The United States—the land of the free. The home of the brave. And the nation of some very peculiar habits, according to the internet. Other countries in the world are confused by some of the things that Americans do. Like calling tuna “tuna fish” and putting too much cheese on everything. I find it endearing, others find it strange.
Bored Panda has collected some of the best tweets that show how confused foreigners are at what some Americans do. Scroll down and upvote your faves. And be sure to check out our previous post about Europeans who shared what problems are too American for them to grasp.
Culture clashes are nothing new. After all, if every country and culture were the same, there’d be no point in leaving your home, right? (Spoiler warning: due to the coronavirus pandemic, you shouldn’t be leaving your home either way.) Benny Lewis, founder of the Fluent in 3 Months blog, spent 4 years living in the US and has some gripes about the culture. Including how Americans are too politically correct while at the same time they think that everything is “awesome.”
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It makes sense to start with the day, but I guess it's what you get used to
We choose from a lot more at first, eventually narrowing it down to two and choosing from them.
According to Benny from Ireland, Europeans traveling around the US will find a lot of things weird. Like the fact that Americans smile way too much and it’s difficult to know when they mean it and when they’re smiling out of reflex.
Another thing that Benny found very unusual is something a lot of people complain about when they arrive in the US. Yup, you guessed it—tipping! “I really think tipping as a means of waitresses and others earning the vast majority of their living is ridiculous. If I have to pay, say 15% anyway, then include it in the bill! It's not a bloody tip if it's mandatory!” Benny expressed his opinion. Some of us can agree that mandatory tipping is sneaky and that servers should earn a decent wage that isn’t based on tips.
“Why not tip everyone who you interact with in some way—bus drivers, or leave money on your trash can for the garbage man? It's inconsistent, and waiters, hairdressers, and taxi drivers should just charge us what needs to be charged,” Benny writes in his blog.
As an irish person I dont mind it, it is nice for people to be proud of their heritage. What I do mind is when they ask do I know paddy mcsomething from donegal. I know Ireland's small but we don't all live in one village. Oh and the accent impersonations are damn annoying...although in my experience the English are the worst for imitating accents.
The other day when they announced America now has the highest C19 infections of any country an american in the comments said "BS, I'm sure Europe has more". Seems some Americans think Europe is a country.
He also has issues with how in some parts of America prices aren’t what they seem because the tax isn’t included to make the cost seem lower than it really is.
Of course, taxing is different in different states, but this doesn’t excuse corporations from printing up different product costs for each state. Or, as Benny puts it, “We have the same product sold across many European countries and somehow someone in the company found the time to punch numbers into a $1 calculator in advance to tell people how much they are actually paying.”
Why was fahrenheit even invented? The metric system just makes so much more sense. Freezing point is 0C and boiling point is 100C. A litre is 1000millilitres, 100 centimetres is 1 metre etc.
thats not just American. I think it depends on the person. I have local friends who do and local friends who dont, and American friends who do and dont.
I don't know about other Americans, but at our house, we just call it TUNA.
But before you start thinking that all Europeans have it out for the US, Benny also mentions some awesome things about Americans. For example, nobody can deny that Americans have an incredible work ethic and how open-minded and diverse most of the country is. It’s a country with plenty of positives, peppered with a whole lot of bizarreness.
Because you don't need a bloody scale to measure grams. All you need is a simple cup with lines. DUH!
Well actually, most of the time we say that we don't give a s**t, so.....
I don't think that, nor have I ever thought that. I don't know anyone who does. Where did you even come up with that nonsense.
I don't think I know anybody who lives like they have free healthcare - quite the opposite actually. "Is it truly bad enough to go see a doctor or can we survive without going"? Nobody want those bills that follows a doctors visit!!
I hear it said at least 3 different ways depending on what news channel you watch
Don't get me started on how Americans pronounce 'mirror'. They miss out the 'o' and say "mirrrrr". Madness!
