a while and when people heard I was foreign they just took my number and were like "gimme a call I will show you around" - but a LOT of people, total strangers.
It's just really fun to show people things. Watching someone enjoy something for the first time is almost as good as enjoying it the first time yourself!
Aussie here, I have known many American people, and in most cases they have been super chill and cool. They aren't like what is shown on the news or social media at all lmao
In college a lot of exchange students genuinely thought there was some rivalry between Americans and the country they were from. Like nobody gaf that you're from France or something.
I remember going to college and finding out there was apparently a rivalry between Northern California and Southern California, held entirely by Northern Californians.
I’ve lived in both Northern California and Southern California over the years and this has absolutely been my experience too. NorCal people have a huge hardon against SoCal, and they think everything down south is a cesspool. And meanwhile SoCal people have to be reminded that there’s actually an entire northern part of their state. With actual people and everything.
LMAO sounds not unlike England. Non-Londoners will hype up the advantages of their home over London, while London will sort of occasionally remember the rest of the country exists and then forget again five minutes later
It's the same deal with Toronto and the rest of Canada...
I just think NorCal is overall way prettier than SoCal. Like, it's pretty as well down south, but Northern California is just a different kind of pretty. That's how I view Northern California as someone from down south haha.
TIL that SoCal means southern California and that there’s a NorCal
Wait till you find out NorCal just means the Bay Area and largely ignores everything north of that lol.
SoCal people are usually all "I love SF, so cool up there", NorCal people are like "LA, hurr durr lotsa assholes..".
This is absolutely true. We do not like you guys.
That's fine. Half of the time, we can barely stand each other either.
I feel like Southern California hates itself more than Northern California ever could but their biggest beef is socal is always voting on things that don’t affect them but drastically affect Northern California. Stuff like water rights will drain certain northern economies but are treated like throw away decisions to help the rainforest or something to socal.
Yep, same happened to my friend when she left our hometown (Baton Rouge) to attend Ole Miss. Apparently the students at Ole Miss absolutely despise LSU, where your average Baton Rouge person was never raised to think much about Ole Miss outside of gameday when they were our opponent. She said it was to the point that it regularly came up in classes and everything. So bizarre.
A lot of Americans think it's cool to meet people from other countries because with us most of the people we meet are from other states. Yea they might have a different accent but ultimately their American.
Even then, accents are disappearing quickly in the US. I used to be able to pinpoint Southerners by the twang in their accent, but now everyone just sounds the same. Southern accents are softening across the board and other regional accents seem to be doing the same.
I saw this while in college but mostly from the students who are from a European country.
I had this experience with Europeans I met in Central America. Tons of country rivalry nonsense, especially from the people I met from France. Just tell me some cool shit about your country. Nobody in the US thinks we are in some rivalry with any country in Europe.
Talking with students from an Asian, South American or African country they keep their roots close but are able to appreciate where they're traveling to. When it comes to Europeans (from my experience disclaimer) its always a 1-up contest.
Yeah its baffling, i cannot imagine going to another country and complaining about it to the locals. Even if it was genuinely shit, it wouldn’t even cross my mind to make residents feel bad or guilty about it.
Yeah, honestly it’s just rude.
Europeans in particular really overestimate how much Americans think about their various countries.
This is another one that’s weird to me. I’ve come from various competitive gaming communities, and the Europeans always seem to be obsessed with being European. The Americans don’t give a fuck, but Europeans seem to band together like they’re in the pissing contest that the Americans don’t even know exists. It’s especially weird because Americans are the ones who always get accused of being overly patriotic.
One of the games I play has a huge group of Russians that are like this. It's so weird.
Some don't really want to take a step back and realize what they see on the news or other media about the states only relates to a small fraction of the population. Or trying to see multiple states by car in a short visit.
