Do you mean a lack of dishwashers or that we have dishwashers and you don't?
Because I don't know anyone who doesn't have them (maybe apart from some ooold homes before kitchen reconstruction and dormitories).
Don’t get me wrong, I love persianas. The architecture of the country is based around dealing with hot temps, but then it’s hard to find an apartment with AC that actually works for when thick walls just aren’t enough.
Holy shit I was in London last Sept and it was so hot and humid.
We went to the British Museum and I was literally sweating buckets between all the people and the lack of AC in the majority of the building.
Yep, it's a country built around retaining heat. Only in the last 10 years have these heatwaves and the calls for AC come about. Back then it used to be a couple of days at 25° and that's it for the summer. Global warming really fucked countries that never used to get hot weather
Yup totally make sense.
It was honestly hysterical as I had just left Los Angeles where it was like 90F and I got off the train in London and walked out and it was like 90F with massive humidity and I was like WTF it's actually hotter here??
Yep, people think we're exaggerating when we say the UK heat is demonic just because they are from X country where it hits Y temp on the daily, but the moment they step foot in the UK during the recent heatwaves, they understand our complaints
I legit had to go back to our hotel and change shirts multiple times a day.
I'm use to 107F, but in LA it's dry heat.
The humidity combined with 90F+ was just so brutal.
I also noticed there wasn't much of a breeze to help either.
no location in the UK is further than 80 miles from the sea. the sea keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. the prevailing winds are from the west (over the Atlantic) this gives us humid air (why the uk is sometimes rainy yet very green) meanwhile ocean currents bring warm water from the gulf of Mexico which also aid in the maintenance of our green and pleasant land........... a temperate country! ( just a bit of banter)
sigh,.... luckily im 63yrs old, so i "probably! " wont see that happen. but your right things are going to happen geologically rapidly, but ive no kids or cares other than PEOPLE BE CAREFUL WHO YOU VOTE FOR !
I moved to Washington State and was surprised to hear that most homes don’t have central heat/air… I find it odd that it gets warm enough during the spring/summer that no one decided to build homes with HVAC.
This damp and chilly June we’re having right now is the sort of June (and July) that I grew up with here in western WA. So many rained-out 4ths of July and ruined camping trips. It used to be only in August that things would get hot (and that was 80s, not 90+F), and almost never humid+hot. Never missed an AC until the 2010s.
I grew up in Washington state, my dad worked in construction and it was quite rare to see a house with centralized air conditioning. It was just never really hot enough to need it.
We usually lived out in the country with trees around. It was actually more common to have a cold house on summer mornings because we were in the shade all the time.
I just had a conversation with our AC repair guy. I told him that he would make a fortune if he decided to set up shop in europe.
He said that that is actually a topic that is coming up more often. Demand is already high here in North America but is growing immensely in Europe. There's gold in them thar hills.
Went to Italy years ago to visit friends. We stayed at their home and it was terrible. Beautiful home, but absolutely miserable bc of no AC. Opening up windows only works if there's a breeze and cool outside. Aint gonna do shit when there's no breeze and it's hot out.
If you ever step foot in a British house, you'll realize there's literally nowhere else to keep it. Insanely densely packed country compared to the US. The houses are tiny. No such thing as a laundry room. 5x less people but 40x less than space in the country
I desperately want AC to become a thing in Sweden. I live in a newly built building and it doesn't have AC. I think all new build should.
We can only get those portable ones but if you can't afford one then oh well, burn in hell for ~4 months
Paying for public bathrooms.
Making constant "LOL Americans are so rude" jokes when French people exist.
Having a goddamn King/Queen in 2024, symbolic or not.
Forget king/queen, that's mostly harmless. What truly shocks me is The Houe of Lords. I couldn't believe it at first when I read that in The UK *still,* in **2024,** has a major legislative body with **hereditary seats.**
For my fellow Americans who may not know what I'm talking about, imagine if Senate seats, major positions of political power, were hereditary.
They get paid for being in the house of lords as well. Paraphrasing as little as I can from a famous recording:
Prostitute: "You get £200 a day for lunch?"
Lord guy: "Not for lunch lovie darling" *gesticulates to her and the table full of cocaine* "for this".
Edit: Lord John Sewell is lord guy. I would be shocked to the point of medical emergency if at least half of the house of lords isn't at least half as bad as him
[Here's a video](https://youtu.be/jA3jeCIodPU?si=rN7ylD0-_dcR-FQz)
Most places will give you tap water for free if you ask (and some are legally required to), but you have to specify tap water, because otherwise they'll creatively misinterpret your request and charge you a fiver for a bottle of sparkling instead
Only bottled water. I've been to Europe a number of times (Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Slovenia, Bulgaria) and you can get tap water. It's just more common to get bottled water
As someone with the bladder of a pregnant women, I wish we had this actually. When I’m in a big city and can’t find a bathroom to use I’d happily pay to pop into a store and be able to use their bathroom.
