People Talk About the Thing That Seems Totally Normal in Their Country, but Weird Everywhere Else

Every place in the world has its own quirks. It makes it feel like home to the people who live there, even if they never really take the time to think about the things that makes their country unique.

For this Askreddit, though, people were digging deep to think up the things they take for granted that would totally cause anyone else in the world to stop and go hmmmmm?

15. I was not a fan of the food in Ireland.

Blood pudding and fermented fish

14. Do you want to have some Golden Gay Time?

It is an ice cream in Australia, called Golden Gay Time as in Golden Happy Time. It is pretty delish.

13. Any way food gets into my face is okay by me.

Eating with our hands.

In 1969 (the same year the man landed on the moon), Miss Gloria Diaz coveted the Philippines’ first Miss Universe Crown. During the preliminary Q&A, she was asked “Is it true that you Filipinos use your hand when you eat?” To which she replied “Why? Do you use your feet?” and went her way to winning the crown.

12. They mean traffic lights, but I get the distrust.

I moved to Namibia from Canada years ago and people kept saying “just head to the top of the hill and turn left at the robots”. It took me about three months to stop looking for weird robot signs or statues, cause that’s what I figured they were getting at.

11. Why are those cracks there, anyway?

The cracks that are just wide enough to be able to see in and out of public restroom stalls. (United States) I’ve heard it’s thought of as weird since many other countries enjoy the luxury of privacy.

10. It’s a thing in the Philippines.

Having Spaghetti in McDonalds.

9. Americans are real prudes, you guys.

Going into the sauna naked while sharing the sauna with the other sex(es).

It’s about Germany but we always welcome the Finnish, origin of a welcome invention. As this got somewhat hijacked about Finnish sauna culture, German sauna culture is very easy:

In public saunas usually everyone is naked. If you feel uncomfortable, you can wrap a towel around your waist and/or chest. Between sittings you’d usually wear a robe.

Most public saunas have half a day or more during the week reserved to female only. Check their website for details on that, if you are interested.

Be prepared that it will get crowded in the sauna when “Aufguss” are scheduled. Aufguss is the process of throwing scented water on the heater to increase humidity.

I don’t know a public sauna where swimsuits are allowed. If there are pools, you’d swim naked but you can wear swimsuits there if you want to.

As long as you are in the sauna, you don’t want to get too romantic with your spouse or whoever you are with.

There is a difference between nudity and promiscuity. There are special clubs reserved for that. (I was asked to tell that these are so called sauna clubs. Hence I called them clubs. Basically those are brothels.)

In hotels you will often find a small sauna. Unwritten law is, the first to enter the sauna decides if it’s fine to be naked. But in hotel saunas it’s way more common to wear a towel than in public saunas.

Private saunas of course are up to the owners and/or users. Do what you are comfortable with – naked or towel.

8. I sure wish that it wasn’t, though.

Men holding hands in public as a display of friendship is normal in Afghanistan but super weird in the west.

7. You leave your baby outside to nap.

My daughter was born in Copenhagen Denmark (Frederiksberg actually). We lived there for a few years after she was born. We learned from our Danish friends to let her sleep outside in the back garden of our flat in her pram during snowfalls. We kept an eye on her from the window. It was very soothing to her, and she would sleep very soundly. Sometimes when we would go out to check on her we would find her awake but quiet, just watching the snow falling around her. Some of my fondest memories of her time as a baby.

It’s such a pure experience of love that it makes my heart ache to recall it. That was almost 18 years ago but I still have crystal clear memories of her lying in the pram with snowflakes falling all around her little face. She would turn her head and smile at me for a moment and go back to looking up at the snow. I will never forget it.

6. I’m sorry, where do these birds live again?

Putting cable ties, branches, fake eyes etc on helmets, buckets and hats in spring time to scare away the birds. Magpies are vicious bastards

5. I hear this often works out better than choosing for yourself.

Marrying someone without knowing them and only seeing their face once the marriage is agreed on.

4. South/Central America FTW (though I’ve seen this in New Orleans, too).

Putting broken glass bottles on the walls around your house so burglars cant jump it and rob you. I moved to Canada and they don’t even have walls around the houses!

3. I bet American professors would actually love this.

In university we thump the tables to “applaud” our professors. Instead of actually applauding. Or doing nothing.

During my exchange semester everyone not from Germany was looking at me confused why I did this.

