What are some strange American customs?

[Maineiacs]

A vacuum cleaner. "Hoover" is a brand name.

Jell-O is also a brand name, I think.

It is, but like "band-aid" and "zipper", it came to so dominate the market that the brand became synonymous with the product.

[The Intergalactic Russian Empire]

Jell-O is also a brand name, I think.

It is, but like "band-aid" and "zipper", it came to so dominate the market that the brand became synonymous with the product.

Wait, zipper is a brand name? My life is a lie.

[Reploid Productions]

A vacuum cleaner. "Hoover" is a brand name.

You can ask for a Kleenex to sneeze into. It's common usage, I'm fairly sure of it. Jell-O is also a brand name, I think.

Hoover isn't anywhere near as ubiquitous a brand in its market as Kleenex is, though. The brand name just hasn't become synonymous with "vacuum cleaner" the way Kleenex has with "tissue." I've never heard vacuums in general being called "hoovers" here in Cali, anyway. They're just vacs or vacuums.

[Maineiacs]

It is, but like "band-aid" and "zipper", it came to so dominate the market that the brand became synonymous with the product.

Wait, zipper is a brand name? My life is a lie.

Originally, yes.

The popular North American term zipper, (UK zip, or occasionally zip-fastener), came from the B. F. Goodrich Company in 1923. The company opted to use Gideon Sundback's fastener on a new type of rubber boots (or galoshes) and referred to it as the zipper, and the name stuck. The two chief uses of the zipper in its early years were for closing boots and tobacco pouches. Zippers began being used for clothing in 1925 by Schott NYC on leather jackets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zipper

[Arkolon]

You can ask for a Kleenex to sneeze into. It's common usage, I'm fairly sure of it. Jell-O is also a brand name, I think.

Hoover isn't anywhere near as ubiquitous a brand in its market as Kleenex is, though. The brand name just hasn't become synonymous with "vacuum cleaner" the way Kleenex has with "tissue." I've never heard vacuums in general being called "hoovers" here in Cali, anyway. They're just vacs or vacuums.

This corner of the world calls them hoovers. Some people say 'hoovers vacuum', but that's mostly it. American cultural influence is still very strong, though, can't deny that.

[Calimera II]

It is, but like "band-aid" and "zipper", it came to so dominate the market that the brand became synonymous with the product.

Wait, zipper is a brand name? My life is a lie.

Just like tupperware.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I want to get back to the peanut butter thing.

I heard recently that peanut butter was, if not uniquely American, then at least not well-known in other parts of the world. I checked with some European friends, and many never had it until they were in the States. I checked with American expatriate friends, and heard horror stories from some about not being able to find it anywhere, while others stated that they hadn't had any problems tracking it down.

Is peanut butter really that uncommon elsewhere? And for those outside of America who have tried it, what do you think?

I never had it until I moved to the US for the first time. I don't recall ever seeing it at grocery stores in Spain either.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

I want to get back to the peanut butter thing.

I heard recently that peanut butter was, if not uniquely American, then at least not well-known in other parts of the world. I checked with some European friends, and many never had it until they were in the States. I checked with American expatriate friends, and heard horror stories from some about not being able to find it anywhere, while others stated that they hadn't had any problems tracking it down.

Is peanut butter really that uncommon elsewhere? And for those outside of America who have tried it, what do you think?

I never had it until I moved to the US for the first time. I don't recall ever seeing it at grocery stores in Spain either.

What did you think of it? I have to be honest, it was such a staple of my childhood that I never thought of anyone actively disliking it, or having to get used to the stuff. It's just there.

[Forsher]

Other people don't eat PB&J sandwiches?

I'm almost 100% sure it isn't a thing outside of the United States. I've only ever tried peanut butter once, and it was horrid. Those things should not go together.

I don't eat peanut butter and I certainly wouldn't ruin a decent jam sandwich with it, but I am looking at this conversation with amazement. I had no idea that peanut butter is thought to be exclusively American.

Weird customs that I know of:

-Imperial "system"
-having the prices of stuff without VAT in some states
-being on the wrong side of the Atlantic (this is actually weird since most people in the world live on this side of the Atlantic.

By that logic, we're also on the wrong side of the Pacific.

This explains so much.

Yeah, alright, so those that have the sales tax, they should label the price tags with it. When buying stuff I want to know how much it will cost me, not how much the shop owner is putting it on sale for.

Because items themselves are not taxed, it's the end sale value that, in the case of my home state Florida, is multiplied by .07. So a one hundred dollar sale will cost you 107, for example.

Yes, and that should be on the price tag because it's the price that the consumer pays. By not including the price you withhold important information. From a consumer's choice perspective, the practice is diabolically evil.

The argument is that rather than everyone paying equally via tax, the only people who pay for the service universities provide are those purchasing them, i.e students. I prefer it this way.

I could believe that was the rationale were the system constructed in such a way that the student loans came from one source and were interest free.

We don't have Marmite. Picked it up in a British specialty store. My kid's nurse tried some, hated it the first time, tried it again, and then started to develop a taste for it. I gave her a jar of it. Never developed the liking myself.

I once ran across an English guy online who was horrified by the concept of peanut butter and jelly. I couldn't figure out the extremity of his reaction until I realized that "jelly", to him, was the gelatin dessert that we call "Jell-O".

Apparently British marmite is saltier than what I'd like to call proper marmite. At any rate, marmite is a classic meal. Marmite and crisp sandwiches for instance are the definition of nostalgic food.

Yeah, the American use of jelly to describe things that definitely aren't jelly is one of the very strangest things.