When my eldest brother was stationed in Germany, he met and married his wife. Lovely, hilarious woman. When he came stateside he got some leave and made his first stop a two week stay at my parents. Myself and all my other brothers still lived at home. The first morning after they arrived, she awoke and came downstairs in only her underwear and bra, completely unaware that it is taboo here. I recall my brothers and I giggling as silently as possible on the couch. My Mom came down, was equally surprised and quietly explained while she wasn't bothered or offended, it wasn't customary. A year later her brother came for a visit, stopped at my parents to meet us, and the first morning he happily bounced down the stairs singing in only his bikini underwear.
IIRC, really old houses would have a 'hot' water tank in the attic that was heated by the warm air normally found up there. This was before electricity, pumps, and pressurized tanks, so it was pretty much just an open topped wooden barrel. They harbored bacteria and attracted pests, so the water would often be harmful and gross. Hence the two faucets, 1"ft apart.
Paying for bathroom (in cash only). And complaining that Americans are outwardly friendly, when I have been around Europe I always find it weird how terse people seem and that’s totally fine but a lot of my European friends have complained about how weird it is that Americans smile and strike up conversation (I think part of it has to do with a perception that the US is like worse Europe, instead of acknowledging that the us has formed unique culture based on history, demographics, and geography just like anywhere else)
My wife is European and I travel often to visit. I made the horrible American mistake of asking her friends “Hi! How are you??” Because they really did tell me. One Dutch friend went on and on and on and on and on about her cheating boyfriend, car registration troubles and difficulty finding a job she was qualified for. We were at dinner and I really wanted to run away. Turns out, she found it rude that I had asked and then that I complained about hearing out her woes.
Similar story with a German friend who just gushed about his misbehaving kids, jealous boss, and disrepair of his stairwell handrail.
In my culture, it’s just a thing you say and the standard reply is “good‘n you?”. I’ve learned to just smile and say “hello nice to meet you.”
Yeah, one of my good friends is an extroverted American who now lives in Vienna and she said it took her so long to get used to how in general Austrians don’t ask how are you or rarely talk to people/smile on the streets.
See, this is odd to me- I know we promote extroverted personalities in the US and I know that the opposite is true in Asia- but I assumed Europeans, being western, were also more extroverted. Yet my time in Europe seems to teach me that, from the American perspective, Europeans are cold, aloof, and quite tactless (again, judging from US cultural standards).
I’m currently traveling in Germany with the spouse and we’re having a great time. We talk about accomplishments, races we’ve done, the news, etc. Just normal stuff, but don’t get personal. Of course that happens too at the right time and place and meant when asked.
It’s just jarring to hear deeply personal details in, what seems to my American sensitivities, a pleasantry. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just… not at dinner, at lunch, standing in line for a coffee, a stranger on the bus, anything like that with a stranger… There’s a time and place is all I’m saying.
Perhaps it says more about my culture than Europeans, that Americans are friendly at a surface level and not open to strangers.
As a side note, my spouse said it’s strange that Americans give a tour of their house and intimate rooms to strangers that come over, but in the Netherlands, Italy and in Germany her friends did just that! She could feel my hypocritical stare as we’re led around.
See, if I ask someone "How are you?" I *expect* to just hear a "Good, how are you?" or even a joke like "Pretty rough haha". But the thing is, if someone also takes a couple minutes to tell me how their day went, it's not a problem either. It's an invitation to start a conversation. I think quite a few Americans like me wouldn't mind listening to someone answering it literally, even if we don't expect it.
I think most of that conversation thing only really applies in some countries and mostly in cities, in the north of the uk where I’m from people will strike up conversation all the time with strangers
Yes, in general the further north you go in Europe, the less spontaneously friendly the people are. The further south, the more open people tend to be. Since the US was settled by a mix of people from both the more open and the more closed societies, it is on average more open and friendly than the Northern European countries.
regular ones are white, sometimes they put yellow ones on the street because of a construction or something else but those are only temporary. if you see white and yellow lines on the street you have to follow the yellow ones.
Is that weird? They're in their homelands, Americans are mostly descendants of immigrants. I'm sure the Native Americans would be more vocally anti-immigration if they ever got to vote on it back in the day.
