30 Weird Things Europeans Do From The Perspective Of An American, As Shared In This Online Community
People have different reactions to cultures they are not familiar with. They may judge it thinking it is wrong, they might accept it as it is or try to learn the logic behind it. The cultures people really like comparing is the general European culture and the culture in the United States that we colloquially call American. They are both considered The West but there are still small everyday things that we find weird about each other and this time Americans are pointing out the oddities of Europeans after someone asks “Americans, what do Europeans do that you find really weird?”
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Not weird, but I'm always pretty impressed by their grasp of languages. Here's Ivan straight outta the mean streets of Moscow who speaks better English than I do and he also speaks Portuguese and Mandarin
True. My grandmother was Polish and could speak so many languages! Likely because she married a British soldier who was then stationed all over the world. My biggest shock was when the pair of us were hunting for bargains at a jewellery stall and she started talking to the Middle Eastern seller in Arabic!
How most cities are walkable. You need a car everywhere in USA, no matter what.
The walkability if a city in the U.S. is largely determined by whether or not the car existed when the main infrastructure of the city was developed. Alot of the coastal city infrastructures predate the car so they are walkable while the further inland you go the less walkable most cities become because they were mostly developed after the car so built around the car. There are of course some exceptions.
In Paris, I was offered a seat on the metro when there was none every single time.( I'm a senior). Very seldom happens here.
You guys have hamburger flavored Cheetos in your "American Food" isle
Homie, we don't even have those.
Aww, this is cute. The Germans gave America hamburgers. The Americans gave Germany Cheetos. It's like The Gift of the Magi.
Germany gave Americans hamburgers, frankfurters, sauerkraut, pretzels, latkes and tons of great foods, and I'm grateful! Europeans brought their cuisine to the "New World" which had to be bastardized to reflect the availability of ingredients.. I don't think there is any true American food, only how we prepare it. Looking at French cuisine, I see slavic and Spanish influences more than any French originality. EXCEPT for the cheeses.
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In France, too, - lots of peanut (cacahuète) flavored snacks which are gross. I do enjoy that Lay's has a variety of flavored chips like roasted chicken, bolognaise, and, if I visit a certain store, I can get dill pickle flavored chips, which are divine!
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Considering the US has bacon flavored anything, this doesn't seem improbable.
Except we don't have bacon flavored anything. Y'all crack me up.
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We don't have those godawful pizza-hamburger-hotdog-whatever hybrids either, yet every label on those things tells you it's American. Most of the companies that make them aren't even in the US.
France does, mostly sold by Lidl. I just laugh when I see them and tell my children to avert their eyes because it's kinda a food obscenity.
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In the UK, there's something called the "Maryland cookie". A friend from Maryland looked at them and said they had never seen anything like that at home.
I love the difference in language in the same language - biscuit in the UK is a cookie, but in the US it's a bread.
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In the Netherlands we have this bright yellow Mad Sauce, a so called "American Fries Sauce". But I found out Americans have never heard of it, and the American way of eating fries is with ketchup. I really wonder why someone labeled this sauce as American... very funny! I really like it though, it has the consistency of mayonnaise, and the taste is garlicky and a bit sweet. The Dutch McDonald's restaurants also sell something like it, but they just call it fries sauce, and I find their version the yummiest!
There's even a condiment we call fry sauce, but it's a mix of ketchup and mayonnaise
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dude my partner in the UK says that they sell twinkie smoothies in an american food store we don't even have that in amerca like brooooooooo
That's just about every food from another country anywhere lol
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But the Mac & Cheese is authentic, I hope? I just recently discovered a grocery store with an American Isle, and finally I could taste the legendary Mac & Cheese I heard about. And I loved it, it's nothing like any pasta dish I had before, and it's indeed the ultimate comfort food!
They have? Hey! We have “American” shelves in some stores, but we don’t get that! All we get are Cracker Jacks, Poptarts and “pancake mix”, which I assume is what it’s called. Where are our hamburger flavoured Cheetos? Where are our Cheetos, for that matter? No fair!
Hamburger flavored cheetos? Not in Germany. But we have Peanut flavored ones. Seeing how crazy you mericans go for peanut butter, I could imagine they would be a hit.
