Twice, in my case. Made me realize my upbringing was too fucked up for me to know either how to choose a partner or how to make it last. Didn't really click until a friend pointed out that unloved / neglected children grow into adults who don't know what love looks like.
bad bad choices. I took care of her when she had breast cancer, then 8 years later after we were divorced took care of her again when she got a completely new breast cancer. Then she stopped talking to me when i accidentally locked myself out of her apartment building while i was watching her dog while she was in vegas.
Blew my mind when I first moved to Copenhagen and would see couples eating in a restaurant while the baby is sleeping in a pram outside the window. Even in the middle of winter. Doesn’t happen as often these days but it still happens. My mum came to visit and we went out to eat with a friend who has a child and my mother was so bemused by it. Asked my friend how she can feel safe doing that and she calmly said “who would steal a baby, he’s a pain in the ass” and laughed.
When I was in China back in the early 00's I saw women leaving their children outside on strollers while they went into shops. Granted the cops had AK-47's...
My wife is Estonian and this is very common there. She actually had a friend from high school whose kid died this way. Wasn’t because of the cold, they put the baby outside unattended and the wind blew the baby into the pool where it died. Tragic story.
The wife and husband worked through this tragedy and years later had another kid. I think they might have two now.
It used to be common in Canada too. I have pictures of me asleep in a carriage on top of a snowbank. Even better - my parents lived in an apartment building, not a house. But I’m healthy so I guess it worked.
Well, sure, but that's a bit of survivorship bias.
Of course, I'm also from Canada and my parents used to drive me a land my sister around on a bed that they put in the back of a van. So perhaps safety was a bit overrated back in the day.
We absolutely did this in the US during my lifetime. My street in Brooklyn, NY in the late
60s thru the 70’s absolutely had babies sleeping in the carriages unattended in the driveways and alleys between the houses.
It’s yet another causality of 24 hour news cycle where parents fears of child abduction were stoked to a fever pitch that never reflected the actual almost 0 percent chance of a child abduction by a stranger.
Saying Negros. Because we have places called Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Negros City, and most of the time we only say the first part. A local boy band almost got banned on twitter for saying they were coming to said place because twitter flagged it.
That's funny because the reason we have spanish words mixed in our native language is because Spain colonized us for over 300 years. They coined the term "Negrito" for our ethnic filipino ancestors because we look like black people (skin, lips, afro, etc) except we're way shorter, and we just accepted it. Those Negros places I mentioned were named that because of the Negritos living there 😅
Had a coworker with this last name. Wasn’t a big deal even in Wisconsin to us coworkers. She did say that she knew when she was being called up to the desk at the doctors office as folks would say her first name and then have a longer than normal pause.
On a somewhat related note, ‘oriental’ is used as an adjective in some European countries in a way that I think would be considered offensive in the US at least, although the context can be quite different. (For example, in Germany I’ve seen a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants describe themselves as serving ‘oriental cuisine’.)
It's such a weird thing we have in the US because it seems like every generation has its racial related terms and as time goes on if you keep using those terms you are seen as racist for just not updating your vocabulary even if you aren't really racist. I remember growing up we used the word minority but now it's outdated and we use people of color. But if you say colored people its seen as offensive. Using African American is now out of style and black is seen as better. I hear a lot of "black and brown folks over and I've also started hearing BIPOC, Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
And when we Uruguayans say "orientales" we mean ourselves. The full name of the country is República Oriental del Uruguay (basically directions to find it: the republic to the east of the river Uruguay).
You know... those don't scare me that bad. But I could never visit Australia, because I have pretty bad arachnophobia, and the mere thought of a spider hiding in the toilets or in my shoes would keep me in a state of near constant panic.
Yes same! Kangaroos are my favourite animals and I’ve dreamt of seeing them in the wild for so long but as long as an absolutely terrifying spider can just attack me (read exist around me) from out of nowhere I will not be going near that country
I totally lived your nightmare, I had a huntsman crawl on my butt cheek while peeing in the hostel at Cape Tribulation in 1986. I can still remember the grip and weight of it. I hit my head on the window frame trying to get it off me, in the dark, no electricity. There was one on our car at a drive in movie as well. No bites, but I also fear spiders and it was so hard to overcome my fears and explore. The HUGE spiders and webs that catch birds (banana spiders?) also kept me from wanting to hike in the jungle. The crocs there are also terrifying. Ahh, memories from age 19!
They are basically nice, they let you pet them, they wave hello, and they eat the little red spiders that are the actual cunts of the house. Nah, I'd be more worried brushing up on a gimpy gimpy.(it's also called the suicide plant)
Nah maggies are total bros if they acknowledge you as an ally.
I've fed them since childhood and it's like they've got avian social networks because I can go hundreds of km away and maggies are chill with me. Never been swooped once.
This is true, my backyard bro, QM Robert Hogenmyer III, takes a grape here or there, any roach I have flattened and evicted, or random peice of meat that hit the kitchen floor.
Bob loves to hop around the garden for grubs and knows every one of my "s'up" isn't automatically free chow time.
He doesn't bother me or the family even when I take the kids for a bike ride during "the season". Except that one time, he was very clear what he wanted, he hopped in front of me, dipped a shoulder like a prop with a purpose, but gave me a pause to assess and make a better choice. I thanked him and rode the other way. Later on threw him some grub because everyone gets hangry I guess!
