From a fried chicken sandwich using chicken instead of bread, to free refills and no sidewalks, America really likes to do things differently. However, if you’ve never left the US of A, you might think that this is by and large just how things are. So it can be helpful to get an outsider’s perspective, one way or the other.

People online share the things Americans think are pretty normal but would be absolutely weird elsewhere and we’ve gathered the best examples. So get comfy as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own thoughts and stories in the comments below.

#1

Circumcision.

Nyarro:

This country in general is too f**king obsessed about what's going between people's legs.

Image credits: dyld921

#2

Large gaps above, below, and between the bathroom stalls….

Image credits: anon

#3

Leave newborn babies in daycare all day and go back to working full time a few weeks after giving birth.

nipplequeefs:

Working in retail a few years ago, I had a coworker who couldn’t afford to wait even a single week after giving birth to go back to work. She had a medical emergency on her first day back, left in an ambulance, and we didn’t see her again :/

Image credits: ohdearitsrichardiii

#4

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.

Image credits: TheSameButBetter

#5

Coffee drinks large enough to caffinate a heard of elephants. With enough sugar to trigger a diabetic coma, all on the way to work.

Image credits: Impossible-Cattle504

#6

It always fascinates me how cultural norms differ across the globe! I often find it strange to see how large American portion sizes are.

Image credits: naidhinn

#7

Thanking cops and soldiers for their service.

bentnotbroken96:

Frankly, it makes me uncomfortable. I am a veteran. I won't wear a pin or a hat that says I'm a veteran. My wife is much more proud of my service than I am. It was a job. It's done now.

Image credits: AGlitchedNPC

#8

Go bankrupt paying medical bills.

F*****g insanity.

joomla00:

Very nervous and unwilling to go to the hospital.

HairWhipCEO:
From an American: "Because when we go to the ER, we wait four hours to be seen…for someone to treat us like drug-seekers…and then get charged thousands of dollars for it.

Image credits: fairygodmotherfckr

#9

Yes places really are *that* car dependent. Often even when you’d think something is close enough to walk or bike the walk can be much longer or more dangerous than you’d think. Many places especially in the suburbs don’t have sidewalks and the road speeds are too dangerous to make walking along the shoulder safe . There’s only a handful of cities in the entire country that have either good public transport or good enough bike infrastructure that you can not have a car without it being a giant hassle.

Image credits: SheepPup

#10

MM-DD-YY

It's the least useful date format ever.

Image credits: kiss_my_what

#11

Go fund me for basic health care costs.

Image credits: feetofire

#12

Feet, pounds, fahrenheit, etc.

wtf mate?!

#13

Getting served plastic plates in a cafeteria.

She asked for porcelain plates and was looked at like she was crazy.

I have never seen any place serve one use plastic dishes in Germany.

When she 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 crazy to me.

Image credits: Rasenkeks

#14

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 etc.

Image credits: LordOfPies

#15

Kids consuming your entire life. I’m southern European but lived in the US for a long time and children in America act like complete demons compared to the kids in my country lol.

I think Europe makes it easier to include children in everyday society and America doesn’t give any support to children or parents so kids end up being socialized kinda isolated from society besides daycare and immediate family and it doesn’t prepare them to be able to function appropriately and raising kids to be highly individualistic and pandered to seems be the norm in the US. My American friends have zero social life outside of their children but my friends in Europe with kids still maintain friendships and hobbies unrelated to parenthood.

Image credits: concretecannonball

#16

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.

#17

Advertisements for pharmaceutical drugs.

oceanduciel replied:
It’s weird. Those corporations are so desperate for money they’re willing to sell any meds even if people don’t actually need them. Leave that s**t to doctors.

#18

Simultaneously being extremly prudish and sexualized.

JohnCavil:

Americans are the only ones ive ever seen who will sexualize so many things and kind of be obsessed with s*x while also being freaked out when they see a naked body, like at the beach or something.

Like they wont sit in a sauna naked, completely non sexualized, but they will just openly sexualize everyday things.

The shortest shorts and smallest bikinis i've ever seen was in America. Like buttcheeks hanging out at the mall. But show a nipple and they freak out. It's so strange.

Image credits: AgarwaenCran

#19

Donate money to the political career of billionaires.

"pLeaSe dOnAte tO mY reElEctIoN"

You're worth $2.5B and I'm trying to save $0.30 on groceries, donate to it yourself, fu**face.

Image credits: budding_gardener_1

#20

Mandatory tipping culture.

edit: expected tipping culture is a more suitable wording.

Gobbledok:

I was berated and nearly slapped by a drunk American tourist in Mykonos who fundamentally maintained that she tips no matter where in the world she travels, and took great exception when I pointed out it is considered rude to tip in some parts of Asia. She wanted to fight me when I went into her post civil war origins of tipping culture. Should have left that one alone. Heheh!

Image credits: Kind-Bat-7200

#21

Flags on lawns, flags everywhere.

