People Share How Differently Americans And Europeans Understand Time And Space
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Travel the world and you will learn there are obvious differences between cultures, the cuisine, the styles, the languages and even sometimes the toilets – however, you would think that there would be some things that unite us all, like the way we perceive time and space – but you would be wrong.
As one man ranted about on Twitter, Americans have their own way of measuring distances and weights with the imperial system, but it turns out that that is not the only difference. Some of what we perceive about time and distance is based on our own experiences and history. For Americans, a building from the 1600s is a historical landmark, while for Europeans a building like that wouldn’t even deserve a photo. And with distance, Europe has so many countries that are closer together than the states in the U.S so the idea of a 6-hour bus ride would be insane. The following stories show just how much where you grow up affects your view of time and space.
It is still up for debate when the first Americans, the Native Americans, first arrived in America, because more and more evidence continues to be discovered. However, As of now, scientists can say soundly there were people across the Americas at least 15,000 years ago, with even some evidence suggesting as far back as 40,000 years ago. As for the colonists, their date is much much more recent, with people arriving from Europe in the early 1600s. The United States declared independence from the British on July 2, 1776, and signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, making the formal country only 243-years-old. This makes the U.S extremely young when compared to Europe. The oldest country in Europe is the microstate of The Republic of San Mario, who gained independence from the Roman Empire September 3rd, 301 AD. They are followed by France who first unified in 486 AD under the name Francia.
A common misconception is that Europe is smaller than the United States. However, when it comes to land mass the two are actually pretty similar the United States is 9,833,000 square kilometers while Europe is 10,180,000 square kilometers. The confusion comes from the disproportioned way maps were designed, and the fact that countries are smaller and closer together, like states in the eastern part of the U.S, unlike those in the western states. For example, Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe (818 miles at its longest) is almost the same size as Texas (801 miles for Texas) the second largest state int the U.S.
So how do you Europe and the United States match up to the rest of the world? The largest city in the world is Shanghai, China with 24,153,000 people, the largest European city is – which is also the fourth largest city in the world – is Istanbul, Turkey with 14.7 million people and the largest U.S city is New York with 8.6 million. The United States not only doesn’t have the largest city by far, but it’s also not even the largest country, coming in third behind Russia and Canada.
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I don't understand those random American comparisons. Seattle to Miami is longer than Paris to Baghdad? How about Skarsvåg in Norway to Heraklion in Greece - it's almost the exact same distance. I also don't understand how "Europe" is a thing for them. "European culture" for example. There's no such thing. Europe is made up of dozens of countries, each with VERY distinct customs and traditions. Even neighbouring countries are worlds apart.
THANK YOU! For the same reasons, I seriously dislike the term "western culture / western countries / western world" within intellectual contexts. Some people may find it petty or nitpicking, but try living in a different country for a while and you'll feel the importance of accuracy.
Bill, all humans share similar values and ideas.
Daria, I blame Herodotus for saying Western/Northern is better than Eastern/Southern. It was base on nothing but nationalism and xenophobia. I want to visit EVERYWHERE and make friends and eat things.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
But we share similar values and ideals.
...like when they say "africans" like it is a country.
Even within the United States we have several distinct cultures. The culture in Louisiana is massively different than the culture in Northern California, for instance. Sweeping generalizations are a waste of everyone's time.
I agree this happens in so many other areas of life like generations, gender, sexuality! Humans simply love to generalise!
exactly...the one comparing Boston-Orlando and Paris-Rome. One is almost the whole stretch of the US (north-south) Meanwhile France and Italy are adjacent countries!!
Indeed! Moscow-Lisboa or Reykjavik-Istanbul would be a more interesting comparison.
This definition of Europe also apparently doesn't include Russia that is bigger than USA and though majority of the population lives in the European part of the country, almost all Russians are aware of the length of Transsiberian Railway. The European Russia is not a small territory, either as it accounts for almost half of the continental USA area-wide.
I don't agree here, it all depends on how you much you go into detail. In Detail yes there is much difference in Europe, hell there is just as much difference between the regions in every European country, sometimes between villages. But in the big Picture there is a typical European culture that applies to most if not all European societies including Russia where it spreads until the pacific with minor differences compared to how different US culture is to European one. When one travels a lot and meets people from all around the world it get's easy to see the big picture. When one stays at his local place and hardly travels the small things are more in focus. There is no right or wrong there just different points of view. In General we all humans are more similar than we used to believe.