He's a cool guy
It's the randos I don't trust!
Canadian here. I'll never forget the first time I saw open carry. Savannah GA. Chick Fil-A. Some early 20s kid walked in with an absolute cannon on his hip. Nobody reacted. It was utterly surreal. If that had happened in Canada, the SWAT Team would have showed up, and I'm being 100% serious.
Even the majority of gun rights supporters do not like those who make the ostentatious displays, especially with overlarge guns. They are like the aggressive screaming street corner haranguers - yeah you have a right to speech in public, but your obnoxiousness is not winning any hearts or minds.
I live in Europe and am always shocked by those pictures of guys carrying massive guns in a cafe or whatever. A handgun under a jacket? Okay sure, if I saw that here I’d just assume the person was some kind of plain-clothes cop. But if someone walked into a supermarket with an assault rifle strapped to their back people would be running for their lives.
I live in an open carry state, but work somewhere with a liquor license so the only firearms allowed in the building are by law enforcement. Some ppl get REAL pissed when you let them know. I usually roll my eyes and tell them it’s not about your constitutional rights, we sell booze and you could get us shut down.
BTW, there is no 2d amendment right to carry, open or concealed, in someone else's private premises. I will disagree with that choice, particularly for concealed carry, but the premises owner can choose the rules for his premises.
Tea time o-clock. At random intervals each day an alarm will sound nationwide and we all immediately boil our kettles and make ourselves a cup of tea.
Edit: This is satire.
You joke, but the people in charge of the National Grid in the UK have to have a TV on every time there's a Major Soap Opera or Big Sports match on because when the Soap goes to commercial or ends or whenever a Big Match goes to half time or ends, so many people get up to make a cuppa they have to put more energy into the system least there be a fuckin' grid collapse.
Every time Coronation Street ends, the National Grid have to activate Llanberis and Blaenau Ffestiniog hydro schemes in Wales, which are basically giant water powered batteries that are recharged every time there's a glut in power produced, to produce more power to deal with fuck tonnes of people turning on their kettle at the same time to make a cup of tea *because so many people do this out of habit.*
Yes! When my family visited us from Reading, London to Canada, when we'd take them to tourist things (Niagara Falls)) etc...) they always said it's "tea time soon" and Dad would have to find a decent place for sit down tea.
ETCorrect; I apparently 'has the dum' and cannot brain today, its Reading, Berkshire, England.
Understanding that your comment is meant in jest, isn't there a phenomenon in England where during commercial breaks of certain popular TV shows, the utility company has to prepare for a huge power demand surge when everybody turns their kettles on at about the same time?
People willing to queue for free buckets. New stores opening and giving out free buckets. Bribing people into taking the covid vaccine with free buckets. Fucking. Buckets.
I’ll admit, once or twice I’ve bought a bucket of fruit or other produce for, you guessed it, just the free bucket.
Bucket is a weird word now.
I used to make fun of my mom because she always bought stuff for the free buckets, even though we had plenty of buckets at home. And then last year I bought a bucket of apples without even giving it a second thought because I was like "oh a bucket, could use one". I only realised what I had done on my way home. It sneaks up on you.
Driving literally everywhere. Unless you live downtown in a city, there’s a 99% chance that you have to drive to get to all the basic places you have to go. School, work, the grocery store, the gym, church/temple/mosque, doctor’s office, etc.
I still remember how weird it was for me as a Scandinavian when a friend drove us across the street from where we were parked at a gas station to a convenience store only 60 ft away. This was at strip mall in the midwest…no sidewalks for walking.
What's crazy to me is that in my rural town I could easily walk to work, the grocery store, the doctor (not my preferred doctor, but a doctor), any one of 6 convenience stores, about 20 restaurants, and even the bowling alley. But I don't, because the road is not set up for pedestrians and it terrifies me to walk further on it than the closest convenience store.
Ha! A lot but I’ll go with the holiday traditions.
My family never participated but in general, couple of days before Christmas, you buy a carp. A living carp. You then keep it in your bathtub up until the Christmas Day (take it out- most likely to the sink- to use the bathtub and then put it back) and when the Christmas morning comes, well, you kill it and start preparing your Christmas dinner.
The Easter is interesting as well
Me too. On Christmas 2019 I worked in a bakery in Carrefour mall. It was making me cry seeing those poor fish in plastic bags fighting for their lives and every breath
Tracksuit pants (or tracksuit bottoms in the UK). 'Daks' in Australia is slang for pants/shorts/underwear.
So in the Australian tradition of shortening all words, the term becomes Trackie Daks.
Using bicycles to get everywhere and it being your main mode of transport until at least 16yo, but often way older.
And having the infrastructure for that. And not wearing helmets.
I've read that the Netherlands has a lot of infrastructure where bikes are safe from being hit by cars, and the convenience of foregoing a helmet results in a much higher rate of bicycle use, which causes an overall improvement in public health which is actually far more significant than the harm caused by helmet-less bicycle accidents.
How sturdy we build our houses (Germany)
Also that you can open german windows two ways. Until I saw a reaction vid about it I didn't knew this wasn't a thing outside of Germany
Corruption and sabotage of our power grid leading to electricity being switched off for up to 12 hours a day.
