What Normal American Thing Sounds CRAZY To Non-Americans?

what's the most American thing ever that if explained to a non-american might just sound crazy ever Brit what shocked me was learning about just how huge your college sports games are a university / college football soccer team game here might draw a crowd of a few hundred a friend who went to the University of Texas told me they're American football stadium seats 100 zero zero zero what the actual frig as a South African what amazed me was the competitors call each other out in advertisements I couldn't believe it at first it seemed so unusual advertising prescription drugs to regular people on TV when I was in Tennessee as an exchange student for a year I was surprised by the team sit there at of each high school like how there was a football game every Friday night and almost all of the school was there to cheer them on that would never happen in my country hospitals buy ad space on Billboard's I've never left the country but we must be the only country that has hospitals advertising like Burger King I'm from Vienna and honestly I have many questions for the u.s. most burning all new is why are your toilet stall doors so damn high above the ground when purchasing an item the listed price is actually not the amount you'll have to pay a check out it will be more I think I will use this thread and ask something to you Americans are the movie stereotypes of cheerleaders and football players true do all schools have a football team with associated cheerleaders and other people who join them usually popular kids I'm only white upstairs in Canada but I've never even heard of a school that has cheerleaders also what is a homecoming dance the best chicken joints in the hood usually have bulletproof glass one that you can get a haircut buy a gun and ammo with your groceries Florida French guy who lived in NC for a while here to me the weirdest thing was all the advertisement for prescription drugs on TV radio on line it's crazy waking up in the morning and suddenly while you're having your morning coffee and cereals your TV starts spewing stuff about some random meds like their tic tacs you can just arbitrarily decide you need the worst is honestly the mandatory side effects warning at the end of every ad I nearly choked on my egg sandwich the first time that voice came up warning people about horrific stuff that could potentially happen if they took the drug I have lived in quite a few countries around the world and the u.s. is the only place where I saw this one of my Canadian friend told me that back in 2003 when we France refused to take part in the war against Iraq some Congress cafeterias and some restaurant in the USA renamed french fries and freedom fries I think it's the most passive-aggressive and American thing you could have done plus fries come from Belgium not France shooting a red sports car into space seemed like a pretty quintessentially American thing to do adverts for medication you've got happy people and stuff in the ad and then it may cause death not an American Brit but when I watch live streaming Premier League on American channels or legal of course I honestly find the advertisements so strange they're so aggressive I don't know if that's the right word but honestly it's a fun experience the car adverts are the best edit my first gold thanks a lot kind stranger I honestly couldn't believe people had to worry about calling an ambulance because of the fees like WTF imagine being seriously hurt or sick and hesitating to call an ambulance and having to think about how much it will cost can't imagine it play the national anthem at almost every event warehouse type grocery stores Costco Super Saver my great uncle from Australia would always take photos in my career non CL friends thought this was crazy we'd have so much space for a grocery store there is a place a short drive from my house that is a firearms military merchandise touring the front half of the building and in the back half just down a short hallway is a BB Q restaurant it's a magical place still weirded out about refills and sizes of drinks specific to soda the low bar to get a driver's license traveling between major cities the distances are insane especially just feeling completely alone in the middle of nowhere I'm totally Irish meaning your great-great grandfather's uncle once had a pint of Guinness deep guys know what s'mores are edit I get it you've seen the sand lit you're killing me smalls it's okay to walk around with a gun but not a drink edit 40 of the 50 states do not require any license to carry a firearm openly health insurance premiums deductibles coinsurance co-pays out-of-pocket maximums in-network etc it's an insane amount of knowledge that you need to have to make a good decision about your health coverage and no one teaches you any of this crap you have to go and learn it yourself on the Internet peanut butter and jelly sandwiches apparently edit I'm American but I recently learned that much of the world finds PB&J to the inaud combination I live in a right to higher state that basically means that with a few exceptions my employer can fire me at any time without reason with zero notice it is possible to get a job with the contract but those are rare unless you have a very high-paying position this is quite common in the USA from what a lawyer told me I've read stories on this site of other places that are not like this I always thought this was normal before 3k plus up votes WTF that's pretty cool the age-old question of are those firecrackers or gunshots I'm still shocked you'll pay for an ambulance ride like what