What are some strange American customs?

[Nazi Flower Power]

Peanut butter even sounds abominable from its name. I mean, peanuts and ... butter? Of all things? I tried it once in the States, and it does taste like it sounds. I'm pretty sure that creation is uniquely American. I suppose it's the Marmite of the USA, unless you guys have Marmite too.

You heretic.

Seriously though, Peanut butter depends on brand. Not all brands are equal.

Yeah, I love peanut butter, but not Skippy. Jif, Teddie, and many generic brands are good, even though they don't all taste the same, but Skippy is just kind of blah. I don't know why it is so common when it is such disappointing peanut butter.

[Nazi Flower Power]

It's not peanuts and butter. It's peanuts ground into a paste. Sometimes sugar is added, though purists tend to reject that sort of thing.

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".

There's also the whole heresy of converting -ise's into -ize's and the word 'ax' for 'axe'. I swear I thought that last one was a joke at first, but I digress. What do you call the fancy apparatus you clean rooms with, if not a hoover?

I live in the US, and always spelled it "axe."

[Bunkeranlage]

1. That strange phobia of socialism
2. That desire to slaver every single food item in ketchup
3. That mindset that metric is irrelevant.

(Seriously. I was studying in the US for a brief period of time, and I remember an instance when a teacher showed us an article and told us to ignore the metric measurements included because "they're not important".)

[Nazi Flower Power]

*Cough* Red Sox territory.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yankee

a native or inhabitant of the United States.
2.
a native or inhabitant of New England.
3.
a native or inhabitant of a northern U.S. state, especially of one of the northeastern states that sided with the Union in the American Civil War.
4.
a federal or northern soldier in the American Civil War.
5.
a word used in communications to represent the letter Y.
6.
Military. the NATO name for a class of Soviet ballistic missile submarine, nuclear powered, with up to 16 missile launchers.
adjective
7.
of, relating to, or characteristic of a Yankee or Yankees:
Yankee ingenuity.

So, no, you don't know what you're talking about there.

I didn't about the submarines. That's cool.

But the one you bolded is the most relevant in Boston.

[Nazi Flower Power]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yankee


So, no, you don't know what you're talking about there.

I heard the following from a New Englander, and it works for me:

To a European, a Yankee is anyone from America.

To a Southern American, a Yankee is from the North.

To Westerners, a Yankee is from the Northeast.

To Northeasterners, a Yankee is from New England.

To those from New England, a Yankee is from Vermont.

To Vermonters, a Yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast.

I heard that from my dad when I was a kid. Apparently it's a popular thing New Englanders like to ramble about.

My grandmother was in the habit of eating pie for lunch, so my dad was explaining that it was a Yankee thing to eat pie as a meal, either for lunch or breakfast.

Does eating pie for lunch count as a strange American custom?

[Nazi Flower Power]

Toblerone pls

We can quibble over which brand is superior, but I feel safe in saying that most chocolate-loving people of the world can come together in agreement over the fact that Hershey's chocolate is an abomination.

Well, it's not as good as Lindt.

[ImperialistSalvia]

1. That strange phobia of socialism
2. That desire to slaver every single food item in ketchup
3. That mindset that metric is irrelevant.

(Seriously. I was studying in the US for a brief period of time, and I remember an instance when a teacher showed us an article and told us to ignore the metric measurements included because "they're not important".)

1) Cold War carryovers
2) I only use ketchup on fries and burgers. I'm not quite sure why people love it; when my sister was a toddler, she'd eat it straight (repulsing, I know)
3) Well to be fair, Metric is pretty irrelevant in every-day American life. It's taught to us in school, but it's rarely used outside of science class.

[Bunkeranlage]

Well to be fair, Metric is pretty irrelevant in every-day American life. It's taught to us in school, but it's rarely used outside of science class.

Of course, but given the fact that every other country (except Myanmar and Liberia) uses metric, I fail to see how it's "not important", especially if one were to go overseas for whatever reason.

[Urran]

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.

[Dagnia]

As an American myself, the one custom (or rather lack thereof) that I actually find gross after having spent a lot of time abroad is not removing shoes when entering a house or apartment, especially carpet. I remove mine and expect anyone coming to my place to remove theirs. Even if you can't see it, you are probably tracking the shit of 50 dogs among other things into your place.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

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.

The blood ritual can be traced back to English fox hunts.

[ImperialistSalvia]

Well to be fair, Metric is pretty irrelevant in every-day American life. It's taught to us in school, but it's rarely used outside of science class.

Of course, but given the fact that every other country (except Myanmar and Liberia) uses metric, I fail to see how it's "not important", especially if one were to go overseas for whatever reason.

I don't think anybody would downplay Metric's significance globally. I can say that we dismiss it here largely due to our use of the Imperial System & American Exceptionalism.

