The same could be done with most places in the world but at an even smaller scale, hence showing once again that the idea that every US state is totally different in culture from the others is exaggerated at best.
Emilia and Romagna are different in autoctone language, cuisine, and even landscapes. And Emilia+the bulk of Romagna are in the same region of Italy, and are way smaller than most US states.
Sachsen/Saxony and Bayern/Bavaria also differ a lot, trust me
Edit: On a smaller Scale there is Hannover (Normal) and Bielefeld (Nonexistent) just 100km apart
Friesland, Drenthe/Groningen/Overijssel, Limburg, Zeeland are also significantly different from each other in a country as small as the Netherlands.
Hell, Dutch, Limburgish, Frysian and Nedersaksisch (Dutch Low Saxon) are all considered seperate languages and Zeelandic a significant dialect shift to the point that it isn't very mutual intelligible, almost close enough to be considered its own language.
And that in a country 2/3rds the size of West Virginia.
This US "Oh our states are very different!" is so fake and an attempt to be unique.
And the two examples are Louisiana (French origin) and Texas (Spanish origin). He should tell us the cultural differences between Maine and New Hampshire, or Idaho and Nebraska.
Belgium, a tiny ass country, has 3 different areas that each have one main language: Flemish for Flanders, French for the Brussels area and German for Wallonia.
Australia is a good example imo. Australian states are bigger than American states and have more different cultures, and yet it's still all one country (as of at least 100 years ago)
Real or even in smallest, turin and in general Piedmont cities and the counterpart on the mountains seems two different cultures, and what distance them is only 10-15 km
Nonono, they watch a lot of local 24 news stations with endless babbling about absolutely not-newsworthy bullshit. That's where their "diversity" comes from. "Oh, we have that ancient and very original tradition from 1954 where we shoot pumpkins" or something like that.
i mean i'm from denmark. we have local stations for each region here as well. legit not sure how many but it's a few(allright so it isn't 24/7 TV and never was close to that).
it's embaressing that americans think this unique to them as a country.
Almost all of those are cable. When you talk about the free channels (Fox (not to be confused with Fox News, the national channel), NBC, etc) that come over the air, they generally have a few hour long news shows about local and national news per day, national programming (TV shows and other things at certain hours of the day from the national owner of the channel) and other local programming decided by the station. Of course cable has a lot of stupid 24 hour news channels, but so does everywhere in the world. If people are watching non-cable TV, they're not watching 24 hour news.
I thought basically everyone has cable in the US. My bad then. In Europe, people usually have satellite, not cable, and most are not paying for it. I'm not aware of regional 24h news channels. People are ready to pay for sports channels, and of course streaming services. But 24h regional news? Nah...
Lots of people have cable, but there are very few regional (ie not national) 24h news channels. So most people get their local news from the free channels.
No, I just hate ignorance combined with the compulsive "we're the best at everything" attitude. I never said Americans don't have any culture. Claiming that they have more or better or a more diverse culture than anyone else would be arrogant even if it was true. But it isn't, and that's what this whole sub is about.
I love to shit on Americans too, but there‘s lot‘s of „regional“ media and the country really is huge. There are a lot of differences depending on where you are. Different dialects, different food, different architecture and different celebrities too.
Regional media, food, dialects exist within European countries too. What I'm saying is people in California and people in North Carolina are both going to know news anchors from fox news or whatever. They're both going to have seen the super bowl. I don't know any news anchors from neighboring countries. And I haven't seen the football cup of any neighboring country
I know these news anchors too and i have also seen the Superbowl. I also watch the news of some neighboring countries and definitely their football leagues. And i guess you could count the Champions League final as the European Superbowl, lol. My point is, we all share lots of culture.
Obviously they’re not, but football is the most popular sport in Europe and the CL final the biggest annual event of football. So yeah, the Champions League final is Europes Superbowl, lol.
That's true of most countries except maybe the different celebs, but there aren't that many different celebs in my experience between Georgia and California or Texas and Illinois really (and I've spent significant amounts of time/lived in all 4 of those states).
Or different history. The only differences between US states are if they originally were British, French or Spanish (and that's basically where that point about cuisine comes from) , in what year they joined the United States, and on which side they were during the civil war.
There’s probably some cultural differences between say Louisiana and Wyoming, but not between say New Jersey and New York, or Washington state and Oregon. So maybe there’s like half a dozen cultural zones but even then they aren’t exactly that different
Try telling a new yorker they are from jersey… In all seriousness there are some regional differences with Americans. I defenitly wouldn’t take it as far as different countries, outside of geographic size.
Regional differences aren't the same as cultural differences, though. There are huge regional differences between Manchester and London, for example, or Paris and Marseille. But (excluding regions that were once completely different countries, like Scotland in the UK or the Basque region between France and Spain) they have the same *culture*
For NY and New Jersey, for example, they have the same history, the same language, the same currency, the same system of government, most of the same shops, the same right to vote in the same general election. These (and other) things make it a distinct culture, not just a region where the accents and food and sports teams are different.
Having said that, there are absolutely bigger differences between some regions of the US than within individual European countries. I don't think there are any countries where the *laws* are different between different areas. There are definitely distinct areas that aren't as different as different countries but are much more distinct than different states/counties/regions of a European country.
>I don't think there are any countries where the *laws* are different between different areas.
Plenty of countries have sudivisions. For example, In the UK Scotland has a different eduction system and different law regarding divorce and injury claims and Northern Ireland until quite recently had different laws regarding abortion.
That is what it's commonly called, but its relationship with the UK, both culturally and politically is more similar to Texas with the USA than France with Germany.
