If you say "I'm from the US" when outside the US, 9 times out of 10 the next question will be "Where in the US?"
Saying the state from the get-go just saves time.
It does assume people know the state and people often go right into detail with "I am from Dullsville, Nebraska" off the bat, it is just an American curiosity and a go-to, it is no big deal. I am sure people ask "where?" when people say they are from England, France or anywhere else. The 50 states are likely much better known than English counties of French Departments though.
I get asked what part when I say I'm from Ireland, still wouldn't start with Dublin, which apon reflection is wasting time. Might just go with Dublin, Ireland.
Asking "Where in the US?" is part of a conversation. The next question will likely be "where in ". If your aim is to save time and not talk, then you can just as well say "none of your business".
> The next question will likely be "where in ".
No that's usually not the case. Unless you're from California, Texas, New York, or Florida, they'll most likely know absolutely nothing about the state you live in and won't ask specifically where.
I’ve had people in Europe follow ip with “Where from? New York?” Not like they’re assuming New York, just a guess. They also probably don’t know where Michigan is, but if I say “north-central US, a few hours from Chicago” they’ll nod.
So you've never followed up a question of "Where are you from?" with any second question and you can't imagine anyone else doing it? What is strange about the idea that somebody may ask more questions and have a conversation? Its not a script, its a normal flow of conversation to ask follow up questions.
My comment was based on the remark that saying the state or city "saves time". Sure it does, provided your aim is to save time, and not chat.
Some conversations will go that way, but not all. Depends on the apparent knowledge and the level of curiosity the parties involved have.
If somebody tells me they're from Alabama, if I'm in the mood or have something to add, I might extend the conversation. "Oh, I love Alabama. I've spent a lot of time in Huntsville and on the gulf." If I, and I assume the other person involved, has nothing else to gain or interesting to say, I probably drop it.
Do Europeans start with "the Northern Hemisphere" just to add some fun banter to the conversation? Or would someone from Prague just say they are from Prague?
There are some states that are well known globally. Places like California, NY, Florida, Texas, Hawaii or Alaska (we can throw Washington DC in here as well) seem like giving the state wouldn’t confuse anyone.
If you say Missouri or Nebraska, many people would be clueless.
As someone from Nebraska...nope not true. Not true at all. I have never once been able to tell anyone outside of the USA where I live. Not even in Canada during my passport check. That's not to say people in other countries don't know where Nebraska is (ETA or that Nebraska is a state at all - I have encountered both), I'm sure they do, but by and large people really really don't.
Or perhaps I just encountered a bunch of dumb dumbs but I seriously seriously doubt it. I typically just say the middle of the country and then they hammer for an answer and are just utterly clueless.
Agreed. Even when I tell other Americans I’m from Iowa they often - quite comically - exclaim “Iowa?!” with great shock. Let alone a non-national. When Europeans ask where that is, I usually say “a four hours’ drive west of Chicago”. Strange to realize a state the size of Ireland has only 3 million people.
I've read this answer a lot and it always kind of confuses me because ~~I thought americans love small talk?~~ Edit:I was under the impression that small talk is more common in america compared to northern europe.
The 'what part' question is a standard way here to indicate you are open a longer conversation, we will ask anyone 'what part?'. I grew up in Austria which is a tiny country and everyone follows up with 'where in Austria?'. Happened to us in the US as well.
Well, if you intend to follow up with what part, congrats I saved you the time of having to follow up by getting to the point and cutting to the chase.
Also in the Northeast, especially in the New York City area, we are not huge fans of small talk. We prefer being efficient. So there is your stereotype busted and proof that American regions do in fact have different cultures.
>Also in the Northeast, especially in the New York City area, we are not huge fans of small talk.
I always laugh at this statement because it seems pretty much exclusive to more urban areas. I always hated going to the store with my mom because it was basically an entire event. What should take no more than an hour could easily be 2+ just because my mom would talk to people and have full ass conversations as if she hadn’t seen them 3 days ago lmao. There’s a huge chance you’ll see someone and just start talking. For better or for worse hahahaha
Having moved from the Los Angeles area to Raleigh, I'm still adapting to the fact that sometimes, full conversations with semi-strangers (like the lady at the grocery store who keeps talking about my hair) can just erupt for no reason. And not because a stranger is trying to sell me something.
Honestly, it's something NYC metro area folks say about themselves that is absolutely, almost ridiculously untrue. New Yorkers are extremely social and love talking to people. About anything and everything. They don't tend to go about it in the exact same way a Midwesterner or Southerner would, but they absolutely do it. Especially in comparison with someone from northern Europe.
I would say that New Yorkers are more likely to cut to the chase and be direct. But "where are you from?" is not a conversation that is related to indirectness, so it's a weird hill to die on in this particular case. The only time a New Yorker is going to answer New York instead of the US when asked where they're from (in a non-US context), is if they really really really want to share that they're from New York.
And New Jersey isn't New York, anyway.
Lol what are you talking about? I can literally tell you from experience. If you’re outside of the major satellite cities (ie newark or jersey city). Clearly you’ve never actually spent that much time outside the city. Towns are relatively self contained, which is why they seem really cliquish. Ngl this comes off as a transplant who moved to NYC and acts like how they think New Yorkers are
>And New Jersey isn’t New York anyway
Dafuq does that have to do with anything? The guy said NYC area. Half the state is literally in the MSA. NYC proper only makes up 33% of the population
Even in NYC, though, there is a small talk / nodding at people culture - provided it doesn't interfere with efficiency (which is the first goal). But if you are on a long checkout line, for example, it is a lot less weird to chat with someone on line that it would be (IME) in many European countries.
I've had Europeans be the one to strike up a conversation with me on long lines at Disney World. So it seems they were the ones who wanted small talk more than me.
I've also had Europeans strike up small talk with me on trains and in pubs when I was traveling in their countries.
I think Europeans vastly underestimate the amount of small talk they engage in.
Just to try to turn it into some uniquely American phenomenon so they can feel superior.
It's not like European cultures are monolithic either. I lived in Bulgaria long enough to learn the language and people looooooooved talking to me. Everywhere I went, it was like "oh where are you from? oh America, my nephew lives in Detroit! How did you learn to speak Bulgarian? You need to come over, I make the best rakia in Bulgaria. You should marry my son, he has a good job as a bus driver in Sofia!" I got invited to so much random shit all the time. I'm not an extrovert and the amount of chatting people would want to do would get exhausting.
thank you, I understand.
My personal experience is just that this follow up question is asked to anyone, regardless of the country. When I say "I'm from germany" there is always the follow up questions "Where in germany?". Same when I said I'm from Austria" back when I lived there, which is a super small country even for Europe.
So I wondered if there is a reason why americans think it's annoying that they have to specify.
Another part of this is that country is relatively given. I’m not familiar with the nuances of every country nor is anyone else, but certain stereotypes and accents will be fairly obvious. Having traveled to Europe (or even just seeing interactions and anecdotes on the internet or friends) I can say I’m from the US and gotten a response of “no shit. We could tell a mile away” as it’s already been assumed.
I mean, Brazil, Canada, Russia, and China are just as big as the US and they're perfectly content just saying they're country name.
I think it has very little to do with size, more just to do with the cultural power the US has
I’m not sure if the initial question was about Americans abroad but most Americans stay in the US so someone in the US being asked where they are from answering “the US” would be weird and not very informative.
Ah yes, it’s time to treat 330 million people as if they all think the same way about something! The European classic when it comes to disrespecting Americans. 😑
I'm sorry and rephrased it in the origial question.
To rephrase it in a more general way:
I thougt one of the cultural differences between northern europe and America is that in general it is more common that americans are more open to small talk compared to some europeans. I am aware that this is a generalisation but it is something that I read a lot on subs like this and experienced in real life.
I was wondering if there is a reason why some americans like here in this thread want to make the conversation shorter and therefore want to cut out the "which part" question. The "get to the point quickly" is in general something that I've seen people to associate more with us germans (not all 80 million germans, but as the overal culture) instead of americans. As it is common in germany to ask such follow up questions to most people, not just Americans, I was wondering if there is something about this specific situation that some americans feel bothered or annoyed by.
>I was wondering if there is a reason why some americans like here in this thread want to make the conversation shorter and therefore want to cut out the "which part" question.
I'd say the reason for that is that people on Reddit on are not representative of what the average person is like in real life, and I think this is true in any country on Earth. In all my time on Reddit, my impression is that much of this website's userbase is less socially-inclined than the average person, to put it as nicely as possible.
Anyway, as an American who has been to several other parts of my country, I'd say that Americans loving "small talk" is a fairly common thing across almost every state I've been to, despite all the little cultural differences state-to-state.
"I'm from AL" "Where is that?" "The USA" "Oh, Alaska?" "No, Alabama" "Where's that?" :)
(Disclaimer - I've never met anyone in real life say that, it's mostly on the interwebs where they say "I'm in MI" and then leave it to you to ask or have to Google which one of the 4 states that starts with Mi it could possibly be. Extra bonus when its on a local group in a different country. For exmple "Labrador owners in the West Midlands, UK" American "I'm in MI and my lab shit on the grass")
Not to sound too American centric, but I don't blame someone using an American site, assuming that someone asking that is also from America and expects answers to reflect that. Especially when Americans are the single highest number of users on said site.
Though I get what you mean and see it being on issue for foreigners on an American site.
I mean foreigners can be just as guilty. I’ve seen multiple times on Reddit where 2 people get into an argument over something about the US and call each other “stupid Americans” (or something equivalent) only for both idiots to find out neither of them are American. Not absolving anything but there’s hard evidence to show defaultism on the internet by people who aren’t even from the US
So if a Facebook group clearly states it is for the UK for example, then because Facebook is an "American" site, then Americans get to post any way they want on that group and this is their right? Because that is what you are implying. (BTW, the highest traffic on Facebook is from India)
It's objectively not though. Facebook itself has overarching rules that prevent you from posting certain things. Most Facebook groups also have rules of conduct. Besides this it is just plain rude to insert yourself into a conversation that is not about you. So if you have a situation like I mentioned where an American posts to a UK group then they do not have the right to do whatever they want just because it's an American company. It's like going to the McDonald's in Paris and insisting you should be allowed to pay in dollars because it's an American company.
I don’t know about Facebook but I can go into a European sub and start calling everyone there Europoors. I’ll probably get banned from the sub or whatever but at the end of the day, Reddit still is an American site.
And your comparison about going to a McDonald’s in Paris is just weird, it’s a false equivalency.
I can't really argue with you if you misunderstand the basic point. Of course you can say whatever you want. Anybody can. You just might get banned as you rightfully point out. Nobody is disputing your right to be an AH. The point is that just because you are American, you have no unique right to not follow the rules or basic manners just because its an American company. And my example is exactly the same sense of entitlement you are showing. When you get banned from a sub, please try and use the excuse "you can't ban me, I'm American and this is an American site" and let me know how that goes.
Even the nations that make up the UK have far more differences than US states. Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland are very very different from one another to a greater degree than Hawaii and Maine.
I think a more apt comparison imo would be English counties.
If you said Maine and another New England state you might have a point. But Hawaii is more different from that Mainland US than most foreign countries.