2. Hahaha that British sense of humor again.

Whole restaurants cheering when a plate or glass is smashed (UK). Once was in a Canadian bar/restaurant on holiday and a waiter dropped a tray of glasses, the local looked horrified when i was out of my seat screaming “wheyyyyyy”

1. I mean, again. Americans are real prudes.

Cunt is a term of endearment.

I love reading about little things like this – it really reminds you how much diversity of experience is out there.

Please, add something from your country to the list!

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July 10, 2019

People Share the Things They Didn’t Know Were “So American” Until They Traveled Outside the U.S.

You ever travel outside of the U.S. and people immediately have you pegged as an American? I personally think most Americans get a pretty bad rap as travelers due to a very select few who are ignorant and obnoxious. But I also think we are not nearly as bad as some other travelers abroad.

Here are 15 things you might not realize make you stand out as “totally American” in countries across the pond.

#15. Ketchup isn’t free.

“At a buffet in Germany, I had to pay for ketchup.”

#14. The size of cars.

“I did an art history course in Italy. What really stood out to me was the size of cars over there. Over here you have a mix of mid sized sedans and pick up trucks/SUV’S, with the occasional compact car (back when I went compact cars here were incredibly scarce). Over there, it seemed like most everyone drove a compact car, with the occasional sports car. I remember counting six pickup trucks in the 10 days I was there (for comparison, I can name more than 6 people I know with a pick up here).”

#13. The whole of Ireland.

“Massively wide roads/lanes. The whole of Ireland made me feel claustrophobic, but when I got back home the roads felt like way too much wasted space.”

#12. Constantly refilled.

“Having your drink constantly refilled ay restaurants. I just wanna drink a ton of water alright?”

#11. Violently American.

“Tailgates. I’ve lived in the states my entire life, but when my Spanish girlfriend came to visit I wasn’t sure what I could show her that really exhibited American culture. There are plenty of American stereotypes you see on TV, but it wasn’t until I took her to a tailgate that I realized how violently American the whole experience is. A huge parking lot full of drunk twenty year olds bouncing on trucks bigger than most European apartments, with half the trucks blaring country, and the other half blasting rap. Solo cups and beer cans all over the place, grills, corn hole, etc. I’ve traveled to quite a few different countries, and I can’t really see a tailgate happening most other places.”

#10. American flavored.

“Ranch flavor Doritos in the Netherlands are called “Cool American” flavor.”

#9. Drive-thrus.

“I’m from northern europe but have visited USA couple of times. Their love for SUV cars and drive-thru is unreal, like there is a dunkin, subway and three kinds of fast food place next to each other and all of them have a drive-thru.

Edit: meant drive-thru, not drive-in.”

#8. A made-up crime.

“Jaywalking. The rest of the world thinks this is a made-up crime you only see in movies with corrupt cops.”

#7. Yes it is.

“I’ve never been abroad. Is that American enough?”

#6. Portion size.

“Portion sizes.

My high school senior trip to London, as a typically ravenous appetite 18 year old, I couldn’t get over how small everything was standard.”

#5. I think you underestimate the size of our avocados.

“Small avocados.

Went to puerto rico. Was like, ‘yo ill have like 6 of those stuffed avocados’. Buddy was like, ‘yo gringo, i think you underestimate the size of our avocados here. Just have one and ill being you more if you want after’.

I had half of one. It was like a football.”

#4. Types of soda.

“Getting to choose from like 50 different types and subtypes of sodas.

Hearing commercials advocating you to go to the doctor and demand a prescription for whatever fantasy pill is new to the market on the radio like it is no big deal.”

#3. How large grocery stores are.

“how large grocery stores are here. My wife is not american and we lived in China and were in HK all the time… they had large international stores that were great and she didnt really grasp the size of american grocery stores till our first week in the USA and there’s 150 feet of cereals on one aisle”

#2. Being loud.

“The stereotype about us being loud is true. I never thought of myself as being loud until I went abroad and would hang up the phone after speaking in what I thought was appropriate volume to find everyone around me was staring at me, and realized how much more quiet they were lol whoops”

#1. Smiling and being friendly.

“I moved to England from Texas about six years ago. One of the major things that I noticed was that smiling and being friendly towards strangers was considered bizarre. This is a bit true in any metropolitan area, but especially in the UK. In Texas I was used to smiling at people, asking for directions if I needed them, and being friendly towards strangers. I learned very quickly that smiling at someone on the tube, or asking someone for directions on the street immediately makes someone think you’re trying to scam/rob them or you’re crazy.”

