Wierdest thing about the Non-USA

In My Humble Opinion
1

No, not rants about how good the US is, just oddities about the Rest of The World.

-You can’t get grape jelly.
-Few Jewish delis
-Odd things on pizza

-The Euro note, it has no faces on it at all. Very odd.
-The round highway signs that seem to indicate “The red car should not pass the black car.”
-State-owned televison and radio stations.

-People who do not think a black (or asian or hispanic) is an American. No really, I am wanna see my passport?

-Bugles and/or greyhounds as the symbol of the Post Office. Not a “Mr. Zip” to be found anywhere.

On the other hand, no matter where I go the bread is always better there than in the US.

2

Please expand your ‘odd things on pizza’ listing. Do they put socks on pizza?

3

My ex-stepfather is from Iran.

He puts Thousand Island salad dressing on cheese pizza and insists that everyone does it there.

Mayo on fries is one that usually throws americans in Europe.

I know that I got completely disoriented in customs at Cairo once when I saw the computer the clerk was using typed backwards in arabic. It made perfect sense when I was confronted with it. But the moment it hit me my brain just refused to compute it.

4

Well when I was in Japan everyone seemed to like tuna and squid on pizza. I thought that was unusual.

5

Well, I can order an “Idaho Curry” pizza from the Pizza Hut in my neighborhood: mayonnaise, potatoes, corn, hamburger and curry sauce. No tomatoes or cheese. Squid, shrimp and tuna are also frequent toppings. Not an anchovy to be seen, oddly enough.

Non-pizza things:

Privately-run mass transit that actually turns a profit.

ATMs that close at 8pm during the week, 5pm on weekends.

Convenience stores that won’t sell anything more medically-oriented than Band-aids. Want aspirin? Go to a drugstore. It’s 10pm? Sorry, try again tomorrow. This is gradually changing, fortunately.

Crossing lights that play “Comin’ Through the Rye” to announce that the lights have changed.

Trucks whose turn signals blink, beep and say “Careful! I’m turning left!”

ATMs, ticket machines, Coke machines, etc. that show little animated figures who bow to you after you use the machine.

Feeling compelled to bow back.

6

Odd things on pizza: corn and egg are standard at Pizza Hut in England. Also you can’t walk into a pizza shop and get a slice. You have to get a whole pizza.

As a Canadian in England I really missed dill pickles, red licorice and proper donuts. The abominations they called “American Donuts” don’t count - much too big and expensive (entirely missing the point of donuts - they are cheap and small, so if you want more you can get a different kind of donut.)

A Canadian friend always complains that you can’t get white vinegar on your fries in America. Can this be true? Maybe matter for a different thread.

7

Well… I don’t know if this fits… but I’ve seen lots of pictures of overweight people in their various countries of origin… yet it seems to be considered a particularly American trait. I think that’s kind of weird.

8

Europe:
No good sushi.

If you are from California, the overwhelming caucasian majority in Europe takes getting used to.

Marmite. And people think peanut butter is weird…

People smoke everywhere (In CA, smoking is illegal in public buildings and bars)

People think 75 degrees F is hot. I tell them it’s about 40 degrees C (100 F) where I live and they don’t believe it’s possible.

Really bad, patriotic American tv movies are standard fare in Denmark. How did this happen?

Beer with “By appointment of the Royal Danish Court” written on it. Weird, but cool. Government sanctioned beer!

Porn shops are not the furtive affairs they are in the US. :eek:

In Copenhagen, there are shops selling used stamps every few feet (I think this is what these shops are selling, old stamps were what was in the window anyway).

Once on a trip to England I saw a report on the news that roads in Scotland were melting because the tar wasn’t up to the 80 degree record temperatures they were having. :stuck_out_tongue:

Three wheeled cars.
Czech road signs. The pictures are so complicated and goofy that I started making up definitions for them with a friend.

“Sexual Harrassment Zone: Be sure to pat the ass of the person in front of you”
“Always push small children into the street”
“Pedophile Zone”
“No crossing without a jaunty hat”

But I ate the best pizza I’ve ever had in Berlin. :smiley:

Japan:

Vending machines sell everything

The tiniest cell phones I have ever seen. Their convinience is lost because they’re usualy weighted down with several pounds of cute, jingly accessories.

There are some things from the bottom of the sea that no man should eat.

DVDs are twice as expensive as in the US. What’s up with that?

9

You can get viniger on your fries in some places, but it’s far from the norm. For most people here, ketchup is the only acceptable condiment for French fries.

10

Ireland: Where someone has died in a car accident, they put up a headstone on that spot. In the US, people put up temporary crosses in accedent spots, but these usually disappear after a few months (the flowers wilt, the crosses get blown down). It weirded me out to see permanent markers often along the roads.

11

The three-wheeled cars freaked me out too the first time I went to the UK. “Robin Reliants” I think they were called.

Also, the fact that cricket is broadcast on the RADIO in Britain.

12

too true. I’m living in a mostly landlocked country with practically no seafood. Unless you count tuna on pizza. I haven’t seen fresh tuna yet. And for some unholy reason the wasabi on “the go ahead try it you might get sick from it you know it won’t taste like sushi but eat it anyway” sushi here is served with a sweet wasabi. The Korean chef assured me this was correct and that the less sweet kind is more expensive? whatever a few of my rolls looked like kim bap anyway.