the Frick someone pls had explained the Imperial system and how TF errand heat works I would like to not set my house on fire setting my oven to 360 degrees Eddie I can totally spell and grammar there five de Mayo celebrations I have never met a Mexican who celebrates this holiday law the worrying tendency of the south to deep-fry anything and everything idk if that's fitting here but I simply don't get why the grading system is ABCDF what happened to E I remember explaining to an Italian friend that in the u.s. we can vote and own a gun and fight in a war at 18 but can't buy a drink and he was completely at a loss for words aerosol cheese fraternity / sororities yes so we just joined brother / Sisterhood's when we go off to college with secret rituals and traditions deed guys in the u.s. get paid holidays we have weeks of paid holidays not including the bank holidays I saw someone saying that in the u.s. they practically work perpetually for their company with no time off how the +5 above speed limit from the perspective of a Swede not including tax and price tag shoes on inside healthcare prices gun laws the crazy amount of food you guys serve like the French fries you serve as a side and large glass of Pepsi is enough to fill me up edit grandma I was on a night train in Italy from Rome to Venice I explained beef jerky and he asked me why we would do that - steak and I was like blamed the Cowboys I studied in Chicago for a month at 17 and I was so confused as to why all your bread was sweet I get migraines if I eat too much sugar and I basically lived off of chips mac and cheese and the salad bar in our accommodation on the fourth of July I just ate a bowl of carrots dipped in ranch dressing as I didn't eat meat at the time it still had enough sugar to knock me out also your painkiller bottles are huge I had to buy ibuprofen and the smallest bottle was like 100 pills I haven't finished it yet and that trip was two years ago when I visited Texas I did these touristy things Plus learned about sales tax thought the store owner was trying to rip me off plus learned about tipping apparently I was a bad guy not to ripple waiter my friend made me go back in and find him and tip him I still don't know how to calculate a tip plus drove a wombat fat people scooter and took a selfie plus went shooting as a survivalist gun range in the bush learned a lot about the Constitution man plus saw guns for sale in the department stores plus you can buy alcohol pretty much anywhere like an a petrol station or Taco Bell but you can't drink it anywhere plus jaywalking laws are stupid plus I tackle the robber in a mall and everyone told me I shouldn't have gotten involved the security guys that came late thought I was the robber because I had a backpack but the first guys kept then straight plus in st. Louis the first got on a train then once it was moving noticed I was the only white guy in my carriage and the next carriage was all white people some guys in my carriage were cool and we chatted a lot but one guy just stared at me with the stink eye the whole ride plus I got lost in Texas and asked some guy for directions but he wouldn't say a word another guy told me he was a gang member and I was in the wrong part of town and should leave quickly plus I a giant plates of meat for 15% the price in Australia plus I saw Dennis Bacon a Rama 15 course bacon base meal including desert and smoothies the bacon was deep fried Wow proms and homecoming dances I don't know if they are one and the same or how many there are Americans make such a huge deal out of it that pass around awards for whoever is the prettiest / dances the best the whole thing just seems so bizarre and out of this world to a European that I have to ask if any of you can explain in detail why they are the way that they are all we just organized with the teachers some school parties that are usually in big clubs once or twice a year and they turn a blind eye on alcohol because you guys are also really strict on alcohol until you're 21 another kind of odd as when you guys are allowed to drink you just go all over the news in Mediterranean places for causing trouble we have a population of over 300 million people from this vast pool our chosen leader is an unnaturally hewed guy who inherited an influential family name and vast wealth then squandered the latter on failed business deals he's declared bankruptcy multiple times and even had a casino go broke a casino he's been divorced twice and cheated on his current wife with a xxx actress while his wife was pregnant this guy having done nothing philanthropic in the first 70 years of his life somehow swindled the middle of the u.s. into believing he's just like them and has their best interests at heart warned about a deadly pandemic on the horizon he went golfing over 50000 of his constituents are now dead and his response is to deny all responsibility promote conspiracy theories about the virus origins and suggest his people protect themselves by injecting disinfectant into their bodies this man continues to be revered by his followers the way American public schools treat children with disabilities is bizarre I was fortunate enough to be in district that had a separate section for children who couldn't function well in a traditional classroom however the expectations were so low as to be laughable I had a math class with a great teacher but only me and one other kid attended while everyone else was god-knows-where during the last few weeks of that class all we did was watch movies like lotr nobody ever checked in on us or questioned why this was happening it's a shame really the