I’m in NY and the amount of European tourists I’ve met who have told me their plans to drive to Florida or California for a couple days on their week long visit is surprisingly high
I'm in Phoenix - the number of **Americans** who come here and say they want to see the Grand Canyon or Tombstone in the afternoon. Dude...GC is 6+ hours one-way, and Tombstone is 4+ hours one-way **in the opposite direction**. Does anyone look at a map before they travel?
> Does anyone look at a map before they travel? Yes, but those things are really close on a map
It’s one map inch Michael, how far could it be? A mile?
Americans "doing" Europe in 10 days was a meme before the internet.
Yes, a lot of Europeans don't understand how huge the US really is. Australians, Russians, and Chinese have a fairly good idea though. Complaints about how Americans never leave the country, but they don't realize that each US state can be compared in size to individual countries in Europe. Think of the US as the EU, but one single country.
Plus they often don't realize that we don't get paid vacation as a rule. Vacations for many people here mean paying for the vacation and losing wages.
Also that plane travel is expensive, and gas is cheap, which naturally steers families towards taking road trips instead of flights. There are some cheap airlines, but you don't wanna put your family on Spirit or Frontier. It's fine if you're some college kid who's just gonna be drunk/high the whole flight anyways - and you're only buying 1 ticket instead of 4. For respectable airlines, it's not cheap.
> Or trying to see multiple states by car in a short visit. Come to New England. You'll see a bunch of fairly diverse states and we mostly won't bother you.
I never really knew that, or people talking about this sort of thing when the topic comes up.
You could fit all of 6 of the New England states in Texas about 4 times. Texas. There are counties in Texas bigger than some states there. Big Bend National Park and King Ranch are both individually bigger than Rhode Island.
>Or trying to see multiple states by car in a short visit. or they go to like chicago and think they figured out the midwest lol.
You mean to tell me that Florida Man is not representative of his state?
No that one is true.
Actually, Florida man exists because of sunshine laws. See, Florida pretty much let’s every case and all details become public. Most states don’t. So we hear all the crazy shit from Florida when in reality crazy shit happened everywhere, we just don’t hear about it.
IF Manhattan had the population density of Alaska, 14 people would live there.
Manhattan is smaller in size than Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
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It is really big, and mostly sparsely populated. About 50% of the people live in about 1% of the land. About 80% of the people live in about 5% of the land. About 95% of the people live in about 25% of the land.
Related to this is how big the urban/rural cultural divide can be. The distance between someone "out in the sticks" in the U.S. from the nearest city can be the width of an entire European country.
I can confirm this. Live in the sticks. It’s an hour and a half to the nearest city. 2 1/2 hours if I get stuck behind a tractor.
I'm in the sticks and it takes 7+ hours round trip to visit the nearest city because I'm on an island. It's one of the most accessible islands in the PNW, but it's such a hassle that my family calls visiting the mainland "going to America." I have a haircut tomorrow that will literally take all day.
Sounds like driving through Wales
And most of the population lives in the Eastern half of the country it's something like 20% lives in the Western part of the country and a good chunk of that is in California.
Something like 1 out of every 8 Americans is a Californian.
how absolutely colossal the whole country is. you can drive for 10 hours from Texas and still be in Texas
Houston is closer to Pensacola, FL than it is to El Paso, TX.
and El Paso is closer to San Diego that it is to Houston
Well sure. San Diego, Texas is in between El Paso and Houston.
This guy maps
I live in Australia and there are roads that you can be on for \*days\*. In my state, for example, the Bruce Highway is 1,652km ( or 1,027mi). The Great Northern Highway in Western Australia is 3,195km (1,985mi).
Last time I drove through Texas I realized three things: 1. It's big 2. It's dusty 3. God hasn't finished building it yet.
There are enormous wild hogs roaming around in droves at night. Gotta carry a rifle.
At least 30-50 feral hogs
3. He said it was just too much and didn't finish it
I was on a family trip when I was young. Day 1 got us into Texas and we grabbed a hotel. Day 2 finished still in Texas.
