30 Peculiar Things That Seem Normal In Some Countries But Not In The Rest Of The World

There are so many ways to get around paying the tolls to leave. Jersey native, you learn to work around it

Who wants to drive all the way to Trenton to cross the river for free just to go to Philly though? ;)

Fixed a very ill placed downvote

And Kevin Smith 😁 long live Silent Bob and Jay!

Yes, but UK, DE and FR refer to countries and not states. If I were to write that I regularly travel to MV or BY, for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bayern, I wouldn’t expect anyone outside of Germany to understand.

True. I would've thought MV was Montevideo, Uruguay

:D

No, people in other countries do not know the abbreviations for all the US states. I can usually have a guess but why am I expected to know?

Why are people in the US expected to know all the abbreviations for countries in the EU? Functionally, individual US states are not that different from any EU "state", so why is rude to expect knowledge of one and not the other?

Bc it’s not states it’s countries. Several different countries. With different cultures and languages. One can’t compare US states with a continents countries. If one is supposed to go by your “logic” you should also learn all the different areas/provinces in each country.

You don't think each state has a unique culture? That's mighty ignorant of you.

Like I said, individual US states are basically countries on their own that belong to a union, you know, like the EU. Most states have populations and economies equivalent to entire nations, CA (California) probably being the largest. I would never expect anyone to know all the counties in any individual state, even if they lived there, so why would I expect anyone to know the equivalent "provinces" (or whatever label is used for a subset of the country) in a European or other nation? I'm just pointing out the biased double standard applied here. The judgement is that expecting knowledge of the US is seen as arrogant, while lack of knowledge of other regions is seen as ignorant, yet the opposite is never true when applied to yourselves.

Bingo

Most states have a larger population and GDP than most European countries. it's kind of like The European Union and European countries.

No, not by far the EU and states of US are in same position. Population and GDP has nothing to do with it. All the members of the EU can leave the union or the ones who are not part of EU can apply for membership. And they are still a sovereign nation. Any of the states aren't. And that's just one thing. Heck, all the EU members do not have even the same currency.

Secession is a thing (see the Civil War and various failed Brexit-like secession movements throughout our history) and each state has its own government whose sovereignty is guaranteed in the constitution (different states even have different government structures); anyone can petition to join the US as a new state, it's just complicated process and doesn't happen very often (see Hawaii and Alaska for the most recent ones), Puerto Rico has an almost annual movement towards statehood; anyone can create their own currency and still actually do today (see community/complimentary currencies), it's only by the union agreement on interstate commerce that we use a common currency, kind of like the Euro. Please, keep bringing up the similarities. EDIT - Look at it like this: the US is what the EU itself might be like after it's members have had nearly 250 years to settle in and get used to seeing yourselves as a unified group, rather than separate states with a common interest. We started out like that and it's really only in the last 70 years or so (maybe a century) that has changed.

Ummmh..no. There's more differences than similarities. And let's be real here about joining the US. It might be that a sovereign territory in theory could petition to join but Puerto Rico was Spanish colony until it was taken after war in peace treaty, Hawaii declared as an independent monarchy by natives but was forcefully joined, Alaska was bought from Russia. The USA is a single country no matter how much independence the states have. The EU isn't and most likely will not ever be. The origins of the USA and EU are just too different. I don't have EU passport, I don't vote for Drumpf to be president of the EU, the EU won't join the Olympic games or OECD meeting or go to war as a country. If all the people in the area of the EU would lose their idea of national identity, history and start speaking mostly a single language as official language instead of 24 official languages that might somehow happen in future but I doubt it.

facts are obviously not a popular thing in BP

You're not "expected to know" anything but google exists for a reason and unless you want to advertise your ignorance on a public forum I'd start with a little research.

Literally no one uses a postal abbreviation for ANY European countries in these posts except for the UK tho lmao, and even that is just used in the same way we call it the USA. Most Europeans don't even know New Jersey is a place that exists, how'd they know the abbreviation???

Don't say "literally no one" for anything. It's a massive sweeping generalisation which is, unless you've checked with literally every single person on the planet, wrong.

I agree with L. Jennings, also, "Most Europeans don't even know New Jersey is a place..........." Must have went 'round Europe with this poll also.

Yet, those of "US" are routinely criticized, internationally, because we are accused of knowing nothing about "foreign countries" because they're not the "USA." Maybe, just maybe, the excuse-making needs to end, and we can all admit we need to learn more about other countries.

I speak engligh because I am english, not because I know names of US states.

It's in relation to the nj abbreviation pointing out it could be as example north Japan though honestly ...who cares? We should be Enjoying the differences, learning, and valuing them. It's One world.

Except for the fact that the short paragraph **SAYS** it is a state in the US. 🤨

I was being facetious, Ron. The post clearly says it's in the United States.

Yeah, New Jersey isn't exactly a famous state either like California or Texas...

Hollywood has brainwashed most of the world, I don't live there thank goodness, doesn't mean I'm oblivious!

Literally almost no one outside of America knows that New Jersey is a place that exists, let alone the abbreviation... They don't even use abbreviations for whole countries in their continent except for the UK. Most know about California, Texas, Florida, New York.... But new jersey???? No

Ahahha I got -30 points for saying the truth... American exceptionalism at it's finest.