" Wearing their skid inside the sign . Even on their sofa and bed . utterly disgusting . "
Recently, Reddit usernurseboyfriendsasked,“What things do Americans do that people from other countries find extremely weird or strange?” and you know BuzzFeed just had to round it up.
So, without further ado, here are 36 things we Americans do that the rest of the world apparently finds really, really strange.
1.First of all… “Mandatory tipping culture.”
— u / tolerant - Bat-7200
2.“Taxes being added at the checkout. I understand the logic behind why that happens, but at the same time, it seems to be the sort of thing that could be fixed quite easily if the powers that be wanted it to be fixed.”
— u / TheSameButBetter
3.“WHY do you take my credit card at restaurants? 😂 Here in Canada the machine gets brought to the table to pay.”
— uranium / Honest - Peanut2502
" The US has always been behind on credit card stuff and nonsense . I do n’t know why ! I first paid at the table in Paris and first saw a tap to pay up in Australia . It took , like , 5–10 old age to start out seeing those things here . So weird . "
— u / sugarface2134
4.“So much ice in water.”
— atomic number 92 / StatusSail2552
5.“How patriotic you guys are. When we go watch a football match, the players sign their anthem, and that’s it. When I went to this baseball game, they had a special guest to sing the national anthem, flags everywhere, jets, kneeling for the Army, etc.”
— u / LordOfPies
6.“Flags on lawns, flags everywhere.”
— u / Zoey - Jay
7.“The Pledge of Allegiance, first thing in the morning, in school. It weirds me out. I know it’s voluntary in most places now, I believe, but the practice has always given off super strong indoctrination vibes.”
— uracil / VeryMuchSkidd
8.“Thanking cops and soldiers for their service.”
— u / AGlitchedNPC
" honestly , it make me uncomfortable . I am a veteran soldier . I wo n’t wear a pin or a hat that say I ’m a veteran . My married woman is much more proud of my religious service than I am . It was a job . It ’s done now . "
— uracil / bentnotbroken96
9.“Make their government a reality TV show.”
— u / TheRichSail
" [ American ] elections are just political Super Bowls . "
— u / BunchesOfCrunches
10.“Donate money to the political career of billionaires. ‘Please donate to my election.’ You’re worth $2.5B, and I’m trying to save $0.30 on groceries; donate to it yourself, fuckface.”
— u / budding_gardener_1
11.“The evocation of God in politics always seems bizarre to me, especially when the separation of church and state is enshrined in the constitution. I’ll hear a US politician talking about the economy or some such serious thing, and then suddenly, they’re talking about what God wants them to do.”
— uranium / Ravvick
12.“Caring about school sports. In Europe, nobody cares about some high school basketball players.”
— u / Stellanboll
13.Relatedly… “Ridiculously huge elaborate football stadiums for schools and colleges in areas that are otherwise obviously economically depressed. I once read that 8 of the 10 biggest stadiums in the world are at US colleges/universities.”
— u / cruiserman_80
" I was a dramatic art scholarly person at a university with a big football game syllabus ; the primary theatre construct wasthe old lawn tennis footlocker rooms . And the school had a relatively large theatre program ! "
— uracil / rarepinkhippo
14.“As an American who has traveled around Asia, they find it weird that we’re always throwing huge high school parties.”
— u / Commercial_Bread_131
15.“Identifying with a nationality that’s several generations back — i.e. ‘I’m Irish, and my husband is German!'”
— uranium / Gernahaun
" Or when they define someone ’s behaviour by their inheritance , which is 3/4 times removed . He tope because he ’s ' Irish’ … or some other stereotyped folderal . "
— u / Cary14
" I ’m ' Italian ! ' That ’s why I ’m such a loud cocksucker and over - pronounce nutrient names like pomodoro and stromboli , but I do n’t know any verbs in Italian . "
— u / campmonster
16.“You have to file your taxes. To do that you need to use a private service that costs a lot of money. ‘Have the IRS make a free, easy to use service available for the general public?’ ‘What are we, commies!?’ In Denmark, the tax authority calculates most of it, and you only have to go check that everything is correct. I spend maybe two hours in a year on taxes. Also, the US is — as far as I know — the only country in the world that expects its citizens abroad to file and pay taxes.”
— uranium / MrHelfer
— u / NinerChuck
" It ’s unearthly . Those corporation are so desperate for money they ’re unforced to sell any MEd even if people do n’t actually postulate them . pull up stakes that shit to doctors . "
— atomic number 92 / oceanduciel
18.Relatedly…. “Commercials for a minor medical condition like Athlete’s Foot.”
