# 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:** 5
**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, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/81 "2015-05-13T16:26:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > 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 it’s 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. Talking to a young guy at Heathrow he was alarmed that I lived in New York (he didn’t realize I didn’t live in the city). He said he could never go there because it was too dangerous with all the people being shot on the street. ---
**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, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/82 "2015-05-13T16:28:19Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > No most CAD strippers readily accept loonies. In fact loonies are encouraged to be tossed on stage. News to me. ---
**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, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/83 "2015-05-13T16:33:37Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The automotive industry went metric a long time ago, I believe it’s true for most manufacturing in the US. I’ll tell you what the problem with going to metric is (actually, there’s more than one, but I’m mentioning that most readily comes to mind for me): nobody over here knows WTF the units mean. Sure, it’s convenient to talk about grams and kilograms and meters and centimeters but if I were talking on the phone to somebody that I didn’t know from another country and asked them how much they weighed and how tall they were and they came back with: “120 kilos and 1.76 meters” I’d have to get my calculator out to give me an idea of how those translate into lbs. and feet (and inches). It’s mostly a matter of convenience and familiarity (and, my understanding is, cost. I remember in the mid-'70s there was all this talk about how the U.S. was going to “make the change to metric!” then it all just fizzled out mostly, I think, because this country ended up not wanting to spend the $$$ it would take to change all the signs, and whatnot, to reflect metric system information). ---
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/84 "2015-05-13T16:33:49Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I still don’t get how you guys tip your strippers. Beaver pelts, of course. ---
**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, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/85 "2015-05-13T16:37:40Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > News to me. Last time I was in Calgary, the girls on stage would strategically place a loonie on a particular spot on their genitalia, and then encourage patrons to toss loonies at them to knock that particular loonie off. That was about 5 years ago. This was explained to me as the general practice in CAD strip clubs. Now that’s my only experience north of the border. ---
**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, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/86 "2015-05-13T16:44:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Isn’t it weird that we sing the national anthem at sporting events? Yeah, now THIS is a thing I find weird about “Merkan” culture and I’ve lived in the U.S. almost my entire life! My (adoptive) father is originally from Chile and he used to tell me all the time how weird he thought it was that in this country ALL sporting events, from the least consequential high school game to the Super Bowl, have the national anthem played before them (S.I. did an article about just that [“Oh Say Should We Sing?”] several years ago - I think after an N.B.A. player turned his back to the flag during the playing of the national anthem before a game he was going to be involved in). He told me that in Chile national anthems are played only before games involving teams from different countries (such as with international soccer). Personally, I think it’s a waste of time. The more you do that sort of thing the less people tend to pay any real attention to it. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/87 "2015-05-13T16:50:15Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > Observations from a Brit: > \*Commercials. Like, everywhere. How do you guys put up with that? It’d drive me nuts. Everywhere except uniforms of professional sports teams, that is. ---
**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, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/88 "2015-05-13T16:54:01Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > No most CAD strippers readily accept loonies. In fact loonies are encouraged to be tossed on stage. Traditionally, we tuck the bills into the waistband of their g-string… ---
**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, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/89 "2015-05-13T16:54:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Do not most people believe that their own way of doing things is the best? > :rolleyes: Yes. But people with any sense of objectivity can admit when someone else’s way of doing something is better than theirs (I’ve got one: I read a while back that in Finland or Iceland police have access to people’s salaries so that when a person gets caught, say, speeding, the CEO making 500000€ a year will get dinged MUCH more [in a raw numbers sense] than the poor sap who’s making 30000€ a year will. I LIKE that system!!). ---
**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, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/90 "2015-05-13T16:58:35Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Europeans: “Americans are hung up on incomprehensible dating rituals. Imagine having to pick the girl up at her house! They’re so repressed it’s pathetic.” > > \*\*Asians: “My first day in an American school, I thought I was in a live-action porn movie because boys and girls were holding hands right out in the open. Americans are so decadent!” \*\* > > I’unno. They can’t both be right. We hosted a couple of Asian students (one from Thailand, one from Japan) a few years ago and they seemed to have this same attitude. It almost seemed that they thought it unnatural for men and women to want to be together any time before the age of - oh, I dunno - **25**. Based on how many Asians there are in the world I never would’ve guessed they’d have an attitude like that. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/91 "2015-05-13T17:00:46Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > I do like the cups system for cooking. That does make sense to me. 🙂 You say that… wait 'til you wake up bleary-eyed in the morning and head over to your coffee maker (which you use, of course, in the spirit of embracing a truly American morning experience) and the [carafe has markings on it](http://cache.coffeehomedirect.com/images/medelco-gl312-m.jpg) representing “cups”. You are informed that you should put 1/4 cup of ground coffee in the basket up top for each 2 “cups” of water. But these cups are not cups. They’re coffee cups. If your carafe doesn’t easily fit under the water faucet it may occur to you to use the [_measuring cup_](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTA2NlgxNjAw/z/gEcAAOSwcwhVQXKA/$_57.JPG), the glass beaker that you’d use when following a recipe. But those cups are cups. The cups on the coffee carafe aren’t the same kinds of cups at all. There are cups and then there are cups and not all cups are one cup, even when their capacity is described and delineated in cups. ---
**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, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/92 "2015-05-13T17:05:58Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > paracetamol Of course, even if we did use the generic term, we would say “acetaminophen” rather than paracetamol. > [@](#): > > (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). I don’t think this is a common perception. The more common dividing line is 18 or high school. It’s weird to be dating someone who is still in high school. > [@Quercus](#): > > Everywhere except uniforms of professional sports teams, that is. Yeah, that’s the worst idea ever. Having been to England, France, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, and India, I don’t have the perception that they have fewer advertisements. ---
**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, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/93 "2015-05-13T17:09:52Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Everywhere except uniforms of professional sports teams, that is. Yeah, “Merkans” seem to think there’s something “sacred” about professional sports uniforms that they are horrified at the idea of of plastering them with ads (that may be changing, however. WNBA and MLS teams wear advertisements on their uniforms and nowadays the stadiums generally are named after some corporation. Or they at least have some corporate name in there, somewhere: “Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium” comes to mind). ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/94 "2015-05-13T17:12:39Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > When in college, I advocated metric to my FIL, who suggested that retooling the construction industry, the automotive industry and every one’s tools would be prohibitively expensive. Isn’t the automotive industry already using metric? I just checked, and yes it 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, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/95 "2015-05-13T17:15:22Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > Yeah, “Merkans” seem to think there’s something “sacred” about professional sports uniforms that they are horrified at the idea of of plastering them with ads (that may be changing, however. WNBA and MLS teams wear advertisements on their uniforms and nowadays the stadiums generally are named after some corporation. Or they at least have some corporate name in there, somewhere: “Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium” comes to mind). Nascar drivers are amateurs? ---
**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:** [May 13, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/96 "2015-05-13T17:21:10Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Wait until they’re asleep or nearly so, then come up behind them and push. No you don’t. You pull on the tassels until their silicone weights shift their center of gravity and they topple over. ---
**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, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/97 "2015-05-13T17:23:30Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Nascar drivers are amateurs? They’re professional, but it’s not a sport! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/98 "2015-05-13T17:26:51Z")
> [@Scougs](#): > > 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). This is basically a function of our almost complete lack of mass transit (outside a few cities.) For example, I live in Orlando, which has a metropolitan population (roughly equivalent to a “built up area” in the UK) of well over 2 million. That’s the same size as Birmingham and its environs. However, Birmingham has an extensive urban and suburban bus and rail system, while we have… about 30 bus routes that run on the hour more or less during daylight hours. We also just (as in last year) got [our first passenger train service](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SunRail), which has one route. ---
**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, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/99 "2015-05-13T17:29:26Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Isn’t the automotive industry already using metric? > > I just checked, and yes it is. Yes, we have already established that I won an argument with my Father in law after the died. But thanks for fighting ignorance. 🙂 ---
**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, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918/100 "2015-05-13T17:31:08Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Nascar drivers are amateurs? I thought about doing so but I didn’t mention them because **A** ) I’m not into auto racing, and **B** ) I thought it was pretty much common knowledge - even amongst non-racing fans such as myself - that auto racers’ suits and cars are absolutely PLASTERED with advertisements. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/perceptions-about-usa-from-non-americans-that-americans-might-be-surprised-to-learn/719918.md?page=6)