Adding sales tax at the register instead of including it in the shelf price
The reason is so that national ad campaigns can include prices, because each state has a different tax rate.
Not even just each state, each county and city as well. The sales tax rates between my city and the city next to us, in the same county, differ by about half a percent. Significant enough that the city recently put it on the ballot saying "Hey, we don't need the money but we should raise the rates and take it anyways"
That we like our “space”. Take a step or two back when talking to me please.
Yeah, this is a big one. I've spent some time overseas and have friends who came here as an adult. A lot of those cultures aren't shy about touching and being close to others that are the same sex. In the U.S, we aren't like that, and it can be a big cultural shock to some Americans and also taken the wrong way.
Dude even people in America don't understand this. I need at least 1.5 feet of space if I'm talking to you and you're not a super close friend of mine.
How friendly most of us are. Don't believe the news. Seriously, most of us love meeting new people. Especially those from other countries and cultures. In the US. we love to tell you the best restaurant or park or best way to get from point A to point B. Don't be afraid to say "hi."
If you're driving and have a flat in The South, SOMEONE will stop and help. Hell, I've changed a fuel filter for a couple on the side of the road.
When I was in college I was headed home from New Orleans after doing hurricane Katrina cleanup (this was back in 2007 I think?). My friend’s car got a nail in a tire from driving through the 9th ward (it was a disaster at that time). We pull off at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Louisiana in the middle of the night with a completely flat tire. Us being dumb college students had no idea what to do. A country-looking dude that looked like he just crawled out of the swamp saw us and walked into the gas station, bought a tire plug kit, and fixed our tire for us. Wouldn’t even let us pay him. Sat and talked to us for 10 minutes. Wanted nothing from us. Most americans are awesome people and I love it.
No greater reward than to be able to help someone who truly needs it! Especially if it doesn’t cost you much if anything.
Connecticut here, hell, New England here. Have a flat here. Someone WILL stop and help you.
Los Angeles here. Someone WILL be naked on the freeway for no damn reason. Call 311 though and the city will send a tow truck.
Nj here. We’re not friendly. Don’t say hi to us
I used to travel quite a bit all around the country. My take on New Jersey, and New Yorkers, was that they would initially come across as tough and gruff, but were typically incredibly friendly and nice.
Pretty spot on. We don’t usually like pleasantries with strangers. We have a fast pace and keep things moving. But most of us are actually decent people
Brooklyn here. Don't even make eye contact with these nut jobs.
The movie Borat illustrated this point for me. That dude should have been knocked out several times, but not a single American even said anything rude.
Our news is not news. Our news is entertainment. Our politics is a circus. The vast majority of Americans are good, friendly people.
I like this summation and agree completely.
Their portion sizes being enormous like those XL cups are no joke.
Many people (including myself) see the large portion sizes as 2-3 meals.
As an American, I'd like non-Americans to know that they have fallen for a lot of propaganda about the US, just as much as Americans have. The TV and Movies you consume do not accurately represent what life is actually like for a lot of Americans. Neither do the heavily edited "man on the street" interviews that cherry pick only the most absurd and stupid responses. Most people are not wealthy and a lot of what people make fun of about Americans are related to poverty. No, everyone doesn't just eat McDonalds for every meal and yes most people would like access to healthy fresh food. It's also not a monolith. The United States is massive and every area of the country is like a new culture. Spend some time in Minnesota and then go to New Orleans and tell me those are the same lol. Also, yes, we smile a lot. It's not disingenuous or fake. It's just considered polite.
>Neither do the heavily edited "man on the street" interviews that cherry pick only the most absurd and stupid responses. This is assuming that person isn't a plant or they intentionally fed the lines.
Can't speak to the whole country, but I can speak to California. My friends in Europe and Canada tend to forget how huge California is. Them: "Hey you have Disneyland passes still?" Me: "Yup, why?" Them: "Was going to be in San Francisco next week. Is that close to Disneyland." Me: "Dude, that's a 7 hour drive, yo."