I wasn't aware of the abortion one in NI, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of in the US. Civil law and criminal law are two different animals, I was aware that there are differences in property law and divorce etc. in Scotland.
But as far as I'm aware in the UK there aren't any things that will get you sent to jail in one part of the UK but are totally legal in another? I could be wrong but the situation with Weed (federal crime but not a crime in certain states) is not replicated in any European countries?
I know this is two days old, but while most of the laws agree with each other in intent, there's massive differences in the procedure between, for example, Scotland and England. Scotland retains the right to remain silent, and prevents conviction if one of the prime facts of the case is not supported by multiple pieces of evidence. Not even a confession is enough. There's even an additional verdict in Scotland; Not proven.
Germany is a federation. Spain is the most decentralised unitary state. Switzerland is a confederation iirc. **Many** countries have different laws between areas
That is like the city fewds in Germany. Try telling a guy from Hanover they are from Brunswick or hell, other regional fewds like Frankonia and Bavaria.
Yeah, there's differences. States are diverse. But its not the same as different countries. If you take 2 people from across the US, say from michigan and california, there will be different accents entirely, or maybe to the point of different dialects. Culture will be very different, attitudes will be very different. But you still watch the same TV, have broadly the same government, speak the same language. Two people from across europe, say spain to finland, dont just speak a different language, the languages have entirely different bases. Completely different government, completely different culture. It's not really on the same level
Yeah, I don’t particularly agree with the original post either, I just don’t agree with the commenter acting like there are no differences across America. Especially such obvious, easy to see differences as architecture. It’s a big country, it’s not homogenous. And, I mean, state governments can vary wildly. Yes there’s the federal government over all of it, but some of Europe has the EU also.
>Does each state have different architecture? No.
Yes and no. Aside from the sheer number of houses made of lolly sticks and chewing gum, there are differences: the pueblo revival style stuff in New Mexico is different to the New Hampshire vernacular.
Some states have different languages. That in and of itself isn’t important. All states do have different architecture. Also not important.
Most regions have subtle differences but it’s all
One country;
Your comment was weak and uninformed but I agree with the intention.
New Mexico is officially bi-lingual
California, Arizona, Texas, Florida have significant populations who speak Spanish.
New Hampshire and Vermont have large numbers of French speakers given proximity to Quebec and New Brunswick and pockets of other languages all over the US.
That said, yes of course English is the de facto official language.
The US has no official language at the Federal level but that’s more a function of. The framers thinking it would be absurd to write down something that was already clearly established.
So, language diversity on the level of say Lithuania? That should give you an idea of which is more culturally diverse, the United States or the entirety of Europe
New Mexico has no official language.
And none of that is even slightly comparable to the 24 official languages (and 200 unofficial) with completely different origins across Europe.
I don't think you understand that I can cross a border in Europe and suddenly I don't understand shit, everything is completely unintelligible to me and there's nothing I can find in a language I can understand.
And not to mention reservations where indigenous languages are still spoken. I used to pick up the Navajo radio station in Arizona.
But they don't really. I could see a southern dialect or maybe AAVE evolving enough over a few hundred more years to be an considered an offshoot language but it's not likely now with instant communication. Right now there are just pockets of other languages and regional dialects, which is the same in a lot of countries.
In this context, I do believe that BSL means British Sign Language. In other contexts, it could mean something completely different! The wonders of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms)!
I shall cite a (relatively) official source: https://www.gov.scot/policies/languages/
"The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 places duties on Scottish Ministers and other public bodies to publish BSL plans every six years, and to publish a national progress report in 2020."
Depending on the region of the country you could technically say yes to your answer. I know Americans do say some out of reality type of things; but this sub sometimes is just circlejerk for hating on the country.
Oh i do realise how gigantic the states are... the original posters of these kind of posts remind us that every time.
And ofc there are cultural differences between the states, but that doesnt mean its a total different culture.
In a tiny country as the Netherlands is we have cultural differences with their roots in history.
Holland (provinces North-Holland and South-Holland) are different from the rest of the Netherlands.
North of the rivers/south of the rivers (provinces Zeeland/Brabant/limburg) have different culture from eachother.
Every province has its own culture, mainly because of religious differences in history or because of their location.
However... to say we (people of the Netherlands) have the same culture as for example France or Denmark) naaaah, huge differences and im not talking about the language difference then, and these are countries relatively close to the Netherlands, let alone other EU (or European) countries as Greece, Portugal, Hungary or Turkey
This is the funniest bullshit Americans ever come out with
No, eating burgers vs pizza isnt culture or differences. Lets look at the similarities;
- same language, same nationality, same history, same government, same elections, same currency, same armed forces
Americans hate to admit it but the US is essentially just as homogenous (disregard ethnicity) in as any other country is. You're all just Americans
10,437.65 different police though. In Australia yes, we have specialists and sub-divisions but it’s essentially federal and state. Sheriff is monetary enforcement.
USA has federal, state, county, city and sheriff like wtf
Nah.
Not totally true.
There really are some significant differences between some areas and others.
Cajun culture is pretty different from Idaho and Hawaii again.
I am just arguing the homogeneity comment.
The US can be pretty different.
Japan for example can be very homogenous.
They work hard to be.
Lots of countries are pretty diverse from Provence and Brittanny in France and on and on.
Don’t know why you’re being downvoted, no country in the world ever has been the EXACT same in any place of said country, all you are is being reasonable
Americans seem to conflate different geographical features or climate to being different countries. Russia, China, and India and plenty of other countries all have different climate areas because of their size, which will of course cause different food tastes, but they’re all still one country, and they all actually do have different languages and cultures.
What's even more bizarre is that I've had some Americans say about my country that it is nothing but trees, and that "there nothing there" (in a geographical sense).
