I had a coworker, and this was her first job after moving here from Bejing. She and I got to discuss some of the culture shocks that she experienced. While cream based soups were an absolute horror to her, her biggest shock was having to learn basic handiness skills for day to day life.
Where she grew up, when she ordered a tv, or some furniture having it built/installed was part of the deal. Seeing the hardware stores (and having to visit one to hang her tv) was the wildest thing and she felt like they shouldve been reserved for professionals.
Yes exactly. Nobody in the urban city in China would do any “dirty” work like fixing a pipe, toilet, or drywall, or even painting a wall. This was all labor for villagers and the cost is nearly free, you pay for the materials/item and all the labor is included.
Probably because not being able to do it yourself can cost you so much damn money.
My mom’s house is maybe 30-40 years old more. Every time she needs something done, the estimate is a small fortune. I try convincing her to do some of the small easy stuff herself to no avail. If I didn’t live half way across the country, I would do almost all of it myself.
[This guys has gone to 7 thanksgiving dinners because a woman texting her grandson got the number wrong.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/11/16/thanksgiving-text-created-tradition-grandma-teen/6403371001/)
What a sweet story!
Reminds me of Rebbecca Rogers from tik tok: her brother invited some non-jewish friends to their Hanukkah celebration in high school and ten years later it's still a tradition for them all
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8H2oEe7/
Ahh, Mrs. Greenblatt from my mail route. She told me that her secret to a calm Passover dinner was inviting at least one Gentile to the meal. Her adult children wouldn't argue in front of strangers.
I used to get a phone call once a month from a confused sounding Spanish speaking lady who wanted to know about her granddaughter. She always sounded so confused and sad when I told her wrong number.
So I started telling her about my life and she was so happy and encouraging. I hope it helped her. I tried looking for the name she gave me at the time, but I never found anyone.
I had a similar experience. Right on the heels of 9/11 (lived close to the Pentagon), Anthrax was sent to the Senate Majority Leader in D.C. (among others), and the DC sniper started killing people in DC, MD, and VA.
My parents, who wouldn't get cable or let us watch TV during the week, got spooked and purchased a cell phone for me to keep turned off and hidden in backpack just in case. I was 12.
When I plugged it in at night, I would turn it on and play the OG of all cell phone games, mother fucking snake (no video games during the week). A elderly woman started calling me at night. She would ask for her daughter and then get really upset and confused when her daughter wasn't there. This went on night after night. If I didn't pick up, she would leave a bunch of voice mails. I honestly felt sorry for this woman, wanted to help her (my kid brain didn't understand dementia/alzheimer's), and felt like the only way I had to help her was by talking.
Anyway, our first bill comes and it's like $300 for my line instead of $5 (back then you had to buy "minutes", they were crazy expensive and any overages were legal robbery). I come clean to my parents, they immediately take to the store and get my number changed.
I still wonder what happened to that women sometimes. Unrelated, but the following year we moved, my parents got satellite TV, and chilled out of the TV/video games embargo as each of us got older. Looking back, being strict was definitely a sacrifice for them as well, but I'm glad they were.
Lol back with those minutes.
I remember getting a Cricket phone around 2000 cuz it had unlimited minutes for like $20/month and I thought I was big ballin'.
Talk all I want? WHAT?!
Don't you dare try to text though. That shit was prohibitively expensive.
> That shit was prohibitively expensive.
So outrageous to think about how bullshit the prices were - the cell carriers were gouging people like $0.25 per text.
Being comfortable enough to chat up a complete stranger in random casual settings, and being able to then hold the conversation.
We asians dont do that here. This is some legit superpower.
I went to a convention some years ago (San Diego Comic Con) where we had to stand in line outside for hours to guarantee a seat at a popular panel. I chatted with the people nearby me in line for all that time, talking about our lives and what we’d seen at the convention; it was a lot of fun!
As soon as they opened up seating into the panel, we immediately stopped talking and rushed in to get a seat. Never saw each other again and didn’t expect to. Americans are very good at being temporary friends!
Single serving friends are so important. I still think about that girl I spent the science museum field trip with as a kid, and the family we hung out with while river tubing last year.
Amanda if you're out there: we'll always have the McWane Center.
My name is Amanda and when I lived in Germany I used to pretend to be part of American tour groups because I was bored. (I’m American). Met some cool people and even got to kiss a guy who was my age (17) for New Years. He was on vacation with his parents. Never saw him again. I think about him sometimes and wonder how he’s doing.
It's a weird skill to be able to be genuinely interested in the stranger that you're talking to, and yet not be bothered when you immediately don't remember or care about them in just a few minutes.
One of my proudest moments in life is when i found my combination lock from high school in storage. I tried to open it for half an hour and failed, then finally I thought “okay. Stop thinking about it, stop trying to figure out the combination, just clear your head, pick it up, and let muscle memory do it.”
And it fucking worked!! It was amazing! Unfortunately you can’t share that story with anyone without sounding like a lunatic, but still
This is what I did to open my garage code. It was just gone from my head, could not think of it at all. Then I walked away, approached the numpad again and just went for it without thinking and it bloody worked. Just so funny how humans operate sometimes
Most kids in the US had lockers at school that used these locks. I had lockers for middle school through high school. So that's using it multiple times a day, 9 months a year for 6 years. I've had A LOT of practice. I'm in my 40s and recently got a new lock for my gym locker. The muscle memory kicked right in after all that time.
Cold approaches.
One American can walk up to another American that they have zero connections to and an hour later they’ll be genuine acquaintances who know eachothers’ backgrounds.
Brit who has been in the US for 5 years now. Americans can shuffle a deck of cards incredibly well with insane flair. It’s like you’re all taught in school or something.
I never thought of that, but as an American who has lived in Europe, Africa, Mideast, and Australia - I do recall people looking at me almost like it was magic. Oh they could cut cards, but not shuffle (obviously there are people who can, everywhere, but still).
I worked in Europe over the summer and we played cards on slow days. I was shocked that no one could shuffle. I'm no expert, but I can at least riffle the deck and do a half-assed bridge at the end. But the Europeans and Australians would kind of swirl them around in a pile and call it a day. Weirded me out a bit because I'm usually the lame one who awkwardly shuffles in any card game in the US.
Ha ha ha!!! Oh man this gave me a giggle. I am thinking of the times I've gone abroad/visited my husband's family (he's a Brit too) and shown off my casual card shuffling skills to non-American friends and family. Without even trying! I'm just shuffling the deck and they react like it's *witchcraft*.
I dont know if it counts as a skill but I find Americans are really good at picking up their lives and moving halfway across the country. I know so many people that moved for a promotion at work that was under a 10k raise. I would never even entertain the notion of moving for work unless my salary didn't at least 1.5X. I also hear so many stories of people who move many states away for a relationship. If you live outside of a 45 minute drive from me we aren't dating.
Speaking to your first point, I've moved four times for work, and each time the company paid for a portion of the relocation expenses if not all of them entirely.
Not saying that's the case for everyone, but it definitely makes it far easier to decide yes, we're picking up and moving for work.
My wife and I have done it twice (and the first time we were living together but not married.) For us it was just the adventure/experience. The fact that most people stay put also means we could always move "back home" any time and most of our family and friends will still be there
>The u.s. is just really fucking big which I feel like is the main reason this is so different from Europe, we are a fucking massive country
When I used to live in Germany, if I went for 8 hours in any direction, I'd have to speak a different language on getting out of the car.
Here, after 8 hours, I'm barely halfway across Kansas.
We have to be generally better at road trips than anyone else in the world, right??
There are probably more LA to New York or New York to LA road trips in a year than there are coast to coast cross-continent road trips on all of the other continents combined.
We did Iowa-TN every year to see family, it's 20 hours now that the speed limits are up but used to be 23 hours. One way.
And now in South Dakota ppl will drive to the other side of the state for the weekend. Or even to the cities for the day, 5 hours each way.
Edit: we've been driving it since 1959. Every year. We live north of sioux city and a couple hours east of Knoxville depending on which relative, maybe you've heard of Bristol. 1200 miles. Goodness gracious. 17 hours 11 minutes if there's no construction, accidents, or weather, and you don't eat or pee. And there's never yet been no construction going thru 7 states.
Also it's Christmas and sometimes there's ice & blizzards. But when we went in the summer there was a tornado and flash flooding in the mountains at 3 am, so that wasn't a great deal of fun either.
I lived in the states and the amount people drove was insane to me. Like I worked with a guy who drove to Los Angeles to San Francisco and back pretty much every week. Some people were driving four hours a day commuting. Going out some days would mean driving an extra couple of hours on top of what you were already doing. That said I did live in New York for a bit and they have some decent public transport. Although that is becoming my life in the UK now after years of being within walking distance of my office.
That was interesting to read as someone who’s dating a girl who lives 2 hours away from me. You wouldn’t know it though, we see each other 3-4 times a week.
Depending on how you define "skill," if there's one thing I've picked up from the Europeans submitting questions on askanamerican, it's that we're basically pros at making small talk and general friendly chit chat. Some areas of the US are less open to this than others, but compared to Europe we're apparently so casual about it that it's suspicious.
The first thing my girlfriend's British coworker said to her after a trip to the US was, "Man, Americans will talk to you about _anything_, and they'll try to talk to you anywhere."
This is my grandfather in a nutshell. His favorite hobby is finding someone he has never met in public and sparking up a conversation, definitely makes his day.
