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People might not fully understand how deeply rooted some cultural things are until they submerge themselves in a completely different environment. Whether it’s something they miss about home when being abroad or something they wish home had, it only accentuates that no two places in the world are the same.

Both cases were discussed by redditors who revealed things they only realized were very American after going abroad. Their answers covered everything from sugar consumption to healthcare, cars, restaurant service, and everything in between; scroll down to find them below and get acquainted with what some US citizens consider typically American.

#1

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad In Ireland right now, it’s cruel that we force our grocery store clerks to stand up for their entire shift. They are allowed to sit in Ireland when scanning items, and I don’t see any good reason why we don’t allow that back home.

randomman2071983 , Kampus Production Report

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, they sit in my country as well. Seems like the natural thing to do, considering how long shifts are.

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#2

Ketchup. There's only one bottle of ketchup in France. They pass it around from restaurant to restaurant when an American requests it.

chortle-guffaw Report

#3

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad The walk-ability of non-American cities is something out of a utopian dream.

tacojohn44 , Lu Pir Report

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Sue Denham
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've noticed American people wanting to drive from one shop to another even when they're 100m or less away, where Kiwis (and , I assume, most nationalities) will park in one place and walk from shop to shop before returning to their car to drive home.

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#4

I have dual nationality and live in the USA, but I still travel a lot to Europe.
Why the hell do we pixel women’s nipples on TV? It is a f*****g nipple. We sell arms to kids, and we have violent movies, but we pixel a nipple.

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Ak_Teren
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thats because your baptist taliban gets outraged at everything remotely connected to sexuality

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#5

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Paying for ambulances and health care…

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is something very dystopian about being afraid to call an ambulance because you would get in crippling debt.

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#6

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Sugar. When I visited Japan, even some of their sweetest desserts pale in comparison to how much sugar is in American food.

Bulky-Ambassador-638 , Tim Gouw Report

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Jrog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Quantity of sugar -or corn syrup- in american food is disgusting for anyone not used to it. On sweets, it's way too much. On the rest of the food, it should not even be there, so why the hell do you put it in? Your breakfast yogurt is sweeter than our cream desserts. Ketchup, BBQ sauce and even tomato sauces taste like candy. Breakfast cereals taste like sugar. Iced tea is basically syrup without any taste of tea. Even canned beans commonly have sugar on the ingredient list.

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#7

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad When I traveled overseas I was surprised at how the public bathroom stalls gave so much more privacy. Like a full door to the floor in most places.

shannoniscats , Tim Mossholder Report

#8

The fact that tax is calculated on top of the price on the tag. I'd assume that every foreigner would think they're getting ripped off at the register because it costs more than the price tag. Every other place I've been, the price is the price. (And coins have numbers on them!).

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#9

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Tipping. I had a waitress in Okinawa chase me into the parking lot with some change I left on the table.

sunlover010:

Went to Europe and tipped 20% and the servers acted extremely grateful. Like, a weird amount. After a while we finally asked a server what was up with that, and they said that in their country they are paid a living wage so tips don’t really mean much for them. They were very happy even with 10%.

bigedthebad , cottonbro studio Report

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Winnie the Moo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Inhumane to do work like in the service industry (where customers can be very rude and demanding) and not get paid a living wage…

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#10

A bizarre obsession with the national flag.

It’s not like countries dislike their own flags—you’ll see plenty of them at political events or international sporting events like the World Cup or Olympics—but they don’t typically fly a 6-foot flag from their trucks or hang them up in their churches. I don’t think most of them have a big national anthem ceremony at their domestic sporting events or have the military jets fly over them.

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#11

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Obesity.

There are obese people everywhere and obesity is unfortunately apparently on the rise in most Western countries at least, but the obesity rate in the US is particularly remarkable, and not in a good way. I've had the good fortune of traveling to Europe three times in the last three years and I've gone to Brazil every year since 2010 to visit my in-laws. Do I see obese people in Europe and in Brazil? Absolutely, but they are often Americans visiting. And it's interesting because I never really seem to notice all the fit people in Europe and Brazil when I arrive there, but I do notice all the obese people when I return to the US. Very striking.

Water-Donkey , Andres Ayrton Report

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This corresponds to the one about having too much sugar in American food. Carbs are the fastest route to being overweight.