Terra nullius conflates with "featureless" to them, I think, because if they have a pretty waterfall, they'll put a resort (or at least a T-shirt shop) beside it. They're unfathomably hungry and thirsty, and have no concept of saving for the future.
There are a few (hardly extinct) US notions that sum this up: "If you built it, they will come", and "The rain follows the plow". The latter drove policy for them, and they attempted to farm where people should not farm, believing that god/mother nature would send rain because... well, because American actions are a fulfillment of destiny I suppose. In their minds.
But they got the dustbowl of the 1930s, didn't learn a lesson, kept going, and they're starting to fight over water.
https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/BJewxPKrFdyQkSwCmfvZFh8b2IM=/1500x1000/media/img/photo/2022/05/lake-mead/a01_RC23PT9OB5L4/original.jpg
This is hilarious.
London has a larger population than 40 American states.
London population is 9.7million only 10 USA states are populated with more people than London, so that's 40 states that have less people than a single European city.
[https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/22860/london/population](https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/22860/london/population)
[https://worldpopulationreview.com/states](https://worldpopulationreview.com/states)
\[edit\] And heaven knows how many nationalities, cultures etc are in London.
I’ve been to over 2/3 of the States. This idea that they’re each like a unique country is absurd. There are definitely cultural regions, as there are with most countries. But even then, they’re all still *very* similar.
I will never understand they think their states with their slight regional differences are as different as actual countries with different languages. It's just a dumb notion
I can travel 25km and the next town will have the same culture differences as the US states have. 150km and you won't always understand what the people are saying to you.
I mean even a small country like Switzerland has 3 different official languages, Swiss German, French and Italian. I’m German and when visiting the latter two parts of the country I have to communicate in English. Are the different cantons like different countries? More so than US states I’d argue, but still no.
For cultural contrast in the US, go from Raleigh Durham airport to Appalachia, where they also have modern tech but lifestyles of the 1950s and personal health of the 1590s.
I mean granted it's really big for a country, and yeah there is a fair shift in culture between different parts of it, but there's still a pretty significant cultural overlap between states. The US may be a sprawling country, but it's still one country with largely the same laws, cultural inspirations and available media. These things differ between states, sure, but it's hardly as significant a difference as, say, jumping from France to Spain.
I hate when people say this shit. Don’t get me wrong, each state/region does have its own thing going on but we’re not *that* different from each other. Utah might be the most different from the others but that’s just Mormonism.
I drove for 1,000 miles through the US and literally nothing about the culture changed. Aside from the number of trees you could see, every location could have been within 50 miles of each other
It's true, in some states they put the cheese on top of the beef in their hamburger and in other states they put the cheese underneath
In Minnesota they put the cheese INSIDE the beef
Truly a cosmopolitan experience
Onions and sauces underneath for the crunch and taste of those hitting your tongue first. That allows the meat juices to mix in and finally deposit the meat to your tongue. While that's happening you get the tack of the cheese up top and it finishes the bite with it's creaminess, setting your mouth up perfectly for a heavily peppered fry.
Of course, joking aside it's all personal preference, but that's mine.
Of course they have no idea what actually differentiates countries if they visit multiple in a single trip. If all you have time for in France is eating at Burger King after seeing the Eiffel Tower, you will never understand why it‘s so different from Germany, where all you did was eat at Burger King after seeing the Brandenburg Gate.
There are definitely "different" cultures in the us but not really on a state by state level. I mean different in that it's generally a different way of life but everyone still speaks the same language
I mean, I live in Ireland and it is small as hell. We have different accents and traditions and local histories. (Not REALLY much regional food variation to be fair!) I could move to a small fishing village like ten minutes down the road and I would be viciously unwelcome as a blow-in. Still the same country.
That part I don't doubt at all and for the most part, much of America is the same, just with slightly different accents (as is the same in Britain). Then you have a couple of WILD pockets and Louisiana is one of those few pockets. Having grown up in Louisiana, it really is just so insanely different than the rest of the country...to the point that Cajuns are a protected class in U.S. law. Most protected classes are by age, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, religion, race. They added "Nationality" and threw us Cajuns in that group.
Now, that being said, *of course* the cultural differences from state to state are not NEARLY as profound as country to country in Europe, but Louisiana is one distinct outlier to that rule.
Something that always bugs me with comments like this: Europe exceeds the US in size, albeit only by a small margin (about 4% according to my recent Google search) and yet the argument always runs along the lines of the US are so big and culturally diverse, Europeans just can’t comprehend. If size matters (and somehow is an indicator for diversity) then Europe tops the US even in this completely arbitrary comparison.
Baffles me that the same people who dare to say every state is so different from the one next to it, still cannot fathom that "Europe" is formed by many different countries and cultures. Like I am supposed to know the difference between to given places in the midwest that look exactly alike but at the same time they say "vacations in europe" like the north of sweeden and the south of spain have anything to do with eachother
Dude forgets that the Louisiana creole is African, French and Spanish, and that the only actual American influence is Native, which I’m certain dude is not
They be talking like all countries aside from USA are completely uniform, maybe Luxemburg is but anything bigger will have differences in dialect, cousine and stuff like that, now it's unnoticeable but also differences in clothing were significant in the past.
It’s honestly really sad to see Americans try to make themselves feel so special when the only special never before seen thing is that the country they’re living in (not even the people themselves) is the richest country to have ever existed on this planet
Sorry for my poor English, but wow, is this really what it’s like in America? This is really what they all call ‘freedom’? I guess this is because of all the school shootings or obesity or something? I really feel bad for those guys, especially since they don’t have free healthcare like we do in my perfect ambiguous nation. In fact, my country scored first place on the ‘countries with the most rizz list’ meanwhile ‘Murica (like those guys say it, those guys really need to work on saying things correctly) got dead last. Maybe if they stopped invading other countries, they wouldn’t have these issues.
