What Non-Americans Find the Most Baffling About America

(Cows of Ameica by Stephen Brian Philips)

What's normal to you about your culture may be seriously weird to someone from somewhere else. Over at Reddit, someone asked non-Americans "What is the weirdest thing about America that Americans don't realise is weird?" The responses are funny and sometimes very surprising to those of us from the states. For example, many people commented about the abundance of squirrels in the country and one person found the way we dispose of dead fish down the toilet to be the strangest thing in the world.

One thing that's not all that surprising is just how many of them had their minds blown by our portion sizes.

See all the responses here.

Via Travel and Leisure

Newest 4

Newest 4 Comments

That ... makes sense! It also helps explains why Canada, which has a different VAT in each province, does the same thing. The other countries I investigated tax the same item at the same level across the country and include tax/VAT in the price. (I couldn't figure out how it works in India, however.)

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

I explained to a French visitor that tax rates are different in every state, yet the corporate office of the chain restaurant sets their prices and prints the menus. Here, a restaurant inside the city limits charges 6% state tax plus 3% city tax, but the one next door outside the city limit only charges 6%.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

Regarding meal portions, a European friend flew in for a job interview. He and I got dinner. His eyes grew wide as he saw the size of a single pizza and Coke. Then again, after I lived in Sweden for a few years I went to Atlanta for a conference. A bunch of us went to the Hard Rock, and my eyes grew wide at the size of the hamburgers. I ended up getting the Lady's Special, because the "small" 1/3 of a pound was the same as the "large" 150g here.

No, I don't know why there are gaps at the bottom of bathroom stalls. It seems Craig might still be a US senator if they were fully enclosed. And having the taxes not included in the price is indeed frustrating!

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

I saw a lot of squirrels in Europe when I went there before the USA, so it didn't register with me.

Another thing that baffles many non-Americans is the gun culture there. I own guns but because it is very restrictive here, we don't have the same attitudes towards guns that Americans do.

Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)

Login to comment.

Click here to view up to the first 100 of this post's 4 comments