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[kick51]

and still, none of them indicate which region they were in when they observed this, so some of the observations sound off to people living in other regions.

do other parts of the world not have variance within borders?

 

[Diablos]

Extreme sensitiveness towards race and religion. People tend to be very sensitive about racial and religious topics. I was embarrassed to ask a Costco employee where the white chocolate was because I was afraid she would tell me I was a racist.

lmao

 

[Subitai]

People being surprised by adoption is just depressing



But it made me LOL that someone would be surprised by this

I and my siblings are hispanics adopted to white people =)

Also, I just saw on ESPN that the Adidas sold more Mexican kits in US than the Nike did of American kits.


Americans care about the FIFA World Cup like they care about the Olympics every 2 years.

 

[IISANDERII]

I like how they kept the writing and didn't edit them. Reminded me of a surprising thing of my own: That foreigners with a basic grasp of English are often better at writing than those born here in North America.

 

[Joni]

People being surprised by adoption is just depressing

Adoption is more a 'can't get children, adopt them' thing here in Europe. Adopting a kid takes a lot of time in Europe, especially because most adaptions are from other countries. That really complicates things. As such, most people get put off by the process. Combined with the fact most people here are happy with 1-2 children people with their own kids won't really have a driving factor to adopt another.

 

[faridmon]

A lot of these just sound like any western country.

Not really.

No one cares for religion in many parts of Europe., for instance.

 

[TedNindo]

Everything in the OP are observations I myself made while staying in the US.
And I understand where all those observations are coming from in the article.

It's often part of the reason I tend to have a hard time expressing my viewpoint on some issues while discussing things with Americans.
We often have a very different point of view because of the surroundings we grew up in.

Zwarte Piet comes to mind.

Belgian btw.

This one stood out for me.


Was really really weird as first.

I've also had that experience and it was really awkward. Maybe it's because here the pacing is a lot slower in restaurants? I don't know. But I've experienced this in other countries as well.

 

[Alucrid]

This one stood out for me.


Was really really weird as first.

1. clearing plates is generally to make room for the next course
2. i've never had a waiter bring me a check without asking first

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

I find the casual European dismissal of race-related topics in America condescending, ignorant, and often reeking of societal privilege. Why don't we ask the Roma and North Africans how great race relations are in Western Europe?

 

[NH Apache]

1. clearing plates is generally to make room for the next course
2. i've never had a waiter bring me a check without asking first

At many places (Bubba Gumps, Applebees, etc) the server is taught to drop check on the checkback as a convenience to the customer.

There is almost no public transportation except in a few large cities. People actually have to have cars to get places. Cars are necessity, not luxury.

Essentially all cities in the US have a public transportation system, even most suburbs. That's just not true. Now, the quality of such systems is another story.

 

[AndyD]

Having grown up in Eastern Europe and moved to the US, I can vouch for a large number of those being true from personal experience.

 

[gaugebozo]

Walmart (and other big supermarkets) – So much stuff for so little price. $2.99 for a pint of Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry. $6 for 24 cans of coke. Why get a $8 Hershey syrup if you can get TWO for $10.

NOW you're thinking like an American!

 

[ArtistDude88]

A fun read.

I liked the bit about tipping for being gracious enough to cut her hair.

 

[vas_a_morir]

Common in most deeply reactionary states- I saw them all over Indiana when I drove through that state- you don't see that many in the Carolinas unless you go to the rural parts.

I am from NKY, and I've never seen one. That would scare the shit outta me.

 

[Lautaro]

This is where America shines far above other developed nations in my opinion. It's inherently diverse, and much of the equality and diversity legislation and values found in Europe are a direct consequence of US experiences and legislation.

Which European country would elect a black president/prime minister?

So you didn't choose him to demonstrate that you aren't racist anymore? good to know...

Anyway, when you choose an atheist president you can say you are "far above".

 

[Joni]

Anyway, when you choose an atheist president you can say you are "far above".

Or gay or a woman or an immigrant. Still four boxes to check.