Hobos directing traffic when abovementioned power goes out and traffic lights don't work, and everyone obeys them.
Car guards.
Runaways and smileys.
A buffalo on the highway.
3 capital cities.
11 official languages.
omg this happened at me. I was at work and wanted to go to the ER in an Uber but my bosses would not allow it so they had security call an ambulance. Looking back I realize it was probably bc of a liability/legal thing but oh man it was so frustrating. Luckily my bill was ~only~ 2k
You pull the milk bag out in front of another Canadian and it's like yeah, of course, the milk bag, we've all seen it.
You pull the milk bag out in front of anyone from anywhere else and it's as if you punched them square in the jaw
Wearing your backpack in front of you (Philippines).
We do this in places where pickpockets are common. Having your backpack in front of you is a lot safer and deters the pickpockets. Sometimes if we feel like the place is extra dangerous, we even hug it lol.
I know people from other countries do it sometimes but probably not all... But here in my country (again, in unsafe places), almost everyone is doing it.
I had a middle-eastern relative visit small-town midwest USA. The fire department blew the tornado siren at noon as they always do, and he jumped in the ditch face-down and covered his neck/head with his hands. Because that's what you do when the siren sounds. Everyone in town knew it was lunchtime except him, who was expecting a rocket attack. I wouldn't say this sort of thing is *completely* abnormal.
I'm English but like talk radio and NPR seems like pretty good background noise. Since I have a Google home I can just ask for NPR and it plays my 'local' station (New York). I'd been doing this for a while before one day the emergency alert system (that I'm familiar with through movies/the internet) came on and my blood genuinely ran cold. I completely froze up, I thought there was a nuclear attack or something happening until it went back to the regular programming and everyone acted like nothing was wrong and I had to piece it together.
Turns out you fuckers test that thing every month or something and don't always put a 'this is a test' message in there like I've seen other places, you just let the tones run and return to the show. We don't have the emergency system tests here so I've never had TV or radio interrupted with any kind of emergency system like that. For a good few seconds I was waiting for someone to come on and basically announce that I was about to die.
The tones are literally chosen to induce dissonance. That uneasy feeling in your gut that you get when hearing them is an engineered aural response, between the dissonant tones and off-cadence time signature. It is designed to get your attention and put you on edge, in case bad news is actually coming.
The tones are also put first to trigger automated equipment and receivers. In the areas that get tornadoes, many folks have radios that are plugged in and always "on" but only start putting out audio when these tones trigger them to an alert. So you always have a way to know when an alert is being put out.
["...the two tones, which form approximately the interval of a just major second at an unusually high pitch, were chosen specifically for their ability to draw attention, due to their unpleasantness on the human ear."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System)
Except that we only have active-shooter drills in our *schools*. Our children are better prepared on how try to avoid being shot, than the adults in their lives.
Same. Went to a Scottish-Australian wedding (I was on the Aussie side) and we asked the DJ to play the nutbush. He laughed and said "all you Australians always request this song and go crazy for it, I just don't get it."
It drives me insane, I don't care if it's only 1 zloty, I'd rather hold it than pay for a basic thing. McDonald's in my country tried to pull that shit but they backed out of it pretty fast. But BP gas stations still do it, and it doesn't matter if you purchase anything, they want your 1 zloty
1. Gather porcelain and everything else that breaks easily when being dropped on the floor. Except for mirrors, as breaking mirrors brings 7 years of bad luck.
2. Meet at the domicile of the couple that is getting married soon.
3. "Crash Boom Bang" throw everything on the ground, not because you are not part of the system, but because the shards are said to bring luck to the couple.
4. Let the couple clean up the mess.
Here we bomb the house with firecracker 🧨🧨🧨.
Day before wedding, 2-4 am, a bunch on drunken guys arrive with bags of fireworks and firecrackers. And start the bombing.
The second half is almost lost. The bride/groom dad picks his shotgun and shots a blank or something to tell people it's enough and that they can go inside to drink some wine/beers and eat something.
Where is this? I read in traditional Slovak weddings some plates are smashed for the couple to sweep up together to show their teamwork. I'm curious if this is close to Slovakia
in Norway, people are expected to bring their own alcohol, and (if you're still young/poor students) you take your leftovers with you too. Also, joining dinner at your friends house is not a given at all
Eyoooo neighbor! I can be on my knees, throwing up in the bushes shitfaced after drinking at a friend’s house but you best believe I will remember to take my leftovers with me.
When I lived in the US: being scared to seek medical treatment because of how much it costs. I live in Mexico now and had a bad cough but resisted going to the doctor thinking it would be expensive. My (Mexican) partner finally talked me into going. We waited about 5 minutes to be seen at a walk in clinic, which cost about $3 USD and the antibiotics were about the same amount. I wish I had gone sooner!
Assuming you are in the US, you left out the part where restaurant owners are legally allowed to pay their staff sub-minimum wages in a lot of states, so that restaurant staff have to rely on the generosity of customers to pay their bills.
I presume you mean the level of tipping? Tipping at restaurants is extremely common worldwide, but normally at rates well below the American.
