USUAL in your country but NOT anywhere else.
what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa?? like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.
France.
You're at the grocery store and want to buy a single bottle of milk or coke, but they're only sold in packs of 6? Just tear open a pack and take one bottle.
I think that's a thing in many Central European countries
Belgium, same.
I see that lots in Canada as well, but often the 6-pack is way cheaper per unit, to the point where sometimes a 6-pack is the same price as a single.
Losing a ground war against flightless birds.
Small dinosaurs.
One of my favorite bits of weird history trivia.
@rowinxavier@lemmy.world , meet @slazer2au@lemmy.world..
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dude's airing your dirty laundry in public.
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I'm more than happy to replace him in your country. I'll blend in 'swimming-costume-wearing-at-lunch' in no time.
As long as you use those swimmers in the pool we named after the prime minister who drowned at a beach.
Our scientific branch of government telling people paracetamol (acetaminophen) can cause autism and leucovorin (a anti cancer treatment regimen) may cure autism. Also legelise ivermectin (worm pills) over the counter for COVID
Our government endorses them.
Wtf
It's absolutely acceptable to go to a university lecture at 8 am, and sit in the front row with a beer. The professors won't mind. You can buy beer in the cafeteria as well as in a vending machine at the library.
Pulling out a bottle of hard liquor is frowned upon tho.
In Canada, people do not run from the rain... if they are out and about and it starts raining, they just ignore it, they don't walk faster, rarely improvise coverage, etc
In Venezuela, my country of origin, people run from the rain like it's lava falling from the sky
The Brits don't either. So probably cultural heritage.
When I visited London (around the year 2000), I noticed that every man walking in the streets either wore a hat or carried an umbrella.
Not much point in running from it, you're already getting wet if you're caught out in it 🤷♀️. I'll run if I hear thunder though, don't want to get electrocuted.
Bagged milk
the upper-midwestern u.s. lost their bagged milk when kwiktrip quit selling it that way a few years back.
Bonjour, mon aime.
Also calling soda “pop”, although I think parts of the US do this too
Tipping as a social obligation when eating at dine in restaurants which in turn allows the waiter to be paid less by the employer and theoretically lowers menu prices.
The Asshole Subsidy. Extra money is taken from the people who are kind enough to worry about the waiter getting paid, effectively giving assholes who choose not to tip a discount.
Italy: always offering (and accepting) food or drinks while visiting. It’s impossible and/or incredibly rude to pass by a friend’s house without getting at least a coffee or a glass of water.
Netherlands: cold lunch. Traditionally, you’d have only one hot meal a day, and lunch would be sandwiches. I don’t mean to say that sandwiches don’t happen in other countries, but that hot lunches are basically unheard of in NL.
US: everyone has one or multiple cars. Walking to the grocery store means you are basically destitute. (That was quite the culture shock!)
The Italian food thing is pretty common in many cultures, I’ve seen it in a few countries myself and it’s big deal here in Lebanon. My own parents used to be livid about me bringing friends over and not offering anything to eat when I was younger. It’s a part of my culture I’m a bit resistant to doing, I don’t know, it’s pretty intuitive if it’s time to eat or not, and if someone’s dropping by between meals I am totally fine not setting the whole ass table. Maybe a beer or coffee (the good stuff, it’s a nice thing to share) nowadays.
The Dutch food thing has zero resemblance to my culture but it is in line with something I’ve read before about western (at least the description I read was western) food habits. Going completely off the top of my head here. As far as I remember, historically you had one heavy meal and everything else was a smaller meal. I think I was looking up “dinner” vs “supper”. The impression was that the word “dinner” was originally for the big meal of the day, and that “supper” was for a light meal at the very end of the day. “Breakfast” is more of literally breaking a fast than it is a whole meal and lunch referred to a small mid-workday meal.
So I think the idea of temperature might be connected to the size or heaviness of the meal in your Dutch thing.
Or maybe my nerves are completely cooked after work and this is more word salad than word coherent comment.
Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion.He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up, Just as the founding fathers intended.
