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Theoretically, most folk understand that people around the world do things differently. However, it’s pretty easy to fall into the assumption that, by and large, we all have the same assumption about, say, pineapple on pizza or if one can casually ask someone what their salary is.
Someone asked “What's something that's acceptable and widely done in your country that would be considered offensive in many countries?” and people from across the globe shared their examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts and stories to the comments section down below.
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#1
Openly carrying a firearm.
Daisydaisy 4 days ago
I would be terrified if I saw anyone other than a police officer carrying a gun (Australia). I'd assume I was in the presence of a dangerous lunatic
RELATED:
#3
Having an affair in the US can break your life, in France this is « only » considered as private and none of your business.
The story at the Coldplay concert which broke internet for days reminds me this cultural difference.
#4
Walking around in bare feet in public.
#5
I wouldn't say its completely acceptable and there are obviously situations where you should not do it at all.....but generally, swearing is extremely common here and you'd have to be a really special person to be offended by it.
#7
Being late. it's so past the point of being accepted that punctuality in social events is actually frowned upon in Brazil.
#9
Being naked in sauna with strangers.
#10
Being American, from my experience. I'm being a little facetious there but it does get old when people get mad at me for stuff our government does. Trust me, I don't like them either. I wish they weren't doing that either.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 4 days ago
I pity the sensible, everyday American citizens who didn't vote for that orange fart-face. They're just being dragged along for the ride.
#11
*Not* showing any especial respect for elders, religious figures or politicians.
I’m not saying everyone hates on those groups here but we’re a less hierarchical culture and that knee jerk respect isn’t common.
#12
Taking my shoes off as I enter my house. And guests do that as well. They may or may not be offered anything to eat or drink if it’s not an invitation and it’s perfectly fine.
#14
Pushing someone's face into their birthday cake. Stupid tradition but still pretty widespread and expected that it'll happen to you on your birthday.
#15
FKK stands for Freikörperkultur (free body culture)
Part of a beach or sea where you have to go naked, everyone.
#16
I don't know about *many* countries, but every now and then on reddit I see an American have a meltdown because we let our pet cats roam outside whenever they want and no one minds.
Crystalwitch60 1 day ago
lol I got that coming from uk , we do well I don’t I’m not a cat person , but there are a few in this village as do , all night to , that I don’t agree with , not one bit ,day yes night NO
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Colin Roach 4 days ago
Well, considering how many species of animal are still getting made extinct due to feral cats in Australia, it's not just Americans who have meltdowns.
L.V 3 days ago (edited)
I've heard there's a city in Germany ( Dusseldorf I think) where you're not allowed to let your cat go outside during mating season, to allow birds to reproduce
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Daisydaisy 4 days ago
Outdoor cats k**l (literally) billions of wild animals every year - they are frowned upon in my town (Australia)
Ace 4 days ago
In the UK (and Europe in general) the bird and rodent population is largely self-regulating, limited by food and environment rather than predation, so those that do get k****d by cats are effectively replaced and population levels are not much affected.
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Norfolk and good 3 days ago (edited)
Going outside is good for cats. Cat goes for a wonder, climbs a few trees, has a nap on the roof of a car and goes home.
Plentyofoomph 2 days ago
And in Australia, leads to the extinction of dozens of native animal species
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Nikki Sevven 3 days ago
A lot of Americans let their cats wander freely too. Cats k**l millions of songbirds and small mammals yearly, and get k****d themselves by foxes, coyotes, fisher cats, and the like.
David 3 days ago
w*f is this person talking about? in most of the US no one has a problem with Pet Cats roaming. In some places like Florida, you worry about gators so you dont, but most of the US this is normal
Inigo Montoya 2 days ago
That's my experience too. It happens a bit less frequently at my current town, because there are a lot of predators (coyotes, fisher cats, etc). Most outdoor cats don't survive more than a couple years. But people still do it, even my vet lets his cats outside.
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Lee451 Henderson 1 day ago
I have a pet door and, as soon as they learn to use it, my kitties come and go as they please.
Chich the witch 2 days ago
to become an ex cat, around here anyways. see my post above.
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TheMFKNXerdo 3 days ago
Ever since the christian neighbour k****d my cat when I was 11 (early 90's), and adding that a second, also christian neighbour threatened to do the same to my cats recently, during the 2010s, I believe that cats should not be outdoor animals in North America. Also, I live in a triangle formed between three of the largest avenues in my city. Death sentence, absolutely. This being said, I have a very large walled garden. I don't think I'd have cats if I had a small apartment.
