30 People Expose The Things Their Country Finds Normal But The Rest Of The World Doesn’t
What’s normal for you and me might not be normal for someone we know who lives abroad. Or their neighbor. One of the harsh truths of life is that reality isn’t always as objective as we might think it is.
In a viral thread, Redditors shared the best examples of what’s completely normal for people from their country and absolutely weird for foreigners. We’ve compiled some of the best answers that we hope will make you smile and laugh.
Scroll down and upvote your favorite things that are normal for some people, but are unusual for the rest of the world. If you enjoyed this list, why not share it with your friends? And be sure to let everyone know in the comments if you’ve got any of your own stories about what’s normal for your country, but that you realize to be strange when you go abroad.
This post may include affiliate links.
Going bankrupt from medical debt. (USA)
We don't just find it weird, we find it sad and we're worried about if you're okay.
Everyone rags on the US for using imperial, but can we talk for a second about how weird we are here in the UK for using both inconsistently?
You buy a pint of milk or beer, but a litre of coke and 25ml of whiskey
People know how many miles to the gallon their cars get, but you buy fuel at pence per litre.
You watch the weather forecast and the temperature is in Celsius but the wind speed is in miles per hour
Most people can tell you their weight in kilograms, and their height in feet, and if they can't give you kilograms they can probably give you stone instead, which is even older than pounds, which nobody uses as a unit of measurement, probably because of the confusion between lbs and £...
It's a glorious mess.
upset? have a cup of tea
happy? cup of tea
bored? cup of tea
literally any feeling? cup of tea
edit: yes, I’m from the UK, tea is our answer to all of life’s problems.
Reddit user Ojlol2’s thread on the ‘Ask Reddit’ subreddit got more than 63,000 upvotes in a day, as well as over 48,000 comments. Wow, now that’s a lot of people wanting to share their experience about how normality can differ from nation to nation.
From bizarre actions to eyebrow-raising phrases, there will always be things that seem out of place, as long as different countries, cultures, and ethnicities exist. And it’s a wonderful thing because a shift in your perspective can lead to more creativity and a more objective understanding of yourself.
Unsuccessfully helping your dad look for one of his missing thongs and then watching him squeeze into one of your mum's so he can go out into the back yard and get the laundry. I'm told the rest of you (incorrectly) call them flip flops. (Australia)
Eating with our hands.
In 1969 (the same year the man landed on the moon), Miss Gloria Diaz coveted the Philippines' first Miss Universe Crown. During the preliminary Q&A, she was asked "Is it true that you Filipinos use your hand when you eat?" To which she replied "Why? Do you use your feet?" and went her way to winning the crown. (Phillipines)
The United States of America is one of the most powerful countries on Planet Earth, but it doesn’t mean that everything its citizens do is the norm across the world. Some things are minor differences. While some take you aback, make you stop, and keep you awake at night thinking about the cosmos, Multiverse theory, and humankind as a whole.
Bears on motorcycles driving on roads, drinking vodka and playing balalaikas.
...
...
...
Hahaha! Gotcha. What I said was untrue. Russia doesn't have roads.
Putting broken glass bottles on the walls around your house so burglars cant jump it and rob you. I moved to Canada and they don't even have walls around the houses! (Brazil)
Having a reality tv star as president (USA)
Or an actor as president? Or a non-American actor as governor? Americans must think that people in the public eye are automatically qualified to run things...
For example, one thing that is really odd is how Americans write today’s date by starting with the month, then writing down the day, and ending with the year. Most countries in the world start with the day or end with it. While we’re on the subject, how is it that the US still uses the Imperial System? It seems like the American War of Independence didn’t get rid of all of Britain’s influence over the colonies.
In my high school (US) we had a group of australian students come to live a day in the life of an american high school. They all thought it was so bizarre and cult-ish that every morning we had to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag with our hands over our hearts. I couldn't agree more that it is, indeed, bizarre and cult-ish.
Direct democracy in Switzerland. It often baffles me when I read what the government can pull off in other countries without ever involving the population. Like...yea, you get to elect representatives but it often seems to me that those people then elect someone who elects someone who elects someone...is it really still democracy if you're about five steps removed from the actual decisions? (Switzerland)
Men holding hands in public as a display of friendship is normal in Afghanistan but super weird in the west.
Constantly tipping everyone, no matter how well they did their jobs, also causes a lot of people to shrug and give Americans peculiar looks. Japan’s a real wonderland in that regard: there’s almost no tipping.