Apparently Germany is one of the few (the only? Who knows) country to prefer carbonated water.
Is it normal to feel dehydrated after drinking carbonated water? That's why I avoid it, personally, but I wonder if I'm just fucked up.
No, it isn't. At least not for anyone I know.
I definitely feel less hydrated. A lot of carbonated waters haver a higher sodium level, so that might be part of it. Or it's just the bitter taste of carbon dioxide.
Is it just carbonated water (preferably naturally carbonated mineral water) or is it some kind of soda, with added sugars and whatnot?
Because the first one shouldn't make you feel dehydrated, no. Just burpy, and soothed if you had a stomach ache.
Austrian here, and it's the default at restaurants etc. as well. I hate it, it hurts my throat. Leitungswasser bitte, danke :)
"klassik oder ohne?"
"mit scharf bitte, danke"
When visiting France the carbonated water was ubiquitous. The company I work for have water fountains with the option of carbonated water in all of their French offices.
It's literally called "Danish water" here in Denmark, though I don't like it
You have 2 neighbors where it's basically a public good.
I saw a guy in a park in Milan at almost midnight filling up a few 5 liter bottles from the carbonated water station. He clearly lived across the street and just...needed to bathe in fizzy water right then? No idea. But it's not just you all.
Ich fucking liebe Sprudel ich trinke den ganzen Tag nichts anderes Sprudel ist so gut ihr habt alle keine Ahnung HAHAHA
It is everywhere. I prefer water straight from the tap, which is usually better quality anyway (say the labs, not me).
Crippling medical debt and outrageous student loans.
Hospital bills. I guess some of y'all have some kinda universal health care? Wild. Here, illnesses can lead to bankruptcy. Cool. Yeah.
I hear peoole mix up these terms a lot: FYI "Universal Healthcare" doesn't necessarily mean "Free Healthcare".
Being able to go basically anywhere by bike, foot, or public transport. And just our bike infrastructure in general. I honestly don't know how I could live in most other countries because it seems like basically everything happens by car or foot. Being able to bike anywhere is so much nicer and gives a lot of freedom from an early age.
Strangely we Dutch people also seem to be quite alone in our view that helmets on normal bikes are not really necessary. They make bikes more prevalent imo, because you don't have to drag a helmet along everywhere. You just park you bike and the only thing you have with you because of it is a key, no special clothes, helmets, etc. I think that's also possible because of our bicycle infrastructure and culture.
Kids learn to bike from a young age, in traffic. You see very young kids just cycle on their smol little bike with a parent on the outside sort of shielding them from traffic. Safely on bike roads, but also just on shared roads with cars. In general kids are quite free to just play outside. I live close to a school and I see plenty of kids all across the neighborhood, just playing without parental supervision. It's what we did back in the day too, without mobile phones or anything. We'd usually be home on time for dinner or our parents would find us somewhere in the neighborhood and tell us it was time to get home.
We came from far but we're working on it. Flanders is steadily moving to that utopia.
Dutch isn't a country, therefore the utopia you describe doesn't exist and is impossible to create.
In Germany people seem to like opening windows when entering a room, even in the middle of the winter. Or maybe I only know weird Germans.
A few central/northern European countries also don't believe in curtains.
I haven't seen anyone using parasols/umbrellas when it's too sunny in UK, but it's pretty common in Korea. I don't think I've seen them in Europe in general either. No idea for anywhere else to be honest.
when it's too sunny in UK
lol
Is that the British term for “it stopped raining for five seconds”?
I remember a British ad where police is in front of a bank where a robbery with hostages is taking place.
The sun shines and both police and criminals enjoy it and together (I think they were doing a BBQ and the ad was for a BBQ sauce)
Oh believe me it's coming. UK pays weather roulette a lot, and an umbrella is the perfect weapon
Only a matter of time until it is adopted globally.
This message is brought to you by Global Warming(TM)
I saw a college student walking with an umbrella in plain daylight.
My first thought was, "That's a bit dorky. Is this guy cosplaying a Victorian lady?"
