Top 10 Things Europeans Find Strange About America
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HowiMetdaSlayer
𝕔𝕠𝕔𝕠𝕒 𝕒𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕥 ☕️
Skanky Vamp
Sniffin' the Slayer
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The top ten list is a list of the ten most popular things in various subject matters. In this case it's the ten things Europeans find strange about America.
Let me rephrase. What is on this list of top ten things?
I saw the number one sign of a European tourist on the beach yesterday. They are the only people laying semi naked on the sand in the heat of the day, lathering tanning oil on their pink bodies. No aussie with half a brain does that.
I saw the number one sign of a European tourist on the beach yesterday. They are the only people laying semi naked on the sand in the heat of the day, lathering tanning oil on their pink bodies. No aussie with half a brain does that.
ILLYRIAN
The list must have been made by Americans, as it is so bad.
Professor Walsh
Haha, any North European tries to remember what sun feels like these days. No wonder they throw all caution aside when they get a chance to warm up. (Even if it's stooopid.)
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WillowFromBuffy
Guest
So, I arrived back from the states a few months ago, so here is my list.
1. Americans love it when you criticise America and get disappointed whenever you say something nice. This is also true of the English and the Norwegians, but it is certainly not true for most of Europe.
2. Legal and illegal drug use is rampant in the US.
3. The American work ethic is insane, especially considering the amount of weed they smoke.
4. Americans can't wrap their heads around the fact that I feel more at home in American than I do in most of Europe. I've spent very little time on the continent, I don't speak any of the language, and even though I have a few European friends, I don't know much about the European countries.
5. Americans are extremely nice. The Americans, the British and the Irish are seriously the only descent people in the world ... at least the Western world. Scandinavians and continental Europeans are horrible. Seriously, some stranger will compliment my sweater or something, and I have no idea how to respond.
6. The American health "system" baffles me. Being sick in America sounds like hard work.
7. Why do you have old fashioned toll booths with actual human beings working in them?
8. Why do you use physical money?
9. I don't mind paying tips. I mind doing maths when I am drunk.
10. How come Americans don't understand standard British words and phrases? Most of you have seen Harry Potter or James Bond or something, haven't you?
11. How come so many of you remember the Norwegian exhibit in Disneyland?
1. Americans love it when you criticise America and get disappointed whenever you say something nice. This is also true of the English and the Norwegians, but it is certainly not true for most of Europe.
2. Legal and illegal drug use is rampant in the US.
3. The American work ethic is insane, especially considering the amount of weed they smoke.
4. Americans can't wrap their heads around the fact that I feel more at home in American than I do in most of Europe. I've spent very little time on the continent, I don't speak any of the language, and even though I have a few European friends, I don't know much about the European countries.
5. Americans are extremely nice. The Americans, the British and the Irish are seriously the only descent people in the world ... at least the Western world. Scandinavians and continental Europeans are horrible. Seriously, some stranger will compliment my sweater or something, and I have no idea how to respond.
6. The American health "system" baffles me. Being sick in America sounds like hard work.
7. Why do you have old fashioned toll booths with actual human beings working in them?
8. Why do you use physical money?
9. I don't mind paying tips. I mind doing maths when I am drunk.
10. How come Americans don't understand standard British words and phrases? Most of you have seen Harry Potter or James Bond or something, haven't you?
11. How come so many of you remember the Norwegian exhibit in Disneyland?
HowiMetdaSlayer
LoL @ #3 😆
ILLYRIAN
Haha, haha,
NeddaSai
So it's not just me? I have faced #1 so many times it's ridiculous!!
DeepBlueJoy
6 is so totally true.Saw one doc for shoulder, got bills from 7 different depts/consultants & incomprehensible insurance notices about all. So glad my dad had european health care when he was ill. 9 is my favorite even tho' i don't drink! Hysterical!
Mr Trick
Good list! Gave me a few chuckles! I disagree on number 5 but that's just me.
Wait I don’t get it. Do you all use metaphorical money?
Most toll booths in Texas don’t have people manning them. Kinda depends on the part if the US you are talking about.
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WillowFromBuffy
Guest
By physical money, I mean coins and bills, as opposed to information that is stored digitally somewhere.
This made me think, though. A coin may not be a metaphor, but it is certainly a signifier, which is almost the same. It is not the coin in itself that is important, but the monetary value that it points to - money as an abstract social construction that can be made to seem more concrete by representing it in printed paper and metal disks. Coins and bills are nice and tangible, but they fill up your pockets and nobody wants to rid you of your change.
