Weird American Shit

we don't care what others think about us

As an American, I have never seen anyone put ice in wine. Unless you’re talking about a wine spritzer, which is its own god-awful entity.

R1 O yes you do and you fucking know it.

We all have perfect teeth and it's an issue?

There's a reason we broke away from the UK and ran to the colonies, you fat whores!

Try to bathe once in a while and see a dentist.

I thought the previous thread was all in fun (I didn't start it). I should have known there'd be some humorless angry Brit to start this thread. How sad.

We don't have a continental climate. 90 degrees and above with dewpoints in the 60s and 70s is not a joke.

OMG!

They have AIR CONDITIONING!

The [italic] FOOLS! [/italic]

Owning and carrying guns in a country that is not at war.

We’re overly loud, overly familiar, and believe everyone should speak English, even when in a non-English speaking country. Yes, I’m American.

elect racial minorities to highest office

We put ketchup on everything. Seriously, just stop.

Europeans delude themselves into thinking that drinking wine is intellectual when they are just trying to mask their alcohol addiction.

Drinking hard spirits in a bar instead of slowly drinking beer or wine but trying to maintain the rest of the world has a weird relationship with alcohol.

If it's not new --NEW -- N E W ! -- (and improved) we're bored.

They eat complete trash - and proud of it

By 'perfect' do you mean scary tic tac teeth?... because that's what they actually have.

They have these things called 'toaster ovens'.

We have showers that don't flood the bathroom or at least leave it soaking wet. And we love our drying machine and yes, air conditioning is a must as are free condiments at fast food places.

toaster ovens are an excellent invention.

R18 You've been charged for condiments in the UK? Fucking hell, you really must have looked like a right drip for them to try that on you.

[quote] we don't care what others think about us

Is that why Americans put political bumper stickers on their cars?

Honestly, what American driver or passenger has never formed an opinion of someone who has election campaign bumper stickers on their car?

Never saw this in other nations

Here is Chris Christie.

Before the surgery he took to have his stomach forcibly shortened, thus preventing him from cramming more junk into his fat mouth whether he wanted to or not, he probably couldn't use a standard toilet, fly in an ordinary plane, or walk in a straight line. In most of the rest of the world, someone like this is looked on as a freak show or simply as an object of pity.

You guys elected him as governor of New Jersey and at one point he was plausibly discussed for Presdent or Vice-President.

voilà la différence!

MORE CUSHION FOR THE PUSHING

They believe they are Exceptional. Europeans have national pride, but know they are not unique.

R22 Yeah no European country would ever take him seriously in any way. Sort yourself out before you expect us to listen to you. Though to be honest Boris Johnson is pushing it.

Miley Cyrus

Also, more seriously, people brag about money a lot more in the states. In Europe, including the UK,, it's considered gauche to shame someone for being poor or to flaunt your own wealth. You'd never catch a politician arguing that the huge amounts of money he had made in business qualified him to run a country: yet that was more or less the pitch of both Mitt Romney and Donald Trump.

By contrast, politicians like David Cameron or Emmanuel Macron, both of whom are pretty rich, though not at Romney levels, try and downplay their wealth a bit and to come across as ordinary Joes. Actors, athletes and musicians are all a lot less prone to conspicuous consumption and bragging in Europe too, at least in their public personas.

Boris won't publicly commit to how many children he has, for gods sake.

R28 That's because he doesn't know.

We. Are. Loud. It is true. I cringe on every trip.

Most people are willing to offer an estimate. He is trying to avoid paternity suits, R29. Right??

Many Europeans laughed at the carry-on Americans made of Bill Clinton's liaison with the intern. In France, President Mitterand's wife invited his mistress to his state funeral.

[Quote]As an American, I have never seen anyone put ice in wine.

I'm an American, and I've seen other Americans put ice in white wine. (I'm in New York.)

R25 Boris is a repulsive, fat and amoral moron who is deliberately trying to import Trumpian politics into the UK, and I could spend all day saying bad things about him..... but he is not Christie's size. Not even close.

R28 By dint of coming across as extremely posh and privileged he gets away with the kind of personal behaviour he condemns in others (eg he used to write articles condemning single mothers and their parenting, and then left a string of single mothers behind him in his wake).

"The rules don't apply to people like us" is probably (even) more of a British thing than an American thing, I grant you, and stems from there not having been a violent revolution or occupation for centuries.

In Europe, and I include the UK in that, if you put an ice cube in a glass of wine, you'd be taken out and shot in the street.

The air conditioner line is in response to the Weird British Shit thread whining that Britons don't have air conditioning. Most of the US has a continental climate with humid, warm summers. The UK does not have that, though give climate change some time and they will..... Though I, an American, am appalled at people who turn their air on when it's just above 80 degrees, and set the damn thermostat to 72. That's definitely an American pathology.

Usual stuff. We've heard it all and we don't care. At least we have a real country, from sea to shining sea, not like the Europeans.

Forgot to sign ^.

Weirdest thing about Americans is how obsessed the rest of the world is with their culture.

Even city dwellers prefer to drive cars

[quote] What are some other weirdo American traits?

Cement geese and clothes for them

Spouting ignorant and nonsensical comments about other countries unrelated to their expertise,

e.g. "Maybe we should arrange for your chemotherapy in Vancouver rather than Seattle, and not have six hours of driving time."

US Oncologist: "Canada's going to catch up to the US in COVID cases, MARK MY WORDS!"

Then when they're corrected for their foolish nonsense they snark

"well I don't know" -- they were just told, bitch

or

"that's more info than I needed to know" -- and yet they have no qualms revealing their ignorance and undermining a prospective patient's confidence in them by saying claptrap

If you think 6289 divided by 37.7 million is equivalent to or more than 2,292,707 divided by 344 million (August 6, 2020 worldometers dot info coronavirus Active Cases for Canada and US respectively), and their profession is medicine, their malpractice insurance must be HUGE

Oh yeah, fun anecdote.

Some years ago I was spending some time in a South American country. My coworkers there and I went to the beach. We were a mixed group of people from Europe, the USA, and the country we were in at the time. One American co-worker brought a friend who had flown in from the US for a week or so to visit. Bear in mind we were all fairly young (20s), and everyone was university-educated.

The visiting US American literally could not believe that one of our South American hosts, a philosophy grad, was an atheist. I remember him standing there with his dumb mouth gaping open, repeating "You're an atheist? REALLY?" in a tone of utter stupefaction.

We have hideous, tacky, too large luggage.

Many of us have too many children. We overestimate how much people want to see them OR hear them.

We don’t have a good concept of queues or public space and take up too much room on public transport and streets or escalators.

We’re loud. But we often tip even when not required.

Many of us are not great in math, cultural references outside of popular current culture, literature, art, or history.

No one believes in native Angelenos. Everyone seems to think they’re all from somewhere else. No we don’t all word in the business. Some of us do.

I cannot stand room temperature white wine. I live in the south and it is fucking hot and I will put an ice cube in my wine to keep it reasonably chilled and IDGAF what Europeans think of it!

24-hour combination gun & liquor stores

gas station convenience stores where 60% of floor retail space is taken up by beer

Sorry just had to include this...continue on.

R18 - never asked for condiments in the UK as I only ate at curry places or upper scale restaurants because anything else looked HORRIBLE. Rest of Europe is way better in terms of condiments. Least it's 50 Eurocents while a packet of vinegar in London is 2 pounds and NOBODY on the continent or in the US uses that on French fries. Just ewwwww.

R42, how embarrassing. Some Americans are horrifyingly provincial.

R44: White wine is meant to be served chilled.....ALWAYS! Your hosts, frankly, suck!

American here. Agree about loud American tourists. Americans really should learn a 2nd language, like other countries do.

Dentistry, on the other hand, is something for Americans to be proud of. Anything to avoid false teeth, caps, etc. Americans do have nice teeth.

Summers are very hot where I live. When I used to drink, I preferred red wine to white and drank it cold, with ice. (Kirkland / Costco wines.)

Follow-on from the anecdote at R42

Later on the American coworker (ie the friend of the first guy) got drunk on the abundant cheap rum and decided to show us his creativity. Specifically, his ability to freestyle rap.

This involved a lot of very awkward rhymes and a lot of references to violent rape.

One English guy (already very pissed off with these guys for other reasons) told him he sucked, so the American guy went for him. I remember trying to hold him back, slurring and fists flailing, as he shouted 'You saying I can't rap, motherfucker?' at the English guy who he had just shoved on the floor.

This is how a lot of Americans act when out of their natural habitat. However, the one saving grace these guys had was that they were former lacrosse players, enjoyed being shirtless and were actually quite hot.

“As an American” followed by some ridiculous American exceptionalism bullshit.

Guys - you’re not that special. Especially right now. Get over yourselves, we’re all laughing at you.

Oh Yeah? Who won the war and invented the Twinkie!

along with R33, this new yorker has seen ice going onto wine. put there by myself.

R47 You're either completely making this up or you look like the biggest twat on earth and they were absolutely pissing themselves laughing seeing who could convince the stupid American it was £2 for a sachet of vinegar.

I wasn't even there and I'm going to be telling all my friends about this in the morning.

Americans sit down whenever and wherever we can, including on a curb, a window ledge, a luggage carousel edge, and so on. A tour guide I used for my student groups abroad told me this one time so I started to observe. It's true.

Not being taught the difference between "weather" and "climate" in school:

Americans overshare personal information and are shocked/offended/hurt when others decline to reciprocate.

Americans in other countries (and good on the minority of them for actually getting a passport and bravely venturing beyond their shores) are both incredibly insecure with “foreigners” (as they call them) but desperately eager for us to know that they’re American - hence the loudness.

We can tell that you’re American from the way that you dress - we don’t need audible confirmation.

Undergraduate college can cost 300-400K.

We no longer bother with speaking clearly and intelligently, despite how well-educated many of us are.

200K dead of COVID - it is what it is.

Americans don’t queue.? Have you traveled in Europe. Most of them have no concept

R55 - true story. My partner at the time was a real junk food fiend and yes, that is what a packet of fucking grocery-store grade vinegar cost by the Burger King at the Tower of London! We walked in the boiling heat in Hyde Park and not a single place to get a cool drink and some poor vendor with a cart from an ex colony was trying to sell soda with 5 pounds. We went to a grocery store by Kensington station and a tiny bunch of grapes was 7 pounds. Go check the process and tell me it's not true.

And they weren't pissing themselves, it was on the fucking menu posted for everyone. The sad part is they were serious. Plus, I never saw such gross and low-grade condiments in my life.

Oh shut up, Eurodope. Americans are fun, crazy, weird and they own it. The rest of the world WISHES they could dickswing like Americans.

