6Kviews
Hey Pandas, What’s Something You Do That People From Other Countries Find Weird? (Closed)
Tell us!
This post may include affiliate links.
Saying "oop sorry" when:
- you run into an inanimate object
- you think there's a slight possibility you may have been in someone's way even a little
- someone runs into you
Beans on toast is acceptable, as breakfast, lunch or at tea time.
I'm sure some people might find how we spell words that usually end with "or" weird. I live in Canada, and we go by the spelling of England when we write those words in English.
Example: We spell words like colour or flavour with a U between the O and the R, whereas people living in the US spell it without the U.
A lot of my gaming friends from the US find it weird when we talk on Discord, and I use spelling like that.
We became close to a woman from Belarus and she found it odd we would have hamburgers for dinner. In Belarus, hamburgers are a "snack."
I think every country should adopt this way of thinking about burgers
Maintain lots of personal space, even pre-pandemic. It's already been mentioned that Canadians say "sorry" a lot, I think that other countries think we're so polite because we say it when we bump into or brush against someone else--when we feel like we're in each others' personal space. We just have so much space in general we've gotten used to not having to crowd together, and it's unnerving in other countries when people press much closer--to fit in public transport, for example. This means that we're likely to defer to anyone being more pushy. If a Canadian arrives at a door at the same time as you they're likely to let you go first to avoid getting too close, and both parties may consider that politeness.
And...Canadians don't really deserve the "nice" reputation. We want to avoid conflict, but we can be incredibly judgemental behind your back. In regards to the US, for example, there's a line that goas something like "Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well-informed about the United States".
Grew upon the border. If they didn't realize I came from the US side, would talk awful sh*t. Meanwhile, in the US, everyone was always, "Oh, Canada, it's such a lovely place, every person there is nice!" I have fam in Canada. I have fam in the US. I have fam in other places. Believe me, Canadians can be judgy AF, as if their own poo has no odor.
“I’ts June! Time to go outside!”
- coat
-hat
-scarf
-gloves
-snow boots
-another hat
-bigger coat
“Okay i amready now, lmao it’s warmer than it usually is”
Went to Japan and tried to tip at a restaurant... the waitress literally ran halfway across the parking lot to find us and return our money. She was so nice! It just struck me as odd.
I wore shorts in Germany. Apparently that's not very common, since most of the women and girls I saw wore dresses, skirts, or pants.
The size of the cracks in bathroom stalls in America.
Speaking just one language.
Hold a raw gutted herring by its tail, dip it in diced raw onion, then bend your head back and lower it into your mouth.
It's one of our national dishes. Yay for Dutch cuisine.
Eating raw grounded pork with onions for breakfast om bread rolls. Commonly known as "Mett Bröttchen" here in Germany
*On* and *Brötchen* - Stupid input lag and missing edit feature - . -
I'm Korean and whenever I made pinky promises, I would "seal" the promise with my thumb. However, only other Korean kids did the sealing with your thumb part and non-Koreans didn't. I remember telling a friend and she asked why we do that when it's weird.
Eating using our fingers and not cutlery.
I refuse to follow the lead of Mr Pitt and eat my Snickers bar with a knife and fork
Saying y'all. I feel like that's not even common throughout America.
In Japan many people bow slightly when talking on the phone.
Have a cat, freaking out two people from other countries, who were taught that cats are evil.
Yep. In fact from an African perspective it looks like this: USA: love dogs. UK: love cats. Africa: dogs are guards and cats are scary. Personally, I prefer cats, they mind their own business and do not try take food off my plate. They are also quieter and bury their poop.
I know some people find it strange to walk barefoot around at home
I think it’s incredibly strange to wear shoes indoors. I don’t wear slippers or socks inside at all, unless I’m at someone else’s house then I’ll wear socks. But at home? It’s BARE FEET. It’s easier to wash and dry my feet than it is to walk around in gross socks.
The entirety of Indian culture. Most people from other countries find it weird. From our food palate, way of cooking, our traditions, to our habits.. everything. I know some will disagree. But I'm talking of the majority.
Nah, we have a lot of indians in South Africa and are used to the culture, we like it a lot.
asking how are you doing when you don't care and it is just being normal yes this is from the USA
Loving things that were born/invented/created out of colonialism/conquest/slavery. As Americans, we remain awfully sheltered when it comes to how we enjoy what we enjoy. I love IPAs, for example.
To be fair, a lot of stuff was invented to gain an advantage in conquest. Radar, ballistic missles, computers and the paramedic concept are things born in/for warfare but improve safety, all kinds of science and save lives.
one time i said sorry and they were confused LIKE WHAT ?!?!?!