High school was pretty much the worst time in my life. My daughter is going through it now and I wish I could just fast forward her outta there.
Yeah but then you also have 'drinks halls' in germany with liquor, beer, water, soda... Why? Also you're ignoring the "dry county" thing where within one state many counties may sell absolutely zero alcohol and the next does.
It's the MOVIES for F sake! Get a clue would you?! We don't DO that IRL.
Actually I've noticed when dropping off my friends here in the states (I moved here from England last year) that they all just open the door freely and walk right in. No keys, no one to open their door, nothing.
Load More Replies...Because it is a damn tv show, Rita. It is literally NOT REAL. That's why, love. Do you think we fly out of windows and throw cars at each other because you saw it on Superman?
When I was a kid, my parents never locked our front door when we went out. Didn’t start locking it until I was about 16.
TBF we never used to lock our front door unless no one was in the house, but crime rates went up so we always lock it now
Load More Replies...Because if the TV people locked their doors, whomever was about to walk right into their home and terrorize them would be stuck outside rattling a doorknob, which is boring to watch on TV.
Lock their doors? In most shows they don't even close their doors.
reread your question. TV SHOWS. Unless of course you're one of those people that think TV is real life???
TV is not real life? Now a lot of things in my life make sense..
Load More Replies...Seinfeld was the exception!... Jokes about the multiple locks on NY apartments etc.
Seinfeld didn't lock his door so Kramer could barge in all the time
Load More Replies...Americans? I watch a LOT of BBC, they are movies. MOVIES! Not real life.
I had to stop reading. The generalizations here are ridiculous. Not all Americans do any of these things. A lot of us would like to change the things that are "stupid" and a number of things that are mentioned here only happen in movies.
Quite. It's like saying "Why are all American men called John?"
Load More Replies...Because they are works of fiction where you agree to suspend your disbelief when watching them. (Though there was a time when people, especially in rural areas where everyone knew—-and looked out for—-their neighbors, didn’t lock their doors. Those days are long gone, unfortunately.)
I don't lock my doors. I only lock them if I leave the country for more than a week. It is so easy, friends can stop by. My cleaning person doesn't need a key. My lawn guy can use the bathroom if he needs too. Never fumbling with keys in the rain. Why would I lock my doors? So weird.
Not all of us live in filthy, high population density environments. Also guns. A scary amount of guns.
In film and on stage, locking a door takes time, and anything that takes time should advance the plot of the story. Actors lock doors when they want to convey fear or that they are expecting an attack or don't want to interact with people. You do realize that nothing you see on film is actually happening, it's all heavily edited including documentaries. Personally, we don't lock our doors unless we go out, or to sleep. Or the wind is high enough to blow a door open. We've lived that way 70 years. Drives my friend from the city wild.
There's nothing in my car worth stealing. I'd rather have a potential thief open a door to find that out than break a window. And in case you're wondering, the car itself isn't worth stealing either. ;-)
Load More Replies...Depends on the part of the country. I lived in the southern midwest. For many years, it was ok to leave the doors unlocked at night. We'd lock them if we left the house for an extended period, but oftentimes it was ok to leave the door unlocked. It was country, the nearest neighbor was a couple miles off and very few people ever come down the dirt road we lived on.
OMG! We have been missing out on an integral part of the movie by not watching people locking and unlocking their doors.
I regularly lock my door when I leave the house, for a number of reasons I am a higher functioning autistic, I live in a protion of the world where right wingers can and have recently show themselves to be psychotic, violent beserker rage machines at times. Also I am inteligent, as well as a polytheistic pagan, and some right wingers just cannot wrap their minds around someone thinking differently than they do on the matter of religion, to their mind different is scary, different being scary translates to different than me is also bad. I think you get the general gist of it.
because doesn't matter, in the movies they have also the famous backdoor, especially for criminals to enter :)))
That takes screen time. You’ll only see it if it’s foreshadowing something. It’s assumed it happens offscreen. Kind of like using the bathroom.