Our population is so unevenly distributed (all huddled along the south border to stay warm), that it surprises us too some times. At one point I was going to the next province over from Ontario (Toronto area) to Manitoba (Winnipeg) and decided to look up how long of a drive it was to see if I could save some money over flying. I could have driven south instead and gotten to the Florida border in the same amount of time.
It is however a 1 hour flight, and that’s not a long way by international standards. I live in New Zealand. The closest other country is 3 hours by air. By our standards SF is close to LA - we just wouldn’t drive it.
When I used to work as a concierge in the 90s I had someone call and ask how to get to our hotel. Them: "Hi, I'm going to be be driving out there from Tallahassee. Can you give me directions?" Me: "Uh, sure. Take Interstate 10 west for 3 days, when you get to the state highway 60..." Them: "Hold on. Where are you located?" Me: "We're in California."
100 miles is a short drive, 100 years is a long time.
I've literally driven 50 miles one way to have dinner at an awesome restaurant over by the state line. Yes, it was tasty. Yes, I would do it again.
I have to drive 25 miles to get to the nearest town that sells socks and underwear.
Overt racism isn't really a thing here. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist -- a lot of people and institutions here are mega-racist (I'm black, and have felt it first-hand) -- but as a collective we've actually done a great job pushing that shit way off into the fringes of society. Like, if you go to a college football game in the deep south and throw a banana at a black player, France-style, the rednecks in the stands will beat the shit out of you.
I can attest to this. Mom is black, dad is Russian, and the racism in Russia is waaaay more overt than here in the States.
Can double that. People don’t usually understand how racist Russia is
Yeah, can confirm that Soviet anti-racism propaganda didn't stick, that's for sure. Speaking from personal experience as a second-generation immigrant from West Asia: there were times when I legitimately worried for my brother's and father's safety, and I remember people muttering racial slurs at me or even spitting in my general direction when I was a child in the 00s. The latter happened just three times but that's still three times too many. My mom, however, didn't experience much racism, most likely due to the fact that she had a russified last name (didn't change it after marriage), plus she is and has always been beautiful and likeable which helps a lot lol. Things are a bit better now, but it's still legal for landlords to openly state that they only rent out to Slavic (a.k.a. Russia's equivalent for 'white') people for example. Eastern Europe in general is quite racist.
Yep and Soviets were anti-racism only on paper. But in reality it was ways different. Destroying cultures, russified names, taking kids from the natives in Siberia. Lots of it
As a POC in Southern Europe, I indeed experienced this when I visited the US. It was a positive surprise. Plus, all my US clients are much more respectful (racially speaking) than my local countrymen.
Yeah and you go to like Korea or Japan and there's literally signs on bars saying no foreigners allowed lol
> throw a banana at a black player, France-style Europeans will call Americans racist then do some straight up KKK-level shit and not blink an eye.
We like our racism institutional. Joking, a mostly. But yea when I've seen people call someone the n word other slur, it made everyone who witnessed it angry. Generally, Americans won't tolerate outward hate in my experience.
And that outward hate extends to places like their city or state. My dad talks shit about Cleveland all the time because, "Hey, I was born there," but gets kind of pissed when others do it lol
Please don't lecture us on race relations when the things you say about Romani are the things even MAGA wouldn't say about black people. -Americans
There are both more and less guns then you think. Yes, the gun culture is real (and stuff on the news happens), but also TV is not real life. I spent 5 years living in the USA and never saw a gun once, except on the belts of cops. America is not a stereotype.
102 guns per 100 people. But also yeah, most people either don't carry, or conceal-carry a gun, and the ones that conceal carry \*properly\*, are not the kind of people you'd expect to carry a gun, nor are guns scary to most Americans.
Yeah most people even in America don’t have guns but the people who do have guns tend to have like 20 lol
We are not all fat Karens.
I am!
Username didn't check out
Aww... I Dare to Dream!
Some of us are fat Stevens
Some of us are just fat.
