What are some strange American customs?

[Soldati Senza Confini]

I think I can list a few more customs but remember these are generalizations and should be treated accordingly for some people on this forum don't understand

1) The American will eat a far larger serving of food and generally will eat meat everyday and the American eats bigger morsels

2) I have only seen white Americans, so I can say that when the American comes here he is pale but after a year his appearance changes as he becomes tanned, according to one my friends who knows them a little more better than I do, Tanned skin is preferred by some Americans , while over here we have fairness creams ( colonial hangover) both customs are equally weird

3) I think I have said this but the Americans use their shoulders to hold a phone and not their hand

I've only ever seen people hold a phone with their shoulders when they don't have a freehand headset and they're busy doing shit with both their hands.

With bluetooth freehand headsets now that's something not everyone does.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Yeah, those are pretty weird and I've never seen one in Massachusetts.

They're uncommon, but not unheard of here in Arizona. Do y'all ever see rolling coal trucks? There are plenty of those here in Arizona.

In case you're curious, these are rolling coal trucks,
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/he ... story.html

I fucking hate rolling coal trucks.

Sure, they are useful in certain situations, but people just doing it because they want to be fucking hip piss me off.

[Dakini]

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

I'm sorry you mind us actually being informal.

It's not like we're going to give a shit all of a sudden, really.

You're responding to a guy who still calls people "servants" about how he treats people. I'm not sure what you expect here.

[Dakini]

I think I can list a few more customs but remember these are generalizations and should be treated accordingly for some people on this forum don't understand

1) The American will eat a far larger serving of food and generally will eat meat everyday and the American eats bigger morsels

2) I have only seen white Americans, so I can say that when the American comes here he is pale but after a year his appearance changes as he becomes tanned, according to one my friends who knows them a little more better than I do, Tanned skin is preferred by some Americans , while over here we have fairness creams ( colonial hangover) both customs are equally weird

3) I think I have said this but the Americans use their shoulders to hold a phone and not their hand

1. Food in restaurants in the US is served in larger portions. However, it is definitely common (and acceptable) to take a doggy bag and eat the rest of your food later.
2. Just because you've only seen white Americans doesn't mean there are only white Americans. Also, this isn't a cultural thing.
3. ...not usually, they don't.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I'm sorry you mind us actually being informal.

It's not like we're going to give a shit all of a sudden, really.

You're responding to a guy who still calls people "servants" about how he treats people. I'm not sure what you expect here.

I think that's Manisdog.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

There was something I wanted to address, but I forgot.

[Dakini]

You're responding to a guy who still calls people "servants" about how he treats people. I'm not sure what you expect here.

I think that's Manisdog.

I know.

And I know that people from the upper class in India sometimes/often refer to maids/butlers/drivers/other domestic employees as "servants". That doesn't make it magically it a less shitty or demeaning term and given that he seems to think it's totally reasonable to ignore the fuck out of "tier 3" workers and treat them like they basically don't exist, it's pretty reasonable to infer that he doesn't think much of these people.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I think that's Manisdog.

I know.

And I know that people from the upper class in India sometimes/often refer to maids/butlers/drivers/other domestic employees as "servants". That doesn't make it magically it a less shitty or demeaning term.

Never said it wasn't demeaning. All I said that this user's Manisdog, more than likely.

[Dakini]

I know.

And I know that people from the upper class in India sometimes/often refer to maids/butlers/drivers/other domestic employees as "servants". That doesn't make it magically it a less shitty or demeaning term.

Never said it wasn't demeaning. All I said that this user's Manisdog, more than likely.

I thought that was well-known or even admitted?

[Puryong]

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?

Multicultural means different cultures living side by side in the same nation, not one big vat of bits of other cultures called "American".

[Puryong]

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.

It's still considered okay to fly the confederacy flag... And white police officers can get away with the murder of black people, children even.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

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

Well we use the metric system. We just don't use it outside of science a lot.