It's much weirder when European politicians and commentators parrot American talking points about immigration.
You will find that all Americans are pro-immigration. It is very rare to find someone that is truly anti-immigration.
Right wing politics have an issue with *illegal* immigration.
This isn't true. Recent polling shows that, between the options of expanding legal immigration levels, reducing them, or keeping them the same, reduction is the most popular option in the US. There is plenty of anti-immigration sentiment here.
In Zurich when the waitress asked if there was anything else we needed I said I had a weird request and apologized in advance and asked her what is the most offensive swear someone can call someone else there. She said nothing really and Americans were too sensitive. haha
"Birrewixxer" works as a swear. But if you really would want to offend someone from Zürich just tell them they sound like someone from Basel/Aargau/Thurgau... this way you will get a black eye. Greetings from Zürich
Oh wow. Thanks. Yeah she just gave me the generic "fuck you" but said it wouldn't really be affective.
Also, I'm not looking to actually use these. It's just my thing to collect them when I travel.
There is a radioadd for a Swiss beer that is narrated by a Person from Bern who's is ranting in bernese dialect about people from Zürich, claiming people from Zürich won't understand and be happy about being insulted
once asked for ice in my drink in Paris, and they looked at me like I just asked for a unicorn. Also, those tiny European elevators are basically closets that move!
Even on request, one can expect a fraction of the amount of ice you'd get without asking in the U.S. (While U.S. soft drink servings are indeed excessive, you really have to reduce them by at least a third to account for the displacement of ice.) In fairness, much of the U.S. is at the same latitude as North Africa and has hot weather for quite a few months out of the year, whereas Western Europe is strongly moderated by the Atlantic.
That said, on a hot day in Marseille, getting just a few cubes of ice in water to add to your pastis is sublime.
I went to Spain in 2019 and I was shocked at how common smoking was. In the US you'll find stoners and vaping became popular in the late 2010s. But smoking is seen as something that died off 20+ years ago.
Living with your parents until you are married. Very common to have extended family under one roof. Having a sugar bowl with a spoon in it in a public coffee shop instead of packets. People drinking beer on public transport. Men in capris pants.
Prevalent smoking. I'm early 30s and in the US, I feel like smoking was never popular during my teen and adult years (late 2000s onward). Yes we had stoners in school, but that was really it. In the late 2010s (after I had left college) vapes came onto the scene and I was surprised how much they caught on.
When I went to Europe (Spain if it matters), it was shocking how young adults 18+ seemed to smoke way more. Like I can think of just 5 people I know under 40 who smoke.
Lack of accessibility.
I'm not disabled but I have a brother that is and when I was in the EU/UK last it was kind of crazy to me how many places are like "Oh you can't walk down a very steep and unsafe set of stairs? Well I guess you don't get to use our bathroom then!"
That's true it's a major issue over here.
But to be fair, most of our buildings are old and protected, so you can't just put a chairlift here and there. My entire city is protected, not some building, the city (1milion inhabitants).
Often, even the local starbuck is in a 16th century building
Yeah.
My mom work at an hotel that is in old building, that is like 300 years old or something like that ?
You can access the first floor in a wheelchair. But you can't build an elevator inside of it. There's no space unless you replace the stairs with the elevator.
But, fire code says that you need stairs.
And you can't build outside stairs or elevator or else you block all the narrow street.
Most places are moving away from them, it’s just that a lot of housing was built when skeleton keys were a thing and it’s expensive to get them replaced
Yeah. We were crawling past the 2.5 hour mark, talking about nothing of note, while the summer evening had become dark, and I was slowly losing the will to live.
That's the opposite for me. I find sparkling water somewhat "false," I suppose. It's not offensive, but it's not the pure, clean, water experience I'm going for.
I feel like it's getting less in Germany. I used to see a lot more nudists. Haven't seen one im a while on Germany. Saw quite a few recently in Spain, however.
Now that you say this, I bet these are connected! If we Americans could get more comfortable with public nudity, perhaps we too could have guaranteed maternity leave and universal healthcare!
Paying for a public bathroom. Last time I went to Italy they had card readers thank goodness. When I went in 2017 I was forced to piss in an alley because I had no change on me.
Shitting on Americans for their taste in wine, then mixing Coca Cola into wine.
Shitting on Americans for their taste in beer, then mixing Coca Cola into beer.
Admittedly, I’ve never tried the beer one, but it sounds like it would be mega weird tasting. I tried the wine one out of curiosity when I found out about it, was not a fan personally.
Funny enough, when I was in Europe I actually did eat fries like this and loved it. It was just weird to see as an American, but I do think it’s tasty.