Kid Murray 3 days ago
I'm not trying to sound tough, I'm not and never have been. But if someone k****d my cat I'd k**l them. Simple as that.
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xolitaire 3 days ago (edited)
Don't start that topic please, people lose their minds if someone tells them that unless you have a farm and an actual rodent problem, house cats don't really have a place in the current day food chain. Foxes and other small predators still exist and have taken over from the missing wild cats in most countries, but that is often ignored to justify why house cats should happily hunt outside. Downvote away, IDGAF.
Multa Nocte 3 days ago
I know. I live in the country in southwest France surrounded by vineyards, corn fields, sunflower fields, etc. (specific crops rotate yearly except for the grapes), and we have an old barn attached to our house. To say that we normally have a swarm of mice around would be underplaying it. We ended up with three cats and they keep the house and barn rodent free, but they are inside when they want (most of the time) and outside when they want. Our first year here we just had our dog who was too large to chase after the many mice, and even with traps, our house was swarming with rodents. Our cats have gotten rid of this problem (except when the two older girls bring in live mice to teach the little boy how to hunt). When I asked our vet what he thought about having the cats outside he laughed and told us he recommended it heartily, especially given where we live.
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Trip Martin 2 days ago
People who let their cats roam around outside can not call themselves animal lovers. They are just pet lovers, all other small creatures be dated.
#17
State’s control of individual religion. We’re a multicultural country with 4 big religions, but born-muslims and (official) muslim converts are not allowed to leave Islam officially (on paper), which dictates many aspects of our life.
#18
Finnish Sauna where everyone is naked. Especially mixed with men and women together.
Dragons Exist 3 days ago (edited)
The transphobes who think that "men" should stay out of women's restrooms would have a heart attack upon hearing this — edit: you transphobes who're replying to me can fuck right off; this site is starting to approach Twitter levels of bigotry
#19
Just a simple thing : dip a toast/biscuit/cake/pastry in our coffee/tea. Some think it's disgusting, but here in France, we think that's better well soaked.
Ace 4 days ago
Dunking biscuits in tea (proper strong black tea with milk, though, none of the dreadful weak teas and infusions so common in France) is almost a religion among many British people. (I hate it myself, always have, even back when I used to drink tea all the time like most other Brits).
#20
American work culture with European taxes and salaries. It’s bad.
Smoking grass in public and the ability to buy almost anywhere legally.
LGBT rights and protections.
#21
Trying to bring thousands of year old religious doctrine into law.
Geoffrey Scott 3 days ago
"Congress shall make no law establishing a religion, nor the free exercise thereof" The US founders weren't dopes, they KNEW most wars are fought over 'whose God is better'.
#22
Eating with hands
Just look at Zohran Mamdani's hand eating discourse.
#23
Australia: Stealing road signs (?)
China: Beijing bikini (?) Actually, no. Smoking in restaurants, directly in front of a "no smoking" sign.
#24
In Poland, there's a custom called "Jew for good luck." It involves hanging a portrait of the most stereotypically looking Jewish man counting coins in home, hoping it will bring financial success to the family. Of course, it's based on the classic anti-Semitic trope that Jew = money hoarder.
And if that's not bad enough, sometimes the tradition is to regularly turn the painting upside down so that the money the Jew has accumulated will fall out of his pocket into the hands of his owners.
Forrest Hobbs 4 days ago
This one is such appallingly bad taste that, erm, I laughed. Turn the rácist Jewish stereotype upside-down so you can steal all his money? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.😬🤣
#25
I guess kissing each other on the cheek to say hello.
#27
Eating raw pork maybe?
Multa Nocte 4 days ago
This is from Denpasar, Denpasar City, Bali, Indonesia - original poster.
#28
The Israeli style of speech can be perceived as an insult in other countries.
Direct questions like "What is your salary?"
Any style of humor is also accepted here.
I once told a Hitler joke at a party in Germany, and some German was offended by me.
Why was he offended? His grandfather tried to end my grandfather. If anyone should be offended, it's me.
#29
Homophobia.
#30
Atheism.
Multa Nocte 4 days ago
I am happy to say (writing from France) that this poster is French. NO ONE talks about God here - no one. Well, sometimes except when we swear, but it's usually more realistic terms like putain, merde, and bifler. ;-)
#31
Men walking around with their shirt off in public in the summer. In supermarkets, pubs etc. .
#32
Maybe not that offensive anymore in other parts of the world, but we pretty much always address teachers by their first name.
