People Share 30 Things That They Think Are Normal In Europe But Horrific In America

my house was built in 1677

Favorite metric system quote is by Josh Bazell. “In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade—which is 1 percent of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point. ... Whereas in the American system, the answer to ‘How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water?’ is ‘Go f**k yourself,’ because you can’t directly relate any of those quantities.”

This! When I was a nanny in the US, the family I worked for was always nagging me for using public transport. I never unederstood what the big deal was.

And then we have our beloved bored panda censure... s**t!

Rested and healthy employees = higher productivity. Who'd have thought?

What???

Or, at least partially in Germany, leaves it with a neighbour.

I'd rather not have muddy footprints/ dirt from outside around the house.

They should make this a European thing.

I think they meant: While it is normal for Europeans to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue, Americans are not expected to speak any other language than English.

At least where I live in Germany it’s NOT usual to be naked in parks or bathing naked in crowded places, except they’re designated as nude areas. Topless is tolerated in most urban parks, if you don’t Walk around. Otherwise it’s a "Public nuisance", which is an administrative offense and is punished by a penalty fee.

Seen as lazy, huh? So the management only have standing desks?

Of course not. I am on VACATION.

In the UK we normally describe properties as 1 bed, 2 bed etc. and give a separate count of other rooms. Studio is normally used to describe rooms of mixed use. So a 1 bed studio apartment will normally be a combined kitchen, living and sleeping space with a separate bath- or shower-room.

I remember one work trip where I was in Germany, just over the border from France. All the staff were French and commuted across the border daily. Hell, we even went back across the border for lunch each day!

I love being Scottish, I love living here, the people (mostly), the accepting and open culture, the sarcastic swearing humour, that we can take the piss out of ourselves - but I don't feel the need to fly a flag on my doorstep or cover myself in Scottish symbols and scream about my freedom and rights and chant some verse every morning - im sure there are plenty of Americans who also think that the stereotypical over the top patriotic American is as odd as outsiders do - but they do tend to be the loudest

Fun fact: These are all things that Unions achieved and next the government made them law. Some Americans would go bat shyte crazy over that. "The government has no right to force 25 mandatory vacation days on me!!!!"

Absolutely, what's acceptable in Spain wouldn't fly in Denmark and vice versa. All countries have their own cultures. The first time, years before the internet through reading American magazines, I came across 'Europe' being referred to as a homogeneous whole I was extremely confused. I was also highly entertained by all the adverts stating 'Everyone in Europe is using this product' for something I'd never seen in my life.

It prevents them from copying you card information and using them to commit fraud by buying stuff online with your creditcard information. In fact I think we ought to memorise the control numbers on the back of the card and then remove them for the card. Having them there is like writing the pin code on the card with a marker, it is just making abuse way too easy.

This is Rule 1 of the London Underground

True. Topless is normal.

You mean normal portions.

I am in the Netherlands and almost every kid I know does some kind of extracurricular sport. There are also special subsidies to make sure every kids even from low income families can participate. But we dont tend to get obsessive parents here.

Not smiling all the time, too.

what about mayonnaise AND ketchup??

Personally, I dislike automatics. It makes me feel like I'm driving a go kart. If you're going to drive a car...well...drive it!

Cars have always been just like tools to me, I don't understand why people get so judgmental over transmission preferences.

In Amerika, there's SO much traffic, that driving a manual sucks!!

I live and work in the most dense, crowded part of Portland, Oregon, and use my car for work. Stop signs, crosswalks, traffic signal every 200 feet. I do not miss having a manual transmission.

At this point in my life, I prefer an automatic (my left knee is a bit wonky), but I'm always a little surprised when I rent a car in a European country and it's a manual. That would never happen in the US - probably 50% of the population couldn't even drive it.

the automatic vs manual war is artificial. it's a question of comfort and preference. while I think is very useful to know how to drive both, choosing an automatic doesn't make you less of a driver. you're not a racer, chill. oh, and automatic cars have advantages from the point of view of car maintenance, better fule consumption, easier to drive on busy roads. I used to drive manual for mabnyn years, but since I moved to the UK I only drove automatics because I simply can't get used to shift gears with my left hand.

It is no rich thing to drive automatic??!?

Here in Germany, most cars are manual - also the very expensive ones. Of course you can get an automatic here, but nearly nobody wants it. But this is an automobile country after all - you want to feel your car, you "command it into obedience".

When was it? Most cars are automatic now

That's just the direction the industry is going. All older Americans know how to drive manual. There is no longer an economic benefit to one.

Driving education with automatic transmission will soon be more common in Sweden, than education with manual transmission. (If you do the manual, you're allowed to drive automatic too, but not the other way around.)