In my country you bike everywhere. Cars aren't used much. For longer distances you mostly use train and public transport. Also being 6 foot is normal (The Netherlands)
I have two to share since I'm half and I get to see those every year. Dead. We celebrate dead and we have parades about dead. We laugh about dead. Dead is our friend. In Mexico we treat dead with love and fun.
Also in Japan we celebrate kanamara Matsuri. Wich is basically a parade about fertility with dicks everywhere. Small dicks. Giant dicks. Dicks as food.
This means during Kanamara Matsuri you can tell someone to go eat a d**k without sounding suspicious.
Small talk in Poland actually is quite sincere. If someone asks you what's up, you tell them exactly that it's s**tty etc.
Whole restaurants cheering when a plate or glass is smashed (UK). Once was in a Canadian bar/restaurant on holiday and a waiter dropped a tray of glasses, the local looked horrified when i was out of my seat screaming “wheyyyyyy”
Leaving your baby alone outside for their nap, even if it rains or snows. (Norway)
Lithuanian there, was sleeping in balcony straight out of hospital (born at the end of November), this is also very common in Estonia
Being middle-class with a property having a 6' wall, electric fencing linked to an alarm, automated gate and garage doors (with security clamps over the gate motor to prevent theft of the motor), security gates over every door, burglar bars, and a house alarm system with infra-red sensors linked to armed response with a reaction time of under 3-4 minutes. (South Africa)
This was something I found very hard to adjust to when I moved to South Africa from the UK. I went from if you forget to close a window or lock a door odds were you would be fine. ~To nope nope nope, you do that and you're probably coming home to an empty house if lacking said security features.
We have no sun here. Around this time of year everyone start asking each other "You been taking vitamin D?". It doesn't matter if you're talking about feeling sad, dealing with the flu, or missing limbs... you been taking vitamin D bro? (Canada)
It depends on where you are in Canada obviously. We have plenty of sun here on the West coast.
To get money back when you bring empty plastic bottles to the supermarket. In Germany its called Pfand. Each bottles makes 25 cents.
On Valentine's day, men don't give any gifts. Only women give gifts, they only give it to men, it's always chocolate, and they get it for all the men in their lives, including coworkers. Then there is a day on the 14th of March where the men reciprocate. The gifts are only from men to women this time, and are chocolate or jewelry or nice clothes, and the amount spent is directly related to the amount of chocolate received. (Japan)
Eating most of the organs of an animal, I had some people look at me in disgust when I told them how tasty the brain and the heart of an animal are (Romania)
that's the main problem with today's western culture-when thinking of a chicken you get chicken breast or a leg rather than a chicken medley. post-CCCP countries (romania, bulgaria, poland, lithuania, the whole eastern block and the balkans), much like still asian and african cultures, utilized not so long ago the whole animal and did not waste any parts, hence the brain (stir fried), gut soup, bone soup, blood sausage, lard with bread, cow tounges and many other delish dishes.
Many older Americans that went through the great depression utilized all the parts of the animal as well. Also I would like to point out none of the animal is wasted here in the States even today. Not using the entire animal is letting possible profits be wasted. The meat industry or any industry for that matter isn't going to waste things like that at such a level.
Load More Replies...
If you've ever eaten chicken McNuggets you've eaten all the chicken.
chicken hearts & livers are the best! stir fried with pomegranate molasses 😍 (lebanon)
I-.... GIME TEN MY BRITISH A*S NEEDS TO TRY THIS
Load More Replies...
This Bulgarian's favourite dish is chicken heart stew with onions.
As a good Southerner (US), I've eaten my share of offal. Mostly we only tend to avoid brains and lungs- and those two only because they can be diseased when the rest of the animal is fine to eat. My state's wildlife department just released another warning this year about an outbreak of tuberculosis in deer and a reminder to hunters to handle the lungs as little as possible and destroy them.
In South Africa that is quite a treat for some people. We call it AFVAL or Tripe. As a South african I just can't stomach that. (pun intended)
I find "AVFAL" as you called it interesting. Mostly because I've heard of tripe, but here we call it offal. Or at least that's what I've heard it called.
Load More Replies...
Oh but they are 😍 you would not believe what other organs we consume in Turkey 🤣
I live in Germany, and we eat heart, stomach, liver and some more organs as well. We used to eat brain, too, before mad cow disease eradicated that from the counter. I know, though, that my family tends to be quite "extreme" in that regard and many of my friends are disgusted when I tell them about eating organs and innards.