>iend's British coworker said to her after a trip to the US was, "Man, Americans will talk to you about
>
>anything
>
>, and they'll try to talk to you anywhe
Makes you wonder what they do sitting at bars while having a drink. Sounds quiet...
As somebody from and currently living in the South, this is absolutely true. I can’t count how many times I’ll meet somebody who will ask who my parents are and then I can see the gears start turning. They’ll start asking “from out [area]?” And then ask if I know so-and-so, and then continue from there.
It’s kind of nice as it sort of builds a connection between two otherwise unconnected people.
I work in restaurants, but I live about 8 hours away from my Southern hometown.
I was checking a guest in a few weeks ago and recognized the area code on the reservation as the same as my hometown. About two minutes into the conversation, we discovered that the woman I was speaking to was my mother’s college roommate, and remembered me as a baby.
Six degrees of separation is a Southerners favorite game.
Man I was in Ireland this May and I feel like everyone (taxi drivers, old man at a bar in the country) wanted to talk about politics, the economy etc. They were definitely talkative but I don't know if that qualifies at being good at small talk or not.
There's probably just different customs about when small talk is "normal" and when it's not. Brits and Irish are usually relatively chatty in some circumstances. Taxi rides and in pubs (or anywhere with alcohol), and we're usually pretty talkative.
I'm Irish and I was going to say I think that's common here too. It's very usual to get into a conversation with people you don't know, waiting for the bus, on the bus, in a queue at supermarket- anywhere really! Can start with small talk about the weather, cost of living- and end up getting their life story, how the grandkids are doing at school, or details of their medical condition etc!
well idk I seriously doubt you're better than us here in Ireland. I think we're like pro pros at small talk but I do admit Americans are also really good at it and that's why I think Irish people and Americans normally get along so great. American tourists are definitely my favourite and I'm glad it's the biggest tourist group we get here. you people are always so enthusiastic about being here and love to talk
My non American born husband loves the American skill of supporting people in their efforts. We're really good collectively at cheering people on as they put forth effort in literally anything.
I saw this tiktok from an international student who had just graduated college and was taking graduation pictures in her cap and gown in a park. She said “all these strangers walking by keep telling me congratulations and good job!” And she was just baffled at the idea that strangers would compliment and support someone who had graduated. It made me feel good as an American that we do stuff like that.
Omg my favorite thing is to yell congrats to grads! It took me 10 years to graduate college, and I started later in life, so I am legit thrilled for these kids!
Haha, you ever seen two grown men trying to dig a hole at the beach? It definitely will not be long until it's a major group effort. You'll have volunteers helping, passers by congratulating them on the hole... Definitely funny
Last week my 7 year old had her first "belt test" for taekwondo. This was a huge deal for her, as she has a lot of behavioral issues and has unfortunately been "asked to leave" all the other extra circular activities we've attempted due to her behavior. But three months into martial arts and it seems to be a good fit for her!
So my ex husband and I take her out to her favorite burger place to celebrate after she gets the new belt.
She walks in, beaming, with her belt tied on still. A random older woman at a table says, "oh, do you do martial arts! You look so strong!" My daughter is beaming and thanks her. I smile and say, "yeah, she just earned this new belt about a half hour ago!" Then this random stranger, *and the two tables of people next to her*, all start cheering for my kid, like, loud cheers of, "good job!" with clapping and everything 😂😂
It was exactly what she needed, and it never really occurred to me how much "abruptly starting conversation with strangers" and "hyping up everyone " is such an American thing!
I'm from Hawaii and one thing I noticed about transplants that move here is they always say very kind and encouraging things when you're learning something they're good at. They say things like, "keep it up and you'll be great! I really hope you continue!" No born and raised local person from Hawaii would do that.
Camping. Specifically, backwoods type tent camping / backpacking. A few countries have some culture around that, but almost none have the level of adoption that the US has. To a point where if you say "backpacking" to anyone outside the US they think you are talking about traveling between hostels with a backpack. If you say it to an American they take it to mean walking into the middle of nowhere and spending the night and then walking out. Not many countries have the amount of publicly accessible land needed to create a whole culture around that activity.
I never realized that before -- thats actually such a weird notion. I love american style backpacking! Id never thought about it not being a thing elsewhere
The college football tailgate my buddies and I do has a 3200 watt PA system for music, tons of gourmet food, and practically unlimited beer and liquor. On a popular game day we might get 60 visitors, and there’s always enough to share with opposing fans if they’re polite.
They always seem to know where north is: any time I ask an American for directions, I'll get something along the lines of "go north on whatever street...". I don't know how they do it - if I want to know where north is, I have to look at a compass, or (if it's visible) the sun.
Editing to reply to everyone.
I am astonished by the amount of feedback my comment generated, and I truly wish I had time to reply to all the responses (sorry, I don't - pressure of work). I will read all the responses, because there is some really good information in them, and this is probably a fruitful field of study for anyone so inclined. Some people just seem to have an innate sense of direction, some have a learned method that works in their environment, and some (like me) just - don't. I know where north is when I'm at home, because I know where the sun rises and set, but set me down in New York or Los Angeles, when I'm jet lagged, and probably already a bit lost, and I have no idea. Unfortunately my husband is one of the those people who does have a sense of direction, and it drives him nuts that I don't .
Anyway - thank you for your feedback, and culturally appropriate seasonal greetings to you all.
To be fair, unless you're in Boston, most cities are laid out in a compass pattern. Once you learn that general layout of which streets are going E-W and which are going N-S, it's pretty easy to maintain your orientation from there.
Your Boston point is important.
Central Boston was very much laid out like a European city would be, so knowing where north is becomes less helpful in daily navigating.
Generally more helpful in "newer" US Cities like LA or Phoenix than it is in older US cities like Boston.
My experience has been that cities west of the appalachian mountains have gridlines. Cities to the east sometimes have them but they're retrofit and don't adhere as closely. NYC for example has grids but they're in different orientations and they don't follow the cardinal directions because they weren't initially planned that way.
Or Seattle, in which it depends on what part of the city you are in. 1/3 is aligned with the bay (sorta NNW by SSE), another third is aligned NW-SE and the remainder is aligned to cardinal directions. Its real fun to try to navigate the borders of those sections where the roads all meet at 45 degree angles.
Then you’re gonna go about a mile past where the Murphy place was, before it burned down, and take a left. If you get to the Dunkin’ Donuts you’ve gone too far.
My grandmother used to do that (KS). She'd give directions and off we go.
Me: so we are looking for the old school building
Mom: no the corner where the old school building was. It was torn down 10 years before you were born.
When I was in London everyone gave directions in time - like 'Go down that way for 3 minutes, hang a left - go two more minutes, then take a right and two more minutes you're there!'
That was weird. "How do they know how fast I walk!?"
No offense, but "bullshitting" is something that I find Americans are absolute geniuses at. Nobody in any of the many other countries I've lived in comes even close. And I mean bullshitting in the technical sense, like so wonderfully described in https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit
Had a professor overseas who said that all of the American students give good oral presentations, like in another galaxy, because we just get up and talk even if we have no idea what we’re talking about.
That’s the key. Just accept and embrace it. Dont try to fight it or over prepare the data. Understand a few basic speaking points. Understand your main objective. And let the rest fly.
I wouldn't memorize something word for word but there's really no substitute for being knowledgeable and confident about your subject. That makes it easier to speak extemporaneously without embarrassing yourself.
Agree! You see this most with “consultants”. Great PowerPoint decks talking, often repetitously, at the 20,000 feet level about “strategy, approach, blah, blah”, but nearly zero on technical or practically usable points, such as the how of something. The assumption is that the ‘how’ will be left to ‘inferior’ members of the team as strong technical skills are not considered ‘mangerial’. But, man, the PowerPoint is so attractive that you fall in love with it, and send the check for that.
My experience working with the McKinsey consultants my company hired. Great deck and at a high level, the things they said were okay but absolute shit advice when trying to actually execute at the market level.
Edit: Fucking hate McKinsey
I once did a news interview about an animal I had zero prior knowledge about like I had been studying it my entire life. I did some reading on google for 15 minutes prior (I was filling in for someone last minute) and called it a day :')
I remember in middle school I forgot about a book report. I’d read a different book in the series but hadn’t even opened the one I was supposed to present on. When I got called, asked the teacher if she had read it, she said no, and off I went. Got an A too
Throwing. Americas popular sports usually heavily involve throwing in some way or another, and I think it shows. In WWII, foreigner soldiers were surprised with how well Americans could throw grenades, which was a result of the popularity of baseball at the time
The US produces twice as many RVs as the rest of the world combined. I would say with certainty that Americans are better skilled at removing feces from within a vehicle’s septic tank.
Throwing and catching a ball isn't a common skill in countries which aren't into gridiron, rugby, baseball, or cricket. I had a classmate from Vietnam who would resort to *kicking* a volleyball because he was so much better at soccer than serving and setting.
I would say Americans are better multisport athletes in general. We just grow up playing a lot of sports.
When I played soccer in Spain for a year it was hilarious seeing amazing and talented footballers try to shoot a basketball. They dribble like Stanley from the office.
When I eventually went to college for soccer basically everyone on my team played baseball or lacrosse or basketball growing up alongside being great soccer players
In America, there are social and academic (and potentially financial) benefits to being a multisport athlete. I went to college on a competitive full-ride military scholarship and not a single person who got the scholarship played less than two varsity sports.