kids I met were smart and clever but didn't really get the support they needed some just had anxiety and couldn't handle test-taking others like me simply needed a smaller classroom size 30 kids per class was standard at the time but under 15 for special ed all were just filed away under her individualized education plan and never looked into again unless there were big problems I was split between regular and special ed in my final year of high school the only accommodation I got for my regular ed classes was a little keyboard slash LCD screen combo to type on instead of handwriting I ate them all because the surprise I don't have a learning disability I had dysgraphia and autism after a decade plus spent in public schools no one had figured it out why I did better or worse all that was done was to shuffle me and kids like me around to be someone else's problem edit to provide more context I'm referring to my high school 15 years ago I had different experiences there compared to elementary and middle school all of those schools were less than 5 miles from each other and in the same County as I posted below this district did not lack money and was attended by students from poor to upper-middle class at the time I was in one of the wealthiest and most populated counties in northern vapp my public high school held over to zero zero zero students on an average day in the special ed classes had both a teacher and her assistant your local area may differ greatly but I still implore you to seek out a local PTA meeting and/or talk to any parents in your neighborhood if you want a better understanding of these issues I'm a UK citizen and I find it strange and confusing the different levels of law enforcement officers there are in the States and what they're allowed to do while in pursuit of a criminal for instance if someone crosses a state line the criminal can't be arrested if his offense was in the other state well that's how it seems when I watch American films slash TV shows I saw on a post a while ago that some people in Europe thought the big yellow school buses were our folklore and not real only in the shows and movies sorry kiddo rundown barely functional yellow round around a t-straps rally rally public transportation is a standard around these parts I always wondered why in the u.s. it's obligatory to tip people like you already got your meal in the restaurant for example and you get the check you just leave the amount in the check and leave the place what can they do to stop you from doing that you've already got what you requested right is it a moral thing or you will be black or something like that as a French I'd say the president's swearing on the Bible I thought you guys were a secular country that eating outside slash takeaway food is the normal thing while staying at home and cooking is something special or at least that's how it's portrayed on TV are you guys all millionaires or something when you get sick you don't go to the doctor because maybe you can't afford it and it's confusing as to which actual doctor you can see and what they are allowed to treat and so then you just get worse and end up going to the hospital but even if you have insurance maybe they take you to the wrong hospital or the wrong doctor feeds you and then you get a bill even if ensured that bankrupts you and there is nothing you can do about it chicken fried steak I don't care if someone said it already I'll repeat it anyway because it's so important that gap next to the doors and toilet stalls I don't want eye contact with strangers when doing my thing one most Americans are monolingual so they basically only speak English so they spend grams for health care services three paying student loans will hunt you down even after having a family I visited the US a couple of times I'm a South African slash Brit and the TV adverts are like nothing I've ever experienced anywhere else the crazy political adverts where they do nothing but insult the opposition the medicine / drug adverts good grief those lists of side-effects it makes the drug sound more dangerous than whatever it's meant to treat my fiancé's favorite there was a petrol advert gas to you guys I guess it made it sound as if filling your tank with their brand was the ticket to a better life that advert had American flags everywhere bald eagles and the best tag line in the world buy a tank full of freedom that was a few years ago and we still joke about going to get a tank full of freedom when we fill up our car firearms / weapons it's actually starting to become a very touchy subject here in the States but when I was younger we could go to school with rifles in a gun rack in the back window of your pickup truck carrying pocket knives everywhere even though it sounds bad or strange a good-sized pocket knife in your pocket can be a helpful tool waiters and waitresses are essentially required to tip because their actual wage is very low in my state they are usually paid two dollars an hour if you don't tip they'll give you a glare and might even tell their manager the only reason you shouldn't tip is if their service made you feel worse than you did coming in you need to use a credit card at a very young age in order to have a proper credit rating everywhere in the world a credit card means you're spending money you don't have thus you should have a bad credit ratnick that it's standard when going out for a meal to ask for the uneaten half of your giant meal to be put into a box to eat later edit I mean meals too big to be consumed in a single sitting I don't mean the practice of refusing to waste food fried Twinkies GoFundMe healthcare