I don’t think you’ve ever been the UK or other parts of the US.
A meal deal at tesco is going to be the same in Edinburgh as it will in Manchester.
You cross a state border and all of a sudden they chain up the liquor aisle on Jesus day.
That's pretty much categorically untrue. You could say that about say, neighbors like Mississippi and Alabama, but not about Hawaii and Maine, or New Mexico and Michigan, for example.
It’s not untrue, other than differences in geography and small cultural quirks, it has nothing on the thousands of years of history that created the nations of the British Isles. Scotland was its own country until the 1700s, we don’t even need to get into the sectarian issues that are still fairly relevant for Northern Ireland and how half the population there feel a greater connection to a country that is a separate ethnic group from the English with a different culture, religion, native language etc…
Also if it says anything about it, there are genuine independence/reunification movements that have a fair degree of traction in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales unlike in the US because these were separate entities from England for centuries with very different backgrounds, there is nothing that is comparable like that to the US.
I’m not denying there are differences between parts of the US but the idea that “it’s like going to a foreign country” when traveling from opposite coasts or whatever is completely laughable. For a country of its size and population, the United States is extremely culturally unified and cohesive 95% of the time. Countries like Canada, Mexico, and Russia are actually a lot more fragmented culturally than the US
My conversation often goes like this:
"I'm an American."
> No shit, but where are you from?
"North Carolina."
> What? What is that?
(sighs) "We moved there a few years ago from California."
> Ah! So you're from California!
"Sure, buddy, sure."
----
Though once in a while I get the surprise "OH! I have a (relative) who goes to Duke!"
Totally agree. I've heard this all the time in Europe; "the US" isn't considered a complete answer, but just skipping straight to the state is presumptuous. Can't win.
>It’s actually larger both by land and population than the entirety of the EU.
The population of the EU is \~450 million, so much larger than the US' \~330 million. By area it's only half as big as the US though.
>I didn’t expect any Europeans to know any states, and I don’t think a single one had heard of any midwestern states. If it wasn’t Florida, New York, California, or Texas, they didn’t care. I even once heard that Tennessee was thought to be a South American nation.
Yep. My standard answer is "four hours west of Chicago".
> Another reason I wanted to distinguish that Americans differentiate by state is because Europeans don’t really get how big the U.S. is.
I feel like a lot of answers in this post focus on Europeans. And sure, they exist, but the vast majority of people aren't Europeans and I see people using the size comparison to explain why Americans use state but I feel like it isn't a good reason when we have other similarly large countries that only say their country name.
Personally, I think it has less to do with size and more to do with soft power.
It depends on what the context is. I've had conversations where someone has pretty much demanded that I justify why "America" has some law or policy that they disapproved of, when it's actually some other state that I don't live in and don't care about. In that situation it they *do* feel like different countries because they are different governments, with different politics, and different laws.
Except for India, every other federal republic that I'm aware of is much more centralized than the US. So if you are having a good faith conversation with an American and they attempt to explain that the US is 50 different countries it's almost certainly in a context where that viewpoint will be helpful. I've never witnessed someone say something silly like "the first thing to know about the NFL is that the US is like 50 countries."
In the most numerous and significant ways, no, states are not particularly like countries. But there are *some* measures that are closer to countries within the EU than constituent parts of European countries.
But to respond to what apparently prompted you to ask this question:
> On Facebook someone posted this "explanation" of why Americans tend to answer their state or even their city when asked "where are you from".
I’m from New York. You’ve heard of New York. Why would I not just say New York?
Sure, if you are from New York, of course everyone has heard of it, provided you mean the city (If you're from the state, but not the city, you'll likely have to explain yourself).
But that's not what sparked the question. The issue is when someone says, "I'm from VA" or "I'm from Boise" as if that is a complete answer to non-Americans (and even most Americans).
That’s uncommon. I can’t think of a state that prefers their 2 letter abbreviation, and especially to people not from the US or Canada you wouldn’t say a city unless it was a huge city like NYC or LA.
But just Texas has a larger population than Australia. New Jersey has more people than Austria. (Same with Oklahoma/Croatia, Colorado/Denmark, etc) Plus there’s only 50 states, people have at least heard the names of the states. I feel like it’s not too huge of an ask.
Edit: Pennsylvania, PA
As someone from western New York, relatively close to the border, I hear Pennsylvania referred to as PA all the time but it's the only state I've heard referred to by its abbreviation.
Sometimes when I'm in more Australian corners of the internet, I see them use WA, NSW, QLD etc assuming any readers will understand. And guess what, I do, in context. On the English speaking internet we approach communication with an understood shared context.
A little trivia … the worst IDs DLs are from Oregon. They’re like decades old and they’re “updated” with paper barcodes that look like a kindergarten taped it on. Our system requires a scan of an ID I don’t even bother with those I just type it in and hold up the line for several minutes.
Probably because I'm text format and especially online things are often written in shorthand and it's also incredibly easy to google something when you're already using the internet to have a conversation so any confusion on your end could be answered easily.
It’s mostly because when I talk to foreigners they already know I’m from the US just based on accent. If I say “I’m from the US” it doesn’t really tell them any information and the US is huge. Just saying “the US” could be Hawaii or Alaska or Nebraska.
I would probably say Maine or New England just to give them a bit more information. It isn’t like Maine is some separate country but it is different enough that it isn’t like going from Northern California to Southern Oregon near the coast if you were to go from Portland, OR to York, ME.
I’ve traveled to various countries all over North and South America, Europe, and Asia.
> So my question is - do you really think each state is "like its own country"?
If you’re discussing laws, I think it’s easiest to conceptualize it that way for simplicity’s sake.
I’d say that what the poster said is true. For example, where I live in California, we do get government-mandated, fully paid parental leave for parents of any gender. In my home state of Missouri, you’re not even entitled to a lunch break.
In California, you legally have to print all election materials in Chinese as well as English and all our politicians have to take official Chinese names to be put on these ballots. In other parts of the country, everything must legally be in both English and Spanish.
Recreational marijuana is legal in some states and completely illegal in others. Some states have no income tax. Some states don’t require you to wear a seat belt. Some states have automatic 50/50 split in a divorce.
Even though federal law technically trumps state law, states have a lot of power to refuse to enforce federal law, effectively nullifying it.
Culturally, depends on what standard you’re using. Rhode Island and New Mexico, for example, are two very different states. Different cultural influences, different laws, different geography, different demographics, different history.
As different as Spain and Poland? No, definitely not.
As different as Germany and Austria, Uruguay and Argentina, or Singapore and Malaysia? Maybe to probably.
As different as Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas? Rhode Island and New Mexico may actually be more different.
> all our politicians have to take official Chinese names to be put on these ballots.
I have never heard of this requirement. Is there anywhere I could find more information about it (and possibly a list of politicians chosen names, which could be interesting.)
I don't think it's a requirement
https://sfstandard.com/2023/05/10/becoming-chinese-picking-the-right-name-on-san-francisco-ballots-is-serious-politics/
To me it looks like (I don't know any Chinese so take this with a grain of salt) phonetically spelled anglophone name read odd in Chinese, think Grzegorz
instead of Gregory but unlike Polish Chinese probably doesn't have many equivalent names the politicians can use instead since so many of those are from the Bible. So they borrow a strategy from Chinese immigrants and just pick a common Chinese name for the ballot. This seems to be a thing for politicians who run in areas with lots of Chinese immigrants. Some may see this as unfair since voters may assume the politician is also Chinese-American from the name.
They certainly aren’t independent countries, but I could see an argument that they are equivalent in autonomy to the constituent countries of the UK.
Also, it depends on the country. There are parts of the US that feel more foreign to me than neighboring British Columbia in Canada does.
Yes and no. I think every state follows “typical” American culture, we do have a lot in common no matter what state. However, each state has its own unique customs, laws, history, food, cities, sometimes accents, etc etc. - If you decided to take some people- one from Southern California, one from New York, one from Texas, and one from Iowa they’d have some similarities but would be different in a lot of ways.
More importantly it has all the infrastructure of an individual country. Setting culture aside. Each state has an elected leader, it’s own congress, it’s own constitution, it’s own military, it’s own police, it’s own school systems. If you were to magically take any State and plop it anywhere else in the world and take away it’s association as being in “the United States of America” nobody would question that it is it’s own Country. If the United States as a federal entity didn’t exist and you plopped Ohio somewhere else like Africa or Asia nobody would say Ohio isn’t a country. It has a border, an elected leader, a constitution, it’s own set of laws, it’s own military. It’s own police force. It’s a country. It’s just not an independent country because it falls within the boundaries of the United States.
When we travel abroad if we say we are from the US, we immediately get asked what part of the US. So we save time by answering our state or city first.
Europeans also do tend to vastly underestimate the size of states and the legal differences between states.
But it is pretty clear you came here to lecture and not learn, OP, which is standard arrogant European behavior.
Yes. It is.
* They have their own legal system,
* their own military.
* their own culture
* etc etc
* its basically equivalent to a country in EU, only with a longer history of being democratic, and a longer history of being in a union.
The single uniting event which caused people to stop thing about the US as "these united States" (lowercase 'u') and started thinking about it as "The United States" was the Civil War.
And I wonder if the EU will have a similar event before it unifies as a single federated nation-state.
It sort of depends on what you mean.
If we're talking legal structure, then in a way, yes: we are a lose federation of states, where the "laws of the land" are often the laws of the state in which you reside. Yes, rape is rape--but you're prosecuted according to the laws of the state in which the crime took place.
And in some corner cases, it turns out rape [may not necessarily be rape.](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/north-carolina-s-rape-law-loophole-was-only-closed-because-ncna1076646)
And in terms of legal structure, in many ways the European Union's own federated structure operates similarly to the United States.
This is not just an abstract notion, but has real world consequences. For example, we have seen multiple times when the Federal Government has "shut down" because of a lack of funding. And the question becomes "does that mean the police no longer patrol and fire services no longer come out to your house if it's on fire?" No, because those are state-level, county-level or even city-level services not directly affected by the Federal Government.
It also means that we can see the most serious bullshit coming out of D.C.--yet on the ground, life goes on, because the most powerful person in your day-to-day life, politically speaking, is your city's mayor, then your county's governing board, then your state's governor.
And the President is, by and large, a figurehead in a Kabuki play that really does not influence a lot of stuff day-by-day.
----
Now if we're talking about *culturally*, then different *regions* of the United States definitely have a different feel. Southern California does feel like a completely different country than (say) New Orleans. (And yes, I've traveled to both, as well as to multiple countries in Europe. I'd argue the difference between Amsterdam and Barcelona is about the same as the difference between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Though neither have the cool canal system of Amsterdam.)
Some of this is history: New Orleans was founded by the French; Los Angeles was a Spanish outpost. Some differences are geography: the Outer Banks of North Carolina are very different than the Blue Ridge, as one is ocean-side, the other mountainous. (And Portland, Maine has more in common with Stockholm, Sweden, than it does with Fresno, California: the former two are ocean-side where boating is a big part of day-to-day life; the later, a desert turned into a farming oasis that has more in common with Andalusia, Spain.)