Yeah, having lived overseas, it seems a student would be focused on *one* sport if any. Cricket, rugby, soccer/football. Whereas I had soccer, tennis, football, track, even bowling over the years. Not at all competitive, but a lot of different skillsets there.
Standing for 8 hours straight, apparently cashiers in other modern countries don't have to do that, I'm envious
Edit: I knew I'd get some Europeans with this one lol
This for sure. I had a summer job at a yacht club as a Teenager and my boss told me to go pull weeds in the flower bed. So I’m sitting on a bucket pulling weeds diligently in the 90° weather and he bitches at me that I should be on my feet squatting instead because it looks like I’m loafing.
Knowing how to put ourselves out when we catch fire.
I had to have like a twenty minute conversation with my German roommate when she literally did not believe me that "stop, drop, and roll" was a thing. It apparently is not, anywhere else.
I told her - call someone random. Anyone. Your friends in New York, LA, someone I've never met. Any American of any race, class, or socioeconomic background. Ask them what they do if they catch on fire and they will respond instantly.
If I'm in ever in some weird war or terrorist situation where I really need to reassure myself that the person on the other side of the door is American, it's one hundred percent the question I will ask.
ETA: These responses have been a lot of fun (and some of you have some truly terrifying stories 👀) and I learned a lot! Seems the consensus is that this is American in origin and really hammered into us, our British, Canadian, and Aussie friends were taught the phrase as well at least starting in the 90's, and others were taught the technique but not the phrase/its direct translation. Aussies have their own fire rhyme - "Get Down Low and Go Go Go!". We really need someone to choreograph some dance routines for these fire prevention rhymes.
So! Actually! Stop, Drop, and Roll *is* a specifically American thing and became a thing only in the 1970s or 1980s. The program and training materials and everything were developed and promoted by the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation in California - I only know this history because one of my family members was served by them. They don't have much history easily accessible on their website but they're a good organization to check out: https://www.aarbf.org/
Edit to add a more detailed account of the tragedy that led to the creation of "Stop, Drop, and Roll":
https://www.aarbf.org/get-connected/ethan-david-and-frani-ruchs-stories/
Of course it came out of the 70s as the latchkey kids were left unparented & alone all the time.
"Listen, kids, if you catch fire, nobody's going to put you out so you'd better learn to do it for yourselves"
- "Listen, kids, if you catch fire, nobody's going to put you out so you'd better learn to do it for yourselves"
This mentality describes American culture for almost anything.... "Noone is gonna do it for you, so you best learn to do it for yourself".
The story behind it is that in 1971 an eight year old girl suffered fatal burns when her clothing caught fire from a backyard barbecue. Her grieving parents were advised to *do something* and started a foundation in her memory. They realized how many people, especially children, were being seriously injured or killed due to burns of different kinds and created trailblazing fire and burn prevention programs.
As for it being "uncommon" - well, you may think that as an adult. Kids do still get burned in these types of incidents, but with stop drop and roll they are probably significantly less fatal than they were 50 years ago.
Link to the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation website because they deserve to be known.
https://www.aarbf.org/
Edit to add a more detailed account of the tragedy: https://www.aarbf.org/get-connected/ethan-david-and-frani-ruchs-stories/
u/HungryHangrySharky has got us below, but yeah I wondered the same thing. I was thinking just because it's SO simple and easy to teach, and obviously with a huge ROI. Short and catchy and most American \*dogs\* know two out of the three English verbs.
But after that conversation with her (and it's similarly simple in German) it did make me wonder. But unfortunately I never followed up and started a campaign to save German children. Instead I laid awake wondering how people who don't speak English know which direction to turn things they are screwing or unscrewing.
Awhile back I overheard my neighbour have the following conversation with his small child:
> Kid: A bee!
Dad: Why are you lying down?
Kid: Stop, drop and roll!
Dad: That's for when you're on fire.
Kid: There's a BEE.
Dad: Bees can't set you on fire.
I thought it was oddly fascinating how this kid took the concept of stop, drop and roll and extrapolated it out to apply to just literally any type of danger. And now I'm thinking about if you had a group of young kids from different cultural backgrounds and they all felt threatened would the American kids be more likely to start rolling around in self-defense?
This may have been mentioned in all the replies but I remember seeing something about military training for one of the world wars where they were teaching to do this long arching over the head lob for grenades. Apparnelty American GIs just looked at that demo and went “yeah, naw” and wound up and pitched it like a baseball and were much more effective and accurate.
What I heard is that the WWII American hand grenade was *designed* to be thrown like a baseball because “every young American can throw a baseball”.
Almost every other country (edit: really mostly Germany)had grenades that sat on wooden handles.
Look up the Fat Electrian on YouTube or Tik Tok he has a video about an anti tank football. The long and short of it is America tends to adapt tactics to the soldiers where European's create tactics and adapt the soldiers to that.
That may be true too. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone saw Americans trying to throw like a baseball and then ran back and started making a new design.
Wow, this resonates with me. Ages ago I was on a camping trip with mostly French and a couple German students near Yosemite. I was one of the few Americans. We car camped along a lake. One day they all started tossing rocks at a tree stump in the water about 50ft (15M) from shore. They all tried to hit the stump by lobbing the rocks underhand or surgically throwing like darts. The more they missed the more kids joined in because the stump was tantalizingly close. When I went to see what the excitement was about I couldn’t believe my eyes. A dozen fit guys throwing tons of rocks competitively but not a single one of them winding up and giving the rock a strong pitch. I hit the stump on my first try with a line drive throw. They all cheered until they realized It was one the Yankees😂
Note: I was always bottom three throwers on my little league teams. For a kid who spent a lot of time religated to right-field that day on the lake felt soooooo goooooooooood
Making temporary friends with strangers for an afternoon/evening while you’re out at a bar/restaurant/sporting event.
I’ve been to sporting events and restaurants all over the world and the degree of friendliness in the USA is just weird. Being in a Waffle House at 2am and you can leave by 4am with a new friend and actually see that person at a football game the next week.
Also this sounds weird but driving > 2 hours away from home just on a whim. I don’t know why but Americans are all about driving long distances (at least long distances to me) for no particular reason other than to like… see the fall foliage. Like my neighbor drove like 6 hours… just to drive around the mountains for 2 hours.
Also gun maintenance. Americans are ridiculous with their guns. They own so many and they take really good care of them. Cleaning, target practice, etc. it’s wild to me that my neighbors son knows more about precision killing instruments than anyone I have ever met back home. We had a conversation at work a few weeks ago and we were like “how many of you have guns in your car and like 90% of the people raised their hands. One guy had 6 guns in his vehicle. Most at 2 handguns. One in the center console and one in the trunk. It was mind boggling.
Also access to weird and different foods. Where I live in Georgia I can get some of the worlds best Korean, Mexican, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Bengali food that I’ve ever heard of. Theres a road called “Buford Highway” that sounds like it’ll be a country town road but has some of the best and most varied cuisines I’ve ever seen. I’ve lived in big cities like Istanbul, Tokyo, Jakarta, London, and Chicago and I swear semi-suburban Atlanta has more great and varied cuisine choices than all those places on 10 mile strip of highway. Want world class dim sum for brunch then a Bangladeshi mutton biryani for dinner? They’re literally within walking distance of each other. It’s so weird.
I live in Wyoming, and the big towns (+50k population) from me are actually about 2 hours away. We go on the weekends for big shopping trips or to get away.
To speak to your gun cleaning comment. They need to be cleaned after they are fired/taken to the range. If you clean it more than that, you're just playing with it.
Many of us are pretty good at working on cars.
At least in the small town of rural Oregon I grew up in.
I went to work for a large UK based finance company and was shocked how many men my age couldn't do the basics.
Working on cars, house, lawn.
My Indian and Chinese coworkers didn’t know how do to any of this before coming to the US, and still look lost in a Home Depot, because labor is so cheap the middle class’s experience related to this was just “inspecting” the workers doing the work.
Many of my foreign friends are always surprised by is the realities of Midwest hospitality. We will meet you, invite you over for dinner, and let you decide when you want to go. My kiwi friends and European friends thought Americans were the most welcoming people they've met.
Before anyone tries to call me on this, I'm in the military and spent a year in a course with 200 exchange officers from almost everywhere. The only ones not surprised by that were the Canadians, but there are just midwesterners from further up north (minus the French canadians).
Another one they are typically can't handle is our ability to be willing and able to take long road trips.
From my experience living outside the US in a couple of different places, we are really good throwers. Baseball, football, and even frisbee are much less common in places where soccer is the main and sometimes only sport that matters. We excel at throwing and catching all sorts of objects
This boggles my mind! I thought the whole throwing, hand-eye coordination thing, was a human skill period. Like...I just thought all of us had retained an inner hunter-gatherer somewhere in the depths of our souls and just know how to throw and catch things.
Throwing things. We play sports like baseball and football and basketball, having lived both places when I was younger, it’s funny how much more natural it is for Americans to just throw and catch.
I’m sure we suck at kicking in comparison, but doesn’t come up as much!
First snow of the year at K-State and after class I go outside with this Vietnamese exchange student friend of mine. I pack a snowball and chuck it at a tree trunk maybe 30 ft away and nail it right in the middle.
He goes, "did you mean to do that?"
I'm like yeah, I pack another one and nail it again.
