# Perceptions about USA from non-Americans that Americans might be surprised to learn **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 13, 2015, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918 "2015-05-13T06:28:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/61 "2015-05-13T15:28:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I won an argument with my Father in law? > > _Dammit, he’s dead._ > > ☹ To me the point is that a government mandate wasn’t needed. Industries and sectors can figure out their own whether and when to change. > [@Anaamika](#): > > I still don’t get how you guys tip your strippers. Chip and pin, obviously. Or Apple Pay. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/62 "2015-05-13T15:29:56Z")
Cheese? I’ve tried Danish cheese and frankly trying to compare Wisconsin Cheddar with Danish Havarti is like trying to compare Apples and Oranges. Now I’m going to have to try English Cheddar to see if it’s really any better. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/63 "2015-05-13T15:30:33Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > … you do realize that Europe and Asia are on different continents, right? But it’s a fair point nonetheless. Europeans regard us as repressed, puritanical and prudish. Many Asians (and especially Muslims) regard us as libertines and hedonists. So, which is it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/64 "2015-05-13T15:38:25Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > To me the point is that a government mandate wasn’t needed. That is pretty much unthinkable in the USA, is it not, government telling us what size fasteners to use? Even for we Democrats. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/65 "2015-05-13T15:39:46Z")
We do use metric for buying large bottles of soda. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/66 "2015-05-13T15:41:17Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > You’re way too religious. That’s my perception. You won’t find another developed first-world country that’s as religious as the US. That’s something that I, as an American, am keenly aware of. I know the reason, too: the first settlers were Pilgrims, as in religious fanatics. The colonies were founded by Bible-thumpers, and when we founded our own country, we had to pay homage. It says “The laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” right in the Declaration. I’m curious about your last sentence, though. Is it religion per se that sets us apart, or is it our particular brand of conservative Protestantism? The middle-eastern countries where Islam predominates – are they not first-world? And I thought the French tended to be hardcore Catholic – not so? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/67 "2015-05-13T15:42:01Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But it’s a fair point nonetheless. > > Europeans regard us as repressed, puritanical and prudish. Many Asians (and especially Muslims) regard us as libertines and hedonists. > > So, which is it? How do Asians and Europeans feel about each other? Maybe we’re just in the middle. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/68 "2015-05-13T15:43:47Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Cheese? I’ve tried Danish cheese and frankly trying to compare Wisconsin Cheddar with Danish Havarti is like trying to compare Apples and Oranges. > > Now I’m going to have to try English Cheddar to see if it’s really any better. :dubious: Real artisanal English cheddar, like you get from Neal’s Yard—Montgomery’s or Keen’s cheddar, for example—is like filet mignon. American cheddar is comparatively a Slim Jim. They’re pretty much not even in the same category of food. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/69 "2015-05-13T15:45:50Z")
Which of them is right about us? Are we immature because we go on prearranged dates instead of just hooking up at the pub? Or are we vile sinners because women don’t have to wear the veil? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/70 "2015-05-13T15:46:09Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Cheese? I’ve tried Danish cheese and frankly trying to compare Wisconsin Cheddar with Danish Havarti is like trying to compare Apples and Oranges. > Now I’m going to have to try English Cheddar to see if it’s really any better. :dubious: If you can, try some proper cheddar, from Cheddar itself. It’s aged in the caves there and it’s awesome. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/71 "2015-05-13T15:47:29Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Which of them is right about us? Are we immature because we go on prearranged dates instead of just hooking up at the pub? Or are we vile sinners because women don’t have to wear the veil? Why would either of them be wrong? It’s all relative. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/72 "2015-05-13T15:50:31Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I still don’t get how you guys tip your strippers. We don’t. The acts on stage don’t receive tips. The only thing you can do is pay separately for a lap dance, or for a private … encounter. I haven’t been in a strip joint in probably 20 years. But we don’t stick bills in g-strings here. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/73 "2015-05-13T15:55:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I became familiar with it in engineering school. I am curious if you have a technical education. No, my background it in IT - more interested in bits and bytes than inches and centimetres. 