We lock it when we are away or sleeping, or just chilling and wouldn't immediately notice if someone walked in, but not when we're awake, aware, and home. At least, my family does that.
Because it depends on the area in which you grow up. My girlfriend lives in Grande Cache, all her life, it's a hamlet and there is ZERO crime. She never once locked her car doors or front door (except at night) I come from a town, and whilst there's low to no crime in some areas, in others, it can get dicey. I was always brought up to lock windows and doors, to stop burglars... Cue me going to visit my gf in Canada once, and being so anxious about locking doors if we go out (even to the shops!) so now she has to lock her car/front/back doors, even if she goes out for 5 minutes... Also, I don't have anxiety, I just get worried, due to the way I was brought up.
It's tv/movies. They also don't look before getting out on the street side of a car, or lock the car. It's not real, it's crapy writing.
Some parts are safer than others, America is quite big. :) It also depends on your culture and how you were raised.
I rarely do? I like to trust people. Even when growing up in the suburbs of Stockholm me and my mom almost never locked the door unless we went on vacation or something like that
We lock our doors, unless we live our in the country. Then you don’t really have to worry about it, but yeah it’s in a tv show, we’re not THAT stupid
Believe it or not, in many small towns and rural areas in the US, it's perfectly safe to leave your door unlocked.
To the a*****e who downvoted me: just because you don't live in a safe area doesn't meant they don't exist.
Load More Replies...These are kinda stupid. It's an unnecessary generalization. Not everyone does. Some do, not all. Lots of Americans would love to have the metric system. We just don't and can't change it.
I know! It wouldn't even be that hard, they teach it in schools already. And the pain that it was to learn to convert centimeters to inches...*shivers* like seriously, 1 inch = 2.54 cm WTH?
Load More Replies...OMG. The questions get more and more stupid the more you scroll down. And the first one is already pretty stupid.
This article would be okay if people were asking questions they genuinely want answered, but they're taking the p**s. Also, it's just ignorant to assume all Americans do these things. I'd be pissed if they made an article asking Americans to do this to Brits. Just not my sense of humour I guess.
Let's keep bashing Americans because it makes us feel better about ourselves.
why do americans continually complain about their pathetic healthcare but vote in people who promise to fix it but never do
This article was so annoying. As an American, I have never done half of these things. I have a sense of humor and can laugh at my own expense, but these are stupid things that not even I have ever even heard of. I understand that our president is a joke to the rest of the world, but please stop lumping all Americans into the category of idiots who do everything wrong just because you don't agree with it. Every country in the world does things differently than the next because each country is unique. Let's focus on that and not the silly things that are different.
Why are toilet doors in American public toilets smaller than the average car door?
Well, now I know who's been s******g in my car. Thanks a lot, Shelp.
Load More Replies...Because the h is silent. When the h isn't silent then it's a guys name.
Load More Replies...Why does BP continue to put up posts like this? America is very diverse, with so many different types of people. Why do they post these which lump us all together in stereotypes? This is not intelligent work, or helpful. Some of these questions are based solely on what they see on TV or in movies ffs. Americans would be blasted if we so crassly stereotyped another culture. It doesn't seem that a lot people posting questions like these understand that the US is made up of states that have their own laws, etc. Or that this country is a collection of peoples, not just one heritage or culture.
White South African here (yes, the colour needs to be mentioned.) Two things I experienced in the States that I would love an explenation for: (I am not hating, nor am I being mean. I loved the country and the people I interactrd with.) 1. Why does everyone want to know why I'm not black? 4 out of 5 people I met would ask the question. Got a bit annoying after about the 20th time. 2. Why do Southerners say y'all? You is collective. That is an unneeded repetition. Where did that come from?