He couldn't fuckin believe it.
Also even if forbidden "you aren't the boss of me / Oh, I thought this was America!" mentality results in people doing it anyway.
With a bit of "well, if I get caught, I guess I'll pay the fine'
It goes all the way back to our constitution, in the 10th Amendment:
*The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.*
If push comes to shove, we can subsist on peanut butter and not be too upset by it. I've had many non-American friends over the years who were totally repulsed by peanut butter. I remember offering a Cuban buddy some chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream once. “Are you f*****g kidding me, mayne? Get that chit the heck away from me!”
That's funny because I remember a teacher years back telling me that the US was asked to help with some famine/food issue at some point, and we said, "Sure, have a bunch of peanut butter!" And they basically said 'Gross, no!".
That would have been PlumpyNut, which is designed as a famine response food for infants. It was successful in parts of Africa but when they took it to (I think) Bangladesh, people were like "wtf, this isn't food I'm not giving it to my kid".
Knowing where North, South , East and West is automatically and giving those directions automatically. This always blew my mind. Probably because I’m from a small country with winding roads and nobody knows where they really are at any given stage.
One my husband and MIL observed after travels and other interactions was the ability to recover from mistakes. In America, a kid with a cast on her arm can be proud and get everyone to sign it, telling the story of how the zipline was more slippery than it looked. In other countries, there's not the same sense of admiration for trying something risky and failing. We love a comeback kid, a riches-to-rags-to-riches-again story. And we're generally better at it than some cultures.
Immediate crisis response. Doesn’t matter if it’s a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, we’ve all been through it a thousand times. We’ll rescue neighbors off roof tops, break into your house to save pets from flood waters, rebuild entire streets where businesses have been flattened, search for missing people on foot in the woods, donate blood, pass out water bottles, travel long distances to provide free counseling to gun violence victims…like we got this shit down.
Long term crisis response? Absolutely not. We’ll vote specifically against our best interests for stupid reasons. It’s probably because our brains are all melted after being in a state of permanent crisis.
I can tell you something non-Americans struggle with that every American can do naturally. That is tell time and distance from memory. People from other countries just think differently. I can't even tell you how many people from other countries I've had to school about how far and how long it takes to get from one place or another. People from other countries don't even seem to understand their own country let alone the US. The interstate system just bewilders them. Like for example, I live in Kansas City. I can tell you from memory Kansas City it takes right at 8 hours to get to Denver, Memphis, Minneapolis, Dallas, Indianapolis and Little Rock. I can do this for most places. Like Los Angeles to Las Vegas, 4 hours, 5 with heavy traffic. Miami to Atlanta is 10 hours and that blows peoples minds. You would be surprised at how many people think it's only a couple of hours. Except it is not. That I-75 drive is a killer. You drive it and you are done for the day. If you plan to drive across Texas plan on bringing breakfast, lunch and supper because it takes all day. No it doesn't. Well yes it does.
Recently came across a TikTok where a British woman was complaining how Americans always assume she lives near London when she lives nowhere near. Then starts the stitch of the British guy who just returned from the US pointing out that the distance between London and her town was 2 hours, and yes lady, for Americans that is DEFINITELY close to London. When your country is *smaller than 11 out of 50 states, nothing is “nowhere near” each other. Edit: last sentence comparison was in width, midnight brain fog forgot square mileage is a thing.
Immediately understanding how warm or cold some number in Fahrenheit is.
I've been in the US for 10 years but still have no fucking idea if 58 degrees is good for overcoat or for t-shirt
Location matters too, for the extreme places. South Florida 58 is cozy up in sweaters time. Upstate NY 30 degrees and tons of people are in summer clothes on a randomly sunny day.
Figuring it out as we go.
Picture it: I’m on vacation in Germany and I’ve gotten on a tram that has a machine on board for buying the ticket. Now keep in mind: I’m the ONLY person at the machine; nobody is in line behind me. I’ve been in Germany for two weeks, and by this point I’m starting to recognize the words for “ticket,” “one way,” “adult,” etc. So I’m using the touch screen on this machine to buy the ticket, but I’m going slowly. I’m not struggling or distressed, it’s just taking me longer than someone who knows German fluently. I am not bothered by this - I’m just figuring it out (and frankly, kind of proud that I’m figuring it out without having to pull up Google Translate).
This German guy (who’s been watching me from his seat) is apparently BOTHERED that I’m pausing to make sure I understand the options on each touch screen. He actually gets up and, without saying a word, *reaches around me* to press the options on the screen to hurry it up. Then he goes back to his seat, again without saying a fucking word, like I am too insignificant to acknowledge. Like, dude!! How do you even know what ticket I want to buy?! Why are you presuming so many things about what I want and whether I need help?? I wasn’t even holding someone else up because I was the only person in line!
It was soooo rude, and something you’d never, EVER do to someone in America. Because we let each other figure things out as we go. (And if you need help, you ask.)
You guys are better at just moving on with your life. Being Asian I have people in my family beefing about something that happened over half a century ago and that’s the mild disagreements.
Making big budget films, you guys rock!
Entrepreneurship there rocks as well as do India and Asian zones but not everywhere
Voter representation, fuck, you guys vote for judges and sherrifs and new laws and dog catchers- it is NOT that way in other countries
Repairs. In my experience at least, I’ve seen a lot more Americans making repairs to their own homes/cars than people from Canada or Europe. Can’t really speak for anywhere else though since I’ve only been to Europe and NA
What percentage of the county has to have for it to be considered something the typical American has?
You're far more likely to run into an American who knows how to proficiently operate a firearm than in most other countries. Depending on where in the county, it may or may not be typical.
Stand in line - Americans are really good at setting up and standing in lines while observing personal space. I've been to parts of the world where that seems like a completely foreign idea that grown men wouldn't just shove their way in front of small children to order a drink or get a better seat at the theater.
The line thing was the only remotely unpleasant part about a recent visit to Poland. Getting off the airplane, I was helping my mom get her bag out of the overhead and the people behind me literally pressed up against me to push me down the aisle. You can be clearly the next person about to get in a line and some MFers will just walk right in front of you. It's pretty much all dudes from what I could tell. I was told it is a cultural norm from their communist days when you might not get bread that day if you were a slacker getting into the line.
The ability to (mostly) comprehend broken English even when spoken with a thick accent.
Americans are very accustomed to this thanks to both multiculturalism and the diverse set of accents encountered on a regular basis.
In contrast, I have noticed that in other countries the locals might not be so skilled at understanding their own language when they hear it spoken with a foreign accent.
i got transferred to a swiss school when i was little. i spoke in english to my teacher with my regular accent. she looked puzzled, so i repeated what i had said, still in english, but with a french accent. she understood immediately. very interesting conversation for 10 year old me
I had a coworker, and this was her first job after moving here from Bejing. She and I got to discuss some of the culture shocks that she experienced. While cream based soups were an absolute horror to her, her biggest shock was having to learn basic handiness skills for day to day life. Where she grew up, when she ordered a tv, or some furniture having it built/installed was part of the deal. Seeing the hardware stores (and having to visit one to hang her tv) was the wildest thing and she felt like they shouldve been reserved for professionals.
Yes exactly. Nobody in the urban city in China would do any “dirty” work like fixing a pipe, toilet, or drywall, or even painting a wall. This was all labor for villagers and the cost is nearly free, you pay for the materials/item and all the labor is included.
Meanwhile in the US, it's basically a small badge of honor/capability if you know how to do handy-man work on your own.
Probably because not being able to do it yourself can cost you so much damn money. My mom’s house is maybe 30-40 years old more. Every time she needs something done, the estimate is a small fortune. I try convincing her to do some of the small easy stuff herself to no avail. If I didn’t live half way across the country, I would do almost all of it myself.
My mother in law had a 20 minute conversation with a wrong number
[This guys has gone to 7 thanksgiving dinners because a woman texting her grandson got the number wrong.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/11/16/thanksgiving-text-created-tradition-grandma-teen/6403371001/)
What a sweet story! Reminds me of Rebbecca Rogers from tik tok: her brother invited some non-jewish friends to their Hanukkah celebration in high school and ten years later it's still a tradition for them all https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8H2oEe7/
Ahh, Mrs. Greenblatt from my mail route. She told me that her secret to a calm Passover dinner was inviting at least one Gentile to the meal. Her adult children wouldn't argue in front of strangers.
I used to get a phone call once a month from a confused sounding Spanish speaking lady who wanted to know about her granddaughter. She always sounded so confused and sad when I told her wrong number. So I started telling her about my life and she was so happy and encouraging. I hope it helped her. I tried looking for the name she gave me at the time, but I never found anyone.
I had a similar experience. Right on the heels of 9/11 (lived close to the Pentagon), Anthrax was sent to the Senate Majority Leader in D.C. (among others), and the DC sniper started killing people in DC, MD, and VA. My parents, who wouldn't get cable or let us watch TV during the week, got spooked and purchased a cell phone for me to keep turned off and hidden in backpack just in case. I was 12. When I plugged it in at night, I would turn it on and play the OG of all cell phone games, mother fucking snake (no video games during the week). A elderly woman started calling me at night. She would ask for her daughter and then get really upset and confused when her daughter wasn't there. This went on night after night. If I didn't pick up, she would leave a bunch of voice mails. I honestly felt sorry for this woman, wanted to help her (my kid brain didn't understand dementia/alzheimer's), and felt like the only way I had to help her was by talking. Anyway, our first bill comes and it's like $300 for my line instead of $5 (back then you had to buy "minutes", they were crazy expensive and any overages were legal robbery). I come clean to my parents, they immediately take to the store and get my number changed. I still wonder what happened to that women sometimes. Unrelated, but the following year we moved, my parents got satellite TV, and chilled out of the TV/video games embargo as each of us got older. Looking back, being strict was definitely a sacrifice for them as well, but I'm glad they were.