🙂 The UK is a funny one - we’ve only converted recently, and in many ways we’re still in a halfway state. For example, it’s illegal to sell food in lbs/oz but clothing sizes are still measured in inches. We buy fuel in litres but measure road distances and speed in miles. So, most people in the UK have to be at least partly conversant in both systems. Younger people tend to work in metric more than anything, but I’m at that sort of age where I switch randomly - ask me my height/weight and I’ll tell you I’m 6’2" and 82kg… 😕 ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/74 "2015-05-13T15:59:32Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Goddammit, if we go to single payer then poor people who aren’t as deserving as me will receive health care that’s just as good. Freedom! I doubt that attitude is ever specifically held outright. It’s more like “everything the government touches turns to shit, so I’d rather keep my (known crappy) insurance system than switch to an (unknown, but certainly crappier) system.” I.e. it’s more about fear than malice. Of course, when it comes to answering, “why does everything the government touch turn to crap?”, there is a strong undercurrent in some circles about how it has to deal with all the poor (and lazy, because why else would they be poor?) people. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/75 "2015-05-13T16:08:49Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > We don’t. The acts on stage don’t receive tips. The only thing you can do is pay separately for a lap dance, or for a private … encounter. > > I haven’t been in a strip joint in probably 20 years. But we don’t stick bills in g-strings here. One assumes that using Loonies is right out as well. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/76 "2015-05-13T16:17:53Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > I love corn on the cob. tastes amazing. Yup. If you get good ones it’s like eating candy. A-“maize”-ing, indeed! (But only if you have those pearly whites that so many “Merkans” are supposedly obsessed over. If you have “meth mouth” then it’s probably not so great. Then again, if you have “meth mouth,” what is?) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/77 "2015-05-13T16:18:55Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > -Our bread is too sweet All your food isn’t just too sweet, it’s too sugary. Chocolate cakes should taste like chocolate. Then again, chocolate should taste like chocolate. One that surprised me when I got it from several other Spaniards (all of them born c. 1940) the first time I was moving Over There: “omg, they shoot people in the streets from cars!” Because not only are there guns everywhere but the country’s organization is a matter of Quentin Tarantino directing Al Pacino, Edward G Robinson and Marlon Brando in _Godfather VI - the gangsta edition_. Yes, there is more gun crime than in any European country not at war… but I promise drive-by shootings are not an everyday, everytown thing. > [@Rilchiam](#): > > The middle-eastern countries where Islam predominates – are they not first-world? And I thought the French tended to be hardcore Catholic – not so? Not by any of the definitions I know and Hell no, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/78 "2015-05-13T16:20:43Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Things I’ve heard: > > That foreign countries have their own governments & military & police forces, and they feel these all work reasonably well and they don’t actually need the US jumping in to fight terrorism on their soil. We’re really not all that, and they’d kind of appreciate it if we minded our own business a little bit more than we do." Then tell their leaders to quit asking for us to come help them. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/79 "2015-05-13T16:20:42Z")
Two observations, mostly from this board. 1. Using brand names for everything. It’s not a plaster, it’s a Bandaid. It’s not sanitizer, it’s Lysol. It’s not aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen, it’s Advil or Tylenol. I’m sure there are lots and lots of others which I can’t think of right now, but it always jumps out me reading the board. 2. Everyone drives everywhere, therefore if someone is having an alcoholic drink, they must be drinking and driving. Any debate I’ve seen about the difference in drinking ages - 18 over here, 21 over there - always seems to immediately get hijacked into a discussion about drunk driving as if the two are inseparable. I’d guess the majority of 18-20 year olds in the UK don’t even have a driving licence, and it wouldn’t enter their heads to drink and drive. They just want to go out and drink. (This latter point also reminds me of another thing I find odd - that under-21s in the US are regarded as minors, and that a 25 year old dating a 19 year old would be “weird” because the 19 year old can’t even drink). ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/80 "2015-05-13T16:23:25Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > One assumes that using Loonies is right out as well. No most CAD strippers readily accept loonies. In fact loonies are encouraged to be tossed on stage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918.md?page=5)