mass shootings evangelicals according to British friend how african-americans can protest people being shot in a glee and be labeled rioters but armed white terrorists storming government buildings and holding them hostage are called protesters couple that stand out to me as a Canadian who has traveled a lot in the u.s. at-will employment in all states except Montana meaning an employer does not need to have reason to fire you edit not Minnesota school starting as early as 7:00 a.m. some places teacher salaries and how that relates to the county they are in I've spoke with teachers from both Gainesville and Long Island and the difference was stark mat leave being six weeks many places which is insane what really resonated with me was how poor your poor neighborhoods are compared to the affluent air the ceiling certainly seems higher in the US for economic prosperity but the floor is much much lower than Canada loving your country while simultaneously arming yourself just in case the government ever decide to get uppity our measurement system was created because of a foot fetish as a non-american here I'm waiting for you to tell me those stuff to see if they are actually that crazy discussing guns with my friend from Australia was very interesting he thought I was crazy for owning them public schools are funded by local property taxes which is why class disadvantages built into the American system truck nuts not an American but when I found out about America's circumcision rates it blew my frickin mind had to explain to my West African husband when you are pulled over by police don't make sudden moves give short sweet responses keep hands on the wheel and ants when you have to move your hands in monitor your tone for entire conversation the cost of an ambulance ride complimenting strangers but I like it though the first time I went shopping in US I realized after the cashier explained to me how taxes are not included in the price tag to this day I'm not convinced as to why nobody will admit it but like crap tons of people and guns and vote Republican no matter how big an idiot the politician is for the sole reason of nobody's gonna take my guns away they call soccer want the rest of the world calls football and call football a sport which the players don't need to use their feet mowing the lawn so I told my friend in China I had to mow my lawn she had no idea what it meant I went on to say you know a lawn mower it cuts the grass she looked at me like I was crazy she didn't fully understand until I link to some videos of folks getting their lawn perhaps not the most Americans thing but not many ppl there have Gardens or yards to maintain so she had never seen or used a lawn mower in her life I was thinking damn I had to mow the lawn as part my chores just about every week growing up tornado chasing the whole Pledge of Allegiance thing Tiger king the way you use credit cards for example when I went to the stores I would just swipe my card no typing in a pin no signing no checking ID how do you know that's my card or in a diner the waiter takes my card and goes to the till to process the payment I was uncomfortable with not seeing what they do with my card I know I could get a faulty charge back but why let it happen in the first place 18 to join the military but 21 to buy alcohol the fact that there's no government mandated maternity / paternity leave in Canada we get 12 18 months so it sounds crazy to me when I hear stories of people giving birth and going back to work in two weeks also the accessibility of guns is wild to me the fact that you can get them at Walmart is insane there's one scene in tiger King where Joe goes to a store called discount guns and as he's checking out the guy asks him will that be everything today or would you like some explosives with that that one line describes America to me the electoral college it's easier to die of being fat than it is to starve to death here okay so sweet potatoes marshmallows equals edible together if you think taxes are too high get the T and throw it into the harbor if that doesn't work shoot them health cookin and we'll bankrupt you if you're poor and arrested for a minor offense you will be kept in jail until such a time that you go to trial which can be weeks or months if you're rich and accused of the most serious and hideous crime you can pay to be let out of jail and roam the streets freely as a dangerous individual until trial America the land of the free but my freedom is more important than yours and freak you for thinking otherwise putting marshmallow in mashed potato okay I read like 100 comments why isn't there riots in the streets against lobbyism isn't it legalized option my grandma currently needs help from some hospital workers to drain her lungs every now and then and to help her with daily tasks the only problem is that it costs freakin eighteen grand a month like seriously Frick the health care system American here I think it's crazy how Americans love to talk about how they're half Irish or even full German when they have absolutely zero ties to the culture at all they don't speak the language practice any of the traditions or customs or know how to make any traditional food I have cousins who are insanely proud of being a quarter Italian and love identifying with that even though we all grew up in northern CA and know virtually nothing about Italy or being Italian took a 23andme test to find out our family isn't even Italian it's mostly Irish you [Music] [Music]

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Id: 66PEklAGI-Q

Length: 25min 13sec (1513 seconds)

Published: Wed May 06 2020