After Noticing These 30 Things Americans Do In Movies, People Are Wondering Whether They Do Them In Real Life

Living in a college town I can attest that yes they do. It's all anyone talks about, and the traffic jams are awful. High school football here is just as bad.

Its the easiest reference for us and a football field is 100yards or 300 feet or 91.44 meters.

We say goodbye, or something like it. It's an idiosyncrasy of script writing, not Americans.

the only thing in my locker is a mound of trash.

We also wear our shoes in bed as well.

Erin

Erin

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When my relatives from Ireland come to visit, they love to play with the garbage disposal. Even the people in their 60's think it is hilarious. They refer to it as "the murder sink".

I'm American and it's a select few who do that but it's not the norm.

Erin

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Yes, we do. It is the only access we have to water.

Erin

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When I was in school, it was hard boiled eggs. Now they have high-tech baby dolls called Baby Think About it. It is a Life Skills class that teaches you how to be an adult.

Millions of people eat this daily in the US.

In my family, we only use paper plates for gatherings.

The "funeral" is usually in a church and then a burial service graveside.

We're tough! We don't need... er... pill lubricants?

This is especially true in small towns. The largest parking lot in town is the local teen hangout

Yes, Homecoming is really big here in the US. Celebrating at high school and university.

Why? Hot water is hot water.

You don't?!?!!

If I’m giving directions to my house, I can say ‘turn 4 blocks after the fire station’ and they understand that.

In urban or suburban areas yes. In rural areas we do not.

In more rural areas (to my understanding) blocks are not used to describe distances/areas, but in some cities they are.

Yes its the american measurement system, the ameasurecan system if you will. A block is 2/3 of a football field, and 3 football fields equals one metric ton. It works.

In cities they do, because, you know, there are. "Blocks". In the country, it's miles or " well, you can't get there from here"! 😆

We measure the distance between two buildings in cities by blocks (city blocks are how cities are organized here)

Yes we do

We use blocks in town or city, or if you're in the country like me, you give distance by miles or the second drive way on the left. Or turn at the red barn. Or two miles down, second road on the right called Herald or something like that.

A block is a tenth of a mile. Our cars measure blocks so it is an easy way of measuring distances less than a mile.

I can't say. In Texas we measure distance in time. I can't tell you how many miles there are between Dallas and Austin but I know it takes about 3 hours to get there.

I’m from the Midwest, and the distance measurement that really confuses me is measuring in miles instead of minutes or hours. Everyone knows how long a minute is, but a mile? Logically you may know but it real life it’s hard to tell

yes and a city block is not the same as a country block

Of course we do.

I work 3 blocks from home. Why is that weird. A city block is a city block. If it's 3 blocks away it's 3 blocks away. It isn't hard. You walk 3 blocks

block = furlong

Not in Texas!

City folk do measure distance by blocks. It makes things very simple when you say "go straight 2 blocks, then take a left go three more blocks and I'll meet you on the corner."

For city folk. LOL

Do you not know that cities are laid out in grids?

Frustratingly, yes. However, it is not a measure of distance, just reference...as a "city block" is not standard anywhere. Plus, to say "drive four blocks north" is easier to grasp than " drive up to the fifth intersection from here". Also many cities have both lettered and numbered streets, rather than real names, so that is even more confusing as there is no standard there.

American blocks are all "equal" 4 blocks = 1 mile. So if you give someone the distance in Blocks then they have an idea of how far it is/ how long it takes... Other countries just aren't built like that.

How else would you give someone directions?

This happens in all cities with blocks...

A lot of our cities are built in grids, so it's easier to say "Go West for four blocks and turn left at the bank". We give more directions based on landmarks than street names.

all americans in cities do...how do you navigate?

In areas that are vast and empty, like the Great Plains, people express distance in hours. "Denver? Well, thats another 9 hours from here."

Why is that weird?

Yes. Everywhere. Especially in rural areas. We measure farms in blocks. When you buy a house, we measure is quarter blocks.

Yeah, cities developed in grids (NYC especially) use blocks. Everywhere else it's usually measured in time.

Sounds about as precise as their weird real measures. Blocks are the same length everywhere, right?

It only works when you actually have blocks. I normally don't but I'm in a rural area.

"2 blocks" (meaning 2 intersections) is easier than saying "about 800-1000 ft"

Sure! In cities and most towns a "block" is a convenient and local "universally" (meaning most people in the area) understood unit of measurement. Because most of us are raised knowing about how long a "city block" is, it's easy to understand the distance meant when something is described as being whatever number of "city blocks" away. I'm sure other countries have their own ways of communicating local distances, too.

elfin

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Well, we do in towns and cities that have blocks. It's a convenient way to give directions.

The majority of cities throughout North America were designed in blocks - that's why we say it. Easier to know the distance if giving short distance directions. Everyone here knows what Walmart is just 4 blocks away... start saying things like: "oh, it's just 0.2 kilometers", and people get confused.

It took me a second to understand why this wouldn't me normal elsewhere, but yeah we measure in blocks since our streets have that square design layout. It's easy to use. When I think about the streets in Poland, I realized why there wouldn't be such a thing like "blocks" since a majority of the streets are quite rounded? curved? I'm not sure about the terminology for it.