# Weirdest things about America **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 7, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691 "2003-08-07T23:18:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/181 "2003-08-13T13:06:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spiny Norman \* > \*\*I am sure everybody knows on the intellectual level that there are regulations and that things are under control, as it were. > > But if you grow up where some people quite literally walk through life and never even _see_ a gun except sticking out of a policeman’s holster, suddenly seeing a few dozen in a mundane setting like a hardware store is just baffling. Not necessarily bad or scary, just cause for a sudden realization that you’re far from home. \*\* It can be even more extreme than that. Apart from on armed police at airports, I’ve never seen a UK policeman with a gun. In the UK, I’ve never seen anyone apart from a member of the armed forces with either a handgun or rifle. I’ve seen plenty of shotguns, wielded mostly by farmers. Even after spending a total of 9 - 10 years of my life in the US, I still have to restrain the instinct to do a double-take and stare when I see a _cop_ with a gun, let alone anyone else. The difference in gun culture between the UK and US is that huge. So to us, going into an ordinary store and seeing guns for sale is about on a par with Americans going to a supermarket in another country and finding dogs hanging in the meat department and marijuana in the waccy baccy department. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Oi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cab0a1/32.png) [@Dan\_Oi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Oi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/182 "2003-08-13T14:03:44Z")
“In the UK, I’ve never seen anyone apart from a member of the armed forces with either a handgun or rifle” What about the P.S.N.I(previosly the R.U.C)? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/183 "2003-08-13T14:26:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dan Oi \* > \*\*What about the P.S.N.I(previosly the R.U.C)? \*\* Well it’s a police _force_, and it’s _armed_… though I’m thinking that maybe **Amarone** has never been to Northern Ireland (since it was in fact a personal anecdote, not a general comment on who is or isn’t armed in the UK). ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/184 "2003-08-13T14:31:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dan Oi \* > \*\*“In the UK, I’ve never seen anyone apart from a member of the armed forces with either a handgun or rifle” > > What about the P.S.N.I(previously the R.U.C)? \*\* I have never been to Northern Ireland. My comment was about what I have seen in real life, not on TV. ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/185 "2003-08-13T14:32:33Z")
The police in Northern Ireland do carry guns, as far as I know. However, if **amarone** has never been to NI, then he or she is perfectly correct in saying that “In the UK, I’ve never seen anyone apart from a member of the armed forces with either a handgun or rifle” And surely if the PSNI are armed, then they qualify as an “armed force”? There are a great many people in Great Britain and in the Republic of Ireland who wouldn’t dream in a million years of ever going to Northern Ireland, so the sight of a policeman with a gun would be most disconcerting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gardai with a gun, but then again for all I know they may well be armed. I remember my eyes being out on stalks in New York when I saw the policemen with guns, even though I have visited NI on many occasions. Are there any NI Dopers who can add to this thread and say that they did not think it was odd to see USA-er policemen with guns? ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/186 "2003-08-13T19:08:13Z")
I always had gotten the impression that European airports and city centers were crawling with soldiers with machine guns since the 70s because of domestic terrorism like the IRA, the Baader Meinhof, the ETA, etc., like we had in the subways when we’re on high Orange Alert. That freaked me out–I’d never seen a machine gun before. Maybe I’m thinking of Israel? ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/187 "2003-08-13T19:31:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mehitabel \* > \*\*I always had gotten the impression that European airports and city centers were crawling with soldiers with machine guns since the 70s because of domestic terrorism like the IRA, the Baader Meinhof, the ETA, etc., like we had in the subways when we’re on high Orange Alert. That freaked me out–I’d never seen a machine gun before. > > Maybe I’m thinking of Israel? \*\* Covering just the UK, note that I said “Apart from on armed police at airports” in my initial post on not seeing guns iun the UK. They do, indeed, carry [machine guns](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1548125.stm). However, I have not seen soldiers doing so, and I have not seen machine guns carried by police or soldiers in city centres. ---
**Author:** ![cajela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cajela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cajela)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/188 "2003-08-14T00:40:26Z")
On the use of the word “drugs” in Australia. Yes, it nearly always means illegal drugs. Not 100%, because we are aware of the US usage of the word. My partner will often remark “drugs are your friend” when taking ibuprofen or aspirin, but that’s a joke. Technically, we’d say “pharmaceuticals”. Commonly we’d say “medicine” or “pills”, or name the item or its generic class - eg, “sudafed”, “zantac”, “antacid”, “antibiotic”. If I had a minor illness and asked the pharmacist for advice, I’d ask for “something for a cold/stomach upset”, not drugs. I’ts only occurred to me writing this that we don’t really seem to have a generic term. “Medicines” is the closest I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/189 "2003-08-14T01:50:20Z")
