# Non-US Dopers, what mentions of contemporary American culture puzzle you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858 "2006-12-12T19:42:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/161 "2006-12-15T14:41:21Z")
Sorry, simulpost with Loach. Loach, I was looking at the possibility of migrating to Australia and, while they do not let anybody in and they have all this sea around (which kind of eases immigration policies), their requirements are quite a lot easier to understand and work through than American ones. Also, it is my experience that, while getting information on kinds of Visa isn’t so bad (specially with the 'net) and getting information on “how to become a US citizen once you’re a resident” isn’t so bad… getting information on the intermediate step “becoming a US permanent resident” is a pain in the doohickey. Most countries have information on all steps in the same webpages/pamphlets. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/162 "2006-12-15T14:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Sorry, simulpost with Loach. Loach, I was looking at the possibility of migrating to Australia and, while they do not let anybody in and they have all this sea around (which kind of eases immigration policies), their requirements are quite a lot easier to understand and work through than American ones. Also, it is my experience that, while getting information on kinds of Visa isn’t so bad (specially with the 'net) and getting information on “how to become a US citizen once you’re a resident” isn’t so bad… getting information on the intermediate step “becoming a US permanent resident” is a pain in the doohickey. Most countries have information on all steps in the same webpages/pamphlets. [/QUOTE] Shit have you ever tried to go to a US government website? On any level? It’s like reading computer instructions in Chinese. They don’t make it easy for citizens, why should they make things easy for some foreigners? 😃 We may not have invented bureaucracy or red tape but we have perfected it. It took me three tries before I was able to get all the documentation I needed to renew a driver’s licence that I had for 20 years. And that was after I visited the website for the information. And I’m a police officer. You expect the goverment to make something like immigrating easy? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/163 "2006-12-15T14:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Shit have you ever tried to go to a US government website? On any level? It’s like reading computer instructions in Chinese. They don’t make it easy for citizens, why should they make things easy for some foreigners? 😃 We may not have invented bureaucracy or red tape but we have perfected it. It took me three tries before I was able to get all the documentation I needed to renew a driver’s licence that I had for 20 years. And that was after I visited the website for the information. And I’m a police officer. You expect the goverment to make something like immigrating easy? [/QUOTE] Yes I have. I still keep my Florida driver’s license. And when I tried to get my PA one and found out I couldn’t unless I lied to the person at the counter (the one who threatened with calling the cops on me because my kind of Visa wasn’t in her list) a coworker informed me that “hey, this is an equal-opportunity state: we screw up everybody, regardless!” I actually seem to know more about US immigration laws than some of the corporate immigration lawyers I’ve dealt with. Next time I have to move Over There, I want **Eva Luna** on my case or I’m not going! ---
**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:** [December 15, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/164 "2006-12-15T15:27:40Z")
I believe that the Catholic Church frowns upon secret societies, so at Georgetown University (and perhaps at other Catholic institutions), Greek-letter organizations are banned from official activities. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/165 "2006-12-15T15:29:32Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I believe that the Catholic Church frowns upon secret societies, so at Georgetown University (and perhaps at other Catholic institutions), Greek-letter organizations are banned from official activities. [/QUOTE] But…but…what about Opus Dei? Did Dan Brown **lie** to us? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/166 "2006-12-15T15:30:20Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] The whole “University as a major life experience thing” confuses me- here, University is, by and large, something people do part time while they’re working at another job to pay for it. It’s more like a continuation of High School than anything else. [/QUOTE] Are people who attend University there still living at home? That’s the main reason that going to college is a major life experience over here - most people, even those who go to college in their home state, move out of their parents’ house and into dorms or other student housing. It’s their first time living on their own, being completely independent of their parents. A lot of college social life focuses on drinking alcohol and having sex because those things are usually forbidden at home and students are revelling in their newfound freedom. (And because sex is fun.) [Quote=Martini Enfield] Also, the whole “America is the greatest country on Earth, **BUT YOU CAN’T COME AND LIVE HERE!