Do not pay health care costs
At the time of service. In Canada, we pay for it through our taxes.
My willingness to try local cuisines, the way natives make it at home, or in their own fave places. I have had a few regrets (sashimi was one) but people find it weird that an American would try this. Why is it weird? I'm in your country, I'm eating what's there....
I am predominantly left handed. From what I've learned from BP is some countries are offended by this. If I ever travel to one of these countries I will respect you. The only way I can prevent my self from offending someone is to place my left arm in a sling during my trip.
In Muslim countries, the left arm is considered "dirty" and the right one "clean", now I'm gonna need a Muslim BP to explain it further for me, I grew up in a Muslim country, I was still a kid when we left so this much I remember
Weird outside of the Midwest: saying “ope, sorry”. I didn’t even know I did that until someone pointed it out to me.
Weird outside of the U. S.: Lots of things, but one thing I’ve stumbled across a lot is the amount of ice we put in our drinks and the overuse of A/C. Frankly, I find these annoying too because I get cold easily, but I don’t think of it as weird. Just inconvenient.
That families/parents must pay a fine if they're not sending their children to school or the children are skipping school to often (Like so often that they wouldn't be able to finish it successfully) without a good cause (e.g. illness).
In some cities there is a police force to pick up the skipping children (from the streets or at home) and bring them into the school straight to the dean.
To not be misunderstood: families that clearly need help, will get help through cps. The system, for sure, isn't perfect. There are to many families slipping through, but the people working in cps do their best.
All of that - school, police, cps - is paid for through taxes, so we don't want these taxes getting wasted.
In the UK parents can actually face a prison sentence for failing to ensure their children attend school. It would be a last resort and various agencies would have already been involved but the sanction is there and has been used.
I'm from Italy.
I don't absolutely like Soccer
I'm American and these are things that I always hear from people from other countries.
- Bathrooms and sinks in the same room.
- Also wearing shoes in the house. I understand the reasoning but I wear my shoes in the house occasionally, like when I first get home. I don't immediately take them off sometimes. I don't know. It doesn't feel like that big of a deal but people from other countries act like they're going to gag.
- Our drink sizes.
- The way we don't care for older family members. Most of us do care -maybe that's not the right way to phrase it. But people from other countries find it weird that we don't always live with them or they find the idea of nursing homes strange.
- The way our homes are built. There's a misconception that we build shoddy homes because of the images or videos they see online of destruction in storms. Yes, of course some homes may be cheaply made, and it's usually in poorer area you'll see that. But every state has guidelines for things that are required based on weather severity for that area. Short of digging more than a mile into the earth to brace it, even concrete and braced homes can be destroyed. A lot of homes are extremely well built and what your seeing can sometimes be a lack of understand of the severity of the storm, not the way something is built. Unless you've seen the power that a tornado or hurricane can inflict, you really shouldn't judge. A hurricane is a massive force that destroys small countries. A tornado can leave craters over a mile wide or more. Living in those areas in dangerous but when you're poor, you don't have that many options.
In 1943 a German U-Boat established a secret Nazi weather station code-named “Kurt” in Martin Bay, northern Labrador. The Wetter-Funkgerät Land weather station or WFL, was marked with a logo and the name of a non-existing company – Canadian Meteor Service. The weather station wasn't discovered until 1981 and today it's on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
- Take my shoes off inside the house.
- Small talk
- Buy marijuana at the store like it’s nothing
- Call report covers ‘duotangs’
Eat chicken fingers with honey dill sauce. My boyfriend and his family in UK think it's super weird. They just never tried it yet.
Running across the street, even if it's a marked cross walk. I'm conditioned to believe cars have no humans in them and they will run you down if you don't get off the road quick, because drivers are impatient and don't like to wait for people to cross. Even though the driver's handbook says they have to at all marked and unmarked crosswalks. No lie. I checked.
Having to buy alcoholic beverages at a government agency run Liquor Mart and Beer store. Having to show ID to gain entry. May even have to show ID at the counter, again, if you appear that young.
Go camping in a tent in the woods. Refugees coming from Syria have been shocked to learn people are willing to do to his voluntarily. But no s**t. They had just left refugee camps to come to live in a safe country and live in a safe, warm, comfortable house. So, it's completely understandable.
Go to public school in regular clothes, no uniform. When my daughter was getting ready for school my boyfriend's sister was fascinated she didn't need a uniform like the students in UK do.
(Some of these may be local-specific and my own personal experience, and may not refer to all countries.)
When I say run across the road, I mean when it's the right time to cross, but running instead of walking.
Vegemite, fairy bread, and eating our national animal seems to freak people out
I read it as eating our national anthem, and I was both very impressed and very confused.
