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People Share 30 Things That They Think Are Normal In Europe But Horrific In America
We often read of things that are totally normal in America but look super crazy to the rest of the world. Like free refills, medical debts, the sheer portion sizes, you name it. But hey, the place and time is everything when it comes to which things we view as typical and which ones raise our brows.
So this time, we are setting our eyes on Europe and the weird customs, things, and manners people in its 44 countries have that look totally crazy to Americans. “What's considered normal in Europe but horrific in America?” someone asked on AskReddit, and 12.7k comments followed.
We picked some of the most telling and thought-provoking responses that prove European countries are also home to a bunch of weirdos!
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Old things. Houses especially. "Someone died in this house" yeah no s**t Sherlock, this house has been here more than your country
The metric system
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.”
Taking the bus. There is so much stigma around public transport in the US, especially busses, and in Europe it's just a totally normal way to get around because nobody wants to deal with driving and parking in a big city.
Also from an employer's perspective: 25+ vacation days minimum for all employees and unlimited sick days. The absolute horror.
Songs with swear words being broadcasted on the radio, or swear words not being covered with a beep tone on tv. It’s always felt weird to me that Americans are all about being free and freedom of speech but then again they are scared of some stupid words.
Pro union laws. Pro worker labour laws. Mandatory paid vacation days (including fines for companies if the workers don't take their vacation days or get them payed out. They NEED to actually leave work legally for around 25 days per year).
Letting kids go to school or walk around the neighborhood by themselves without supervision.
A Dutch family moved to the USA and their kids went to school on their bikes like they always do, after a while the police showed up on their doorstep and child protective services letting them know they’re being irresponsible and to not do that again.
Mailman doesnt leave packages unattended on your porch. He eather gives you it on the doorstep or you go get it at the post office. Much less infureating than getting it stolen or thrown accros your yard by a mailman...
I don't know if this would horrify Americans as I've never heard it discussed, but where I live in Europe (Luxembourg), voting is mandatory and you can get fined for not voting in an election. You can still spoil your ballot, so you don't have to decide between lesser evils if you don't want to, but you have to make the effort to go to the polling station or submit a postal vote. It guarantees a high voter turnout and by extension more representative elections, coupled with a proportional voting system so we're not locked into a two-party mess like the UK or the US - not that it's without its issues of course, but I think it's an improvement.
Being expected to know another language other than English.
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.
Most Americans seem to have enough trouble with English!
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It really rustles my jimmies when people who speak English as a second language are stigmatized as sounding stupid. A lot of second language speakers learned out of necessity as an adult. Imagine the intelligence and discipline it takes to learn an entirely new language as an adult! (Many of you can, and for that, kudos to you) :)
I always hated when people talks bad about migrants or tourists when they speak other than their mother tonge while they are the ones makes 0 effort on communicating with that person and many can’t even speak more than one language.
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I agree learning a second language is valuable but Americans get a bad rap for this unfairly. I live in the middle of the United States. I have traveled to neighboring states on vacation, but never out of the country. That is a luxury to be able to take a Vaca in a foreign country. Foreign language is not taught in schools until high school of which I had one person to learn the language from. Y'all in Europe live in smaller countries that it is much easier to travel, migrate between. The chances of someone from another country living close enough for you to practice a language with is very high. I know one other person who speaks a second language. I can prob count the number of people on both hands that I have met who speak another language. When you live in a large space with everyone speaking same language there is just not opportunity, funds, etc to pick up much less practice a second language.
This has a lot to do with geography. If you live in the Northern US (or Western Canada), there are no widely spoken second languages for a thousand km. So it just isn't a priority. In Europe, you are never more than a couple hundred km from a different primary language and usually a lot less, so obviously it is more important.
This is essentially what I was going to say. If states all spoke different languages than Americans would probably speak multiple languages. As it is if you know a second language you rarely would have an opportunity to use it in the U.S.
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The difference is that European countries are quite close to one another so they NEED to speak other languages. Americans do not need to. If they do, what would the language be? Spanish? Only in certain areas of the country is that useful. German? French? Why? I don't mean that in a snobby way. If I'm going to learn a language I want to be able to use it or else I will lose it. I can't easily travel to a non-English speaking country over a weekend like many can in Europe.
Here you cant go to College, without speaking three languages, hasnt much to do with living close to different countrys. Like, I was never in russia but do speak russian and my english is ok, even though i never went to the us
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I wish another language was taught when I was a kid in the UK. My niece and nephews all learned a second language in primary school, I didn't start until highschool.
I learned French in my UK primary school onwards - then we had the option in high school to learn either German or Spanish.