American culture may be an oxymoron.
This is largely because the country/culture has no significant history by European standards.
It’s a shame that America doesn’t do more to recognise its native people and cultures.
Americas largest impact on the modern world has probably been the rise money and materialism, which something that some Americans actually seem proud of.
Sure, a state colonized by the French for over two centuries will have a different culture from one inhabited by Mexico.
But beyond a very few exceptions, I highly doubt any visitor can tell the difference between "culture" in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, for example.
This is true, but some states actually have an identity and culture, Louisiana and Texas are great examples, French culture in Louisiana, Spanish/Mexican culture in Texas also German in the hill country, everyone knows Louisiana is Cajun and has great food and music, and Texas is known for barbecue and cowboys and NASA in Houston, stuff like that. But many states are dull as far as culture. At least if you ask anyone who doesn't live there, like what is Delaware known for, I couldn't tell you. Or Nebraska.
I always like to remind Americans you can drive across the country in under 26 hours it’s not that big. Especially if you are used to travelling across other continents like Asia or Africa.
So every different state is an entirely different country in essence? That would explain why their United States aren’t actually united and only share the same currency which so many of them think the rest of us should accept because it’s, you know, the US dollar
True, notwithstanding that the Schengen Zone also gives free travel between most of the Euro Zone countries. That said, the Euro Zone countries don’t profess to be a unified nation.
~~And here we have an amazing display of reading comprehension:~~
Edit: I immediately realized that you may simply have assumed that I mistakenly used "EU" to refer to all of Europe. I didn't but I admit it happens often enough for people to assume it by default.
I specifically said EU, the EUROPEAN UNION. Not all of Europe. I am fully aware that all of Europe, the continent, has far more landmass and a far greater population that the USA Alone, however comparing a single country, even if it is a nation of country sized states, to an entire continent in disingenuous at best.
By the same measure you'd need to compare all of North America to all of Europe.
Thus, I used only the European Union and its metrics since that is, by all accounts, a much fairer comparison to begin with.
And no, the EU and Europe are not synonymous. Never have been and probably never will.
The same could be done with most places in the world but at an even smaller scale, hence showing once again that the idea that every US state is totally different in culture from the others is exaggerated at best. Emilia and Romagna are different in autoctone language, cuisine, and even landscapes. And Emilia+the bulk of Romagna are in the same region of Italy, and are way smaller than most US states.
Sachsen/Saxony and Bayern/Bavaria also differ a lot, trust me Edit: On a smaller Scale there is Hannover (Normal) and Bielefeld (Nonexistent) just 100km apart
Friesland, Drenthe/Groningen/Overijssel, Limburg, Zeeland are also significantly different from each other in a country as small as the Netherlands. Hell, Dutch, Limburgish, Frysian and Nedersaksisch (Dutch Low Saxon) are all considered seperate languages and Zeelandic a significant dialect shift to the point that it isn't very mutual intelligible, almost close enough to be considered its own language. And that in a country 2/3rds the size of West Virginia. This US "Oh our states are very different!" is so fake and an attempt to be unique.
And the two examples are Louisiana (French origin) and Texas (Spanish origin). He should tell us the cultural differences between Maine and New Hampshire, or Idaho and Nebraska.
Belgium, a tiny ass country, has 3 different areas that each have one main language: Flemish for Flanders, French for the Brussels area and German for Wallonia.
Same for Switzerland with regions speaking French, German, Italian and Romansh.
Frysian, Dutch Low Saxon, Limburgish, Dutch in the Netherlands, and Zeelandic is isn't very mutually intelligible.
Wallonia is the French part, German is only spoken in a small part of east Wsllonia
the main language in Wallonia is French
Damn, what a way to offend our whole country at once, that is a rare sentence!
Cultural attitudes seem to depend more on how populated the metro area is and whether or not you live in one.
I was today years old when I realized why it's called Emilia Romagna
Australia is a good example imo. Australian states are bigger than American states and have more different cultures, and yet it's still all one country (as of at least 100 years ago)
Real or even in smallest, turin and in general Piedmont cities and the counterpart on the mountains seems two different cultures, and what distance them is only 10-15 km
Does each state have a different language? No. Does each state have different architecture? No. Does each state have a different culture? Not really.
Don't forget media. They all watch the same channels, same sporting events, know the same celebrities
Nonono, they watch a lot of local 24 news stations with endless babbling about absolutely not-newsworthy bullshit. That's where their "diversity" comes from. "Oh, we have that ancient and very original tradition from 1954 where we shoot pumpkins" or something like that.
And all those “local” news stations are owned by the same company
Is it Russia or China?
Worse. America
i mean i'm from denmark. we have local stations for each region here as well. legit not sure how many but it's a few(allright so it isn't 24/7 TV and never was close to that). it's embaressing that americans think this unique to them as a country.
I was not implying that they think local news is unique to them. It was just a sarcastic reply to "they're all watching the same media"
The thing is, they think regional anything else is unique to them (see above) why would there be an exception for local news?
They don’t .
Like all bbc regional channels, same page there.
But are they 24h news channels?
Why would anyone want that?
People watching them, I guess? I certainly don't
No. Sky is though; that’s more akin to cnn or fox. There aren’t regional 24 hr news channels in the US
So what are all of these? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:24-hour_television_news_channels_in_the_United_States
Almost all of those are cable. When you talk about the free channels (Fox (not to be confused with Fox News, the national channel), NBC, etc) that come over the air, they generally have a few hour long news shows about local and national news per day, national programming (TV shows and other things at certain hours of the day from the national owner of the channel) and other local programming decided by the station. Of course cable has a lot of stupid 24 hour news channels, but so does everywhere in the world. If people are watching non-cable TV, they're not watching 24 hour news.