Go ahead and travel anyway. People are generally forgiving.

The post People Share the Things They Didn’t Know Were “So American” Until They Traveled Outside the U.S. appeared first on UberFacts.

March 13, 2019

15 Things People Didn’t Realize Were “So American” Until They Traveled Outside America

Americans: you may not realize it, but there are a lot of things you do that are considered totally weird around the rest of the world. Things like smiling all the time, or tipping. Who knew, right?

Here are 15 more things you might not realize make you stand out as “totally American” in countries across the pond.

#1. Constantly refilled.

“Having your drink constantly refilled ay restaurants. I just wanna drink a ton of water alright?”

#2. Being loud.

“The stereotype about us being loud is true. I never thought of myself as being loud until I went abroad and would hang up the phone after speaking in what I thought was appropriate volume to find everyone around me was staring at me, and realized how much more quiet they were lol whoops”

#3. Smiling and being friendly.

“I moved to England from Texas about six years ago. One of the major things that I noticed was that smiling and being friendly towards strangers was considered bizarre. This is a bit true in any metropolitan area, but especially in the UK. In Texas I was used to smiling at people, asking for directions if I needed them, and being friendly towards strangers. I learned very quickly that smiling at someone on the tube, or asking someone for directions on the street immediately makes someone think you’re trying to scam/rob them or you’re crazy.”

#4. Drive-thrus.

“I’m from northern europe but have visited USA couple of times. Their love for SUV cars and drive-thru is unreal, like there is a dunkin, subway and three kinds of fast food place next to each other and all of them have a drive-thru.

Edit: meant drive-thru, not drive-in.”

#5. A made-up crime.

“Jaywalking. The rest of the world thinks this is a made-up crime you only see in movies with corrupt cops.”

#6. Yes it is.

“I’ve never been abroad. Is that American enough?”

#7. Violently American.

“Tailgates. I’ve lived in the states my entire life, but when my Spanish girlfriend came to visit I wasn’t sure what I could show her that really exhibited American culture. There are plenty of American stereotypes you see on TV, but it wasn’t until I took her to a tailgate that I realized how violently American the whole experience is. A huge parking lot full of drunk twenty year olds bouncing on trucks bigger than most European apartments, with half the trucks blaring country, and the other half blasting rap. Solo cups and beer cans all over the place, grills, corn hole, etc. I’ve traveled to quite a few different countries, and I can’t really see a tailgate happening most other places.”

#8. American flavored.

“Ranch flavor Doritos in the Netherlands are called “Cool American” flavor.”

#9. How large grocery stores are.

“how large grocery stores are here. My wife is not american and we lived in China and were in HK all the time… they had large international stores that were great and she didnt really grasp the size of american grocery stores till our first week in the USA and there’s 150 feet of cereals on one aisle”

#10. Ketchup isn’t free.

“At a buffet in Germany, I had to pay for ketchup.”

#11. The size of cars.

“I did an art history course in Italy. What really stood out to me was the size of cars over there. Over here you have a mix of mid sized sedans and pick up trucks/SUV’S, with the occasional compact car (back when I went compact cars here were incredibly scarce). Over there, it seemed like most everyone drove a compact car, with the occasional sports car. I remember counting six pickup trucks in the 10 days I was there (for comparison, I can name more than 6 people I know with a pick up here).”

#12. The whole of Ireland.

“Massively wide roads/lanes. The whole of Ireland made me feel claustrophobic, but when I got back home the roads felt like way too much wasted space.”

#13. Portion size.

“Portion sizes.

My high school senior trip to London, as a typically ravenous appetite 18 year old, I couldn’t get over how small everything was standard.”

#14. I think you underestimate the size of our avocados.

“Small avocados.

Went to puerto rico. Was like, ‘yo ill have like 6 of those stuffed avocados’. Buddy was like, ‘yo gringo, i think you underestimate the size of our avocados here. Just have one and ill being you more if you want after’.

I had half of one. It was like a football.”

#15. Types of soda.

“Getting to choose from like 50 different types and subtypes of sodas.

Hearing commercials advocating you to go to the doctor and demand a prescription for whatever fantasy pill is new to the market on the radio like it is no big deal.”

Go ahead and travel anyway. People are generally forgiving.

The post 15 Things People Didn’t Realize Were “So American” Until They Traveled Outside America appeared first on UberFacts.