I agree about the guns. I think the thing that is different for me is that anybody can get a gun. Here, you pretty well need to be a cop or a farmer (who can demonstrate a need in the course of their business). I probably couldn’t get a gun permit even if I wanted one, why? because I don’t have valid need (ie my job doesn’t require it).
The fact that gun ownership is not unusual or out of the ordinary and the “so what” attitude is very foreign to many of us in the rest of the world. We’re not saying there’s anything wrong with it, just that it’s one of the first and big things that stand out as different.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Miss Gretchen *
**[li]The complete lack of full serve gas. And you usually have to pay first (Except in Utah!) **[/li][/QUOTE]
This can vary a lot from state to state. Oregon has no self-service gas stations at all, which seemed weird to me. Also, most gas stations outside of big cities do not require you to pay first in the daytime, though many do require you to pay first at night. When I started commuting to Dallas, TX from a city of 25,000 fifty miles to the northeast it took me a long time to get used to paying for my gas before pumping it.
I’ve been to the US three times now, all in the past year. Planning on going a lot more, for personal reasons.
Anyway, things that struck me as odd:[ul][]The highways sometimes are in terrible shape, even in Lawsuit Valhalla California. Potholes, cracks, conrete poured into potholes unevenly, et cetera. Makes no sense in a country where fast food joints make you a luke-warm coffee because they’re afraid you’ll sue if you burn yourself. I’d be kinda scared to ride a motorcycle on an American highway. []The distances between cars! My goodness, there’s an awful lot of tailgaters. The speed I have no problem with (I’m from a nation of speeders ;)), and even the passing on the right (which is illegal where I’m from) I got used to quickly. But fercryinoutloud, get off my ass with that big SUV![]The size of cars. The relative cheapness of new cars! Except the European ones, of course, they’re VERY expensive. And if gas will be this cheap in the US forever, we’re gonna run out of resources a whole lot sooner than predicted.[]Excellent service. Sure, it’s a little over the top at times, and yeah, that smile is probably fake. But I’ll take it over the crap service I get in Dutch stores/restaurants anyday. []Houses seem very affordable, based on price alone. However, I have no idea how Dutch and American mortgage systems compare, so it might be more expensive for all I know. []Drive-thru everything. []Krispy Kreme!! []The patriotism. While it’s understandable after 9-11, it sometimes does take on absurd levels. It may be just me, but that Jack-in-the-Box commercial? Ugh. []I’ll second the soda refills. Although with 1 liter cups, who the hell needs a refill anyway? []Friendly, talkative people.[/ul]That’s my list. Some things good, some bad. All in all, I like the country. It offers some fun cultural shocks every now and then, without throwing you off too much. Yeah, I think I’ll visit again.
Canberra supermarkets have an aisle for alcohol, so it’s not just the US.
But the paper currency - all the same size, all the same colour! You need a history degree to remember if ol’ Jeff is worth more than a Ben or less than a Chase!
Although it differs in other parts of the country. For instance I hop for joy if I can find a loaf of bread for $1.20 here in Hawaii. I feel I could post here since the rest of America is so far away and so different. When I went to the mainland I was very surprised at how much time people spent indoors. All the Schools I went to (excluding College) were one building behemoths.
There are motels everywhere.
And you may think you know what the Great Plains is like. Yes, yes it’s big and flat. But then you drive it, and drive it, and drive it. 12, 13, 14 hours and nothing on the horizon changes. Maybe some oil thingys come and go. A town here and there. But really nothing ever changes. And everybody on those plains eats beef. Big chunks of beef and meat at every meal. My mother horrified her mother-in-law when she first visited and informed that not only was she a vegetarian but that she had converted my father to vegetarianism too.
Oh poo. The $5 I have right now has the number 5 written 4 times on each side and it says “Five Dollars” on each as well, just in case you missed it. If you’re normally sighetd you’ll be fine. And re: the patriotism we all have our Presidents and Ben Franklin down pretty pat.