Seriously, most cars I've owned in the U.S. come with both miles and kilometers in their speedometers and other tidbits such as bolts and nuts. However, for construction and roads we use miles. And even if we were to switch to the metric system it'd take decades before we fully convert the country to metric.

I'm an immigrant who's used to both systems, mind, but I can get why they use it still instead of switching over.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

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...

I don't disagree with most of these things, although most of the drive-thru service was more of a convenience thing.

I have also never seen a drive thru liquor store myself :/

I'm also curious as to what you deem "large cars".

[Soldati Senza Confini]

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?

Multicultural means different cultures living side by side in the same nation, not one big vat of bits of other cultures called "American".

That's not what multicultural means.

Multiculturalism in America takes the shape of assimilating from other cultures and after some generations call it "it has become part of our American culture". It does not mean we are both American and still say we're [insert nationality here]. Most nationalized citizens don't say "I'm Salvadoran" unless asked where they come from originally. Most of us say "I'm an American".

[Soldati Senza Confini]

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

It's still considered okay to fly the confederacy flag... And white police officers can get away with the murder of black people, children even.

It's only considered okay in your own house.

As much as most of us don't like the Confederate flag, we have a culture where we actually honor private property and we generally do not interfere with someone else's property unless they break city ordinances.

[Dakini]

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?

Multicultural means different cultures living side by side in the same nation, not one big vat of bits of other cultures called "American".

Meh, the melting pot is quite nice. Canada does the same sort of thing and it's nice when people meld their ideas together into new things (especially when these things turn out to be new delicious foods).

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

I think I can list a few more customs but remember these are generalizations and should be treated accordingly for some people on this forum don't understand

1) The American will eat a far larger serving of food and generally will eat meat everyday and the American eats bigger morsels

2) I have only seen white Americans, so I can say that when the American comes here he is pale but after a year his appearance changes as he becomes tanned, according to one my friends who knows them a little more better than I do, Tanned skin is preferred by some Americans , while over here we have fairness creams ( colonial hangover) both customs are equally weird

3) I think I have said this but the Americans use their shoulders to hold a phone and not their hand

1. Food in restaurants in the US is served in larger portions. However, it is definitely common (and acceptable) to take a doggy bag and eat the rest of your food later.
2. Just because you've only seen white Americans doesn't mean there are only white Americans. Also, this isn't a cultural thing.
3. ...not usually, they don't.

1) They definetly eat more than us and take bigger bites of food

2) I will take your word for it as this information is secondary

3) I have seen many of them, they use the shoulder to hold the phone and use their other hands to type/ write, it is something i never could do comfortably this has to be common among americans as i have seen 6 americans do it in a span of 2 years and i have met 15 Americans in my life

[Independent State AF]

It's still considered okay to fly the confederacy flag... And white police officers can get away with the murder of black people, children even.

It's only considered okay in your own house.

As much as most of us don't like the Confederate flag, we have a culture where we actually honor private property and we generally do not interfere with someone else's property unless they break city ordinances.

We also tend to not assume a police officer is guilty y'know..when its presumed innocent until proven guilty.
I understand this is a foreign concept in some places, but try to understand.

[Dakini]

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

Well we use the metric system. We just don't use it outside of science a lot.

Seriously, most cars I've owned in the U.S. come with both miles and kilometers in their speedometers and other tidbits such as bolts and nuts. However, for construction and roads we use miles. And even if we were to switch to the metric system it'd take decades before we fully convert the country to metric.

I'm an immigrant who's used to both systems, mind, but I can get why they use it still instead of switching over.

Cars in the USA and Canada have both because the odds are non-trivial that someone will be driving their car from a country that does metric to one that doesn't (or vice versa). It's not because Americans think about their speed in metric or because Canadians think about their speed in Imperial.

It's definitely stupid and useless. Seriously, kids in the USA waste so much time converting shit in non-metric units. You know how much time we spent learning about conversions in metric? It was basically "so k means 1000 times, which means that 1 km = 1000 m". This was a lesson that took 10 minutes. Probably less.