 

[Parallax]

Or gay or a woman or an immigrant. Still four boxes to check.

Last I checked, immigrants couldn't become president

 

[Joni]

Last I checked, immigrants couldn't become US president

Indeed.

 

[Akuun]

The more I read and learn about racial issues on GAF, the more I think it's not stupid. It really feels like it can be a minefield sometimes where something a foreigner can not possibly have a clue about can trigger an unwanted response. There are racial stereotypes like eating chicken, watermelon or the culture about kool aid, that seem a common knowledge in the US that I have not even dreamed about when I lived in Europe.

I agree. A lot of "obviously racist" things in the US are unknown elsewhere.

When I watched the second Harold and Kumar movie, I didn't get a lot of the racist things that one guy did, like the grape drink thing. I understood he was being racist because of what was happening around him, but I had no idea why.

 

[NekoFever]

I like how they kept the writing and didn't edit them. Reminded me of a surprising thing of my own: That foreigners with a basic grasp of English are often better at writing than those born here in North America.

It goes for everywhere. Native speakers pick up language by ear and learn the mistakes of their parents and others around them. People who learn it in school are actually taught the rules of grammar and the like by a professional who knows what they're talking about. That's why stuff that sounds right but doesn't when you see it written down or think about the construction of the sentence (e.g. "for all intensive purposes") gets traction in the US.

I work in an office with people from all over the world and, in general, I'd say the written English of the non-native speakers is better. There aren't any drooling morons who type in text speak or anything, but I see the Brits and Americans making more silly but common grammatical mistakes.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

What do you put in such a museum?

Lies.

Adoption is more a 'can't get children, adopt them' thing here in Europe. Adopting a kid takes a lot of time in Europe, especially because most adaptions are from other countries. That really complicates things. As such, most people get put off by the process. Combined with the fact most people here are happy with 1-2 children people with their own kids won't really have a driving factor to adopt another.

This is pretty much verbatim the case in the US (minus the "from other countries" part which does happen). I'm wondering what specifically they thought was weird about it.

 

[WanderingWind]

Just having moved from Murica to Germany, I'm getting a kick out of some of these. Some are true, some...not so much. The biggest thing that sticks out to me is how much different a persons experience of America would be if they visited say, LA versus Louisiana or Hawaii versus Indiana. I'm not seeing the enormous differences in say, Dusseldorf to Stuttgart or Nuremberg. They each have their own individual places that are unique, but overall the cultural differences don't seem readily apparent.

Oh, and nothing is drive through and you can walk everywhere here. And the transit system is magical. It's like the complexity of NYC's subways mixed with actually fucking showing up on goddamn time. And not smelling like piss.

 

[Dali]

Some are interesting but a few just make me think "did you think this through before typing?" Primarily the genius that didn't understand why Americans would be confused by his/her references to items using British English.

The "no one walks anywhere" followed by "its too big a: a car is a necessity" combo from the Russian could have probably been worded better as well.

 

[poppabk]

This is where America shines far above other developed nations in my opinion. It's inherently diverse, and much of the equality and diversity legislation and values found in Europe are a direct consequence of US experiences and legislation.

Which European country would elect a black president/prime minister?

From slavery, racial segregation, gender discrimination through same sex marriage the US seems to be pretty slow on adopting legislation towards equality. What legislation are you thinking about?

 

[TedNindo]

This is where America shines far above other developed nations in my opinion. It's inherently diverse, and much of the equality and diversity legislation and values found in Europe are a direct consequence of US experiences and legislation.

Which European country would elect a black president/prime minister?

Belgium has a gay prime minister.

 

[DyTonic]

Nothing but stress..

 

[UltimaPooh]

Despite our disadvantages during this economy this article does help put into perspective a lot of things.

Which is important every now and again.

I mean that one dude pointed out that we have an entire course dedicated to dessert.

 

[mantidor]

I'm also wondering about how exactly are fruits more expensive. In my country you can get a big box full of tangerines for less than $5 dollars. Supermarkets are more expensive, but it doesn't go above $10 dollars.

