# Non-American Dopers, what is your country's bullshit? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 13, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101 "2022-06-13T13:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/81 "2022-06-16T19:33:00Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > Sunday closing laws. I’ve run into those, and the milder “No alcohol served or sold before noon on Sundays” laws. One time I responded with “What? Do you think that I’ll just shrug and say ‘Well, can’t get drunk on Sunday morning, might as well start going to church…’?” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/82 "2022-06-16T19:39:25Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > And in prepping, I’ve learned that Deutschland has some of the most rigid Sunday-opening laws in Europe. Which kind of makes me nervous. I’m an atheist, but not a “ha-ha, you rubes” kind, more of a “don’t try to convert me, or teach your kids that we were plunked down on Earth a week ago, one rib short on the left, and I’ve got no problem with you” kind. And one of Germany’s major political parties has “Christian” in their name, which makes me feel like I’m treading into a somewhat more theocratic territory than I’m used to. German society–and indeed most of western Europe–is _far_ more secular than American society. The Sunday closures and the “Christian” political parties are not signs that they are religious in day to day life. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/83 "2022-06-16T19:46:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > One time I responded with “What? Do you think that I’ll just shrug and say ‘Well, can’t get drunk on Sunday morning, might as well start going to church…’?” That was actually the reason, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/84 "2022-06-16T20:42:57Z")
Also, Christian leaders and the labor movement did work together in the late 19th/early 20th century for much the same reason. That’s a large part of how Sundays off became a thing in the US as well, though that’s morphed a bit as the decades have passed. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/85 "2022-06-16T20:55:54Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > German society–and indeed most of western Europe–is _far_ more secular than American society. The Sunday closures and the “Christian” political parties are not signs that they are religious in day to day life. I was always under the impression that Sunday closing laws, though perhaps originally for religious purposes, eventually became extant in order to guarantee almost everybody a day off. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/86 "2022-06-16T21:18:17Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > I was always under the impression that Sunday closing laws, though perhaps originally for religious purposes, eventually became extant in order to guarantee almost everybody a day off. Exactly. In the sixties, the slogan of German unions for the campaign of a work-free Saturday was: “At Saturdays, Daddy belongs to me”. Letting aside that this was a very sexist slogan (as if no mothers worked at Saturday, even in the sixties), this union fight had nothing to do with religious concerns. And for clarification: German “Sunday” laws are not intrinsically religious, but only restrict the opening of most shop and stores, as well as private activities that disturb a quiet day of rest like mowing your lawn or terrorizing the neighborhood with a leaf-blower (and that’s a damned good law). There are no restrictions on the sale of alcohol, and a German bar, pub, café, restaurant or whatever would be stupid to close on Sundays, because that’s one of the days of the week when most people go out. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/87 "2022-06-16T22:45:11Z")
I mean, I have had a lot of Molson Canadian during my university days. Some very generous people might give it an award for, perhaps, best Canadian mainstream brew in a given year. It would be a pleasant surprise if it won dozens of international awards for best beer. Oddly, these competitions seem to usually prefer beers which are excellent. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/88 "2022-06-17T09:17:41Z")
- and the Monarchy off course. I don’t mind that we have a dedicated cutter of ribbons, I don’t mind that they are paid a lot, I don’t mind the privileges, I am pissed about the endless nickel and diming to squeeze out the last cent; accepting subsidies for a piece of forest on condition it will be open to the public- then closing it for the public, selling furniture to the “Rijksmonumentendienst” twice, while accepting an allowance to maintain it (and not doing any maintenance). That list goes on and on, I don’t care how much we pay them, just write a number on a beer coaster at the start of the year: It is all good. But then we publish that number and there are no more freebies. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/89 "2022-10-07T19:03:21Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I remember during the Meech Lake crisis, it was pointed out that any province could veto constitutional changes. So Prince Edward Island, with a population smaller than some Toronto suburbs, could put the kaibosh on something supported by the rest of the country. This is much like south of the border, where alt-right Republicans are trying to get up a second Constitutional Convention. If that should happen, it would then take 13 states to block any proposed amendments, rather than just one. But since we have so many more states than you have provinces, it likely works out about the same, since the “voting” in this case is on a state by state basis regardless of population. Since the American right is enormously superior in terms of the number of states (read: area of dirt) it controls, there’s no way, under the current system, that any changes to the Constitution would be anything but in their interests. > [@](#): > > Our telecom rates. With a near-monopoly, what we pay for cell, TV and internet connectivity is stunning. Does the service provider offer any explanation for this, e.g. sparseness of the population, so more cable has to be mounted? Of course I realize the population isn’t sparse everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/90 "2022-10-08T22:48:03Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Does the service provider offer any explanation for this, e.g. sparseness of the population, so more cable has to be mounted? Forget “addressing it”, they won’t even admit it. They keep trying to BS us into believing we’re getting some of the best service in the world, at some of the best prices, [when we all know](https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadas-wireless-costs-continue-to-be-the-highest-or-among-the-highest-in-the-world-finnish-report) that’s factually wrong. I mean, [just look at this chart](https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/carriers/canadas-mobile-data-prices-vs-the-world-in-one-chart-pic/). They had to double the length of the X-axis to get Canada to even show up. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2022, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101/91 "2022-10-19T07:28:32Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Seven states have state-owned ABC stores and ten others control prices and available products centrally. ([Cite.](https://www.thrillist.com/culture/state-owned-liquor-stores)) It’s odd how it works here in Oregon, which the article lists as a distribution control state. The store you buy hard spirits from will look like a privately run store and have a typical name like “West Side Liquor”, but the State controls retail prices. When you see the transaction on your bank statement, though, it’ll be listed as State Liquor Store #43 or similar. Actually I rather like this arrangement. Oregon has a thriving craft spirits industry, and the liquor stores offer a wide choice of the local products. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-american-dopers-what-is-your-countrys-bullshit/966101.md?page=4)