USUAL in your country but NOT anywhere else.
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Easy: school shootings, together with politician denial about the causes of this, guns, and lack of regulation for who owns them, make owning guns easier than getting a driver's license.
Super sad, but here we are.
On a brighter note, apparently our casual friendliness with strangers is unusual elsewhere. So we've got that going for us, which is nice
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Thats "American style", while keeping the fork in the non-dominant hand is "European style". Allegedly, it dates back to when meals were served "service à la française", which is when all courses are brought out at once, which is obviously the more common method of home cooking. Restaurants started doing "service à la Russe", which is where courses are brought out one at a time.
With service russe, you have new sets of silverware with each course (or they are arranged in order), so if you are eating a course that doesn't need a knife, you won't be given one, and you'll have your fork in your dominant hand. If you need a knife, that goes in your dominant hand, and you leave it there for the duration of the course.
With service française (or regular home cooking), you just have one set of silverware, and you only use the knife when you need it, so you might switch your fork to your dominant hand when you are done needing the knife.
For example, in America, no one eats a steak switching hands for every bite (cause that would be dumb and inefficient), and in Europe, you probably wouldn't eat a meal that doesn't need a knife with a knife in your dominant hand (cause that would also be dumb and inefficient).
knife is always on the right, not the dominant hand. it's to make sure you don't bump into your neighbor by both doing the same movement at the same time.
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This whole conversation is weird to me. Fork in my dominant hand and knife in the other. Never seen anyone put their knife down or switch grips.
the fork should always be on the left, and the knife on the right, no matter your handedness.
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Apparently Germany is one of the few (the only? Who knows) country to prefer carbonated water.
Austrian here, and it's the default at restaurants etc. as well. I hate it, it hurts my throat. Leitungswasser bitte, danke
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Apparently Germany is one of the few (the only? Who knows) country to prefer carbonated water.
It is everywhere. I prefer water straight from the tap, which is usually better quality anyway (say the labs, not me).
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what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa??
like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.The 7-11 sells (and smells like) herbal tea eggs. That may be more than just here though. I can't remember if this applies in Japan as well. But definitely Taiwan.
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what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa??
like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.wrote last edited by [email protected]Being very touchy and physical.
Cheek kisses are usual for strangers. And it's normal to touch people you barely know or have a small friendship.
Country is Spain.
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I understand, it's just a weird behavior from a southern Europe point of view: when it's cold outside we close the windows to keep it out.
Also weird from my UK point of view: it's fucking freezing out them I'm not opening the windows. I do get that it's nice to have fresh air and you can always put the window in the vent position, but even when it's really cold you can feel it.
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what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa??
like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.Queuing apparently. Which I really don't understand wtf everyone else is doing to wait their turn. Well I guess except Japan.
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Apparently Germany is one of the few (the only? Who knows) country to prefer carbonated water.
When visiting France the carbonated water was ubiquitous. The company I work for have water fountains with the option of carbonated water in all of their French offices.
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when it's too sunny in UK
lol
Is that the British term for “it stopped raining for five seconds”?
I remember a British ad where police is in front of a bank where a robbery with hostages is taking place.
The sun shines and both police and criminals enjoy it and together (I think they were doing a BBQ and the ad was for a BBQ sauce)
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what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa??
like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.Almost everyone has a sauna or at least access to one at or near their home.
Finland for those wondering.
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I lived in NJ. When i randomly said i didn’t have a car, some colleagues gave me pitying looks. I heard NY is its own little microcosm, but it seemed in general US is very car centric, so much so that there were areas I literally couldn’t reach by foot.
wrote last edited by [email protected]It's hard to generalize any aspect of life in the US because of how damn big it is. People in metropolitan areas can get by just fine without a personal vehicle but it's much harder in the suburbs and all but impossible in rural communities unless you're very self-sufficient. I live near a city (Seattle), sufficiently so that I can easily walk to a bus and connect with the regional transit system. If that was my only option I'd have to majorly restructure my life, but it could be done.
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Yellow school buses, apparently.
That's because US/CANADA cities are not designed with public transport in mind.
The rest of the world uses actual run of the mill normal buses, regardless if it is for school or not. -
the fork should always be on the left, and the knife on the right, no matter your handedness.
(According to certain styles of manners, which are of course entirely arbitrary and subjective)
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Trucks driving down the street yelling commercial promos at you through loud speakers. Annoying af
Seconded. Not just Tokyo, either, but even up in sendai
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(According to certain styles of manners, which are of course entirely arbitrary and subjective)
yeah but i grew up with them so they're objectively correct
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In Germany people seem to like opening windows when entering a room, even in the middle of the winter. Or maybe I only know weird Germans.
A few central/northern European countries also don't believe in curtains.
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yeah but i grew up with them so they're objectively correct
That's the spirit!
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what is that you usually do or see in your country or area but is weird to do in other area you have traveled or vice versa??
like it is unusual to wear footwear indoors in asia.Wearing thongs (flip flops) in a grocery store.
Kangaroos littering the side of the road (they have about 4 neurones and all of then are suicidal)
The only place I have seen young kids (think 6 years old) swear similarly to here in Australia is in Scotland, and they are just as feral as we are.
Walking down the street at night. In the UK and USA it was apparently just not a thing you did. Here I will walk home at 2am no worries, and tonnes of people walk home from the pub drunk enough to not always make it home and sometimes just pass out on the footpath. Never had a problem, never been mugged or similar in that situation, and after living in the UK and visiting the USA I can definitely say I would never do that there.
Wearing swimmers (bikini or budgie smugglers) and going for food and drink on the same trip. The number of times I've gotten coffee, had lunch, or jumped into the bank while dressed for the beach is uncountable, but never ever outside Australia.
Hitting your kids is rare here. Spanking is not really normal and is definitely not common in public compared to my visit to the USA or my time in the UK. In both of those people would cuff their kids or slap their hand when they were being unruly. That is uncommon here and I have seen people intervene when someone was hitting their kid in public on more than one occasion. The same goes for animals, people don't like you hitting your dog either. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it is not considered OK.
Healthcare. We have it. We love it. In the UK the NHS was OK, not great, and the USA is terrifying. My meds would cost me about $310 per month but end up costing a max of $38, unless I spend $1200 in the year at which point the rest are free. As in, no cost, just pick them up, zero dollars. Mine are half medically necessary and half for better function, but for some people they are way more necessary and I am so happy they can just go get them, no risk of rationing meds.
People do talk about politics and religion here, but not with random people and not in public. If someone isn't interested you are generally going to back off quickly and leave it be. Religion and politics are mostly private and the few people who do talk tend to not be too intense about it. Certainly most don't become a registered Labor or Liberal party member with the group identity associated. It is much more loosely held and less culturally relevant.