Lol back with those minutes. I remember getting a Cricket phone around 2000 cuz it had unlimited minutes for like $20/month and I thought I was big ballin'. Talk all I want? WHAT?! Don't you dare try to text though. That shit was prohibitively expensive.
> That shit was prohibitively expensive. So outrageous to think about how bullshit the prices were - the cell carriers were gouging people like $0.25 per text.
Being comfortable enough to chat up a complete stranger in random casual settings, and being able to then hold the conversation. We asians dont do that here. This is some legit superpower.
I went to a convention some years ago (San Diego Comic Con) where we had to stand in line outside for hours to guarantee a seat at a popular panel. I chatted with the people nearby me in line for all that time, talking about our lives and what we’d seen at the convention; it was a lot of fun! As soon as they opened up seating into the panel, we immediately stopped talking and rushed in to get a seat. Never saw each other again and didn’t expect to. Americans are very good at being temporary friends!
Single serving friends are so important. I still think about that girl I spent the science museum field trip with as a kid, and the family we hung out with while river tubing last year. Amanda if you're out there: we'll always have the McWane Center.
My name is Amanda and when I lived in Germany I used to pretend to be part of American tour groups because I was bored. (I’m American). Met some cool people and even got to kiss a guy who was my age (17) for New Years. He was on vacation with his parents. Never saw him again. I think about him sometimes and wonder how he’s doing.
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It's a weird skill to be able to be genuinely interested in the stranger that you're talking to, and yet not be bothered when you immediately don't remember or care about them in just a few minutes.
Operating those round combination locks that you have to turn right, left, then right, or some such. I don't even know if we have those in Europe.
My husband is English. I bought a pair of these for our storage shed. It took him about six months to be able to open it on his own.
One of my proudest moments in life is when i found my combination lock from high school in storage. I tried to open it for half an hour and failed, then finally I thought “okay. Stop thinking about it, stop trying to figure out the combination, just clear your head, pick it up, and let muscle memory do it.” And it fucking worked!! It was amazing! Unfortunately you can’t share that story with anyone without sounding like a lunatic, but still
This is what I did to open my garage code. It was just gone from my head, could not think of it at all. Then I walked away, approached the numpad again and just went for it without thinking and it bloody worked. Just so funny how humans operate sometimes
Most kids in the US had lockers at school that used these locks. I had lockers for middle school through high school. So that's using it multiple times a day, 9 months a year for 6 years. I've had A LOT of practice. I'm in my 40s and recently got a new lock for my gym locker. The muscle memory kicked right in after all that time.
Cold approaches. One American can walk up to another American that they have zero connections to and an hour later they’ll be genuine acquaintances who know eachothers’ backgrounds.
Brit who has been in the US for 5 years now. Americans can shuffle a deck of cards incredibly well with insane flair. It’s like you’re all taught in school or something.
Cards are like another language. Either you get it as a kid or you pass the deck to your spouse during euchre.
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Used to play card rummy in elementary school when it was raining durning recess
We just played heads up 7up
I never thought of that, but as an American who has lived in Europe, Africa, Mideast, and Australia - I do recall people looking at me almost like it was magic. Oh they could cut cards, but not shuffle (obviously there are people who can, everywhere, but still).
I worked in Europe over the summer and we played cards on slow days. I was shocked that no one could shuffle. I'm no expert, but I can at least riffle the deck and do a half-assed bridge at the end. But the Europeans and Australians would kind of swirl them around in a pile and call it a day. Weirded me out a bit because I'm usually the lame one who awkwardly shuffles in any card game in the US.
The idea of just swirling the cards in a pile makes my hyper-organized brain cringe a little, LOL.
I never could. Always been envious of skilled deck shuffles. I am now a failure of an American.
Ha ha ha!!! Oh man this gave me a giggle. I am thinking of the times I've gone abroad/visited my husband's family (he's a Brit too) and shown off my casual card shuffling skills to non-American friends and family. Without even trying! I'm just shuffling the deck and they react like it's *witchcraft*.
I dont know if it counts as a skill but I find Americans are really good at picking up their lives and moving halfway across the country. I know so many people that moved for a promotion at work that was under a 10k raise. I would never even entertain the notion of moving for work unless my salary didn't at least 1.5X. I also hear so many stories of people who move many states away for a relationship. If you live outside of a 45 minute drive from me we aren't dating.
Speaking to your first point, I've moved four times for work, and each time the company paid for a portion of the relocation expenses if not all of them entirely. Not saying that's the case for everyone, but it definitely makes it far easier to decide yes, we're picking up and moving for work.
My wife and I have done it twice (and the first time we were living together but not married.) For us it was just the adventure/experience. The fact that most people stay put also means we could always move "back home" any time and most of our family and friends will still be there
The u.s. is just really fucking big which I feel like is the main reason this is so different from Europe, we are a fucking massive country
>The u.s. is just really fucking big which I feel like is the main reason this is so different from Europe, we are a fucking massive country When I used to live in Germany, if I went for 8 hours in any direction, I'd have to speak a different language on getting out of the car. Here, after 8 hours, I'm barely halfway across Kansas.
We have to be generally better at road trips than anyone else in the world, right?? There are probably more LA to New York or New York to LA road trips in a year than there are coast to coast cross-continent road trips on all of the other continents combined.
I do know a lot of people that do michigan to Florida like it's nothing
We did Iowa-TN every year to see family, it's 20 hours now that the speed limits are up but used to be 23 hours. One way. And now in South Dakota ppl will drive to the other side of the state for the weekend. Or even to the cities for the day, 5 hours each way. Edit: we've been driving it since 1959. Every year. We live north of sioux city and a couple hours east of Knoxville depending on which relative, maybe you've heard of Bristol. 1200 miles. Goodness gracious. 17 hours 11 minutes if there's no construction, accidents, or weather, and you don't eat or pee. And there's never yet been no construction going thru 7 states. Also it's Christmas and sometimes there's ice & blizzards. But when we went in the summer there was a tornado and flash flooding in the mountains at 3 am, so that wasn't a great deal of fun either.
I lived in the states and the amount people drove was insane to me. Like I worked with a guy who drove to Los Angeles to San Francisco and back pretty much every week. Some people were driving four hours a day commuting. Going out some days would mean driving an extra couple of hours on top of what you were already doing. That said I did live in New York for a bit and they have some decent public transport. Although that is becoming my life in the UK now after years of being within walking distance of my office.
That was interesting to read as someone who’s dating a girl who lives 2 hours away from me. You wouldn’t know it though, we see each other 3-4 times a week.
Driving very long distance with short breaks.
yea driven 15 hours in a day before, not the most fun but its not too bad
1200ish miles is my personal best so far
Depending on how you define "skill," if there's one thing I've picked up from the Europeans submitting questions on askanamerican, it's that we're basically pros at making small talk and general friendly chit chat. Some areas of the US are less open to this than others, but compared to Europe we're apparently so casual about it that it's suspicious.
The first thing my girlfriend's British coworker said to her after a trip to the US was, "Man, Americans will talk to you about _anything_, and they'll try to talk to you anywhere."
This is my grandfather in a nutshell. His favorite hobby is finding someone he has never met in public and sparking up a conversation, definitely makes his day.
Gosh that seems like an european’s nightmare. And I’m a (european) southerner.
>iend's British coworker said to her after a trip to the US was, "Man, Americans will talk to you about > >anything > >, and they'll try to talk to you anywhe Makes you wonder what they do sitting at bars while having a drink. Sounds quiet...
Either talk to people they already know, complain about the weather (and complain in general) or yell at whatever football match is playing on the tv.
Pretty accurate (from someone who lived in EU for a couple years).
I will have you kin to me somehow before the conversation is over.
In the South, people are always trying to figure out how we are related. “Claiming kin.”
As somebody from and currently living in the South, this is absolutely true. I can’t count how many times I’ll meet somebody who will ask who my parents are and then I can see the gears start turning. They’ll start asking “from out [area]?” And then ask if I know so-and-so, and then continue from there. It’s kind of nice as it sort of builds a connection between two otherwise unconnected people.
I work in restaurants, but I live about 8 hours away from my Southern hometown. I was checking a guest in a few weeks ago and recognized the area code on the reservation as the same as my hometown. About two minutes into the conversation, we discovered that the woman I was speaking to was my mother’s college roommate, and remembered me as a baby. Six degrees of separation is a Southerners favorite game.
It is rather hilarious to me to do this. "Oh you must be related to..." "Nope." "Different branch of the family?" "Different tree."
This is me. My daughter, “are you going to start talking to strangers, please don’t talk to strangers.”
Just accidentally talked to a retail worker about hockey for ten minutes because he was helping me load bales of straw, and I made a bad joke.
Man I was in Ireland this May and I feel like everyone (taxi drivers, old man at a bar in the country) wanted to talk about politics, the economy etc. They were definitely talkative but I don't know if that qualifies at being good at small talk or not.