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Weird. Because my junior high school and high school required a second language course. Spanish, Italian, and French are usually the options. Some schools might offer more than that.
Same. In Louisiana a lot of us grow up with English and Cajun-French (it's a weird mix of Spanish, French and Native) and then learn proper Spanish or French in school. I took Spanish from Elementary school through Middle school and then took French in High School and College.
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I was in France once. They refused to talk English, except when you tipped very well. Then all of a sudden they were fluent.
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My wife is from Europe. She speaks 5 languages, her two brothers and one sister, 3.
You have to take into account that most Americans aren't in close proximity to other countries and will most likely never leave the country (most don't even have passports). It's not like in Europe where a few hours' drive and you're in another country. In the US, you can drive an entire day and still be in the same state.
When my husband and I were dating, I talked to him about his son learning a language (6yrs old at the time). They had Spanish class in school, but the kids learned nil. Apparently the teacher didn't spend much time teaching. If we'd had our own child(ren), I'd definitely have started with a second language. Probably Spanish so I could further my ability to speak it.
A lot of Flemish people (Flanders,part of Belgium) speak and write fluently Dutch, French, German and English. Some also Arabic, Italian and/or Spanish
I agree. I think Spanish should be mandatory as a second language. Seriously. Mexico. Cuba. Puerto Rico.
To put this stupid, worn out trope into perspective, the USA is roughly the same size as ALL of Europe, which is made up of something like 40-50 DIFFERENT countries. So the reason that a person from the US might only know English, and may never leave the country, we ha E individual states that are larger than whole European countries. In other words, my travel from Northern Utah to Central AZ is the same as driving through 3-4 different countries. So we get roughly the same amount of travel, but our country is as large as the entire region these people are bragging about. If I could travel across multiple countries as easily and quickly as multiple states, I'd know another language or two.
Child of the 70s, 1 year second language mandatory for high school. Looked up the forecasted demographics for the US and found that Spanish speakers would double or triple by 2000 and would be more practical than French or German for every day use. Finished with 3 years of Spanish ( 1year AP) and can still read Spanish at about 70% compression.No comprendo verbally after all this time with no practice.Not a lot of Spanish spoken in the State of Pa (yet)
Load More Replies... This has to be regional too. Many people speak at least two languages in the US.
To be fair, the USA is huge, and since the vast majority of people who live here speak English, the utility is much less. The distance from where I live to the closest foreign border is about the distance between Paris and Budapest.
Switzerland is a country with four official national languages.It is perfectly normal for children to learn a second national language and English in addition in elementary school.
yup. I learned 3 foreign languages in highschool, not counting Latin and ancient Greek.
The problem when learning it in high school is that you rarely get to learn more than "some of it". I was taught french in high school and I'm very far from fluent. I guess it depends on how long you are talking about ofc. I meant through high school and nothing after that.
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I want to learn more languages. It’s one of my goals. This still my be considered English but I’m currently learning sign language and I’m going to start working on Spanish again.
Depends on the sign language as to whether it's English or not - different countries have different versions. British, Australian and New Zealand is the same format I believe.
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I’ve grown up (and become old) in the US. I didn’t go to some fancy preschool, yet we were taught Spanish and French as early as 3. Perhaps it’s just not a priority anymore. Developmentally, there is a specifically narrow window during childhood that language is acquired. Consider children growing up in a bilingual home. It’s ridiculous to think that a foreign language is taught only in middle or high school. It’s a completely different animal than beginning to learn & become proficient in any language. I understand why this is more NECESSARY in Europe since the countries are often smaller and closer together than states in the US, but that’s no excuse for not using the language acquisition period of development to encourage children to PERFECT their native language skills as well as have the opportunity to learn other languages at such an early stage.
Some Americans get upset if people in their countries don’t speak English.
Puerto Rico is the same. Majority should be speaking spanish and englisch, its not a state but they are American citizens. But a lot only speak spanish, even a Police woman I met on PR.
In Denmark we both have English, and German, or French, classes in school, depending on what you choose, besides danish as is our mother tounge 😅
I speak English, American, Californian and British. Yes, that was a bad joke.
Ok so here's a thing. I was in the USAF for over 20 years. When I went to a country that didn't speak English I took class to at least learn the basics. When I went to a store and tried to use my new language skills the employee would just ask me in English what I was looking for. I never got very good because everybody always wanted to use their English.
Whoever wrote this… it’s mandatory to know one other language to pass high school. You can pick that language. I picked Spanish.
Now a days you need to speak fluent Spanish with all of the illegals crossing the borders
Why is this expected? Shouldn't it be a choice? If I ever travel to another country, I'll learn their language. Other than that, I have no need/desire to do so.