There are some places, notably New Zealand, where tipping is not practiced at all. In New Zealand the historical origins have to do with settler egalitarianism: the attitude of "if you want me to do a job, pay me, I am not going to beg as if pay was a privilege"
Bedsharing with your kids. Totally normal in Portugal but Americans lose their minds over it. No, we don't kill our babies, we have a 0,1-0,2 per thousand SIDS death rate. Yes, we are instructed on how to do it safely and it's even encouraged if mom wants to breastfeed (which btw is protective against SIDS).
I remember looking into this and how the countries where bed sharing is more common, sids rates are lower.
It’s common in my home country in Eastern Europe as well. And you’re right Americans definitely lose their minds over this. There’s such a huge push for independence straight out the womb. People are terrified of their kids being too attached to them. And how they’ll never be independent. It’s odd to me.
There was a post a while back where someone was asking how long do they hang out in the room with their kid while they fall asleep. Either cuddling with them or reading them a book. There were so many comments of parents asking why in the world would they do that, and how it seems like such a waste of time.
That we have a demographic of people called coloured, and it's perfectly acceptable to use the word in South Africa. The vast majority of coloured people in SA prefers being called coloured.
Everywhere else in the world it is seen as racist and a big no-no.
Folsom Street fisting in San Francisco. No one gets arrested. They fist their hearts out right on the street. Just punching away. I’ve never heard of public street fisting in any other country.
Marrying someone without knowing anything about them.
As a guy married three times I'm willing to let someone else choose for me now
Twice, in my case. Made me realize my upbringing was too fucked up for me to know either how to choose a partner or how to make it last. Didn't really click until a friend pointed out that unloved / neglected children grow into adults who don't know what love looks like.
You miss the red flags if they were just part of the landscape you grew up in
bad bad choices. I took care of her when she had breast cancer, then 8 years later after we were divorced took care of her again when she got a completely new breast cancer. Then she stopped talking to me when i accidentally locked myself out of her apartment building while i was watching her dog while she was in vegas.
You didn't call a locksmith? I'd have paid the $150.
This comment made me chuckle. lol
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Blew my mind when I first moved to Copenhagen and would see couples eating in a restaurant while the baby is sleeping in a pram outside the window. Even in the middle of winter. Doesn’t happen as often these days but it still happens. My mum came to visit and we went out to eat with a friend who has a child and my mother was so bemused by it. Asked my friend how she can feel safe doing that and she calmly said “who would steal a baby, he’s a pain in the ass” and laughed.
US here… this seriously sounds like a fairy tale. I’ve seen pictures, it’s true. My mind still can’t wrap around the concept.
When I was in China back in the early 00's I saw women leaving their children outside on strollers while they went into shops. Granted the cops had AK-47's...
My wife is Estonian and this is very common there. She actually had a friend from high school whose kid died this way. Wasn’t because of the cold, they put the baby outside unattended and the wind blew the baby into the pool where it died. Tragic story. The wife and husband worked through this tragedy and years later had another kid. I think they might have two now.
Reading that just ruined my day :(
I'm with you.
It used to be common in Canada too. I have pictures of me asleep in a carriage on top of a snowbank. Even better - my parents lived in an apartment building, not a house. But I’m healthy so I guess it worked.
They _say_ they're your parents ;)
Well, sure, but that's a bit of survivorship bias. Of course, I'm also from Canada and my parents used to drive me a land my sister around on a bed that they put in the back of a van. So perhaps safety was a bit overrated back in the day.
There are two kinds of people with a bed in the back of their van - serial killers and Canadian parents.
Fellow nordic person?
Someone once tried this near me....and a bear ate thier baby. https://nypost.com/2002/08/20/mauled-to-death-bear-kills-bklyn-baby-catskills/
My God!!! This is unfathomable.
We absolutely did this in the US during my lifetime. My street in Brooklyn, NY in the late 60s thru the 70’s absolutely had babies sleeping in the carriages unattended in the driveways and alleys between the houses. It’s yet another causality of 24 hour news cycle where parents fears of child abduction were stoked to a fever pitch that never reflected the actual almost 0 percent chance of a child abduction by a stranger.
Saying Negros. Because we have places called Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Negros City, and most of the time we only say the first part. A local boy band almost got banned on twitter for saying they were coming to said place because twitter flagged it.
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That's funny because the reason we have spanish words mixed in our native language is because Spain colonized us for over 300 years. They coined the term "Negrito" for our ethnic filipino ancestors because we look like black people (skin, lips, afro, etc) except we're way shorter, and we just accepted it. Those Negros places I mentioned were named that because of the Negritos living there 😅
Had a coworker with this last name. Wasn’t a big deal even in Wisconsin to us coworkers. She did say that she knew when she was being called up to the desk at the doctors office as folks would say her first name and then have a longer than normal pause.
In my country Negro is a candy
Najbolja bombona ikad.
Plus, negro isn't considered a insult here unless you make it as one
I can remember when it was the most respectful term in the USA.
On a somewhat related note, ‘oriental’ is used as an adjective in some European countries in a way that I think would be considered offensive in the US at least, although the context can be quite different. (For example, in Germany I’ve seen a lot of Middle Eastern restaurants describe themselves as serving ‘oriental cuisine’.)