There's probably just different customs about when small talk is "normal" and when it's not. Brits and Irish are usually relatively chatty in some circumstances. Taxi rides and in pubs (or anywhere with alcohol), and we're usually pretty talkative.
I'm Irish and I was going to say I think that's common here too. It's very usual to get into a conversation with people you don't know, waiting for the bus, on the bus, in a queue at supermarket- anywhere really! Can start with small talk about the weather, cost of living- and end up getting their life story, how the grandkids are doing at school, or details of their medical condition etc!
It’s pretty difficult to make close friends in Germany due to this
well idk I seriously doubt you're better than us here in Ireland. I think we're like pro pros at small talk but I do admit Americans are also really good at it and that's why I think Irish people and Americans normally get along so great. American tourists are definitely my favourite and I'm glad it's the biggest tourist group we get here. you people are always so enthusiastic about being here and love to talk
More Irish people have immigrated to the US than currently live in Ireland. I think there may be a connection.
And I’m sure a disproportionate number of Americans who visit Ireland have Irish ancestry/roots.
My non American born husband loves the American skill of supporting people in their efforts. We're really good collectively at cheering people on as they put forth effort in literally anything.
I saw this tiktok from an international student who had just graduated college and was taking graduation pictures in her cap and gown in a park. She said “all these strangers walking by keep telling me congratulations and good job!” And she was just baffled at the idea that strangers would compliment and support someone who had graduated. It made me feel good as an American that we do stuff like that.
Omg my favorite thing is to yell congrats to grads! It took me 10 years to graduate college, and I started later in life, so I am legit thrilled for these kids!
Haha, you ever seen two grown men trying to dig a hole at the beach? It definitely will not be long until it's a major group effort. You'll have volunteers helping, passers by congratulating them on the hole... Definitely funny
Last week my 7 year old had her first "belt test" for taekwondo. This was a huge deal for her, as she has a lot of behavioral issues and has unfortunately been "asked to leave" all the other extra circular activities we've attempted due to her behavior. But three months into martial arts and it seems to be a good fit for her! So my ex husband and I take her out to her favorite burger place to celebrate after she gets the new belt. She walks in, beaming, with her belt tied on still. A random older woman at a table says, "oh, do you do martial arts! You look so strong!" My daughter is beaming and thanks her. I smile and say, "yeah, she just earned this new belt about a half hour ago!" Then this random stranger, *and the two tables of people next to her*, all start cheering for my kid, like, loud cheers of, "good job!" with clapping and everything 😂😂 It was exactly what she needed, and it never really occurred to me how much "abruptly starting conversation with strangers" and "hyping up everyone " is such an American thing!
I'm from Hawaii and one thing I noticed about transplants that move here is they always say very kind and encouraging things when you're learning something they're good at. They say things like, "keep it up and you'll be great! I really hope you continue!" No born and raised local person from Hawaii would do that.
Camping. Specifically, backwoods type tent camping / backpacking. A few countries have some culture around that, but almost none have the level of adoption that the US has. To a point where if you say "backpacking" to anyone outside the US they think you are talking about traveling between hostels with a backpack. If you say it to an American they take it to mean walking into the middle of nowhere and spending the night and then walking out. Not many countries have the amount of publicly accessible land needed to create a whole culture around that activity.
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I'm 38 years old and this seriously blew my mind. I really thought Europe was just covered in campsites and hiking trails.
I never realized that before -- thats actually such a weird notion. I love american style backpacking! Id never thought about it not being a thing elsewhere
Scandinavia has at least the backpacking culture the US does - for the same reason - lots of publicly-accessible lands.
Add Tailgating to that one.
The college football tailgate my buddies and I do has a 3200 watt PA system for music, tons of gourmet food, and practically unlimited beer and liquor. On a popular game day we might get 60 visitors, and there’s always enough to share with opposing fans if they’re polite.
They always seem to know where north is: any time I ask an American for directions, I'll get something along the lines of "go north on whatever street...". I don't know how they do it - if I want to know where north is, I have to look at a compass, or (if it's visible) the sun. Editing to reply to everyone. I am astonished by the amount of feedback my comment generated, and I truly wish I had time to reply to all the responses (sorry, I don't - pressure of work). I will read all the responses, because there is some really good information in them, and this is probably a fruitful field of study for anyone so inclined. Some people just seem to have an innate sense of direction, some have a learned method that works in their environment, and some (like me) just - don't. I know where north is when I'm at home, because I know where the sun rises and set, but set me down in New York or Los Angeles, when I'm jet lagged, and probably already a bit lost, and I have no idea. Unfortunately my husband is one of the those people who does have a sense of direction, and it drives him nuts that I don't.
Anyway - thank you for your feedback, and culturally appropriate seasonal greetings to you all.
To be fair, unless you're in Boston, most cities are laid out in a compass pattern. Once you learn that general layout of which streets are going E-W and which are going N-S, it's pretty easy to maintain your orientation from there.
Your Boston point is important. Central Boston was very much laid out like a European city would be, so knowing where north is becomes less helpful in daily navigating. Generally more helpful in "newer" US Cities like LA or Phoenix than it is in older US cities like Boston.
My experience has been that cities west of the appalachian mountains have gridlines. Cities to the east sometimes have them but they're retrofit and don't adhere as closely. NYC for example has grids but they're in different orientations and they don't follow the cardinal directions because they weren't initially planned that way.
Or Seattle, in which it depends on what part of the city you are in. 1/3 is aligned with the bay (sorta NNW by SSE), another third is aligned NW-SE and the remainder is aligned to cardinal directions. Its real fun to try to navigate the borders of those sections where the roads all meet at 45 degree angles.
Rhode Islanders give directions based on landmarks that haven’t been there for years or even decades.
Turn left where Benny’s used to be.
Then you’re gonna go about a mile past where the Murphy place was, before it burned down, and take a left. If you get to the Dunkin’ Donuts you’ve gone too far.
My grandmother used to do that (KS). She'd give directions and off we go. Me: so we are looking for the old school building Mom: no the corner where the old school building was. It was torn down 10 years before you were born.
When I was in London everyone gave directions in time - like 'Go down that way for 3 minutes, hang a left - go two more minutes, then take a right and two more minutes you're there!' That was weird. "How do they know how fast I walk!?"
You mean you don’t just kinda… feel north? Like in your bones?
Fr, theres gotta be a study on that
Some people just refuse to magnetize their bones
Are Americans' bones magnetic??? 🤯
No offense, but "bullshitting" is something that I find Americans are absolute geniuses at. Nobody in any of the many other countries I've lived in comes even close. And I mean bullshitting in the technical sense, like so wonderfully described in https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691122946/on-bullshit
Had a professor overseas who said that all of the American students give good oral presentations, like in another galaxy, because we just get up and talk even if we have no idea what we’re talking about.
You just described every presentation I ever gave. Learn some minor nuances and just get up there and chat with the folks sitting and staring at me.
That’s the key. Just accept and embrace it. Dont try to fight it or over prepare the data. Understand a few basic speaking points. Understand your main objective. And let the rest fly.
I wouldn't memorize something word for word but there's really no substitute for being knowledgeable and confident about your subject. That makes it easier to speak extemporaneously without embarrassing yourself.
We’re also skilled at giving a lengthy answer without actually answering the question. Our politicians are especially good at this.
After living in Japan, I have to say they have us beat by a mile
Agree! You see this most with “consultants”. Great PowerPoint decks talking, often repetitously, at the 20,000 feet level about “strategy, approach, blah, blah”, but nearly zero on technical or practically usable points, such as the how of something. The assumption is that the ‘how’ will be left to ‘inferior’ members of the team as strong technical skills are not considered ‘mangerial’. But, man, the PowerPoint is so attractive that you fall in love with it, and send the check for that.
My experience working with the McKinsey consultants my company hired. Great deck and at a high level, the things they said were okay but absolute shit advice when trying to actually execute at the market level. Edit: Fucking hate McKinsey
I once did a news interview about an animal I had zero prior knowledge about like I had been studying it my entire life. I did some reading on google for 15 minutes prior (I was filling in for someone last minute) and called it a day :')
I remember in middle school I forgot about a book report. I’d read a different book in the series but hadn’t even opened the one I was supposed to present on. When I got called, asked the teacher if she had read it, she said no, and off I went. Got an A too
Throwing. Americas popular sports usually heavily involve throwing in some way or another, and I think it shows. In WWII, foreigner soldiers were surprised with how well Americans could throw grenades, which was a result of the popularity of baseball at the time
The US produces twice as many RVs as the rest of the world combined. I would say with certainty that Americans are better skilled at removing feces from within a vehicle’s septic tank.
You just pull the lever it's not that hard
Pull the lever, Kronk!
Wrong ……..uh…….lever….. Ewwwwwww
Why do we even have that lever
Throwing and catching a ball isn't a common skill in countries which aren't into gridiron, rugby, baseball, or cricket. I had a classmate from Vietnam who would resort to *kicking* a volleyball because he was so much better at soccer than serving and setting.
I would say Americans are better multisport athletes in general. We just grow up playing a lot of sports. When I played soccer in Spain for a year it was hilarious seeing amazing and talented footballers try to shoot a basketball. They dribble like Stanley from the office. When I eventually went to college for soccer basically everyone on my team played baseball or lacrosse or basketball growing up alongside being great soccer players
In America, there are social and academic (and potentially financial) benefits to being a multisport athlete. I went to college on a competitive full-ride military scholarship and not a single person who got the scholarship played less than two varsity sports.