I was trying to think of American uses of the word “drug”, aside from “drug store” where the substances being referred to are NOT illegal, and the only one I can come up with is our FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates pharmaceuticals. It also occured to me I rarely use the term "drug store"myself anymore. I usually use the name of our most prevalent local chain, CVS, or the next most prevalent, Walgreens, as the case may be. You guys are right. Drug store is a strange concept. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/190 "2003-08-14T02:36:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Laughing Lagomorph \* > \*\*Cars aren’t consumer goods? > > I’ve never seen cars for sale at Walmart but it wouldn’t surprise me too much if I did. If they can make money selling it, they’re going to. \*\* Well, they might be aware of the fact that the [Sears Allstate](http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8947/car_info1.htm) of the early 1950’s wasn’t exactly a rousing success. ---
**Author:** ![dorfl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@dorfl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorfl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/191 "2003-08-14T17:43:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Dorfl, do you mean that people in Europe don’t date? Well, of course two people go and have beer/icrecream/whatever-you-think-would-be-fun together. But the whole “I am going on a date tonight”, “How was your date yesterday?” whith the understanding that a date means ‘let’s see whether we can actually stand each other’, or ‘our friends think we should meet’ was kind of strange to me. Don’t get me wrong - great concept. At home, ‘first contact’ was typically in a group setting, one starts to get interested, and only if you knew that you could actually stand the person around you for a few hours (e.g., talking a few times at different parties/group dinners), you would do the “what do you think about dinner tomorrow” thing. Setting up two friends for a date just didn’t happen - you invited them to some “group event”\* And there is no word that expresses what “date” expresses in German, French, or Italian (as far as I know at least). > [@](#): > > They were certainly capable of dressing up with makeup and so on, but they would also go out for a bagel and coffee on a Sunday morning in shorts and T-shirts, without makeup. Women (especially younger, single women) in the UK wouldn’t ever do that. AH, you got a point there. Pink jogging outfits on 70 year old women Saturday morning in the coffe shop are in the “surprised when I arrived here the first time” category as well. I guess I was talking about the 18-30 year old professional women I know who put makeup on for anything from work to going out to Friendly’s to have some icecream.\*\* HAND - God, i just realize that maybe we were all just very insecure. Could be. \*\* Sorry, generalizing. I mean the women I know, not all women in that group. ---
**Author:** ![dorfl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@dorfl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorfl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/192 "2003-08-14T17:44:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Cars aren’t consumer goods? Last time I consumed a car I was sick for a few days. Guess the oil was old ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/193 "2003-08-14T19:04:22Z")
I agree with dorfl’s point about dating, and I’d like to add that the US concept looks somehow oddly _structured_ to me. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/194 "2003-08-15T00:07:51Z")
Just to throw some American wierdness into this conversation, today after work, I went to a DRUG store and bought a case of BEER (yes that right, I got beer at a drug store. Cure’s what ails ya 😉 ) Then I drove my car (alone) to the gas station and pumped the gas all by myself, since they know at the gas station that I’m a big boy and know how to work the pump/nozzle and everything. And I gazed at the high heeled miniskirted women there with their large American breasts as it brought to mind a scene from the film"look who’s talking". Then I consumed a bit of car (gasoline-wise) to return home. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2003, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/195 "2003-08-15T11:33:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > \*\*Depends where you are. Some places restrict the blade length that you can carry (3 inches is a generic rule of thumb) but some don’t have a problem. And the police would rather the knife be in plain sight than concealed. In fact, I think some places you can have a fairly long blade as long as it’s in the open. \*\* I didn’t know that, but man it scared the life out of me, I was on a train at the time, didn’t sleep too well that night … ---
**Author:** ![dorfl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@dorfl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorfl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/196 "2003-08-15T12:08:24Z")
Having flown out on New York Thursday morning, I would like to add the U.S. power grid to the list. In my 20 or so years in Europe, I remember one major power outage that lastet longer than 1 hour. In my 15 or so years in the U.S., I can’t remenber a year without power outages of 1 hour or longer HAND ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/197 "2003-08-18T01:34:59Z")
Wow, you guys would reall hate to go to some American states. In Arizona, for instance, you can walk around with your gun on your hip, as long as it’s registered. “Arizona is an open carry state-- it is legal to carry a holstered or cased loaded handgun (visibly) in your car. A.R.S. 13-3102” From [www.packing.org](http://www.packing.org) ---
**Author:** ![Mofo\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/198 "2003-08-18T02:35:38Z")
I would just like to add that it is not necessary to be 21 in order to serve alchololic beverages in every state. At least in Arizona, I was one of the only 19 or older employees in Peter Piper, so I could pour and serve beer. Not that 19 or over makes much sense either. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/199 "2003-08-18T03:24:58Z")
**Cardinal** , that would definitely unnerve me. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691/200 "2003-08-18T04:02:39Z")
I live in Arizona and have **never** seen anyone (except a police officer) walk around with a gun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weirdest-things-about-america/193691.md?page=11)