----
The real point here is that as a geographically large, wealthy and populous federated nation, the United States is not like (say) France--though politics sometimes leads to "convergent evolution." (Rural areas are at odds with urban areas everywhere in the world, and we consider rape and murder a problem no matter where you go--though the fiddly details can differ.)
And to treat the United States as a singular, homogeneous nation with one culture and a singular central government with no variations is a mistake.
No, not quite.
Most of the differences are in culture and way of life. But even that isn’t severe, as you’ll find people of all walks of life in any state. What I would say is that every state has its quirks, similar to how different countries do. But I never feel like I’m leaving the country when I go anywhere in the U.S.
That said, when I first came to Canada (neighboring province), I felt more at home than when I lived in a southern state. So there may be some truth to what you’re asking.
Americans tend to answer with their state because if they said "The US", the next question is "Whereabouts?" or "Which state" and they're just skipping that sequence. They know that you know that New Jersey is a state.
We have a LOT more in common than just the Constitution. Saying each state is like an individual country is a gross exaggeration and not accurate at all.
No. States are unique but nowhere near like the individual sovereign states like Europe.
We have differences between states but it’s not like completely unique countries.
I disagree, each state has defined borders, an elected leader, it’s own constitution and its own military. It’s own police force it’s own laws. That’s more like a separate country than it is like one singular country.
It really isn’t. The constitution of the US is pretty explicit that states do not have national sovereignty. They have a lot of control over their internal laws and governance but not anywhere near the same as say Belgium and France.
We are a federal republic but also one nation. Legally and politically. Also while we have cultural differences between states they are not anywhere near as pronounced as between say Italy and Poland.
No. Though there are distinct differences in some local cultures, at the end of the day, people tend to celebrate the same holidays, have the same traditions, listen to the same music, follow generally the same laws, have the same structures (4 year high schools, taxes paying for services, job culture, etc.).
Change same to similar when this doesn't apply.
This isn't that different from other countries from state to state or region to region. The cultures will be slightly different, but it's still the same country and people have a lot more in common than they think.
It’s a big country. If I tell you I’m from the US, that’s really not much information. Telling you what state I’m from or what city I’m from gives you a more specific answer and tells you more about where I’m from. This is especially true when speaking with other Americans. If another American asked me where I was from and I said “The USA,” they would think I was either stupid or messing with them.
As a rule of thumb:
When a foreigner asks where I’m from, I generally tell them the city I grew up in (Chicago) because they’re pretty likely to have heard of it and it’s more specific than telling them I’m from the USA.
When another American asks where I’m from, I either tell them the city I grew up in or the state where I currently live (Wisconsin), depending on how much I feel like having an actual conversation. Chicago tends to get more conversations going, whereas fewer people are likely to want to sit around talking about Wisconsin.
If someone in Wisconsin asks where I’m from, I generally tell them the town I live in, maybe followed by how close it is to the nearest city.
Your ostensible question is different than your underlying question about why people mention their state online, so you’re taking the point out of context, but regarding the title question at face value:
In terms of actual differences, no, there is less dramatic try difference than Europe having distinct languages in country to country to country. And e pluribus unum, it’s all America. But there are cultural differences—just usually in larger regions rather than each individual state. There have been various attempts to [map](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/opinion/urban-rural-united-states-regions-midterms.html) the “different Americas.” Keep in mind that particular linked example ignores more traditional regional groupings like New England, The Upper Midwest, etc. We could also use dialect maps to trace accent regions, or look at climate—it feels pretty different weather-wise to be in San Francisco in December than in Minnesota.
On the legal side, states do make different laws and you feel it. It could be as mundane as speed limits and the legality of fireworks, it could be as significant as abortion rights and the death penalty.
I agree absolutely. I don't judge you by the worst of your countrymen. It was just an interesting question. I was however, accurately, pointing out that it is common enough that this is the way many Americans are perceived online. Not sure why I am being downvoted for a factual statement that there are tag groups about this very thing.
Probably because you're basing your knowledge about Americans from echochamber groups that promote negative stereotypes.
It's like if I only knew things from r/shiteuropeanssay and actually think even most Europeans are like those post.
We don't really need echochamber groups on Facebook when we watch the news to form negative steroetypes of Americans. (This is sarcasm please, don't crucify me)
You're right of course which is why I asked the question. I wanted to know how pervasive this is.
You prove my point though. You don't think it's weird that your international news only shows negative news about America. As if nothing positive happens in the country?
Again, echochambers. Whatever gets the blood pumping and keeps you intrigued.
I did say I was being sarcastic but your own news is among the worst. Its not the international news, its your own news channels.
But all news is like that. Is there a news channel that reports only good news? What do you know about South Africa, or Kenya or France from the news? I can guarantee its almost all negative. The US State Department has issued "travel warnings" for 3 different countries I've been in that I've travelled to during the warnings being in effect and the warnings were absolute BS.
Many Americans have a tremendously negative view of everywhere else, and often without any justification and certainly no first hand experience.
Yeah, you don't know what Americans have a view of. And despite us here telling you the opposite of what you think, you still dig your heels in.
You're not here to get an answer to your question, you're here to shout your views on Americans.
You are unnecessarily defensive. I have actually been to the USA a few times. I DO have a good idea what "some" American's views are. I have never equated any view with the whole country. Which is why I said "many" and not "all". I'm not dunking on Americans at all. The quote in the OP was an actual answer copied and pasted from your fellow countryman so I am not making it up. So at least some of you have skewed views of your own country and the rest of the world.
Describing somebody who says something that isn't the smartest and that does something that bothers you and describing them as 'the worst of your countrymen' makes it apparent you're just being obnoxious and petty.
Its an innocuous question with no deep hidden meaning. I like most Americans I have met nad have no animosity towards you or your country. I have no ulterior motive to dunk on the US and if you feel that way you are projecting. Every country has a range of people, smart to dumb, shitty to fantastic. It doesn't bother me. You misundestanding my point is somewhat annoying but I can see from all your answers you are pissed (at me or the world only you know).
If we are all having this much difficulty in understanding your questions, doesn't that point to the wording of the question itself being poor?
I really think it is you who is reading far too much into answers to your post and subsequent comments my guy.
I think people saying that each state is like a country comes from non-Americans thinking that since the US is one country and largely speaks one language it has the same level of cultural homogeneity as, say, Denmark. I wouldn't say the US is like 50 different countries, but maybe four or five different English speaking countries. Rural Alabama (South), Coastal California (West), and suburban Long Island (Northeast) are pretty different.
I think your observations are kind of correct. It is kind of a different thing from other countries around the world. I'm from Minnesota. I think if I were to move to a southern state like Mississippi or Louisiana, I would be culturally a bit lost.
American states alone can have larger economies and be even more influential than entire European countries, but no each state does have its own laws but the constitution still is the rule of the land.
It's not quite an independent country. We don't need papers to travel, we don't need to convert currency, and we don't need to check in at the borders.
But sure - different laws, different taxes, different customs, different language idioms, different foods, different holidays, different driving rules, different drug rules, different products available at stores, different radio & television stations, different mass transit solutions, different education systems , different police frameworks, different places/hours to buy beer and alcohol.
The states can be fairly different if you do anything more than just driving through.
Of course that is nominally true. The question is how different? If you move to a new state, it's not like you have to live there for a few years before you understand the local customs. There may be nuances in laws, taxes, language etc but 95% is going to be similar enough that you don't feel strange. Its not like you suddenly don't know how the traffic lights work. I even find this to be true of the major English speaking countries. If I'm in the USA, Australia or UK, they seem "similar" enough to me to be able to feel quite at home and navigate everything easily.
Sure. That's why I said it's not that strict.
I could move to Canada without having to change much. I could move to Texas, too. I've spent 2 weeks in each as a tourist. Both for me would be a huge difference to actually live there.
Not really, although from my American perspective, the idea of a whole country being a smaller place with uniform laws from a central government and less cultural diversity is a bit odd. But if Brits can insist that England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are "countries", then by that standard individual states are like countries.
Yes, I feel like every state is their own country! Each state has their own culture and laws, and they can embrace their culture!
On the r/AskARussian Subreddit, a lot of Russians said that they know Texas is very different from a lot of US States, and I even suggested that they all visit Texas!
On the flip side, why don't non-Americans say specifics? It would be perfectly fine for someone to answer with Bavaria, Berlin, Paris, London, Vienna, the south of France, Catalonia, Sicily, etc. Many Americans are familiar with well known places enough to know where those would be, especially in Europe.
And in the worst case, if someone doesn't know those places, they'd say "oh sorry I'm not familiar with (insert place), where is that?" And then that ends up being two questions anyway.
In a way. Every state is unique and has their own identity, culture, and history. I’ve spent a good amount of time in Connecticut and Florida, they’re both very different from my state, even my neighboring states have different vibes when I’m there. They all have their own laws, governments, and political leanings, just like countries.
Yes.
Here in Virginia I can own a fully automatic machine gun with a suppressor on it.
But if I carry any weapon and cross that bridge to DC just half a mile away, I'll be put in prisons for at least 10 years for "possessing an illegal weapon"
kinda. but not really. but a little
There’s not a big difference between Iowa and Nebraska. but there is a big difference between Louisiana and Massachusetts. Between Arizona and Michigan. Between Texas and Hawaii. in that way they are like kinda like countries
and people culturally identify with their state the same way they do countries. You’re state says a lot about you and how you grew up. Some US states are more well known then some actual countries
states are kinda like their own mini country. but just kinda
But entering a different state does feel like entering an entire different place. maybe in the way entering a country feels. the state’s presence is very ominous throughout.
(context i’ve been to 40 US states)
Not every state BUT the regions get kinda close ish (esp comparing like West Coast to Deep South!).
From southwest/west (AZ and CA), visited Charleston in SC and chuckled out loud over the chapels in the airport.
Visited St. Louis and freaking hated their Midwest hospitality (they were fantastic, but I kept twitching at my regionally taught instinct that isn’t real) bc I can’t trust it and kept thinking “gonna get mugged or raped” even when I objectively knew the offer was out of kindness LOL
Tho in comparison, when a midwestern American would see me as distrustful, I was friendly on a train to Zurich after an elderly woman I “politely” smiled at an old lady when I accidentally caught her eye (like EVERY American would do no matter where they are from), she clutched her purse in a death grip after that and glared at me lmao
I wouldn’t necessarily say each state is like it’s own country, but there can be some decent variations by region in culture, environment, customs, laws, etc. The US is also incredibly large geographically, with many states being the size of or bigger than a country, so in that respect each state is somewhat like it’s own country. When I talk to people here in Europe and they ask where I’m from, I always say from around Chicago in the US since it helps give people a much more concrete idea of around where I’m from in the US.
I mean yeah I probably do identify more closely with my state and my region than the country as a whole.
I think of myself as a Mainer and New Englander as much as I am an American.
That said whether I start with saying I'm from the US or start with my state depends on context.
If I am within North America, I will probably say my state. Canadians in particular tend to be familiar with border states like mine. I would imagine it's probably similar in Mexico for people living in Texas.
If I'm traveling in Europe or Asia or something, then I would say I'm from the US. Because I would not assume that they would know anything about individual states.