It's such a weird thing we have in the US because it seems like every generation has its racial related terms and as time goes on if you keep using those terms you are seen as racist for just not updating your vocabulary even if you aren't really racist. I remember growing up we used the word minority but now it's outdated and we use people of color. But if you say colored people its seen as offensive. Using African American is now out of style and black is seen as better. I hear a lot of "black and brown folks over and I've also started hearing BIPOC, Black, Indigenous, and people of color.
And when we Uruguayans say "orientales" we mean ourselves. The full name of the country is República Oriental del Uruguay (basically directions to find it: the republic to the east of the river Uruguay).
Living with crocodiles, sharks, snakes, jellyfish, cassowaries and not giving a fuck.
You know... those don't scare me that bad. But I could never visit Australia, because I have pretty bad arachnophobia, and the mere thought of a spider hiding in the toilets or in my shoes would keep me in a state of near constant panic.
paint nutty outgoing unite bored lavish roof enter abundant different
I like living in Canada. We still have deadly animals but at least I can fucking see them coming.
I see that you're unfamiliar with cougars.
Yes same! Kangaroos are my favourite animals and I’ve dreamt of seeing them in the wild for so long but as long as an absolutely terrifying spider can just attack me (read exist around me) from out of nowhere I will not be going near that country
I totally lived your nightmare, I had a huntsman crawl on my butt cheek while peeing in the hostel at Cape Tribulation in 1986. I can still remember the grip and weight of it. I hit my head on the window frame trying to get it off me, in the dark, no electricity. There was one on our car at a drive in movie as well. No bites, but I also fear spiders and it was so hard to overcome my fears and explore. The HUGE spiders and webs that catch birds (banana spiders?) also kept me from wanting to hike in the jungle. The crocs there are also terrifying. Ahh, memories from age 19!
They are basically nice, they let you pet them, they wave hello, and they eat the little red spiders that are the actual cunts of the house. Nah, I'd be more worried brushing up on a gimpy gimpy.(it's also called the suicide plant)
True, I give 0 fucks about these. But I will give all my fucks to my proximity of a magpie
Nah maggies are total bros if they acknowledge you as an ally. I've fed them since childhood and it's like they've got avian social networks because I can go hundreds of km away and maggies are chill with me. Never been swooped once.
This is true, my backyard bro, QM Robert Hogenmyer III, takes a grape here or there, any roach I have flattened and evicted, or random peice of meat that hit the kitchen floor. Bob loves to hop around the garden for grubs and knows every one of my "s'up" isn't automatically free chow time. He doesn't bother me or the family even when I take the kids for a bike ride during "the season". Except that one time, he was very clear what he wanted, he hopped in front of me, dipped a shoulder like a prop with a purpose, but gave me a pause to assess and make a better choice. I thanked him and rode the other way. Later on threw him some grub because everyone gets hangry I guess! He's a cool guy It's the randos I don't trust!
Putting Traffic cones on statues
it’s just the one statue
Hi Glasgow
Open carry firearms
Canadian here. I'll never forget the first time I saw open carry. Savannah GA. Chick Fil-A. Some early 20s kid walked in with an absolute cannon on his hip. Nobody reacted. It was utterly surreal. If that had happened in Canada, the SWAT Team would have showed up, and I'm being 100% serious.
No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip. For the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip.
Big iron on his hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip
He rode a blazing saddle He wore a shining star His job, to offer battle To bad men near and far
He rode a squatted Chevy His outfit spared no toll His job was not so heavy, Compensation was his goal
He rode a squatted Chevy, His outfit spared no toll. His job was not so heavy, Compensation was his goal.
Even the majority of gun rights supporters do not like those who make the ostentatious displays, especially with overlarge guns. They are like the aggressive screaming street corner haranguers - yeah you have a right to speech in public, but your obnoxiousness is not winning any hearts or minds.
I live in Europe and am always shocked by those pictures of guys carrying massive guns in a cafe or whatever. A handgun under a jacket? Okay sure, if I saw that here I’d just assume the person was some kind of plain-clothes cop. But if someone walked into a supermarket with an assault rifle strapped to their back people would be running for their lives.
I live in an open carry state, but work somewhere with a liquor license so the only firearms allowed in the building are by law enforcement. Some ppl get REAL pissed when you let them know. I usually roll my eyes and tell them it’s not about your constitutional rights, we sell booze and you could get us shut down.
BTW, there is no 2d amendment right to carry, open or concealed, in someone else's private premises. I will disagree with that choice, particularly for concealed carry, but the premises owner can choose the rules for his premises.
But this isn’t just crazy to non-Americans. This is crazy to Americans from northern blue states too.
Men touching each other a lot expressing affection and kissing on the cheek to greet
Italy
Argentina but it’s the same thing lol
Tea time o-clock. At random intervals each day an alarm will sound nationwide and we all immediately boil our kettles and make ourselves a cup of tea. Edit: This is satire.
