# 16 People On Things They Couldn’t Believe About America Until They Moved Here **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954 "2013-11-15T01:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/21 "2013-11-15T04:59:53Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > This was a source of frustration to me. At the hostel, you’d meet people that would get very annoyed if you made cultural assumptions about them based on books or movies set in their country, but the stuff they knew about America from similar sources was **gospel**. :rolleyes: I must laugh at this, b/c the first time I ran into this was at a wedding talking to a Swedish guy who asked what I knew about Sweden and all I could think was the chef from the Muppet Show. ‘Bork bork bork’ neither translates well nor leaves a good impression of the speaker. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/22 "2013-11-15T05:20:08Z")
So, stretching is an American thing? Car seats may have gotten way too complicated. If I had to deal with transporting kids now, I think I’d give up and tell them to walk. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/23 "2013-11-15T06:04:15Z")
That was a fascinating read! I was struck by how some of the opinions were inter-related. Yes, we have abominable mass transit options and our cars are huge and we have too many of them, but much of that is related to the sheer distances we have to travel and the relative sparsity (is that even a word?) of population in many areas. For instance, it doesn’t pay to have a bus system when you’re only likely to have a few dozen passengers a day. There’s also the relationship between portion size, obesity, and our vast and confusing array of grocery items. Does anybody honestly think we need 2 dozen types of ketchup? I also like it that people from other cultures are struck by how diverse our population is. Something about that is just so _right_. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/24 "2013-11-15T06:45:37Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > US television does make the US deceptively small - there’s NYC, LA, Chicago, a few other places mentioned, but the assumption is they’re all fairly close to each other since tv shows mention people traveling between them all the time. Two girls from Australia were going cross-country from California to New York, and they were blown away by how huge the US is, and how empty. They thought being from Oz they knew big and empty, but the US put it on another scale, especially the southwest. (Ironically, one of them married a guy here and moved to Texas). I think that’s just because they didn’t really know how big and empty Oz really is. LA to New York is 2790 miles but Perth to Sydney is 2445 miles so they’re really pretty comparable distances. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/25 "2013-11-15T08:35:28Z")
Oz is wayyyyy more empty than the US. it’s not even comparable really. I mean yeah, we have our “flyover” land but even there, there is a lot of farming and a lot of small to mid-size cities and towns. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/26 "2013-11-15T09:13:57Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Oz is wayyyyy more empty than the US. it’s not even comparable really. I mean yeah, we have our “flyover” land but even there, there is a lot of farming and a lot of small to mid-size cities and towns. But one of the consequences of it being way more empty is that most people don’t live in or even see the really empty parts. Our more developed emptiness is also more accessible, and the fact that there are larger cities all across the US (as opposed to mainly just on the coasts) means that people have to travel through the emptiness a lot. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/27 "2013-11-15T09:17:55Z")
> [@EmilyG](#): > > I find it intriguing that some things come up in more than one person’s list (cashless society, people not staying with their relatives when visiting them.) I found a lot of these comments came from people from less developed parts of the world. These things (and other such examples, like labelling government offices, wasting food and take the piss out of the President) are equally true of other western countries. Thing that surprised me when I first visited the US - the food was so sweet! Even the bread! And the butter! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/28 "2013-11-15T10:49:43Z")
When I was teaching English in Czechoslovakia, I was amused by the some of the views the locals had of the US. A random sampling: Washington, like every other city in the US, is _full_ of skyscrapers (it isn’t, by law); Blacks left the South _en masse_ immediately after the Civil War, and they _all_ went north (uhm … no, they didn’t); Some years there are 50 states, some years there are more, and Guam is one of them (I almost laughed out loud when I heard this). Less funny was hearing my Russian ex-wife say “Well, you can drive drunk in America!” (One other Czech misconception, this one about the British Commonwealth: A Dominion is a country where most of the population is of white/European descent.) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/29 "2013-11-15T11:12:19Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Less funny was hearing my Russian ex-wife say “Well, you can drive drunk in America!” My experience (from the general San Francisco area) is “Yes, you can”. I was amazed at how much people were drinking and still drove home. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/30 "2013-11-15T11:26:41Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Some years there are 50 states, some years there are more, and Guam is one of them (I almost laughed out loud when I heard this). I wonder if this is somehow related to the parties’ Presidential primary system, where people living in the various territories and possessions get a vote in the primary (since, after all, they’re just selecting a candidate and it’s totally internal). Normally no one really hears or cares about these votes and it’s only in the last couple of cycles–the Democrats in 2008 and the Republicans in 2012–where things were either so competitive or so fluid that these little contests actually made the news. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/31 "2013-11-15T13:13:26Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I think that’s just because they didn’t really know how big and empty Oz really is. LA to New York is 2790 miles but Perth to Sydney is 2445 miles so they’re really pretty comparable distances. Yeah, I don’t get that anecdote. Australia is roughly the same size as the contiguous US states. Maybe they were just idiots? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/32 "2013-11-15T13:36:03Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Likewise my Japanese in-laws were aghast at the size of the groceries and the vast selection of produce and meat. I never really understood until I visited Japan. At least in Akita shopping is done almost daily and at small shops. They won’t have everything under the sun but you can be pretty sure that what they do have was good quality and probably locally grown. > They did complain that they didn’t see things they were familiar with, so we brought them to [Mitsuwa](http://www.mitsuwa.com/tenpo/cica/eindex.html) and they were happy again 🙂 > > Even my German and Jamaican neighbors agreed that the huge American supermarkets were just silly in their eyes. I think part of it is that in Japan (and many other countries), people typically rely on public transit (and walking) to get their groceries home, so they can’t carry much. Here in the US, you fill a grocery cart (instead of a handheld basket), and load it all into the trunk of your car. My wife and I shop for groceries once a week. A store like Costco probably would not do so well in Japan; you’d have trouble getting home with just one 24-pack of paper towel rolls. A fellow from the UK once came to Wisconsin for some post-doctoral work. At one point he and some friens rented a Cadillac and drove to Utah. He said that after driving all that distance he finally appreciated why Americans like big-ass cars like that. Indeed, even if you’re not taking a cross-country trip, the typical American spends a lot of time in his/her car just commuting: comfort becomes much more imporant than if you only use your car once every week or two for a special errand. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/33 "2013-11-15T14:49:15Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I think part of it is that in Japan (and many other countries), people typically rely on public transit (and walking) to get their groceries home, so they can’t carry much. For some people that live in urban areas in the US with no cars it is like this. I had to do this for a while in DC. It was terrible. I hate going to the grocery store. Having to go practically every day and carry my stuff back by hand like a mule was a nightmare. It was only a few weeks but I swore I would never again live in an area that I could not have a car. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/34 "2013-11-15T15:03:24Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > For some people that live in urban areas in the US with no cars it is like this. > > I had to do this for a while in DC. It was terrible. I hate going to the grocery store. Having to go practically every day and carry my stuff back by hand like a mule was a nightmare. > > It was only a few weeks but I swore I would never again live in an area that I could not have a car. I did it one Chicago winter. Never again. It was only 4 or 5 blocks each way but it was through unplowed streets and alleys. I ate a shit load of delivery that winter to the point that on Tuesdays I’d call the pizza place and they already knew the order and the address. When your pizza guy says “What happened to you last week, no call?” you know you need to get out more. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/35 "2013-11-15T15:21:24Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Thing that surprised me when I first visited the US - the food was so sweet! Even the bread! And the butter! I believe that except what’s up with sweet butter? I just checked the ingredients on the butter in my fridge and it said “cream, salt.” Where would the sweetness come from? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/36 "2013-11-15T15:25:40Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > I believe that except what’s up with sweet butter? I just checked the ingredients on the butter in my fridge and it said “cream, salt.” Where would the sweetness come from? Our cows are addicted to Pixie-stix. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/37 "2013-11-15T15:52:27Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > My experience (from the general San Francisco area) is “Yes, you can”. I was amazed at how much people were drinking and still drove home. This is probably much more prevalent in suburban areas than cities; being from NYc and now living in suburban NJ, I realize that there’s often no other way to get home. It’s not easy to get a cab late at night. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/38 "2013-11-15T16:00:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > (One other Czech misconception, this one about the British Commonwealth: A Dominion is a country where most of the population is of white/European descent.) This is probably taken from the concept of the “White Dominions”, which was a term that distinguished Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, and the like from places like India. The term has fallen out of favour (as is the term “dominion” itself), but you could see how someone learning some British colonial history could learn the concept, and then misconstrue “dominion” as meaning only that. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/39 "2013-11-15T16:01:31Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Our cows are addicted to Pixie-stix. Here you make w/ the funny-haha, but seriously [they have been fed candy](http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/10/news/economy/farmers-cows-candy-feed/). ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954/40 "2013-11-15T16:10:44Z")
I had to hold back on commenting when I went to Virginia and a bar owner mentioned his place had history because it was older than JFK, I’ve got underpants older than that. But yeah, the scale of the place is … something else [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/16-people-on-things-they-couldn-t-believe-about-america-until-they-moved-here/673954.md?page=3)