When you live in America you are socialized to think everything you deal with in culture is normal--until you see it through the eyes of a foreigner.

One interesting view: "Smart people really believe in creationism".

Any way, some interesting views on America from those outside the country, from food-portion sizes, to the love of our cars, to our friendliness:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/michael-koh/2013/11/16-people-on-things-they-couldnt-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2015 11:34AM by danr.

For me, this is a totally fascinating article.

Cross-cultural observations and experiences have always been a subject of particular interest to me. (I actually have several books on different permutations of this subject---not just non-Americans/non-Canadians vis-à-vis North Americans, but also the same in reverse: Americans and Canadians vis-à-vis other world cultures.)

Thank you, danr!!!

As a non-American living here - I am ALL OVER the return policy here. Holy smoke Batman, I've been here 11 years and I still cannot believe how flexible they are about returns!

Ever now and again my US wife has to keep reminding me, she says, "This is America, you can return almost anything, stop acting like a baby and take that crap back to the store."

I've been to the states - Quincy in Boston - and what struck me was the cleanliness of the streets (no litter) the HUGE portions in the sports bar eaterie and the assumption that if you drink vodka you are on the 'hard stuff'. Everything tasted sweet, even the beer, until I discovered sam adams on my last night out.

Gas stations all had book sections with a large 'spiritual' section included, unlike anything I've seen in similar establishments here in the UK.

The biggest thing overall was the lack of knowledge and information of things outside the US. I get how big the place is and how far away from the coast one can be (unlike scotland, never too far away even when up a mountain). Maybe it's a throwback to our imperial days, but when we pick up the newspaper we like to know what is going on in other parts of the world, especially if our troops are on operation over there. It was not like that in the US, yet no-one I spoke to thought that unusual. I could find nothing about foreign military operations in any newspaper I looked at and I purchased quite a few different titles whilst there. It is like the average american forgets there is a whole other world outside it's borders, or he/she believes other countries to be the way they are depicted by hollywood.

We live 50 highway miles from the US border and can see Montana's mountains from here and I have always been fascinated by the fact most Americans know very little about what lies outside their own border.

Ron Buirr

Or even inside their own borders......

I routinely ask my wife about large national stories that are in the US media, and she has no clue what I'm talking about. She even listens to NPR routinely.

However, if I was to ask her what the latest celebrity news story was, she'd drown me with details on the rich and famous. Ha ha ha.

Lethbridge Reprobate Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We live 50 highway miles from the US border and
> can see Montana's mountains from here and I have
> always been fascinated by the fact most Americans
> know very little about what lies outside their own
> border.
>
> Ron Buirr

True!!!

(One of many reasons why I am so in favor of international student exchange programs [service programs, learning programs, touring programs, combined programs], some of which begin in the later grades of elementary school.

Six weeks on a kibbutz, or passing out toothbrushes to those who have never had one, or foreign language/touring immersion programs can---and usually DOES---change a given person's life positively for all the rest of that person's life.)

American IPA. The best beer in the world. EVER.

Canadian here. A close friend of mine spends winters in Florida. she is surprised that most American news is local news. It is harder to get national American news and international news is a rare bird indeed.

However the biggest difference between Americans and people from other western democracies is there love of guns and their fundamentalist religious beliefs especially rejection of evolution.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2015 06:26PM by annieg.