 

[jay]

I rather liked 'You guys from somewhere? '

It took all my willpower not to say '...no'

I was asked these :

- do you have THE MOON in Europe ?

Between these two posts, I'm nearly crying from laughing so much.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

I think the last one is less to do with how the country actually is compared to something FOX news said is real.

Hey foreigners (me included), if you gonna live in the USA you can't be watching FOX news! It'll warp your perceptions of the county before you've discovered them yourself.

 

[Dali]

Despite our disadvantages during this economy this article does help put into perspective a lot of things.

Which is important every now and again.

I mean that one dude pointed out that we have an entire course dedicated to dessert.

But he also made it seem like the norm. I haven't eaten dessert in ages. The only time nowadays I have dessert instead just a random sweet is at formal meals like t-giving.

 

[Xis]

I am from NKY, and I've never seen one. That would scare the shit outta me.

If NKY = Northern Kentucky, then you live right by the Cincinnati Creation Museum.

I live in Dayton, Ohio. There are Jesus signs between Dayton and Columbus ("JESUS IS REAL") and also between Dayton and Cincinnati, not to mention the 20-foot tall Jesus statue off of I-75.

 

[Wilsongt]

My own experiences visiting Hawaii:

- Americans have so big heads, it's like american bodies are made differently than european.

- So much fat, I've never seen so many absurdly fat people as when I visited Hawaii, even though I knew about it, it was still a shock to me.

- Americans are very good at expressing themselves and at least to me doesn't seem to care as much what other people think about them compared to swedes for example.

Well... Hawaii is sort of it's own little place in America. It has it's own culture and look to it that's quite different from the mainland 48.

 

[Joni]

Belgium has a gay prime minister.

Born to Italian immigrants who moved here to act as cheap labour for the jobs the Belgians didn't want to do. As such they were the same race, but were looked down upon for doing the stuff that was 'too low' for 'us Belgians'.

 

[Bel Marduk]

Honestly, most of these observations seem to be about the rural U.S.

There is a big difference between social attitudes in Seattle and Opelika, Alabama.

 

[Arjen]

Despite our disadvantages during this economy this article does help put into perspective a lot of things.

Which is important every now and again.

I mean that one dude pointed out that we have an entire course dedicated to dessert.

We have a dessert course as wel, because dessert is awesome

 

[BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO]

It's always cool seeing a foreigner's perspective of America.

I live in Dayton, Ohio.

*bro fist*

 

[poppabk]

The biggest one that caught me out when I first moved to the US was the paying for incoming calls and texts. I got a pay as you go phone and found myself out of minutes even though I had made no calls. I was shocked when I learned the reason.

 

[CloudWolf]

i've never had a waiter bring me a check without asking first

I have. It made me feel like they wanted me out of there as soon as possible.

 

[alstein]

I am from NKY, and I've never seen one. That would scare the shit outta me.

It made me glad to not get stopped by a cop in that state.

 

[kick51]

the "hi" at every shop is true. I really notice it when shopping in the States. In Canada we are more likely to ignore you unless you ask for help. Americans in general tend to be eager to find a problem to solve. Part of the national psyche I think.

right, "the national psyche"

please define the national psyche

because I'm pretty sure that's just a funny way of saying everyone is the same here

 

[Angry Grimace]

Or gay or a woman or an immigrant. Still four boxes to check.

Call me in four years about that second one and especially call me when your country does either the first or the third.

It's like you contradict your first paragraph with your second. "I don't really know what country you're comparing it to" really proves my point. There are so many countries to compare to.

Consider all the other official multicultures: Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, etc. And then consider most of Europe which has active immigration policies.

The city with the largest amount of citizens born outside the country is Toronto. And check out this list of the most culturally diverse countries in the world: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...st-culturally-diverse-countries-in-the-world/

No it doesn't. You're being vague and then declaring you won an argument because nobody knows what you're talking about. My first point is that you don't really have a basis for saying that popular perception is anything.