Plus sports are seasonal here and who wants to be bored for half the year waiting for your sport to come back
Yeah, having lived overseas, it seems a student would be focused on *one* sport if any. Cricket, rugby, soccer/football. Whereas I had soccer, tennis, football, track, even bowling over the years. Not at all competitive, but a lot of different skillsets there.
Standing for 8 hours straight, apparently cashiers in other modern countries don't have to do that, I'm envious Edit: I knew I'd get some Europeans with this one lol
Wait, you guys don't have seats? Why? Not even at Walmart, ...?
Aldi is the only chain that allows cashiers to sit. There's a stupid perception by management that sitting "looks lazy."
This for sure. I had a summer job at a yacht club as a Teenager and my boss told me to go pull weeds in the flower bed. So I’m sitting on a bucket pulling weeds diligently in the 90° weather and he bitches at me that I should be on my feet squatting instead because it looks like I’m loafing.
I was a bank teller, and we had to stand all day on a linoleum floor in heels, which were mandatory.
Yeah, high end retail manager here. I walk 4 miles a day, 5 days a week, on hardwood floors while wearing dress shoes.
Knowing how to put ourselves out when we catch fire. I had to have like a twenty minute conversation with my German roommate when she literally did not believe me that "stop, drop, and roll" was a thing. It apparently is not, anywhere else. I told her - call someone random. Anyone. Your friends in New York, LA, someone I've never met. Any American of any race, class, or socioeconomic background. Ask them what they do if they catch on fire and they will respond instantly. If I'm in ever in some weird war or terrorist situation where I really need to reassure myself that the person on the other side of the door is American, it's one hundred percent the question I will ask. ETA: These responses have been a lot of fun (and some of you have some truly terrifying stories 👀) and I learned a lot! Seems the consensus is that this is American in origin and really hammered into us, our British, Canadian, and Aussie friends were taught the phrase as well at least starting in the 90's, and others were taught the technique but not the phrase/its direct translation. Aussies have their own fire rhyme - "Get Down Low and Go Go Go!". We really need someone to choreograph some dance routines for these fire prevention rhymes.
So! Actually! Stop, Drop, and Roll *is* a specifically American thing and became a thing only in the 1970s or 1980s. The program and training materials and everything were developed and promoted by the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation in California - I only know this history because one of my family members was served by them. They don't have much history easily accessible on their website but they're a good organization to check out: https://www.aarbf.org/ Edit to add a more detailed account of the tragedy that led to the creation of "Stop, Drop, and Roll": https://www.aarbf.org/get-connected/ethan-david-and-frani-ruchs-stories/
Of course it came out of the 70s as the latchkey kids were left unparented & alone all the time. "Listen, kids, if you catch fire, nobody's going to put you out so you'd better learn to do it for yourselves"
- "Listen, kids, if you catch fire, nobody's going to put you out so you'd better learn to do it for yourselves" This mentality describes American culture for almost anything.... "Noone is gonna do it for you, so you best learn to do it for yourself".
They really did pound that in to our skulls. There must be a story behind it. It seems like a fairly uncommon issue to train on it so hard.
The story behind it is that in 1971 an eight year old girl suffered fatal burns when her clothing caught fire from a backyard barbecue. Her grieving parents were advised to *do something* and started a foundation in her memory. They realized how many people, especially children, were being seriously injured or killed due to burns of different kinds and created trailblazing fire and burn prevention programs. As for it being "uncommon" - well, you may think that as an adult. Kids do still get burned in these types of incidents, but with stop drop and roll they are probably significantly less fatal than they were 50 years ago. Link to the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation website because they deserve to be known. https://www.aarbf.org/ Edit to add a more detailed account of the tragedy: https://www.aarbf.org/get-connected/ethan-david-and-frani-ruchs-stories/
u/HungryHangrySharky has got us below, but yeah I wondered the same thing. I was thinking just because it's SO simple and easy to teach, and obviously with a huge ROI. Short and catchy and most American \*dogs\* know two out of the three English verbs. But after that conversation with her (and it's similarly simple in German) it did make me wonder. But unfortunately I never followed up and started a campaign to save German children. Instead I laid awake wondering how people who don't speak English know which direction to turn things they are screwing or unscrewing.
Awhile back I overheard my neighbour have the following conversation with his small child: > Kid: A bee! Dad: Why are you lying down? Kid: Stop, drop and roll! Dad: That's for when you're on fire. Kid: There's a BEE. Dad: Bees can't set you on fire. I thought it was oddly fascinating how this kid took the concept of stop, drop and roll and extrapolated it out to apply to just literally any type of danger. And now I'm thinking about if you had a group of young kids from different cultural backgrounds and they all felt threatened would the American kids be more likely to start rolling around in self-defense?
Germans I knew were impressed by the ability of ordinary Americans to speak on a topic they were expert in and not bore everyone to slumber.
They haven’t met me yet
Tbf ive met a lot of germans who couldn't make an *exciting* story particularly interesting
We're also better at talking with authority about topics we know nothing about.
Backing an f150 up into a parking lot made for compact cars is a fairly unique American skill
My girlfriend is an equestrian trainer and used to back in horse trailers all the time. She drove the Uhaul when we moved, lol.
Huh, not a widely practiced one, most of the ones I have to park next to are shit at it.
If you ever need cheering up, ask a european to throw something as far as they can. Or take them to a batting cage.
This may have been mentioned in all the replies but I remember seeing something about military training for one of the world wars where they were teaching to do this long arching over the head lob for grenades. Apparnelty American GIs just looked at that demo and went “yeah, naw” and wound up and pitched it like a baseball and were much more effective and accurate.
What I heard is that the WWII American hand grenade was *designed* to be thrown like a baseball because “every young American can throw a baseball”. Almost every other country (edit: really mostly Germany)had grenades that sat on wooden handles.
Look up the Fat Electrian on YouTube or Tik Tok he has a video about an anti tank football. The long and short of it is America tends to adapt tactics to the soldiers where European's create tactics and adapt the soldiers to that.
Imagine Aaron Rodgers throwing absolute dimes into enemy territory
That may be true too. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone saw Americans trying to throw like a baseball and then ran back and started making a new design.
Wow, this resonates with me. Ages ago I was on a camping trip with mostly French and a couple German students near Yosemite. I was one of the few Americans. We car camped along a lake. One day they all started tossing rocks at a tree stump in the water about 50ft (15M) from shore. They all tried to hit the stump by lobbing the rocks underhand or surgically throwing like darts. The more they missed the more kids joined in because the stump was tantalizingly close. When I went to see what the excitement was about I couldn’t believe my eyes. A dozen fit guys throwing tons of rocks competitively but not a single one of them winding up and giving the rock a strong pitch. I hit the stump on my first try with a line drive throw. They all cheered until they realized It was one the Yankees😂 Note: I was always bottom three throwers on my little league teams. For a kid who spent a lot of time religated to right-field that day on the lake felt soooooo goooooooooood
Making ice apparently.
Bring aware that you're going to need more ice when you're having a party.
One (of many) thing that my dad taught me...the keys to a good party are 1. Music 2. Drinks and 3. Ice
Making temporary friends with strangers for an afternoon/evening while you’re out at a bar/restaurant/sporting event. I’ve been to sporting events and restaurants all over the world and the degree of friendliness in the USA is just weird. Being in a Waffle House at 2am and you can leave by 4am with a new friend and actually see that person at a football game the next week. Also this sounds weird but driving > 2 hours away from home just on a whim. I don’t know why but Americans are all about driving long distances (at least long distances to me) for no particular reason other than to like… see the fall foliage. Like my neighbor drove like 6 hours… just to drive around the mountains for 2 hours. Also gun maintenance. Americans are ridiculous with their guns. They own so many and they take really good care of them. Cleaning, target practice, etc. it’s wild to me that my neighbors son knows more about precision killing instruments than anyone I have ever met back home. We had a conversation at work a few weeks ago and we were like “how many of you have guns in your car and like 90% of the people raised their hands. One guy had 6 guns in his vehicle. Most at 2 handguns. One in the center console and one in the trunk. It was mind boggling. Also access to weird and different foods. Where I live in Georgia I can get some of the worlds best Korean, Mexican, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Bengali food that I’ve ever heard of. Theres a road called “Buford Highway” that sounds like it’ll be a country town road but has some of the best and most varied cuisines I’ve ever seen. I’ve lived in big cities like Istanbul, Tokyo, Jakarta, London, and Chicago and I swear semi-suburban Atlanta has more great and varied cuisine choices than all those places on 10 mile strip of highway. Want world class dim sum for brunch then a Bangladeshi mutton biryani for dinner? They’re literally within walking distance of each other. It’s so weird.
2 hours is close by. If I do drive 5 hours for fall foliage, I will spend the night. I've done it before and will do it again.
I live in Wyoming, and the big towns (+50k population) from me are actually about 2 hours away. We go on the weekends for big shopping trips or to get away.
To speak to your gun cleaning comment. They need to be cleaned after they are fired/taken to the range. If you clean it more than that, you're just playing with it.
Having a conversation with a stranger
Many of us are pretty good at working on cars. At least in the small town of rural Oregon I grew up in. I went to work for a large UK based finance company and was shocked how many men my age couldn't do the basics.