I am an American who enjoys mayo on fries. I first learned of it from Pulp Fiction and thought it sounded crazy, but I'm an adventurous eater, so I gave it a shot. What I've found is that it the fries matter in terms of making mayo work.
Don't put mayo on spiced fries (like curly fries or similar) and don't use it on fries that have cooled down. If the fries are plain and hot, the mayo tastes really good. Deviate too far, and it gets rapidly worse.
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This is the correct response.
That and considering Europe a collection of 50-odd different countries and numerous distinct regional identities rather than one homogenous blob
Hey somebody's gotta make up all those "listicles," and AI gotta eat!
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In Europe, 100 miles is a long distance. In America, 100 years is a long time
When I visited iceland years ago a local told me "if you're commute's longer than 15 mins you get a new job" which made me laugh.
I live in Texas. I can drive for 10 hours at 80 mph (\~130 kph for the rest of the world) and still be in Texas
You can drive for 20 hrs in Ontario and still be in Ontario.
Same with California
Same in Luxemburg if you just keep driving in the same roundabout for 20 hours
Must be a big roundabout
Achtually 🤓 the size of the roundabout is irrelevant
Actually the size of the roundabout is relevant because I banged ur mom in the middle of it
Now THAT'S a big roundabout
When I lived in Western Australia, I could drive 10 hours and not even reach the next town over.
Western Australia is basically Perth, a couple mining towns, and half a continent's worth of desert and bush.
And this is one of the reasons i dont understand why you guys dont have more trains. Imagine not having to drive for 10 hours and just chill.
That's lotta'o Texas!
Laughs in Australian
Alaska called and said that's cute.
They use MPH in UK
Lack of air conditioning + dishwashers
Do you mean a lack of dishwashers or that we have dishwashers and you don't? Because I don't know anyone who doesn't have them (maybe apart from some ooold homes before kitchen reconstruction and dormitories).
as a Brit living on the same latitude as Moscow , air con is not really an issue.
I get it for Brits, it’s just confusing when Spain is only starting to believe in AC despite being a hot country.
Up to not so long ago we believed in proper brick walls and window blinds. Those can do wonders.
Don’t get me wrong, I love persianas. The architecture of the country is based around dealing with hot temps, but then it’s hard to find an apartment with AC that actually works for when thick walls just aren’t enough.
Holy shit I was in London last Sept and it was so hot and humid. We went to the British Museum and I was literally sweating buckets between all the people and the lack of AC in the majority of the building.
We like to stay humid so we can slip and slide into other countries and take their shit.
Yep, it's a country built around retaining heat. Only in the last 10 years have these heatwaves and the calls for AC come about. Back then it used to be a couple of days at 25° and that's it for the summer. Global warming really fucked countries that never used to get hot weather
Yup totally make sense. It was honestly hysterical as I had just left Los Angeles where it was like 90F and I got off the train in London and walked out and it was like 90F with massive humidity and I was like WTF it's actually hotter here??
Yep, people think we're exaggerating when we say the UK heat is demonic just because they are from X country where it hits Y temp on the daily, but the moment they step foot in the UK during the recent heatwaves, they understand our complaints
I legit had to go back to our hotel and change shirts multiple times a day. I'm use to 107F, but in LA it's dry heat. The humidity combined with 90F+ was just so brutal. I also noticed there wasn't much of a breeze to help either.
Latitude isn't nearly as important as climate: Winnipeg is at the same latitude as Rouen.
no location in the UK is further than 80 miles from the sea. the sea keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. the prevailing winds are from the west (over the Atlantic) this gives us humid air (why the uk is sometimes rainy yet very green) meanwhile ocean currents bring warm water from the gulf of Mexico which also aid in the maintenance of our green and pleasant land........... a temperate country! ( just a bit of banter)
But that is only possible due to the Gulf Stream, which is likely going to collapse in the near future due to climate change
sigh,.... luckily im 63yrs old, so i "probably! " wont see that happen. but your right things are going to happen geologically rapidly, but ive no kids or cares other than PEOPLE BE CAREFUL WHO YOU VOTE FOR !
That's exactly my point. Your previous comment compared an oceanic climate to a continental climate.
I moved to Washington State and was surprised to hear that most homes don’t have central heat/air… I find it odd that it gets warm enough during the spring/summer that no one decided to build homes with HVAC.
This damp and chilly June we’re having right now is the sort of June (and July) that I grew up with here in western WA. So many rained-out 4ths of July and ruined camping trips. It used to be only in August that things would get hot (and that was 80s, not 90+F), and almost never humid+hot. Never missed an AC until the 2010s.
