What are some strange American customs?

[Greed and Death]

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."

http://grammarist.com/spelling/ax-axe/


Ax has become the more common spelling in the US.

Ax makes more sense as it follows the supposed rules in English spelling since the 'e' does not modify 'a' into a long 'a' sound.

[Sheltton]

The American debt is actually the safest in the world. So don't worry the U.S. wont go bankrupt and lead to the decline of civilization (anytime soon).

[Frenline Delpha]

Since people are ponting wierd things about America, I wanna point out one thing I find wierd about Japan. Seppuku. I will never understand how suicide could be considered honorable.

[Benuty]

Since people are ponting wierd things about America, I wanna point out one thing I find wierd about Japan. Seppuku. I will never understand how suicide could be considered honorable.

I know this is off topic, but in societies not typically influenced by certain Abrahamic religions to die by your own sword was considered far more honorable than to live as a slave. Hence why the Jews at Masada took turns killing each leaving the last one to kill themselves. Often though the stained honor of one person could taint the legacy of the family thus killing oneself would preserve the family name. Now obviously this isn't as important as it once was, but in many societies honor is quite literally the most valuable tool you can have.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

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

[Puryong]

Probably already been said but I find imperialistic annexation of sovereign states or the instalment of puppet regimes to be a pretty strange custom.

[Puryong]

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'.

[The Princes of the Universe]

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

And it's almost always the most obnoxiously jingoistic nationalists who do it, yet it's based on a symbol of treason. Figure that out.

[The Great Warrior Rivers]

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'.

They don't glorify slavery, they glorify state's rights. Don't you even know what the Civil War was about?

[Sun Wukong]

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

They don't glorify slavery, they glorify state's rights. Don't you even know what the Civil War was about?

Better then you, apparently.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

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

And it's almost always the most obnoxiously jingoistic nationalists who do it, yet it's based on a symbol of treason. Figure that out.

I'm not going to pass judgement. I've heard every justification under the sun regarding that flag, the latest being "about heritage" (don't ask me for an explanation as I'm not a Southerner). All I will say is that seeing that flag displayed so often makes me uncomfortable.

[The Great Warrior Rivers]

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.

[The Great Warrior Rivers]

They don't glorify slavery, they glorify state's rights. Don't you even know what the Civil War was about?

Better then you, apparently.

The Emancipation Proclamation was declared DURING the Civil War, so it had to be about something OTHER than slavery before then.

[Sun Wukong]

Better then you, apparently.

The Emancipation Proclamation was declared DURING the Civil War, so it had to be about something OTHER than slavery before then.

Yeah, because the debate over the spread of slavery totally wasn't a thing.

Thousands of people didn't die in Kansas over the issue.

Furthermore, the Southern States cared so much about State's rights, that they didn't trample all over the Northern State's rights just a few years before the war with the Fugitive Slave Act.

Try reading a book sometime.

[Skeckoa]

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.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Better then you, apparently.

The Emancipation Proclamation was declared DURING the Civil War, so it had to be about something OTHER than slavery before then.

It was about slavery mostly. There might've been a few other issues but let's not pretend now that this wasnt a conflict fought over because of the slavery issue. It was. It's foolish to deny a historical fact. Come on.

[The Princes of the Universe]

The Emancipation Proclamation was declared DURING the Civil War, so it had to be about something OTHER than slavery before then.

It was about slavery mostly. There might've been a few other issues but let's not pretend now that this wasnt a conflict fought over because of the slavery issue. It was. It's foolish to deny a historical fact. Come on.

It was, at its core, 100% about slavery. Anything else you could mention on it goes back to slavery at some point.

[The Great Warrior Rivers]

The Emancipation Proclamation was declared DURING the Civil War, so it had to be about something OTHER than slavery before then.

Yeah, because the debate over the spread of slavery totally wasn't a thing.

Thousands of people didn't die in Kansas over the issue.

Furthermore, the Southern States cared so much about State's rights, that they didn't trample all over the Northern State's rights just a few years before the war with the Fugitive Slave Act.

Try reading a book sometime.

Weird. I suppose my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade teachers were off their rockers, then.

[The Princes of the Universe]

Yeah, because the debate over the spread of slavery totally wasn't a thing.
Thousands of people didn't die in Kansas over the issue.
Furthermore, the Southern States cared so much about State's rights, that they didn't trample all over the Northern State's rights just a few years before the war with the Fugitive Slave Act.
Try reading a book sometime.

Weird. I suppose my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade teachers were off their rockers, then.

Or they were telling bald-faced lies. Much more likely if you're in the former Land of Traitors.

[Benuty]

Weird. I suppose my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade teachers were off their rockers, then.

Or they were telling bald-faced lies. Much more likely if you're in the former Land of Traitors.

The British could say the same of US .

Then again we elected a man whose grandfather tried to inspire a coup against the US government in the 30s.

[The Princes of the Universe]

Or they were telling bald-faced lies. Much more likely if you're in the former Land of Traitors.

The British could say the same of US .
Then again we elected a man whose grandfather tried to inspire a coup against the US government in the 30s.

'Murrikuh.

[Infected Mushroom]

what if we changed the social norm so that parents should be EXPECTED to pay for their sons/daughters' educational fees (including college) if they can?

Once this is adopted, it will become very very obvious to the government that education needs more funding to bring those tuition costs down.

I think the net effect of such a social transformation over time, is that more and more students will be able to go through college focused on learning and without having to work or borrow money.

Its just a restructuring of costs and responsibilities. The current generation would plan ahead and structure their lives financially to pay for their next generation's education (presumably they too would have enjoyed the same benefits)... and so on... and then each generation can enjoy college.

Jumpstarting the cycle is hard though...

Yeah, guess what? Parents DO pay what they can already.
The system sucks in that it EXPECTS you to have college to have a decent career, but leaves you scrambling for grants, scholarships and loans to pay it.

ALSO:

Not ALL Universities are that expensive.
Some people put themselves into hock for the prestige of going to A Posh University -- whether or not they need a specialized degree from said place to make it in their chose field.

City and State universities are generally less expensive than private ones.

Well some of them pay, I know a few parents in the USA though who don't pay a single cent for their kids' college tuition.

''They got to learn about Responsibility.''

[The Great Warrior Rivers]

Weird. I suppose my 7th, 8th, and 9th grade teachers were off their rockers, then.

Or they were telling bald-faced lies. Much more likely if you're in the former Land of Traitors.

Uh, no. Pennsylvania rocks the whole "Union" dealio. We provided the 2nd largest amount of soldiers in the war and a lot of the war effort.

[Nazi Flower Power]

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

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

[Nazi Flower Power]

Probably already been said but I find imperialistic annexation of sovereign states or the instalment of puppet regimes to be a pretty strange custom.

That's something people have been doing all over the world for thousands of years when they have the power to get away with it. It's not nice, but it is very common.