Pop pop, bitch.

[quote] Go check the process and tell me it's not true

What's the frequency Kenneth?

R64 You've never been to London have you? You're just naming places you've heard of.

[quote] toaster oven

We've moved on to air friers. Do try to keep up.

Using condiments on everything, demanding condiments before even tasting the food. Stop using them and learn just how good food can taste.

Their girth, why are they so fat? Then you see them waddle and speak/scream.

We don’t have doddering old kings and queens in castles. We have prom kings and queens! In hotel ballrooms with teens and strobe lights and booming bass. Then later someone will run over the crowns with a car and some else will lose their virginity.

A fuckwit like Trump could get anywhere near the Presidency.

Electing a clown with no political experience to be president

Mass shootings every week

Beauty pageants for toddlers

Everything is big and crowded. Restaurants all have paper placemats and plastic glasses unless you go very upscale. The population is infantalized by its government and acts that way. World capital of serial killers. Drugs and guns are running the country.

Bald twitchy Rasputin weirdos running the government for uninterested fat blond idiots. Wait, what country was that again?

Just saying...

R1, meet R75/R76

And we drive EVERYWHERE. I know a woman who drives four blocks to work.

Americans love Covid 19!!!!

Refuse to wear a mask because you "love freedom"......but wanted to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage because freedom is just for straight people

I laughed when I saw this- some tender Brit's delicate pride has been bruised. Oh, the tears that must have accompanied posting this.

The Americans are sloppy about language so they wouldn't retitle this thread as 'Weird American Faeces'.

Though looking at Reddit and Twitter they do discuss 'faeces' continually.

3/4 of the responses here are from helpful Americans suggesting things for OP to hate about us.

[quote]Since there was a thread about "Weird British Shit" we should have one for the Americans (the ones in the U.S. of A.)

Another thing to add to the “Weird British Shit” thread is how they always copy Americans...even down to copying threads.🙄

[quote]Everything is big and space.

Big maybe but if you want crowded go to Asia.

I'm American and agree on the wine thing No ice cubes. It's declasse.

TVs where there needn't be

-- gas station, autoplay when pump trigger is sprayed

-- emergency rooms in hospitals

-- auto dealerships service waiting area

Thought everyone had a smartphone and 1 out of 10 have an eReader. Who leaves home and then ten minutes later is jonesing for commercials? Old people know enough to bring something to work on: knitting, puzzles, manuscript, paperback

All those weird “where did your ancestors come from” shitty projects in school, where you had to dress like you came from that country, bring a desert from there and take the red string on the map from where you live now to that country. I really doubt they do that in most European countries. And many people came to the US under complete duress and because they were literally being murdered, bitch I don’t want to celebrate the country that persecuted us! My people came and founded a whole new culture to be proud of and left that shit behind. Celebrate what you built here, not the hell hole your ancestors barely escaped from with their lives.

As an American, I find some of these responses amusing. I hope we can be funnier though. Keep trying!

-A serious lack of handheld shower heads in hotels and motels, hate those stuck to the wall. -A lack of veggies with meals(and too many fastfood restaurants in general) -drive through ATMs - lack of geographical knowledge/bad educational system -greeting you with “how are you?” Though they really don’t want to hear your answer to that question -no one ever assumes you’re a tourist but they assume you’re American unless you tell them otherwise -supermarkets that open at 5 AM

On the plus side, generally friendly people and a beautiful country with all the diverse nature.

-A serious lack of handheld shower heads in hotels and motels, hate those stuck to the wall. -A lack of veggies with meals(and too many fastfood restaurants in general) -drive through ATMs - lack of geographical knowledge/bad educational system -greeting you with “how are you?” Though they really don’t want to hear your answer to that question -no one ever assumes you’re a tourist but they assume you’re American unless you tell them otherwise -supermarkets that open at 5 AM

On the plus side, generally friendly people and a beautiful country with all the diverse nature.

R64 - I have been there many times and, in fact, probably know more about it and about your history and literature than half the Brits I met.

Of all Europeans, the English are the last who should be making fun of Americans being uncultured or obese. If you leave certain areas in London, it is essentially the same as when you leave certain pockets of LA and venture out into hickville.

[quote]I cannot stand room temperature white wine. I live in the south and it is fucking hot and I will put an ice cube in my wine to keep it reasonably chilled and IDGAF what Europeans think of it!

Chill the bottle in the freezer for 22 to 28 minutes, you savage.

R93 - not the same thing at all. Not a wine drinker but I am from LA and a hot day in Woodland Hills can be 46 degrees. That ice is a life saver.

Giving credence and media attention to vapid bipolar loons and grifting narcissistic fuckwits

There are also wine coolers gurls. Loads of different types....

You have curly chips

R97 plenty of those in the UK too

Rappers and glorification of criminal culture

R99 - it isn't glorification and if you haven't been to places like Compton, there is no way to understand. As Common and Dre said "this is what a lot of young African American men see since they are small kids the second they leave the house". If you haven't seen it, you can't understand it.

We took a wrong exit on the freeway and ended up there R100 we drove back to the freeway as quickly as we could. You are very right, I don’t know what it’s like and it wasn’t meant as a racist comment. In fact lots people here across the pond consider it cool. The music, the rappers etc. I didn’t know the sentiment is very different for the people living through it. That it’s all too real and not people “showing off”. My apologies.

I don’t care do you?

They love mayonnaise more than the Dutch.

[R76} Aaaack my eyes, my eyes!! who is the meth head on the left?

One thing surprises me - in the American section of large supermarkets in Europe, the American foods for sale seem to be of the lowest quality....Skippy peanut butter, Marshmallow Fluff, Betty Crocker cake mix, packaged mac 'n' cheese, taco shells. Yet in the US, I have had some excellent, high-quality mass-produced food.

It is strange R105 because I don't know anyone who eats any of that stuff.

The languid flushing of American toilets

R105 we have better equivalents in Europe.....we don’t need the American stuff, I don’t think it’s profitable for supermarkets to sell a lot of American groceries.

Mac n cheese is disgusting in my opinion. No matter which brand.

Except Dutch mayonaise is much better than the type of salad/sandwich dressing mayo used in the US R103

GMO food

Growth-promoting hormones for cattle which remains in the beef and milk, promoting obesity. Twenty-five percent of girls in the US have their first period at the age of eight. The tipping point for this is the body weight of 98 lb.

Too many gun nuts

I wouldn't judge us for the air conditioning. American summers below the Mason Dixon line are unbearable.

Ditto the driving for small distances and social stigma attached to walking. Comfort with extreme violence but cringing at anything involving sex.

Films which glorify violence as art, eg, American Beauty.

1. Seeing speedos on men as disgusting and vulgar but bikinis on women as acceptable.

2.Viewing any moderately attractive white woman as the epitome of goodness and purity. An even mildly pretty wasp/teutonic female can get away with almost anything in the US and still retain sympathy in the public eye.

3.Believing that any social safety net is USSR style communism and believing that the poor and their children deserve to die on the streets.

4.The veneration of angry, ignorant, ugly and loud men as "real men " and the mockery of men who don't exhibit these traits.

5. The belief that the fetus is sacred and innocent but the low income child they grow into is a worthless symbol of the welfare state.

Nothing about peanut butter or the widespread availability of cut cock on non-Muslim/non-Jewish men?

The cut cocks are weird too yes. I don’t see the point in that.

The fact every American tourist, male or female, young or old, wears exactly the same thing.

I personally love the cut cocks. No unfortunate aroma of Limburger cheese.

[quote]R42, how embarrassing. Some Americans are horrifyingly evangelical Christian.

▲ Fixed, R48.

A lot of fundamentalists live inside cultural bubbles; many have never personally met a self-professed atheist, and have all kinds of wacky notions about them, the kinds of off-the-wall beliefs many Germans had about Jews, i.e. that they had horns, or that they drank babys' blood. These kinds of Christians think that atheists are all pro-abortion, pro-pedophilia, pro-murder, etc.. Since many are homeschooled, and rarely leave their fundamentalist communities, they're never disabused of their beliefs about non-Christians. That boy stood there, mouth agape, probably because he thought he'd just met a demon in human form.

We are crazy people. I love us.

US to France Expat here. Americans always wanna know what the French/Europeans think of them. Answer: For the most part, they really don't give a shit; they've got their own problems. And their own country! America's self-obsession is something to be be believed.

OP you need to learn the difference between facts and false stereotypes. None of what you said is even remotely the norm in the US.

It was copied from the weird British shit thread R123

It was copied from the weird British shit thread R123

I am an expat living in France, too, R122, though not American. One big difference between the French and Americans is at a certain strata, Americans fix their perceived flaws and the French do not. Ie, Americans will get veneers, colour their hair, go to the gym, use sunscreen, give up alcohol , smoking, and unhealthy (but delicious) food, get plastic surgery, get breast implants or reductions, use botox and whatever else is needed, if a fix is available. Lots of wealthy and celebrity French women do none of these things, although they do watch their weight, mostly on a diet of coffee and cigarettes. The ideal is to look natural, as if you just got out of bed. Little or no makeup. I admire their self-belief, but think that unless you are young and naturally beautiful, fixing your flaws is a good idea.

American who’s lived outside the US for a couple decades, the weirdest shit to me now are these: 1) Microwaving water to boil it. 2) the cultish Pledge of Allegiance ritual. 3) Giant gaps in public restroom stalls with no privacy. 4) out of control tipping culture instead of paying people a living wage. 5) the vocal fry that all young women and some young men now do.

The tipping culture is insane. If I'm out for a meal I'd rather my waiter or waitress is being paid a decent amount per hour rather than fake smiling through their hunger pains in the hope I'll give them a couple of quid.

R127 I had to look up vocal fry. Why do they do talk like that? I worked with a few american girls last summer in Berlin. I had a hard time understanding them. There is no Danish equivalent.

Vocal fry and upspeak.

I was just about to nominate the gaps in the partitions mentioned by R127. It’s like taking a shit in public.

The health insurance situation is still the weirdest thing to me though. And the lack of paid time off from work. Socialism is so evil! But yes, you do have toaster ovens.

[quote]They all have perfect teeth and spend a fortune keeping them white and bright.

Oh yes, dental hygiene and appearance is so weird. Said no one except people in countries mocked for their notoriously bad teeth.

The state of medical care is appalling. People don't take their medications because they can't afford to buy them. The most common reason for bankruptcy in the US is a major medical crisis of oneself or a loved one.

I would say that and the gun culture are the worst aspects of America.

Obesity is also terrible but that is hardly unique to the US.