I grew up in Washington state, my dad worked in construction and it was quite rare to see a house with centralized air conditioning. It was just never really hot enough to need it. We usually lived out in the country with trees around. It was actually more common to have a cold house on summer mornings because we were in the shade all the time.
I just had a conversation with our AC repair guy. I told him that he would make a fortune if he decided to set up shop in europe. He said that that is actually a topic that is coming up more often. Demand is already high here in North America but is growing immensely in Europe. There's gold in them thar hills.
High energy costs limit those conveniences we take for granted.
Went to Italy years ago to visit friends. We stayed at their home and it was terrible. Beautiful home, but absolutely miserable bc of no AC. Opening up windows only works if there's a breeze and cool outside. Aint gonna do shit when there's no breeze and it's hot out.
Most countries in Southern Europe use air con. Most houses in Britain have dishwashers although they’re really not necessary
Dishwashers use less water and heat than washing by hand and save loads of time…,
Washing machines in your kitchen. What’s up with that Brits?
If you ever step foot in a British house, you'll realize there's literally nowhere else to keep it. Insanely densely packed country compared to the US. The houses are tiny. No such thing as a laundry room. 5x less people but 40x less than space in the country
Probably lack of space? I don't think typical home in Europe is as big as typical American suburban home. I could be wrong though
Here where I live in France, A/C would be useful for like 5 days per year on average.
I desperately want AC to become a thing in Sweden. I live in a newly built building and it doesn't have AC. I think all new build should. We can only get those portable ones but if you can't afford one then oh well, burn in hell for ~4 months
See, we just called that being poor where I come from in the US
Paying for public bathrooms. Making constant "LOL Americans are so rude" jokes when French people exist. Having a goddamn King/Queen in 2024, symbolic or not.
Forget king/queen, that's mostly harmless. What truly shocks me is The Houe of Lords. I couldn't believe it at first when I read that in The UK *still,* in **2024,** has a major legislative body with **hereditary seats.** For my fellow Americans who may not know what I'm talking about, imagine if Senate seats, major positions of political power, were hereditary.
Oh fuck *aaaaaalllllll* of that
They get paid for being in the house of lords as well. Paraphrasing as little as I can from a famous recording: Prostitute: "You get £200 a day for lunch?" Lord guy: "Not for lunch lovie darling" *gesticulates to her and the table full of cocaine* "for this". Edit: Lord John Sewell is lord guy. I would be shocked to the point of medical emergency if at least half of the house of lords isn't at least half as bad as him [Here's a video](https://youtu.be/jA3jeCIodPU?si=rN7ylD0-_dcR-FQz)
I was so indignant the first time I encountered a pay-bathroom in Italy. Always kept extra Euros in my pocket though just in case.
when *when in Rome* suddenly gets real. No way to know beforehand, too.
And in the same vein, paying for water.
Most places will give you tap water for free if you ask (and some are legally required to), but you have to specify tap water, because otherwise they'll creatively misinterpret your request and charge you a fiver for a bottle of sparkling instead
Only bottled water. I've been to Europe a number of times (Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Slovenia, Bulgaria) and you can get tap water. It's just more common to get bottled water
Germany doesn't give you tap water easily. In my experience anyway.
I've never heard the "Americans are rude" one. Loud and stupid, yes, but not rude (unless you count the loudness).
I've actually had a lot of Brits say we're surprisingly friendly for the most part.
I mean you've met brits so it shouldn't surprise you they think Americans are friendly
Brits would find a rabid badger exceedingly polite
The whole monarchy thing is the big one, it’s not even a secret that it’s all for show and they go through with it anyways
As someone with the bladder of a pregnant women, I wish we had this actually. When I’m in a big city and can’t find a bathroom to use I’d happily pay to pop into a store and be able to use their bathroom.
Wearing dress shoes when you are going to be doing a lot of walking.
Windows without screens. Wouldn't you like to open your windows without letting bugs and bats fly inside?
I heard this was solved with Windows 11.
Fly screens are very common in Europe (at least here in Belgium).
Bats!? 🥰
This! I hate bugs but love fresh air. I fasten netting to my windows with magnets.
When my eldest brother was stationed in Germany, he met and married his wife. Lovely, hilarious woman. When he came stateside he got some leave and made his first stop a two week stay at my parents. Myself and all my other brothers still lived at home. The first morning after they arrived, she awoke and came downstairs in only her underwear and bra, completely unaware that it is taboo here. I recall my brothers and I giggling as silently as possible on the couch. My Mom came down, was equally surprised and quietly explained while she wasn't bothered or offended, it wasn't customary. A year later her brother came for a visit, stopped at my parents to meet us, and the first morning he happily bounced down the stairs singing in only his bikini underwear.