You Aussies who have expressed wonderment at alcohol being available in supermarkets - where the hell do you do your shopping (or don’t you do the shopping?).
Many Safeway stores in Melbourne have a huge liquor section (beer, wine, spirits, etc) although fewer of the Coles supermarkets seem to sell alcohol.
This is weird. It’s just a chunk of metal? I’ve seen, held, and fired hand guns multiple times… I’m certainly not bothered by them more than a knife or any other weapon laying around.
Heh…I drive a Tercel and live in Texas, so I’m severely outnumbered. You’d be surprised how many of those super-tanker-trucks and SUVS will literally come within like two feet of my back bumper. I like to tap my brakes to get them to back off… and then watch their faces in my rear view mirror. It’s not my problem if they want to go 20 mph over the speed limit instead of the 10mph speeding that I’m already doing. I’m just waiting for one of them to total my car from behind so I can get a new one. :mad:
Yeah, but they’re separate. You have to go through an entirely different checkout for alcohol as for groceries. Unless you’re talking vanilla essence or metho
I drove up to Utah a couple of times. Ever so often I’d see a sign that said “rough road”. In Utah a “rough road” seems to be about average for L.A. As you know, I ride a motorcycle here. You get used to the road conditions. But there’s no doubt that roads in So. Cal. are deplorable.
I vomit in your general direction. To sweet, too greasy, too much air. I’ll take a Spudnuts or a Winchell’s doughnut over a KK any time.
I think I’ll start another thread on portion sizes.
I would be interested to know if the American practice of owning two houses is common in Europe and elsewhere, or if it might be isolated not just to the US, but to the midwest alone. I know that most of my friends’ parents have both a primary house they live in through most of the year, and then a “lake home” of varying grandeur for weekends during the summer. (These are not particularly rich people, and most are solidly middle class).
Aside to jinwicked: For a lot of us guns are certainly not just a chunk of metal on the same level of a knife. They are deadly weapons, and if I’m aware of the gun safety creedo, it’s that all guns are loaded. For me that’s enough to keep me afraid and keep me away from gun and I imagine that others have the same reaction.
Can’t speak for all of Europe (though the answers are probably similar), but in the Netherlands, owning a second house is definitely not a middle class thing. I wouldn’t say you have to be a top tier millionaire, but it’s definitely not a common thing.
No problem at all, sunshine - my wife eats it the same way. I think it’s odd. The OP asked for our opinions, I posted mine. ::Avoid eye contact, avoid eye contact::
Our electric outlets have switches so you can turn things on an off. I don’t know why ours have them and yours don’t but I imagine that turning the socket off makes it a little safer.
Never drank a warm pint in my life - Pubs serve my beer nice and cold. If I have beer at home I put it in the freezer for half an hour to make sure it’s good and frosty.
Yeah, I know. But I just wanted to boil a cup or two of water, why put the stove on just too do that?
Couldn’t agree more.
As to baked beans on toast. Think pork and beans without the lump of pork fat stuff, served hot. On toast.
If you were just 22, you were only a year over the legal age of 21, so of course you needed some ID. Isn’t the legal age in the UK 18? Some restaurants (TGIFridays) card anyone who looks to be under 30, so don’t be offended. Plus, if a liquor store or bar is caught serving a minor, they will lose their license or incur a hefty fine. It is serious for them. No wink and a nod here.
Count me in as an American who is surprised to see booze in the grocery store when I travel out-of-state. I can’t buy it in the grocery store here in Baltimore, so it’s always a shock to turn down an aisle and see beer and wine.
Sales tax can be confusing. It’s different in every state, and some states tax (or don’t tax) different things (clothing, etc.).
Here in Maryland, it’s 5%. Very easy to figure out. Whenever we go out of state, it always throws me for a second when something doesn’t ring up at the price I expect.