Dear OP:

“They put ice in everything. Sometimes in wine.“

This is true! And before I went to England the first time, people warned me that I wouldn’t be able to get ice anywhere. I thought that was the weirdest thing for anyone to care about or even notice—until I got there, and then the lack of ice was really annoying.

“They all have air conditioning. Their electric bills must be massive.”

OK, here’s the thing about that. I live in Washington, D.C. Our climate is officially subtropical. People grow cactus and dwarf banana trees in their yards in this city. And it’s not like a tropical island; it’s a fucking swamp. From May through September it’s over 33 degrees celsius almost every day.

When I went to Cambridge for a study abroad in July, I was freaked out that there was no air conditioning in my dorm or my classrooms at first. And it did reach about 90 degrees Fahrenheit/32ish celsius a few days. But it was that hot in the sunlight; as soon as a cloud blew across the sun, the temperature dropped to the point it was chilly. Inside my dorm room, even if it was very warm outside, I could open the windows and the always-cool breeze was *like* air conditioning. So I learned why you don’t have it there: you don’t need it there!

I also learned that summer why Brits wear sweaters around their shoulders/tied around their necks: when the sun is out in the summer, it’s warm. As soon as the sun is obscured by a cloud, it’s sweater weather. It does NOT work like that where I live. Whether it’s sunny and humid and hot here or cloudy and muggy and hot, it is H-O-T in the summer in a way that seems not to have a parallel in the British Isles.

“They all have perfect teeth and spend a fortune keeping them white and bright.”

Not all! According to Ancestry DNA, I am 60 percent British and so I jokingly “blame” my teeth on my heritage—but my teeth are a nightmare for at least three different reasons:

1. I grew up working class/close to poor. My family had health insurance but health insurance does not cover dental care. My father grew up very poor and never had dental care—and so it was not something he considered. So my teeth got off to a rough start in life. At least in the UK, everyone gets functional dental care when they need it. In the US, you could be literally dying of an impacted abscess and health insurance would be like, “not our problem.”

2. It turns out, I only found out a couple of years ago, I developed an allergic disorder called mast cell activation syndrome that is apparently contributing to my teeth basically falling apart. This disorder is associated with (probably was caused by) Lyme disease, and that’s also a very ‘American’ thing even though it’s been written off as a joke by the media for some reason.

3. Ice! A couple of months ago, I was drinking icy water (because it’s hot as hell here in the summer, as discussed above), and I absentmindedly crunched on some ice, and a big ol’ sliver of enamel sloughed off a front tooth. And all the dentists were closed down because of the pandemic. So that was fun!

R4 There's a difference between perfect teeth and fake teeth

Weird American shit — the fact around 40% of the country is in the Trump cult. Which is frankly beyond scary

[quote] the fact around 40% of the country is in the Trump cult.

I hate Trump with all my heart and, as an American, find him deeply embarrassing. But his cult is not 40% of all Americans.

R134 You are the most boring person ever to have lived.

[quote]Also, more seriously, people brag about money a lot more in the states. In Europe, including the UK,, it's considered gauche.

Oh yes, Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Versailles is so understated and not flamboyant at all. No one would know a rich person live or once lived there.

In all seriousness, Americans acquire wealth so they can obtain power. Europeans obtain power so they can acquire wealth. Ergo, Americans brag about money, Europeans brag about social status.

R136 - the constant of Trump's supporters hovers somewhere between 30-35%. But even of these, one must distinguish between the batshit insane who absolutely worship him and hang on his every word, and Republicans who have made the Faustian bargain of supporting him simply to hold onto power. The former group is considerably fewer, and the latter will abandon him once he loses the election; like upon the death of Thulsa Doom, most Republican Trump supporters will snuff out their torches in the fountain and walk away from him; the spell will be broken.

Then we'll all be treated to the spectacle of assholes like Ted Cruise trying recover what's left of their careers, endeavoring to persuade interviewers that they never fully supported Trump; not really.

A British guy once told me that Americans are all racist, where any black man is just a black guy, whereas in England a black person is just another British person.

“Except the Pakis,” he then said. “We do hate the Pakis.”

[quote]We all have perfect teeth and it's an issue?

They often look peculiar. They can turn a grown man into a KEN DOLL.

Air conditioning? Really? Last month the temperature in Palm Springs was 120f that's 48.8c! If you don't have air you die. And that's really not unique, there are vast areas of land in the south west that get record high temperatures. Death Valley California once had the record as the hottest place on earth, 134f (156.6c) that's hotter than the Sahara desert.

But it's a dry heat r143!

My answer to that comment R134 "so is my oven but I don't want to stick my head in it"

Weird Americans have faucets that actual work with hot and cold water coming out of one spigot to the desired temperature. A lot of UK homes still have separate hot and cold taps from the 1900s.

The women wear their shorts thevshortest and their dresses, the tightest.

Refined acting men in America are almost always considered gay.

UK is not off the hook however, men from the UK are assumed to be mostly gay.

Evangelical extremism is particularly American.

If they weren’t kept somewhat in check by the (slight) sane majority, evangelicals in the US could become as radicalized as Islamic extremists within a decade, and there’d be well over 100 million of them.

R148 = Édith Cresson?

Flimsy light switches.

Barbecuing out of the trunk of your car.

Americans are an admirable people, and I’ve loved visiting. Even in New York, which datalounge informed was full of the rudest people on the planet, people were charming and helpful.

That being the case, why on earth do you allow your worst people to get a passport? They bellow at Europeans, complain bitterly about food in France being horrible, and storm about museums shrieking at each other.

And the clothes. People go about their business in New York and Philadelphia dressed decently. Americans wander about Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame with a camera lens stuck to their face, and dressed “for comfort”. They look like they are wearing clothes picked out for them as a dare, or as if they have just stopped off on their way to a baseball game.

Brit living in London. Have known many Americans over the years , mostly through walking the dog in local park . I’d say generally , they are a lot warmer and friendlier than us Europeans and less snobby. They do talk a lot louder, (do have great teeth)Think nothing of telling you how much they paid for their flat/house and then asking you how much your place is worth . They have weird notions of what “socialism” is (so so bad) . The ones I met whilst not pro gun were indifferent to the gun culture back home . And American Christians are often unlike Christians I’ve met form anywhere else, perhaps as someone else pointed out , they’re evangelical. I think Americans abroad generally make a good impression, tho I wish they were less loud . And as it came up often on the other thread , I totally get the toaster oven, they’re practical and make sense and yet haven’t taken off here .

R152 I am from DC. I thought New Yorkers would be mean and rude because that’s how they are depicted in entertainment. I have always found New Yorkers to be unusually kind and outgoing. I’m sure that says a lot about people from DC, who I can attest are at best aloof (as I am) and oftentimes downright cold.

That said, some of the rudest interactions I’ve ever had with people were in London. Isolated experiences, but I distinctly remembering after being barked at by shop clerks in London, “this is what I expected from New Yorkers!”

R154, there are a few alarming exceptions, but In general New Yorkers were amongst the nicest people I have met travelling anywhere. Genuinely pleasant and open. I love it there.

America is the only country I know where people pretend to be less intelligent than they actually are in order to gain elected office. Americans would far rather vote for a personable idiot than an awkward intellectual.

R156 *cough* Boris Johnson *cough*

R157, Johnson acts like a Buffoon to seem posh and hide his malice, but also spouts Latin and sprinkles his speeches with historical references to make it clear that he has a brain. Compare to Reagan, Bush, Bush 2, Clinton (intelligent, but keen to play down the fact) and Trump (educationally subnormal and functionally illiterate).

Your main requirement for a TV news presenter or an interviewer would seem to be that they have nice hair.

As I predicted, due to our retardation this thread is devoid of humor. Compare the first dozen responses on the 2 threads, Defensive, obtuse, thin-skinned and ignorant. The United States of Karen's. 150 responses and nary a chuckle.

R156- Yes! Remember, Mitt Romney HID the fact that he spoke french. We are proud of our ignorance and actually like to brag about things we DON"T know. For example, other languages, cultures, geography, history, Soccer, SCIENCE!

I worked in Latin America for a large Texas based company. Without fail, executives show up at business meetings like they are dressed for Cancun. And then, make casually racist statements, like calling all the waiters 'Jose" and the maids "Maria". Or my favorite, "I love Mexico, but I hate Mexicans".

People so stupid, that they would vote for someone who tells them "I love the poorly educated". He can shoot someone on 5th ave. and he won't lose their vote. God bless America, and no one else.

Prosecco and Cava is now released in special Ice editions. Ok it's crap-adjacent wine but it's very refreshing and tasty on ice on a terrace.

Those with deeper pockets can enjoy ICE champagne, too

Critical thinking is considered elitist.

Needing a car to go anyplace outside cities. It's one thing I like about the Millennials and Gen Zs...they are supposedly getting away from cars. But we had better develop a better system of public transportation and light rail.

I also dislike the American propensity not to know a second language. Most Americans take Spanish in high school, which is great if they kept up with it. But most take Spanish because a foreign language is a requirement in high school, and that's the easy one to take.

Weird American shit is also the fact that the rigor of our secondary educational system lags behind the rigor of that of other western countries.

That said, I love being an American. The vocal minority that is the base that supports the racist, sexist, irresponsible imbecile in the White House is an exception. We are friendly. We are not as class conscious as other western nations. We care little about a person's background unlike other western societies.

There are Europeans, Japanese, and Chinese who are just as racist as some Americans. We may have elected that imbecile to the highest office in the land. But the British have Bojo, the French have the LePen ilk, the Germans have AfD...I could go on.

I lost power on Tuesday at noon, due to the hurricane. It was restored early this morning. My neighbors pitched in to help one another. I'm sure the same happens in other countries, but I'd like to think that it's a reflection of an American character trait. It gives me hope after what has been a pretty lousy last few months and years.

R162 That's a french drink. What does it have to do with Americans?

Whatever helps you sleep at night, R164

Talking about ancestry when it’s a million generations back. I mean it’s weird to say you’re English for example because more than two centuries ago your great great great etc parents moved from England to the US. If it’s your parents ok, other than that: suck it up you’re American

They are whiteness tests, R167. Americans are really innovative and dedicated racists, duh.

R168 I believe in another thread about DNA research it showed most black people had a percentage of white DNA and exactly the same the other way round. As a European I don’t get it, I wouldn’t call myself French because my great grandparents were f.e.

You have a point though it might me a white thing

[quote]Barbecuing out of the trunk of your car.

Lol, you are talking about tailgating. I don't watch sports but I have family that goes to these parties. You would be surprised at the near gourmet quality of food that is prepared at these tailgate parties. They even have recipe books. It's almost like a dinner party outside in a stadium parking lot. These people take it seriously.

As far as money, I was raised that you do not discuss money, ever, unless its family or your cpa. Declasse.