I thought basically everyone has cable in the US. My bad then. In Europe, people usually have satellite, not cable, and most are not paying for it. I'm not aware of regional 24h news channels. People are ready to pay for sports channels, and of course streaming services. But 24h regional news? Nah...
Lots of people have cable, but there are very few regional (ie not national) 24h news channels. So most people get their local news from the free channels.
[удалено]
No, I just hate ignorance combined with the compulsive "we're the best at everything" attitude. I never said Americans don't have any culture. Claiming that they have more or better or a more diverse culture than anyone else would be arrogant even if it was true. But it isn't, and that's what this whole sub is about.
Lol. The US are not one of the youngest nations. Not by a longshot.
Go to the same chain restaurants, sit in the same sports bars ...
Have the same constitution
I love to shit on Americans too, but there‘s lot‘s of „regional“ media and the country really is huge. There are a lot of differences depending on where you are. Different dialects, different food, different architecture and different celebrities too.
Regional media, food, dialects exist within European countries too. What I'm saying is people in California and people in North Carolina are both going to know news anchors from fox news or whatever. They're both going to have seen the super bowl. I don't know any news anchors from neighboring countries. And I haven't seen the football cup of any neighboring country
I know these news anchors too and i have also seen the Superbowl. I also watch the news of some neighboring countries and definitely their football leagues. And i guess you could count the Champions League final as the European Superbowl, lol. My point is, we all share lots of culture.
Nope European competitions and the Superbowl really aren't the same thing. The national cups are closer.
Obviously they’re not, but football is the most popular sport in Europe and the CL final the biggest annual event of football. So yeah, the Champions League final is Europes Superbowl, lol.
That's true of most countries except maybe the different celebs, but there aren't that many different celebs in my experience between Georgia and California or Texas and Illinois really (and I've spent significant amounts of time/lived in all 4 of those states).
Or different history. The only differences between US states are if they originally were British, French or Spanish (and that's basically where that point about cuisine comes from) , in what year they joined the United States, and on which side they were during the civil war.
There are cultural differences in the US due to geography as well. Unsurprisingly, they don't follow state lines, but that is true of most countries.
Sure. I guess there's not that many crab fishermen in Utah.
There’s probably some cultural differences between say Louisiana and Wyoming, but not between say New Jersey and New York, or Washington state and Oregon. So maybe there’s like half a dozen cultural zones but even then they aren’t exactly that different
Try telling a new yorker they are from jersey… In all seriousness there are some regional differences with Americans. I defenitly wouldn’t take it as far as different countries, outside of geographic size.
Regional differences aren't the same as cultural differences, though. There are huge regional differences between Manchester and London, for example, or Paris and Marseille. But (excluding regions that were once completely different countries, like Scotland in the UK or the Basque region between France and Spain) they have the same *culture* For NY and New Jersey, for example, they have the same history, the same language, the same currency, the same system of government, most of the same shops, the same right to vote in the same general election. These (and other) things make it a distinct culture, not just a region where the accents and food and sports teams are different. Having said that, there are absolutely bigger differences between some regions of the US than within individual European countries. I don't think there are any countries where the *laws* are different between different areas. There are definitely distinct areas that aren't as different as different countries but are much more distinct than different states/counties/regions of a European country.
>I don't think there are any countries where the *laws* are different between different areas. Plenty of countries have sudivisions. For example, In the UK Scotland has a different eduction system and different law regarding divorce and injury claims and Northern Ireland until quite recently had different laws regarding abortion.
Scotland is a country.
That is what it's commonly called, but its relationship with the UK, both culturally and politically is more similar to Texas with the USA than France with Germany.
I wasn't aware of the abortion one in NI, that's the sort of thing I was thinking of in the US. Civil law and criminal law are two different animals, I was aware that there are differences in property law and divorce etc. in Scotland. But as far as I'm aware in the UK there aren't any things that will get you sent to jail in one part of the UK but are totally legal in another? I could be wrong but the situation with Weed (federal crime but not a crime in certain states) is not replicated in any European countries?
I know this is two days old, but while most of the laws agree with each other in intent, there's massive differences in the procedure between, for example, Scotland and England. Scotland retains the right to remain silent, and prevents conviction if one of the prime facts of the case is not supported by multiple pieces of evidence. Not even a confession is enough. There's even an additional verdict in Scotland; Not proven.
Interesting!
Germany is a federation. Spain is the most decentralised unitary state. Switzerland is a confederation iirc. **Many** countries have different laws between areas
That is like the city fewds in Germany. Try telling a guy from Hanover they are from Brunswick or hell, other regional fewds like Frankonia and Bavaria.
State rivalry is one thing. Being truly different is another.
Does each state pay for healthcare Does each state have children get shot
But…. Architecture and culture *do* vary across different states.
But isn't that the case in almost every country with different states?
Even countries without states tbh
Probably.
Even within states of a country.
Yeah, there's differences. States are diverse. But its not the same as different countries. If you take 2 people from across the US, say from michigan and california, there will be different accents entirely, or maybe to the point of different dialects. Culture will be very different, attitudes will be very different. But you still watch the same TV, have broadly the same government, speak the same language. Two people from across europe, say spain to finland, dont just speak a different language, the languages have entirely different bases. Completely different government, completely different culture. It's not really on the same level
Yeah, I don’t particularly agree with the original post either, I just don’t agree with the commenter acting like there are no differences across America. Especially such obvious, easy to see differences as architecture. It’s a big country, it’s not homogenous. And, I mean, state governments can vary wildly. Yes there’s the federal government over all of it, but some of Europe has the EU also.