You is plural. Thou is singular. However, I don't know anyone that uses thou. Y'all is the southern way of making it clear that we mean you plural. As for the why are you white question......ignorance? Not sure how anyone would be unaware that there are white people from SA. Had they heard of apartheid?
Load More Replies...Buzzfeed posts the same comments in a different order about once a week. It's old.
Why do Americans say, "I did it on accident?" It's 'by accident' dammit!
Only ignorant, uneducated Americans say that, and it drives me batty too.
Load More Replies...“Why not tip everyone who you interact with in some way—bus drivers, or leave money on your trash can for the garbage man? It's inconsistent, and waiters, hairdressers, and taxi drivers should just charge us what needs to be charged,” Benny writes in his blog. Completely agree. Bizarre, skewed, c**k eyed, unfair, cruel.
Bored Panda owes me the five minutes it took to read this nonsense.
As for calling these things "stupid questions" -- I'm sure we all have mistaken impressions and ideas that we've picked up over the years about other countries that they'd think were silly.
A mistaken impression is one thing. A troll question is quite another.
Load More Replies...In the States it's actually spelled 'aluminum' and pronounced that way. According to quora.com "According to the Online Etymology Dictionary English chemist Sir Humphry Davy named the element alumium in 1808 and then changed it to aluminum in 1812. British editors changed it to aluminium to be more in keeping with other elements such as potassium and sodium, while the Americans retained the spelling as aluminum." So a British scientist called it aluminum, but then others wanted it to sound more 'sciencey' but we didn't cooperate, as usual LOL.
Load More Replies...This proves only that foreign trolls are just as stupid as American trolls.
For American and non-Americans alike, I think the book that explains best exactly how different and diverse the US is is https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029 -- or if the link doesn't work, just look up American Nations by Colin Woodard. It truly explains why we'll never really be UNITED states -- we're really 11 separate nations (some partially in other countries) joined together. We think, talk, act, and look at the world in very, very different ways depending on where we grew up because of when and by whom each area was first settled.
Can we make it so that people can add questions? I’ve one I’d like to ask.
I scrolled down here to find all the comments by bitter Americans who constantly make jokes about other countries but can't take it in return. I was not disappointed.
Why do muricans believe having healthcare, paid maternity, paid vacation, paid sick days, pensions for elderly, education will drain their economy to bancrupsy and can not work. It works in all other countries in the world, not only the developed ones, but actually all others. Meanwhile they spend billions for military and they just gave the most rich people in the world trilions of dollars. To save them from... what. I dont even know how many zeros a trilion has. Meanwhile the people got some spare change to survive longer in pandemic. Btw if those people die, rich wont have profit - because if the people who do all the real work while paying all the taxes, bills and goods, if those people die who will create the profit. This is insane. And they believe they are the greatest nation. Just WOW.
No worries Nirity, you country is way better in every sense! *sarcasm*........smh
Load More Replies...Probably because your s**t isn't funny and we're damned sick and tired of it.
Load More Replies...Not necessarily, but it is a big fixation on the US I don't get. Probably because it's such a unique country compared to the rest of the west. I wouldn't have any interesting questions about Norway or Canada for example.
Load More Replies...I hate this. I was married to an American who flat out refused to remove his shoes when entering someones house while we were living in Canada. He thought it was weird. Look at the American TV shows. They are wearing shoes on the bed, on the sofa. It is gross.
Probably because it's spelled aluminium in the UK and Ireland
Load More Replies...Are there posts non-stop about your country's stereotypes, creating a situation where you constantly have to defend yourself, OR clarify that the stereotypes are completely incorrect? There's a point when it switches from laughing with you to laughing at you, and that gets tiring.
Load More Replies...Ok, we get it, Americans do weird things. But so do all other countries? I mean, British people call steak fries "crisps"? They're soft? Chips - potato chips - are crispy, and I can see if you'd call steak fries "chips", because they're chips of potato? But "crisps"? They're soft?