Multa Nocte 4 days ago
I worked in a special education school where all the children called us by our first names, and we then got saddled with a regular education principal who forced the children to call us Ms., Mrs., or Mr. I had one youngster who couldn't get the hang of it. We had a secretary named Deloris and my young man couldn't change from Deloris to Miss Deloris (he literally didn't understand how), even though the principal insisted, and the absolute best he could do was calling her Miss-ter Lors. To this day when I meet someone named Deloris I have to refrain from chuckling and calling her Mr. Lors.
#34
Not smiling on the streets.
#35
In parts of the country, wearing shoes inside the home is common. Due the weather in my area, it is rarely done.
What do you think ?
Rose the Cook 4 days ago
It would help a lot if the countries were mentioned in every item, not just some.
Multa Nocte 4 days ago
I added in several by going back to the original posts.
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Earonn - 4 days ago
Let's see, what do we have in Britain? Queuing, obvs; not making 'a scene', which includes complaining when one should; mixing football with religion, consideration towards others on the street; bowing to 'royalty' and "good breeding"; pub = everyone is equal, relaxed work culture...
Norfolk and good 3 days ago (edited)
Putting milk in your tea, having a day dedicated to pancakes, having fireworks to celebrate a failed attempted to blow up Parliament over 400 years ago, talking about the weather, Mother's day celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent rather than May, our general attitude towards tea being the cure for everything, our inability to handle snow.
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Tara Noe 4 days ago
Lived in China for years and it's full of stuff that's totally normal there, but would horrify anyone else. Like hoarding up phlegm and spitting in public, small children in bumless pants squatting on the sidewalk to do number 1s and 2s and honking horns at EVERYTHING. (Actually started to appreciate the kids thing, despite it being disgusting. No diapers needed, therefore no toilet training needed. Kids learn from infancy what they need to do)
Trillian 4 days ago
I'd rather have kids in diapers than step into s**t everywhere.
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LilliVB 3 days ago (edited)
I'm Italian and something I realized is very rude in some other countries but totally normal in Italy is that we interrupt conversations. You aren't supposed to let someone finish before speaking, actually conversation in Italy is really dynamic, like a ping pong match with multiple players, where people go back and forth offering points of view and asking questions about whatever it's spoken about. I've never realized it was considered rude before reading about how many people were annoyed by it (not Italian people of course). EDIT: missed word
Sam Trudeau 3 days ago
We Canadians are polite with LGBTQ rights, religion, gender... until you go to Alberta. As far as I'm concerned, it's just there to beef up the landmass
Rose the Cook 4 days ago
It would help a lot if the countries were mentioned in every item, not just some.
Multa Nocte 4 days ago
I added in several by going back to the original posts.
Load More Replies... Earonn - 4 days ago
Let's see, what do we have in Britain? Queuing, obvs; not making 'a scene', which includes complaining when one should; mixing football with religion, consideration towards others on the street; bowing to 'royalty' and "good breeding"; pub = everyone is equal, relaxed work culture...
Norfolk and good 3 days ago (edited)
Putting milk in your tea, having a day dedicated to pancakes, having fireworks to celebrate a failed attempted to blow up Parliament over 400 years ago, talking about the weather, Mother's day celebrated on the fourth Sunday in Lent rather than May, our general attitude towards tea being the cure for everything, our inability to handle snow.
Load More Replies... Tara Noe 4 days ago
Lived in China for years and it's full of stuff that's totally normal there, but would horrify anyone else. Like hoarding up phlegm and spitting in public, small children in bumless pants squatting on the sidewalk to do number 1s and 2s and honking horns at EVERYTHING. (Actually started to appreciate the kids thing, despite it being disgusting. No diapers needed, therefore no toilet training needed. Kids learn from infancy what they need to do)
Trillian 4 days ago
I'd rather have kids in diapers than step into s**t everywhere.
Load More Replies... LilliVB 3 days ago (edited)
I'm Italian and something I realized is very rude in some other countries but totally normal in Italy is that we interrupt conversations. You aren't supposed to let someone finish before speaking, actually conversation in Italy is really dynamic, like a ping pong match with multiple players, where people go back and forth offering points of view and asking questions about whatever it's spoken about. I've never realized it was considered rude before reading about how many people were annoyed by it (not Italian people of course). EDIT: missed word
Sam Trudeau 3 days ago
We Canadians are polite with LGBTQ rights, religion, gender... until you go to Alberta. As far as I'm concerned, it's just there to beef up the landmass
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