Current Events > 31 Things Americans Think Are Normal, But Are Actually Reeealllyyy Weird

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https://www.huffpost.com/entry/american-things-seem-normal-actually-weird_n_65298189e4b0a304ff701a4d

"Having to pay an enormously large amount of money for college education."

"Not getting proper holiday time."

"The fact that swearing is such a big deal and you bleep out everything is so weird."

"How American towns and cities are generally designed so that you have to drive everywhere."

"The extreme polarization in politics."
"I'm used to having many parties, which gives more nuances. In the US, it seems politics became a team sport, and you end up with the 'you're either with us or against us' mentality a lot easier. I think that is very detrimental for the country, but I guess there's no realistic way out of that, nor any will from either of your leading parties to do so."

"Treating politicians like celebrities."

"Food portions."

"TV is hyper-commercialized to the point of being completely unwatchable."
"Even the news programs report and discuss stories on Starbucks announcing their autumn drinks menu two weeks ahead of schedule. It's ludicrous."

"People have lunch at their desks. And usually it's just a snack. Where I come from, lunch is the most complete meal of the day."

"The price on things in your stores is not the actual price, but the price without tax and such."

"The more credit you take the better for your credit score. Here in Germany, your credit score will suffer the more credit you take. Even if you pay it back on time."

"Repo men for vehicles and bounty hunters. Mainly the bounty hunters, thats some cowboy shit right there."

"How tipping is expected no matter what. Over in the UK, you tip for exceptional or good service; it's something extra. In American culture, it's expected."

"That you have extremely violent shows on daytime TV, but you sensor nudity. How will a boob harm you, but stabbing and blood splashing are normal?"

"Never listing the country name when they say a US place name, even if theyre talking to a non-American who might not know what the US state names are."

"So many tall buildings. Spider-Man loves 'em."

"The obsession with high school. I have friends who say their best years were spent in high school, and I think that's really, really sad."

"Homecoming. Who the heck is coming home?"

"Child beauty pageants. Frankly I would be wary of anyone who organizes or enters a child in one of those things."

"The doors on public bathrooms have a gap on each side so they're not completely private. I find that weird."

"The push for individualism and breakdown of families unfortunately."

"How big the country is and the amount of time you are willing to drive. I had a friend who drove for 16 hours to visit family for the weekend. It's baffling."

"All the pharmaceutical ads all the time."

"Parents demanding rent or any money from their kids who are living at home after age 18."
"In my country, adult kids who live at home will spontaneously contribute to the extent that they can, but most parents will do A LOT to avoid accepting those contributions. Allowing your kid to focus on studies/their early career and saving is a point of pride."

"That calling an ambulance is an expensive thing to do."

"Gender reveal parties."

"All the things you can do at younger ages before you can have a drink."
"You can get into lifelong debt with a mortgage or university fees, you can drive a car, you can buy a fucking gun, you can have kids, you can join the army and kill people, and you can get married. But at the wedding, even having done all of the above, when the father of the bride makes his speech and ends with a toast, you're sat at the kids table raising a glass of orange juice because you're not allowed champagne!"

"Standing and pledging allegiance to a flag every single school day from childhood into early adulthood is very odd."

"Using the imperial system."

"Wearing your shoes inside the house."

And finally,
"Flags are literally everywhere no matter what. The only time I would see that many Canadian flags would be Canada Day."

No we don't

I think it's less we think it's normal and more that most of us can't really do anything about it.

HylianFox posted...

"Wearing your shoes inside the house."

this is the most fucked up one, bar none

Kaiganeer posted...

this is the most fucked up one, bar none

It's not real

why do you weirdo's think putting sweetcorn on pizza is strange?

BloodMoon7 posted...

I think it's less we think it's normal and more that most of us can't really do anything about it.

Yeah, I mean most Americans think college and medical debt is fucked up, also child pageants, tipping, the lack of time off, and the US flag being fucking everywhere.

Kaiganeer posted...

this is the most fucked up one, bar none

It goes further than that. Some people will wear their shoes lying down on couches or on beds.

HylianFox posted...

"How American towns and cities are generally designed so that you have to drive everywhere."

most of the list is bad and i hate it but this is honestly the worst.

