Someone Asks “What Wouldn’t Be Nearly As Popular If It Wasn’t For The US?” And 30 People Answer
From Hollywood to PBJ sandwiches, there are countless incredible things for which we can be thankful to no one else than the US.
In Europe, millennial kids grew up watching Powerpuff Girls, wearing Vans slip-ons, and listening to The Smashing Pumpkins in their teenage years. Fast forward to a more recent age and the music world would never be the same without Queen B or controversial Ye. It’s fair to say that the impact of American culture around the globe has been unequaled since the dawn of time, and it’s time to celebrate it!
So today, we looked at this Ask Reddit thread to find out what American staples have found their popularity abroad, according to people, and the responses are very interesting!
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Gender reveal parties. One of the worst gifts the US has given
GPS
The American military gave away one of the coolest technologies to the world. No service fees, no subscriptions. Imagine if Meta or Apple had invented it.
National parks. It was started in America by future Republican president Theodore Roosevelt and quickly it became a world wide practice.
"Many mistakenly think America’s Yellowstone National Park is the oldest in the world but there’s one that was created a century earlier. Established by the Mongolian government in 1778, the area surrounding Bogd Khan Uul Biosphere Reserve is actually the oldest in the world. It is located south of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, and takes three to four hours to hike. You’ll find many cultural sites surrounding the park, including the ruins of Manzushir Monastery, Buddha Park, and Zaisan Memorial."
Peanut butter
I'll give them this one because the title says 'America' and not 'the US'. Peanut butter can traced back as far as the the Aztec.
Hamburgers, with pickles mustard etc. It’s a strange combo. Delicious but I doubt the entire world would have that as a common item
It was extremely common in Europe before the Americas were even discovered. When the colonists travelled to the new world, it was those people gabbing a snack at the port of Hamburg that carried the idea over the pond. I would argue that America made the cheap, poorly made hamburger popular, but not the hamburger.
Superheroes and their movies.
What about anime? Has that been around longer than the American comics, or is that genre not considered a superhero like medium? *Edit to add - my question here is not about anime being first, but that if it was already popular internationally then the US didn’t necessarily contribute something unique? I’m not versed enough in anime or manga to say if there is any kind of superhero similarities.
Disneyland and Disney.
It’s not surprising they’ve been able to expand out to other countries. There’s all the magic, happiness, and whatnot that comes with it.
That, and they are using “It’s a Small World” to hypnotize us all.
Disneyland in the USA opened in 1955. Disneyland Paris opened in 1992.
The word "OK"
Spam in northeast-asia, especially South Korea
American soldiers ate it during the Korea war and it gained popularity to the point that it's a common food for both Koreans, Japanese, and some Chinese cultures such as Shanghainese
Christmas lights strung outside of the houses!
I think you'll find that was actually Germany. From there it spread throughout Europe, then moved westward to the Americas.
The Kardashians. Yes. The world hates you
Using inch to measure TV size.
Hating the U.S.
We don't "hate" you. We just like to bring you back down à notch or two when your superiority complex goes overboard. 😇
Halloween.
As a commercial enterprise, yes. Samhain, it's root, is Irish.
Hollywood
It's not like there weren't other towns and cities names Hollywood before. OP is most likely refering to movie industry based in town called Hollywood, California.
Proms... in other countries some schools host proms just because they see it on TV.
Crocs
I question your understanding of the word "popular". Maybe "tolerated".
Black Friday. It’s a worldwide thing now even though only the US has TG the day before.
The Irish. Since we emigrated in the 1800s, all of the big American celebrities say “I’ve got Irish roots” and it’s attracted attention to that little Green island that isn’t part of England. Particularly the west coast of Ireland.
The internet, preceided by the ARPANET, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Defenses.
Yeah, the 7 main servers that control The internet are located in the good old USA thanks to ARPANET. This is obviously due to the fact that one Telephone and Telegraph company held a monopoly over. The US, and it was easy for them to connect everything. They also owned Bell labs, the birthplace of UNIX and the C programming language.
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I think there are a few delusional posts in this thread lol....
Oh, yes!
Elite education? Hilarious. Like people weren't already coming from all over the world to study at Oxford and Cambridge before Christopher Columbus even set off on his travels.