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#12

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Lived abroad 7 years. We're LOUD. I can hear my countrymen coming up the street going on about how they just had to pay to use the RESTROOM. :D

gorska_koza , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't worry, you are hardly the only ones. From my experience, Greeks and Albanians can be pretty loud as well.

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#13

How ignorant we are, particularly of world history and geography.

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Timbob
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also: Was involved hosting foreign exchange students at one time. Teen girl from Spain was attending the top academic high school in Chicago for a year. Local boy said to her,”You’re Anna from Spain. They speak Mexican there, right ?”

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#14

Minimum parking laws and garbage public transportation.

Going to Japan and seeing how accessible everything is made me question my whole life. Bikes and trains are just the better option and I'll resent oil executives for the rest of my life for the way they sabotaged the US transportation system.

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Sum Guy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The funny thing is that they still do this... remember when California announced plans for a high-speed rail and immediately had Elon talk about the Hyperloop and it being faster and more "cleaner"... California has been struggling to get funding since car companies also wanted funding for their vanity projects which will never be implemented...

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#15

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad When I moved to the UK, my flatmates asked how in movies people would stick their hands in the sink drain and it be ripped apart. I told them about sink garbage disposals and they were very weirded out.

[deleted] , wikipedia.org Report

#16

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Ranch dressing. I guess I was vaguely aware that it was American, but I hadn't realized how much.

If you want to hear a whole pub stop and glare at you, go to Ireland and ask for ranch for your fries.

thatandyinhumboldt , wikipedia.org Report

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sbj
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ranch Flavour Doritos=Cool American in Europe, we don't know what the hell Ranch dressing is

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#17

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad I remember the Germans all being shocked that to do anything like drinking or smoking you needed to be 21 but to buy a rifle you only need to be 18. Well they were also just shocked you can just go buy a gun in most places here whenever you like pretty much.

thingologist , Isabella Mendes Report

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The whole notion of students going to school with bulletproof backpacks and having "shooter drills" is also pretty shocking to us...

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#18

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Eating so damn fast. It seemed in Europe it’s normal to spend 2 hours at a restaurant, at least every time we sat down it took 2-2.5 hours. In America you’re rushed out of your table as fast as possible so the waiter can make more tips.

Spiritual_Bag_9840 , RDNE Stock project Report

#19

Went to Mexico. It was a hot day so we stopped at a bar to grab some cold sodas. They came in glass bottles, so we paid and just left the bar to continue walking. About 5 minutes later, the bartender chased us down and made us pour the soda into paper cups and he took the bottles to return for a deposit.

Realized how much America is a throwaway society.

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RavenTheCat
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Actually i love Mexico's glass bottle sodas and that's super cool, i really wish we recycled like that ourselves

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#20

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Pharmaceutical commercials.

Murbella0909:

It scared me so much when I was in the USA for the first time! Is like those happy people doing happy things while someone described the most terrifying side effects ever!

LittleBiggle , Artem Podrez Report

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The Scout
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I never understood the rationale behind "Please tell your doctor what he should prescribe, after all you know better than he does after seeing a twenty second commercial." Those are medical professionals. They should assign medication by what is needed, not what you saw on TV last night. Ads for prescription drugs simply do not make any sense.

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#21

I was born in America, then we moved to Japan from the time I was 4 until I was 8 (my dad was military) when we moved back to America, the first place we went was Dennys. I vividly remember asking my parents why the waitress kept coming to check on us, and if she thought we were doing something wrong because she seemed suspicious of us. As far as I'm aware, most countries outside of the US just leave you be and let you eat in peace. You get them when you're ready. America is very pushy because they survive on tips and need the next table to come along to make sure they can have a livelihood.

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#22

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Our portion sizes in restaurants.

clark_w_griswokd , Ash Report

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Jrog
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was shocked when in a burger joint on the US-Canadian border I found the "quadruple half pounder" burger. That's 1 kg of meat, plus bacon, condiments, and about 1 kg of fries and free drinks.

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#23

Air conditioning so cold in public spaces that you need a jacket. It’s one example of how wasteful we are with electricity.

crunchybaguette Report

#24

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Yellow school buses. They are all over the US and Canada, but apparently not in the rest of the world.

Ineffable7980x , wikipedia.org Report

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Corvus
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Most students around here use the public transportation buses to go to school. Several private schools do have their own buses, but it's a rarity.