My second thought was, "You know what, it's hot as hell outside. You do you, my guy."
Congratulate everyone with someone else's birthday. Netherlands.
So... As I read this, this comes to mind: "Gefeliciteerd met Rita's verjaardag, Johnny."
That's not what you meant, did you?
Also where we have laws but we make mental exceptions for it because of reasons.
Gefeliciteerd.
Dankjewel.
Thanking the bus drivers when exiting the bus.
Depends on the bus type though. A lot of buses have a rear door, and sometimes it's kinda rude to go out through the front when there's a lot of people coming in through the front. So then you end up leaving through the rear and it would be awkward to shout 'Thank you!' to the driver, over everyone's head.
In Dublin, everyone would enter and leave via the front door. Only Covid changed that, and drivers started opening the second doors in the middle of the bus. Still, people are used to exit through the front, or shout their thank-yous from the other door.
It was like this in the Bay Area when I lived there, like in Alameda county at least. People exited at the rear doors and gave a thank you to the driver. Became a habit for me. I moved to Norway a few years ago and absent-mindedly said “Takk!” as I exited and I was quickly educated that, we don’t do that here.
i always have, even as a grade school kid--back then the bus rides to and from school were so long, i saw the bus driver more on school days than my family.
Bzzt, unless you're Australian this isn't true. It's not universal here, but I'd say around 50% do, moreso if you're somewhere regional.
Ireland?
Got it in one :)
Could also be Canadia
Happens where I live in Denmark
Wearing thongs (flip flops) in a grocery store.
Kangaroos littering the side of the road (they have about 4 neurones and all of then are suicidal)
The only place I have seen young kids (think 6 years old) swear similarly to here in Australia is in Scotland, and they are just as feral as we are.
Walking down the street at night. In the UK and USA it was apparently just not a thing you did. Here I will walk home at 2am no worries, and tonnes of people walk home from the pub drunk enough to not always make it home and sometimes just pass out on the footpath. Never had a problem, never been mugged or similar in that situation, and after living in the UK and visiting the USA I can definitely say I would never do that there.
Wearing swimmers (bikini or budgie smugglers) and going for food and drink on the same trip. The number of times I've gotten coffee, had lunch, or jumped into the bank while dressed for the beach is uncountable, but never ever outside Australia.
Hitting your kids is rare here. Spanking is not really normal and is definitely not common in public compared to my visit to the USA or my time in the UK. In both of those people would cuff their kids or slap their hand when they were being unruly. That is uncommon here and I have seen people intervene when someone was hitting their kid in public on more than one occasion. The same goes for animals, people don't like you hitting your dog either. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it is not considered OK.
Healthcare. We have it. We love it. In the UK the NHS was OK, not great, and the USA is terrifying. My meds would cost me about $310 per month but end up costing a max of $38, unless I spend $1200 in the year at which point the rest are free. As in, no cost, just pick them up, zero dollars. Mine are half medically necessary and half for better function, but for some people they are way more necessary and I am so happy they can just go get them, no risk of rationing meds.
People do talk about politics and religion here, but not with random people and not in public. If someone isn't interested you are generally going to back off quickly and leave it be. Religion and politics are mostly private and the few people who do talk tend to not be too intense about it. Certainly most don't become a registered Labor or Liberal party member with the group identity associated. It is much more loosely held and less culturally relevant.
First of all,
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You fuckers need to bring out your own dictionary.
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Budgie smugglers? I thought that's Australian for Gum Boots. Turns out, it kinda is actually, but for your Johnson & co.
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Secondly,
When wearing a thong (the real sexy kind) in a grocery store becomes a norm in your part of planet, I'm moving there permanently.
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Third,
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Lunch\Cafe in your beachwear?
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Bro, you should've started with this.
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Imma land there now.
Kangaroos littering the side of the road (they have about 4 neurones and all of then are suicidal)
To be fair to them, cutting across the path of a predator is pretty effective right up until the predator is a two-tonne death machine.