Kaiganeer posted...

this is the most fucked up one, bar none

Do people not clean their floors in other countries? Honestly, if I have a bunch of guests over I want them to leave that shit on. I don't want to be walking through other people's foot sweat, nor smell anyone's rank ass feet, or look at some nasty feet. Like, what do people in other countries with foot odor do, just never visit people's houses?

Sounds about right.
I'm for cursing on TV and what not, but not in public. It feels really indecent

Breakfast is supposed to be the most complete meal of the day since you need energy for the said day. I assume anyone that says lunch is the most complete meal of the day basically just don't wake up until noon.

I chuckled at the last one. I just said the other day how I've never seen a country suck its own dick the way America does, plastering its flag on every random thing.

Irony posted...

Breakfast is supposed to be the most complete meal of the day since you need energy for the said day. I assume anyone that says lunch is the most complete meal of the day basically just don't wake up until noon.

The breakfast thing is technically propaganda fed to you by the industries who make "breakfast foods". You don't actually need breakfast. And if you have breakfast, it doesn't actually have to involve a bowl of cereal with a banana and orange slice, or eggs, bacon, hash browns, and a tall glass of orange juice. In reality, you can eat anything for breakfast

Irony posted...

Breakfast is supposed to be the most complete meal of the day since you need energy for the said day. I assume anyone that says lunch is the most complete meal of the day basically just don't wake up until noon.

Big calorie dense breakfasts are actually a fairly recent trend, historically it was something more like a glass of small beer and some cheese and bread or leftover soup/porridge from the previously night.
Lunch historically was the big meal of the day. It was probably shifted to breakfast/dinner because extended lunches were taking up too much of the businesses time.

I mean, yeah

There are many of these things that we dont consider normal, but have no choice but to deal with. Theres only so many fronts that you can fight at one time. We dont want medical costs to be what they are, we dont want our education system to be an international joke, we dont want our workforce to be abusive, and we actually vote to fix these things but sometimes you have to accept the situation until the politicians start to follow through with what the people want.

It is very difficult to fill an entire shopping cart in the USA if you cannot or do not eat sugar. Everything is honey dipped or maple glazed or something like that. I dont know if other countries guzzle down as much Coca Cola products as we do, but these are some of the reasons why my country is so obese (this is also coming from someone who lost 90 pounds).

Payzmaykr posted...

It is very difficult to fill an entire shopping cart in the USA if you cannot or do not eat sugar. Everything is honey dipped or maple glazed or something like that. I dont know if other countries guzzle down as much Coca Cola products as we do, but these are some of the reasons why my country is so obese (this is also coming from someone who lost 90 pounds).

I am surprised that "Literally EVERYTHING has sugar it, American bread is more like cake" didn't make the list

HylianFox posted...

"How American towns and cities are generally designed so that you have to drive everywhere."

That's because we're enormous. Some of y'all don't see family because they're an hour away and that's just a daily commute for a lot of us.

HylianFox posted...

"Flags are literally everywhere no matter what. The only time I would see that many Canadian flags would be Canada Day."

This must be a old list because ever since Trumpism invaded conservative politics there's tons of right-wingers running around with Canadian flags plastered on everything.

a majority of those things are also in many other countries, especially non-english speaking countries

why doesn't the article take that into account?

HylianFox posted...

"Never listing the country name when they say a US place name, even if theyre talking to a non-American who might not know what the US state names are."

What does that even mean?

HylianFox posted...

"The push for individualism and breakdown of families unfortunately."

They WANT to remain in big-ass families where one old fuck rules? The "patriarch/matriarch" of the family is an absolutely absurd notion to me.

Great list and a lot on there I agree with.

Oh look schoolkids have to stand and say some stupid poem to their flag everyday! WTF!!!??? "I pledge alliegence to the United States"! WHAT??!! You are supposed to be a free country and you force your kids into this shit!

Only adding the sales tax to the price after you have gone to the check-out! WTF! If you know the price with the sales tax then why don't you put that price on the shelves? Here in the UK we pay tax like you on everything but when I walk into a shop and see 1.50 on the shelf I pay 1.50 not 1.75 or whatever.

Whole article whining about America per the usual gamefaqs rhetoric lol

HylianFox posted...

"All the pharmaceutical ads all the time."