R169 I have some relatives who spoke in hushed tones of the 100% Nordic Ancestry spit test result of a doddering, decrepit grandpa. I had some random North African percentage, and got side eye.

The gun culture is perplexing but I can almost understand it. The earliest Americans needed guns for survival. They hunted and had to protect against wild animals and the natives. Guns helped win our independence. The redcoats were faced with an armed populace, not peasants with farm equipment as weapons. The British army faced women and, in some cases children, with guns. The right to bear arms is ingrained but the NRA has taken it to a whole level of nutbaggery. No one needs to own multiple assault rifles and bazookas.

R172, other places in the world have guns too, and even an armed militia. In some very peaceful places like Switzerland, gun ownership is high, but nothing like the insane levels seen in the US, where some people think the government is shackling you if you can’t take an uzi to church with you.

It’s insane, and reflects a real lack of trust in your own democratic structures.

It's mostly just because the firearms industry funded an enormous and highly successful lobbying project based on a hilariously bogus interpretation of the constitution. Now everyone thinks they are Mel Gibson in The Patriot. It was not that long ago that all of this serious gun douchebaggery started - the NRA used to be a little group for hunters and target shooters...

Also, 9/11.

Seriously, the number of people who believe in the magical comma in the Second Amendment is rivaled only by the number who believe the Civil War was not about slavery.

35% of Americans are into scat.

R171 I wonder why all of us don’t realise we have thousands of ancestors. It’s fine. We are all connected in some way. It’s a good thing. We just seem to forget

Extremely tall cups of coffee.

The obsession with high school sports.

Buddy. Pal. Sport.

I want to slap people who call me "bud" OMFG.

Calling your parents 'sir' or 'ma'am'.

Bro, bro.

All of this Bro shit.

Fauda even uses it in the English translation calling everyone bro, thanks bro. If you listen carefully NONE of the characters are saying bro or brother but the subtitle translator is adding it. Fuck bro and the horse he rode in on.

Saying that they could care less when they mean the opposite.

(R141) That's because the Pakis are into grooming young British girls for sex.

Fuck of r184.

Another weird thing about Americans, they BATHE every day! Their armpits don’t stink like the ass of a goat.

They’re so wieeeeeerd.

Pumpkin spice everything in the autumn.

For the record, I mentioned by 60 percent British DNA in relation to my teeth, not my nationality. I’m American, and according to Ancestry DNA, my British ancestors came to the US by 1750.

But still, the DNA persists and bad British teeth is a matter of science, not just a joke.

R187 = racist humblebrag.

R188 Racist? How in the world do you get that from admitting I inherited crowded, easily damaged teeth?

Do you really think that WHITE British (there are other British not known for bad teeth) have teeth that are somehow resistant to veneers or braces or whiteners?

Genetic determinism is definitely weird American shit.

As do I, R146.

R161, I am a biracial American and white people always ask about my ‘background’...they always ask in a vague way. I usually just answer that I’m biracial, African American and white, then they want specifics. What fucking difference does it make? I honestly get asked once a month by a random white person that I barely know. Also, my dad’s side was enslaved, so it’s a stupid question. Also, I have noticed that a large number of white people here with Scandinavian backgrounds, talk about it constantly. An ex coworker posts constantly about Norwegians and Vikings and looking like Barbie. Bitch is busted looking and has never left her state. She is bragging and carrying on about people and a culture that she has absolutely no connection to.

R129, I think the Danish equivalent is that weird way you inhale as you say "Ja."

Sales tax not included.

The brown bag drinking thing. (We all know what’s in there)

Dang, darn, and other contraptions to avoid actual swearing.

I don’t understood the widespread American assumption that all British people have terrible teeth. It’s a lazy stereotype. Our NHS gives us lifelong highly subsidised or free dental care.

R196 it’s because there are Americans who can be buried in a piano case but they have a set of veneers. That is those outside of West Virginia, they’re just fat and no teeth!

R196, Americans equate dental health with glow-in-the-dark chiclet teeth which can be seen from a distant galaxy. It’s weird American shit.

R172 "The earliest Americans needed guns for survival. They hunted and had to protect against wild animals and the natives." What wild animals did they exactly needed to protect themselves from?

Taking Constitution of the US and founding forefathers so seriously, like that wasn't ages ago, when rape was a national hobby and people shat in buckets

So OP's biggest complaints about Americans involves refrigeration, air conditioning, and good oral hygiene? There's plenty of other shit you can complain about us for.

[quote]"The earliest Americans needed guns for survival. They hunted and had to protect against wild animals and the natives." What wild animals did they exactly needed to protect themselves from?

Seriously R199, you've never heard of bears? Or wolves? Jaguars? Cougars? Bobcats? Coyotes? Snakes?

I enjoy the tasteful friends threads but am always struck by how LARGE everything is inside many of the houses. The scale seems wrong somehow. Like the Stonehenge scene in Spinal Tap, only in reverse.

Prevalence of religion.

Fake stuff. Why build a fake Venice as an attraction ?

Talking about money. It would be considered shockingly rude to enquire about salary or house value in most circles here, although I have noticed young people are starting to do so.

r47, you got ripped off, mate.

I just put Burger King into Deliveroo, sachets of condiments are 10 pence each. Not £2. That’s the Leicester Square branch.

Those little carts are mostly illegal and are linked with drug dealing and trafficking. They are also obscenely overpriced. Only naive idiot tourists buy drinks from them. There are plenty of supermarkets and cafes around Hyde Park including three separate cafes inside the park itself where you could have purchased a cold drink for £1, had you been willing to walk a short distance.

The £7 for grapes thing might be true, somewhere like Whole Foods probably does charge that much. I bought grapes in Tesco the other day and they cost £1.

R204 - there are long distances in London and it was the hottest summer in 10 years in the city. My partner was sick and we needed something quick and you know walking and standing in line at historic places is a long wait. Anyway, everything in Kensington and by Paddington station is pricey. Yeah, if you have time to go out and search for a Tesco or a bargain place, fine. Also, in 1995, on our way to Buckingham that cart was the only thing where we were walking and not like the Brits should build a bunch of tacky fast foods near places like the Tower and ruin their historic sites. It's not Vegas after all (which is tacky AND a rip off).

Your best bet are the few ethnic places because say I wanted to eat Yorkshire pudding or beef Wellington around my hotel, the places were obviously posh so you gotta fork over the money. As an American, I want to see London's historical sites and learn about their history not Tesco.

I wonder if the £7 was price per kilo?

R202 Except, none if those animals attacks humans. Bobcats? Coyotes? What are you, a housecat? And who protects themselves from snakes with a gun?

Meow

r204, I’m sorry you got ripped off but any major city anywhere in the world has scam artists operating who try to rip off tourists.

Buying a drink from an illegal cart when you are in a not especially large park that contains three separate cafes is a choice you made. I’m sorry your partner was sick but most people are capable of walking to the other side of a park. If you expect everything handed to you on a platter the second you want it and aren’t prepared to walk even a short distance then you have to pay. God forbid you ever go to a National Park in America - they don’t have cafes with chiller cabinets full of cold drinks every ten feet.

There are tons of Tesco and other cheap or regular- priced supermarkets in and around Paddington and Kensington. I worked in Kensington for nine years and know the area very well. If you choose to shop in Whole Foods and ignore the numerous ordinary supermarkets, you’re going to see higher prices. There’s a Tesco Metro or corner shop on practically every street, you don’t need to go searching for one. So please don’t pretend that grapes cost £7 in London because that simply isn’t true.

The £2 for a sachet of vinegar is just inexplicable. Check the price yourself online, current prices for Burger King UK (online delivery) are 10p for a sachet of condiment.

Sorry I mean r205.

R209 It's all made up. Ignore him.

No-one in history has ever been charged £2 for a sachet of vinegar. Especially not in 1995, which would be the equivalent of charging nearly £4 today.

R209 - I personally had no problem walking for 8 hours back then because I was 21 but my partner wasn't so lucky with cancer at 40 so we took what we could. The truth is my bitch of a cousin suckered some poor English fellow into having a baby with her and now he has to support them both and London is expensive even for an accountant like Chris. I told him of my experience and, as he is 47, he says he remembers that back then there were nowhere as many conveniences as now just like now in Paris, you can go under the Louvre and they have everything you need in the basement as a food court. But still, Chris loved the lower prices and conveniences in LA as much as I loved the history and all in London. It's always a give and take. You do have to admit the average Englishman who works hard in London at a good job is looking at a hefty cost of living, just like those in NYC and LA.

R211 - ok, yeah, I get my kicks making up stories about travelling with my sick partner and the price of vinegar for kicks on DL.

Too many to count. For starters, the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the national anthem at local sport events, ridiculously called world something, even though they're local. Only two other nations do that, China and North Korea.

Authentically Great American Shit: New Orleans.

Genuinely Weird American Shit/Aberration: Las Vegas.

R214 the brainwash thing (flag, pledge, overuse of anthem) is very weird. I wish more Americans would see that it’s a cult-like phenomenon.

“Off of” rather than “off” or “from”.

I like a lot of Britishisms, but the American “different than” is just a thousand times more rational than the British “different to.”

[quote]We put ketchup on everything. Seriously, just stop.

the only thing I've ever ever seen served with ketchup is fries. I prefer mayo myself, but that's because I lived in the Netherlands

[quote]Except, none if those animals attacks humans. Bobcats? Coyotes? What are you, a housecat? And who protects themselves from snakes with a gun?

R207, what an oddly unrealistic perspective you seem to have. Yes, animals attack humans. Today, we live in a rapidly vanishing wilderness, where encounters with wildlife are far rarer than they used to be, and people are still attacked by cougars, wolves, bears, grizzlies and polar bears. If it's just you facing one of these alone, you need a gun. Foxes, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, opossums, and any number of other animals also occasionally attack people, and often carry rabies. And if confronted by a sizable poisonous snake, using a gun is preferable to trying to engage it any other way. Sending for a professional snake handler isn't always an option, and the occupation didn't used to exist.

I dislike guns, and I don't own one. I think the 2nd Amendment is a vestige of racism, and ought to be abolished, or at least re-written. But there's still instances where one might need one.

[quote]the only thing I've ever ever seen served with ketchup is fries.

One could argue that ketchup is 'served with' everything, since bottles of the condiment are placed on every table in most restaurants in the US, where they see all sorts of uses - on hamburgers, steaks, eggs, hashbrowns, etc.. Ketchup approaches something like universal availability, and has a versatility to match.

Professional snake handler? Like those preachers in West Virginia?

No, R222. There's professional wildlife removal services, and those who specialize in handling snakes. The point is to remove them from one's property, house, garage, car, or wherever they turn up, preferably without killing them. Anyone who tries to do this on their own is an idiot who's gonna get hurt.

