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.
It's irrelevant either way. This entire BP post is about making things POPULAR ... Not inventing.
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There again, it's rather marginal in my country. And as for PB & J ... forget it!
The Dutch might have had something to do with that before the Americans did...
Did it become very popular because of the Dutch?
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sandokan, you downvoted me too, right? nothing surprises me for some years/
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Much of that is thanks to George Washington Carver, who discovered over 300 uses for peanuts during his lifetime!
Again...this is not about which countries invented what. It is about what was popularized via American culture.
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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.
Note: this post originally had 75 images. It’s been shortened to the top 31 images based on user votes.
(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".
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Lol this post, "what did Americans make popular?" Americans: "everything" European BP commenters: "nope."
QBFT: (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, 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.
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Many things are considered negative (mainly junk food and sodas, tipping culture, Tiktok,...). And, many others can even be considered failures when "the rest of the world" has tried them (Halloween, Black Friday, Proms,...). In short, not convinced by this list.
How is Hallowe'en a failure in the Celtic country it originated in?
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These 53 BP Posts = "POPULAR". ... Not, 'x' also exists ... Not, "this isn't the best" ... Not "this wasn't the first". ... It's as though a lot of Panda's who comment at 11:00 hours GMT (before the sun rose in the US) don't know what 'popular' means.
Hilarious thread. Every week BP people bemoan the US bashing, then they finally get a thread of their own to laud their accomplishments and largely fill it with deluded lies. This, America, is why there are so many bashing threads. We love you, but in the words of Eddie Izzard, "Do you know there are other countries?".
This was a thread poorly disguised as "yay for the US" - I did *not* see most of this as good. It seems to me to be cherry picked from idiots so others can bash the US in the comments.
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While I was initially annoyed (my reactions were more like "that's Irish", "that's German", etc.), the article does have a point. The US, through film and TV, has become the most recognisable nation on earth. Everyone knows Coca Cola and McDonald's. And living in Japan, pretty much *everyone* thinks that Halloween is American. It isn't, of course, but with the global platform it has, everything that is popular in the US is going to seep into the rest of the world, and rightly or wrongly be considered American. It can at times be extremely frustrating for those of us who are in fact, not American (there are a few of us), but it's an undeniable truth that a lot of what I know about other countries has in some way come to me via the US.
Everybody: Arguing about which thing were invented in America/ made popular in America That one spammer: EvErYbOdY NeEdS To TrY ThIs JoB
Choreographed dance has always been a thing long before the US.
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All these, and turning round your corner at a crossroads has not become a thing.
i approached the article with an open mind, but all postings about brands need to be reviewed. in many instances, the biggest brand is the killer of many smaller or at least similar ones, so how is this a good thing? Force fed and imposed is not made popular. Similarly, made popular should include things that aren't exported as such (social phenomena like the graduation prom, although this is a bad example, since people never needed an occasion for a party) or things that were indeed huger in us than in the origin countries, but automobiles and french fries don't qualify.
I would like to add a couple of things that I think America has made popular. One thing is Democracy or perhaps better known as *representative government"; and another thing that I believe has been popularized by America is the notion of women's rights. When we see anti government protests going on in Iran and in China at the same time, I personally am uplifted and amazed. I know that there have been such uprisings even 2000 years ago. But in our day and age, for men to fight for women's rights....for unarmed citizens to stand up to the army.....well, of course I cannot be 100% sure but I think that tradition of free speech in the US has been an example. Especially protests over the past 60 years: anti war, women's rights, civil rights, black lives matter. The images of these successful protests have been seen around the world, and hopefully have inspired others.
I hate how everyone's saying "but that was first in ----" yeah maybe but it's talking about when it BECAME popular
Top comments come in 3 categories: 1. “No they did something close but largely unrelated in ______ first!” That is often not even correct. 2. Yeah and it’s terrible. 3. I’m edgy! I’ve never even heard of McDonalds or the kardashians! I’m so cool!
I certainly wish I'd not heard of the Kardashians...
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Years ago I was told that American TV screens nothing but American productions. Not sure if that's still the case today.
LoL. Not true at least not since satellite dishes
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Why are there so many downvotes from item 35 onwards. Does a downvote mean that I dislike the post , or the product / issue mentioned in the post?