I can remember back when it was only OTC stuff like Tylenol, Advil, NyQuil, and the ol' plop-plop fizz-fizz. We need to go back to banning these ads for this prescription shit, where they urge you to tell your doctor what you think you need. Fuck these people.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way to get their predatory commercials blocked because there's just too much money behind that industry and also too many people who have long ago accepted this as the new normal.

dave_is_slick posted...

What does that even mean?

Probably like saying something is in Georgia, even though to the Rest of the World that name refers to a country, not a US state.

Most of these are just minor cultural differences/traditions.

The really bad ones are the gun culture and lack of UHC.

The TV commercialization is bizarre though. I was in the US during the Olympics one time and found it hilarious that even the ads have ads: this commercial break is brought to you by Geico, Toyota, and Taco Bell!

I guess only old people who can't find the remote actually watch them.

School shootings are worse than anything on that list.

VFalcone posted...

The breakfast thing is technically propaganda fed to you by the industries who make "breakfast foods". You don't actually need breakfast. And if you have breakfast, it doesn't actually have to involve a bowl of cereal with a banana and orange slice, or eggs, bacon, hash browns, and a tall glass of orange juice. In reality, you can eat anything for breakfast

Breakfast is important. You're literally breaking your fast from sleeping. You're stabilizing your blood sugar and getting needed energy. There's a reason breakfast is generally carb-heavy.

Kai_Laguna posted...

Big calorie dense breakfasts are actually a fairly recent trend, historically it was something more like a glass of small beer and some cheese and bread or leftover soup/porridge from the previously night.
Lunch historically was the big meal of the day. It was probably shifted to breakfast/dinner because extended lunches were taking up too much of the businesses time.

Beer for breakfast

Dark_Arbron posted...

Probably like saying something is in Georgia, even though to the Rest of the World that name refers to a country, not a US state.

Even the non confusing ones are a fair criticism.

I know this because Ive told people Im from California plenty of times before clarifying Im from the US. I still get surprised people dont know the state sometimes, and then I remember Im American so its always gonna seem normal to me lol.

I try to avoid it more now tough.

The other big standout for me is the bathroom doors. I never understood why theres a gap either, also seemed off to me.

HylianFox posted...

I am surprised that "Literally EVERYTHING has sugar it, American bread is more like cake" didn't make the list

That shit is obnoxious. I saw a funny TikTok making fun of that asking if Euros are okay - because their cake must be pretty bad if it tastes like Wonder Bread.
It's also obnoxious how Euros act like bakeries don't exist in the US and we're all just eating white bread - even though literally almost any actual grocery store has a bakery. Euros are just incredibly classist, xenophobic, and shitty people when it involves food.

HylianFox posted...

"Wearing your shoes inside the house."

Who actually does this?

A lot of that stuff like gender reveal parties are just stuff that Americans did first. Brits do them plenty now.

The shoe thing is because the US is pretty urbanized and a lot of areas have mild weather most of the year. A lot of countries like in Asia have been agricultural most of their history, even if people live in sparkling clean modern apartment buildings now, it wasn't that long ago their family was living on a farm where everything was muddy and covered with manure. Places like Canada are muddy and snowy most of the year. My relatives in Maine have a shoe rack with shoehorns at their front door because they don't want to be tracking mud and snow inside half the year. Here in New Zealand I have to take my shoes off in winter because it's always wet and muddy outside, but the rest of the year it's pretty dry.

bobbaaay posted...

Beer for breakfast

'Small beer' isn't a small beer, but a type of beer that is very low in alcohol. People did have it for breakfast in the past as they liked the taste and it was probably safer to drink than the water. It didn't get anyone pissed.

ai123 posted...

'Small beer' isn't a small beer, but a type of beer that is very low in alcohol. People did have it for breakfast in the past as they liked the taste and it was probably safer to drink than the water. It didn't get anyone pissed.

Thats like plenty of beers over here. Cheap and safe to drink, but youd need about 15 of them to start feeling drunk.

Not using sugar.

Foppe posted...

Not using "sugar".

FTFY.

What's actually reeealllyyy weird is that they used 31 instead of just 30.

Gotta love it when other countries across the globe fixate on the different things that happen here. You have a bunch of those little ass countries neighboring you with a set of their own myriad of problems to complain about, but y'all are worried over what we do or don't do here oceans away. . .

Vicious_Dios posted...