A vacuum or vacuum cleaner. "Hoover" is only a brand name. As for "ax", I've seen it both way here in the States, and you can blame Daniel Webster for alternate spellings.

Do you switch between a variety of spellings? Nope, so why use alternate instead of alternative?

Hoover isn't anywhere near as ubiquitous a brand in its market as Kleenex is, though. The brand name just hasn't become synonymous with "vacuum cleaner" the way Kleenex has with "tissue." I've never heard vacuums in general being called "hoovers" here in Cali, anyway. They're just vacs or vacuums.

People, anywhere, call tissues Kleenex? Nuts.

[Calimera II]

I never had it until I moved to the US for the first time. I don't recall ever seeing it at grocery stores in Spain either.

What did you think of it? I have to be honest, it was such a staple of my childhood that I never thought of anyone actively disliking it, or having to get used to the stuff. It's just there.

For me Peanut Butter is the most normal thing ever.. And I am not an American.

[Furry Alairia and Algeria]

What did you think of it? I have to be honest, it was such a staple of my childhood that I never thought of anyone actively disliking it, or having to get used to the stuff. It's just there.

For me Peanut Butter is the most normal thing ever.. And I am not an American.

And for me, I actually don't understand how you eat it. It's very weird to eat, and definitely distasteful, even after living in America for a majority of my life.

[Calimera II]

For me Peanut Butter is the most normal thing ever.. And I am not an American.

And for me, I actually don't understand how you eat it. It's very weird to eat, and definitely distasteful, even after living in America for a majority of my life.

Well, you put it on your bread and nomnomnom.

[Furry Alairia and Algeria]

And for me, I actually don't understand how you eat it. It's very weird to eat, and definitely distasteful, even after living in America for a majority of my life.

Well, you put it on your bread and nomnomnom.

I have done so before.

Spit it out before I chewed it up

[Calimera II]

Well, you put it on your bread and nomnomnom.

I have done so before.

Spit it out before I chewed it up

Yea, I understand. I have a love-hate relationship with Peanut Butter: Ever 2 years I dislike or like it again.

[Italios]

American football is just aggressive sweaty guys ramming into each other for possession of a ball that isn't a ball.
I don't get it either.

This is, perhaps, the best summary of what is American football I've ever seen. No sarcasm.

Why thank you

[Italios]

To all who hate peanut butter/ don't know what the heck it is:
It's buttery and peanuty. Sometimes it's yum and sometimes it's puke worthy.
Sometimes it's lumpy sometimes it's not.
Some like it, some would die for it, some despise it with a burning passion.
There you have it.

[Furry Alairia and Algeria]

To all who hate peanut butter/ don't know what the heck it is:
It's buttery and peanuty. Sometimes it's yum and sometimes it's puke worthy.
Sometimes it's lumpy sometimes it's not.
Some like it, some would die for it, some despise it with a burning passion.
There you have it.

And I cared about this when?
I hate it, that doesn't mean I don't know it.

I have done so before.

Spit it out before I chewed it up

Yea, I understand. I have a love-hate relationship with Peanut Butter: Ever 2 years I dislike or like it again.

Just a hate-hate relation with me

[Roderia]

Tipping, where I am from people put tips in a jar at a pub, it usually only gets a few extra dollars and it gets divided equally between the employees. But no-one has to tip because everyone gets paid enough anyway, a tip is supposed to be a few extra dollars.

[Italios]

To all who hate peanut butter/ don't know what the heck it is:
It's buttery and peanuty. Sometimes it's yum and sometimes it's puke worthy.
Sometimes it's lumpy sometimes it's not.
Some like it, some would die for it, some despise it with a burning passion.
There you have it.

And I cared about this when?
I hate it, that doesn't mean I don't know it.

Yea, I understand. I have a love-hate relationship with Peanut Butter: Ever 2 years I dislike or like it again.

Just a hate-hate relation with me

Since you were posting about it...?

[Furry Alairia and Algeria]

And I cared about this when?
I hate it, that doesn't mean I don't know it.

Just a hate-hate relation with me

Since you were posting about it...?

No, I meant I cared about the explanation of peanut butter

[Benuty]

Tipping, where I am from people put tips in a jar at a pub, it usually only gets a few extra dollars and it gets divided equally between the employees. But no-one has to tip because everyone gets paid enough anyway, a tip is supposed to be a few extra dollars.

Yeah, its unfortunate, but here in the US this fancy idea of livable wage hasn't quite caught on yet in the hospitality industry.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

Since you were posting about it...?

No, I meant I cared about the explanation of peanut butter

Ah, so you were simply being impolite for no real reason. Got it.

[Robert Magoo]

The Pledge.

Don't listen to the extreme left wingers around here...the pledge is awesome.

It's not just extreme left-wingers.

I consider myself right-wing, and I have a big problem with the idea of schools pushing students to have any opinion, positive or negative, of the US government. It's my business what and who I'm loyal to, nobody else's. I can't stand flagwaving pseudo-patriotism. Real patriots know that being willing to question your government is a critical part of being an American...

[Robert Magoo]

It's not standard but it sure as hell is English.

I suppose. Did the American founders speak the English of King George?

Yes, they did, but they don't today and neither do the English of today...

[Robert Magoo]

It's not standard but it sure as hell is English.

I agree. British English can be considered "standard" English because the UK is where the language first developed. As settlers moved to the Americas, Africa, and Australia, the local pronunciations and accents change.

Actually, american english is closer to the version spoken at the time america was colonized than british english is today. Examples of words that are still used in the US but not in UK include faucet vs. tap, apartment vs flat, etc.


Edit: Guess this was already covered.