Walking down the street at night. In the UK and USA it was apparently just not a thing you did. Here I will walk home at 2am no worries, and tonnes of people walk home from the pub drunk enough to not always make it home and sometimes just pass out on the footpath. Never had a problem, never been mugged or similar in that situation, and after living in the UK and visiting the USA I can definitely say I would never do that there.
Still pretty dangerous for women, I've gotten plenty of harassment at night. But definitely far safer than the US.
People do talk about politics and religion here, but not with random people and not in public. If someone isn't interested you are generally going to back off quickly and leave it be. Religion and politics are mostly private and the few people who do talk tend to not be too intense about it. Certainly most don't become a registered Labor or Liberal party member with the group identity associated. It is much more loosely held and less culturally relevant.
I think it depends. People are still fairly likely to talk about what they think is a "fair go", and we've had some massive political protests lately. But it feels like each party has to meet in the middle a lot more, so stuff isn't as polarising, and things that are don't get talked about as openly.
Also in the US they have to register for a party when they register to vote. Feels like they heard about the concept of the secret ballot from us and then just failed completely on the execution.
Mass shootings in the US. It's become so common here that most if not all are desensitized.
Large-scale evacuations because of unexploded WW2 ordinance.
That’s every country in central Europe I think
Wearing tracksuits in Ireland as regular day clothing. They are not nearly as common now as they were before, but many young people still wear them because they're comfortable and cheap. I remember German foreign exchange students asking the teacher why do Irish people always go to gym because of the tracksuits.
Well, you don't wear shoes indoors in any of the Nordic countries.
We have pineapple and banana and kebab and salad on pizza¹. Apparently it is considered weird.
¹ not the same pizza, obviously. That would be weird.
People don't wear shoes indoors in any civilised country. Only Americans do that.
Pineapple and kebab on pizza is available in Germany too, although I think it may be illegal in Italy.
Where I live in Germany it’s very common to leave shoes on indoors (unless there’s a carpet)
You've never been to a black woman's home that owns carpet have you? Lol
Pretty common to keep your shoes inside in France. It's more common in houses with a hard floor than in apartments with a wooden floor, but there's absolutely no standard so you usually end up asking.
nonono, I want to see that tropical kebab pizza
Indoors meaning a home, right? Because i doubt everyone is kicking their shoes off once they get to school/work/grocery stores
I had to take off my shoes in multiple resturants, "hotels" and museums in Japan for example.
UK
Proper fish and chips. I've seen American fish and chips and it's nowhere close
I’ve had fish and chips in both the U.K. and the U.S. No offense to the Brits, but it’s better in the U.S., because they use this thing called “seasoning.” The only thing I prefer about the U.K. version is the paper cone the chips come in.
I miss the ink flavor from when they used to be wrapped in newspaper.
The societal problems if the US has been covered by others, but here are some culture shock ones I've experienced, in no particular order:
almost everyone has air conditioning, so doors and windows stay closed in summer
When you walk outside and are practically swimming in the humidity that ac is a godsend. My windows mostly stay closed so I don't drown/suffocate lol
A lot of these are really regional (alcohol drive-throughs, horse and buggy, air conditioning, gas appliances) . I think it's been years since I saw anyone write a check for anything, though, with the exception of something to put into a birthday card. Horses also aren't allowed on highways, but they are allowed on country roads that people drive pretty fast on.
Double hung vs single hung windows it not something I would have noticed, but I suspect you are right.
Doorknobs, I dont know why we seem to like them. I guess the only benefit vs handles is that you won't snag your clothing on them when walking by. That doesn't beat the convenience of being to open a door using your elbow while carrying something.
The water bottle thing is relatively recent thanks to all of the companies somehow becoming trendy.
I mostly threw these out of the top of my head. You're mostly correct:
almost everyone has air conditioning, so doors and windows stay closed in summer
When I moved to the PNW, it was a shock to me that most people did not have air conditioning, especially in apartments. My first apartment had none, and summer was pretty unbearable. I think it's climate change doing it's thing and maybe it wasn't needed before.