Image credits: Zoey-Jay

#22

Eat 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.

Image credits: readerf52

#23

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.

rarepinkhippo:

I was a theatre student at a university with a big football program; the primary theatre building was the old tennis locker rooms. And the school had a comparatively large theatre program!

#24

"You have to file your tax. 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.

*: I know you can file manually. It seems this is not a good idea.

#25

Make their government a reality tv show.

BunchesOfCrunches:

[American] elections are just political Super Bowls.

Image credits: TheRichSail

#26

Why do your kitchen sinks have that terrifying swirling thing that eats fingers?

BayAreaJordd:
As a Brit, I had nightmares about this from that episode of The Simpsons. I grew out of it by telling myself 'at least they don't really exist.' Oh dear.

#27

Caring about school sports. In Europe nobody cares about some high school basket players.

#28

I always find the sentence "the likelihood to die in a school shooting is ridiculously low" very irritating.

It shouldn't be low. It should be nonexistent.

#29

WHY do you take my credit card at restaurants ???? here in Canada the machine gets brought to the table to pay.

sugarface2134:

The US has always been behind on credit card stuff. I don’t know why! I first paid at the table in Paris and first saw a tap to pay in Australia. It took, like, 5–10 years to start seeing those things here. So weird.

#30

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.

#31

Become a pilot and buy 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.

#32

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 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 GYN visits. Lol.

#33

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.

fyatre:

I realized this wasn’t a global thing when I was in Japan and I’d start conversations with fellow visiting Americans. My Japanese friend was very surprised that I’d do that. Then there’s the ones that have been there a while and actively avoid you because they know what you’re gonna do, LOL.

#34

"I'm Irish, and my husband is German!".

Cary14:
Or when they define someone's behavior by their heritage, which is 3/4 times removed. He drinks because he's 'Irish'...or some other stereotypical nonsense.

campmonster:
I'm 'Italian!' That's why I'm such a loud asshole and over-pronounce food names like pomodoro and stromboli, but I don't know any verbs in Italian.

#35

Talking. I took my extended family on a trip to New York (they are Malaysian) and it shocked them that I had multiple 30-40 minute conversations with people I had never met.

#36

As an American who has traveled around Asia, they find it weird that we're always throwing huge high-school parties in Hollywood suburbs.

#37

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.

#38

So much ice in water .. I live in Alaska (not from America) … I don’t need ice water.

#39

Wearing their shoes inside the house. Even on their couch and bed. Absolutely disgusting.

#40

I don't hold these things against the yanks, but the big cultural differences I've encountered would be...

Talking openly about money in casual conversation

>"Like, yeah, I pulled a 6 figure bonus this year, so I was able to book that 5 star resort in Jamaica"

Something like would just be seen a wildly arrogant and uncouth in my country.

Also conversation style is so different. Over here, people tend to lead conversations by asking questions. Americans rarely ask questions of their conversation partners, they just lead with whatever they want to talk about.

Americans talk *at* you, rather than talking *to* you.

#41

Smiling at strangers. People think this is so weird, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

#42

Use excessive means to get into debt. Afterpay, Klarna, credit cards for every store/retailer, payment plans etc. In some other countries, if you don’t have the money up front in full then you can’t afford it. I didn’t realize how many people in America have things on monthly payment plans.

#43

When I had European friends visit for the first time, we took them out to a chain restaurant. They were shocked at the end of the meal when the server brought out to-go boxes. They had finished their entire meal (of huge portions) not realizing we sort of expect to have too much food and take the extra home.

Our multiple-lane interstates were huge and intimating to them and normal to us. The fact that our money is all the same color and has no marks for the blind to read them (one friend is vision impaired.) our grocery stores - just normal Kroger or Walmart - were gigantic to them and they didn't understand why the cashiers had to stand all day when they could just get a chair. They had a blast walking around looking at everything. The sheer size and variety of food, especially like larger sizes of fruits and vegetables.

They thought maple syrup was a fun novelty - IHOP blew their mind - and that marshmallows were weird and kind of off-putting. The fact that we greet and chitchat with strangers, people hold open doors for other people as a matter of course (small town in the South) and all those sort of unspoken acts of politeness we don't think about. Smiling at strangers, waving at neighbors. American flags being everywhere was odd to them too, they kept asking if there was a holiday or something, it was just people's decor. They didn't understand flags in people's yards or houses. How spread out everything is and how long it takes to drive within the same city.

They just pointed out a lot of things we didn't think to prepare them for since that was our normal, and we didn't even notice. Was definitely fascinating.

#44

Our stores are open for much longer hours than is typical for Europe.

Closets are a regular feature of housing, not a rare luxury.

EDIT for those who didn't understand... bedroom closets are surprisingly rare in European housing. Most people store their clothes in wardrobes and cabinets.

#45

This may not be that surprising but as an American, when I travel to other countries, I realize people don’t drink coffee on the go the way we do here. It’s very common for Americans in major cities to walk around with a to go coffee in their hands while they commute to work or walk around to do errands. In the suburbs people tend to have coffee in their car.