The Pentecostal snake handlers have no qualifications other than the supposed protection of God, and they're bitten all the time. A lot of them die.

"Foxes, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, opossums, and any number of other animals also occasionally attack people, and often carry rabies." Jeez, what a wuss

In the US, there are still wild animals living at close quarters with humans.

In LA, my friend cannot let her dog and cats out in the back yard at night because coyote's eat them. I am in suburban Florida and frequently have the entry to my building blocked by various wild mammals.

And yes, people in my neighborhood have been attacked by animals.

Are you kind of assuming that every snake is venomous? Snakes are pretty chill, generally. They don't chase you down and strike you to death.

Americans won't be satisfied until all wildlife is dead and their little doggies and kitties are all that remain.

No, R226, but when they turn up in your kitchen, that's not something one can be laid back over.

[quote]Jeez, what a wuss

R224, what a troll. Neither animal attack nor rabies are something one can just 'tough out.'

They won't wear masks during a pandemic.

They are proud of their stupidity.

They believe in Qanon.

Are you people seriously trying to defend American gun laws (or lack of) because of the risks posed by snakes and coyotes?

R230, I'm not. Read R220.

No paid maternity (or paternity, or parental) leave.

It is mostly a given that rural people do need guns. But before 9/11 they didn't have black rifles. The militarization of the US gun market is justified on the basis of needing to overthrow the government, not to kill varmints. Yes, Americans really think that their Constitution has a self destruct clause (which should be implemented by the class of people who probably weren't allowed to vote when the document was written).

R207 Americans do. You're supposed to shoot the snake in the head. A counselor did that once at my summer camp years and years ago after he found a water mocassin in the showers.

Bobcats will attack humans, coyotes will if rabid. Mountain lions, bears, wolves, and elk will attack if they feel threatened. Texas and the South have wild hogs which are famously vicious.

It's not dangerous enough that someone who lived in a city or suburb would ever need a gun to protect themselves from wild animals, but farmers and ranchers certainly do. If not to protect themselves, to protect their livestock.

When I was a kid (and I'm only 40, bitches, lots of ageism around here lately). The cops wore cute hats and had revolvers. Now they have automatic rifles and body armor. All of this gun shit happened in the last 25 years. Before that, Americans had shotguns and deer rifles and a revolver or maybe a surplus Army .45 in the night stand. Now every house is like a National Guard armory. We even had ammo shortages from panic buying and hoarding after Obama was elected, it lasted for years.

Enough about the wildlife, jesus.

R235 We're in the middle of the biggest national gun run we've ever had. There have been ammo shortages throughout the pandemic.

R235 We're in the middle of the biggest national gun run we've ever had. There have been ammo shortages throughout the pandemic.

Pentecostal snake charmers sound pretty weird to me!

I moved to a better neighborhood and don't keep up with it anymore, R238. Maybe the tax revenue will keep me in my job....

I wish I could move to Canada.

R239 Pentacostals in general are strange. Most of the religious horror stories that come out of the U.S. involve Pentacostals. They skew heavily toward poor and uneducated people and they have a uniquely strict and illogical belief system. They're sort of Wahhabi Christians.

Jim Jones started off as a Pentacostal minister.

Liquor, guns, loans: in one store.

Absurd mask wearing and social distancing rituals.

Such as hosting socially-distanced dinner parties, socially-distanced pool parties, wearing masks when no one is anywhere near you, wearing a mask in your profile picture on social media.

Thinking the Rona and masks are all part of a vast conspiracy being run by 1 HRC 2 the Dems 3 the left 4 the deep state and/or 5 BLM.

I prefer the American use of plural verbs:

British: "The company are changing its policies."

US: "The company is changing its policies." And. "The companies are changing their policies."

[quote] I like a lot of Britishisms, but the American “different than” is just a thousand times more rational than the British “different to.”

I totally agree here.

I had no idea "different than" was Americanese. I also prefer, and use, it.

The US is a secular republic, printing In God We Trust in billions of places and rising.

The US is a secular republic with a National Cathedral.

What wild animals did early settlers need to protect themselves from? That is a really stupid question. The same ones that are here today, only lots more.

Bears, cougars, wolves, etc. They can actually kill you, you know? Their population back then was quite large too.

Excluding B Obama from 'African-American'

The urban sprawl, even in quite small towns, which is surly a sign of incontinence.

Swearing in federal official using the Bible.

My parents were born and raised in Europe; we used to go visit relatives there every 3 years or so. I grew up in Chicago.

They made fun of our accents (their English was the queen's English). We dismissed that, though we did make conscious efforts to not pick up chicago accents), but the thing they were right about. Americans ARE too loud.

Given that I observed other Americans from the European perspective, I saw what they meant by that. But it isn't loudness that is the problem. It is a complete lack of humility. Americans think the way they are is the way the whole world should be. That cultural development reached its apex when it was forged in the new world. Sometimes, when Europeans are being nice, they say "American s are so self-confident!" when what they mean is "Americans are so arrogant."

It is the WORST in young Americans who are convinced they know all there is to know, and are out to force their superior ways on everyone else. Loudness, over the top obnoxious behaviour in public spaces, insults to strangers, etc.. Contrary to what DLers would have us believe, in general I have found this behaviour worst in rich kids.. That is, entitlement is much more obvious and insufferable in wealthy people than in the lower classes.

All of the other stuff --- teeth, ice cubes, air-conditioning, etc., it is no big deal. But the attitudes are important and it is where we, the Americans, fail miserably.

And by the way, regarding the air-conditioning, remember that the UK is very close to the arctic circle. It is at about the same latitude as the scandinavian countries.

"even the southernmost point of Britain is further north than the northernmost part of the contiguous United States (the 48 adjoining states, so this does not include Alaska or Hawaii), while London lies further north than almost all major Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto." (Answers.com)

>>>It is a complete lack of humility. Americans think the way they are is the way the whole world should be. That cultural development reached its apex when it was forged in the new world. Sometimes, when Europeans are being nice, they say "American s are so self-confident!" when what they mean is "Americans are so arrogant."

It is the WORST in young Americans who are convinced they know all there is to know, and are out to force their superior ways on everyone else. Loudness, over the top obnoxious behaviour in public spaces, insults to strangers, etc.. Contrary to what DLers would have us believe, in general I have found this behaviour worst in rich kids.. That is, entitlement is much more obvious and insufferable in wealthy people than in the lower classes.

You are so right about that. I live in Florence part of the year, where there are numerous American campuses, with about 8000 American students. It costs something like $20,000 for a term. This is in a relatively small city of 330,00 and a very compact historical centre. Honestly, sometimes I wish I couldn't understand English, with the arrogance and hubris that comes out of these little shits' mouths. The drinking age in Italy is either 16 or 18, depending where you are and you see these kids vomiting and pissing in the street since they aren't used to drinking. You see the girls carrying on in nightclubs with Albanians they believe are Italian, haha. They seem very sheltered and unsophisticated, compared to the same aged Italians. But - friendly, open, and with beautiful teeth.

The teefs

[quote] I don’t understood the widespread American assumption that all British people have terrible teeth

It’s not a widespread American belief. It’s datalounge. A joke made 30 years ago in an Austin Powers movie has stayed with some fat frau who thought it was hilarious.

I am fascinated with all this upthread discussion about condiment "sachets". I have never heard that word used before in this context. In the US, we usually call them "packets", like (to be stereotypical) a "packet of ketchup". I have never seen vinegar in a single-serve packet/sachet here. Dressing for salads, yes but plain vinegar no. What does the vinegar go on?

R259 America does indeed have packets of malt vinegar. If you order fish and chips to go, you should get it.

Flags. US flags everywhere. Shopping malls, storefronts, schools, churches, banks, clothing, etc.

Thanks R260, that explains it. I have never eaten at a "fish and chips" place. That sounds vile. But I appreciate the education.

Regards,

R259

Speaking of teeth, this from another thread:

[quote]The power to tax and spend is vested in Congress, not the Executive branch. Trump's executive orders have no teeth and are un-American.

Unintended humor. Not Jackie On Assistance level, but.....

[quote] The US is a secular republic with a National Cathedral

That’s just what the Episcopal Church calls its cathedral in Washington DC. It does not receive any funding from the public purse.

A constitution that most people pick and choose which portions to defend and which to constantly violate.

[quote] The US is a secular republic

Yet in Fed Court you swear by Almighty God etc

The astonishing number of people who believe in Jesus Christ AND insist he had pale white skin and blue eyes, and that he spoke only English, or grudgingly accept he may have spoken a little Hebrew. But, just a little.

We demand huge kitchens but order delivery cuz we don't have time to cook.

[quote] The astonishing number of people who believe in Jesus Christ AND insist he had pale white skin and blue eyes

That's not just weird American shit; that's general.

A land of freedom, free from political persecution, unless of course you were suspected of having Communist/Socialist/Red/Pinko views from 1918 until the present day.

Yes, R268. The real estate speculation obsession is the worst. Too bad if you just want to rent or own a cottage or something. Everyone is on the property ladder, and everything is a faux palace.

[quote] land of the free home of the brave

weird American shit, aspirational.

They call sauce, "gravy."

R183

Let me explain it for you dumtwaddle.

I COULD care less, but I can’t be bothered.

I could care less.

Do you get it yet?

OK then try this one.

Factitious and fictitious mean (drum roll) the same thing!

Why? I don’t know.

I could care less.

Draining pasta.

What are we supposed to do with the pasta water?

The debate about draining pasta or not.

Excellent response, R274 - if you wanted to confirm that you’re a fucking twat. If so - well done!

If not, then sadly (for you) you make no sense.

Saving the world from the Nazis, paying for the reconstruction and saving the world from the Soviets/Communism. And all being taken for granted. Simples.

Considering that the British shit themselves and collapse in a heap when the temperature gets up to 80 (Fahrenheit, not your logical old Celsius), I'd like to have the complainers about AC sit in a kitchen in Phoenix in July when it's 115 degrees and thank themselves for not paying to cool things down.

But R278 is, of course, correct. "Could care less" is an error that the ignorant dolts have been trying to justify for many decades.

Americans don’t hang their clothes out to dry

They throw them under the bus

[Quote]Americans don’t hang their clothes out to dry

Sometimes I wish we still did. Looks very charming.

They are still puritans deep inside, they are obsessed with the sexual life of their politicians and others public figures demanding they should be saints. Imagine a comedian saying something offensive! Blasphemy! The c, f, n, l word!!

The fact married women change their names like they were adopted by the husband. And they call her "Mrs. John Smith", almost medieval.

