What are some strange American customs?

[Aramythia]

Speaking of baseball, I find it curious how most Americans would gladly watch NFL match-ups consisting of two teams based thousands of miles away, but will only watch the World Series if their hometown team is involved.

No clue. I won't watch NFL if it's under my bedroom windows. I hate football.

I agreeth.

[Katganistan]

If you don't know, why are you opining on it?

Maybe because you said something that was blatantly wrong? Yep, I think that was it. I mean, seriously?

You said yourself you had no idea if it was invented in the US. Next you'll be telling me that an American company doesn't produce Vegemite.

I just thought of one.

When you kill your first deer (which usually happens at around 9-12 in my region. Both genders) your dad or whoever took you hunting wipes some on the blood on your face. I'm not a fan of hunting but most people that I know are, regardless if gender or age.

And fathers usually give their child their first gun at around 12-14.

Yeah, that might be local to your area. Never heard of it in NY.

I am against switching to the metric system, but not as an American pride thing.

The U.S. is a big country, so think of how expensive it would be to convert all the road signs to kilometers.

Now I am not against spending money, but the U.S. should get out of debt before anything else.

Require all new car speedometers to show kilometers per hour and to tell you how many kilometers you get to the liter, and that transition will be swift.

They replace road signs regularly anyhow; how much cost to replace them when damaged or scheduled? Not much.

Clapping when an airplane lands.

"Oh thank God we're not dead?"

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

They hold the land line with their shoulders and not with their hands and they greet everybody in an office which includes the sweepers and category 3 staff

[Katganistan]

Let's not, please.


Yes, they'd all have to go on the dole. Great idea.

Don't forget cowboy wannabes shooting down kids.

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From everywhere.

Could you clarify? I don't even know what you're responding to since you clipped 'my' quote, and when I click the "wrote" link it doesn't connect to anything.

[Dakini]

Unnecessarily large cars, suburbs, the continued existence of the dollar bill and penny, obsession with guns, deep fried <insert food that should not be deep fried here>, drive thru (bank, pharmacy, liquor store, insert other things which are not usually drive through), continued insistence on ignoring the contributions of other countries...

What's wrong with suburbs? Suburbs are there for people who are wise enough to not want to live in a city but also don't want to live 2 miles away from their neighbor.

They're for people who want to live a wholly unsustainable lifestyle that is disproportionately destructive to the environment.

[Katganistan]

American custom I find odd, but it's mostly a southern thing: giant Confederate flags hanging from pickup trucks.

Americans say they regret slavery, and then they glorify and reminisce about the 'good old days'.

Not all of us. In fact, just a very specific population out of 300 million.

[Bunkeranlage]

they greet everybody in an office which includes the sweepers and category 3 staff

That's actually a good thing, if you ask me. It shows the other person that you acknowledge their presence in the room.

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

they greet everybody in an office which includes the sweepers and category 3 staff

That's actually a good thing, if you ask me. It shows the other person that you acknowledge their presence in the room.

You are not supposed to acknowledge everybody in a room, I don't think things work that way

especially category 3 staff

[Katganistan]

I think the strangest custom is the finding a penny heads up is good luck and you should keep it, but finding it tails up you're supposed to turn it over for someone else and have no luck the rest of the day. I'm not sure if that's an American-only thing, though.

Never heard of that.

[Dakini]

Oh, I somehow forgot about the stubborn and stupid refusal to use the metric system.

[Bunkeranlage]

That's actually a good thing, if you ask me. It shows the other person that you acknowledge their presence in the room.

You are not supposed to acknowledge everybody in a room, I don't think things work that way

especially category 3 staff

Explain please.

[Bunkeranlage]

Oh, I somehow forgot about the stubborn and stupid refusal to use the metric system.

Something that perplexes me beyond description.

[Katganistan]

American custom I find odd, but it's mostly a southern thing: giant Confederate flags hanging from pickup trucks.

Not much different than hanging up any other state/provincial flag.

Except it's not. It's the flag of an obliterated rebellion.

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

You are not supposed to acknowledge everybody in a room, I don't think things work that way

especially category 3 staff

Explain please.