I do think that Americans have a disadvantage. Most films are made in America so there is no opportunity to hear other languages. The same happens in the UK and you can see it by the fact most British people understand American words that are different and believe me there are a few while many Americans haven't heard the British version. Also true that countries which subtitle films rather than dubbing generally speak better English.
Really truly the discussion her is getting off the track and irrelevant, Europe has teeny weeny Countries and even then even teenier weenier enclaves within some countries. European people get to HEAR other European languages being spoken as a common occurrence, Now here, only in the large cities would one be likely to hear any language other than English. The point I was trying to make is that what I understand is normal American Usage is quite different to what we speak in Australia. I was told the by an Englishman that we speak Midlands, but my Dad was English and he insisted we spoke well. Some US accents are so different that they are difficult to decipher, Then the vocabulary is QUITE different,
Normal English words are considered rude in the US, whereas some of the US usage is eithe crude or incomprehensible here. I remember when I worked for an American Company here, one of the Geologists; wives told us she used to root for her husband's team. Embarrassed silence. Not something one would expect a wife to tell he husband's work mates -- but this it turned out all she meant was "barrack for".
Load More Replies... I didn't know that USA people spoke English! Though it IS quite close and we English speakers can understand it most of the time
I don't think folks in other countries realize how useless learning another language is for most people here. Nearly this entire country consists of folks from elsewhere, but it's just not practical to spend the time (years) needed to speak those other languages, when you might only ever have five minutes in your life where you would actually have use for the knowledge. You could spend years learning French and never meet someone who speaks it. I took a few years of Spanish in school, but never had opportunity to encounter a Spanish speaker till I was over 50 years old. And that was only for a few sentences. I could have used a little Polish, on a few days, when I was working. Also a few words of Taglog would have helped once or twice. But how much of my life should I devote to learning those languages for a few moments of ever needing them. In European countries, it's an easy choice, if you are going to learn a second language, English is the logical and useful choice.
i love culture and learning languages is so cool! i can speak fluent Spanish and basic Korean and Japanese
However, it is required to have at least one year of foreign language to graduate high school... At least it was in 1996.
Bearing in mind though, that the US is huge. You can drive for days and days and never leave US soil. Europeans have much smaller spaces before the language changes. Where I live, a very large part of the population is multi-lingual, and you are more likely to hear Spanish in some neighborhoods than English.
I have to know three that aren't English cause they are our official languages
They need to actually teach f*****g English in American schools!!! I'm American but the way people talk/spell here is going to s**t! Ebonics is one thing but coming up with entire vocabularies of made up words, slang and noises is a f*****g ridiculous perversion of English! If people can learn to speak that b******t, they should be able to speak standard English! As a mutt of Portugese, German and PA Dutch descent, my family's heritage was radically Americanized in that the first generations abandoned teaching their native languages to the next because as my Portugese PopPop told my dad when he asked him to teach him Portugese "YOU'RE A F*****G AMERICAN, YOU WILL ACT LIKE AN AMERICAN AND SPEAK F*****G ENGLISH AND THAT'S THAT!" Dad told me that back then, it wasn't very popular to speak some foreign languages and other than speaking within family circles, learning other languages didn't serve much of a purpose in everyday life. I missed out on learning those but I have spanish friends
trying to learn english and I'm learning spanish to help them. I took german in high school and although I'd never be fluent that way, it would have been much smarter to have taken spanish all that time! I live in a rural area with deep PA Dutch roots, Amish, Mennonites and remnants of Quakers and you'll hear dutch and german spoken amongst like peoples but they also speak english well too to adapt to societal norms outside of their communities. I might use the word f**k like a damn comma and have no filter but I can't support my fellow Americans who speak whatever the f**k you wanna call it versions of English! As I watch stupid new words get added to official dictionaries, I'm infuriated that these words become significant through use but basic english skills like knowing how to use two/to/too, their/they're/there, weather/whether, then/than don't rate! No wonder we look like lazy window lickers on the world stage!!🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
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The wording of this question seems off... And I'd say a huge percentage of Americans are bilingual. Especially where I live near Boston....Spanish, Creole, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Swahili to name a few are common
My school growing up required at least 2 terms of another language to graduate, with the option to go more to more advanced if desired, the class offered during school hours was Spanish, While they offered an earlier before school class for German. I think now that school has a few more other language options, but I'm unsure if it is still required for graduation. I live in the US.
It tends to expand ones mind and comprehension. It can even help alleviate paranoia in areas where another language is common. Iif you understand what others are saying, you are more likely to realize you are not the universal subject of gossip.