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...

I don't disagree with most of these things, although most of the drive-thru service was more of a convenience thing.

I have also never seen a drive thru liquor store myself :/

I'm also curious as to what you deem "large cars".

The convenience thing is pretty unnecessary and generally weird. Granted, the lack of a wholly integrated bank system where you can put money into your bank at an ATM or use Interac to pay for shit from your bank account at the cash register is also weird. I mean, I've gone to do banking with my partner and he always has to talk to a teller. I only have to talk to a teller when I'm exchanging some change or dealing with some issue regarding my account. If I want to add money to my bank in Canada, it's either done electronically or I cram it into an ATM whenever I want.

Granted, Japan's banking system is mostly stupid too.


Oh, and by "large cars", I mean like 90% of the cars in the USA. SUVs and all are just ridiculous. Going to North America after a year in Japan, the first instance of culture shock was the size of the cars. Many of them are at least twice as large as they need to be.

[Imperialpowersofkorea]

I think I can list a few more customs but remember these are generalizations and should be treated accordingly for some people on this forum don't understand

1) The American will eat a far larger serving of food and generally will eat meat everyday and the American eats bigger morsels

2) I have only seen white Americans, so I can say that when the American comes here he is pale but after a year his appearance changes as he becomes tanned, according to one my friends who knows them a little more better than I do, Tanned skin is preferred by some Americans , while over here we have fairness creams ( colonial hangover) both customs are equally weird

3) I think I have said this but the Americans use their shoulders to hold a phone and not their hand

I've only ever seen people hold a phone with their shoulders when they don't have a freehand headset and they're busy doing shit with both their hands.

With bluetooth freehand headsets now that's something not everyone does.

I don't think you can plug in headsets to land lines, if there is such a thing i am ordering them

[Dakini]

1. Food in restaurants in the US is served in larger portions. However, it is definitely common (and acceptable) to take a doggy bag and eat the rest of your food later.
2. Just because you've only seen white Americans doesn't mean there are only white Americans. Also, this isn't a cultural thing.
3. ...not usually, they don't.

1) They definetly eat more than us and take bigger bites of food

2) I will take your word for it as this information is secondary

3) I have seen many of them, they use the shoulder to hold the phone and use their other hands to type/ write, it is something i never could do comfortably this has to be common among americans as i have seen 6 americans do it in a span of 2 years and i have met 15 Americans in my life

1. Yeah, and the average person from the USA is 15 cm taller than the average person from India. You expect they should eat the same amount when they are significantly taller? Also, it depends on the individual.

2. The USA is more racially diverse than India is so... yeah.

3. Ah, so you've seen a totally non-statistical representation of people and that totally means that you know everything about them. Gotcha.

[Dakini]

I've only ever seen people hold a phone with their shoulders when they don't have a freehand headset and they're busy doing shit with both their hands.

With bluetooth freehand headsets now that's something not everyone does.

I don't think you can plug in headsets to land lines, if there is such a thing i am ordering them

wtf Americans are you seeing in India using landlines?

[Lost heros]

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?

Multicultural means different cultures living side by side in the same nation, not one big vat of bits of other cultures called "American".

You and I interpret multicultural very differently. For me, multicultural means the blending of different individual cultures in to one large, ambiguously defined culture. That's why Hispanic people can go eat Asian cuisine that go home and watch a European TV show.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Multicultural means different cultures living side by side in the same nation, not one big vat of bits of other cultures called "American".

You and I interpret multicultural very differently. For me, multicultural means the blending of different individual cultures in to one large, ambiguously defined culture. That's why Hispanic people can go eat Asian cuisine that go home and watch a European TV show.

That's pretty much what it is. At least in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicultu ... ted_States

[Benuty]

We have people thinking the situation of the 1950s as portrayed on the golden age of sitcoms as viable history. Not to mention they want that version of history to come alive, and take the U.S to the good old days.