Omg - I laugh every time I see "American" food in France and it's a horrible representation. It's obviously the French idea of what Americans eat, and generally it's the worst possible knock-off suited to the French palate (you know, the country that has Escoffier, Larousse, Bocuse, but can't be bothered to properly translate the cuisine like Child). My 1st year living in France, Old El Paso brand had just started marketing their foods, and the French were all "it's Mexicaine !" and I was, no, no, no- it's not Mexican, it's Texmex! And since the frenchy no likey the spicy, it was even worse than what OEP sells in the USA. I also want to add that I am so completely disappointed by pizza in France. Having eaten pizza in Italy and, of course, in the USA there's a lot of great pizza being made in the world, but in France, it's just "meh", which is disappointing since there's so many pizza shops. France is so close to Italy, but their pizza and pasta suck.
This is a pretty bad take all around Everywheres representation of other countries food sucks. That's just how it is. Sure it's texmex rather than Mexican, but that's not too different geographically for a European so it doesn't matter. We do this with Europe. What a shock, a country that doesn't have pizza as part of their food culture doesn't have good pizza.
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I've lived in the US for almost 23 years and I'm telling you for sure hamburger flavored Cheetos don't exist in the US.
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I lived in Europe for two years. One thing that stands out is people were much more fashion-conscious. I view clothes as a fabric that I am mandated to wear so that I am not arrested.
I can't remember if this is Ireland specific or a thing in the rest of Europe, but the bathroom light switch being outside of the door. Pray tell, Ireland, just how many times a father or a sibling has flicked the switch on and off or just straight up turned it off while you were doing your business?
Unironically and openly discriminate against Romani people while looking down on the US for their race issues.
I had couple close encounters with romani and both times they stole from me
I lined in Germany 3 years, I loved everything about it, except one thing; personal space doesn't exist in lines. I'd be standing in line at a store and the next person behind me is breathing down my neck.
Step back man.
Went across the pond for a deployment. Two things I noticed that were peculiar:
1. The amount of smoking. Europeans seem to smoke a lot more than Americans, and, unlike us, at face-value there don't seem to be discrepancies based on class or anything; *everyone* smokes.
2. The fascination with track suits. A lot of the guys loved track suits. Hell, I was surrounded by such track-suit exposure I wound up getting one myself (I love it)!
No judgement and nothing but love, y'all.
A lot of European cultures eat dinner so late at night. I can't image eating my dinner at 8 or 9 at night.
It seems to be more common in southern Europe, up here in the north we tend to eat earlier.
Specifically Germans (Berliners) in this case.
When you move, you take the kitchen with you. That is just mind boggling to me.
No one has screens on their windows in Europe. How do you open your window without getting a house full of bugs?
I do find it a bit odd that everyone sort of agrees nothing happens in August. Like, for a whole month, you better not need anything done - even doctors seem scarce.
EDIT: To be clear, August is the vacation month in many places in Europe. While August is a popular time to go away in the US, summer vacations seem more distributed through the school-less months. In Europe, however, it just seems understood no one will work in August (or at least a large part of it).
In the UK when I was a kid, we had "Miners fortnight" ...last week July and first week of August. Literally everything shut down so workers could have a holiday with their families. Called miners fortnight as there were so many of this industry right across the whole country. To be clear, most factories and manufacturers shut down for the same period! Historical now, but many of us nearing our half century remember it clearly
Leaving babies napping outside, alone, in cold weather.
(This is specifically aimed at the Scandinavians!)
I was in Denmark in November and it was a super windy, cold week (ranged from -6 degrees *to -9 degrees Celsius) and this honestly stunned me. I admire that people feel so safe that they can do it!
Edit: I know -6C isn’t super cold for Scandinavia, but I have low cold tolerance and it was also windy in Copenhagen
The babies are warmly clothed and aren't cold. Sleeping in fresh outside air strengthens the immune system and gives a better quality sleep
The fact that many can take two hours for lunch in the middle of a day and it is considered to be a norm
Sneezes get no reaction. I have since come around to their point of view, but for a minute there I was like WHERE ARE MY BLESSINGS??!?
I’m going to Europe on my honeymoon, and it’s been crazy to me how other countries just have open borders. I’m taking the ICE from Germany to France and there’s no border checks? It’s really fascinating to me.
