The things Americans do?

[xl_target]

13 Things That Americans Do That The Rest Of The World Just Finds Bizarre
A thread on Reddit asks the question: Non-Americans of reddit, what aspect of American culture strikes you as the strangest?
Some of the answers are pretty hilarious and/or eye-opening.

Here are some of the best:
1. Driving everywhere
How big the country is and the amount of time you guys are willing to drive. I had a friend who drove for 16 hours to visit family for the weekend. It's baffling.

2. Being able to buy anything you want at Wal-Mart
A friend came from the UK and he said Wal-mart was the weirdest thing, you could buy 24 rolls of toilet paper and a 12 gauge shotgun in the same store.

I was not aware that you can buy guns in supermarkets in America. I thought you had to go to a dedicated gun store for that. Boy was I wrong.

3. Price tags
That the price on things in your stores are not the actual price but the price without tax and such

4. America's weird version of puritanism
You guys can't separate nudity from sex. --

...and extreme violence/gore is considered normal, and shown regularly on TV. It's pretty infuriating to live somewhere where something as natural and beautiful as the human body is viewed as taboo and "corrupts" our youth, but a guy getting his head cut off or getting beaten to death is perfectly okay for kids to watch. We're desensitizing the wrong thing.

5. CHEESE
Amount of cheese Americans can intake at a time.

Made Mac n cheese for my aussie cousins. Included 600 grams of cheese. They were floored (and clogged probably)

6. Pumpkin everything
Pumpkin flavored things, pumpkin is a vegetable yet it is always in seasonal items in combination with sweet flavors. To me a pumpkin spice coffee is so strange!-

7. Cheerleaders
...dressing up young girls in short skirts and getting them to dance around and cheer on young men strikes me as odd

8. Flags
I work at a summer camp and there is nothing funnier than watching the international counselors be totally weirded out by the flag ceremony we have every morning/evening (5-7 camper colorguard raises flag, salutes, 60-90 people recite pledge and girl scout promise in unison, we turn on our heels and file out silently in the morning, in the evening we fold the flag, sing taps, turn on our heels and file out silently to dinner)

9.Taking coffee everywhere
Eating/drinking coffee as you go, to me the best part of eating is sitting down, talking, and relaxing

10. Being obsessed with your alma mater.
I know this does not apply to everyone but your attachment to your college/university AFTER you have left. The amount of older people I saw on my trip wearing college gear was insane. As well as supporting your college as an alumni. Coming from the UK where a university is used to gain your degree then its a case of thanks for the piss ups, bye!

I get made fun of all the time in Russia for having an attachment to my college. They just don't get the idea of loyalty to the school. I think it comes from two places: sports, and a sense of community.

11. All the pomp and circumstance surrounding prom
I have cousins who live in the US and just hearing about the number of hoops they had to jump through to ask someone to a dance is hilarious. — Saysthingsfromabush
In Scotland our equivalents are ceilidhs and in school you just go and f***ing dance. Concept of building up the courage to ask someone to a ceilidh is simply ridiculous. "hey would you like to come and get bruised with me doing some fast dances to violins?" As is tradition. —

12. White teeth mania
Americans are obsessed with straight, white teeth. It's like your entire concept of beauty hangs on it. Don't get me wrong, dental hygiene is important, but not everyone needs a perfect Hollywood smile. They look super fake. —

13. Being obsessed with being the best country in the world
many Chinese people do not understand how America can function so "well" since the people here are all so different. We have black, asians, white, hispanics, indians just to name of few and yet we don't have massive in fighting between races or religions. Go to many other countries and the smallest differences in culture, language, and background will almost automatically cause some major issues. — jdavem
The way its often described to me is that Americans have a very "open mind", and that we can handle having a lot of different people around, even when we don't agree. —

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com...2013-5#ixzz2aeSSQcBE

So what do you find bizzare about America?