Servants are supposed to be treated like servants otherwise it would get in their head that they are not servants, there is always a certain hierarchy in organization, which is supposed to be respected. A person serving tea is not supposed to be acknowledged or thanked, it is his job to serve you tea. Similarly, Americans greet the watchmans, the darbars and other people, which is not good as it does not adhere to hierarchy. I have never correct the shoulder phone method of holding the phone because I never saw any need to, it is just a quirk but this is breaking basic protocol and is against common decency

[Katganistan]

The fact that the U.S seems to have a talent of coming up with issues that are not seen anywhere else in the industrial world. Net neutrality, creationism in science classes, climate change denial, healthcare=bad and so on.

All coming from the right whose attitude is FUCK YOU, I GOT MINE, PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR YOURS, GOD SAYS I'M RIGHT.

I think most Americans see Canada as the Top-Hat country- makes us look better but nothing else. I live in what I consider New England territory, and I have nothing against people living outside the region.

I thought you said you were in Pennsylvania?

That is not New England. Neither is New York, although some parts of upstate New York are similar in terms of the regional culture.

Nah, we NYers are midAtlantic. But we like travelling to New England in the fall.
And New England clam chowder is superior in all ways to Manhattan clam chowder.

[Alyakia]

but this is breaking basic protocol and is against common decency

this is sounding pretty castey tbh

[AkAr Cydonia]

Politicians and people not upholding the constitution.

[Judah]

From what I've seen:

Obsession with sports
Gay pride parades
Unhealthy foods
Refusal to adopt the metric system

I fucking hate Fox News. I don't even know how it's still on air. Oh wait, it's the elderly population that watch it say all our presidents are fucktards.

But you haven't an issue with MSNBC, right?

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

but this is breaking basic protocol and is against common decency

this is sounding pretty castey tbh

Well All offices are basically meritocracies, where you are supposed to treat people according to their caliber and grade 3 employees are not meant to be greeted, it is weird

[Katganistan]

There's a big difference between stealing money and assimilating cultures.

For one, blending cultures with your own is a social step towards tolerance and assimilation, both necessary for the survival of a very diverse state (i.e. United States)

Blending money with your own, on the other hand, is depriving someone of the money they earned by force. You do not deprive someone of their culture if you blend their culture with your own, because they will still retain their own cultural identity.

My point was that taking another culture and calling it American is wrong and is pretty much stealing. Integration and multiculturalism, fine, so long as it's recognised that those customs are customs from their native land, and not from America.

Except that it IS an American custom, where large populations have become American and shared the custom.

Is it too difficult to understand that America is a multicultural nation?

[Bunkeranlage]

Explain please.

Servants are supposed to be treated like servants otherwise it would get in their head that they are not servants, there is always a certain hierarchy in organization, which is supposed to be respected. A person serving tea is not supposed to be acknowledged or thanked, it is his job to serve you tea. Similarly, Americans greet the watchmans, the darbars and other people, which is not good as it does not adhere to hierarchy. I have never correct the shoulder phone method of holding the phone because I never saw any need to, it is just a quirk but this is breaking basic protocol and is against common decency

So servants are not humans?

Just because someone is only doing his job means that we should ignore him and not acknowledge him?

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

Servants are supposed to be treated like servants otherwise it would get in their head that they are not servants, there is always a certain hierarchy in organization, which is supposed to be respected. A person serving tea is not supposed to be acknowledged or thanked, it is his job to serve you tea. Similarly, Americans greet the watchmans, the darbars and other people, which is not good as it does not adhere to hierarchy. I have never correct the shoulder phone method of holding the phone because I never saw any need to, it is just a quirk but this is breaking basic protocol and is against common decency

So servants are not humans?

They are humans

[Katganistan]

Well you have a point.

So in terms of customs, any restaurants unique solely to the US that offer strange menus?

I'll be fair, the US has given the world some great cuisine, for example the bacon-cheese doughnut burger...

I've never seen that and wouldn't eat it on a bet.

[Bunkeranlage]

They are humans

Yet you advocate treating them as if they don't even exist?

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

They are humans

Yet you advocate treating them as if they don't even exist?

No, I am advocating treating people according to their rank

Americans don't understand this and it is hard to explain it to them

I once even saw an American refer to his boss with his first name that is the problem with the Americans is that they tend make the workplace worse by making it casual