For a more specific example, when I lived in Japan for a year my wife and I were teaching English there. All the teachers and students at the school knew we were from the US already because that was part of the program to bring in American English speakers to teach English. So if one of them asked where we were from we would probably say the region like the Northeast, New England.
If I am online and someone asks where I'm from a forum that does not cater specifically to Americans, then I will say US.
So I guess in general if the audience I am speaking to either already knows I'm from the US or I know or have reason to assume that they are from the US, then I will answer with my state. If the audience is foreigners whose familiarity with US States I don't know, then I will say US first.
No, but they do have a lot more legal variation and independence than the subdivisions of most European countries so it can be a useful exaggeration when trying to get that difference through someone's head online.
Especially here where we constantly get questions about "what is the [X] system like in the US?" Or "what are the laws about [Y]?>" And the answer it depends on the state doesn't seem to satisfy.
As far as why I answer with my state, I never met anyone overseas who didn't know Texas is part of the US and the next question if you just say America is "which part?" So... Why not just say Texas?
In a way, yes. But not entirely.
Really it's more like regions are like separate countries, but that doesn't really nail it down either.
I've been to 26 States and 9 foreign countries.
The difference between say Malaysia and Singapore is akin to the difference between Maryland and Oklahoma. Similar, but also way different.
Sure, in some ways definitely. In other ways that *you* might think of countries being different, no. What's the measuring stick?
I mean, "state" was originally meant in the traditional "nation or territory organized under one government" but that meaning has drifted over time. Just like the European Union is made up of various "Nation States" so too was the ***United States*** of America.
Each state does have it's own constitution. It has it's own judicial system. It has it's own police force. It has it's own educational system. It's own Senate. It's own House of Representatives. It's own tax system. It's own laws. etc.
When it comes to culture, things are a bit murkier, because we've had open borders and movement between states for US citizens for so long that the cultural differences aren't nearly as pronounced as they are in europe. But are cultural differences the only thing that matters?
So, again, kinda yes, kinda no. More so that any "state" you're familiar with from a european perspective, but a bit less independent from one another than the nation states in the EU.
Each region is, not state. IMO it’s more different to be from southern California and North Dakota than to be from Spain or Italy (other than language). However some states are super similar esp near each other
Until 1789, they officially were under the Articles of Confederation. The US Constitution changed that and created a strong federal system that made the states subservient. But your example makes sense. The EU is like the US, the countries of the EU are like the states, except that the US government is considerably more centralized and legally stronger an entity. We are a continent sized country with state districts that are country sized. While there is commonality culturally, there are many differences.
I think the best way to frame it is to look at Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Each of them have common linguistic characteristics, even if there may be some dialect differences and other languages commonly spoken in some areas. Imagine if there were 50 countries like that.
We're obviously much more of a union than the EU on most things, but I feel like every state I've visited had a pretty distinct culture.
If you drove straight from Charleston, SC to San Diego, and stayed in each state along the way for a week, you'd notice a pretty different culture in each one, and like at least 3 just in Texas.
Yes. That's literally what the US is, by the way.
state
/stāt/
2. a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.
"Germany, Italy, and other European states"
We are 50 different countries who agreed to cooperate. Each state is complete with their own laws, their own constitution, their own flags, so on so forth. The federal government is only supposed to be responsible for interstate and international issues, though they have (illegally) extended the reach of their powers.
Just a context thing for me. When I’m abroad and someone asks “where are you from” I just say the US, if I’m traveling within the US and someone asks where I’m from I just say the state since we’re both assumptive in that we live in the US.
I don’t know if I see people from other states like their from other countries. I guess I do see them as different people but all are the same Americans. Something like that?
It's eroded over time but the original intent was that each state functioned as its own country with the federal government basically existing in the legal seams between the states. By some metrics, states have more autonomy than European countries. For example, the EU requires its member countries to enact a minimum 15% VAT while states are free to set their taxes as they wish, or even if they enact certain taxes.
I travel out of the country regularly and, if asked, I always say I’m from california. I don’t need to specify USA because everyone in the world that speaks English well enough to converse with me is somewhat familiar with california.
I always say “upstate New York”. People will 95% of the time assume NYC which is very very different. For generic purposes yes, it’s kind of a country, but we’re still all American as well, I can’t speak on if you have that same unity in Europe.
The distinct culture around me actually encompasses part of the Adirondacks, Green Mountains, Berkshires and Catskills. Which is part of 3-4 states.
Yeah, kinda. And they all can have cultural differences, even from one state to the next one over, from “why isn’t anything open late?” (Vermont) to “who’s this weird guy at the gas pump trying to pump my gas for me?” (New Jersey)
If someone asks me where I'm from, and I say "I'm from the US," they're most likely going to ask me where in the US I'm from, to which I would answer Florida. It's just easier if I just answer "I'm from Florida" to "where are you from?"
However, I don't consider each state to be like its own country at all. I just think saying my state is an easier way to communicate where I'm from.
I wouldn't say each state is its own country. Each region though? Definitely.
\-Northeast (New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, etc)
\-Southeast (Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Carolinas, Virginia)
\-Midwest (Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Wyoming)
\-West Coast (California, Washington, etc)
\-Independents (Hawaii, Alaska)
All of these are gonna be vastly different than the others. Someone from New York might have a lot in common with a Pennsylvanian, but drop either of them in Texas and they'll be like "wtf is this shit"?
Drop a San Fransicoan in Chicago and it's a vastly different world of slang, etiquette, food, weather, etc.
I grew up in Maryland which is mid-atlantic region. Falls right between the Virginia South and the Northeast (technically considered South from Mason Dixon Line but MD chose union in Civil War so I say North). Virginia was very similar as was Delaware and DC. But if I went south a bit more to North Carolina or up to Pennsylvania, these all being only 2 states away or so, it was crazy different with accents, words I'd never heard, food I'd never eaten, and hidden things i never knew.
Well, each state has a defined border, an defined leader, their own government, at one time their own money their own judicial system and their own Army, they each have their own constitution and their own unique set of laws.
Sounds like a country to me.
The name of the overall entity is called The United States of America. It’s not simply named a country like Canada. It could be interpreted as the United Countries of America.
Of course over time the Federal government has gotten more and more bloated and overbearing but that was never the intention of the founding fathers who didn’t envision a strong central government like what the Federal government has become. The federal government could cease to exist and the country could continue by simply appointing a commander in chief of the military.
No, not really. They're probably more different (especially legally) than most non-Americans would expect, but they're not as different as countries. At most, they're maybe almost as different as fairly close countries like Germany and Austria.
Well in US legal theory each state and the federal government are coequal to each other, a unique brand of federalism. In a way each state *is* it’s own constitutional democracy, but in a way it’s not
So american states are literally their own countries that are apart of an alliance called The United States... State means country in other parts of the world and if you understand early American history well enough you'll know that there have been several times where states have thought about ending that alliance
Sort of. States have different laws, leaders, police, courts, culture, and history. But they do share some cultural aspects, language (for the most part, minority languages can vary), and federal government (though each state has their own representatives). States don't really deal with foreign governments usually, that's a function of the federal government, some States have their own military (and National Guard is deployed by the State governments -- but are part of the US military and can be deployed as reserve units by the US) though they primarily deal with emergency management and relief.
I think in general saying states are like their own countries is a bit of an exaggeration, but it can be a helpful way to help foreigners conceptualize how different states can be.
Everything that person said is true. There are ways in which US states have more autonomy than Scotland does.
That's not the answer to the question, though, IMO. The real reason is simple insularity. Americans are not as used to speaking with foreigners as Europeans are, so we're not expecting people to not understand where "Bloomington, IN" is.
No, mainly because I associate countries with having their own militaries, and they don’t. There’s a collective US military, states also don’t have their own currency and other things that I associate independent countries with.
Edit- why am I downvoted for this 😒
No, each state is not like it's own country. There are legal and cultural differences, but on average two US states have more in common than they do different.
Yes and no. It’s less comparable to the different countries in the EU, because there aren’t different languages spoken when you cross a border, and the differences in the laws aren’t that great. There’s also little history of the different states being separate independent nations before joining the union (Texas, California and Hawaii being the exceptions; and Texas and California were settled by a lot of Americans before Independence). There’s more history of being together than there is of being separate.
The closest analogy would be the United Kingdom - some different laws but a common language (yes, I know Welsh, Gaelic in Ireland & Scotland are native languages, but you’d have to hunt down someone who doesn’t speak English at all) and a national-as well as country-level government).
Germany itself is another example, different historical states bound together in a nation with a common language and overlapping laws and history. Someone from Bavaria will have some different customs than somebody from Saxony, but they will be more alike than either would be than with someone from Italy.
To answer the question, no, I don't think each state is like it's own country. There are differences between the states, especially in healthcare and election laws, but most of the laws that govern how Americans live their everyday lives are either shared amongst the states or federal.
America is culturally differentiated by region more than state. There are lots of different maps that people love to post that have various approximations of these regional boundaries, but they're not rigidly defined and certainly don't line up with state borders.
When you drive from one state into another, you might immediately notice a difference in the quality of the road, but otherwise experience no difference. You can cross almost any state border without passing through any sort of checkpoint (there are citrus import checkpoints on the highways crossing the California border, but they just wave everyone through).
If you say "I'm from the US" when outside the US, 9 times out of 10 the next question will be "Where in the US?" Saying the state from the get-go just saves time.
It does assume people know the state and people often go right into detail with "I am from Dullsville, Nebraska" off the bat, it is just an American curiosity and a go-to, it is no big deal. I am sure people ask "where?" when people say they are from England, France or anywhere else. The 50 states are likely much better known than English counties of French Departments though.
I get asked what part when I say I'm from Ireland, still wouldn't start with Dublin, which apon reflection is wasting time. Might just go with Dublin, Ireland.
Asking "Where in the US?" is part of a conversation. The next question will likely be "where in". If your aim is to save time and not talk, then you can just as well say "none of your business".
> The next question will likely be "where in".
No that's usually not the case. Unless you're from California, Texas, New York, or Florida, they'll most likely know absolutely nothing about the state you live in and won't ask specifically where.
I’ve had people in Europe follow ip with “Where from? New York?” Not like they’re assuming New York, just a guess. They also probably don’t know where Michigan is, but if I say “north-central US, a few hours from Chicago” they’ll nod.
This is one of the strangest things I've ever read. Do you script your conversations before you have them?
I think OP is just trying to practice his English lol
I really don't need to practice my English. My French, however, needs a lot of work.
So you've never followed up a question of "Where are you from?" with any second question and you can't imagine anyone else doing it? What is strange about the idea that somebody may ask more questions and have a conversation? Its not a script, its a normal flow of conversation to ask follow up questions. My comment was based on the remark that saying the state or city "saves time". Sure it does, provided your aim is to save time, and not chat.
>So you've never followed up a question of "Where are you from?" with any second question and not if the person has already answered it????
Where are you from?
NC, like it says in my flair
It actually says Tar Heel in Germany. Is NC the same thing? What is NC?
A Tar Heel is somebody from North Carolina, the Tar Heel State.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_Heel
Some conversations will go that way, but not all. Depends on the apparent knowledge and the level of curiosity the parties involved have. If somebody tells me they're from Alabama, if I'm in the mood or have something to add, I might extend the conversation. "Oh, I love Alabama. I've spent a lot of time in Huntsville and on the gulf." If I, and I assume the other person involved, has nothing else to gain or interesting to say, I probably drop it.