Born and raised in the PNW, it's a combination of climate change and more development of green spaces. Trees and wetlands do a LOT to keep the local temperature down, high-rises and parking lots do the opposite.
put down knife after cutting your food, move fork to dominant hand
what the fuuck
Thats "American style", while keeping the fork in the non-dominant hand is "European style". Allegedly, it dates back to when meals were served "service à la française", which is when all courses are brought out at once, which is obviously the more common method of home cooking. Restaurants started doing "service à la Russe", which is where courses are brought out one at a time.
With service russe, you have new sets of silverware with each course (or they are arranged in order), so if you are eating a course that doesn't need a knife, you won't be given one, and you'll have your fork in your dominant hand. If you need a knife, that goes in your dominant hand, and you leave it there for the duration of the course.
With service française (or regular home cooking), you just have one set of silverware, and you only use the knife when you need it, so you might switch your fork to your dominant hand when you are done needing the knife.
For example, in America, no one eats a steak switching hands for every bite (cause that would be dumb and inefficient), and in Europe, you probably wouldn't eat a meal that doesn't need a knife with a knife in your dominant hand (cause that would also be dumb and inefficient).
Yeah, this is not typical.
Ive never even been to the US but a big one for me is the lack of electric kettles. Theyre in basically every home here in the UK.
They're not as common. I think most people either use a coffee maker (for coffee), or their microwaves to heat water. However, I have an electric kettle in my office for tea. One thing you may notice in the US vs Europe in that regard is that the standard outlet is 120V, so most small appliances can't pull as much power as their 240V counterparts in Europe. So my electric kettle is probably a little slower than yours.
gas stoves and ovens are by far more popular than electric by a good margin.
That's because of your power grid/building code is optimized for 120V - and you need more juice for cooking.
We actually get 220V to the house that gets split up into two different phases of 110. Kitchens and laundry rooms get 220 for ranges and dryers. IIRC the gas appliances are because of marketing and lobbying but I could be wrong.
Germany: public benches are specifically placed to be full view of the sun for as long as possible, a wild proportion of people have bread slicing machines, and you’re not allowed to prevent someone from using even a private toilet if they really need it.
It's so pleasant that DM has clean toilets for when I've poorly planned my liquid intake, shops in France don't generally have toilets for the public and the malls that do don't really care if they're clean it seems.
Seconded. Not just Tokyo, either, but even up in sendai
Cheating on your spouse with someone at the company julefrokost (christmas work thing).
Denmark 🫤
https://cphpost.dk/2016-12-07/news/a-shocking-affair-danes-lead-european-infidelity-charts/
I remember something similar happening in the US recently...
How normal are we talking?
Like: "Happy New Year, dear. I cheated on you on Christmas with Sarah from Finance. How is your affair with Fyodor in Marketing going?"
"Oh, Fyodor is so last year. They fired him because he was too loyal to his husband. I went with Peter in Accounting. Here, he bought us cupcakes for our anniversary."
Dane here, it's quite normal, no idea why
Farofa.
Farofa is a type of meal made from toasted cassava. It is eaten mainly in Brazil. It can be found commercially produced and packaged but can also be prepared at home based on family recipes. Most recipes will also contain varying amounts of salt, smoked meat, and spices.
I don't feel like I learned much by looking up what that is.
It's added to the plate to add flavor and texture and to absorb moisture. It's a side dish to feijoada and to churrasco too, but you can eat it with any meal.
There's corn and soy farofa too, but cassava is the main one.
Germany: Workers have rights, and can go to court easily if needed.
Large, pristine pickups
Pavement princesses. The North American Man®'s gender affirming vehicle.
I lnow multiple dudes that work as box throwers in Walmart warehouses that drive $100k trucks, trucks that will never see any kind of work that's appropriate for their size. Might haul a few 2x4s from home depot every once in a while.