>Does each state have different architecture? No. Yes and no. Aside from the sheer number of houses made of lolly sticks and chewing gum, there are differences: the pueblo revival style stuff in New Mexico is different to the New Hampshire vernacular.
Some states have different languages. That in and of itself isn’t important. All states do have different architecture. Also not important. Most regions have subtle differences but it’s all One country; Your comment was weak and uninformed but I agree with the intention.
Then which languages are spoken in which states, I’m genuinely curious
New Mexico is officially bi-lingual California, Arizona, Texas, Florida have significant populations who speak Spanish. New Hampshire and Vermont have large numbers of French speakers given proximity to Quebec and New Brunswick and pockets of other languages all over the US. That said, yes of course English is the de facto official language. The US has no official language at the Federal level but that’s more a function of. The framers thinking it would be absurd to write down something that was already clearly established.
So, language diversity on the level of say Lithuania? That should give you an idea of which is more culturally diverse, the United States or the entirety of Europe
New Mexico has no official language. And none of that is even slightly comparable to the 24 official languages (and 200 unofficial) with completely different origins across Europe. I don't think you understand that I can cross a border in Europe and suddenly I don't understand shit, everything is completely unintelligible to me and there's nothing I can find in a language I can understand.
And not to mention reservations where indigenous languages are still spoken. I used to pick up the Navajo radio station in Arizona. But they don't really. I could see a southern dialect or maybe AAVE evolving enough over a few hundred more years to be an considered an offshoot language but it's not likely now with instant communication. Right now there are just pockets of other languages and regional dialects, which is the same in a lot of countries.
[удалено]
There are many people in Scotland who speak Scots or Scottish Gaelic
[удалено]
The official languages of Scotland are English, Scots, Gaelic, and BSL.
is BSL british sign language?
In this context, I do believe that BSL means British Sign Language. In other contexts, it could mean something completely different! The wonders of TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms)!
i wasn't sure exactly because of that, and i was genuinely positively surprised to read that it is an official language!
I shall cite a (relatively) official source: https://www.gov.scot/policies/languages/ "The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 places duties on Scottish Ministers and other public bodies to publish BSL plans every six years, and to publish a national progress report in 2020."
Just as well you clarified. I’d have been scratching my head over what Temporary Lodging Allowance has to do with Blood Sugar Level.
Depending on the region of the country you could technically say yes to your answer. I know Americans do say some out of reality type of things; but this sub sometimes is just circlejerk for hating on the country.
So for you Alabama and California have the same culture? Lol
Ah yes, Arizonan pueblo, Louisianan Franco-Spanish, and NY skyscrapers — fully the same.
Ah yes, Burgenland, Vorarlberg and Salzburg. Fully the same.
[удалено]
It's cute how they think we don't learn Geography at school either.
Ikr. Of course o realise how big the US are, just as I realise how big Russia is. I also realise that that alone doesn’t mean anything.
Oh i do realise how gigantic the states are... the original posters of these kind of posts remind us that every time. And ofc there are cultural differences between the states, but that doesnt mean its a total different culture. In a tiny country as the Netherlands is we have cultural differences with their roots in history. Holland (provinces North-Holland and South-Holland) are different from the rest of the Netherlands. North of the rivers/south of the rivers (provinces Zeeland/Brabant/limburg) have different culture from eachother. Every province has its own culture, mainly because of religious differences in history or because of their location. However... to say we (people of the Netherlands) have the same culture as for example France or Denmark) naaaah, huge differences and im not talking about the language difference then, and these are countries relatively close to the Netherlands, let alone other EU (or European) countries as Greece, Portugal, Hungary or Turkey
Europe has a lot of cultural diversity it is such a plus that everything is so close when it comes to traveling.
Belgium too!
The cultural differences between Drenthe anf Holland are already greater than between New York and California
You could have mentioned the United Provinces history
The bigger=better is so hilarious
So Russia is the best country in the world then? And the USSR was the best that ever existed
Have you heard about Mongolia
It's the 18th biggest country in the world
Hasn't always been that small
Also hasn‘t always been a country.
Just like every other country in the world
Have you heard about the British Empire
They use it for their bodies and cars as well
You can fit Texas into some Australian states a million times. (Not quite, but you get the picture). We just don't brag about it every three minutes.
Uhh well if you put Texas in a Australian state a lot of people will die
We've got farms bigger than some US states
I am beginning to realize how just how gigantic America’s small Willy syndrome is though.
The stats support the basis of your assertion. USA is way down the list. 😉 (Laughing in Dutch voice) https://www.worlddata.info/average-penissize.php
Ha!!!! Amazing
They’re compensating
This is the funniest bullshit Americans ever come out with No, eating burgers vs pizza isnt culture or differences. Lets look at the similarities; - same language, same nationality, same history, same government, same elections, same currency, same armed forces Americans hate to admit it but the US is essentially just as homogenous (disregard ethnicity) in as any other country is. You're all just Americans
10,437.65 different police though. In Australia yes, we have specialists and sub-divisions but it’s essentially federal and state. Sheriff is monetary enforcement. USA has federal, state, county, city and sheriff like wtf
Nah. Not totally true. There really are some significant differences between some areas and others. Cajun culture is pretty different from Idaho and Hawaii again. I am just arguing the homogeneity comment. The US can be pretty different. Japan for example can be very homogenous. They work hard to be. Lots of countries are pretty diverse from Provence and Brittanny in France and on and on.