No, sorry that's not true. We do not call 'steak fries' crisps in the UK. They are chips. Hot, fried chips made from chips of potato and soft (though if cooked properly slightly crunchy on the outside). Crisps in the UK are what Americans call potato chips and ARE crisp - the thin, crispy, crunchy, slices of potatoes sold in bags and eaten cold. I don't care what they are called personally but didn't want you to have the wrong idea. I am very anti the US bashing thing so not joining in on that.
Load More Replies...So a lot of people have been getting this wrong just wanted to clarify. The United States of America, its the CUSTOMARY system. OK?
I only use checks to pay my rent, because that's what my landlord wants. I use my bank card for everything else.
Load More Replies...Yes - and what the heck is a "stone", meaning some measurement of weight??
Load More Replies...These are kinda stupid. It's an unnecessary generalization. Not everyone does. Some do, not all. Lots of Americans would love to have the metric system. We just don't and can't change it.
I know! It wouldn't even be that hard, they teach it in schools already. And the pain that it was to learn to convert centimeters to inches...*shivers* like seriously, 1 inch = 2.54 cm WTH?
Load More Replies...OMG. The questions get more and more stupid the more you scroll down. And the first one is already pretty stupid.
This article would be okay if people were asking questions they genuinely want answered, but they're taking the p**s. Also, it's just ignorant to assume all Americans do these things. I'd be pissed if they made an article asking Americans to do this to Brits. Just not my sense of humour I guess.
Let's keep bashing Americans because it makes us feel better about ourselves.
why do americans continually complain about their pathetic healthcare but vote in people who promise to fix it but never do
This article was so annoying. As an American, I have never done half of these things. I have a sense of humor and can laugh at my own expense, but these are stupid things that not even I have ever even heard of. I understand that our president is a joke to the rest of the world, but please stop lumping all Americans into the category of idiots who do everything wrong just because you don't agree with it. Every country in the world does things differently than the next because each country is unique. Let's focus on that and not the silly things that are different.
Why are toilet doors in American public toilets smaller than the average car door?
Well, now I know who's been s******g in my car. Thanks a lot, Shelp.
Load More Replies...Because the h is silent. When the h isn't silent then it's a guys name.
Load More Replies...Why does BP continue to put up posts like this? America is very diverse, with so many different types of people. Why do they post these which lump us all together in stereotypes? This is not intelligent work, or helpful. Some of these questions are based solely on what they see on TV or in movies ffs. Americans would be blasted if we so crassly stereotyped another culture. It doesn't seem that a lot people posting questions like these understand that the US is made up of states that have their own laws, etc. Or that this country is a collection of peoples, not just one heritage or culture.
White South African here (yes, the colour needs to be mentioned.) Two things I experienced in the States that I would love an explenation for: (I am not hating, nor am I being mean. I loved the country and the people I interactrd with.) 1. Why does everyone want to know why I'm not black? 4 out of 5 people I met would ask the question. Got a bit annoying after about the 20th time. 2. Why do Southerners say y'all? You is collective. That is an unneeded repetition. Where did that come from?
You is plural. Thou is singular. However, I don't know anyone that uses thou. Y'all is the southern way of making it clear that we mean you plural. As for the why are you white question......ignorance? Not sure how anyone would be unaware that there are white people from SA. Had they heard of apartheid?
Load More Replies...Buzzfeed posts the same comments in a different order about once a week. It's old.
Why do Americans say, "I did it on accident?" It's 'by accident' dammit!
Only ignorant, uneducated Americans say that, and it drives me batty too.
Load More Replies...“Why not tip everyone who you interact with in some way—bus drivers, or leave money on your trash can for the garbage man? It's inconsistent, and waiters, hairdressers, and taxi drivers should just charge us what needs to be charged,” Benny writes in his blog. Completely agree. Bizarre, skewed, c**k eyed, unfair, cruel.