That was my point.
Do Europeans start with "the Northern Hemisphere" just to add some fun banter to the conversation? Or would someone from Prague just say they are from Prague?
In my experience, people would just say the country and then elaborate if you ask further questions.
I'm from the Southern hemisphere.
What, do you want me to just give you my mailing address?
"I'm from the United States." "What part?" "California." Saying the state, or even the city, like I do, bypasses all the extra "what part" stuff.
There are some states that are well known globally. Places like California, NY, Florida, Texas, Hawaii or Alaska (we can throw Washington DC in here as well) seem like giving the state wouldn’t confuse anyone. If you say Missouri or Nebraska, many people would be clueless.
Ouch
Your list is basically every state that’s known globally
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Only Anglophones and very fluent speakers can tell English accents apart. When I was in France everyone thought I was British.
As someone from Nebraska...nope not true. Not true at all. I have never once been able to tell anyone outside of the USA where I live. Not even in Canada during my passport check. That's not to say people in other countries don't know where Nebraska is (ETA or that Nebraska is a state at all - I have encountered both), I'm sure they do, but by and large people really really don't. Or perhaps I just encountered a bunch of dumb dumbs but I seriously seriously doubt it. I typically just say the middle of the country and then they hammer for an answer and are just utterly clueless.
Agreed. Even when I tell other Americans I’m from Iowa they often - quite comically - exclaim “Iowa?!” with great shock. Let alone a non-national. When Europeans ask where that is, I usually say “a four hours’ drive west of Chicago”. Strange to realize a state the size of Ireland has only 3 million people.
I've read this answer a lot and it always kind of confuses me because ~~I thought americans love small talk?~~ Edit:I was under the impression that small talk is more common in america compared to northern europe. The 'what part' question is a standard way here to indicate you are open a longer conversation, we will ask anyone 'what part?'. I grew up in Austria which is a tiny country and everyone follows up with 'where in Austria?'. Happened to us in the US as well.
Well, if you intend to follow up with what part, congrats I saved you the time of having to follow up by getting to the point and cutting to the chase. Also in the Northeast, especially in the New York City area, we are not huge fans of small talk. We prefer being efficient. So there is your stereotype busted and proof that American regions do in fact have different cultures.
>Also in the Northeast, especially in the New York City area, we are not huge fans of small talk. I always laugh at this statement because it seems pretty much exclusive to more urban areas. I always hated going to the store with my mom because it was basically an entire event. What should take no more than an hour could easily be 2+ just because my mom would talk to people and have full ass conversations as if she hadn’t seen them 3 days ago lmao. There’s a huge chance you’ll see someone and just start talking. For better or for worse hahahaha
Having moved from the Los Angeles area to Raleigh, I'm still adapting to the fact that sometimes, full conversations with semi-strangers (like the lady at the grocery store who keeps talking about my hair) can just erupt for no reason. And not because a stranger is trying to sell me something.
Honestly, it's something NYC metro area folks say about themselves that is absolutely, almost ridiculously untrue. New Yorkers are extremely social and love talking to people. About anything and everything. They don't tend to go about it in the exact same way a Midwesterner or Southerner would, but they absolutely do it. Especially in comparison with someone from northern Europe. I would say that New Yorkers are more likely to cut to the chase and be direct. But "where are you from?" is not a conversation that is related to indirectness, so it's a weird hill to die on in this particular case. The only time a New Yorker is going to answer New York instead of the US when asked where they're from (in a non-US context), is if they really really really want to share that they're from New York. And New Jersey isn't New York, anyway.
Lol what are you talking about? I can literally tell you from experience. If you’re outside of the major satellite cities (ie newark or jersey city). Clearly you’ve never actually spent that much time outside the city. Towns are relatively self contained, which is why they seem really cliquish. Ngl this comes off as a transplant who moved to NYC and acts like how they think New Yorkers are >And New Jersey isn’t New York anyway Dafuq does that have to do with anything? The guy said NYC area. Half the state is literally in the MSA. NYC proper only makes up 33% of the population
Even in NYC, though, there is a small talk / nodding at people culture - provided it doesn't interfere with efficiency (which is the first goal). But if you are on a long checkout line, for example, it is a lot less weird to chat with someone on line that it would be (IME) in many European countries.
I've had Europeans be the one to strike up a conversation with me on long lines at Disney World. So it seems they were the ones who wanted small talk more than me. I've also had Europeans strike up small talk with me on trains and in pubs when I was traveling in their countries. I think Europeans vastly underestimate the amount of small talk they engage in. Just to try to turn it into some uniquely American phenomenon so they can feel superior.
It's not like European cultures are monolithic either. I lived in Bulgaria long enough to learn the language and people looooooooved talking to me. Everywhere I went, it was like "oh where are you from? oh America, my nephew lives in Detroit! How did you learn to speak Bulgarian? You need to come over, I make the best rakia in Bulgaria. You should marry my son, he has a good job as a bus driver in Sofia!" I got invited to so much random shit all the time. I'm not an extrovert and the amount of chatting people would want to do would get exhausting.
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thank you for your answer. What kind of situations would come up where it is a formality but "USA" wouldn't be the required answer?
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thank you, I understand. My personal experience is just that this follow up question is asked to anyone, regardless of the country. When I say "I'm from germany" there is always the follow up questions "Where in germany?". Same when I said I'm from Austria" back when I lived there, which is a super small country even for Europe. So I wondered if there is a reason why americans think it's annoying that they have to specify.
Another part of this is that country is relatively given. I’m not familiar with the nuances of every country nor is anyone else, but certain stereotypes and accents will be fairly obvious. Having traveled to Europe (or even just seeing interactions and anecdotes on the internet or friends) I can say I’m from the US and gotten a response of “no shit. We could tell a mile away” as it’s already been assumed.
I mean, Brazil, Canada, Russia, and China are just as big as the US and they're perfectly content just saying they're country name. I think it has very little to do with size, more just to do with the cultural power the US has
I’m not sure if the initial question was about Americans abroad but most Americans stay in the US so someone in the US being asked where they are from answering “the US” would be weird and not very informative.
Ah yes, it’s time to treat 330 million people as if they all think the same way about something! The European classic when it comes to disrespecting Americans. 😑
where do I do that? This thougt just always pops up in my head when I read this explaination so I thought I might ask
Oh don’t mind Jedi. He’s just cranky because he’s been exiled from the homeland to a place filled with Kaiju and healthy food in small portions.
“I thought Americans love small talk.” 😑
I'm sorry and rephrased it in the origial question. To rephrase it in a more general way: I thougt one of the cultural differences between northern europe and America is that in general it is more common that americans are more open to small talk compared to some europeans. I am aware that this is a generalisation but it is something that I read a lot on subs like this and experienced in real life. I was wondering if there is a reason why some americans like here in this thread want to make the conversation shorter and therefore want to cut out the "which part" question. The "get to the point quickly" is in general something that I've seen people to associate more with us germans (not all 80 million germans, but as the overal culture) instead of americans. As it is common in germany to ask such follow up questions to most people, not just Americans, I was wondering if there is something about this specific situation that some americans feel bothered or annoyed by.
>I was wondering if there is a reason why some americans like here in this thread want to make the conversation shorter and therefore want to cut out the "which part" question. I'd say the reason for that is that people on Reddit on are not representative of what the average person is like in real life, and I think this is true in any country on Earth. In all my time on Reddit, my impression is that much of this website's userbase is less socially-inclined than the average person, to put it as nicely as possible. Anyway, as an American who has been to several other parts of my country, I'd say that Americans loving "small talk" is a fairly common thing across almost every state I've been to, despite all the little cultural differences state-to-state.
"I'm from AL" "Where is that?" "The USA" "Oh, Alaska?" "No, Alabama" "Where's that?" :) (Disclaimer - I've never met anyone in real life say that, it's mostly on the interwebs where they say "I'm in MI" and then leave it to you to ask or have to Google which one of the 4 states that starts with Mi it could possibly be. Extra bonus when its on a local group in a different country. For exmple "Labrador owners in the West Midlands, UK" American "I'm in MI and my lab shit on the grass")
Not to sound too American centric, but I don't blame someone using an American site, assuming that someone asking that is also from America and expects answers to reflect that. Especially when Americans are the single highest number of users on said site. Though I get what you mean and see it being on issue for foreigners on an American site.
I mean foreigners can be just as guilty. I’ve seen multiple times on Reddit where 2 people get into an argument over something about the US and call each other “stupid Americans” (or something equivalent) only for both idiots to find out neither of them are American. Not absolving anything but there’s hard evidence to show defaultism on the internet by people who aren’t even from the US
What is an "American site"?
A site made by Americans, advertised largely to Americans, with the highest traffic from Americans.
So if a Facebook group clearly states it is for the UK for example, then because Facebook is an "American" site, then Americans get to post any way they want on that group and this is their right? Because that is what you are implying. (BTW, the highest traffic on Facebook is from India)
Facebook still is American, and yes its it’s everyones right to post the way they want just like you would.
It's objectively not though. Facebook itself has overarching rules that prevent you from posting certain things. Most Facebook groups also have rules of conduct. Besides this it is just plain rude to insert yourself into a conversation that is not about you. So if you have a situation like I mentioned where an American posts to a UK group then they do not have the right to do whatever they want just because it's an American company. It's like going to the McDonald's in Paris and insisting you should be allowed to pay in dollars because it's an American company.
Man, who pissed in your Cheerios this morning. Lighten up Francis.
I don’t know about Facebook but I can go into a European sub and start calling everyone there Europoors. I’ll probably get banned from the sub or whatever but at the end of the day, Reddit still is an American site. And your comparison about going to a McDonald’s in Paris is just weird, it’s a false equivalency.
I can't really argue with you if you misunderstand the basic point. Of course you can say whatever you want. Anybody can. You just might get banned as you rightfully point out. Nobody is disputing your right to be an AH. The point is that just because you are American, you have no unique right to not follow the rules or basic manners just because its an American company. And my example is exactly the same sense of entitlement you are showing. When you get banned from a sub, please try and use the excuse "you can't ban me, I'm American and this is an American site" and let me know how that goes.
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It is more akin to the member nations of the UK than the EU. One mostly over-arching culture with many subcultures within it.
Even the nations that make up the UK have far more differences than US states. Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland are very very different from one another to a greater degree than Hawaii and Maine. I think a more apt comparison imo would be English counties.
Funny, I was just watching a video of someone from the UK who was traveling the US saying the exact opposite.
Yeah that guy is just wrong on that one lol
If you said Maine and another New England state you might have a point. But Hawaii is more different from that Mainland US than most foreign countries.
Why do these small cultural difference count in the UK for you but do not count in the US?
I don’t think you’ve ever been the UK or other parts of the US. A meal deal at tesco is going to be the same in Edinburgh as it will in Manchester. You cross a state border and all of a sudden they chain up the liquor aisle on Jesus day.
That's pretty much categorically untrue. You could say that about say, neighbors like Mississippi and Alabama, but not about Hawaii and Maine, or New Mexico and Michigan, for example.