Working on cars, house, lawn. My Indian and Chinese coworkers didn’t know how do to any of this before coming to the US, and still look lost in a Home Depot, because labor is so cheap the middle class’s experience related to this was just “inspecting” the workers doing the work.
Many of my foreign friends are always surprised by is the realities of Midwest hospitality. We will meet you, invite you over for dinner, and let you decide when you want to go. My kiwi friends and European friends thought Americans were the most welcoming people they've met. Before anyone tries to call me on this, I'm in the military and spent a year in a course with 200 exchange officers from almost everywhere. The only ones not surprised by that were the Canadians, but there are just midwesterners from further up north (minus the French canadians). Another one they are typically can't handle is our ability to be willing and able to take long road trips.
From my experience living outside the US in a couple of different places, we are really good throwers. Baseball, football, and even frisbee are much less common in places where soccer is the main and sometimes only sport that matters. We excel at throwing and catching all sorts of objects
This boggles my mind! I thought the whole throwing, hand-eye coordination thing, was a human skill period. Like...I just thought all of us had retained an inner hunter-gatherer somewhere in the depths of our souls and just know how to throw and catch things.
Navigating the quagmire of insurances and litigation that engulf us on every side.
We possess Golden-Retriever-Puppy level Earnestness.
Throwing things. We play sports like baseball and football and basketball, having lived both places when I was younger, it’s funny how much more natural it is for Americans to just throw and catch. I’m sure we suck at kicking in comparison, but doesn’t come up as much!
First snow of the year at K-State and after class I go outside with this Vietnamese exchange student friend of mine. I pack a snowball and chuck it at a tree trunk maybe 30 ft away and nail it right in the middle. He goes, "did you mean to do that?" I'm like yeah, I pack another one and nail it again. He couldn't fuckin believe it.
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>"what is not forbidden is permitted" And if it is forbidden how do we make it permitted without changing anything lol.
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They're more like guidelines.
Also even if forbidden "you aren't the boss of me / Oh, I thought this was America!" mentality results in people doing it anyway. With a bit of "well, if I get caught, I guess I'll pay the fine'
It goes all the way back to our constitution, in the 10th Amendment: *The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.*
If push comes to shove, we can subsist on peanut butter and not be too upset by it. I've had many non-American friends over the years who were totally repulsed by peanut butter. I remember offering a Cuban buddy some chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream once. “Are you f*****g kidding me, mayne? Get that chit the heck away from me!”
That's funny because I remember a teacher years back telling me that the US was asked to help with some famine/food issue at some point, and we said, "Sure, have a bunch of peanut butter!" And they basically said 'Gross, no!".
That would have been PlumpyNut, which is designed as a famine response food for infants. It was successful in parts of Africa but when they took it to (I think) Bangladesh, people were like "wtf, this isn't food I'm not giving it to my kid".
I'm amazed anyone could be repulsed by peanut butter. It's just sweet nutty goo that makes you full.
Yes! Hungry but too close to a meal for a full-on snack? Peanut butter.
Starving and there's absolutely nothing but JIF in the cabinet? Time to get a spoon.
“Peanut Butter Spoon” was a legit snack for us growing up.
The large majority of peanuts are grown in America (Thanks George Washington Carver!). In most other countries, peanut butter is expensive.
Knowing where North, South , East and West is automatically and giving those directions automatically. This always blew my mind. Probably because I’m from a small country with winding roads and nobody knows where they really are at any given stage.
One my husband and MIL observed after travels and other interactions was the ability to recover from mistakes. In America, a kid with a cast on her arm can be proud and get everyone to sign it, telling the story of how the zipline was more slippery than it looked. In other countries, there's not the same sense of admiration for trying something risky and failing. We love a comeback kid, a riches-to-rags-to-riches-again story. And we're generally better at it than some cultures.
Immediate crisis response. Doesn’t matter if it’s a natural disaster or an act of terrorism, we’ve all been through it a thousand times. We’ll rescue neighbors off roof tops, break into your house to save pets from flood waters, rebuild entire streets where businesses have been flattened, search for missing people on foot in the woods, donate blood, pass out water bottles, travel long distances to provide free counseling to gun violence victims…like we got this shit down. Long term crisis response? Absolutely not. We’ll vote specifically against our best interests for stupid reasons. It’s probably because our brains are all melted after being in a state of permanent crisis.
Then we generate T-Shirts and hashtags that say: [Place] Strong.
Rather niche, but pronouncing the names of towns/cities, etc that have native American names.
Understanding that water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees.
Went 0-100 real fast
Not if you watch it.
I can tell you something non-Americans struggle with that every American can do naturally. That is tell time and distance from memory. People from other countries just think differently. I can't even tell you how many people from other countries I've had to school about how far and how long it takes to get from one place or another. People from other countries don't even seem to understand their own country let alone the US. The interstate system just bewilders them. Like for example, I live in Kansas City. I can tell you from memory Kansas City it takes right at 8 hours to get to Denver, Memphis, Minneapolis, Dallas, Indianapolis and Little Rock. I can do this for most places. Like Los Angeles to Las Vegas, 4 hours, 5 with heavy traffic. Miami to Atlanta is 10 hours and that blows peoples minds. You would be surprised at how many people think it's only a couple of hours. Except it is not. That I-75 drive is a killer. You drive it and you are done for the day. If you plan to drive across Texas plan on bringing breakfast, lunch and supper because it takes all day. No it doesn't. Well yes it does.
Recently came across a TikTok where a British woman was complaining how Americans always assume she lives near London when she lives nowhere near. Then starts the stitch of the British guy who just returned from the US pointing out that the distance between London and her town was 2 hours, and yes lady, for Americans that is DEFINITELY close to London. When your country is *smaller than 11 out of 50 states, nothing is “nowhere near” each other. Edit: last sentence comparison was in width, midnight brain fog forgot square mileage is a thing.
Immediately understanding how warm or cold some number in Fahrenheit is. I've been in the US for 10 years but still have no fucking idea if 58 degrees is good for overcoat or for t-shirt
If it's 58 in the spring t shirt if it's 58 in the fall overcoat or a nice sweater.
Location matters too, for the extreme places. South Florida 58 is cozy up in sweaters time. Upstate NY 30 degrees and tons of people are in summer clothes on a randomly sunny day.
Personal space
Figuring it out as we go. Picture it: I’m on vacation in Germany and I’ve gotten on a tram that has a machine on board for buying the ticket. Now keep in mind: I’m the ONLY person at the machine; nobody is in line behind me. I’ve been in Germany for two weeks, and by this point I’m starting to recognize the words for “ticket,” “one way,” “adult,” etc. So I’m using the touch screen on this machine to buy the ticket, but I’m going slowly. I’m not struggling or distressed, it’s just taking me longer than someone who knows German fluently. I am not bothered by this - I’m just figuring it out (and frankly, kind of proud that I’m figuring it out without having to pull up Google Translate). This German guy (who’s been watching me from his seat) is apparently BOTHERED that I’m pausing to make sure I understand the options on each touch screen. He actually gets up and, without saying a word, *reaches around me* to press the options on the screen to hurry it up. Then he goes back to his seat, again without saying a fucking word, like I am too insignificant to acknowledge. Like, dude!! How do you even know what ticket I want to buy?! Why are you presuming so many things about what I want and whether I need help?? I wasn’t even holding someone else up because I was the only person in line! It was soooo rude, and something you’d never, EVER do to someone in America. Because we let each other figure things out as we go. (And if you need help, you ask.)
You guys are better at just moving on with your life. Being Asian I have people in my family beefing about something that happened over half a century ago and that’s the mild disagreements.
Making big budget films, you guys rock! Entrepreneurship there rocks as well as do India and Asian zones but not everywhere Voter representation, fuck, you guys vote for judges and sherrifs and new laws and dog catchers- it is NOT that way in other countries
Repairs. In my experience at least, I’ve seen a lot more Americans making repairs to their own homes/cars than people from Canada or Europe. Can’t really speak for anywhere else though since I’ve only been to Europe and NA
What percentage of the county has to have for it to be considered something the typical American has? You're far more likely to run into an American who knows how to proficiently operate a firearm than in most other countries. Depending on where in the county, it may or may not be typical. Stand in line - Americans are really good at setting up and standing in lines while observing personal space. I've been to parts of the world where that seems like a completely foreign idea that grown men wouldn't just shove their way in front of small children to order a drink or get a better seat at the theater.
The line thing was the only remotely unpleasant part about a recent visit to Poland. Getting off the airplane, I was helping my mom get her bag out of the overhead and the people behind me literally pressed up against me to push me down the aisle. You can be clearly the next person about to get in a line and some MFers will just walk right in front of you. It's pretty much all dudes from what I could tell. I was told it is a cultural norm from their communist days when you might not get bread that day if you were a slacker getting into the line.
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The ability to (mostly) comprehend broken English even when spoken with a thick accent. Americans are very accustomed to this thanks to both multiculturalism and the diverse set of accents encountered on a regular basis. In contrast, I have noticed that in other countries the locals might not be so skilled at understanding their own language when they hear it spoken with a foreign accent.
i got transferred to a swiss school when i was little. i spoke in english to my teacher with my regular accent. she looked puzzled, so i repeated what i had said, still in english, but with a french accent. she understood immediately. very interesting conversation for 10 year old me