Casual What's The Weirdest American Difference?

Are you in 'Murica?

  • Total voters
    23
12 hour time is sorta us.

"Most countries around the world today use the 24-hour system. The 12-hour format, including am and pm, is officially used only in the United States, Canada (except Québec), Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines."
 
tappaja100 said:
Tipping, why not just pay the wait staff proper wages?
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This is controversial, but it was caused back then when people were starting to give extra money to waiters and what not. Because they were making extra money, their employers started cutting down their wages so that the employer could save money. Now, the purpose of tipping is to give an incentive to the waiter to do a great job, but isn't that the point anyways?
 
America is the reason things like Fahrenheit, inches, miles, gallons and the MM/DD/YYYY system still exist. Admittedly, phrases like a "couple of miles" are easier to say than "a couple of kilometres". But it's frustrating when, in a country that only uses the metric system (Australia), most companies still advertise things in inches.

If we're talking weird things:
- Fall instead of Autumn (Really bugs me in Stardew Valley :))
- Snow in Christmas (December is summer in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't snow near the Equator.)
- Every piece of hardware/equipment sold in Australia has a FCC logo​
- America is the only economic market that matters. E.g. Windows Phone considered failed because it had a small market share in America. Never mind that it was more popular than iPhones in parts of Europe at its peak. If I had to argue why Google and Apple succeeded in phones while Microsoft failed, I'd say it's because Google and Apple acknowledged the rest of the world.
 
Sigma90 said:
America is the reason things like Fahrenheit, inches, miles, gallons and the MM/DD/YYYY system still exist. Admittedly, phrases like a "couple of miles" are easier to say than "a couple of kilometres". But it's frustrating when, in a country that only uses the metric system (Australia), most companies still advertise things in inches.

If we're talking weird things:
- Fall instead of Autumn (Really bugs me in Stardew Valley :))
- Snow in Christmas (December is summer in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't snow near the Equator.)
- Every piece of hardware/equipment sold in Australia has a FCC logo​
- America is the only economic market that matters. E.g. Windows Phone considered failed because it had a small market share in America. Never mind that it was more popular than iPhones in parts of Europe at its peak. If I had to argue why Google and Apple succeeded in phones while Microsoft failed, I'd say it's because Google and Apple acknowledged the rest of the world.
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America has nothing to do with snow in winter. That's Europe. It doesn't snow in large portions of America.

We also say Autumn here just as often as Fall.
 
Dynorok Loon-Maker said:
The fact that so many Americans believe that there is actually a "genocide" against white people happening in South Africa us annoying
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South African leaders confirmed it on national television... why you would try to downplay ethnic cleansing and violation of rights as "annoying" is beyond me. That isn't the right attitude towards human suffering.
 
I take it you mean American vs rest of the world difference.

#1
Among other things mentioned here, I just can't fathom Americans having such freedom to bear guns (possibly depending on state).

I live in The Netherlands; even owning a fake gun that looks like a real gun is illegal. I'd be absolutely terrified living in a country where anyone could shoot you when you get into an argument, or just for the heck of it. I see videos of cops walking towards someone's car and standing next to the car door. If the driver has bad intentions, then the cop will be dead there and then. The driver just has to keep his gun at the ready.
For me this explains why American cops seem to be incredibly eager to shoot in situations where it might not have been needed. When you know you can be shot by someone in an instant, you'll take a lot less chances.

School shootings... Some kid I met, ages ago, while playing an online game, 16-years old, was telling me about a new gift he got, an SKS rifle, used in WWII, and how he was practicing with it in his back yard with live rounds, also telling me (after I asked) about all his other guns. He had 7 or something. From pistols to rifles. I was flabbergasted. If it's so easy for some kids to have access to guns, then :red: will of course hit the fan eventually. Lots of kids are the victim of bullying. It doesn't surprise me that once in a while one bullied kid decides to strike back, in the worst way imaginable.
It also felt surreal to me, someone being happy to own and use a WWII gun that was likely used to kill people many years ago.

I can't shake the idea that the 2nd amendment was created because back then you really had to protect yourself from raiders, wild animals and whatnot, who were prowling upon the weak in the wild west, and there wasn't a large police force available. And the guns back then were slow to reload. These days you can have a pistol with 15 rounds, fire them in quick succession and insert a new magazine in a few seconds.
Why is it so hard for so many Americans to agree that the 2nd amendment is not of this time? It's dated and needs to change.
Admittedly, some Americans still live in the middle of nowhere, and I imagine they feel a lot safer having something around in case some low-lives try to take your livelihood, but I'm sure someone smarter than me can figure out a solution for that. (Tasers? Bean bags?)

Anyway, I don't want to start a discussion here (in my experience I'll just receive a lot of flak from lots of Americans, so there's no point to it anyway), but I just wanted to share that this right to bear arms really boggles my Non-American mind.


#2
Another thing is, I don't really know how to say this, but... this over the top ingenuity/insincerity some Americans seem to show in media etc. Like Jimmy Fallon, with his fake smiles, scripted 'notsofunny' bits etc.
Interviewed Americans that seem to pretend to be wiser than they are (it's really okay to just say you don't know the answer to something, it makes you a lot less stupid than falling for the interviewer's trap), or being over the top happy (like they wear a mask).
And when an interviewed person or bystander curses or something, the network stops the interview while the host seems really uncomfortable that someone used a no-no word. Are they afraid of getting sued or something? This American media, it all seems so uptight.
People over here simply seem a lot more... what's the word... grounded.

Disclaimer: I naturally don't watch a lot of American TV, so I built this feeling around videos posted on the internet. Maybe it's not so bad as I believe it to be.

I have a few more, but this already became a wall of text. Oops.
 
@Gotcha! AFAIK it is illegal for him to own those guns and certainly illegal for him to fire live rounds in his backyard, unless he lives really far out in the sticks. Anyway, the 2nd amendment isn't really geared towards what you say, moreso an insurance policy against authoritarianism. You could argue other countries get along fine without this, but Americans certainly have a longer list of freedoms than those, and that those places have their own (worsening) problems with government control.

Also we hate our normie media too.
 
Lord Garak said:
@Gotcha! AFAIK it is illegal for him to own those guns and certainly illegal for him to fire live rounds in his backyard, unless he lives really far out in the sticks.
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Is that the case across all states? If so, I'm glad to hear it. The thought of a million 16-year olds having the possibility to prepare for war in their backyard is... unsettling.
 
Gotcha! said:
Is that the case across all states? If so, I'm glad to hear it. The thought of a million 16-year olds having the possibility to prepare for war in their backyard is... unsettling.
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"Federal law requires someone to be at least 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, but only 18 in most places to buy a long gun. In some states — mostly rural places with a strong tradition of hunting — you can buy a rifle at the age of 14 or 16."

I edited some stuff in I forgot to mention.
 
Lord Garak said:
"Federal law requires someone to be at least 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, but only 18 in most places to buy a long gun. In some states — mostly rural places with a strong tradition of hunting — you can buy a rifle at the age of 14 or 16."

I edited some stuff in I forgot to mention.
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Buy and own are two disappointingly different things when it comrd to guns
 
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