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.
you could homeschool depending on how far through she is im homeschooled and it is better i have done nothing for a year and im a grade ahead it is very good for mental health to decide what you do and when without felling pressured best of luck im sure she will turn out great whatever you do
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American MEDIA likes high school for the same reason that Japanese anime likes middle school - it is the final session of compulsory education, so the characters can be pretty, immature people with no real responsibilities who do stupid things and have shallow, boorish priorities, allowing for minimal resistance to plot devices. Seriously though, if high school was the best years of your life, your life sucks.
For a small percentage of our population, high school was their glory days...because after graduation most sportsball stars and cheerleaders turn into baby making factories living in a mobile home at the back of their parent's property...LMAO
Those people who say HS was best years of their lives are losers out of high school
Totally. Except mine continued to university and after that lol
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To get to go to high school used to be a luxury. We are taught to enjoy while you can you’ll be expected to work very hard the rest of you’re life providing the opportunity for someone else.
I mean high school is pretty important because it decides the rest of your life. It decides colleges and sometimes jobs look at it.
That is what people tell you but it is a load of crap.
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Some of us are not obsessed with our high school days and really don't miss them.
I hate high school (I'm homeschooled and that makes it worse). Can I be in college please?
Believe me, unless you're a cheerleader or playing sports, High School is the worst. You just put your head down and hope you make it through the next few years with only a few mental scars, and no physical ones.
in fact they do a lot of talking about their high school years, how their glorious years have been, they make meetings to meet again even after years, all without then wanting to see the fact that they are the years in which bullying is more violent, in to which you are also marginalized for nonsense, in which you are either a star or you are nobody. I still have the nightmares of when I was in high school, which would be their high school, and I don't want to see any of them again in my life.
I didn't mind high school. I got into activities that made my experience great not to mention I didn't really focus on relationships or popularity so I had it a bit easier
It’s the last time in your life where you don’t have bills to pay, a job you hate but need, you don’t have kids, a mortgage, or any other adult responsibilities (unless you have chosen to have them). Hell yeah we’re going to make the best of it—-or just survive it and wait to have our glory days in college.
Honestly, I don’t know.. I appreciate my high school experience & I often look back at it, but I love my adult life more.
In fairness, my high school days were more awesome than my elementary school days, that being said, best days of my life? No far from it best days of my life so far were basically the years just after I turned twenty one, with bursts of family oriented events such as marriages playing a role here and there as well, to make what would otherwise be a long drawn out telling shorter, much of those happy times involved attractive women, bump and grind, and a variety of mixed drink so strong most normal humans are incapable of handling it.
I agree. High school sucked for many people. Also, how depressing would it be to think as a teenager, things would never be any better?
It's the time that you get better responsibilities, get crushes, start being taken seriously by your parents and other adults, you look like a fully-grown adult and can be a little more confident about showing yourself off (if you want), you can legally have a job and are usually earning a lot more money without all of the cost of living s**t, you can stay out late, chose the classes you want rather than just the electives, afford your own things instead of go crying to your parents for that $100 necklace that was at the mall that would look good for prom, or ask your parents for money to buy your girlfriend an expensive gift, you can drive, you are probably at some point going to have a more serious relationship but not super serious, where you are still just totally in love. I've never experienced any of this except for the going to high school part, but I'm not even halfway through yet, so I have hope, even though I don't have a social life.
Why do Americans insist on "graduating" from Kindergarten/Junior School/Middle School/High School?? You should only be graduating from University!
Yeah, and there is this big event of graduation for everybody who makes it through basic schooling, which is some of the most facile on the planet. Like wow, you made it through essential education without getting kicked out. Let's have a graduation like you got a PhD. It's ridiculous.
Because that's it for many of us. After high school many people go on to low paying jobs, kids and dead end marriages. Some might go on to college or technical schools, or the military. But once they are out of high school, no one cares that you were a cheerleader, captain of the football team. You are now the nobodies you looked down on in school, and many of the nobodies are somebodies. It hard going from miss popular to the check out girl at Wally World, with three kids, and a fat husband, who works at the Quick Lube, and he was so hot in high school.
Not an American here, but high school was indeed one of the best times in my life and I two years younger than my other classmates!!
OK and why is it senior or junior or freshman, sophomore, etc. To just have numbered years/grades/forms is so easy, instead of having to remember all these terms. Do Americans exist solely to make the English language confusing? I mean, there's quite a bit of evidence to that effect😂
Because in our mostly rural past when most people stopped attending school by 6th grade to work in factories or on the farm, high school was basically seen like college is today. It was seen as a scholarly pursuit and not just the natural progression in grades.
Load More Replies... Your parents pay for everything. You have few responsibilities. You're in peak physical form. You're with cute single women all day. I have no idea why people would idealize that.
For a lot of kids that is not the case. And even when it is, bullying or not fitting in can be a pretty big problem that would make people hate high school.
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Because, you don’t have to worry about bills, food, and you can be carefree with your significant other. And we like to reflect to when life was easy
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.
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.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
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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
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Probably because your s**t isn't funny and we're damned sick and tired of it.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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??
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