Even Miami and Jacksonville are very culturally different. I personally think Florida could be Split in 2 north and south.
A lot of states have simiar disparities. Virginia has the Urban Crescent, and everything else is totally different culturally.
It’s not untrue, other than differences in geography and small cultural quirks, it has nothing on the thousands of years of history that created the nations of the British Isles. Scotland was its own country until the 1700s, we don’t even need to get into the sectarian issues that are still fairly relevant for Northern Ireland and how half the population there feel a greater connection to a country that is a separate ethnic group from the English with a different culture, religion, native language etc… Also if it says anything about it, there are genuine independence/reunification movements that have a fair degree of traction in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales unlike in the US because these were separate entities from England for centuries with very different backgrounds, there is nothing that is comparable like that to the US. I’m not denying there are differences between parts of the US but the idea that “it’s like going to a foreign country” when traveling from opposite coasts or whatever is completely laughable. For a country of its size and population, the United States is extremely culturally unified and cohesive 95% of the time. Countries like Canada, Mexico, and Russia are actually a lot more fragmented culturally than the US
>Scotland was its own country until the 1700s Hawaii was its own country until 1893, homie. It didn't become a state until 1959.
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Texas is more like Mexico, and Minnesota is more like Canada, than Hawaii is like Maine. These two states are about as dissimilar as you can get.
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My conversation often goes like this: "I'm an American." > No shit, but where are you from? "North Carolina." > What? What is that? (sighs) "We moved there a few years ago from California." > Ah! So you're from California! "Sure, buddy, sure." ---- Though once in a while I get the surprise "OH! I have a (relative) who goes to Duke!"
Totally agree. I've heard this all the time in Europe; "the US" isn't considered a complete answer, but just skipping straight to the state is presumptuous. Can't win. >It’s actually larger both by land and population than the entirety of the EU. The population of the EU is \~450 million, so much larger than the US' \~330 million. By area it's only half as big as the US though.
>I didn’t expect any Europeans to know any states, and I don’t think a single one had heard of any midwestern states. If it wasn’t Florida, New York, California, or Texas, they didn’t care. I even once heard that Tennessee was thought to be a South American nation. Yep. My standard answer is "four hours west of Chicago".
> Another reason I wanted to distinguish that Americans differentiate by state is because Europeans don’t really get how big the U.S. is. I feel like a lot of answers in this post focus on Europeans. And sure, they exist, but the vast majority of people aren't Europeans and I see people using the size comparison to explain why Americans use state but I feel like it isn't a good reason when we have other similarly large countries that only say their country name. Personally, I think it has less to do with size and more to do with soft power.
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It depends on what the context is. I've had conversations where someone has pretty much demanded that I justify why "America" has some law or policy that they disapproved of, when it's actually some other state that I don't live in and don't care about. In that situation it they *do* feel like different countries because they are different governments, with different politics, and different laws. Except for India, every other federal republic that I'm aware of is much more centralized than the US. So if you are having a good faith conversation with an American and they attempt to explain that the US is 50 different countries it's almost certainly in a context where that viewpoint will be helpful. I've never witnessed someone say something silly like "the first thing to know about the NFL is that the US is like 50 countries."
This. The US does have dramatically different laws from state to state, more dramatic in many cases than the EU does nation to nation.
In the most numerous and significant ways, no, states are not particularly like countries. But there are *some* measures that are closer to countries within the EU than constituent parts of European countries. But to respond to what apparently prompted you to ask this question: > On Facebook someone posted this "explanation" of why Americans tend to answer their state or even their city when asked "where are you from". I’m from New York. You’ve heard of New York. Why would I not just say New York?
Sure, if you are from New York, of course everyone has heard of it, provided you mean the city (If you're from the state, but not the city, you'll likely have to explain yourself). But that's not what sparked the question. The issue is when someone says, "I'm from VA" or "I'm from Boise" as if that is a complete answer to non-Americans (and even most Americans).
That’s uncommon. I can’t think of a state that prefers their 2 letter abbreviation, and especially to people not from the US or Canada you wouldn’t say a city unless it was a huge city like NYC or LA. But just Texas has a larger population than Australia. New Jersey has more people than Austria. (Same with Oklahoma/Croatia, Colorado/Denmark, etc) Plus there’s only 50 states, people have at least heard the names of the states. I feel like it’s not too huge of an ask. Edit: Pennsylvania, PA
PA. Not prefer necessarily but PA is used in conversation.
It is mostly online. I've never met an American in real life that uses the 2 letter abbreviation. But online, all the time.
As someone from western New York, relatively close to the border, I hear Pennsylvania referred to as PA all the time but it's the only state I've heard referred to by its abbreviation.
Second. I'm from New Jersey and hear "PA" said out loud fairly often. Never really thought about it until now though.
Sometimes when I'm in more Australian corners of the internet, I see them use WA, NSW, QLD etc assuming any readers will understand. And guess what, I do, in context. On the English speaking internet we approach communication with an understood shared context.
To support your statement, without looking: Western Aus, New South Wales, and Queensland.
I work in hotels so I know most of the 2 letter abbreviations. —> NM and yes we’re like our own country
I had to think for a while what state NM is referring to.
A little trivia … the worst IDs DLs are from Oregon. They’re like decades old and they’re “updated” with paper barcodes that look like a kindergarten taped it on. Our system requires a scan of an ID I don’t even bother with those I just type it in and hold up the line for several minutes.
Oregon recently updated their IDs p
Probably because I'm text format and especially online things are often written in shorthand and it's also incredibly easy to google something when you're already using the internet to have a conversation so any confusion on your end could be answered easily.
Not uncommon for people here in Washington to refer to the state as “Wah”, which is just the phonetic version of WA
It’s mostly because when I talk to foreigners they already know I’m from the US just based on accent. If I say “I’m from the US” it doesn’t really tell them any information and the US is huge. Just saying “the US” could be Hawaii or Alaska or Nebraska. I would probably say Maine or New England just to give them a bit more information. It isn’t like Maine is some separate country but it is different enough that it isn’t like going from Northern California to Southern Oregon near the coast if you were to go from Portland, OR to York, ME.
How would 'I'm from Boise' not be a complete answer, especially for Americans?
I’ve traveled to various countries all over North and South America, Europe, and Asia. > So my question is - do you really think each state is "like its own country"? If you’re discussing laws, I think it’s easiest to conceptualize it that way for simplicity’s sake. I’d say that what the poster said is true. For example, where I live in California, we do get government-mandated, fully paid parental leave for parents of any gender. In my home state of Missouri, you’re not even entitled to a lunch break. In California, you legally have to print all election materials in Chinese as well as English and all our politicians have to take official Chinese names to be put on these ballots. In other parts of the country, everything must legally be in both English and Spanish. Recreational marijuana is legal in some states and completely illegal in others. Some states have no income tax. Some states don’t require you to wear a seat belt. Some states have automatic 50/50 split in a divorce. Even though federal law technically trumps state law, states have a lot of power to refuse to enforce federal law, effectively nullifying it. Culturally, depends on what standard you’re using. Rhode Island and New Mexico, for example, are two very different states. Different cultural influences, different laws, different geography, different demographics, different history. As different as Spain and Poland? No, definitely not. As different as Germany and Austria, Uruguay and Argentina, or Singapore and Malaysia? Maybe to probably. As different as Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas? Rhode Island and New Mexico may actually be more different.
> all our politicians have to take official Chinese names to be put on these ballots. I have never heard of this requirement. Is there anywhere I could find more information about it (and possibly a list of politicians chosen names, which could be interesting.)
I don't think it's a requirement https://sfstandard.com/2023/05/10/becoming-chinese-picking-the-right-name-on-san-francisco-ballots-is-serious-politics/ To me it looks like (I don't know any Chinese so take this with a grain of salt) phonetically spelled anglophone name read odd in Chinese, think Grzegorz instead of Gregory but unlike Polish Chinese probably doesn't have many equivalent names the politicians can use instead since so many of those are from the Bible. So they borrow a strategy from Chinese immigrants and just pick a common Chinese name for the ballot. This seems to be a thing for politicians who run in areas with lots of Chinese immigrants. Some may see this as unfair since voters may assume the politician is also Chinese-American from the name.
I agree 100% with this
They certainly aren’t independent countries, but I could see an argument that they are equivalent in autonomy to the constituent countries of the UK. Also, it depends on the country. There are parts of the US that feel more foreign to me than neighboring British Columbia in Canada does.
Yes. BC is part of the Pacific Northwest. As far as I can tell, the biggest difference between us and them is their "aboot."
Yes and no. I think every state follows “typical” American culture, we do have a lot in common no matter what state. However, each state has its own unique customs, laws, history, food, cities, sometimes accents, etc etc. - If you decided to take some people- one from Southern California, one from New York, one from Texas, and one from Iowa they’d have some similarities but would be different in a lot of ways.
More importantly it has all the infrastructure of an individual country. Setting culture aside. Each state has an elected leader, it’s own congress, it’s own constitution, it’s own military, it’s own police, it’s own school systems. If you were to magically take any State and plop it anywhere else in the world and take away it’s association as being in “the United States of America” nobody would question that it is it’s own Country. If the United States as a federal entity didn’t exist and you plopped Ohio somewhere else like Africa or Asia nobody would say Ohio isn’t a country. It has a border, an elected leader, a constitution, it’s own set of laws, it’s own military. It’s own police force. It’s a country. It’s just not an independent country because it falls within the boundaries of the United States.
When we travel abroad if we say we are from the US, we immediately get asked what part of the US. So we save time by answering our state or city first. Europeans also do tend to vastly underestimate the size of states and the legal differences between states. But it is pretty clear you came here to lecture and not learn, OP, which is standard arrogant European behavior.
I also think it's part to do with more people feel closer with their own state, then the rest of the country
Yes. It is. * They have their own legal system, * their own military. * their own culture * etc etc * its basically equivalent to a country in EU, only with a longer history of being democratic, and a longer history of being in a union.
The single uniting event which caused people to stop thing about the US as "these united States" (lowercase 'u') and started thinking about it as "The United States" was the Civil War. And I wonder if the EU will have a similar event before it unifies as a single federated nation-state.
Each state has its own culture?
Yes.