Americans are overly obsessed with the physical over feeding their brains. There's nothing wrong with keeping in shape and eating healthy foods, but so many Americans are overly obsessed with their looks. Social media sure hasn't helped this situation.

The average American is quite ignorant, case in point, Dump voters.

Many Americans say ‘could care less’ when they mean they ‘couldn’t care less’. ‘Could care less’ means you still have some level of caring.

The way they pronounce buoy

Same here, R287. Buoyant is pronounced the usual way but when it's just 'buoy' it suddenly becomes boo-ee.

[quote] The average American is quite ignorant, case in point, Dump voters.

What might be uniquely American is they don't know that they don't know, as if they're missing a neuron or two that signals "don't operate the mouth, I'm not 100% certain what I want to say is true or not." Like "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor" level of ignorance.

R288 MIchael Jackson and the buoy joke wouldn’t work there haha

[quote] Ignoring that the Soviets and specially Stalin saved the world from the Nazis, exploiting workers to enrich the elite for the reconstruction and financing all the right wing dictatorships in Latin America that killed millions of civilians that dared to decide their own country's destiny. And all while fabricating moronic American exceptionalism.

TIFIFY R279

The propensity towards sexual hysteria is unmatched in the developed world.

This thread is so fun. It really has diverted my attention for a while from all the horrors going on outside. I'm from the California side of the US.

I have come to realize at aged 57 at least one thing. This idea of American exceptionalism has been drummed into us since kindergarten! We were told that we are the world's "big brother". So all of the world's problems somehow feel connected to us, as well as it's triumphs!

And to the poster above who contributed that little gem, "glow-in-the-dark chiclets white teeth", you rock!

We are absoluted nuts and deluded by national brainwashing and folklore from a young age. I feel embarrassed sometimes by our excessiveness in everything. Hyperbole rules our days.

If we have Americans who behave properly both at home and abroad, there is hope for us.

Elephatine legs, gunts, bellies hanging low over belts, moobs, jowls, triple chins, diabetes, morbid obesity normalized and just the fat fuckers everywhere. Americans seem to be devolving into those lard asses from WALL-E.

Comment on the British teeth: Britain did not have the same post-war experience as the US. Rationing continued til 1952. During the Depression and WW2, there was considerably more poverty and shortages than in the US. This was reflected in the health of people born and raised during this time.

Secondly, except for a certain population of chavs and celebrities, Britons do not have the same attitude toward personal display and ageing as Americans do. They are not as inclined to get braces for their children or veneers for themselves. Every older member of the BRF has dingy, uneven teeth.

As a Brit I love America and the American people are so much more polite and welcoming than we are and have such a positive attitude towards life which is so refreshing to us Brits. The only thing I don't understand is why the Dutch painter Van Gough is pronounced "Van Go" and not the correct Van Goff?

[quote]In Europe, including the UK,, it's considered gauche to shame someone for being poor or to flaunt your own wealth.

Oh don't even try it, R27. Everyone here has read the Daily Mail and we know that this is 100% a lie. It's not just the tabloids, nearly every UK newspaper of any size has had its share of "look at these poor immigrants in a free nice house they don't deserve, the leeches" and "applaud for the NHS workers but don't pay them anything and also don't get 'too much' healthcare because you don't really deserve it." It's just as bad as it is here in the U.S.

R296 -- There was a Dutch painter who moved to NYC. He adapted so well into the NYC lifestyle that he wound up changing his name to Vincent Van Gofuckyourself.

Actually, it's pronounced Van Gok with extra saliva.

r259, for you, you dumb cunt.

Neither the UK Nor US pronounce Van Gogh correctly in the Dutch way. Geyser is another one like this with a UK/US divergence where neither says it like the Icelandic.

About Brit teef. I have a NHS dentist friend here in the UK who told me that during her training everyone wanted to be placed in a region of the UK that doesn’t fluoridate their water, so they have more exposure to fixing severe cases. It’s like training in a war zone as a doctor.

R301 My Dutch friend pronounces it with a very guttural sounding Gofffff. So how on earth did this become Go in the USA?

R27, people do not flaunt their wealth in the UK?

It it ingrained in your system to flaunt wealth. You have titles and elaborate hyphenates that advertise inherited wealth and power.

And you did not inherit, you get to be a sir or dame.

[quote]The astonishing number of people who believe in Jesus Christ AND insist he had pale white skin and blue eyes, and that he spoke only English, or grudgingly accept he may have spoken a little Hebrew. But, just a little.

I've never encountered anyone who claimed this, R267, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟. What I 𝑑𝑜 constantly encounter is people who insist a fantasy figure from ancient Christian literature definitely existed, and completely lose their goddamed minds at the merest suggestion that he didn't. They've also filled in all the ostensible details that would reasonably be characteristic of such a person (i.e. that he would be ethnically Middle Eastern, etc.), 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑, though the primary sources, the gospels, provide none of them (like calling him 'Yeshua ben Yosef'). If any of these details are questioned or gainsaid, they're triggered.

It's probably the pushiest form of Christianity I've personally encountered, and it's often exhibited by persons who otherwise insist they're not Christian, and that they have absolutely no dog in that fight.

[quote]America does indeed have packets of malt vinegar. If you order fish and chips to go, you should get it.

Hell, R260, packets are insufficient. When I get fish and chips (infrequently, maybe twice a year), I buy a bottle of it.

I am Dutch and I can confirm that Gogh is pronounced with a hard rasping gh sound at both ends. It is very guttural even for Dutch! In the UK (where I live) it is normally pronounced with a soft G at the start and just a mild rasping gh at the end. I’d say that’s an acceptable compromise for an English speaker! Pronouncing it as “go” may be standard in the US, but it’s not even vaguely correct.

Very cheered to read the several posters who hate the common English error of «  I was stood » or « I was sat ». I hate it too.

I have never understood ‘ could care less’.

Also noticing more and more the use of ‘pick out’ over here, where we would usually say ‘choose’ .

Obsession with money, fame and material things

R307 I was stood standing or I was sat sitting are very North of England expressions which people who live in the South of England never use same as Yall for You all in the Southern States which is not used in the Northern US.

Agree r 308, but then someone reasonably pointed to the DM’s obsession with the very same things. The answer is the Daily Mail online aims to a very wide audience, and yes the barriers are breaking down.

HOWEVER it remains true that discussion and flaunting of personal wealth is considered impolite and crass in traditional upper middle class society.

R 307 I have never heard anyone say ‘ I was sat sitting ‘ except in a comic context . I have lived in the North for many years. They sometimes say ‘ I were sat’ which is just as bad as ‘ I was sat’

vicious face slapping

unzipped flies

Hmmm, we have a poster claiming to be American and in another post claiming to be Romanian. What gives?

Someone moved to Romania, r313, and has been mentioning it this summer. I'm gonna bet it's that guy (who has never claimed to be Romanian, btw).

I think that poster is a US citizen who recently relocated to Romania for work. I like him; he had some good posts on the Nureyev thread. He seems to mention his (female) roommate a lot. Nice guy.

Can’t imagine moving to Romania for work.. yikes.

Oh, so it's truly NOT VanGo?!! Good to know thanks.

[quote] why the Dutch painter Van Gough is pronounced "Van Go" and not the correct Van Goff?

It's neither. The correct pronunciation is "fincent fan XoX" the x being a fricative G.

Some mutilate penises. It's barbaric and uncivilized. And it needs to end even for voodoo religious reasons. Stop.

Circumcision in America, like good dental care, isn't for religious reasons, r319. In Europe it is. And no, it will not end. Especially now young people want to look aesthetically pleasing naked.

[quote]What I 𝑑𝑜 constantly encounter is people who insist a fantasy figure from ancient Christian literature definitely existed, and completely lose their goddamed minds at the merest suggestion that he didn't.

r304, I think Roman records show a Christ-like person probably existed in Palestine and his followers (including first and second-hand ones like Peter and Paul) made their way west to Rome. What I find odd is people like you think something doesn't exist if it isn't independently documented when the reality is oral tradition was much more prevalent back then and that the bulk of written records from back then were lost anyway.

Now you could argue the merits and legitimacy of his teachings, but to entirely dismiss the possibility of his existence, when that era was chock-full of marketplaces with all types of self-proclaimed philosophers preaching one thing or the other doesn't make sense.

I have a question: Do those morning TV shows, with their saccharinely bubbly hosts, plastic smiles, flashing veneers and perfect profiles come across as real and genuine to most Americans? Do people believe they're all best friends happy to see each other every morning and not a cutthroat world of corporate intrigue and betrayals. And I know Brits shouldn't be so eager to pile on because they seem to have whole-heartedly adopted this format as well.

R320 it doesn’t look better and seems to be an unnecessary surgery. If there are no medical grounds. Uncircumcised is great, most men keep their dicks perfectly clean.

R320. Circumcision will end or be in the minority in the U.S. in matter of years, perhaps within the next generation. The religious bullshit persists. However, the barbaric practice is already on the decline. The current generation and their children recognize it for what it is: unnecessary and cruel. And about half of them are intact anyway. And mutilating perfectly healthy genital skin tissue has nothing to do with nor is the comparison valid to dental hygiene.

[quote] I think Roman records show a Christ-like person probably existed in Palestine and his followers (including first and second-hand ones like Peter and Paul) made their way west to Rome.

In any discussion of this sort, R321, the purported "Roman records" are almost always cited first. There's not any 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦* "Roman records" of Christ to speak of, which haven't been altered during centuries of transmission by Christian hands. "Peter and Paul" have as little standing as Christ from a historical standpoint; there's no evidence for them, either - least of all their purported writings, which are pseudepigraphal. (The whole 'letters dropped while making their way west to Rome' is a pseudepigraphal trope, one which was repeated for "Ignatius.")

[quote]What I find odd is people like you think something doesn't exist if it isn't independently documented when the reality is oral tradition was much more prevalent back then and that the bulk of written records from back then were lost anyway.

Odder still is that a modern person could think that 'oral traditions' (for which there is no evidence anyway; if there were, it wouldn't be "oral", would it?) and accreted rumor from nearly two millennia ago could serve as "evidence," when it cannot meet the standards for evidence we hold today. These are the standards of apologetical arguments put up by people who are religiously invested in the religion, not by otherwise disinterested observers. See Robert M. Price, link.

[quote]Now you could argue the merits and legitimacy of his teachings, but to entirely dismiss the possibility of his existence, when that era was chock-full of marketplaces with all types of self-proclaimed philosophers preaching one thing or the other doesn't make sense.

You halfway make my case for me. Do you wish to offer that sort of benefit of the doubt for every single one of these, or just for the supposed 'Christ, Son of the Living God' which has been the central religious figure for all of Western civilization? He's different, right? A special case.