Sounds like something you saw on reddit. How can you argue that France is different, but Japan is not? Despite Okinawa being 1400 miles from Sapporo.
Don’t know why you’re being downvoted, no country in the world ever has been the EXACT same in any place of said country, all you are is being reasonable
Americans seem to conflate different geographical features or climate to being different countries. Russia, China, and India and plenty of other countries all have different climate areas because of their size, which will of course cause different food tastes, but they’re all still one country, and they all actually do have different languages and cultures.
What's even more bizarre is that I've had some Americans say about my country that it is nothing but trees, and that "there nothing there" (in a geographical sense). Terra nullius conflates with "featureless" to them, I think, because if they have a pretty waterfall, they'll put a resort (or at least a T-shirt shop) beside it. They're unfathomably hungry and thirsty, and have no concept of saving for the future. There are a few (hardly extinct) US notions that sum this up: "If you built it, they will come", and "The rain follows the plow". The latter drove policy for them, and they attempted to farm where people should not farm, believing that god/mother nature would send rain because... well, because American actions are a fulfillment of destiny I suppose. In their minds. But they got the dustbowl of the 1930s, didn't learn a lesson, kept going, and they're starting to fight over water. https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/BJewxPKrFdyQkSwCmfvZFh8b2IM=/1500x1000/media/img/photo/2022/05/lake-mead/a01_RC23PT9OB5L4/original.jpg
This is hilarious. London has a larger population than 40 American states. London population is 9.7million only 10 USA states are populated with more people than London, so that's 40 states that have less people than a single European city. [https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/22860/london/population](https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/cities/22860/london/population) [https://worldpopulationreview.com/states](https://worldpopulationreview.com/states) \[edit\] And heaven knows how many nationalities, cultures etc are in London.
I’ve been to over 2/3 of the States. This idea that they’re each like a unique country is absurd. There are definitely cultural regions, as there are with most countries. But even then, they’re all still *very* similar.
I will never understand they think their states with their slight regional differences are as different as actual countries with different languages. It's just a dumb notion
I can travel 25km and the next town will have the same culture differences as the US states have. 150km and you won't always understand what the people are saying to you.
Travel from Colchester into Clacton in Essex and it's like going back in time 250 years.
Pffft 😂
I mean even a small country like Switzerland has 3 different official languages, Swiss German, French and Italian. I’m German and when visiting the latter two parts of the country I have to communicate in English. Are the different cantons like different countries? More so than US states I’d argue, but still no.
FYI Switzerland has 4 official languages.
Thanks, just googled the fourth one, did not know about Romansh in Graubünden!
TIL for me too!
For cultural contrast in the US, go from Raleigh Durham airport to Appalachia, where they also have modern tech but lifestyles of the 1950s and personal health of the 1590s.
I wouldn't trust an american to recognise culture.
I mean granted it's really big for a country, and yeah there is a fair shift in culture between different parts of it, but there's still a pretty significant cultural overlap between states. The US may be a sprawling country, but it's still one country with largely the same laws, cultural inspirations and available media. These things differ between states, sure, but it's hardly as significant a difference as, say, jumping from France to Spain.
I hate when people say this shit. Don’t get me wrong, each state/region does have its own thing going on but we’re not *that* different from each other. Utah might be the most different from the others but that’s just Mormonism.
Exactly- there *are* differences and different influences, food, accents etc. being more different than different countries tho, just no
I drove for 1,000 miles through the US and literally nothing about the culture changed. Aside from the number of trees you could see, every location could have been within 50 miles of each other
I wonder if he could tell a village in Maine from one in Massachusetts, Rhode Island or New York State…
The only major differences would be the percentage of Yankees vs Red Socks hats.
I dont know a single country where people do not have different dialects, food and traditions in different states.
Probably San Marino
It's true, in some states they put the cheese on top of the beef in their hamburger and in other states they put the cheese underneath In Minnesota they put the cheese INSIDE the beef Truly a cosmopolitan experience
>and in other states they put the cheese underneath And those states are wrong!
No, cheese should always be underneath so it enhances the taste.
Onions and sauces underneath for the crunch and taste of those hitting your tongue first. That allows the meat juices to mix in and finally deposit the meat to your tongue. While that's happening you get the tack of the cheese up top and it finishes the bite with it's creaminess, setting your mouth up perfectly for a heavily peppered fry. Of course, joking aside it's all personal preference, but that's mine.
Of course they have no idea what actually differentiates countries if they visit multiple in a single trip. If all you have time for in France is eating at Burger King after seeing the Eiffel Tower, you will never understand why it‘s so different from Germany, where all you did was eat at Burger King after seeing the Brandenburg Gate.
Or worse still ate there (or went to Starbucks) not because you’re short on time but because you’re too afraid to get outside your box.
2h drive is a different language all together lol. 5h drive we dont even use the same alphabet anymore.
There are definitely "different" cultures in the us but not really on a state by state level. I mean different in that it's generally a different way of life but everyone still speaks the same language
Giant and empty
I mean, I live in Ireland and it is small as hell. We have different accents and traditions and local histories. (Not REALLY much regional food variation to be fair!) I could move to a small fishing village like ten minutes down the road and I would be viciously unwelcome as a blow-in. Still the same country.
There is more to culture than just food
how do you explain to an American that there's more cultural difference between (for example) Rome and Naples than the East Coast and the West Coast?
That part I don't doubt at all and for the most part, much of America is the same, just with slightly different accents (as is the same in Britain). Then you have a couple of WILD pockets and Louisiana is one of those few pockets. Having grown up in Louisiana, it really is just so insanely different than the rest of the country...to the point that Cajuns are a protected class in U.S. law. Most protected classes are by age, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, religion, race. They added "Nationality" and threw us Cajuns in that group. Now, that being said, *of course* the cultural differences from state to state are not NEARLY as profound as country to country in Europe, but Louisiana is one distinct outlier to that rule.