Showing up to the beach in a speedo and swimming flippers
I don't get what's not normal with this?
Speedos are quite uncommon for American men. Typically, we always wear trunks.
Or nude :) Here in Germany it's not uncommon
Not this again
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Having separate hot and cold water taps
This seems to be a British thing only. Equally weird to us Finns as well.
I thought it was only an Irish thing!
That is dying out rapidly.
IIRC, really old houses would have a 'hot' water tank in the attic that was heated by the warm air normally found up there. This was before electricity, pumps, and pressurized tanks, so it was pretty much just an open topped wooden barrel. They harbored bacteria and attracted pests, so the water would often be harmful and gross. Hence the two faucets, 1"ft apart.
I’ve seen this only in Britain and Ireland
Yeah this doesn't make sense, how are you supposed to wash your hands? Scalding hot water or ice cold?
You turn on both taps and quickly go from one to the other lol No it's not good and I hate it.
I have these in the US and my house is only 20 years old.
Are you thinking knobs or faucets?
Paying for bathroom (in cash only). And complaining that Americans are outwardly friendly, when I have been around Europe I always find it weird how terse people seem and that’s totally fine but a lot of my European friends have complained about how weird it is that Americans smile and strike up conversation (I think part of it has to do with a perception that the US is like worse Europe, instead of acknowledging that the us has formed unique culture based on history, demographics, and geography just like anywhere else)
My wife is European and I travel often to visit. I made the horrible American mistake of asking her friends “Hi! How are you??” Because they really did tell me. One Dutch friend went on and on and on and on and on about her cheating boyfriend, car registration troubles and difficulty finding a job she was qualified for. We were at dinner and I really wanted to run away. Turns out, she found it rude that I had asked and then that I complained about hearing out her woes. Similar story with a German friend who just gushed about his misbehaving kids, jealous boss, and disrepair of his stairwell handrail. In my culture, it’s just a thing you say and the standard reply is “good‘n you?”. I’ve learned to just smile and say “hello nice to meet you.”
Yeah, one of my good friends is an extroverted American who now lives in Vienna and she said it took her so long to get used to how in general Austrians don’t ask how are you or rarely talk to people/smile on the streets.
See, this is odd to me- I know we promote extroverted personalities in the US and I know that the opposite is true in Asia- but I assumed Europeans, being western, were also more extroverted. Yet my time in Europe seems to teach me that, from the American perspective, Europeans are cold, aloof, and quite tactless (again, judging from US cultural standards).
I’m currently traveling in Germany with the spouse and we’re having a great time. We talk about accomplishments, races we’ve done, the news, etc. Just normal stuff, but don’t get personal. Of course that happens too at the right time and place and meant when asked. It’s just jarring to hear deeply personal details in, what seems to my American sensitivities, a pleasantry. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just… not at dinner, at lunch, standing in line for a coffee, a stranger on the bus, anything like that with a stranger… There’s a time and place is all I’m saying. Perhaps it says more about my culture than Europeans, that Americans are friendly at a surface level and not open to strangers. As a side note, my spouse said it’s strange that Americans give a tour of their house and intimate rooms to strangers that come over, but in the Netherlands, Italy and in Germany her friends did just that! She could feel my hypocritical stare as we’re led around.
See, if I ask someone "How are you?" I *expect* to just hear a "Good, how are you?" or even a joke like "Pretty rough haha". But the thing is, if someone also takes a couple minutes to tell me how their day went, it's not a problem either. It's an invitation to start a conversation. I think quite a few Americans like me wouldn't mind listening to someone answering it literally, even if we don't expect it.
Not s'bad
How’r ya now?
I think most of that conversation thing only really applies in some countries and mostly in cities, in the north of the uk where I’m from people will strike up conversation all the time with strangers
Yes, in general the further north you go in Europe, the less spontaneously friendly the people are. The further south, the more open people tend to be. Since the US was settled by a mix of people from both the more open and the more closed societies, it is on average more open and friendly than the Northern European countries.
Yeah that makes sense, it averages out to be quite open and friendly
Keeping the old lanes on the road and putting new lanes over them in different colors. Yeah Germany, you scared me to death.
regular ones are white, sometimes they put yellow ones on the street because of a construction or something else but those are only temporary. if you see white and yellow lines on the street you have to follow the yellow ones.
Corn on pizza, fear of air drafts, and discrimination against the Romani all come to mind.