Ha! My trained monkey hasn’t learned the art of shopping in my lieu, yet.
Alcohol is not available in supermarkets; however, it may be sold in stores attached to supermarkets. There is no alcohol aisle in supermarkets, at least where I live: Woolworths doesn’t sell liquor; Woolworths Liquor does.
It seems a pretty silly distinction, but it’s a legally important one. Liquor stores attached to supermarkets are subject to the same strict liquor licensing rules as any hotel or corner bottle-shop.
The same is true in the UK. I think Crusoe may have mislead you. Any off-licence (what you’d call a liquor store) that relies on “a nod and a wink” is gambling with the possibility of a fine and/or lose of licence. And the employee who sold the alcohol can wave goodbye to their job. It’s also very likely that criminal charges will be placed if the under-aged drinker in question ends up in hospital.
So you can be sure that retailers with any sense take it very seriously.
The main difference with the US is, I suspect, with their legal drinking age being higher they have more of a problem enforcing it. It’s also easier for a 19 year old to pass for 21 than a 16 year old for 18. So strict IDing becomes more necessary.
Speaking of alcohol:
It sometimes seem to me Americans regard alcohol as something much more dangerous than guns.
Legal drinking age is 16 here, but I’ve seen younger kids drinking more or less publicly without anybody taking action; Germans are pretty liberal if it’s about alcohol (unless you drive drunk, but that’s another thing). Guns, OTOH, can be obtained pretty easily. At least that’s the general impression here after media reports about yet another high school shooting (I know there aren’t that many high school shootings in the US altogether, but here we have the feeling they happen nearly every day, followed by the thought, “Why don’t Americans finally learn their lesson and tighten up gun laws?”).
It’s paradoxical, just like the country as a whole.
I’m planning a trip to Amsterdam for the personal reason of visiting a (what do you call them? coffee houses?) to smoke a little weed in peace, without fear of having my face slammed into the pavement and being handcuffed. The most ridiculous hypocrisy in the US (and most other countries) is that we can go to a public bar and drink until we’re absolutely plastered, but I can’t even spark one up in my own backyard. Now that’s weird.
Two houses? Not standard American practice, save for the fairly well-to-do.
Oh, phttttbbbbbbbtttt!
Firearms are nothing more or less than tools. Tools with very narrow range for error, and with potentially very grave consequences for a moments inattention, true, but in the end, they’re just a tool. Here’s an excercise for you: Place a firearm on a table (loaded or not, doesn’t matter), and step away from it. Observe what the firearm does.
Nothing.
Firearms are potentially deadly, but then again, so is a knife, or a car, or a chainsaw, or electricity, or … You get the idea. One must be reminded that a firearm is to be treated as if loaded because it’s condition is not immediately obvious, but then, knives are always sharp too, and electrical circuits are always ‘live’ until tested. Simply because a tool or machine requires well-drilled care doesn’t make it any more or less of an extention of the person using it.
One thing that I find so odd about the world as a whole is that this basic understanding escapes so much of it.
While we’re at it, something I find odd about the the US is the ‘chunkiness’ of it: Loads of people, then no people. Farms, then no farms. Industry, then commerce, then housing, each in their own little blocks. Wealth and poverty in their seperate blocks. It’s not so ‘chunky’ as it was, but I still notice it. Or is this world-wide?
[]The patriotism. While it’s understandable after 9-11, it sometimes does take on absurd levels. It may be just me, but that Jack-in-the-Box commercial? Ugh. []I’ll second the soda refills. Although with 1 liter cups, who the hell needs a refill anyway? 
[]Friendly, talkative people.[/ul]That’s my list. Some things good, some bad. All in all, I like the country. It offers some fun cultural shocks every now and then, without throwing you off too much. Yeah, I think I’ll visit again.
I’ve seen, held, and fired hand guns multiple times… I’m certainly not bothered by them more than a knife or any other weapon laying around.