What's actually reeealllyyy weird is that they used 31 instead of just 30.

Gotta love it when other countries across the globe fixate on the different things that happen here. You have a bunch of those little ass countries neighboring you with a set of their own myriad of problems to complain about, but y'all are worried over what we do or don't do here oceans away. . .

https://satwcomic.com/art/core/you-have-no-secrets.jpg

Vicious_Dios posted...

What's actually reeealllyyy weird is that they used 31 instead of just 30.

It was actually 32, you just missed the reference to Baskin Robbins.

Zeeak4444 posted...

Even the non confusing ones are a fair criticism.

I know this because Ive told people Im from California plenty of times before clarifying Im from the US. I still get surprised people dont know the state sometimes, and then I remember Im American so its always gonna seem normal to me lol.

Wow. Ive never known someone not to know where California or Florida were. Thats like general knowledge 101. The US just has much more exposure (likely due to Hollywood) than most other countries, but since the reference pool is so small, its only the big names everyone knows. We need more movies and series set in Rhode Island!

I do remember years ago having an American friend ask me who the fuck is John Howard? Australian prime ministers arent as ubiquitously known as US presidents

HylianFox posted...

"The extreme polarization in politics."
"I'm used to having many parties, which gives more nuances. In the US, it seems politics became a team sport, and you end up with the 'you're either with us or against us' mentality a lot easier. I think that is very detrimental for the country, but I guess there's no realistic way out of that, nor any will from either of your leading parties to do so."

I totally agree with this observation 1000%

My goodness, the USA is soooooooooo socially divided by its politics system, comparing left wingers to right wingers, or Democrat supporters to Republican supporters is like comparing The Bloods to The Cripps. For us foreigners, all you gotta do is just hang on any american based politics message board thats largely dominated by one of the factions, and you will see just how aggressively divided the country is by political beliefs/stances.

I mean over here in the UK, you do not get this level of hostility (well not that noticeably anyway). You dont get Labour supporters saying things like "if you are a Conservative voter, you are in actual fact my enemy", or "if you are a Conservative supporter, then you support domestic terrorism".

HylianFox posted...

"Food portions."

Food portions are large, because Americans don't really eat multiple courses. A traditional Italian meal is like seven or eight courses. It's pretty much the same amount of food.

Kajagogo posted...

Food portions are large, because Americans don't really eat multiple courses. A traditional Italian meal is like seven or eight courses. It's pretty much the same amount of food.

America clearly has an issue with portion control. This is reflected in the obesity rates.

Dark_Arbron posted...

Wow. Ive never known someone not to know where California or Florida were. Thats like general knowledge 101.

Then what is New York?

HylianFox posted...

"The more credit you take the better for your credit score. Here in Germany, your credit score will suffer the more credit you take. Even if you pay it back on time."

In the short term taking a lot of credit hurts your score in America too. It's not permanent if you pay it back properly, though. Interesting that it's not like that in Germany.

HylianFox posted...

"How big the country is and the amount of time you are willing to drive. I had a friend who drove for 16 hours to visit family for the weekend. It's baffling."

This oozes pettiness. America is big and has a roadtrip culture. So what?

HylianFox posted... "Never listing the country name when they say a US place name, even if theyre talking to a non-American who might not know what the US state names are."

More ridiculous pettiness. Like what is the issue?

HylianFox posted...

"The price on things in your stores is not the actual price, but the price without tax and such."

This one still baffles me. Why make grocery shopping so hard on yourself?

It also means you shouldn't take Americans seriously when they're talking about price comparisons between them and other places.

BurmesePenguin posted...

This oozes pettiness. America is big and has a roadtrip culture. So what?

It didn't seem like a complaint, but an observation. It's things people find weird about the US. Doesn't mean they are bad.

This one still baffles me. Why make grocery shopping so hard on yourself?

It also means you shouldn't take Americans seriously when they're talking about price comparisons between them and other places.

Now this one does annoy me when I go to the US. You think everything is so much cheaper, then you get to the checkout, and it really isn't.

ai123 posted...

It didn't seem like a complaint, but an observation. It's things people find weird about the US. Doesn't mean they are bad.

It does kinda suck though. The extent to which oil industry together with car manufacturers have been able to control and influence infrastructure and city planning is pretty sad.