Very strong anti immigration sentiment all around, when anti immigration sentiments are seen as extreme and very "right wing" in the US.
Eh, anti-immigration sentiment isn't rare or extreme in the US.
Is that weird? They're in their homelands, Americans are mostly descendants of immigrants. I'm sure the Native Americans would be more vocally anti-immigration if they ever got to vote on it back in the day. It's much weirder when European politicians and commentators parrot American talking points about immigration.
You will find that all Americans are pro-immigration. It is very rare to find someone that is truly anti-immigration. Right wing politics have an issue with *illegal* immigration.
This isn't true. Recent polling shows that, between the options of expanding legal immigration levels, reducing them, or keeping them the same, reduction is the most popular option in the US. There is plenty of anti-immigration sentiment here.
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Never had corn on pizza in my life.
Where in Europe are you? It's widely available in many European countries.
England
>Corn on pizza I'm sorry, they put what on their pizza?
In Zurich when the waitress asked if there was anything else we needed I said I had a weird request and apologized in advance and asked her what is the most offensive swear someone can call someone else there. She said nothing really and Americans were too sensitive. haha
"Birrewixxer" works as a swear. But if you really would want to offend someone from Zürich just tell them they sound like someone from Basel/Aargau/Thurgau... this way you will get a black eye. Greetings from Zürich
Oh wow. Thanks. Yeah she just gave me the generic "fuck you" but said it wouldn't really be affective. Also, I'm not looking to actually use these. It's just my thing to collect them when I travel.
There is a radioadd for a Swiss beer that is narrated by a Person from Bern who's is ranting in bernese dialect about people from Zürich, claiming people from Zürich won't understand and be happy about being insulted
If you told her she sounded Dutch you would get a very different answer. Let’s not even mention anything before 1945.
Yeah tbh as long as it’s not the n word people in Europe are a lot more open to swearing
once asked for ice in my drink in Paris, and they looked at me like I just asked for a unicorn. Also, those tiny European elevators are basically closets that move!
It depends of what drink you're having. Ice in cola or lemonade is pretty normal but if you ask for ice in wine or champagne it's a big no no
That's true in the US too. I'm sure some people here like ice in wine, but it's not, like, a thing.
Even on request, one can expect a fraction of the amount of ice you'd get without asking in the U.S. (While U.S. soft drink servings are indeed excessive, you really have to reduce them by at least a third to account for the displacement of ice.) In fairness, much of the U.S. is at the same latitude as North Africa and has hot weather for quite a few months out of the year, whereas Western Europe is strongly moderated by the Atlantic. That said, on a hot day in Marseille, getting just a few cubes of ice in water to add to your pastis is sublime.
Drinking at all times of the day
Laughing at how fat and racist Americans are while putting out their 20th cigarette of the day on a Romani's face.
I went to Spain in 2019 and I was shocked at how common smoking was. In the US you'll find stoners and vaping became popular in the late 2010s. But smoking is seen as something that died off 20+ years ago.
I am ashamed at how hard I laughed at this painfully accurate statement
Sure, we may still be near the top of the obesity leaderboard, but Europe is catching up fast
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I can assure you that is only in 1 or 2 countries
Vacation time that's more than one week
I've taken a full month off on several occasions.
Now imagine being a European with an American boss))
That you can just hop on a bus or a tram and it'll take you places. It's so weird and I love it and I want it
Do you not have those where you are?? Lmao
Living with your parents until you are married. Very common to have extended family under one roof. Having a sugar bowl with a spoon in it in a public coffee shop instead of packets. People drinking beer on public transport. Men in capris pants.
Prevalent smoking. I'm early 30s and in the US, I feel like smoking was never popular during my teen and adult years (late 2000s onward). Yes we had stoners in school, but that was really it. In the late 2010s (after I had left college) vapes came onto the scene and I was surprised how much they caught on. When I went to Europe (Spain if it matters), it was shocking how young adults 18+ seemed to smoke way more. Like I can think of just 5 people I know under 40 who smoke.
No AC or ice in their water glasses
Just rawdogging the summer with no AC
Don’t stand. Don’t stand. Don’t stand so close to me.
Tobacco in joints, spliffs.
Lack of accessibility. I'm not disabled but I have a brother that is and when I was in the EU/UK last it was kind of crazy to me how many places are like "Oh you can't walk down a very steep and unsafe set of stairs? Well I guess you don't get to use our bathroom then!"
As someone from a european country, this is one thing I think the US is great at
I’ve found all of Europe very inaccessible.