They want to own a home, but they're making massive payments on a huge truck instead. 🤙
Monoculture. I live in Canada, and it's pretty rare for a person, and especially a group, to have only one culture they draw from to firm their habits and identity. Even immigrants have their home and whatever mishmash of a culture their work ends up with. Its somewhat easy to tell travelers apart from residents by them having a discernible accent. If I can tell your accent is Irish, and not just some combination of Irish, British and Ukrainian, then your not here permanently.
And honestly that's what I love about Canada and why we are the best country in the world. We're a mosaic rather than a melting pot. Each culture that comes here contributes something to the Canadian Zeitgeist that gets disseminated to everyone else, like spicing up an otherwise boring W.A.S.P existence.
When my family moved here from Portugal, they managed an apartment building in order to have a place to live while my father worked construction and my mother was a housekeeper. (Yeah...yeah...I know...it doesn't get any more Portuguese than that)
Anyway, I was just a toddler and the family was immediately befriended by the older Ukrainian lady next door and we soon became a part of her extended family for everything from christmas to birthdays, etc. My first memories are of toddling down the hall in my pjamas first thing in the morning to "Auntie Anne's" apartment. She was more my grandmother than my biological grandmothers who lived in Portugal at the time.
Through them, we learned kaiser. My mother learned how to make peirogies, cabbage rolls, etc...
We are without a doubt the most Ukrainian Portuguese family to have ever existed and I love it.
Sorry...got nostalgic there for a moment. Auntie Anne passed away decades ago and I still think about her sometimes.
I had a prof in college from Canada, whose parents were German and Korean, and you could hear both accents at the same time. I never encountered such a thing. Also funny that he didn't have a single bit of Canadian accent.
I think the way we treat The Law as a Suggestion is very much a national exclusivity. Other people, especially first worlders, are a lot more reverent about it.
Civilians openly carrying handguns
I'm with the other commenter below. I'm not sure this is terribly usual, even where legal.
I keep an eye out for this sort of thing just sort of out a professional interest, and in terms of openly carrying firearms (not knives), I've only spotted two people doing it this year. And one of them was a guy who I think was intending to carry concealed, but was not doing a very good job due to an ill-fitting shirt.
guns. you can guess where im from
Staring, the only patriotism you get is local patriotism about once city/region, no national flags, bread,
Germany? What's up with the staring thing?
Any Vietnamese photos of people doing weird things
Look up cursed images Vietnam and you'll find some good ones I swear
Sorry but here is a reddit post of some of them:
https://old.reddit.com/r/VietNam/comments/18q72y7/vietnams_cursed_images_113/
Not reddit:
https://saigoneer.com/saigon-culture/16779-the-discomforting-poetry-of-vietnamese-cursed-image
Tipping
Almost everyone has a sauna or at least access to one at or near their home.
Finland for those wondering.
So you get naked for using the sauna in your home?
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You sluts!
Queuing apparently. Which I really don't understand wtf everyone else is doing to wait their turn. Well I guess except Japan.
Being very touchy and physical.
Cheek kisses are usual for strangers. And it's normal to touch people you barely know or have a small friendship.
Country is Spain.
Ireland: chicken fillet rolls, spice bags
Scotland: deep fried pizzas, macaroni pies
Two front doors for a single terraced 2 bedroom house.
Mass urban transit death-sprials.
There's always some austerity crisis going on with the city bus system, so the buses stop running.
The 7-11 sells (and smells like) herbal tea eggs. That may be more than just here though. I can't remember if this applies in Japan as well. But definitely Taiwan.
Easy: school shootings, together with politician denial about the causes of this, guns, and lack of regulation for who owns them, make owning guns easier than getting a driver's license.
Super sad, but here we are.
Oooh! I know this one! Pick me!!! is it.... Singapore??
The police kills more people every year than the amount of people killed in mass shootings since 1983. They also repeatedly ignore reports of people who go on to commit school shootings.
You should look into common sense pig control. I think that would save more lives than just being hysterical about AR-15s.
2024
Police- 1270
Mass shootings- 500ish (actually a down year)
While I agree we need police reform, let's be accurate.
Both problems need extensive work.
That was my first thought too.