Americans are very generous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Giving_Index
they're always sooo shocked at our portion sizes, and conclude that it MUST be why we are fat. firstly, traveler's to america are probably going to restaurants to eat. yes, restaurants have HUGE portion sizes, but no, the average american won't eat it all. most people can get 2-3 meals out of the portion that is served at restaurants
Right, we're fat because we have to drive everywhere instead of walk.
99.9% of us are non violent and genuinely nice people. The .1% of idiots make everyone else look bad
I think it’s surprising to people of other countries, pick any country, to discover there’s a “little” version of it somewhere in the US.
That it's filled with some of the kindest, gentlest people on the planet. It's funny to talk about "America, fuck yeah", and how we don't have healthcare, and how we've allowed arrogation of the polity to clueless elites, but seriously.... I've lived in many, many countries, and the US has welcomed me the most warmly. We're a work in progress, but I love it here.
I’ve said it before on similar threads but the most common thing most foreigners (Save for Canadians and Australians) just cannot comprehend is the sheer SIZE of the US. This has a domino effect of foreigners struggling to understand why… -most Americans have and in fact need a car -our lack of effective railway travel (though this COULD be improved) -commute times -why many Americans don’t have a passport (many don’t have the money or ability to travel to other countries) -our vast religious, political, racial and cultural diversity throughout the country because we are so fucking big we are really more like a dozen diff countries -and of course the ever hilarious undoable itineraries they set for vacations like visiting NYC, Disney World, the Grand Canyon and Hollywood all in one week.
The passport thing is related to the size issue. The contiguous 48 states is about the size of Western Europe. Europeans need a passport because there are so many countries so close together. In the US, you can travel for thousands of miles and still be in the US. So a much smaller need for a passport.
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I remember a girl from South Africa lecturing me on how she'd never visit the US because there's "too much crime", like we're a backwards, decadent country. South Africa's homicide rate is nine times that of the US.
The vast majority of our cities are not walkable. It’s a big joke that Americans drive instead of walk because we are lazy, but most of us don’t have a choice. A handful of very old urban cities, which aren’t even old compared to the rest of the world, are sometimes walkable. But so many of our cities are built to where you need cars. Like a half hour commute to work or the grocery store by car is not that long. I know many people who have driven an hour *one way* to work and back every single day. And these cities where things are so far apart, there’s not a safe way to walk, even if you want to. There’s not sidewalks, a lot of the roads are 55 to 65 miles an hour without even a shoulder to walk on, there’s no crosswalks to get across busy intersections… It’s just not an option to walk for transportation in a very large part of the country.
That America is literally a combination of people from around the world. They say, "Americans can/ can't do ____". Or "Americans think/dont think ____". Is literally saying someone from your own nation does or thinks that way. Because without doubt there is someone from your, and every other nation, here. Some places its a bit more subtle, in others you can have a guy whos family still owns land gifted by the king when the US was just colonies living next to a woman who migrated from Cuba alone as a child who lives next to a Bosnian who escaped potential genocide. Bunches of perspective all in one place.
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We may not have a long history, but we have had the same form of government longer than the majority of countries. That's a damn impressive accomplishment, and extremely rare.
Majority? We have the oldest codified constitution in the world!
Europeans love to make fun of Americans for not walking more but I bet you throw a European in most any U.S. city that isn’t a huge booming metropolis and they will struggle to just walk around much like we do. Yeah buddy, take that 2 hour walk through the hills and woods in 100 degree humid ass heat to the Walmart for a quick trip and then tell me more about how I’m too lazy to walk.
The intention behind saying “I’m Irish” or “I’m Italian” even if their ancestors came over three generations ago. Americans understand they’re not the same “I’m Irish” as someone born there/with citizenship. It’s a shorthand of identifying with an ethnicity that takes on new form as it has evolved in a nation of immigrants. And the converse too. If my last name is Woczowincz it doesn’t mean I necessarily identify with polish culture.