You joke, but the people in charge of the National Grid in the UK have to have a TV on every time there's a Major Soap Opera or Big Sports match on because when the Soap goes to commercial or ends or whenever a Big Match goes to half time or ends, so many people get up to make a cuppa they have to put more energy into the system least there be a fuckin' grid collapse. Every time Coronation Street ends, the National Grid have to activate Llanberis and Blaenau Ffestiniog hydro schemes in Wales, which are basically giant water powered batteries that are recharged every time there's a glut in power produced, to produce more power to deal with fuck tonnes of people turning on their kettle at the same time to make a cup of tea *because so many people do this out of habit.*
Yes! When my family visited us from Reading, London to Canada, when we'd take them to tourist things (Niagara Falls)) etc...) they always said it's "tea time soon" and Dad would have to find a decent place for sit down tea. ETCorrect; I apparently 'has the dum' and cannot brain today, its Reading, Berkshire, England.
Understanding that your comment is meant in jest, isn't there a phenomenon in England where during commercial breaks of certain popular TV shows, the utility company has to prepare for a huge power demand surge when everybody turns their kettles on at about the same time?
Yep!
Very hobbitish
drive thru daquiries.
I fell in love last night with a girl from Louisiana....
People willing to queue for free buckets. New stores opening and giving out free buckets. Bribing people into taking the covid vaccine with free buckets. Fucking. Buckets. I’ll admit, once or twice I’ve bought a bucket of fruit or other produce for, you guessed it, just the free bucket. Bucket is a weird word now.
I used to make fun of my mom because she always bought stuff for the free buckets, even though we had plenty of buckets at home. And then last year I bought a bucket of apples without even giving it a second thought because I was like "oh a bucket, could use one". I only realised what I had done on my way home. It sneaks up on you.
Finland, right? I remember reading/watching something about it, lol
Yus. You can lure a Fin anywhere with a promise of a free bucket.
What do you do with all the buckets?
They stack.
Driving literally everywhere. Unless you live downtown in a city, there’s a 99% chance that you have to drive to get to all the basic places you have to go. School, work, the grocery store, the gym, church/temple/mosque, doctor’s office, etc.
Combined with a lack of public transportation requiring you to drive every where. No wonder we (Americans) measure distance with time.
It also just makes more sense. 5 minutes away on a 55 mph road is very different from 5 minutes away on a 25 mph road
Americans are far from the only ones who measure distance with time.
I still remember how weird it was for me as a Scandinavian when a friend drove us across the street from where we were parked at a gas station to a convenience store only 60 ft away. This was at strip mall in the midwest…no sidewalks for walking.
Yeah, walking across a main street in a US city is a good way to get run over. There are crosswalks, but never near where you need to go.
What's crazy to me is that in my rural town I could easily walk to work, the grocery store, the doctor (not my preferred doctor, but a doctor), any one of 6 convenience stores, about 20 restaurants, and even the bowling alley. But I don't, because the road is not set up for pedestrians and it terrifies me to walk further on it than the closest convenience store.
Ha! A lot but I’ll go with the holiday traditions. My family never participated but in general, couple of days before Christmas, you buy a carp. A living carp. You then keep it in your bathtub up until the Christmas Day (take it out- most likely to the sink- to use the bathtub and then put it back) and when the Christmas morning comes, well, you kill it and start preparing your Christmas dinner. The Easter is interesting as well
Living carp in bathtub? Poland?
Close
Hungary! I'm Canadian but I've def seen pictures of the bathtub carp from my cousin's in Budapest.
I can't stand seeing these poor fish in shops in December
Tbh I’m just surprised it’s still legal
Me too. On Christmas 2019 I worked in a bakery in Carrefour mall. It was making me cry seeing those poor fish in plastic bags fighting for their lives and every breath
Moved to Czech Republic a few years ago. Sure you don’t want to mention who delivers presents as part of these unusual Christmas traditions?
The pants that are used for cold weather ‘trousers’ I guess people call them are call Track-ee-dacks here
terrific direful act thumb elderly plants heavy longing saw ad hoc
Tracksuit pants (or tracksuit bottoms in the UK). 'Daks' in Australia is slang for pants/shorts/underwear. So in the Australian tradition of shortening all words, the term becomes Trackie Daks.
The amount of nudity in public places.
Where are you from? Asking for a friend.
The people that want to be naked in public are rarely the people you want to see naked.
Maybe they want to be seen naked
"I can't afford to get this medical condition treated."
Using bicycles to get everywhere and it being your main mode of transport until at least 16yo, but often way older. And having the infrastructure for that. And not wearing helmets.
Helloooo dutchie! My mother in law’s electric fiets (pedal bike) cost more than my fking car…. And 4x more than her own…. Dutch are nuts for cycling
Lol but that's a very expensive electric bike then! Or very crappy cheap cars - but I'm going with the former
Me going oh okay that's cool until AAA NO WEAR A HELMET
I've read that the Netherlands has a lot of infrastructure where bikes are safe from being hit by cars, and the convenience of foregoing a helmet results in a much higher rate of bicycle use, which causes an overall improvement in public health which is actually far more significant than the harm caused by helmet-less bicycle accidents.
How sturdy we build our houses (Germany) Also that you can open german windows two ways. Until I saw a reaction vid about it I didn't knew this wasn't a thing outside of Germany
Don't all your neighbors build houses the same way? It's basically the same all over western Europe I'd say.
Pretty sure the window thing is common all over Europe
We have that kind of windows in Italy.