I frequently reflect on this quote by Donald Horowitz: "An Ibo may be . . . an Owerri Ibo or an Onitsha Ibo in what was the Eastern region of Nigeria. In Lagos, he is simply an Ibo. In London, he is a Nigerian. In New York, he is an African." I echo that perspective in itself is not right or wrong. We're wired to generalize because it helps us categorize. Where the trouble lies is in people forgetting every human is a dynamic and complex being and should not be dismissed based off a single categorization. (To the OP's point, though, I also do not understand the distance comparisons.)
This comment has been deleted.
It's very cute that people think England is old... I live in Thessaloniki Greece, we celebrated the 2300 year of our city.
Nasos Dimis, let kids have fun :) p.s. we still remember you took our golden fleece :D
That was 30 years ago!
When I was born, Earth was just a lot of debris orbiting a young sun.
Same here. My German friends told me proudly: "this is Trier, our oldest city!" My small town in France is oldest than the oldest German city, and we don't even mention it so much
Its all in your perspective, huh?
It put things in perspective for sure. I'm Canadian and this year my village celebrated it's 100th birthday.
I am from San Francisco and I lived in your beautiful country during 1964/65 while the company my dad worked for built the largest earthen filled dam in Europe, at that time. It is called Lake Kremesta and was VERY rural back then. Although all of my childhood photographs were ruined in a flood, I still hold very fond memories.
Only because the other countries speak weird languages so they stick to what they can understand.
It's because quite a few Americans immediatedly think of England when they hear “Europe“ and don't even consider any other countries. Kind of ironic in lights of Brexit.
Actually, i dont think we do, England is tacked on, like yeah that's kind of europe, perhaps we share a language, mostly, though for scottish movies sometimes i need subtitles
My husband lived in Japan for 4 months on a student exchange program. He met several people including a girl from Montreal Canada who was married to a guy from England. When they were visiting Seattle for her husbands job, we took them out to dinner at a nice restaurant by the waterfront. Heavy on the seafood, the meal started with clam chowder which they were happy with. Then came the main entrees. Their eyes widened. They said "we thought the chowder was the meal." Then it dawned on me that people from other countries don't consume the portions that Americans do. It explains why the American reviews of international restaurants are heavy on the "Not enough food" complaints. Luckily it was rice with Alder Smoked Salmon and they had a fridge in their hotel room. They took the rest back to the hotel and re-heated it the next day for lunch. After that, we either chose restaurants with small portions or found places where we could share meals.
That's why we're fat.
I had the same kind of experience during a trip in Italy. At lunch, we stopped at a restaurant, we had nice antipasti and then pastas and were well stuffed by then. The lady came to our table asking what type of meat we wanted as main course... And it was general, not specific to this restaurant.
I felt horrible leaving food when visiting NY or asking them if I could take it with us because it was just too much! I love eating out and trying new restaurants but the sizes of most dishes were ridiculous! Also when I asked for small latte etc it became in a bucket. I learned that US small doesn’t mean shit. :D It was large!
@Ani-87 Next time you are in NY, ask the restaurant if they can put half the meal in a to-go container. They may charge a small fee (usually no more than a buck or two,) but at least you don't have to waste your meals and you can make your dining dollar stretch farther. There are plenty of people in America that do this. Some because they are on calorie restricted diets..others, like you, that find the portions too large. But it is not an unusual request so don't be afraid to ask.
I don't understand those random American comparisons. Seattle to Miami is longer than Paris to Baghdad? How about Skarsvåg in Norway to Heraklion in Greece - it's almost the exact same distance. I also don't understand how "Europe" is a thing for them. "European culture" for example. There's no such thing. Europe is made up of dozens of countries, each with VERY distinct customs and traditions. Even neighbouring countries are worlds apart.
THANK YOU! For the same reasons, I seriously dislike the term "western culture / western countries / western world" within intellectual contexts. Some people may find it petty or nitpicking, but try living in a different country for a while and you'll feel the importance of accuracy.
Bill, all humans share similar values and ideas.
Daria, I blame Herodotus for saying Western/Northern is better than Eastern/Southern. It was base on nothing but nationalism and xenophobia. I want to visit EVERYWHERE and make friends and eat things.
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
But we share similar values and ideals.
...like when they say "africans" like it is a country.
Even within the United States we have several distinct cultures. The culture in Louisiana is massively different than the culture in Northern California, for instance. Sweeping generalizations are a waste of everyone's time.