I wonder if something physical can ever be a metaphor for an abstract idea. Is a heart a metaphor for love? It can't be, because it is a completely arbitrary symbol. It can feel like a metaphor, though, because we are so used to think of hearts as being ... lovely ... or loving ... instead of poor mimetic representations of our blood pumps.
Then again, when we are in love, we sometimes experience it as a physical reaction that involves an increase in heart rate. Hmmmmm....
Cuz cowboys don't have time to stop.
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ILLYRIAN
Druish Pervonian Wizard
A coin is just a physical embodiment of a non-physical element of pretend money. The little kiddies have it right giving pretend monies to the shop.
How many countries do not owe vast amounts of money, to avoid making the coins in your pocket become non-physical entities on a bit of paper and just hope that the man in the big house knows that to reduce debt you need to keep sending it bunches of ones and zero's.
That way you can pay the man at the toll booth, or as they do in Texas they don't have toll booths being manned by non people. Some folk might say they are operated by machines.
Anyone see the films Terminator when the machines took over from the humans who had got it wrong?
How many countries do not owe vast amounts of money, to avoid making the coins in your pocket become non-physical entities on a bit of paper and just hope that the man in the big house knows that to reduce debt you need to keep sending it bunches of ones and zero's.
That way you can pay the man at the toll booth, or as they do in Texas they don't have toll booths being manned by non people. Some folk might say they are operated by machines.
Anyone see the films Terminator when the machines took over from the humans who had got it wrong?
thetopher
Member of the Church Of Faith
- US paper money- all too same-y. Confusing.
- US news. You'd be hard-pressed to find out much going on in the wider world unless its a natural disaster or terrorism.
- Some US towns. They seem to comprise solely of massive strip malls stretching off into the distance.
- Infrastructure. Thanks to Eisenhower it takes very little time to cross vast distances cross/inter-state. This is fantastic. In England where the roads are based on thousand year old routes half the time it takes an age to travel anywhere by car.
- US news. You'd be hard-pressed to find out much going on in the wider world unless its a natural disaster or terrorism.
- Some US towns. They seem to comprise solely of massive strip malls stretching off into the distance.
- Infrastructure. Thanks to Eisenhower it takes very little time to cross vast distances cross/inter-state. This is fantastic. In England where the roads are based on thousand year old routes half the time it takes an age to travel anywhere by car.
ILLYRIAN
Slightly wrong on the timing thing, several roads were originally built by the Roman army in 50 to 70 ad.
HowiMetdaSlayer
same-y 😃
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WillowFromBuffy
Guest
12. Talking on speaker phone or singing in public. Who even calls someone on the phone anymore, let alone on speaker phone?
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WillowFromBuffy
Guest
13. Why is the deal with taboo words? Why is the "F-bomb" in particular so bad? How come Spike can swear as much as he wants, as long as he sticks to British terms or misogynist and homophobic slurs? I would christen this the Pinkman-paradox.
Im with ya on that one!
Aussies use the S and C words in advertising. It is very hard to filter that for others, when you come from a culture that curses in nearly every sentance. I wondered if it was only parts of America that were uptight about it, but it does seem limited in ordinary use for them.
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WillowFromBuffy
Guest
Americans have this funny polite voice thing they do when they don't know you, where they call you Sir and whatever, but when you get to know them, they swear like sailors.
Maybe we should do a list about European stuff that I find baffling so we can have a cultural exchange! I’ll start:
1. Why can’t I ever get more than one cube of ice for my soda?? Is frozen water super expensive in Europe?
2. Why is BBC always going in like every country?? I could be in Italy or France or Germany and I will always find like 3 BBC channels. Don’t Italy or France or Germany have their own big news conglomerate?
I’ll think of more later.
1. Why can’t I ever get more than one cube of ice for my soda?? Is frozen water super expensive in Europe?
2. Why is BBC always going in like every country?? I could be in Italy or France or Germany and I will always find like 3 BBC channels. Don’t Italy or France or Germany have their own big news conglomerate?
I’ll think of more later.
HowiMetdaSlayer
BBC *giggles*
Last Watcher
The BBC rules the world...…! :p
Skanky Vamp
Sniffin' the Slayer
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It's to prevent you for overpaying. The more ice you have, the less soda you have. Then of course as the ice starts to melt, the more watered down soda you have.
Mrs Gordo
No because the give me a bottle of soda. There are no fountain drinks there. They only believe in bottles. So price of soda irrelevant.
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WillowFromBuffy
Guest
This sounds implausible. Where did this happen?
Have you ever seen French or German TV, though? Seriously? However, I would to have a channel where I could watch Derrick, Kommissar Rex and Bernt das Brot.
And you do have BBC in America as well. My flatmate would insist on watching Blue Planet all the time.