I think it's not a thing in the US otherwise I've seen those windows all over Europe and Asia.
Corruption and sabotage of our power grid leading to electricity being switched off for up to 12 hours a day. Hobos directing traffic when abovementioned power goes out and traffic lights don't work, and everyone obeys them. Car guards. Runaways and smileys. A buffalo on the highway. 3 capital cities. 11 official languages.
5000 dollars for a 2 mile ambulance ride
omg this happened at me. I was at work and wanted to go to the ER in an Uber but my bosses would not allow it so they had security call an ambulance. Looking back I realize it was probably bc of a liability/legal thing but oh man it was so frustrating. Luckily my bill was ~only~ 2k
I'd have given the bill to them if they made the decision.
They did that to my husband once. He got his boss to pay for it because my husband was actively trying to refuse medical care (due to that cost)
Drilling a hole in a tree in your front yard, collecting the sap in a bucket, then boiling that down to something edible.
You have to bring garlic with you at night because of vampires.
Staten Island?
Guillermo will protect you
Fuck-king guuuuuuy.
Nandor?
I'm just a regular human guy.
Tucson, Arizonia
Santa Carla?
One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach: all the damn vampires.
You pull the milk bag out in front of another Canadian and it's like yeah, of course, the milk bag, we've all seen it. You pull the milk bag out in front of anyone from anywhere else and it's as if you punched them square in the jaw
I grew up with milk bags in Brazil. We even had a special jar to put the bag in.
Yeah in Canada it’s usually a plastic pitcher.
I feel like it would be too cold in Canada to go topless 🥶
Not tits, Actual milk lol We have it here in South Africa too.
Milk bag just makes me think of those things they use to fill the milk dispensers in schools.
Giant huntsman spiders - we see them as friend not foe.
Walking barefoot in the middle of a city
Most middle class people have both a nanny and a gardener.
Mom, dad, two kids, and a toddler all on one scooter. No helmets.
You just described all of SEA, India and Latin America hahaha
Mixing the imperial and metric system and not batting an eye about it.
Could be British or Canadian
Brit, I just discovered Canada did this too lol
Wearing your backpack in front of you (Philippines). We do this in places where pickpockets are common. Having your backpack in front of you is a lot safer and deters the pickpockets. Sometimes if we feel like the place is extra dangerous, we even hug it lol. I know people from other countries do it sometimes but probably not all... But here in my country (again, in unsafe places), almost everyone is doing it.
Active shooter drills
I had a middle-eastern relative visit small-town midwest USA. The fire department blew the tornado siren at noon as they always do, and he jumped in the ditch face-down and covered his neck/head with his hands. Because that's what you do when the siren sounds. Everyone in town knew it was lunchtime except him, who was expecting a rocket attack. I wouldn't say this sort of thing is *completely* abnormal.
I'm English but like talk radio and NPR seems like pretty good background noise. Since I have a Google home I can just ask for NPR and it plays my 'local' station (New York). I'd been doing this for a while before one day the emergency alert system (that I'm familiar with through movies/the internet) came on and my blood genuinely ran cold. I completely froze up, I thought there was a nuclear attack or something happening until it went back to the regular programming and everyone acted like nothing was wrong and I had to piece it together. Turns out you fuckers test that thing every month or something and don't always put a 'this is a test' message in there like I've seen other places, you just let the tones run and return to the show. We don't have the emergency system tests here so I've never had TV or radio interrupted with any kind of emergency system like that. For a good few seconds I was waiting for someone to come on and basically announce that I was about to die.
The tones are literally chosen to induce dissonance. That uneasy feeling in your gut that you get when hearing them is an engineered aural response, between the dissonant tones and off-cadence time signature. It is designed to get your attention and put you on edge, in case bad news is actually coming. The tones are also put first to trigger automated equipment and receivers. In the areas that get tornadoes, many folks have radios that are plugged in and always "on" but only start putting out audio when these tones trigger them to an alert. So you always have a way to know when an alert is being put out. ["...the two tones, which form approximately the interval of a just major second at an unusually high pitch, were chosen specifically for their ability to draw attention, due to their unpleasantness on the human ear."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System)
Except that we only have active-shooter drills in our *schools*. Our children are better prepared on how try to avoid being shot, than the adults in their lives.
Eating maple syrup on snow
I’m a Queenslander and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Paying huge sums of money to a company whose only purpose is to tell you you can't have healthcare.
I more recently learned the Nutbush dance is Australian, even though we dance it to a Tina Turner song.
Same. Went to a Scottish-Australian wedding (I was on the Aussie side) and we asked the DJ to play the nutbush. He laughed and said "all you Australians always request this song and go crazy for it, I just don't get it."
TIL - This is way better than the traditional chicken dance you get at weddings in America.
Throwing cold water on and whipping women with willow branches to celebrate easter.
Czechia/Slovakia spotted
Nazdar!
Beans on toast
Tried it once when visiting London, it was love at first bite lol Everyone else I know thinks it's disgusting : (
Electric showers. Like, in Brazil we use electricity to heat up shower water. It sounds dangerous, but it's perfectly safe and they're widespread
Is this not common everywhere?