** ” situation really annoys me. You’ve got a great country, that’s fine- but when you bombard the entire world with TV shows and movies about how great the US is, it’s not really fair to then turn around and tell people they’ve got no chance of getting to live The American Dream that your propaganda… er, popular culture, has promised them. [/quote] [political rant]Well really, that propaganda is geared toward an American audience, it’s not intended to try and seduce immigrants. The American Dream is a lie intended to help keep the working poor in their place by convincing them that America is a land of opportunity, and if you just work hard enough long enough you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.[/political rant] [Quote=Martini Enfield] On a related note, what’s with the sneaking unrelated laws into legislation? Such as passing laws about bars not being allowed to open before 9am in legislation relating to funding arts programmes in schools, for example. Seems kinda… odd, at least to me. [/QUOTE] It seems odd to me, too, and to a lot of Americans. I thought I remembered some recent talk in Congress about limiting or eliminating riders, but I can’t find anything about it now. Perhaps it was all a dream. :o ---
**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:** [December 15, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/167 "2006-12-15T15:39:29Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I mean, there isn’t a law saying that laws have to be internally consistant. It’s one of those principles that get so ingrained in lawyers that, by the time they graduate and become lawmakers, judges, etc., trying to entertain the opposite notion could lead to exploding brains. [/QUOTE] I’m skeptical that this system is kept in place just because law schools teach it to be true. It just takes one enterprising legislator to cobble together several popular bits of legislation to break the rule. There are plenty of reasons to give something like this a try and plenty of legislative opportunities throughout the course of a year, so I’m guessing there has to be _some_ legal authority – whether a constitutional provision, a constitutional court decision, a “house” rule (a legislature can make its own rules) that prohibits such bills. For such a doctrine to just be “taught” in law school isn’t enough. It has to be explicitly adopted by some body that has constitutional authority in a country. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/168 "2006-12-15T15:43:42Z")
> [@](#): > > There certainly are colleges without fraternities, sororities, or any intercollegiate (i.e., against other colleges) sports. The college where I went as an undergraduate is one such place. And it was very important to most students there that it didn’t have them. I suspect that if it started any intercollegiate sports or allowed any fraternities or sororities to open, most alumni would disassociate themselves from the college. Princeton University doesn’t have (and to my knowledge never did have) Greek Letter Societies. They’re banned there. Princeton _does_ have “Eating Clubs”, supposedly places to go and dine, that serve pretty much the same purposes. ---
**Author:** ![brendon\_small](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brendon_small/32/17101_2.png) [@brendon\_small](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brendon_small)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/169 "2006-12-15T18:07:02Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] Thing is, **Brendon** , in many countries that wouldn’t work, period. Laws have to be “internally consistant”. You can not have a “law/reglament/whatever regulating breastfeeding in public and income tax”: they’d have to be two separate laws, voted separatedly. So to many of us it’s one of those things that sound completely alien. [/QUOTE] I really appreciate your response, **Nava**. I actually had no clue how this idea worked in other countries, or if it did. I find it a bit ridiculous myself. Of course, that is why I’m only a college student instead of a politician. Brendon ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/170 "2006-12-15T18:11:16Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] Shit have you ever tried to go to a US government website? On any level? It’s like reading computer instructions in Chinese. They don’t make it easy for citizens, why should they make things easy for some foreigners? 