In my opinion, people that live in America should at least learn to speak Spanish. It just makes sense. Me and all my friends except one are planning on taking Spanish in high school, 2 of them have been taking it since kindergarten. I don’t understand why my one friend won’t take it? Like she says she wants to take ASL, which yes is important but Spanish is too, as so many people in the US speak it. Especially if you are going to work retail at any point in your life.
In Germany, unless one is on a special school for children with mental handicaps, school children are expected to learn at least two foreign languages.
I'm teaching myself Greek. My daughter is teaching herself Japanese. My sister is teaching herself Gaelic, my youngest child is learning French through school and continuing it at home. I think it's good brain training and an awesome opportunity to learn about a different culture.
That's great! :) Duolingo is a good free app to learn languages. I would love to learn more french than just knowing it a little bit.. I might start again someday to try learn some more.
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High schoolers are required to take two language classes off the save language before graduating unless you enlist
I live in Canada and while it's not mandatory to know French and English, it does help, especially in Government type jobs. I had such a hard time in school with French though, either it was the way it was taught or my brain just isn't meant to be bilingual lol. I wish it came more easily to me, I'd love to be able to speak another language.
It is a requirement for high school graduation, but you have to consider the need. I Iearned Spanish because it made sense for where I live. If you never are around the other language, learning it will do you no good. You could go through several European countries in the space it takes to go through some large states. Traveling thousands of miles and not ending up anywhere in which a different language is spoken is a big factor.
No one in the UK is expected to know another language. You do languages at school but many people don't take it further after GCSE. Learning a foreign language at GCSE isn't even compulsory in UK schools.
It should be noted that while yes, the vast majority of Americans are mono-lingual, the United States is the second largest Spanish speaking country in the world after Mexico. There are more people speaking Spanish in the US than in Spain. Yes, the American education system lags behind, but it should also be noted in the US everyone speaks English. In the European Union, there is so much free travel between different countries and more funding for education. Thus, more cultural and lingual diffusion. This is very different from the United States, where many Americans will die having only seen a tiny portion of the geographic area of their own homeland.
It was actually a requirement in my high school and college that you had to take another language, which I didn't mind at all
In the 80s/90s it was considered cool to be failing those courses in high school. Pretty sure it was part of many movies and tv shows
Not all Europeans speak more than one language: some refuse to learn another language. In Belgium and France there are people who speak only French. It's sad they refuse to do an effort to learn an other language.
I lived in France and I was constantly corrected, scolded or insulted for making mistakes in conjugation or pronunciation. Definitely made learning in France whereas in Quebec, people will nod and listen and are very encouraging when you speak French--even if you make tons of mistakes.
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Sadly not true in the UK where we're about as good at second languages as Germans are at second world wars.
Naturally, since most of the European population doesn't have English as 1st language.
Well, as English is the official language of only 3 countries in Europe, anything else would be weird, wouldn't it, Einstein?
We're not learning another language than English but our mother tongue. English isn't everyones mother tongue... only Americans think so
I wish that people with this mentality would be forced to emigrate and experience how extremely difficult is to learn a foreign language while being in a different country, with restrictive laws that don’t allow to take time off from work to study and with barely options to practice or learn the local language.
Load More Replies... At least in Germany, nudity. No one cares if you're naked, no one thinks you're a sex offender, no one thinks it's even sexual to be naked unless you're actively having sex, and no one makes it weird.
You can be naked in public parks to soak up sun, on beaches, swim naked in lakes. Saunas are all naked, mixed sex areas in spas and saunas are naked with no issues and in general, it's just not an issue.
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.
From what I’ve heard, allowing retail workers to sit. I’ve heard it’s regular for people to be sitting in Europe as cashiers, but in the us it is seen as lazy. Only store I know of that allows it is Aldi and that’s because it helps their cashiering metrics.
The number of rooms in the description of apartments. 1 room in the US usually means 1 bedroom, a living room ,and separate kitchen. Was shocked when I realized it means everything inside one room in most European countries
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.
Not being super patriotic.
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
Long paid parental leaves and month long holidays (vacations).
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!!!!"
Oh man... europe has so many different countries. Something that is completely normal where I live could be frowned upon as soon as I cross the next border. But in general we tip for good service, not bc we have to. A rude waitress won't get tipped by me. Also we usually remove our shoes before we enter a home. And yep, "free" healthcare.
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.
Not giving your debit/credit card to your server but doing it yourself
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.
Sitting a foot away from a complete stranger and then completely ignoring them.
