28 November 2023 , 14:55
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The world is a big old place and inevitably people on one side of it are going to do somethings different that those on the other side.
The US, for example, has around 335 million people living in it and about 8 million expats based in other countries. On top of this, tens of millions of tourists visit the vast, culturally influential country each year.
With this in mind, what things do outsiders think are unusual that people from America do? A user on Reddit posed just this question on Tuesday: "What things do Americans do that people from other countries find extremely weird or strange?"
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At the time of writing the post has amassed almost 3,000 replies in around 12 hours from people keen to have their say. A wide range of answers came flooding in and one user queried the US's seeming penchant for flags.
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They wrote: "Flags on lawns, flags everywhere," while another embellished it further and said: "I'm Australian and when I was in the US a few years back I checked out The Big E, a multi-state expo in Springfield, Massachusetts.
"While there I overheard a kid ask her mum where her dad was, and she replied "He's gone to look at flagpoles". It was the most American thing I heard anyone say the whole time I was in the country, and I damn near busted a gut laughing. The flag thing is completely bonkers."
Elsewhere, another common theme that cropped up was the overabundance of food portion sizes. One user wrote: "America is very leftover heavy- usually when my friends and I get food at restaurants, we end up taking the leftovers to go with us, not finishing it all in one go."
Another agreed but noted the potential benefits of it: "At restaurants that give large servings, most of us are counting on it for leftovers. You can stretch it into 2-3 more meals when you pack it to go. Sometimes that’s the best part, not having to worry about lunch the next day."
Other quirks of the country included "small talk" and the "friendliness" of strangers, eating out in cars, adding taxes at checkouts, and "mandatory" tipping, which was described as "absolutely absurd." Quite a few users also picked out the amount of advertisements for medications.
One said: "It’s weird. Those corporations are so desperate for money they’re willing to sell any meds even if people don’t actually need them." However, one American defended the adverts and said: "As an indoctrinated American I've never found this strange. I've suffered migraines for my entire life and if I'd not seen that ad for medication I'd never have found a semblance of help."
More serious opinions included guns in the US as one person replied: "Manic obsession with guns over human life," and another claimed: "Guns. The culture around them. The stubbornness. The ease of availability. The huge number of mass shootings yet no one cares to change anything."
While a few other people appeared to take umbrage at the US's approach to fashion etiquette. One person griped: "Wearing caps indoors, especially baseball caps as if they were somewhat fashionable." And another simply said: "Caps on in the restaurant. So weird."