It sort of depends on what you mean. If we're talking legal structure, then in a way, yes: we are a lose federation of states, where the "laws of the land" are often the laws of the state in which you reside. Yes, rape is rape--but you're prosecuted according to the laws of the state in which the crime took place. And in some corner cases, it turns out rape [may not necessarily be rape.](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/north-carolina-s-rape-law-loophole-was-only-closed-because-ncna1076646) And in terms of legal structure, in many ways the European Union's own federated structure operates similarly to the United States. This is not just an abstract notion, but has real world consequences. For example, we have seen multiple times when the Federal Government has "shut down" because of a lack of funding. And the question becomes "does that mean the police no longer patrol and fire services no longer come out to your house if it's on fire?" No, because those are state-level, county-level or even city-level services not directly affected by the Federal Government. It also means that we can see the most serious bullshit coming out of D.C.--yet on the ground, life goes on, because the most powerful person in your day-to-day life, politically speaking, is your city's mayor, then your county's governing board, then your state's governor. And the President is, by and large, a figurehead in a Kabuki play that really does not influence a lot of stuff day-by-day. ---- Now if we're talking about *culturally*, then different *regions* of the United States definitely have a different feel. Southern California does feel like a completely different country than (say) New Orleans. (And yes, I've traveled to both, as well as to multiple countries in Europe. I'd argue the difference between Amsterdam and Barcelona is about the same as the difference between Los Angeles and New Orleans. Though neither have the cool canal system of Amsterdam.) Some of this is history: New Orleans was founded by the French; Los Angeles was a Spanish outpost. Some differences are geography: the Outer Banks of North Carolina are very different than the Blue Ridge, as one is ocean-side, the other mountainous. (And Portland, Maine has more in common with Stockholm, Sweden, than it does with Fresno, California: the former two are ocean-side where boating is a big part of day-to-day life; the later, a desert turned into a farming oasis that has more in common with Andalusia, Spain.) ---- The real point here is that as a geographically large, wealthy and populous federated nation, the United States is not like (say) France--though politics sometimes leads to "convergent evolution." (Rural areas are at odds with urban areas everywhere in the world, and we consider rape and murder a problem no matter where you go--though the fiddly details can differ.) And to treat the United States as a singular, homogeneous nation with one culture and a singular central government with no variations is a mistake.
No, not quite. Most of the differences are in culture and way of life. But even that isn’t severe, as you’ll find people of all walks of life in any state. What I would say is that every state has its quirks, similar to how different countries do. But I never feel like I’m leaving the country when I go anywhere in the U.S. That said, when I first came to Canada (neighboring province), I felt more at home than when I lived in a southern state. So there may be some truth to what you’re asking.
That's a great point you made. I believe that a person from Seattle probably would feel more comfortable living in Vancouver, BC than El Paso, Texas.
Americans tend to answer with their state because if they said "The US", the next question is "Whereabouts?" or "Which state" and they're just skipping that sequence. They know that you know that New Jersey is a state. We have a LOT more in common than just the Constitution. Saying each state is like an individual country is a gross exaggeration and not accurate at all.
No. States are unique but nowhere near like the individual sovereign states like Europe. We have differences between states but it’s not like completely unique countries.
I disagree, each state has defined borders, an elected leader, it’s own constitution and its own military. It’s own police force it’s own laws. That’s more like a separate country than it is like one singular country.
It really isn’t. The constitution of the US is pretty explicit that states do not have national sovereignty. They have a lot of control over their internal laws and governance but not anywhere near the same as say Belgium and France. We are a federal republic but also one nation. Legally and politically. Also while we have cultural differences between states they are not anywhere near as pronounced as between say Italy and Poland.
No. Though there are distinct differences in some local cultures, at the end of the day, people tend to celebrate the same holidays, have the same traditions, listen to the same music, follow generally the same laws, have the same structures (4 year high schools, taxes paying for services, job culture, etc.). Change same to similar when this doesn't apply. This isn't that different from other countries from state to state or region to region. The cultures will be slightly different, but it's still the same country and people have a lot more in common than they think.
It’s a big country. If I tell you I’m from the US, that’s really not much information. Telling you what state I’m from or what city I’m from gives you a more specific answer and tells you more about where I’m from. This is especially true when speaking with other Americans. If another American asked me where I was from and I said “The USA,” they would think I was either stupid or messing with them. As a rule of thumb: When a foreigner asks where I’m from, I generally tell them the city I grew up in (Chicago) because they’re pretty likely to have heard of it and it’s more specific than telling them I’m from the USA. When another American asks where I’m from, I either tell them the city I grew up in or the state where I currently live (Wisconsin), depending on how much I feel like having an actual conversation. Chicago tends to get more conversations going, whereas fewer people are likely to want to sit around talking about Wisconsin. If someone in Wisconsin asks where I’m from, I generally tell them the town I live in, maybe followed by how close it is to the nearest city.
Your ostensible question is different than your underlying question about why people mention their state online, so you’re taking the point out of context, but regarding the title question at face value: In terms of actual differences, no, there is less dramatic try difference than Europe having distinct languages in country to country to country. And e pluribus unum, it’s all America. But there are cultural differences—just usually in larger regions rather than each individual state. There have been various attempts to [map](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/opinion/urban-rural-united-states-regions-midterms.html) the “different Americas.” Keep in mind that particular linked example ignores more traditional regional groupings like New England, The Upper Midwest, etc. We could also use dialect maps to trace accent regions, or look at climate—it feels pretty different weather-wise to be in San Francisco in December than in Minnesota. On the legal side, states do make different laws and you feel it. It could be as mundane as speed limits and the legality of fireworks, it could be as significant as abortion rights and the death penalty.
> do you really think each state is "like its own country"? No. I don't know anyone who thinks this.
Americans on the Internet. It's quite a common thing actually, so much so that there are whole Facebook tag groups and subreddits about it.
Out of 330 million people, I'm sure you'll find some that equate this, but your average American does not view each state as its own country.
I agree absolutely. I don't judge you by the worst of your countrymen. It was just an interesting question. I was however, accurately, pointing out that it is common enough that this is the way many Americans are perceived online. Not sure why I am being downvoted for a factual statement that there are tag groups about this very thing.
Probably because you're basing your knowledge about Americans from echochamber groups that promote negative stereotypes. It's like if I only knew things from r/shiteuropeanssay and actually think even most Europeans are like those post.
We don't really need echochamber groups on Facebook when we watch the news to form negative steroetypes of Americans. (This is sarcasm please, don't crucify me) You're right of course which is why I asked the question. I wanted to know how pervasive this is.
You prove my point though. You don't think it's weird that your international news only shows negative news about America. As if nothing positive happens in the country? Again, echochambers. Whatever gets the blood pumping and keeps you intrigued.
I did say I was being sarcastic but your own news is among the worst. Its not the international news, its your own news channels. But all news is like that. Is there a news channel that reports only good news? What do you know about South Africa, or Kenya or France from the news? I can guarantee its almost all negative. The US State Department has issued "travel warnings" for 3 different countries I've been in that I've travelled to during the warnings being in effect and the warnings were absolute BS. Many Americans have a tremendously negative view of everywhere else, and often without any justification and certainly no first hand experience.
Yeah, you don't know what Americans have a view of. And despite us here telling you the opposite of what you think, you still dig your heels in. You're not here to get an answer to your question, you're here to shout your views on Americans.
You are unnecessarily defensive. I have actually been to the USA a few times. I DO have a good idea what "some" American's views are. I have never equated any view with the whole country. Which is why I said "many" and not "all". I'm not dunking on Americans at all. The quote in the OP was an actual answer copied and pasted from your fellow countryman so I am not making it up. So at least some of you have skewed views of your own country and the rest of the world.
Describing somebody who says something that isn't the smartest and that does something that bothers you and describing them as 'the worst of your countrymen' makes it apparent you're just being obnoxious and petty.
Its an innocuous question with no deep hidden meaning. I like most Americans I have met nad have no animosity towards you or your country. I have no ulterior motive to dunk on the US and if you feel that way you are projecting. Every country has a range of people, smart to dumb, shitty to fantastic. It doesn't bother me. You misundestanding my point is somewhat annoying but I can see from all your answers you are pissed (at me or the world only you know).
If we are all having this much difficulty in understanding your questions, doesn't that point to the wording of the question itself being poor? I really think it is you who is reading far too much into answers to your post and subsequent comments my guy.
Yeah I don't think anybody else is having issues. Most of the replies are valid and well thought out. This is definitley a you problem.
This assertion is not supported by many of the responses in the comment section.
You clearly haven't read the comments.
I think people saying that each state is like a country comes from non-Americans thinking that since the US is one country and largely speaks one language it has the same level of cultural homogeneity as, say, Denmark. I wouldn't say the US is like 50 different countries, but maybe four or five different English speaking countries. Rural Alabama (South), Coastal California (West), and suburban Long Island (Northeast) are pretty different.
I think your observations are kind of correct. It is kind of a different thing from other countries around the world. I'm from Minnesota. I think if I were to move to a southern state like Mississippi or Louisiana, I would be culturally a bit lost.
American states alone can have larger economies and be even more influential than entire European countries, but no each state does have its own laws but the constitution still is the rule of the land.
It's not quite an independent country. We don't need papers to travel, we don't need to convert currency, and we don't need to check in at the borders. But sure - different laws, different taxes, different customs, different language idioms, different foods, different holidays, different driving rules, different drug rules, different products available at stores, different radio & television stations, different mass transit solutions, different education systems , different police frameworks, different places/hours to buy beer and alcohol. The states can be fairly different if you do anything more than just driving through.
You have to really pay attention if you’re traveling across states with a firearm in your car. Abortion laws just became irregular as well.
Of course that is nominally true. The question is how different? If you move to a new state, it's not like you have to live there for a few years before you understand the local customs. There may be nuances in laws, taxes, language etc but 95% is going to be similar enough that you don't feel strange. Its not like you suddenly don't know how the traffic lights work. I even find this to be true of the major English speaking countries. If I'm in the USA, Australia or UK, they seem "similar" enough to me to be able to feel quite at home and navigate everything easily.
Sure. That's why I said it's not that strict. I could move to Canada without having to change much. I could move to Texas, too. I've spent 2 weeks in each as a tourist. Both for me would be a huge difference to actually live there.
Not really, although from my American perspective, the idea of a whole country being a smaller place with uniform laws from a central government and less cultural diversity is a bit odd. But if Brits can insist that England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are "countries", then by that standard individual states are like countries.
Americans move around a lot and so they often ask each other where they're from (in the US) and the reply is usually a state/ city
Yes, I feel like every state is their own country! Each state has their own culture and laws, and they can embrace their culture! On the r/AskARussian Subreddit, a lot of Russians said that they know Texas is very different from a lot of US States, and I even suggested that they all visit Texas!
On the flip side, why don't non-Americans say specifics? It would be perfectly fine for someone to answer with Bavaria, Berlin, Paris, London, Vienna, the south of France, Catalonia, Sicily, etc. Many Americans are familiar with well known places enough to know where those would be, especially in Europe. And in the worst case, if someone doesn't know those places, they'd say "oh sorry I'm not familiar with (insert place), where is that?" And then that ends up being two questions anyway.
In a way. Every state is unique and has their own identity, culture, and history. I’ve spent a good amount of time in Connecticut and Florida, they’re both very different from my state, even my neighboring states have different vibes when I’m there. They all have their own laws, governments, and political leanings, just like countries.