Americans get so bend out of shape over naked children running around the beach.
On every beach in Bulgaria I've been, naked children is the norm, women sunbathing in monokini is considered absolutely normal, while naked men are okay only in the nude sections of the beaches. And every beach has a nude section.
Not enrolling your kid in extracurricular activities. In Europe, some kids are enrolled in a sport or club and the older ones are mostly responsible for getting there and figuring out their schedule. In America, some parents are so obsessed with kids sports that the whole family's existence revolves around it, or they get judgemental when they hear that a kid isn't involved in any sports or clubs.
Almost every car having a manual transmission. when i visited ukraine, i only saw rich people with automatic cars
Charging for water at a restaurant.
In Norway you'll get tap water when you ask for water, and that's free.
Bidets? I was born and raised in the US and I think they're efficient and far more hygienic than TP, but apparently most other dudes in this country think it's gay to clean up after your business is done lol
The only really gay thing I know is falling in love with someone of the same gender as yourself. If cleaning your ass after you've been to the toilet is 'gay' to you, you have some real issues.
In Germany, looking for a apartment doesn't automatically mean it will come 100% with a kitchen. 90% they don't have them in and you have to buy them yourself.
That's one of the most stupid things in Germany. The kitchen should belong to the apartment.
Underage drinking seems more of a crime in the US - in most cases of a kid is caught with alcohol in the UK it's just confiscated and poured away. Strictly speaking the age you can drink alcohol is really low as well, so long as you're home with a parent I think it's like 5/6. When you're in a restaurant you're also allowed low percentage alcohol like cider with a meal so long as you're with an adult.
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Gotta say that "things normal in Europe" means you take more than 40 very different countries together. Example; The Netherlands doesn't have bagged milk at all, we don't allow underage drinking in the general sense and we don't leave kids in strollers outside. We're one of the few countries that use diseases as swear words, though :)
The same could be said for the United States. People love to generalize Americans, but the truth is we're vastly different from one another. I notice a lot of ignorance from Europeans about the differences in Americans. Like someone made a southern Texas joke towards me and I had to explain I'm from the east coast. It seems like they forget how big America really is.
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As an european who spend so much time in the states I just can't see the US as one country... there are so much differences depending on where you are... and I'm so just tired of those meaningless comparison...
This is even more true for Europe. They are lumping 40 different countries into this comparison.
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About half of these are just cultural differences that aren't "Horrific" one way or the other, and some even reflect badly on the Europeans, not to mention the whole "not all of Europe, but n a few places..." thing. So basically, the author is full of s**t.
I am not sure that anyone in the US finds these things “horrific.” I assume no Americans were consulted in the creation of this list? Bull fighting… this is an example of something horrific…
Yeah. It's awful. I think it's only parts of Spain though. (I could be wrong) not the kind of thing I want to google.
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One "European" concept I wish the US would embrace is free college/university!
Yup. It's very freeing not having to save up for my son's university.
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Yea. I mean… it’s just sad. All the other nations target America. But I’m used to it.
Load More Replies... One thing in North America I question is why women’s breasts are considered illegal. I suspect it has to do with the Puritan roots of NA but why does the USA love guns and violence (especially on tv, movies and video games) but as soon as a woman’s breasts are visible everyone throws a fit?
I like my guns, because I use it for hunting. Not for the sport of it, but because in my part of the US, groceries are pretty expensive, and good paying jobs that can support your family are few and far between. But god forbid women decide to go without even a bra 🙄
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So often articles like these seem based on stereotypes and Stupid American stories taken as fact. They also feel mean spirited.
Yet another post by someone who's never been to the US and doesn't actually know any Americans.
Definitely true. But considering there's so many untrue statements about Europe too it's easy to come to this conclusion. It's all or mostly just b******t.
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This is full of a lot of stereotypes, exaggeration, and people who have never gone to the US. It was cool to learn more about 'Europe'. (Europe is a bunch of different countries and cultures, you can't just group them all together like they did the United States.)
Yes. Sadly there's a bunch of people who lump together all European countries and people tend to lump together all of the US states too. European countries differ. Sometimes very much and sometimes less. And I know it's the same with many states in the US. Never hurt to learn though, which is why I ended up here. ;D
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I don't see anything horrific except for the hateful disdain expressed toward Americans.
Americans can be pretty damn disdainful of whole groups of people, it's the driving force behind much of our politics.