You're essentially arguing someone else is wrong for not considering all of the countries and evidence you didn't bother to cite in the first place. Its a dirty rhetorical tactic.

Even assuming I had time traveled to now and knew you were talking about those specific countries, you're changing the context of that discussion and what you said. The city with the largest amount of citizens born outside the country doesn't necessarily relate to the conversation about racial diversity in the US at all. Its out of context in several respects; e.g. Toronto isn't all of Canada, Toronto isn't the rest of the world, and even assuming for the sake of argument, Canada was more diverse than the US, that doesn't prove any specific point about racial diversity and/or sensitivity in the US, nor does it provide insight into how Americans view diversity in other countries. Moreover, immigration policies don't have anything to do with civil rights and racism in America either, nor does the mere existence of immigration policies say anything. Guess what? In 2011 the entire EU had 1.7 million non-EU immigrants. The US had 1.03 million in 2012.

 

[injurai]

I was in Georgia in 2007 shopping. Got my shopping and said "cheers" to the cashier.

"......are you British???"
"........yea"
"Omg they have black people in Britain???"

Not the first time I've had comments like that when in the states.

Reginald D. Hunter has a good comedic bit on this.

 

[Dali]

right, "the national psyche"

please define the national psyche

because I'm pretty sure that's just a funny way of saying everyone is the same here

Yeah it couldn't possibly be something imposed on them by corporate training manuals and aped by small business owners because " hey the much richer larger businesses are doing it so it must be the correct way! "

I'm sure the people at firehouse and cici's welcome you in unison because we all share the same national psyche, lol.

Edit: this is directed at the post that mentioned national psyche not yours, kick

 

[thomaser]

[*]Medical/Drug advertisement on TV...like every 3 adverts is about some new drug 2/3 of American people can't even afford due to the crazy costs of healthcare here.
[/LIST]

I was in USA for the first time three weeks ago, and this was the most alien thing to me. TV had a whole lot of drug ads. Where I live, drug ads on tv are banned.

Other than that, I felt almost at home with everything. But that was in NY, which might be more global and less stereotypically "American" than other places? And I didn't go to any fast food places or chain stores. Servers and cashiers were just like here: really nice some places, indifferent other places.

 

[Tenks]

Website should be renamed EuropeanCirclejerk.com

 

[Dude Abides]

I have. It made me feel like they wanted me out of there as soon as possible.

Are you European? Maybe they could tell and knew you'd fail to tip.

 

[SturokBGD]

The above point reminds me, that Americans find it very odd if people use different words than them, like British English for eg. people looked at me funny when I asked where the “Chemist” is (Drug Store). Biscuit (Cookie), Billing Counter (Cashier), Coriander (Cilantro), Petrol (Gas) are others.

I've been in Canada for 10 years (I'm from the UK) and this still bugs the shit out of me because the same thing doesn't happen in reverse.

It's frustrating when you use an English word in conversation with an English speaker and they just look at you like you've murdered their family. It's like nobody in North America understands context.

 

[Muffdraul]

Most of the things these people bring up are interesting and cool, but this one grinds my gears:

Americans find it very odd if people use different words than them, like British English for eg. people looked at me funny when I asked where the “Chemist” is (Drug Store). Biscuit (Cookie), Billing Counter (Cashier), Coriander (Cilantro), Petrol (Gas) are others.

Sorry lady, but we spend our entire lives here with the understanding that a "Chemist" is a guy in a white lab coat pouring chemicals from a test tube into a beaker. A "Biscuit" is a bread roll you eat with dinner. How the fuck are we supposed to just magically know that they mean completely different things to you? Idiot! Go back to Germania!

 

[Fotheringay]

the "hi" at every shop is true. I really notice it when shopping in the States. In Canada we are more likely to ignore you unless you ask for help. Americans in general tend to be eager to find a problem to solve. Part of the national psyche I think.

This is drilled into you by management at every low level retail job. Had a friend who worked at Best Buy get written up for not immediately greeting someone with a hello.