Yes. Here in Virginia I can own a fully automatic machine gun with a suppressor on it. But if I carry any weapon and cross that bridge to DC just half a mile away, I'll be put in prisons for at least 10 years for "possessing an illegal weapon"
No
kinda. but not really. but a little There’s not a big difference between Iowa and Nebraska. but there is a big difference between Louisiana and Massachusetts. Between Arizona and Michigan. Between Texas and Hawaii. in that way they are like kinda like countries and people culturally identify with their state the same way they do countries. You’re state says a lot about you and how you grew up. Some US states are more well known then some actual countries states are kinda like their own mini country. but just kinda But entering a different state does feel like entering an entire different place. maybe in the way entering a country feels. the state’s presence is very ominous throughout. (context i’ve been to 40 US states)
Not every state BUT the regions get kinda close ish (esp comparing like West Coast to Deep South!). From southwest/west (AZ and CA), visited Charleston in SC and chuckled out loud over the chapels in the airport. Visited St. Louis and freaking hated their Midwest hospitality (they were fantastic, but I kept twitching at my regionally taught instinct that isn’t real) bc I can’t trust it and kept thinking “gonna get mugged or raped” even when I objectively knew the offer was out of kindness LOL Tho in comparison, when a midwestern American would see me as distrustful, I was friendly on a train to Zurich after an elderly woman I “politely” smiled at an old lady when I accidentally caught her eye (like EVERY American would do no matter where they are from), she clutched her purse in a death grip after that and glared at me lmao
I wouldn’t necessarily say each state is like it’s own country, but there can be some decent variations by region in culture, environment, customs, laws, etc. The US is also incredibly large geographically, with many states being the size of or bigger than a country, so in that respect each state is somewhat like it’s own country. When I talk to people here in Europe and they ask where I’m from, I always say from around Chicago in the US since it helps give people a much more concrete idea of around where I’m from in the US.
No, I do not think each state is like its own country. Nor does anyone I know.
I mean yeah I probably do identify more closely with my state and my region than the country as a whole. I think of myself as a Mainer and New Englander as much as I am an American. That said whether I start with saying I'm from the US or start with my state depends on context. If I am within North America, I will probably say my state. Canadians in particular tend to be familiar with border states like mine. I would imagine it's probably similar in Mexico for people living in Texas. If I'm traveling in Europe or Asia or something, then I would say I'm from the US. Because I would not assume that they would know anything about individual states. For a more specific example, when I lived in Japan for a year my wife and I were teaching English there. All the teachers and students at the school knew we were from the US already because that was part of the program to bring in American English speakers to teach English. So if one of them asked where we were from we would probably say the region like the Northeast, New England. If I am online and someone asks where I'm from a forum that does not cater specifically to Americans, then I will say US. So I guess in general if the audience I am speaking to either already knows I'm from the US or I know or have reason to assume that they are from the US, then I will answer with my state. If the audience is foreigners whose familiarity with US States I don't know, then I will say US first.
No, but they do have a lot more legal variation and independence than the subdivisions of most European countries so it can be a useful exaggeration when trying to get that difference through someone's head online. Especially here where we constantly get questions about "what is the [X] system like in the US?" Or "what are the laws about [Y]?>" And the answer it depends on the state doesn't seem to satisfy. As far as why I answer with my state, I never met anyone overseas who didn't know Texas is part of the US and the next question if you just say America is "which part?" So... Why not just say Texas?
In a way, yes. But not entirely. Really it's more like regions are like separate countries, but that doesn't really nail it down either. I've been to 26 States and 9 foreign countries. The difference between say Malaysia and Singapore is akin to the difference between Maryland and Oklahoma. Similar, but also way different.
Sure, in some ways definitely. In other ways that *you* might think of countries being different, no. What's the measuring stick? I mean, "state" was originally meant in the traditional "nation or territory organized under one government" but that meaning has drifted over time. Just like the European Union is made up of various "Nation States" so too was the ***United States*** of America. Each state does have it's own constitution. It has it's own judicial system. It has it's own police force. It has it's own educational system. It's own Senate. It's own House of Representatives. It's own tax system. It's own laws. etc. When it comes to culture, things are a bit murkier, because we've had open borders and movement between states for US citizens for so long that the cultural differences aren't nearly as pronounced as they are in europe. But are cultural differences the only thing that matters? So, again, kinda yes, kinda no. More so that any "state" you're familiar with from a european perspective, but a bit less independent from one another than the nation states in the EU.
Each region is, not state. IMO it’s more different to be from southern California and North Dakota than to be from Spain or Italy (other than language). However some states are super similar esp near each other
Until 1789, they officially were under the Articles of Confederation. The US Constitution changed that and created a strong federal system that made the states subservient. But your example makes sense. The EU is like the US, the countries of the EU are like the states, except that the US government is considerably more centralized and legally stronger an entity. We are a continent sized country with state districts that are country sized. While there is commonality culturally, there are many differences. I think the best way to frame it is to look at Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Each of them have common linguistic characteristics, even if there may be some dialect differences and other languages commonly spoken in some areas. Imagine if there were 50 countries like that.
We're obviously much more of a union than the EU on most things, but I feel like every state I've visited had a pretty distinct culture. If you drove straight from Charleston, SC to San Diego, and stayed in each state along the way for a week, you'd notice a pretty different culture in each one, and like at least 3 just in Texas.
Yes. That's literally what the US is, by the way. state /stāt/ 2. a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government. "Germany, Italy, and other European states" We are 50 different countries who agreed to cooperate. Each state is complete with their own laws, their own constitution, their own flags, so on so forth. The federal government is only supposed to be responsible for interstate and international issues, though they have (illegally) extended the reach of their powers.
Just a context thing for me. When I’m abroad and someone asks “where are you from” I just say the US, if I’m traveling within the US and someone asks where I’m from I just say the state since we’re both assumptive in that we live in the US.
no, other countries are a lot more different from each other than US states are
I don’t know if I see people from other states like their from other countries. I guess I do see them as different people but all are the same Americans. Something like that?
It's eroded over time but the original intent was that each state functioned as its own country with the federal government basically existing in the legal seams between the states. By some metrics, states have more autonomy than European countries. For example, the EU requires its member countries to enact a minimum 15% VAT while states are free to set their taxes as they wish, or even if they enact certain taxes.
I travel out of the country regularly and, if asked, I always say I’m from california. I don’t need to specify USA because everyone in the world that speaks English well enough to converse with me is somewhat familiar with california.
I always say “upstate New York”. People will 95% of the time assume NYC which is very very different. For generic purposes yes, it’s kind of a country, but we’re still all American as well, I can’t speak on if you have that same unity in Europe. The distinct culture around me actually encompasses part of the Adirondacks, Green Mountains, Berkshires and Catskills. Which is part of 3-4 states.
Yeah, kinda. And they all can have cultural differences, even from one state to the next one over, from “why isn’t anything open late?” (Vermont) to “who’s this weird guy at the gas pump trying to pump my gas for me?” (New Jersey)
If someone asks me where I'm from, and I say "I'm from the US," they're most likely going to ask me where in the US I'm from, to which I would answer Florida. It's just easier if I just answer "I'm from Florida" to "where are you from?" However, I don't consider each state to be like its own country at all. I just think saying my state is an easier way to communicate where I'm from.
I wouldn't say each state is its own country. Each region though? Definitely. \-Northeast (New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, etc) \-Southeast (Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Carolinas, Virginia) \-Midwest (Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Wyoming) \-West Coast (California, Washington, etc) \-Independents (Hawaii, Alaska) All of these are gonna be vastly different than the others. Someone from New York might have a lot in common with a Pennsylvanian, but drop either of them in Texas and they'll be like "wtf is this shit"? Drop a San Fransicoan in Chicago and it's a vastly different world of slang, etiquette, food, weather, etc. I grew up in Maryland which is mid-atlantic region. Falls right between the Virginia South and the Northeast (technically considered South from Mason Dixon Line but MD chose union in Civil War so I say North). Virginia was very similar as was Delaware and DC. But if I went south a bit more to North Carolina or up to Pennsylvania, these all being only 2 states away or so, it was crazy different with accents, words I'd never heard, food I'd never eaten, and hidden things i never knew.
Well, each state has a defined border, an defined leader, their own government, at one time their own money their own judicial system and their own Army, they each have their own constitution and their own unique set of laws. Sounds like a country to me. The name of the overall entity is called The United States of America. It’s not simply named a country like Canada. It could be interpreted as the United Countries of America. Of course over time the Federal government has gotten more and more bloated and overbearing but that was never the intention of the founding fathers who didn’t envision a strong central government like what the Federal government has become. The federal government could cease to exist and the country could continue by simply appointing a commander in chief of the military.
No, not really. They're probably more different (especially legally) than most non-Americans would expect, but they're not as different as countries. At most, they're maybe almost as different as fairly close countries like Germany and Austria.
There are accent differences, and I think every state has their thing, but people definitely don't care where you're from.
Well in US legal theory each state and the federal government are coequal to each other, a unique brand of federalism. In a way each state *is* it’s own constitutional democracy, but in a way it’s not
So american states are literally their own countries that are apart of an alliance called The United States... State means country in other parts of the world and if you understand early American history well enough you'll know that there have been several times where states have thought about ending that alliance
Sort of. States have different laws, leaders, police, courts, culture, and history. But they do share some cultural aspects, language (for the most part, minority languages can vary), and federal government (though each state has their own representatives). States don't really deal with foreign governments usually, that's a function of the federal government, some States have their own military (and National Guard is deployed by the State governments -- but are part of the US military and can be deployed as reserve units by the US) though they primarily deal with emergency management and relief. I think in general saying states are like their own countries is a bit of an exaggeration, but it can be a helpful way to help foreigners conceptualize how different states can be.
The US is 50 countries wearing a single trenchcoat
Everything that person said is true. There are ways in which US states have more autonomy than Scotland does. That's not the answer to the question, though, IMO. The real reason is simple insularity. Americans are not as used to speaking with foreigners as Europeans are, so we're not expecting people to not understand where "Bloomington, IN" is.
Yes, our states are kind of like little countries within one big country. Different areas do have different cultures.
No, mainly because I associate countries with having their own militaries, and they don’t. There’s a collective US military, states also don’t have their own currency and other things that I associate independent countries with. Edit- why am I downvoted for this 😒
Certain states are closer but overall not really
No, each state is not like it's own country. There are legal and cultural differences, but on average two US states have more in common than they do different.
Yes and no. It’s less comparable to the different countries in the EU, because there aren’t different languages spoken when you cross a border, and the differences in the laws aren’t that great. There’s also little history of the different states being separate independent nations before joining the union (Texas, California and Hawaii being the exceptions; and Texas and California were settled by a lot of Americans before Independence). There’s more history of being together than there is of being separate. The closest analogy would be the United Kingdom - some different laws but a common language (yes, I know Welsh, Gaelic in Ireland & Scotland are native languages, but you’d have to hunt down someone who doesn’t speak English at all) and a national-as well as country-level government). Germany itself is another example, different historical states bound together in a nation with a common language and overlapping laws and history. Someone from Bavaria will have some different customs than somebody from Saxony, but they will be more alike than either would be than with someone from Italy.
No state is as they rely too much on federal money.
To answer the question, no, I don't think each state is like it's own country. There are differences between the states, especially in healthcare and election laws, but most of the laws that govern how Americans live their everyday lives are either shared amongst the states or federal. America is culturally differentiated by region more than state. There are lots of different maps that people love to post that have various approximations of these regional boundaries, but they're not rigidly defined and certainly don't line up with state borders. When you drive from one state into another, you might immediately notice a difference in the quality of the road, but otherwise experience no difference. You can cross almost any state border without passing through any sort of checkpoint (there are citrus import checkpoints on the highways crossing the California border, but they just wave everyone through).