#46

My husband is German and I met him while we still lived in the US. The biggest shock for him (and the other German expat friends I made through him) was people saying "we should hang out sometime" but not meaning it, because they didn't want to schedule a time right then and there.

They also complained about people asking "how are you" and not actually wanting to know/not meaning it, because you're "just supposed to say good, and ask how they are", but I find that pretty ridiculous after living in Germany. People do the same thing here.

The social expectations to not show up right on time to a party or that the guests pay for the birthday girl/boy, instead of the birthday boy/girl treating their guests, was also a surprise.

#47

If you live in a larger city, You can order almost anything and have it delivered to your house within an hour.

#48

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.

anon:

A society severely deficient in community has taken over. Most people want nothing to do with anyone who isn't a close friend or family member, and sometimes not even then.
Most contemporary Americans (and Canadians) under a certain age would rather pick up a steaming coil of dog s**t bare-handed than invite someone they don't know well over for tea.

#49

Commercial for a minor medical condition like Athlete’s Foot.

*Footage of a happy family enjoying the great outdoors while the overweight Dad smiles because his feet are fungus-free*

Voiceover: Side effects may include:
- Chronic n*b rot
- Impotence
- A**l cancer
- Testicular cancer
- Testicular warts
- Pancreatic cancer
- Heart palpitations
- Athlete’s foot
- Complete collapse of the Central Nervous System
- Rapid weight gain
- Depression
- Psychotic episodes
- Hair loss
- Rapid a**l hair gain
- Your n*b will probably fall off
- No one will like you
- Explosive diarrhoea in public spaces
- Instant death
- Inability to pass to the other side after death, so you may be doomed to roam the Earth as a lost soul for infinity.

Talk to your family Doctor about Footoxicil today!
-.

#50

I don't think they still do it but the pledging allegiance to the flag by school kids.

Big time north Korea vibes.

#51

Treating politicians like rock stars and campaign rallies like rock concerts.

#52

Guns. The culture around them. The stubbornness. The ease of availability. The huge number of mass shootings yet no one cares to change anything.

#53

My husband would say that people in the U.S. don’t show sufficient respect to their parents. My dad said the same thing. When he first moved to the U.S. to go to college, he was shocked that everyone hated their parents.

#54

We lean on things.

#55

We have Amber Alerts. This surprised a friend of mine from another country.

Basically, if there is a missing child or an abduction nearby, they will issue an Amber Alert. It goes to cell phones, tvs, radio stations. It will just be broadcast as an emergency message, and they aren't usually expected. They just buzz your phone. Basically, the goal is to get the community involved. They will usually come with a description of the missing person, the perpetrator, and or a vehicle to look out for.

#56

We don't consider driving 3-4 hours to do something/see someone to be far.

Today after work im driving an hour to spend a few hours at a con, then driving an hour home. Next weekend I'm driving 3.5 hours for a weekend getaway with friends, driving 3.5 hours back, and going straight to work. I drive 5 hours to get to my tattoo artist.

Oh and all of those things are still in my state.

#57

How empty the Western US is. Draw a line running North/South from about 1 degree of longitude West of the North Dakota/Minnesota state line (let's say roughly the 98th Meridian.)

EIGHTY PERCENT of the US population lives EAST of this line.

Now draw another (curvier) line that runs along the spine of the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountain ranges in the Western US. Another FIFTEEN PERCENT of the American population lives WEST of this line, between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean (and most of those people are in California, the most populous state that accounts for 10% of the US population.)

Which means that the vast, middle portion of America - nearly 50% of the lower 48 united states - has about 5% of the population.

But even that doesn't tell the whole story because most of THAT 5% live in the large metro areas: Denver/Front range, Salt Lake City/Provo, Las Vegas, Phoenix/Tucson. If you exempt those areas, you'll find that about 40% of the land mass of the US contains maybe 1 - 2 % of the population.

Back in 2011 I went to a motorcycle rally in Taos, New Mexico. There was a couple from the UK that flew over and rented a motorcycle to go. They had been to the US once before - but they only went to New York City.

They were absolutely astonished by the vast, empty spaces of the West. Places where you could go literally dozens of miles and not see another vehicle or person, or you could go 50 miles or more between towns.

Whenever I have friends from the Eastern US who want to ride motorcycles in the West and ask for advice, my number one piece of advice is: Know your motorcycles range, and know where you're going to fuel up. Don't assume that just because the map shows a "town" that you will be able to buy fuel there. Many "towns" on the map are just a dusty collection of abandoned buildings and maybe a few houses or trailers. And if there's any doubt, NEVER pass up a chance to refuel.

#58

In terms of home life, most Americans do NOT have an electric hot water kettle, but instead have a drip coffee machine. Hot water is mostly used for coffee, so a coffee maker is the more natural appliance to have.