Perhaps environmentalists should talk about eating the whole animal and not so much about going vegetarian. If we weren't throwing half the meat away we would consume less individual animals and use a fraction of the resources to raise a chicken etc. Tough sell though!
I doubt many countries throw anything away. It is generally used for pet food or for stock.
Load More Replies...
Romanian here, preparing to make chicken gizzards and liver stew today, coincidentally. I've got plenty of weird looks from foreigners. We use the entirety of an animal, from the skin to the guts, in different ways. People forget that liver is also considered a superfood, full of nutrients and minerals, not only tasty, and it's beyond me why some find the thought disgusting. I mean, you feel fancy when eating fois gras. I've got news for you...
US midwesterner here- my husband friggin loves gizzards, I'm not a fan though. Not sure if it's because of hunting or farming or what but people here aren't TOO squeamish about that for the most part. Gizzards are on the menu at more than one restaurant around here. So is tater tot hot dish though... meh.
Load More Replies...
In Spain we do pretty much the same. I don't eat meat, but i've seen a lot of people eating livers, brains, hooves, tails, tongs and (most disgusting for me) fried blood. Fried. F*****g. Blood.
We eat all of that in Serbia too. Everything is prepared with lots of seasoning, and it's prepared well, cooked, roasted, grilled...and 'cause of that it is delicious. 😊
its actually quite common here in Kenya Africa, gut soup, stir brain fry. i just had cow head soup and tongue for lunch. blood sausage covered in guts are quite a delicacy here they are called mutura. life is precious here hence if you had to kill an animal for food then its your duty to properly utilize it for nutrients. there are actual hotels dedicated to bone, head and leg soup.
i literally just had cow head soup for lunch and tongue. its really not a big deal hear in Kenya, Africa. blood sausages wrapped in guts are literally common street food here its called mutura. bone soup is a big part of cultural celebrations, there are entire hotels dedicated to head soup of different animals, brain stir fry, even cow balls soup. we do not like wasting meat over here cause life is very sacred here and when we do kill an animal it is a duty to nature to properly consume it.
Yuck. Apparently my grandmother used to make sheeps' head stew. My Mum as a girl would complain "Mum, you could at least have taken the teeth out!"
The working class generation pre and post world war 2 here in the UK also ate every part of the animal. We are slightly mocked for steak-and-kidney pie or liver/tripe and onions but if it's a choice between that or hunger then that kidney starts to look mighty delicious!
I grew up eating food like this, it was the cheapest & we were poor
This is also typical in Argentina, we use the *entire* cow. And yes our barbecues, include intestines, glands and brain.
In America, we call those other parts Hot Dogs...and as if that isn't bad, dog food contains "meat and poultry by-products" which sometimes translates into cow and chicken s**t.
I can definitely see them being good. For me, I have a HUGE issue with the texture of food. Even some common western foods make me gag because of the texture. Honestly it’s awful
I remember seeing brain at the grocery store when I was young but they stop that when there was the mad cow disease scare (Canada).
It used to be the same in UK up to about 50 years ago; but supermarkets, squeamishness and Mad Cow Disease put paid to all that.Yyou can still buy liver heart and kidney, but not so popular as they were. Tripe is hard to come by except in big cities or special order, and Ive never seen brains or lungs on sale.
The whole animal is put to some use even though some people do not know what they are eating in a hot dog, sausage or pate. Disrespectful to kill an animal and waste.
Animals organs are delicious if cooked with spices. Why would you waste that much meat ??? Asian here.
In Brazil we eat chicken hearts e cow tongues and the liver of them both.
Heart is awesome. I don’t like brain. But I really enjoy a tripe soup. It’s just absolutely hard to cook. I’m from Germany but was born in Poland. I actually found a lot of “weird” stuff to eat in Spain. Like for example pig’s ears
Haggis, black pudding, giblets in whole chickens and chicken brains on sale in supermarkets, welcome to the UK :)
Have eaten most offal but don't like brains. Love black pudding {blood sausage}, kidneys, liver, tongue MMMMM
If you believe the vegan propaganda, all meat in every fast food restaurant is brains, intestines, or some other part of whatever animal has been cooked.
Eating the brain of an animal is actually rather risky. Many crossover diseases happen by eating the brain.
The heart and brain sound fine to me, but I've never understood eating like... the guts, like the intestines. Tripe just seems really unpleasant.
Not the organs of an animal but what I observed with some Americans is that they are disgusted when they are served the whole fish (not the big sized ones of course) like they don't know how to eat it.. Here in Asia it's so common. Filleted fish is only common with restaurants.