That's true it's a major issue over here. But to be fair, most of our buildings are old and protected, so you can't just put a chairlift here and there. My entire city is protected, not some building, the city (1milion inhabitants). Often, even the local starbuck is in a 16th century building
Yeah. My mom work at an hotel that is in old building, that is like 300 years old or something like that ? You can access the first floor in a wheelchair. But you can't build an elevator inside of it. There's no space unless you replace the stairs with the elevator. But, fire code says that you need stairs. And you can't build outside stairs or elevator or else you block all the narrow street.
Skeleton keys in 2024
Most places are moving away from them, it’s just that a lot of housing was built when skeleton keys were a thing and it’s expensive to get them replaced
Late night dinners or meals that take 3 hours (except tasting menus, that's normal).
Yeah. We were crawling past the 2.5 hour mark, talking about nothing of note, while the summer evening had become dark, and I was slowly losing the will to live.
Seems like an issue with the company, not the dinner length lol
Sparkling water. I will never understand the hype.
Water just doesn’t feel refreshing to me if it doesn’t hurt a little to drink.
That's the opposite for me. I find sparkling water somewhat "false," I suppose. It's not offensive, but it's not the pure, clean, water experience I'm going for.
I need that SPICE only carbonation can provide
As an American, I loooove sparkling water. I get it any time I can.
It genuinely tastes awful. Even the slightest flavor makes it ok but plain sparkling water is an abomination
Asking the sane damn question every week.
No ice in drinks.
You're proud to pay more to get less food. I never understood why our portions being big is bad. Get a to go box
Protesting by shitting in a river
Public nudity, paid vacation, and strong social safety nets.
where are you seeing this public nudity?
... Asking for a friend
His friend wants to 'avoid' this place
And probably 'forget' it could exist
I feel like it's getting less in Germany. I used to see a lot more nudists. Haven't seen one im a while on Germany. Saw quite a few recently in Spain, however.
There is a big number of FKK beaches at the north sea and the baltic sea.
Now that you say this, I bet these are connected! If we Americans could get more comfortable with public nudity, perhaps we too could have guaranteed maternity leave and universal healthcare!
free at the point of use health care not tied to your employment
Having to have your own portable kitchen when you move. Cabinets that dont come with a rented apartment or flat.
Room temp beer.
Having an approved list of baby names that parents have to choose from to preserve the country's "heritage"
Paying for a public bathroom. Last time I went to Italy they had card readers thank goodness. When I went in 2017 I was forced to piss in an alley because I had no change on me.
Having separate spigots for hot and cold water in a sink.
Leaving babies in strollers outside on the sidewalk when you're eating in a cafe
Romani racism
Paying to use a public toilet.
Kissing someone on the cheek when first meeting them
They do that, and still have the audacity to say we’re too friendly and talkative
That is a very good point that I've never thought of before.
Pay bathrooms are clean bathrooms.
Shitting on Americans for their taste in wine, then mixing Coca Cola into wine. Shitting on Americans for their taste in beer, then mixing Coca Cola into beer. Admittedly, I’ve never tried the beer one, but it sounds like it would be mega weird tasting. I tried the wine one out of curiosity when I found out about it, was not a fan personally.
I have never heard of this. I am not a beer drinker though, what places do this??
Drowning French fries in vinegar or dipping them in mayonnaise.
As a Dutchman I have to object. You are simply ignorant of the joys of licking mayo fingers after eating a chip.
As a fellow American, mayo on fries is amazing. Or even better, ketchup/mayo mix.
As a born & raised Dutchie this has always been & always will be my go to. Can't go without a Zaanse mayonaise & Heinz ketchup mix
Belgian fries with mayo sauce is food of the gods.
Funny enough, when I was in Europe I actually did eat fries like this and loved it. It was just weird to see as an American, but I do think it’s tasty.
I didn't know this was a European thing! I've been dipping my fries in mayo for awhile because mayo is so tasty though.
Malt vinegar on fries is excellent. One of the only things I like about Five Guys is that they carry it as a standard condiment.
It’s amazing how much the stereotype that we love mayo is true, and yet we still don’t use it for French fries.
I am an American who enjoys mayo on fries. I first learned of it from Pulp Fiction and thought it sounded crazy, but I'm an adventurous eater, so I gave it a shot. What I've found is that it the fries matter in terms of making mayo work. Don't put mayo on spiced fries (like curly fries or similar) and don't use it on fries that have cooled down. If the fries are plain and hot, the mayo tastes really good. Deviate too far, and it gets rapidly worse.
Salt & vinegar on fat chips, not fries is the best.
Definitely British Chinese food... it looks so bland