I'd say there are more.than a.few :D
I laughed at the Ireland part
Mani, I laughed at Japan :)
The question posed "What Wouldn’t Be Nearly As Popular If It Wasn’t For The US?" is also making a massive assumption. We have no way of knowing what would, or would not, be popular if the US had never existed 😲!! Maybe these things would have come about/gained popularity anyway or not. I agree with those who say the US has made some of these things popular (in some instances good and others bad). Maybe I am quibbling over semantics but, to me, that is a different point, even if only a subtle one (and also a lighthearted one). 😜
(1) It's not, "Americans ", as a nation writing this, or believing this; it is just a few people nobody has ever heard of. ... If it wasn't the middle of the night when BP uploaded this, people across the US would be correcting the errors -- not just people on the other half of the globe. ... (I rated 2/3rds false the Nat'l Park post) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) The title clearly says, "Things America Made POPULAR" -- not "invented". The European BP commenters are replying, "but it was invented elsewhere", as though they don't understand the difference.
Ok, so THIS is why there are so many popular US bashing articles on BP. Because the US claims credit for EVERYTHING popular in the entire world. SOME people from the US have no comprehension that the rest of the word invents popular things, or that things existed before the US made them popular.
Xeno: ... If BP would have posted this 12 hours later, when Americans are awake and the other half of the globe is asleep, you would have seen the same corrections you and others have made -- but without the bile. ... You are conflating what a few people post with the idea that, "the US claims credit for EVERYTHING".
I did qualify the statement with SOME
No. This was not a list compiled by Americans. It is a list compiled by Lithuanians. I'm American, and most of this list is bull s**t. I assure you, no one I know, or have ever met, goes around claiming any of this tripe. Most of us are just trying to live our lives and don't go around arrogantly claiming any of this c**p. ETA: I should have realized this was taken directly from Americans on Reddit, and a couple of pandas have reminded me of that, so I apologize for my first statement being incorrect.
It's from Reddit! And as you could read in the list 50% of Reddit users are US American.
One post like this that came far after ****all**** the US bashing ones? Nah.
There are only 30 things popular in the entire world?
Indeed they are not aware the rest of the world exists, except for eye-rack.
I think there are a few delusional posts in this thread lol....
Oh, yes!
Elite education? Hilarious. Like people weren't already coming from all over the world to study at Oxford and Cambridge before Christopher Columbus even set off on his travels.
I'd say there are more.than a.few :D
I laughed at the Ireland part
Mani, I laughed at Japan :)
The question posed "What Wouldn’t Be Nearly As Popular If It Wasn’t For The US?" is also making a massive assumption. We have no way of knowing what would, or would not, be popular if the US had never existed 😲!! Maybe these things would have come about/gained popularity anyway or not. I agree with those who say the US has made some of these things popular (in some instances good and others bad). Maybe I am quibbling over semantics but, to me, that is a different point, even if only a subtle one (and also a lighthearted one). 😜
(1) It's not, "Americans ", as a nation writing this, or believing this; it is just a few people nobody has ever heard of. ... If it wasn't the middle of the night when BP uploaded this, people across the US would be correcting the errors -- not just people on the other half of the globe. ... (I rated 2/3rds false the Nat'l Park post) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2) The title clearly says, "Things America Made POPULAR" -- not "invented". The European BP commenters are replying, "but it was invented elsewhere", as though they don't understand the difference.
Ok, so THIS is why there are so many popular US bashing articles on BP. Because the US claims credit for EVERYTHING popular in the entire world. SOME people from the US have no comprehension that the rest of the word invents popular things, or that things existed before the US made them popular.
Xeno: ... If BP would have posted this 12 hours later, when Americans are awake and the other half of the globe is asleep, you would have seen the same corrections you and others have made -- but without the bile. ... You are conflating what a few people post with the idea that, "the US claims credit for EVERYTHING".
I did qualify the statement with SOME
No. This was not a list compiled by Americans. It is a list compiled by Lithuanians. I'm American, and most of this list is bull s**t. I assure you, no one I know, or have ever met, goes around claiming any of this tripe. Most of us are just trying to live our lives and don't go around arrogantly claiming any of this c**p. ETA: I should have realized this was taken directly from Americans on Reddit, and a couple of pandas have reminded me of that, so I apologize for my first statement being incorrect.
It's from Reddit! And as you could read in the list 50% of Reddit users are US American.
One post like this that came far after ****all**** the US bashing ones? Nah.
There are only 30 things popular in the entire world?
Indeed they are not aware the rest of the world exists, except for eye-rack.