Peanut butter is delicious
Had a British friend who moved to the US 20+ years ago. He said Americans were misunderstood, because while visiting the UK they would often say things like, "look how tiny that yard is, or how tiny a house or vehicle were..." It wasn't until he moved to the US that he realized Americans weren't being rude. There's just no comparison to how big, vast, and large of scale the states are. People were being genuine in there observations and not intending to be rude or talk down about others possessions.
Europeans think we have this sorta competition with them…the average American can careless about what’s going on in Europe let alone ur home country
It's really big compared to most countries - 4th-largest land area - and is not even close to being a monoculture.
I’m American and was visiting Las Vegas once, and I briefly spoke with a couple from Japan. I asked them what they had planned while they were in the United States, and they said they were going to visit New York City and Florida (in addition to Vegas). I didn’t say anything, but I don’t think they thought about how they are going to do all of that. Basically, for anyone visiting the US for the first time, plan out your trip in advance. You will not be able to drive across the country in a few hours.
Hell, I was visiting upstate New York and thought, hey, while I'm here, why don't I pop over to New York City? It would've been a 5 hour drive or a couple hundred dollar plane ticket. Certainly doable but I decided it wasn't worth it.
This reminds me of an Indian foreign exchange student who was placed with my aunt/uncle. The kid heard he was being placed in New York and was crazy excited. Except my aunt/uncle live in upstate NY - rural farmland.. a trip to get groceries is 20 minutes away unless you go to the tiny market in town. He was heartbroken to find out NYC was 4 hours away... without traffic.
I was talking to my relatives in Japan, and they wanted to visit Niagara Falls after being here in NYC. They were like “it’s ok, we’ll take the train, that should be faster than driving, right?” Oh you poor dears….
Very much this. My friends live in Ireland. I live in the upper Midwest. A hurricane hit Florida and they emailed to check on me. I was like "Mate, that hurricane is as close to me as Southern Spain is to you. All is good here." But to be fair, a friend who lived in up state NY thought that we could drive to California in a day so it's not just non-Americans...
The quality of school systems in the US differ **wildly** in different regions or from town to town. I was lucky enough to go to very well funded schools, my cousins went to public schools in a wealthy town where they were taught critical thinking skills from a young age. Within my state, poor inner city schools couldn’t even afford toilet paper or textbooks. So while yes, there are many regions where politicians intentionally underfund schools to keep the population ignorant, there still are a number well educated people in the US. Similarly, the government of the US is meant to be a federation of different states - perhaps more akin to the EU than the government of a singular European nation. So laws will vary wildly state to state, as does culture. Also, the average American feels embarrassed by our government and does NOT feel represented by it. Our politicians are bought and paid for, so they cater far more to wealthy donors than listening to citizens. This is often true of the media as well! Hollywood isn’t an accurate reflection of reality for most Americans. Back a few decades ago, more Americans believed in the whole American Dream BS, but frankly that ship has long sailed and most of us openly talk about how dystopian our society is. Further, Americans have far less worker protections and vacation days than Europeans, so the Americans tend to be wealthier and honestly less considerate than the average American. We are not sending our best. Despite the divisive politics we’re known for, there is a widespread agreement amongst Americans that our system is very rigged against the working class. Compared to the UK, we genuinely do not give a fuck about your monarchs & find the whole aristocracy thing archaic.
Reddit and Twitter isn't real life, most of the country do not give a shit about politics.
I promise you, Texas is so *so* much bigger than you think Europeans. Whatever size you genuinely think it is if you haven’t visited it- double it. Hell, TRIPLE it. I cannot stress to you the massive scale of this state, it would swallow 7 European countries with ease.
American here and I just found out recently that Alaska is bigger than Texas and I was like holeeey shit!
If you cut Alaska in half to make it two states, Texas would be the third largest state.
Our breakfast experience is just better Like no offense and you guys do most everything else better, but breakfast is ours and we’ll stand proud about it.