[Safarigent]

I love america.
I love the thinking of those dudes.
I love the way they go about their work.
I love the way they go about their leisure.
We might laugh at them.
We might ridicule them.
We might castigate them.
But, the world would be a poorer place without them.

[Hammerhead]

Unicorn, tooth-fairy and Santa Claus are real and Americans never landed on the moon.

99.9% of University graduate don't do the jobs they holding the degree in

[essdee1972]

Hammerhead paaji, the last statement is slowly coming true for India also!!

XL, driving HUUUUUGE fuel guzzling SUVs with only the driver in it........ and calling them "trucks"!! And somehow it is macho & the guy thing to do so!

Drinking very weak beer when there's Scotch available.

Wearing shorts and sandals with socks and flowery shirts when you travel abroad in you retirement years!!!!

I won't even talk of what my American bosses do in terms of business...........

On the whole however, I second Safarigent's remarks.....

I love america.
I love the thinking of those dudes.
I love the way they go about their work.
I love the way they go about their leisure.
We might laugh at them.
We might ridicule them.
We might castigate them.
But, the world would be a poorer place without them.

Yup!

[Mark]

What about fake boobs? Breast augmentation is the most popular surgical procedure, more so than liposuction.

Don't get me wrong, I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs" IMHO.

[brihacharan]

What about fake boobs? Breast augmentation is the most popular surgical procedure, more so than liposuction.
Don't get me wrong, I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs" IMHO.

> I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs"
Briha

[essdee1972]

I was reminded of this:

10. Being obsessed with your alma mater.

, last evening, when I had an argument with a good friend on whether his B-school is better or mine........ and I graduated in 2000, this guy in 2001!!!

Does it mean that India is slowly moving towards American way of thinking? I like to think that way, maybe we'll have a 2nd Amendment!!!

[Steve007]

Hey, now,xl-target! Don't go saying bad things about cheerleaders!

[thunderbird1]

And it is the only country in the world where a 1,50,000 tonner ship is called a boat!!!!

[xl_target]

Hey, now,xl-target! Don't go saying bad things about cheerleaders!

I've got nothing against cheerleaders, quite the contrary. LOL
I don't find much about American behavior strange anymore.

And it is the only country in the world where a 1,50,000 tonner ship is called a boat!!!!

oh...them little things?

[Steve007]

What about fake boobs? Breast augmentation is the most popular surgical procedure, more so than liposuction.
Don't get me wrong, I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs" IMHO.

> I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs"
Briha

Any engineeer will tell you that if original equipment from the manufacturer is not up to specs, aftermarket products are worthy of consideration. In many instances (though not all), this results in a superior product free of defects. Well, an improved product, anyway.

[Mark]

What about fake boobs? Breast augmentation is the most popular surgical procedure, more so than liposuction.
Don't get me wrong, I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs" IMHO.

> I most certainly appreciate the female form but fake boobs are more "fake" than "boobs"
Briha

Any engineeer will tell you that if original equipment from the manufacturer is not up to specs, aftermarket products are worthy of consideration. In many instances (though not all), this results in a superior product free of defects. Well, an improved product, anyway.

Dear Steve,

Since there are a zillion jokes about Engineers and Women, I'll let it slide and tell you one of my favorite "non-womany" Engineer jokes:

The assignment given to a group of engineers was to measure the height of a flagpole. They gathered the ladders and tape measures and headed to the flagpole to carry out their task. They weren't having much luck though, since they kept dropping the tape measures and falling off the ladders.

Observing what they were attempting to do, a designer approached them and offered to help. He pulled the flagpole out of the ground, laid it down flat, measured it from one end to the other, gave the measurements to one of the engineers and walked away.

After the designer had gone, one of the engineers turned to the others and said, "Well isn't that just like a designer. We're looking for the height of the flagpole and he gives us the length."

All in good fun of course!

Mark

[ckkalyan]

What a absolutely hilarious topic; not to mention the seriously clever comebacks and observations!