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The problem is that Americans are stereotyped by The politics of rural areas predominant primarily in the south and midwest even though that only makes up at a relatively small percentage of the total population. However that gets blown out of proportion because the American political system ensures a disproportionate amount of power to those areas. On the flipside Europeans are stereotyped based on the population of its large cities. But of course if anybody does just a little bit of investigation they will see that rural America and rural Europe are very similar (why do you think Brexit happened?) American cities and European cities are also very similar. Even more extreme many of the countries of Eastern Europe are considerably more conservative than even the most conservative parts of America.
I'm a bus driver. Taking a bus in America is not horrific, thank you very much.
It depends on where you live. My experience with buses in Atlanta was fine. My experiences with the buses in Alaska was awful!
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Looks like Americans aren't as "free" as they think they are and as they would like the World to see them.
So much content on BP is Europe vs USA. Like f**k off already... we don’t need any more division and hatred in the world
Agreed. I wonder why it is like that though? Maybe the states is a soft target for some reason.
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Please stop viewing Europe as one country. It's a group of very different countries, with different culture, different history, different languages, different customs, different way of life. European countries are NOT like US states, they don't really have nearly as much in common. And while they're a group and share a currency now (and it's only been 20 years) and all that, you cannot group all European countries and treat them like they're all the same. Enough of this, please.
Not all european countries are members of the eu though. But I agree, most european countries have many differences.
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So many of these are not even close to true. Someone is watching too many movies.
I have to wonder why these kinds of generalizations are only acceptable about Americans/America. Many of these would largely depend on where you live in America
This entire post generalizes the entirety of Europe as well. Most of these examples absolutely do not apply for the majority of countries in Europe.
Load More Replies... A lot of the things on this list isn’t true. Downvote me if you want.
definitely another bored panda Stigma induced post for both Europe and America. though it definitely likes to stir up hate in a lot of different forms of these stigmas of Europe and America I think it could have potential of having some fun conversations if delt right...*if* being key because for this Panda, that can't happen in heaven or hell it seems...this Boredpanda loves to just dump loads on America usually which really frustrates me. and this time had a bonus with Europe in it.
For those who misspell America, it just goes to prove you Europeans are a bunch of snotty little pricks.
The author simply revealed their ignorance. It’s embarrassing to see someone actually wrote this truly fact-anemic tripe. I will give one example. The “public purchase and consumption of alcohol” is illegal until age 21. However in 45 states, on private property, with parental consent children may consume any alcohol they wish. The drinking age in this case can go down to 12. The government limited public drinking but preserved parents rights to teach their children to drink responsibility. In America, on private property, one can enjoy a beer or 100 proof whiskey with their child…if they desire. Most parents choose to wait. A simple google search would do you well.
The only thing I would find horrific that is done in many parts of Europe is leaving your baby outside a shop in their stroller. I know its quite common in some places, (lived in many different European countries growing up). But if I saw that in America I would start freaking out lol. Cops would immediately be called by someone, it would be a whole thing.
Not saying ALL americans are patriotic. Although I myself would never feel the same need to defend my country like some (again not all) americans do here. Maybe I'm missing something, it's probably not a bad thing to defend your country. I just never get the urge to defend my country. Is that weird? I hope I am not offending anyone by asking this.
I have a home on 10 acres that is very remote no bus would come there. I also require a lot of tools to do my job and could not take them on the bus. I have never been shot nor have I shot anyone though I do enjoy match shooting g and own many firearms. I guess Europe has zero child molesters and kids are never abducted over there. We do have crime and kids can be abducted so to allow your kids to roam freely is negligent. Plus they might crash on their bike or be hit by a car. I don't know of any kids that are not involved in some kind of extra curriculum activity and I have never been charged for water. It is illegal in Arizona to not provide water if requested. We smile to be pleasant unlike Europeans.
First of all as an America has plenty of issues I will admit. We aren't perfect like you Europeans. Everyone I know removes their shoes when entering a home. Some may keep shoes by the door that are only worn indoors as they have foot problems and shoes provide comfort. To each there own but I have no desire to see old wrinkled sweaty testicle, or gray public hair or any public hair, sagging breasts or stretch marks that make it look like a person was mauled by a tiger. Fish belly white rolls of fat or even a naked super model naked. I took Spanish for 4 years in high school as a foreign language was required. As a business owner employees are given paid vacations, paid sick days, paid holidays and we are a Construction Company when an employees partner has a baby they get 3 days off to help the new mother and baby settle in paid. If the spouse can't handle a newborn after that then they shouldn't have had a kid. So many people abuse sick days though and screw over coworkers
I really take offense with the whole if u can't handle a new born after 3 days u shouldn't of had one. There can be literally hundreds of reasons a new mom needs help after delivering a child she could have had a c-section or a difficult birth the child could had birth defects or other issues that were unforeseen. The child could have colic there could be other siblings in the home and they are not adjusting to the new arrival there's also postpartum depression like I said literally hundreds of things and to judge a person after only three days and saying they shouldn't have had one what are they going to do put the child back because that's about how much sense your post made
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This is simply showing differences... one could just as easily say this is "European bashing" if you decide that the American side of the difference is the preferred version. (and in some of these cases, that would be an easy argument)
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Usa is like a fourth cousin twice removed of European countries that had the guts to jump over the wall to go see the world and so they evolved in their own way . And it doesn't seem so problematic to me. I love both.