Before the EU there were border checks, then they created a confederation to allow for the free movement of people and trade across europe, with most places using the same currency. The EU is moving closer and close to a US style Union of States every year with the more centralizing of power in Brussels and the EU even now forming their own EU military and military command
When you ask them “How are you doing?”. They think it’s a personal question instead of an american greeting.
You know, it kind of blows my mind that Europe has free education and free healthcare, but you can't get a drink of water or take a p**s without paying.
"Paying to pee" pays the person who cleans it an replenshes the tp, soap and stuff. Also, in most eu contries its illegal to deny an ask for a glass of water. I was never refused one, but hogging a table while not paying/consuming anything is not cool
B***h about Americans being loud and obnoxious when French people exist.
Keep eggs on the counter. I know they’re okay to eat, but it’s just so weird to me.
I worked at a spa and people all around the world would come
the europeans were so comfortable w getting naked like it's nothing
mind u this is 5 stars...celebs and ms universe models come to this spa, and europeans will walk naked like nothing
EDIT- personally I don't care about nudity BUT I can understand others not wanting to see ur junk...so it's not a sexual problem thing for me, I just don't wanna see it
EDIT 2- for the slow ones who keep saying "don't look"...I **worked** there and there was averagely 50+ naked men at attendant in the locker room...every corner you go they're there.
If people mind their own business and boundaries why not be naked? Being afraid of your own body is tiring
Accepting hot summers with no air conditioning? Do y’all like to suffer?
Edit: I am addressing southern Europe
I took German in high school and learned about their culture and just brushed it off but then I actually got to go!
First, having to specify I wanted tap water or non-sparkling water. I just ended up buying bottled water because it was easier.
Second, almost everyone would shut down for lunch. Even businesses besides restaurants or delis.
Two Germans will go into an office and shut the door as though they're taking about something important. Nope, just soccer.
Propensity for public nudity
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I've said it before - I disagree with posts designating things the US (or any country/continent) finds "weird/bizarre" about any other country/continent. Nothing about another culture is weird or bizarre - just different from what you are used to. Weird/bizarre has a judgmental connotation. Different is more respectful to everyone.
I agree wholeheartedly. You know what I'd love to see? People from one country pointing out things about other cultures that are different and amazing. Customs, music, food, daily life, what have you...differences that the poster appreciates.
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I liked this article because we've seen so many that say what everyone thinks is weird in America. I'm an American that dreams and pines to travel to Europe and experience these things first hand.
When my grandparents came to the USA in the early 1900s, they were amazed at indoor plumbing. They had an outhouse in Poland. You can go enjoy outhouses.
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People seem to forget that Europe has a North and a South. One's cold, one's hot and cultures revolve around that. Plus there are 44 different Countries in Europe. All with different cultures and customs. Some may be similar but saying "in Europe they do xyz" is just too generalised because you can bet that whatever you say 'they do in Europe' a different European Country does it differently.
Another nice idea. In London, we're all the parks belong to the King, there is a tax on every window you have facing a park. Obviously the money goes to upkeep.
I've said it before - I disagree with posts designating things the US (or any country/continent) finds "weird/bizarre" about any other country/continent. Nothing about another culture is weird or bizarre - just different from what you are used to. Weird/bizarre has a judgmental connotation. Different is more respectful to everyone.
I agree wholeheartedly. You know what I'd love to see? People from one country pointing out things about other cultures that are different and amazing. Customs, music, food, daily life, what have you...differences that the poster appreciates.
Load More Replies... I liked this article because we've seen so many that say what everyone thinks is weird in America. I'm an American that dreams and pines to travel to Europe and experience these things first hand.
When my grandparents came to the USA in the early 1900s, they were amazed at indoor plumbing. They had an outhouse in Poland. You can go enjoy outhouses.
Load More Replies... People seem to forget that Europe has a North and a South. One's cold, one's hot and cultures revolve around that. Plus there are 44 different Countries in Europe. All with different cultures and customs. Some may be similar but saying "in Europe they do xyz" is just too generalised because you can bet that whatever you say 'they do in Europe' a different European Country does it differently.
Another nice idea. In London, we're all the parks belong to the King, there is a tax on every window you have facing a park. Obviously the money goes to upkeep.