I agree this happens in so many other areas of life like generations, gender, sexuality! Humans simply love to generalise!
exactly...the one comparing Boston-Orlando and Paris-Rome. One is almost the whole stretch of the US (north-south) Meanwhile France and Italy are adjacent countries!!
Indeed! Moscow-Lisboa or Reykjavik-Istanbul would be a more interesting comparison.
This definition of Europe also apparently doesn't include Russia that is bigger than USA and though majority of the population lives in the European part of the country, almost all Russians are aware of the length of Transsiberian Railway. The European Russia is not a small territory, either as it accounts for almost half of the continental USA area-wide.
I don't agree here, it all depends on how you much you go into detail. In Detail yes there is much difference in Europe, hell there is just as much difference between the regions in every European country, sometimes between villages. But in the big Picture there is a typical European culture that applies to most if not all European societies including Russia where it spreads until the pacific with minor differences compared to how different US culture is to European one. When one travels a lot and meets people from all around the world it get's easy to see the big picture. When one stays at his local place and hardly travels the small things are more in focus. There is no right or wrong there just different points of view. In General we all humans are more similar than we used to believe.
I frequently reflect on this quote by Donald Horowitz: "An Ibo may be . . . an Owerri Ibo or an Onitsha Ibo in what was the Eastern region of Nigeria. In Lagos, he is simply an Ibo. In London, he is a Nigerian. In New York, he is an African." I echo that perspective in itself is not right or wrong. We're wired to generalize because it helps us categorize. Where the trouble lies is in people forgetting every human is a dynamic and complex being and should not be dismissed based off a single categorization. (To the OP's point, though, I also do not understand the distance comparisons.)
This comment has been deleted.
It's very cute that people think England is old... I live in Thessaloniki Greece, we celebrated the 2300 year of our city.
Nasos Dimis, let kids have fun :) p.s. we still remember you took our golden fleece :D
That was 30 years ago!
When I was born, Earth was just a lot of debris orbiting a young sun.
Same here. My German friends told me proudly: "this is Trier, our oldest city!" My small town in France is oldest than the oldest German city, and we don't even mention it so much
Its all in your perspective, huh?
It put things in perspective for sure. I'm Canadian and this year my village celebrated it's 100th birthday.
I am from San Francisco and I lived in your beautiful country during 1964/65 while the company my dad worked for built the largest earthen filled dam in Europe, at that time. It is called Lake Kremesta and was VERY rural back then. Although all of my childhood photographs were ruined in a flood, I still hold very fond memories.
Only because the other countries speak weird languages so they stick to what they can understand.
It's because quite a few Americans immediatedly think of England when they hear “Europe“ and don't even consider any other countries. Kind of ironic in lights of Brexit.
Actually, i dont think we do, England is tacked on, like yeah that's kind of europe, perhaps we share a language, mostly, though for scottish movies sometimes i need subtitles
My husband lived in Japan for 4 months on a student exchange program. He met several people including a girl from Montreal Canada who was married to a guy from England. When they were visiting Seattle for her husbands job, we took them out to dinner at a nice restaurant by the waterfront. Heavy on the seafood, the meal started with clam chowder which they were happy with. Then came the main entrees. Their eyes widened. They said "we thought the chowder was the meal." Then it dawned on me that people from other countries don't consume the portions that Americans do. It explains why the American reviews of international restaurants are heavy on the "Not enough food" complaints. Luckily it was rice with Alder Smoked Salmon and they had a fridge in their hotel room. They took the rest back to the hotel and re-heated it the next day for lunch. After that, we either chose restaurants with small portions or found places where we could share meals.
That's why we're fat.
I had the same kind of experience during a trip in Italy. At lunch, we stopped at a restaurant, we had nice antipasti and then pastas and were well stuffed by then. The lady came to our table asking what type of meat we wanted as main course... And it was general, not specific to this restaurant.
I felt horrible leaving food when visiting NY or asking them if I could take it with us because it was just too much! I love eating out and trying new restaurants but the sizes of most dishes were ridiculous! Also when I asked for small latte etc it became in a bucket. I learned that US small doesn’t mean shit. :D It was large!
@Ani-87 Next time you are in NY, ask the restaurant if they can put half the meal in a to-go container. They may charge a small fee (usually no more than a buck or two,) but at least you don't have to waste your meals and you can make your dining dollar stretch farther. There are plenty of people in America that do this. Some because they are on calorie restricted diets..others, like you, that find the portions too large. But it is not an unusual request so don't be afraid to ask.