" Voiceover : Side effects may include :
Chronic nob waste
Impotence
Anal cancer
Testicular Crab
Testicular verruca
Pancreatic genus Cancer
Heart palpitations
Athlete ’s foot
Complete crash of the Central Nervous System
Rapid weight gain
Depression
Psychotic episodes
Hair loss
speedy anal retentive hair gain
Your toff will belike come off
No one will care you
Explosive diarrhea in public spaces
Instant death
Inability to take place to the other side after decease , so you may be doomed to roam the Earth as a confused soul for eternity .
babble out to your family doctor about Footoxicil today ! "
— atomic number 92 / JDNM
19.“Large gaps above, below, and between the bathroom stalls.”
— u / adehyett
20.“From what I’ve heard from folks from out of country…small talk. Apparently, it’s not really normal in other places for strangers to just say hi to each other or engage in small talk while doing things like standing in line, after accidentally bumping into each other at the store, noticing that someone is interested in the same thing you are, things like that. Apparently, a lot of people compare Americans to golden retrievers and say they’re ‘ridiculously friendly’ because Americans will just…talk to anyone, without any formal introduction.”
— atomic number 92 / Honey_Sweetness
" I realized this was n’t a orbicular thing when I was in Japan and I ’d lead off conversation with fellow visiting Americans . My Japanese booster was very surprised that I ’d do that . Then there ’s the ones that have been there a while and actively debar you because they know what you ’re gon na do , LOL . "
— u / fyatre
21.Although on the other hand… “My neighbor is Russian, and she told me she was sad that we don’t ask people over to have tea and talk. She asked me over one day, and it was really nice.”
— atomic number 92 / littlemybb
22.“I’m American and worked closely with folks from England for a while. The biggest difference was they thought Americans way overshare. When we were discussing self-image once, another American mentioned she’d had an ED [eating disorder] when she was younger (that was it, no other details). I thought nothing of it. When she wasn’t around, they told me how uncomfortable it made them, and they were shocked at how personal that was. I was floored. They should hear my friend groups talk about gynecologist visits, LOL.”
— u / HairWhipCEO
23.“Forcing you to use vacation days when you’re ill. Some countries make employers change paid vacation days to paid sick days when you’re ill on vacation.”
— atomic number 92 / Alternative74578
24."[Being] very nervous and unwilling to go to the hospital."
— u / joomla00
From an American : " Because when we go to the ER , we wait four hour to be see … for someone to treat us like drug - seeker … and then get charge thousands of dollars for it . "
25.Relatedly, “Go bankrupt paying medical bills” and “Tying healthcare to employment,” and “GoFundMes for basic healthcare costs.”
— u / fairygodmotherfckr , u / Grummm_Didley , andu / feetofire
26.“Leaving newborn babies in daycare all day to go back to working full time a few weeks after giving birth,” and “Unpaid maternity leave.”
— uracil / ohdearitsrichardiiiandu / mergelefthere
From an American : " Working in retail a few eld ago , I had a coworker who could n’t yield to await even a single week after giving nascence to go back to work . She had a medical exigency on her first Clarence Day back , result in an ambulance , and we did n’t see her again . "
— uranium / nipplequeefs
27.“Circumcision.”
— u / dyld921
" This country in general is too bally obsess about what ’s going between mass ’s legs . "
— u / Nyarro
28.“Coffee drinks large enough to caffeinate a herd of elephants. With enough sugar to trigger a diabetic coma, all on the way to work.” And also just “American portion sizes” in general.
— u / Impossible - Cattle504andu / naidhinn
29.“Getting served plastic plates in a cafeteria. … I have never seen any place serve one use plastic dishes in Germany. When we explained that we use dishwashers to clean the used dishes in cafeterias, the clerk was like, ‘Huh, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.’ In general, the amount of plastics used in the USA is just so wild to me.”
— u / Rasenkeks
30.“Becoming a pilot and buying a plane. Easy access to personal aviation — there really is no other country like the US when it comes to that. While it’s not cheap, it’s cheaper than anywhere else in the world, and the government doesn’t gate-keep it into the ground.”
— uracil / More_Than_I_Can_Chew
31.“Eating in our cars. Driving or just sitting in the car eating. Several European visitors have commented on this, so it must be very strange to them.”
— uranium / readerf52
32.“Wearing their shoes inside the house. Even on their couch and bed. Absolutely disgusting.”
— u / ihatecommuting2023
33.“Answering a city/state/two-letter code as if everyone knows where it is when someone asks ‘where are you from’ in an international setting.”
— u/52mschr
34.“Why do your kitchen sinks have that terrifying swirling thing that eats fingers?”
— uracil / theCeleryBear
" As a Brit , I had nightmares about this from that episode ofThe Simpsons . I rise out of it by telling myself ' at least they do n’t really exist . ' Oh heartfelt . "
— u / BayAreaJordds
35.“MM-DD-YY. It’s the least useful date format ever.”
— u / kiss_my_what
36.And finally… “Feet, pounds, Fahrenheit, etc…wtf, mate?!”
— u / rude - Assist-9389
submission have been edited for duration / clarity .