Yup, Bosnia too (though mere thought of it makes my stomach turn 🤢), for example calf, bake the head and eat EVERYTHING (tongue, brain, eyes...), heart, kidneys, liver usually fried, then they wash the guts and prepare other things with it, tail boiled, bones are used for soup/stock.... i think only hooves are discarded xD I only eat liver, can't stand the rest.
It is absurd that any country would waste anything from a murdered animal.
I think tips are a thing in other countries, but in America you have to tip almost everywhere you eat or you get hardly judged by everyone. And if the tip isn’t big enough, they judge you too. It’s so dumb.
In civilised countries employees are paid a proper wage and their tips are an extra for them. Tips are considered a token of appreciation on how well the server did. Bad service means no or very small tip. In America servers rely on their tips to get a decent income.
People are always shocked at in my country: 1) our “public” restroom stalls are constructed in such a way that you can pretty much see what a person is doing in there thanks to a constant crack between the door and its frame... 2) I say “public” in quotes because most of our so-called public restrooms are in private businesses who don’t let our surprisingly very large number of homeless use and since there is no actual fully public restroom to use, said homeless often piss and sometimes even s**t in our streets. Oh- and we have a higher percentage of our population in jail than literally every single nation on earth. (USA)
A lot of people refer to the US as "Backwardistan" or "Dumbfvckistan" since the tangerine toddler took office.
Strangers sitting totally naked skin to skin in a steamy room heated to +80 to +100C... and us having competitions on who can last the longest in there. (Finland)
Some 50 years ago this was unthinkable in Austria but today it's common for strangers to sit naked in a sauna, except for the skin-to-skin part. Even the slightest touching is totally inappropriate.
In my friend's country, Easter is when gangs of boys roam the countryside, pouring water over girls and beating them (gently) with sticks. The girls then have to thank them for it. I thought that was pretty weird. (Slovakia)
Putting cable ties, branches, fake eyes etc on helmets, buckets and hats in spring time to scare away the birds. Magpies are vicious bastards (Australia)
I'm 30+ and I've never been swooped. In fact I used to take refuge from the school bullies underneath the magpie trees because the birds would swoop the bullies but not me.
Calling a Traffic Light a Robot (South Africa)
...and a gas station a garage, and a pick-up truck a bakkie.
Note: this post originally had 100 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
For me, my favourite comment was about the UK's schizophrenic measuring system. If it's an outdated, obscure measurement then we use it. "which measurement sytem are you using, sir?" ..... "why, whatever one you're NOT familiar with, my good friend!!!"
My aunt is Filipino. From what I gather, it's because you're a very strict Catholic nation. Is that right?
Load More Replies...
We have three (3!) presidents! (and probably the most idiotic and complicated and ineffective administration) (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
USA: land of the fatty foods with guns and a gigantic military and lots of nukes and stuff + no healthcare
#8 there are certain parts of the UK that used to have broken glass on the walls during the 1970's.
This made me think of how in Taiwan, people wear those medical masks in public if they are sick to not spread their germs to others in public. If I were sick and wore a mask in public in the US, they would think I'm afraid of other germs spreading rather than being courteous and not spreading my germs to others.
From these: Scandinavians are super happy and Americans live in hell and have the least fun of any country.
tendencious perhaps, but as the thread is pointing out divides and differences between various places, I really don't get your point.
Load More Replies... For me, my favourite comment was about the UK's schizophrenic measuring system. If it's an outdated, obscure measurement then we use it. "which measurement sytem are you using, sir?" ..... "why, whatever one you're NOT familiar with, my good friend!!!"
My aunt is Filipino. From what I gather, it's because you're a very strict Catholic nation. Is that right?
Load More Replies... We have three (3!) presidents! (and probably the most idiotic and complicated and ineffective administration) (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
USA: land of the fatty foods with guns and a gigantic military and lots of nukes and stuff + no healthcare
#8 there are certain parts of the UK that used to have broken glass on the walls during the 1970's.
This made me think of how in Taiwan, people wear those medical masks in public if they are sick to not spread their germs to others in public. If I were sick and wore a mask in public in the US, they would think I'm afraid of other germs spreading rather than being courteous and not spreading my germs to others.
From these: Scandinavians are super happy and Americans live in hell and have the least fun of any country.
tendencious perhaps, but as the thread is pointing out divides and differences between various places, I really don't get your point.
Load More Replies...