Which detail or details would you like to single out about him for consideration as being genuine, and not a literary borrowing from some other source?

* 'Contemporary' means contemporary, not from thirty to forty years later, or from the next century.

The ensuing discussion would tend to derail this thread, R321. It's been done exhaustively before, here:

And most recently, here, R321:

To bring it back on topic, if you have had religious schooling or bible study, you learn that there is no contemporary evidence that Jesus existed and that the mention in Josephus was a later addition.

But like with most things, Americans discount or forget what experts say and go with their gut.

Okay, please stop with all the Jeebus shit. No one is interested.

Death Penalty

NASA, Space Force, and other delusional "Outer Space" pursuits

R151 I'll see your flimsy light switches, and raise you the flimsiest, cheapest electrical plugs in the entire developed world: often not grounded, and easily bent out of shape.

ALL things Disney

How are NASA delusional "Outer Space" pursuits? Why did you put outer space in quotation marks? And what is delusional about them?

R331 Delusional, insofar as the belief these are worthwhile pursuits, money well spent, and some sort of life changing information shall be gained from such pursuits. Some, or perhaps many Americans have a belief or fantasy that they're to eventually colonise other planets as well, (sound like a Mormon theological teaching) after they've used up and ruined the earth. Elon Musk believes in this concept, with his goal to colonise Mars.

I put Outer Space in quotes, because it's quite comical really. Americans just float around very near the earth, and play on the International Space Station. None have really gone deep into outer space, nor do I believe they will succeed in doing so in the future. America would be better off spending those budgets on fixing aging infrastructure, providing health care to its citizens, and feeding the hungry.

Or working on climate change, pollution of the ocean, water shortages, and population control.....

R333 I couldn't agree more with you, as regards those other worthy endeavours you just mentioned. I'll add the homelessness problem as well, for a much more valuable way to spend taxpayer dollars.

America ought to spend more in improving her public school system as well, less reliance on local property taxes. Any pursuits wherein money is spent on Earth is more logical, over some Star Trek- Star Wars fantasy crap.

R332 Except, we would know nothing about space, other planets etc. if not for NASA and similar organizations. And about the whole Mormon thing. Actually, it's religious folks and conservatives that are against NASA and space explorations, and science in general.

R332 Except, we would know nothing about space, other planets etc. if not for NASA and similar organizations. And about the whole Mormon thing. Actually, it's religious folks and conservatives that are against NASA and space explorations, and science in general.

R336 What exactly has NASA learnt for that enormous amount of money spent? Much of it actually from hidden Black Ops budgets, so the average American isn't even aware of the total. Don't needlessly work yourself up overcoming my objections; that isn't the point of the thread really.

Yanks had their fun with us, I have my turn now calling out what Infind weird. I've lived in America long enough that Americans feel Space Force and NASA are ridiculous pursuits. If you're an American, can you get round to working on a sturdier electrical plug? Or at least could you have them all uniformly converted to the three-prong grounded type? It's much more delightful to quibble over the petty stuff, isn't it?

I also hate your wall mounted shower heads that come straight off the pipe. I'm thankful the posters upthread have mentioned them. Much easier to get the undercarriage cleaned and rinsed properly with a shower wand.

These ceiling fans with the three lights. It seems like every house has them.

The hatred of Canada and of Canadians.

R339 Envy.

R339 Philip and Terrence

R339 Philip and Terrence

The OBSESSION with circumcision on DL is beyond bizarre. How many posts do we have to endure about this subject? Almost daily there is a mention of circumcision in so many different DL threads, threads which aren't even about this subject. I do realize most DL threads often veer off course, I don't have a problem with that, but circumcision ad nauseam every single day?

Give it a rest! Some men have circumcisions, some don't. Also, the obsession with actors being cut or uncut, who the hell cares. It's not as if any of you will ever fuck these famous men.

Yes r343, but are you cut?

R339 I'm in California and nobody hates Canadians.

I’ve never heard anyone hate on Canadians except here at DL. In real life, Americans compliment Canadians for all their beautiful landscapes, fine writers, and liberal ways. Also we are intrigued by poutine and it’s become a bit hipsterish.

[quote]Talking about ancestry when it’s a million generations back. I mean it’s weird to say you’re English for example because more than two centuries ago your great great great etc parents moved from England to the US. If it’s your parents ok, other than that: suck it up you’re American

That's odd, I remember having the complete opposite discussion with someone's friend visiting from the UK about 10 years ago. He kept asking me over and over what nationality I was. I said American because most of us have been here for generations. Culturally, I have no other reference. But he would not take that as an answer until I told him I was actually part Native American (which is true by the way) and then he just looked baffled.

I think his whole goal was to figure out what kind of person I was based on some racist preconceived idea of my ancestry. News flash, most Americans are blended mutts with 3,4,5, different nationalities so that pure bread euro trait thing really doesn't work in America. My personality traits have had more influence from growing up in California than any Italian, Spanish or British ancestor from 400 years ago.

R343, I had not thought about men's circumcision status in decades before I discovered DL in 2013. Some are, some aren't. But the uncutophiles running from thread to thread shrieking "mutilated" force one to take a stand, something I had never before felt a need for. Yes, it's crazy, this obsession, but it's the "mutilated!" shriekers who make it so. They are the meanest girls in all of Dataloungeland.

[quote]I also hate your wall mounted shower heads that come straight off the pipe. I'm thankful the posters upthread have mentioned them. Much easier to get the undercarriage cleaned and rinsed properly with a shower wand.

I always feel the need for a third hand when the "wand" is anywhere other than stationary and overhead. And I clean myself quite properly, TYVM.

[quote]These ceiling fans with the three lights. It seems like every house has them.

So we can't have air condition or ceiling fans? How barbaric are you people? Are you still coming out of that mini ice age?

Truth be told, I hate those tacky ceiling fans, very Keranesk house Frau design element. Air conditioning on the other hand, I love. Temperature control is better off felt than seen.

Every American house or apartment I have been in has had window screens and just about every European house or apartment I have been in has not. Yet there as many flies and mosquitoes in Europe as the US. Go America!

[quote]I hate those tacky ceiling fans, very Keranesk house Frau design element. Air conditioning on the other hand, I love. [bold]Temperature control is better off felt than seen.[/bold]

Or heard. 9 out of 10 ceiling fans make so much clicking noise, it's impossible to fall asleep while they are on. Love a/c, though.

[quote]Truth be told, I hate those tacky ceiling fans, very Keranesk house Frau design element.

What is "Keranesk"? Google and Duck, Duck Go had nothing.

[quote]The OBSESSION with circumcision on DL is beyond bizarre. How many posts do we have to endure about this subject?

Hmm. Makes me wonder if former IMDb poster "CaptainBryce" posts here. He used to frequently troll IMDb on the subject of what he termed "mutilation". It was one of his obsessions.

'Superman' was another.

[quote] What is "Keranesk"? Google and Duck, Duck Go had nothing.

R353, I think he means Karen-esque.

R313, R314, R315 and R316 - yes I am an American from LA who moved to Romania for work because our company is a multinational which has a lot of operations here. I live in a city called Cluj-Napoca and my roommate is also LA-born with a Romanian dad and an American mom. It's been a cool experience overall because the city is a university town and pretty LGBTQ friendly compared to the rest of the country. Our company rented us a nice large place for the 2 years we are here. I am getting interested in gay history behind the iron curtain and starting to write out stories I hear about those who were silenced by the regime and am (was before the pandemic shut down a lot of things) trying to be active in the gay community while here as it is a slow, but meaningful progress. We got a bunch of signatures recently for a petition to legalize gay civil unions with my roommate which is why I mention her. Thanks for noticing!

Friendly, engaging, positive posters stand out here, R356.

Hope you get a chance to do some traveling around. You live in an interesting part of the world.

[R356] My great grandparents lived in Bucharest in the 1920’s. I hear it has a lot of beautiful buildings. I’ve always been intrigued by Romania—have you been to Transylvania? The Anthony Bourdain Romania episode was really funny. Eating good food was not part of the experience! Good for you and your activism there, too.

I doubt it is appropriate for a non-Romanian to be an activist in Romania. Perhaps such activism is weird US shit too.

r27, people don't flaunt their wealth in the UK? I guess all those castles are what? Pet rescue shelters?

Censoring and bleeping.

For a country that prides itself of being the land of the free, there's nothing more irritating than censoring everything. FCC is a joke. Cardi B had to release a filthy song censored otherwise she wouldn't make money on Youtube, because it follows ridiculous FCC standards, it used to be a free platform, an alternative to censored media, now it has become a FCC extension so sad, but I digress.

Infantilization of discourse, too, treating slurs like nigger, faggot, dyke, retarded as N word, F word, etc it's the most moronic thing of the modern age. I understand children talking like that, but reading the New York Times following these standards is beyond sad.

Let's not forget the videos reporting on racism. Most of the time, you can't even make out what's going on because there's so much bleeping in the fucking thing you don't know what's going on. What gives? I thought news was supposed to report on things as is.

It annoys me to no end.

R322, breakfast TV in the UK is a snarlfest. We have the same format and the same obvious animosity between presenters. I don’t watch it any more because it curdles my porridge.

r361 This censorship thing, is this why the Dolan Twins' videos are constantly bleeped? Its annoying enough I don't want to bother with them.

[quote] This censorship thing, is this why the Dolan Twins' videos are constantly bleeped? Its annoying enough I don't want to bother with them.

Exactly. Youtube has changed its monetization requirements and the end result is basically boring network TV, completely different than what it was meant to be. The reason Cardi B released her video with a ridiculous PG version is that without it, she couldn't profit off it.

Youtube is one step from being boring daytime network TV. Even Jeffree Star is censoring his videos now look at his apology video. He knew it would go viral, he could have kept the swearing, he didn't because he wanted to make a buck.

I find the concept of Breakfast TV a bit odd. I am old. Radio, yes, but not telly. Used to be sent on work trips and the cheaper places always had a massive blaring screen in the breakfast area. . Hideous.

[quote]I find the concept of Breakfast TV a bit odd.

I find calling it "Breakfast TV" a bit odd, particularly as it's been on as long as I've been alive—I'm [italic]ancient[/italic]—and suddenly it's "Breakfast TV"?

R358 - I am in Transylvania, in a city called Cluj-Napoca and have been to Bran Castle and many other cool places here. I did go to Bucharest around Christmas and while the architecture and dining was amazing, I would say that according to what I have been reading it was a far more sophisticated population before the regime wiped out the intellectuals and the South has become Balkan. But that is great that you have roots there and you should visit.

The phrase “watching my shows” - is that a joke?