So...pointing out differences means you're hating the country? Got it. Are there any other conditions other than patriotic paranoia you want to tell us about?
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Gotta say that "things normal in Europe" means you take more than 40 very different countries together. Example; The Netherlands doesn't have bagged milk at all, we don't allow underage drinking in the general sense and we don't leave kids in strollers outside. We're one of the few countries that use diseases as swear words, though :)
The same could be said for the United States. People love to generalize Americans, but the truth is we're vastly different from one another. I notice a lot of ignorance from Europeans about the differences in Americans. Like someone made a southern Texas joke towards me and I had to explain I'm from the east coast. It seems like they forget how big America really is.
Load More Replies... As an european who spend so much time in the states I just can't see the US as one country... there are so much differences depending on where you are... and I'm so just tired of those meaningless comparison...
This is even more true for Europe. They are lumping 40 different countries into this comparison.
Load More Replies... About half of these are just cultural differences that aren't "Horrific" one way or the other, and some even reflect badly on the Europeans, not to mention the whole "not all of Europe, but n a few places..." thing. So basically, the author is full of s**t.
I am not sure that anyone in the US finds these things “horrific.” I assume no Americans were consulted in the creation of this list? Bull fighting… this is an example of something horrific…
Yeah. It's awful. I think it's only parts of Spain though. (I could be wrong) not the kind of thing I want to google.
Load More Replies... One "European" concept I wish the US would embrace is free college/university!
Yup. It's very freeing not having to save up for my son's university.
Load More Replies... Yea. I mean… it’s just sad. All the other nations target America. But I’m used to it.
Load More Replies... One thing in North America I question is why women’s breasts are considered illegal. I suspect it has to do with the Puritan roots of NA but why does the USA love guns and violence (especially on tv, movies and video games) but as soon as a woman’s breasts are visible everyone throws a fit?
I like my guns, because I use it for hunting. Not for the sport of it, but because in my part of the US, groceries are pretty expensive, and good paying jobs that can support your family are few and far between. But god forbid women decide to go without even a bra 🙄
Load More Replies... So often articles like these seem based on stereotypes and Stupid American stories taken as fact. They also feel mean spirited.
Yet another post by someone who's never been to the US and doesn't actually know any Americans.
Definitely true. But considering there's so many untrue statements about Europe too it's easy to come to this conclusion. It's all or mostly just b******t.
Load More Replies... This is full of a lot of stereotypes, exaggeration, and people who have never gone to the US. It was cool to learn more about 'Europe'. (Europe is a bunch of different countries and cultures, you can't just group them all together like they did the United States.)
Yes. Sadly there's a bunch of people who lump together all European countries and people tend to lump together all of the US states too. European countries differ. Sometimes very much and sometimes less. And I know it's the same with many states in the US. Never hurt to learn though, which is why I ended up here. ;D
Load More Replies... I don't see anything horrific except for the hateful disdain expressed toward Americans.
Americans can be pretty damn disdainful of whole groups of people, it's the driving force behind much of our politics.
Load More Replies... The problem is that Americans are stereotyped by The politics of rural areas predominant primarily in the south and midwest even though that only makes up at a relatively small percentage of the total population. However that gets blown out of proportion because the American political system ensures a disproportionate amount of power to those areas. On the flipside Europeans are stereotyped based on the population of its large cities. But of course if anybody does just a little bit of investigation they will see that rural America and rural Europe are very similar (why do you think Brexit happened?) American cities and European cities are also very similar. Even more extreme many of the countries of Eastern Europe are considerably more conservative than even the most conservative parts of America.
I'm a bus driver. Taking a bus in America is not horrific, thank you very much.
It depends on where you live. My experience with buses in Atlanta was fine. My experiences with the buses in Alaska was awful!
Load More Replies... Looks like Americans aren't as "free" as they think they are and as they would like the World to see them.
So much content on BP is Europe vs USA. Like f**k off already... we don’t need any more division and hatred in the world
Agreed. I wonder why it is like that though? Maybe the states is a soft target for some reason.