Bored Panda owes me the five minutes it took to read this nonsense.
As for calling these things "stupid questions" -- I'm sure we all have mistaken impressions and ideas that we've picked up over the years about other countries that they'd think were silly.
A mistaken impression is one thing. A troll question is quite another.
Load More Replies...In the States it's actually spelled 'aluminum' and pronounced that way. According to quora.com "According to the Online Etymology Dictionary English chemist Sir Humphry Davy named the element alumium in 1808 and then changed it to aluminum in 1812. British editors changed it to aluminium to be more in keeping with other elements such as potassium and sodium, while the Americans retained the spelling as aluminum." So a British scientist called it aluminum, but then others wanted it to sound more 'sciencey' but we didn't cooperate, as usual LOL.
Load More Replies...This proves only that foreign trolls are just as stupid as American trolls.
For American and non-Americans alike, I think the book that explains best exactly how different and diverse the US is is https://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029 -- or if the link doesn't work, just look up American Nations by Colin Woodard. It truly explains why we'll never really be UNITED states -- we're really 11 separate nations (some partially in other countries) joined together. We think, talk, act, and look at the world in very, very different ways depending on where we grew up because of when and by whom each area was first settled.
Can we make it so that people can add questions? I’ve one I’d like to ask.
I scrolled down here to find all the comments by bitter Americans who constantly make jokes about other countries but can't take it in return. I was not disappointed.
Why do muricans believe having healthcare, paid maternity, paid vacation, paid sick days, pensions for elderly, education will drain their economy to bancrupsy and can not work. It works in all other countries in the world, not only the developed ones, but actually all others. Meanwhile they spend billions for military and they just gave the most rich people in the world trilions of dollars. To save them from... what. I dont even know how many zeros a trilion has. Meanwhile the people got some spare change to survive longer in pandemic. Btw if those people die, rich wont have profit - because if the people who do all the real work while paying all the taxes, bills and goods, if those people die who will create the profit. This is insane. And they believe they are the greatest nation. Just WOW.
No worries Nirity, you country is way better in every sense! *sarcasm*........smh
Load More Replies...Probably because your s**t isn't funny and we're damned sick and tired of it.
Load More Replies...Not necessarily, but it is a big fixation on the US I don't get. Probably because it's such a unique country compared to the rest of the west. I wouldn't have any interesting questions about Norway or Canada for example.
Load More Replies...I hate this. I was married to an American who flat out refused to remove his shoes when entering someones house while we were living in Canada. He thought it was weird. Look at the American TV shows. They are wearing shoes on the bed, on the sofa. It is gross.
Probably because it's spelled aluminium in the UK and Ireland
Load More Replies...Are there posts non-stop about your country's stereotypes, creating a situation where you constantly have to defend yourself, OR clarify that the stereotypes are completely incorrect? There's a point when it switches from laughing with you to laughing at you, and that gets tiring.
Load More Replies...Ok, we get it, Americans do weird things. But so do all other countries? I mean, British people call steak fries "crisps"? They're soft? Chips - potato chips - are crispy, and I can see if you'd call steak fries "chips", because they're chips of potato? But "crisps"? They're soft?
No, sorry that's not true. We do not call 'steak fries' crisps in the UK. They are chips. Hot, fried chips made from chips of potato and soft (though if cooked properly slightly crunchy on the outside). Crisps in the UK are what Americans call potato chips and ARE crisp - the thin, crispy, crunchy, slices of potatoes sold in bags and eaten cold. I don't care what they are called personally but didn't want you to have the wrong idea. I am very anti the US bashing thing so not joining in on that.
Load More Replies...So a lot of people have been getting this wrong just wanted to clarify. The United States of America, its the CUSTOMARY system. OK?
I only use checks to pay my rent, because that's what my landlord wants. I use my bank card for everything else.
Load More Replies...Yes - and what the heck is a "stone", meaning some measurement of weight??
Load More Replies...