Tell me about it. It’s strange for us Jersey girls too. But you can say the same about Pennsylvannia.

13

I’ve only been out of the US once (if you don’t count the Carribean/Mexico/Canada which despite being different than the US share very similar ‘American’ cultural traits) and it was to Australia.

Things that got me as wierd most were the food.

Thing 1: Steaks (and meat in general) can only be purchased in one way. SUPER well done. Being a Rare man (READ: still mooing) man myself, I found the shoe leather they referred to as steak, quite unapatizing.

Thing 2: Sausage. I would like to find the guy that named it such and pummel him. Who thought it was a good idea just to grind up pork and call it sausage? Where is the flavor? the peppercorn and gristle? Seriously, if I wanted a ground up porkchop I would have bought one and chewed it myself.

Thing 3: Vegemite. I just read another thread here where someone referred to it as ‘the devil’s diarrhea’. I cannot for the life of me think of a more apt description.

Really good thing 1: Roundabouts. Those things freakin rock. Wish they would catch on here.

Really good thing 2: Hot Tea. Awesome selection, EVERYWHERE. At least compared to here. Very few places here even sell hot tea, and those that do usually only have one or two flavours. (Bad Thing addendum: No Sweet Ice Tea. But that really is only popular in the SE US, and I can’t even get it in New York or LA, so I didn’t expect it in Au, but it was worth a shot. It would have been nice though if the waiters didn’t look at me like I was from beatlegeuse when I asked though)

14

In France you can get a checking account at the post office, so the post office is a bank too.

Tons of school sponsored parties and raves- one was actually in the lobby of one of the classroom buildings.

They had all the seasons of Friends on DVD- before the US got them! I have Season 5 and I think we’re only up to Season 2 here. Same goes for lots of other shows.

Roundabouts are evil no matter where you are.
When you order a sandwich and they ask you if you want salad, they mean do you want lettuce and tomato on it and not a salad on the side.

There’s usually one 24-hour drugstore somewhere in the town. Plus, if you are nice to the people behind the counter, they’ll give you some good medicine without having to go to a doctor.

15

I’ll either second anyone who has mentioned these, or be creative and mention them first;

Good Things

  • You can smoke anywhere
  • The Friends DVD thing (and many other shows)
  • Europe typically has a much lower tolerence for guns & violence and a much higher tolerence (or desire) for sex & nudity
  • Generally speaking, religion and politics are kept completely separate. Ireland and possibly Italy are exceptions.
  • Our government leaders typically know where other countries are located, and on occassion have been know to visit them.
  • Amsterdam (or the Netherlands in general, except for the suicidal cyclists and weather)

Bad Things

  • Royalty
  • History. People are so hung on the past that they forget to look to the future
  • In the UK, almost nobody cares about freedom of speech & expression. We seem happy to have our government dictate what we can watch and listen to
  • Food. Can’t get decent Sushi, Vietnemese, Indonesian, Mexican, Carribean or Cuban food in the UK unless you are really lucky. English food is dull (no spices) and typically overcooked.
  • Bartenders can’t mix cocktails
  • The service you receive will typically suck
16

My weirdest thing would probably have something to do with the bathrooms, especially involving showers. But also the customs involved with waiters and waitresses and tipping. One time in Italy when we were enjoying drinks, the waitress actually asked us how much we would be tipping

Also the way people drive. In Italy the speed limit, which was already much higher than normal American speed limits, seemed to be “more like a guideline than a rule,” and people were always driving in the middle of the road, tailgating and trying to squeeze through alleys. Oh, and also the lack of street signs.

17

Although fried potatoes were far from uncommon in Scotland when I visited, it was hard to get ketchup.

Except on the pizza.

Actually, most of the food I had in Edinburgh was great. The above two comments only refer to the couple of times I resorted to room service. The hotel’s room service menu was a misguided attempt to make timid American’s feel more at home.

18

Too true. I’ve found that I have to ask to get vinegar. It’s never there on the table. And when I do ask, they pass me a bottle of malt vinegar. Oy.

Went to a “British Pub” type place in D.C. and got some fish ‘n’ chips. They handed me tartar sauce. So I asked them for vinegar. Got a look of consternation from the waiter…“O…kay…?”

After he came back with a bottle of malt vinegar, I realized I was in for a trial. “Um. Do you have white vinegar?”

I got the strangest look from the man, as if he was horrified I’d defile their fancy schmancy fish ‘n’ chips. “White vinegar? Well…we’ve got a bottle that we use to clean stuff with. But…”

“Great. Pour some in a little cup and bring it here.”

I swear the guy was crying in the corner when I left.

19

Why would you put white vinegar on fish and chips?

20

Don’t know if anyone’s mentioned this one yet…
Having to pay to use the toilet.

Some of my friends have amazing, steel-like camel bladders. They never, ever have to pee. Unfortunately, mine is the size of a grape. Even more unfortunately, I don’t like to be dehydrated, so I’m constantly sipping water. I was really disconcerted while living in South America when I had to pay a fee (however nominal) to use the bathroom, then another one to get toilet paper. Eventually, I just started carrying lots of Kleenex.