Load More Replies... Please stop viewing Europe as one country. It's a group of very different countries, with different culture, different history, different languages, different customs, different way of life. European countries are NOT like US states, they don't really have nearly as much in common. And while they're a group and share a currency now (and it's only been 20 years) and all that, you cannot group all European countries and treat them like they're all the same. Enough of this, please.
Not all european countries are members of the eu though. But I agree, most european countries have many differences.
Load More Replies... So many of these are not even close to true. Someone is watching too many movies.
I have to wonder why these kinds of generalizations are only acceptable about Americans/America. Many of these would largely depend on where you live in America
This entire post generalizes the entirety of Europe as well. Most of these examples absolutely do not apply for the majority of countries in Europe.
Load More Replies... A lot of the things on this list isn’t true. Downvote me if you want.
definitely another bored panda Stigma induced post for both Europe and America. though it definitely likes to stir up hate in a lot of different forms of these stigmas of Europe and America I think it could have potential of having some fun conversations if delt right...*if* being key because for this Panda, that can't happen in heaven or hell it seems...this Boredpanda loves to just dump loads on America usually which really frustrates me. and this time had a bonus with Europe in it.
For those who misspell America, it just goes to prove you Europeans are a bunch of snotty little pricks.
The author simply revealed their ignorance. It’s embarrassing to see someone actually wrote this truly fact-anemic tripe. I will give one example. The “public purchase and consumption of alcohol” is illegal until age 21. However in 45 states, on private property, with parental consent children may consume any alcohol they wish. The drinking age in this case can go down to 12. The government limited public drinking but preserved parents rights to teach their children to drink responsibility. In America, on private property, one can enjoy a beer or 100 proof whiskey with their child…if they desire. Most parents choose to wait. A simple google search would do you well.
The only thing I would find horrific that is done in many parts of Europe is leaving your baby outside a shop in their stroller. I know its quite common in some places, (lived in many different European countries growing up). But if I saw that in America I would start freaking out lol. Cops would immediately be called by someone, it would be a whole thing.
Not saying ALL americans are patriotic. Although I myself would never feel the same need to defend my country like some (again not all) americans do here. Maybe I'm missing something, it's probably not a bad thing to defend your country. I just never get the urge to defend my country. Is that weird? I hope I am not offending anyone by asking this.
I have a home on 10 acres that is very remote no bus would come there. I also require a lot of tools to do my job and could not take them on the bus. I have never been shot nor have I shot anyone though I do enjoy match shooting g and own many firearms. I guess Europe has zero child molesters and kids are never abducted over there. We do have crime and kids can be abducted so to allow your kids to roam freely is negligent. Plus they might crash on their bike or be hit by a car. I don't know of any kids that are not involved in some kind of extra curriculum activity and I have never been charged for water. It is illegal in Arizona to not provide water if requested. We smile to be pleasant unlike Europeans.
First of all as an America has plenty of issues I will admit. We aren't perfect like you Europeans. Everyone I know removes their shoes when entering a home. Some may keep shoes by the door that are only worn indoors as they have foot problems and shoes provide comfort. To each there own but I have no desire to see old wrinkled sweaty testicle, or gray public hair or any public hair, sagging breasts or stretch marks that make it look like a person was mauled by a tiger. Fish belly white rolls of fat or even a naked super model naked. I took Spanish for 4 years in high school as a foreign language was required. As a business owner employees are given paid vacations, paid sick days, paid holidays and we are a Construction Company when an employees partner has a baby they get 3 days off to help the new mother and baby settle in paid. If the spouse can't handle a newborn after that then they shouldn't have had a kid. So many people abuse sick days though and screw over coworkers
I really take offense with the whole if u can't handle a new born after 3 days u shouldn't of had one. There can be literally hundreds of reasons a new mom needs help after delivering a child she could have had a c-section or a difficult birth the child could had birth defects or other issues that were unforeseen. The child could have colic there could be other siblings in the home and they are not adjusting to the new arrival there's also postpartum depression like I said literally hundreds of things and to judge a person after only three days and saying they shouldn't have had one what are they going to do put the child back because that's about how much sense your post made
Load More Replies... This is simply showing differences... one could just as easily say this is "European bashing" if you decide that the American side of the difference is the preferred version. (and in some of these cases, that would be an easy argument)
Load More Replies... Usa is like a fourth cousin twice removed of European countries that had the guts to jump over the wall to go see the world and so they evolved in their own way . And it doesn't seem so problematic to me. I love both.
So...pointing out differences means you're hating the country? Got it. Are there any other conditions other than patriotic paranoia you want to tell us about?
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