R360, most castles in the UK are no longer privately owned. Hardly anyone could afford to maintain houses and estates that size. Many of them are owned by the National Trust.

and we’re the humorless ones 🙄

OP, There is nothing "Weird" about nice teeth. What IS weird is having shitty, crooked, brown and yellow teeth rotted from excessive amounts of tea and candy. If your teeth look like shit, FIX them or you shall be forever weird (and ugly).

[quote]The phrase “watching my shows” - is that a joke?

I think the phrase you are referring to is: "watching my stories". This refers to some unemployed homebound hausfrau watching 'her' soap operas everyday and not wanting to be interrupted by some family drama, like one of her kids scraping their knee while playing. In the hausfrau's mind, those tedious soap stories are sure more exciting than the hausfrau's dull life of suburban domesticity.

Is "Breakfast TV really odd ? The US has the same morning show concept. Aren't all those US morning talk shows, with news thrown in, such as TODAY, Good Morning America etc, considered breakfast TV?

Inventing motion pictures, electricity, air travel, the Internet, home computers, and smartphones.

But you guys gave us James Corden, so that’s something right?

[Quote] As an American, I have never seen anyone put ice in wine. Unless you’re talking about a wine spritzer, which is its own god-awful entity.

3:03 - 3:08

Hmm, r374, In addition to James Corden (you’re welcome!), we also found the time to come up with the Higgs Boson theory, the first functioning steam engine (James Watt), the first fuel-burning engine (Thomas Newcom), the telephone (Alexander Graham Bell), the principles of radiotransmission (James Clerk Maxwell), ATM and PIN number technology (James Goodfellow), logarithms, the theory of electromagnetism (James Clerk Maxwell again, refining of oil (James Young), fingerprinting (Henry Faulds), discovery of argon, helium, neon, krypton and xenon (all by William Ramsay), use of chloroform (James Simpson), the saline drip (Thomas Latta), the hypodermic syringe (Alexander Wood), discovery of insulin and the discovery of penicillin (Alexander Fleming).

Again, you’re welcome.

You also invented the closet.

Anything from the 21st century? Those gains are very dusty.

R330 They want to explore space for industrial mining, telecommunications, and military advantage. There are deadly practical reasons.

R330 Trump signed an executive order on Moon Mining in April, and the U.S. has drafted the "Artemis Accords" Pact on space commerce and defense.

More on the Artemis Accords, which were announced in May by NASA. Any country wishing to participate in the manned Mars mission will have to sign them, and you better believe they favor U.S. interests.

People foolish enough to proudly boast of, or defend any of Trump's policies, or achievements.

R373: I think the poster who mentioned it is the tendency for a TV to be the go to source for everything, even in the morning. Radio was definitely a morning thing in America until the 80s. Then Good Morning America and Today went at it and it's been TV in the mornings for like 35 years now. And we in America now have local TV news in the morning, in most markets non-network stations are on from 4 to 10AM now. That is something the Brits do not have. Lucky bastards.

I don't have a problem with local news being on from 4AM to 10AM. NY1 has news all day. Even before the pandemic, lots of people were working staggered hours, we are no longer living in a 9-5 world. I've been working from home since 2005. I don't have a normal work schedule. I have three accounts and different deadlines. Right now, I'm working through the night, I have 9AM deadline for a design I need to get done.

R383 What exactly would you like to be able to watch on your local stations in the morning that you can't find elsewhere? What makes non-Americans "lucky" that they don't have morning news?

We love ice and when we use it we don't skimp on it.

(using ice for non-alcoholic beverages, I mean)

One does not put ice in wine! One puts in frozen grapes.

R386 Why do you suppose you're all so terribly fond of ice (and plenty of it)? Can you at least see the other side we think you're being stingy on whatever drink you're serving with all that ice.

Some Americans seem to be fixated on others identity ethnically... They think nothing of it shortly after meeting them, what your heritage or your parents' heritage is. Shortly before the COVID explosion, and the lockdown, at a small party with my partner, one of his mates asked if I was a little bit "dirty Anglo"?

I was just stunned really. I didn't know what to say;as I was thinking about it, and sipping my Scotch, my partner easily blurted out that I'm Jewish, not Anglo, with an Irish grandparent. Granted I was only introduced on a first name basis, (surname obviously Jewish, very traditional English first name) but still weird. I never before thiought I looked particularly different to average Brits myself. No one would ever ask this, just meeting you at a party in Britain.

[quote]Why do you suppose you're all so terribly fond of ice?

Soft drinks are supposed to be refreshing (all the ads tell us so). I don't see the appeal of room temperature soda. It feels like pouring battery acid in your mouth. You can skip the ice if the drink is already cold (usually get no ice or light ice if I'm getting a fast food drink)

[quote]We love ice and when we use it we don't skimp on it.

Ice is fab! I love ice, I don't care how American that is. I hate room temprature water. Is it any stranger than Brits obsessed with hot tea? The new trend here is crystal clear ice the size of a tennis ball. It's mainly for cocktails but you can use it for anything, it's really beautiful to look at, and when it pure like that, it melts slower because there is no air it's structurally more dense. I just spent over $200 on a special ice making thing that makes perfectly clear. I love it!

Was that a lot, sure, but it makes me happy, and if you think that's odd don't be so quick to judge. Samsung Just came out with a refrigerator/freezer that make these same kind of ice balls. So obviously there is a huge market for it.

R390 We enjoy a cold drink, and have refrigeration. I don't mind a bit of ice, but find there's often too much. From cocktails to Coca-Cola, it seems a way to skimp on the drink. I don't see the point of diluting everything so much if it's been chilled.

[quote]Why do you suppose you're all so terribly fond of ice

Why do you suppose Brits like terribly warm soda? Even the Romans loved ice. Not like what he have now but they had daily workers go up to the mountains and harvest the snow and bring it back to the city for refrigeration. I believe they even had some kind of treat that resembled a snow cone.

As far as diluting a drink goes, that is factored into whatever I am drinking. It's not really about getting ripped off. In America most restaurants don't charge for you second glass of soda or iced tea, so it's drink all you want. And since most of us don't drink enough water, I see it as one way to get a lot more into my diet without thinking about it. Plus most sodas and fruit juices are far too sweet.

Oops, it looks like LG not Samsung invented the first craft ice fridge. This guy explains the benefits, some of which I never though of.

How can warm soda or even lukewarm water be refreshing?

I don't drink soda but I drink a lot of ice cold water. I drink two Britta carafes of water a day.

They lovvve junk food and have a lot of weird but tasty foods

I love to bake and there are some unique American baking traits I do not understand! Please clarify for me the following:

Non-stick butter spray out of a can so that the cake doesn't stick, everything is buttercream, vanilla extract is always used (why??, it's a weird, dark liquid), fondant!!, and most of all that weird layering in cakes (the layers of cake are very think and look very boring, then you slather and surround them with - ofte times - coloured buttercream. I think these cakes just look weird.)

To be honest, the layering triggers me the most!

Their self-assuredness as they explain what life is like in a country they've never been to, to a native and citizen of that country.

"No, seriously! Just google it. The water is so clean that you can drink from lakes and ponds without purifying it. Are you, like, trolling me now pretending not to know this??"

When I pointed out that we consistently top the list for giardiasis in the developed world, he became openly hostile.

R399, lol! Which country?

New Zealand

R401 OMG, I learned a New Zealandic word today from Kiwi hottie KJ Apa: CHUR! He said one should use it when down under! You agree?

America is brilliant they give you free refills for Tea, Coffee and Cola! In the UK you have to pay full price for all refills.

R398, I believe most nonstick spray is just canola or vegetable oil. If it’s “butter”, it’s just synthetic butter flavor. However, Baker’s Joy spray for baking actually has flour in it to keep cakes and whatnot from sticking.

Fondant is really only popular on food network tv shows because it looks pretty or unique. However, no one actually likes it, and most American bakers at home nor bakeries actually use it.

Regarding vanilla extract in everything, I don’t have a problem with it as it’s a good base flavor. Additionally, the many layers in cakes is supposed to offer more frosting versus cake ratio, and became a rather type of competition in Southern USA culture to complete as many layers as possible.

And I prefer whipped cream frosting to buttercream.

Isn't vanilla the base flavor of almost all baked goods? What do Germans use if not vanilla?

R405 They seem like the almond extract kind of country.

R405 Well, we often use vanilla sugar.

No one asked about FakeGermany, trollina

Prom culture.

[quote] Using condiments on everything, demanding condiments before even tasting the food. Stop using them and learn just how good food can taste.

British cuisine is the reason condiments were invented.

American cuisine is why bariatric surgery was invented.

Thank god for ceiling fans. I can't sleep without one and whatever noise they make is like a white background noise.

For me, the most weird thing is they ignore the elephant in the room, the epidemic of mental disorders they have. They laugh about it when they see "Florida man..." News, they see their celebrities snap all the time, they sigh when another quiet kid kill people at the schools with asalt rifles. In what universe that's nomal? The first cause of death on their military is suicide. They have serious mental issues on the population and no support for those who can't afford the ridiculous prices of their health sistem, and those who can, don't want the stigma. People eat their feeling for reasons, some are religious nuts, some hoard weapons, some hate everyone who looks/ talk different, the number of indigent is sky rocketing, all of them are not mentally stable people and they are ignored and normalized. Of course for a deeply free market oriented sociaty, they are just "losers", but those loser wont go away and the have a deep impact on others people lives. They have a clearly demented and sociopath president and almost a half of them are fine with that as long he try to keep the brown people away.

English people are way more touchy than Americans, who are at least honest about who they like and who they hate.

British people think they’re the rose of Europe when when coming out with some of the most racist shot ever are all “calm down, lad. It’s just bantz, innit mate”.

American Christians are weird American shit. They are always so outwardly devout: prayers, saying grace and generally carrying on in a very god-bothering way, and yet they live in probably the most dog-eat-dog cut-throat capitalist society in the developed world. And they fight tooth and nail to keep it that way.

Actually, American Christianity has been on a downward spiral of followers since the 1970's. The vast majority of people I know don't go to any church or religious event except for weddings and funerals. American is not the highly religious country the Europeans think it is, it just that the percentage that are that way are the loudest. And I will also say the least Christian of all.

That's why the Pope's of the past gave up on America and focus on 3rd world countries these days. Even in Italy, participation in the church is at an all time low. The younger generation is just not into it. And by young I really mean middle age 40-50 something.

Forgot to mention, even weddings are moving out of the churches these days. Most of the ones I have been to in the last 10 years have been outdoors at a country club, on a nice boat, the beach, a park or even just in a small backyard.

[quote]American is not the highly religious country the Europeans think it is

We sure do pretend that we are, though.