😃 We may not have invented bureaucracy or red tape but we have perfected it. It took me three tries before I was able to get all the documentation I needed to renew a driver’s licence that I had for 20 years. And that was after I visited the website for the information. And I’m a police officer. You expect the goverment to make something like immigrating easy? [/QUOTE] This is going to get messy, but yes. I think border should be completely open. Also, I navigate a government website (the IRS) virtually every day. That website is actually pretty easy to find what you need. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/171 "2006-12-15T18:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Princeton University doesn’t have (and to my knowledge never did have) Greek Letter Societies. They’re banned there. Princeton _does_ have “Eating Clubs”, supposedly places to go and dine, that serve pretty much the same purposes. [/QUOTE] I mention this previously; there are Greek organizations; they just aren’t officially recognized. Four of the historically black orgs started up when I was there: A Phi As, Kappas, Deltas and AKAs. But yes, the eating clubs are like Greek houses; old mansions where you eat and hang out and party. Some are selective where you go through “bicker” to get chosen. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/172 "2006-12-15T19:03:00Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > Also, the whole “America is the greatest country on Earth, BUT YOU CAN’T COME AND LIVE HERE!” situation really annoys me. You’ve got a great country, that’s fine- but when you bombard the entire world with TV shows and movies about how great the US is, it’s not really fair to then turn around and tell people they’ve got no chance of getting to live The American Dream that your propaganda… er, popular culture, has promised them. And how! I’m fed up of people telling me to move here (USinA) and trying to explain to them that I’m not allowed to… takes enough blessed effort getting into the country for a holiday! > [@Lissa](#): > > Americans just don’t seem to understand tea and I’m saying this as a red, white and blue American myself. In most restaurants, if you ask for tea, they’ll automatically bring you iced tea. You have to specify you want hot tea, upon which they will bring you a little jug of hot water and a cheap tea bag that produces a stale brew that tastes like boiled straw. _light comes on_ For years, myself and my fellow geeks have fallen about laughing at Capt. Picard requesting “tea, Earl Grey, hot”… is he daft or wha’? Tea _is_ hot. Ah, apparently in America it’s _not_. Oh and what are S.A.Ts? ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/173 "2006-12-15T19:33:12Z")
[QUOTE=Lobelia Overhill] For years, myself and my fellow geeks have fallen about laughing at Capt. Picard requesting “tea, Earl Grey, hot”… is he daft or wha’? Tea _is_ hot. Ah, apparently in America it’s _not_. Oh and what are S.A.Ts? [/QUOTE] Tea can be hot or cold in the States. Regionally, where I grew up in the Northwest (chilly part of the country) just “tea” meant hot tea, and iced tea was asked for as “iced tea.” Here in the South, just “tea” means iced tea, and if you want hot you have to ask for “hot tea.” Also in the South, the preferred iced tea is “sweet tea” which as far as I can tell is made with about twenty pounds of sugar per pitcher – extremely sweet, godawful stuff. But most Southern restaurants offer both sweet tea and unsweetened [iced] tea, though if you want it unsweetened you have to ask, or they’ll probably bring you sweet. You can’t get sweet tea in most places outside of the South; they just don’t serve it. So it is definitely a Southern thing. The “SATs” are the “Scholastic Aptitude Tests,” verbal and math which is a dual test given to most high school seniors. (Or maybe late in the junior year? I can’t recall.) It tests aptitude in a variety of subjects, and many (although not all) universities and colleges consider a student’s SAT scores when deciding admission. There’s another rival test, the ACT (“American College Testing”) that does basically the same thing. (Update brought to you by Google: Both SAT and ACT _used_ to stand for those things, but now they are just “SAT” and “ACT” – pronounced “ess-ay-tee” and “ay-cee-tee,” not “sat” or “act”.) Kids who are going to college (university) need to take the SAT or ACT (or both); kids who aren’t don’t have to. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/174 "2006-12-15T19:50:57Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] Tea can be hot or cold in the States. Regionally, where I grew up in the Northwest (chilly part of the country) just “tea” meant hot tea, and iced tea was asked for as “iced tea.” Here in the South, just “tea” means iced tea, and if you want hot you have to ask for “hot tea.” Also in the South, the preferred iced tea is “sweet tea” which as far as I can tell is made with about twenty pounds of sugar per pitcher – extremely sweet, godawful stuff. But most Southern restaurants offer both sweet tea and unsweetened [iced] tea, though if you want it unsweetened you have to ask, or they’ll probably bring you sweet. You can’t get sweet tea in most places outside of the South; they just don’t serve it. So it is definitely a Southern thing. [/QUOTE] I can assure you that it’s not just a Southern thing. If I ask for iced tea in New Jersey 9 out of 10 times it will have sugar in it. I hate sweet tea. When I make iced tea at home everyone I know dives for the sugar as soon as they taste it. I know very few people who drink it without sugar. ---