One evening I was out drinking with a Brit and stopped at a red pedestrian light, even though there was no car in sight. He just looked at me, said: 'You're weird!' and crossed the street. I looked left and right (still no cars anywhere) and followed him, saying 'No, I'm german.'. He just said: 'Yes!'. :)
Say "provecho" (bon appetite) to random strangers at cafés/restaurants when you arrive or leave and the others are eating. It evens seems rude not to say so here!
(I'm from Mexico)
Eating eggs and bacon for breakfast, and drink milk. Germans and Frenchs thought it was weird.
I might get some Cr*p for this but wearing shoes in the house, I know a lot of people who think wearing shoes in the house is weird and disgusting.
The ruder I am to you the more I like you. The more pleasant I am to you the more I dislike you. I would summarise that as the rules of British banter.
Taking a nap after lunch.
Even if we only have 10 minutes and we cannot fall asleep in time, or boss is around ( they are probably napping too), or our tables are uncomfortably low, we WILL nap.
Bare feet in public. Common here.
I recently moved to Australia from South Africa and I like speaking Afrikaans, but majority here can’t understand what I’m saying. A lot of people look at me like I’m an alien.
Ek wil Afrikaans praat maar niemand in Australia kan Afrikaans met my praat.
As an Asian-american, wearing slippers all the time at home. Idk it's kinda weird to only wear socks or go barefoot, but that's just because it's what I'm used to probably
I never wear shoes in the house, and when I visit others I will always ask if I should remove the footwear. I'm English in the UK and a fair few of my friends do the same.
Selectively obey traffic rules. In South Africa, we generally obey stop signs (except minibus taxis, aka taxis). We are pretty good at managing broken intersections (no lights), using a rule of first-arrived-first-pull-off, or, if it's unclear, a clockwise rotation. But generally it's pretty anarchic. Especially taxis. I've seen them drive on pavements, cross three lanes perpendicular to change lanes WHILE everyone else is stationery, drive the wrong way up the wrong side of the road, cross solid lines, ignore red, etc., all on one morning work run. Many taxis also have bullet holes from shooting each other. Other drivers are not that bad. Our anarchism extends generally to: orange/red light = slow down, look, go through; solid line = suggestion you don't change lanes; green ahead of you = you can cross left/right if it's clear; pavement = parking spot. https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/taxi-shoot-kzn.png
‘We are pretty good at managing broken intersections’ Eskom huh? Eskom is soo annoying, I used to live in SA but I recently to Australia
I go sit in a 90-degree (C) room, naked, with people I've never met. Then one by one we go out, take a swim in a hole some friendly people cut in the frozen sea, then back to sweating side by side with strangers. Nothing could possibly feel better!
Have one 15 minute outpatient procedure and spend the next several months paying confusing bills from every individual provider involved in the procedure. Just when I think it's over (I've paid $1500, for heaven's sake, even with very good insurance), another bill comes.
Get naked and sweat on silence together with strangers on a weekly basis. Gotta love the sauna culture.
Japanese people having to do school after school, and they are forced to make their own lunch food as well as everyone else, and are forced to not bring food from home.
Like I know they would be used to it, but my mum would force me to bring her cooked meals to school.
Being able to travel 100kilometres or 62 miles for those Americans. In any direction and end up in a different environment. Maybe the beach or the desert somtimes the grasslands or a rainforest. Apparently many tourists think we ride kangaroos to school or walk barefoot in the desert, anyone guess where I live? Some of us have our weekly bbqs’ and Bunnings (our main hardware store) have sausage snagger (sausage sizzles) stands, so we have sausages in Bunnings. We have our unique eco systems and flora and fauna, some of which confuse many many tourists.
Well thank you, I’m from australia if you couldn’t guess
I am one of the weird Aussies who doesn't like sausages, so walking past the BBQ at Bunnings always turns my stomach!
Willingly live in the United States?
If it's such a terrible place why are so many people trying to get in?
We don’t ever wear outdoor shoes indoors. We don’t even ‘pop outside with the rubbish’ in our indoor shoes. Asking visitors to remove shoes or use the shoe covering we have at hand has, at times been difficult here in the country we live in in Southern Europe, but it is habitual and cultural for us.
Say excuse me when I burp, even when no one is in the room!
Reserving your seats or a table in food Centre using the umbrella or a packet of tissue paper.
Leaving the laptop, bag with valuable at a cafe and heading towards the toilet.
I am Canadian and moved to England almost 3 years ago. My fiancé finds it really weird that I love peanut butter so much and cringes when I eat a pb&J.
I am Canadian and moved to England almost 3 years ago. My fiancé finds it really weird that I love peanut butter so much and cringes when I eat a pb&J.