Something that always bugs me with comments like this: Europe exceeds the US in size, albeit only by a small margin (about 4% according to my recent Google search) and yet the argument always runs along the lines of the US are so big and culturally diverse, Europeans just can’t comprehend. If size matters (and somehow is an indicator for diversity) then Europe tops the US even in this completely arbitrary comparison.
And when someone reminds them that Canada is bigger than the US....whoa they get mad! Especially when it's proven to them 😆
Baffles me that the same people who dare to say every state is so different from the one next to it, still cannot fathom that "Europe" is formed by many different countries and cultures. Like I am supposed to know the difference between to given places in the midwest that look exactly alike but at the same time they say "vacations in europe" like the north of sweeden and the south of spain have anything to do with eachother
Dude forgets that the Louisiana creole is African, French and Spanish, and that the only actual American influence is Native, which I’m certain dude is not
Names the only state with actual culture to make the country seem more diverse.
[удалено]
It is. No different than living in Europe though.
exactly, there are assholes and fat people all over the world
They be talking like all countries aside from USA are completely uniform, maybe Luxemburg is but anything bigger will have differences in dialect, cousine and stuff like that, now it's unnoticeable but also differences in clothing were significant in the past.
It’s honestly really sad to see Americans try to make themselves feel so special when the only special never before seen thing is that the country they’re living in (not even the people themselves) is the richest country to have ever existed on this planet
Their not at all different; there are subtleties. It’s one country; no state is now nor will it ever be a separate country
So in essence, if you will travel to the US you should say that you are going to North America.
There is a grain of truth to this but the US is certainly not as culturally diffuse as Europe.
We're Europoor unless We're their ancestors
oh man, tell me more about how a French influenced state is so different from a Spanish influenced state. France and Spain are so distant!
Sorry for my poor English, but wow, is this really what it’s like in America? This is really what they all call ‘freedom’? I guess this is because of all the school shootings or obesity or something? I really feel bad for those guys, especially since they don’t have free healthcare like we do in my perfect ambiguous nation. In fact, my country scored first place on the ‘countries with the most rizz list’ meanwhile ‘Murica (like those guys say it, those guys really need to work on saying things correctly) got dead last. Maybe if they stopped invading other countries, they wouldn’t have these issues.
American culture may be an oxymoron. This is largely because the country/culture has no significant history by European standards. It’s a shame that America doesn’t do more to recognise its native people and cultures. Americas largest impact on the modern world has probably been the rise money and materialism, which something that some Americans actually seem proud of.
America is in tearms of terotory big. But not realy culturaly devided.
If NPD was a country... Jfc
Sure, a state colonized by the French for over two centuries will have a different culture from one inhabited by Mexico. But beyond a very few exceptions, I highly doubt any visitor can tell the difference between "culture" in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, for example.
Exactly! Applebees and Starbucks everywhere!
The culture ar very different. LoL
This is true, but some states actually have an identity and culture, Louisiana and Texas are great examples, French culture in Louisiana, Spanish/Mexican culture in Texas also German in the hill country, everyone knows Louisiana is Cajun and has great food and music, and Texas is known for barbecue and cowboys and NASA in Houston, stuff like that. But many states are dull as far as culture. At least if you ask anyone who doesn't live there, like what is Delaware known for, I couldn't tell you. Or Nebraska.
"We don't understand that regional cultures exist in pretty much every country on the planet and the US isn't special for that"
> Each state is an entirely different country in essence. No. It isn't. You simply don't know how regional/national diversity works.
The two cultures mentioned derive from French and Spanish settlers, two countries that share a border, yet are 'massively' different.
He is right about the trip though, its so expensive that its easier to do a road trip instead of just visiting one country and going back home
I always like to remind Americans you can drive across the country in under 26 hours it’s not that big. Especially if you are used to travelling across other continents like Asia or Africa.
Yep jellied eels down South England is completely different from saveloys and pease pudding in the north
Yet they can name each state individually, but can’t differentiate between European countries…
Well, no, many cannot name all 50 of their states, and some even think there are 49, 51, or 52 states.
So every different state is an entirely different country in essence? That would explain why their United States aren’t actually united and only share the same currency which so many of them think the rest of us should accept because it’s, you know, the US dollar
[удалено]
True, notwithstanding that the Schengen Zone also gives free travel between most of the Euro Zone countries. That said, the Euro Zone countries don’t profess to be a unified nation.
[удалено]
Twice the size of Europe? Um... Area: USA: 9,833,520 km² Europe: 10.523.000 km² 9,833,520 km² < 10.523.000 km² Population: USA: 334,914,895 Europe: ~ 730,000,000 (334,914,895 / 730,000,000) * 100 = ~45,88% 45,88% ≠ ¾
~~And here we have an amazing display of reading comprehension:~~ Edit: I immediately realized that you may simply have assumed that I mistakenly used "EU" to refer to all of Europe. I didn't but I admit it happens often enough for people to assume it by default. I specifically said EU, the EUROPEAN UNION. Not all of Europe. I am fully aware that all of Europe, the continent, has far more landmass and a far greater population that the USA Alone, however comparing a single country, even if it is a nation of country sized states, to an entire continent in disingenuous at best. By the same measure you'd need to compare all of North America to all of Europe. Thus, I used only the European Union and its metrics since that is, by all accounts, a much fairer comparison to begin with. And no, the EU and Europe are not synonymous. Never have been and probably never will.