**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:** [December 15, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/175 "2006-12-15T19:51:56Z")
[QUOTE=Jodi] The “SATs” are the “Scholastic Aptitude Tests,” [/quote] [nitpick] The _SAT_ **is** the Scholastic Aptitude **Test** (no plurals)[/nitpick] > [@](#): > > It tests aptitude in a variety of subjects When I took it circa 1985, the SAT tested only verbal skills (reading comprehension, composition, vocabulary, etc.) and mathematics. Has it changed that much since then? > [@](#): > > There’s another rival test, the ACT (“American College Testing”) that does basically the same thing. Again, when I took it, the ACT covered a wider variety of subjects than the SAT. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/176 "2006-12-15T20:21:39Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] [nitpick] The _SAT_ **is** the Scholastic Aptitude **Test** (no plurals)[/nitpick] Let the record show that the SAT is actually a single test. It is, however, is colloquially known by many as “the SATs” (as in “What did you get on your SATs?”) because it is presented as a set of two tests that are scored separately and reported as two separate scores. (“I got a 650 Math and a 700 Verbal.”) I hope no non-American readers were hopelessly confused by my informal use of the plural. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/177 "2006-12-15T20:31:50Z")
Update on the SAT: Currently, it is composed of 3 sections, instead of the old-style 2. Section 3 is an writing section, with both an essay and a MC portion. There are also a series of subject area tests called the SAT IIs. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/178 "2006-12-15T20:47:20Z")
With the SAT and ACT, you don’t really “study” for them although it is wise to brush up on concepts and know the testing format. They don’t test literature or history directly for example. They are actually a thinly veiled IQ test (they correlate highly with IQ tests) so their major goal is to assess raw mental ability. Colleges use these heavily with grades to determine admission. The general idea is that grades show how hard you are willing to work while the SAT shows how smart you are. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/179 "2006-12-15T20:57:57Z")
[QUOTE=Loach] I can assure you that it’s not just a Southern thing. If I ask for iced tea in New Jersey 9 out of 10 times it will have sugar in it. I hate sweet tea. When I make iced tea at home everyone I know dives for the sugar as soon as they taste it. I know very few people who drink it without sugar. [/QUOTE] That is strange **Loach** , in Monmouth and Ocean county and NYC, if you ask for Ice Tea at a restaurant, it is almost always unsweetened. Among my friends and family, few sweeten their tea. They look at me oddly for adding sweetener. I think what I liked least about visiting Cincinnati was their predilection for sickly sweet Ice Tea. I know that at many fast food places they serve only sugary Ice Tea., I usually cannot stand the stuff. I think at this point most chain restaurant around the country serve Ice Tea unsweetened. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Smooth\_Jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858/180 "2006-12-15T21:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=The Weird One] [political rant]Well really, that propaganda is geared toward an American audience, it’s not intended to try and seduce immigrants. The American Dream is a lie intended to help keep the working poor in their place by convincing them that America is a land of opportunity, and if you just work hard enough long enough you can pull yourself up by your bootstraps.[/political rant] [/QUOTE] Let’s not get mean. I know plenty of people who are living The American Dream. Surely, they haven’t been living a lie. One thing I’ve always wondered about is the whole class thing in the UK. Do you really take class seriously? Does it bother you that Americans don’t? (Even though some have this strange fascination with English royals.) Anyway, sorry it’s such a mess trying to become an American. I agree the system should be simplified, though I can’t agree to the open border thing. We really can’t allow all the serfs in. They’d ruin the neighborhood. Now, what was I saying about classes again? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-dopers-what-mentions-of-contemporary-american-culture-puzzle-you/383858.md?page=10)