[Urran]

Makes sense

[Bunkeranlage]

Of course, but given the fact that every other country (except Myanmar and Liberia) uses metric, I fail to see how it's "not important", especially if one were to go overseas for whatever reason.

I don't think anybody would downplay Metric's significance globally. I can say that we dismiss it here largely due to our use of the Imperial System & American Exceptionalism.

The mindset that "Since we're a superpower, we're gonna force everyone to use our system on pain of us not doing business with them", I suppose?

That won't always work, though.

As an American myself, the one custom (or rather lack thereof) that I actually find gross after having spent a lot of time abroad is not removing shoes when entering a house or apartment, especially carpet. I remove mine and expect anyone coming to my place to remove theirs. Even if you can't see it, you are probably tracking the shit of 50 dogs among other things into your place.

When I lived in the US, I insisted that anybody coming in remove their shoes. I'm Chinese, after all.

[Urran]

I've never worn shoes inside, even when little. I guess it because most if my childhood was spent barefoot, but even when I really started wearing shoes if take them off before coming inside. I like to keep a clean floor.

[Benuty]

Only in the U.S. could people cuss like the military, and then chastise their kids for repeating after them. The best part is when we blame someone else for this problem.

[Master Shake]

Only in the U.S. could people cuss like the military, and then chastise their kids for repeating after them. The best part is when we blame someone else for this problem.

Must of been other parents because I was cussing like a sailor at age six and my parents only cared if I said the Lord's name in vain, but the school sure gave a damn. I'd always call my first grade teacher a bitch...LOL

[Eastern Equestria]

Only in the U.S. could people cuss like the military, and then chastise their kids for repeating after them. The best part is when we blame someone else for this problem.

Must of been other parents because I was cussing like a sailor at age six and my parents only cared if I said the Lord's name in vain, but the school sure gave a damn. I'd always call my first grade teacher a bitch...LOL

That's one way to earn brownie points.....

[Nordengrund]

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.

[Socialist Tera]

Burelson2 wrote:


Communism failed. Get over it.

Communism hasn't even been implemented. Revisionism failed but not communism or socialism nice try though.

Arglorand wrote:
Hating communism yet having no grasp on Marxist theory.

Since you're a Maoist, they're not entirely different from you in the underlined.

Hahahahahhaha. Nice one. Maoism is completely based off Marxist theory and has strong roots in Leninism. Maoists believe that you need to change culture to help fix the contradictions in society.

[Napkiraly]

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?

Peanut butter even sounds abominable from its name. I mean, peanuts and ... butter? Of all things? I tried it once in the States, and it does taste like it sounds. I'm pretty sure that creation is uniquely American. I suppose it's the Marmite of the USA, unless you guys have Marmite too.

HAH! Peanut butter is a Canadian invention and is the best thing since sliced bread. And the best thing? It's awesome on slice bread so double whammy! Haha take that Europeans.

[Bunkeranlage]

Peanut butter even sounds abominable from its name. I mean, peanuts and ... butter? Of all things? I tried it once in the States, and it does taste like it sounds. I'm pretty sure that creation is uniquely American. I suppose it's the Marmite of the USA, unless you guys have Marmite too.

HAH! Peanut butter is a Canadian invention and is the best thing since sliced bread. And the best thing? It's awesome on slice bread so double whammy! Haha take that Europeans.

I think I'll stick to marmalade, thank you.

[Christ Nation]

Clapping when an airplane lands.

[Italios]

The Confederacy supports all the ideas that the Founding Fathers had when they created America. Support for the Confederacy is actually very patriotic.

Let's not, please.

No, it's exploitative and dishonest.



I haven't actually offered anything that's strange. The custom of spelling paid incorrectly is strange. It's P-A-I-D. Payed has an entirely different meaning and why bother with all the extra letters.

Say to said, lay to laid, pay to paid. The -ayed ones I can think of all have two letters in front of the -ay in the base form.



If you're justifying the existence of tips with "That's how workers get paid" then you would expect this as said workers need to experience periodic wage rises to sustain purchasing power.



By participating in tipping you merely serve to help the system survive. It may be rough on the employees for a bit but if half of all customers stopped tipping something would have to change. Therefore, there is no ethical justification for tipping. You either hurt a lot of people for a long time or you hurt some people for a short time. Do less harm.

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

Any where in the southern U.S., you will find lifted trucks with over-sized wheels, that travel at 5 miles per gallon. I'd say the most civilized part of the South is Florida. In Florida you'll find many retired elderly people and the rest are just....................ex-criminal, hippie, springbreaking drug addicted pedophiles that are bums.

Don't forget cowboy wannabes shooting down kids.

From where?

From everywhere.

[Italios]

Clapping when an airplane lands.

Never seen this happen when I was on an airplane. I think it's just cause we're happy we've survived it. Boosh.