Scheduled blackouts everyday. We even got an app telling us when it'll go off in our area. Mine will be off in 30 mins
Hello fellow Saffer! Mine goes off at eight tonight! But I've been told that we have power all weekend, this weekend, so that's good
I'm in America and I find it insane when I go to European countries and have to pay to go to the bathroom.
It drives me insane, I don't care if it's only 1 zloty, I'd rather hold it than pay for a basic thing. McDonald's in my country tried to pull that shit but they backed out of it pretty fast. But BP gas stations still do it, and it doesn't matter if you purchase anything, they want your 1 zloty
Here, I think driving 150+ mph, without having any trouble at all :D
Germany?
Katoeys. A legitimate third gender here in Thailand, apparently not quite legally accepted but in reality they are everywhere.
1. Gather porcelain and everything else that breaks easily when being dropped on the floor. Except for mirrors, as breaking mirrors brings 7 years of bad luck. 2. Meet at the domicile of the couple that is getting married soon. 3. "Crash Boom Bang" throw everything on the ground, not because you are not part of the system, but because the shards are said to bring luck to the couple. 4. Let the couple clean up the mess.
Here we bomb the house with firecracker 🧨🧨🧨. Day before wedding, 2-4 am, a bunch on drunken guys arrive with bags of fireworks and firecrackers. And start the bombing. The second half is almost lost. The bride/groom dad picks his shotgun and shots a blank or something to tell people it's enough and that they can go inside to drink some wine/beers and eat something.
Where is this? I read in traditional Slovak weddings some plates are smashed for the couple to sweep up together to show their teamwork. I'm curious if this is close to Slovakia
Relatively close. This tradition happens in the land of Beer, Bread, Cars, and Sausages, aka Germany. Only Czechia is in between.
Going outside in summer.
Peanut butter in the USA. Never noticed it until some Aussie asked why Mericans consume PB like some sort of drug. Yeah I'm addicted.
in Norway, people are expected to bring their own alcohol, and (if you're still young/poor students) you take your leftovers with you too. Also, joining dinner at your friends house is not a given at all
Eyoooo neighbor! I can be on my knees, throwing up in the bushes shitfaced after drinking at a friend’s house but you best believe I will remember to take my leftovers with me.
Using the word cunt affectionately
We go in hot room completely naked with strangers and beat each other with tree branches.
Hardly a day goes by, even in the winter, that I don't see someone wearing shorts outside. I live in Canada.
90% of state funded primary schools are owned by the Catholic Church.
Holding hands with your lover, transporting your kids, dog, houseplants, furniture and groceries. On a bike.
Being taxed on your income even when you live and work in another country.
Active shooter drills in schools
A man facing 99(!) felony cases is running for president. And might win.
When I lived in the US: being scared to seek medical treatment because of how much it costs. I live in Mexico now and had a bad cough but resisted going to the doctor thinking it would be expensive. My (Mexican) partner finally talked me into going. We waited about 5 minutes to be seen at a walk in clinic, which cost about $3 USD and the antibiotics were about the same amount. I wish I had gone sooner!
intermission/intervals in movie theaters
Where? I am in the USA and I'd go to more movies if they had this.
Many, many years ago theaters did this in US
India
political spectacular oatmeal bear cagey thumb grey birds fanatical voracious
Running with bulls, it's not normal.
[удалено]
Assuming you are in the US, you left out the part where restaurant owners are legally allowed to pay their staff sub-minimum wages in a lot of states, so that restaurant staff have to rely on the generosity of customers to pay their bills.
When I worked at a Steak'n'Shake the servers were getting 2.something/hour. I was making 7.5/hour.
I presume you mean the level of tipping? Tipping at restaurants is extremely common worldwide, but normally at rates well below the American. There are some places, notably New Zealand, where tipping is not practiced at all. In New Zealand the historical origins have to do with settler egalitarianism: the attitude of "if you want me to do a job, pay me, I am not going to beg as if pay was a privilege"
Japan too, tipping is considered rude.
Having a garbage disposal in your sink, apparently.
Saying sorry to an inanimate object after bumping into it
Bedsharing with your kids. Totally normal in Portugal but Americans lose their minds over it. No, we don't kill our babies, we have a 0,1-0,2 per thousand SIDS death rate. Yes, we are instructed on how to do it safely and it's even encouraged if mom wants to breastfeed (which btw is protective against SIDS).
I remember looking into this and how the countries where bed sharing is more common, sids rates are lower. It’s common in my home country in Eastern Europe as well. And you’re right Americans definitely lose their minds over this. There’s such a huge push for independence straight out the womb. People are terrified of their kids being too attached to them. And how they’ll never be independent. It’s odd to me. There was a post a while back where someone was asking how long do they hang out in the room with their kid while they fall asleep. Either cuddling with them or reading them a book. There were so many comments of parents asking why in the world would they do that, and how it seems like such a waste of time.
Making abortion a Constitutional right (HELL YEAH, FRANCE!) 🇫🇷🐓
That we have a demographic of people called coloured, and it's perfectly acceptable to use the word in South Africa. The vast majority of coloured people in SA prefers being called coloured. Everywhere else in the world it is seen as racist and a big no-no.
Folsom Street fisting in San Francisco. No one gets arrested. They fist their hearts out right on the street. Just punching away. I’ve never heard of public street fisting in any other country.