They forgot Majorettes. Fading now, but many small towns here used to have a club.
Wait! Nothing good ever comes form the US! We all know this. And nothing has ever been made popular because of the US.
(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".
Load More Replies... Lol this post, "what did Americans make popular?" Americans: "everything" European BP commenters: "nope."
QBFT: (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, 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.
Load More Replies... Many things are considered negative (mainly junk food and sodas, tipping culture, Tiktok,...). And, many others can even be considered failures when "the rest of the world" has tried them (Halloween, Black Friday, Proms,...). In short, not convinced by this list.
How is Hallowe'en a failure in the Celtic country it originated in?
Load More Replies... These 53 BP Posts = "POPULAR". ... Not, 'x' also exists ... Not, "this isn't the best" ... Not "this wasn't the first". ... It's as though a lot of Panda's who comment at 11:00 hours GMT (before the sun rose in the US) don't know what 'popular' means.
Hilarious thread. Every week BP people bemoan the US bashing, then they finally get a thread of their own to laud their accomplishments and largely fill it with deluded lies. This, America, is why there are so many bashing threads. We love you, but in the words of Eddie Izzard, "Do you know there are other countries?".
This was a thread poorly disguised as "yay for the US" - I did *not* see most of this as good. It seems to me to be cherry picked from idiots so others can bash the US in the comments.
Load More Replies... While I was initially annoyed (my reactions were more like "that's Irish", "that's German", etc.), the article does have a point. The US, through film and TV, has become the most recognisable nation on earth. Everyone knows Coca Cola and McDonald's. And living in Japan, pretty much *everyone* thinks that Halloween is American. It isn't, of course, but with the global platform it has, everything that is popular in the US is going to seep into the rest of the world, and rightly or wrongly be considered American. It can at times be extremely frustrating for those of us who are in fact, not American (there are a few of us), but it's an undeniable truth that a lot of what I know about other countries has in some way come to me via the US.
Everybody: Arguing about which thing were invented in America/ made popular in America That one spammer: EvErYbOdY NeEdS To TrY ThIs JoB
Choreographed dance has always been a thing long before the US.
Load More Replies... All these, and turning round your corner at a crossroads has not become a thing.
i approached the article with an open mind, but all postings about brands need to be reviewed. in many instances, the biggest brand is the killer of many smaller or at least similar ones, so how is this a good thing? Force fed and imposed is not made popular. Similarly, made popular should include things that aren't exported as such (social phenomena like the graduation prom, although this is a bad example, since people never needed an occasion for a party) or things that were indeed huger in us than in the origin countries, but automobiles and french fries don't qualify.
I would like to add a couple of things that I think America has made popular. One thing is Democracy or perhaps better known as *representative government"; and another thing that I believe has been popularized by America is the notion of women's rights. When we see anti government protests going on in Iran and in China at the same time, I personally am uplifted and amazed. I know that there have been such uprisings even 2000 years ago. But in our day and age, for men to fight for women's rights....for unarmed citizens to stand up to the army.....well, of course I cannot be 100% sure but I think that tradition of free speech in the US has been an example. Especially protests over the past 60 years: anti war, women's rights, civil rights, black lives matter. The images of these successful protests have been seen around the world, and hopefully have inspired others.
I hate how everyone's saying "but that was first in ----" yeah maybe but it's talking about when it BECAME popular
Top comments come in 3 categories: 1. “No they did something close but largely unrelated in ______ first!” That is often not even correct. 2. Yeah and it’s terrible. 3. I’m edgy! I’ve never even heard of McDonalds or the kardashians! I’m so cool!
I certainly wish I'd not heard of the Kardashians...
Load More Replies... Years ago I was told that American TV screens nothing but American productions. Not sure if that's still the case today.
LoL. Not true at least not since satellite dishes
Load More Replies... Why are there so many downvotes from item 35 onwards. Does a downvote mean that I dislike the post , or the product / issue mentioned in the post?
They forgot Majorettes. Fading now, but many small towns here used to have a club.
Wait! Nothing good ever comes form the US! We all know this. And nothing has ever been made popular because of the US.