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#25

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad I didn’t realize how much less common baseball hats were, I studied abroad in Prague and my teacher said that’s a good way to spot an American.

bulbipicg , Mathias Reding Report

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Becky Samuel
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They're only really worn in the UK in a uniform dark colour and in combination with a hoodie. This provides instant protection against being identified by cameras in case of an 'opportunity' presenting itself.

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#26

Lack of personal space. I was in India and when lineing /queuing up people were so close I thought they were trying to pick poket me. Then I saw they did that to everyone. I'm used to my bubble of space in America.

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#27

Constant competition. I realize that competition exists around the world in one form or another, but the concept of “best vs worst”, or “good, better, best” is deeply engrained in the American psyche. Things can’t be simply different, there must be good vs bad.

Mrcostarica Report

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Bernd Herbert
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a very good point! Watching all these Highschool Movies as a kid I always wondered, why they had that weird Prom King/Queen thing? At my end of school party we simply got drunk and had a great time.

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#28

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Whenever I order a soda in Europe and it arrives with no ice in it, a bald eagle dies.

earther199 , Ron Lach Report

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Winnie the Moo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ugg, I hate it when restaurants put ice in my drinks! It waters the taste down, come on!

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#29

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Hearing gunshots all the time. My wife and I were in the UK, and there was a holiday happening in one of the boroughs in London (can't remember which one). We were staying in an Airbnb and we asked our host if it was a dangerous neighborhood . We got a look as if we were aliens and she said something along the lines of, "are you scared of fireworks?" My wife and I laughed saying, "we thought they were gunshots." Our poor host looked so horrified at how cavalier we were about how many "gunshots" there were (it was not a lot of fireworks, maybe a bang every 10-20 seconds). We had to explain that it's not out of the ordinary to hear gunshots most days where we live in the US. I hope she's ok and we didn't cause her any permanent damage. She may never visit the US though.... 

ScarofReality , Meruyert Gonullu Report

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#30

Feeling unsafe when you went outside. deep in germany, even during the anti-american protests, i felt way safer than i ever have in America. I know there are other turbulent places of course, but living here you worry about what unhinged a*****e has a gun and wants to f**k s**t up today. just a few weeks ago my sister was at work at chapel hill in NC when someone went and shot up the science center and she was on lockdown, f****n hiding and just hoping she would make it out to pick her daughter up from school. F**K that s**t.

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oktopus
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have literally been in one supermarket in the US, and a while back I was reading the news in my country, and one of the headlines was a shooting in a supermarket in the only town I've been to in the US, and yes it was that same supermarket.

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#31

Is no one talking about health insurance yet? It blew my mind coming to the UK and people go to the same doctor every time. I don't think I ever went to the same doctor twice in the US because of changing insurance so often working various jobs.

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Bernd Herbert
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't even understand that. Why would you change insurances for different jobs? Why would you change doctors for different insurances?

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#32

The cost of medication and how easily accessible it is.
The stupid hoops I had to go through to get my prescription in America is so frustrating. I've been on the same medication for well over a decade, and my last refill, my insurance decided to deny it for some stupid reason. Took 3 weeks for them to refill it.

When I was in South Korea, took less than an hour.

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Katy Thomason-Stewart
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I have certain life long medical conditions - in the UK this makes me exempt from paying prescription charges. I would have been bankrupt and dead long ago if I lived in America!

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#33

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Free refills on soft drinks. On our study abroad trip to Italy we jokingly called Hard Rock Cafe the US Embassy because that was the only place for it.

agentbunnybee , Caleb Oquendo Report

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Donkeywheel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You went to Italy of all places to go to hard rock cafe ? What’s wrong with these people..?

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#34

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Eye contact while speaking to people. Americans don't break eye contact easily so depending where you go, I've been told it comes off as aggressive.

These_Bicycle_4314 , August de Richelieu Report

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James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I REALLY struggle to keep eye contact for any amount of time, I feel like I am glaring at someone.

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#35

I didn’t go abroad to learn this, but I worked on staff for a Very Big International Sporting Event (but not the one with the rings) and we provided lockers with built in combination locks like you’d see in any American public school for journalists to store equipment (computers, cameras etc.) in.

What no one realized was that if you didn’t attend public school in North America, you’ve apparently never seen such a thing before, and the whole “go three times past zero to the right and stop on the first number, turn past zero once to the left and stop in the second number, then back to the right immediately to the third number” is an incomprehensible system.

After a few days of hearing cursing in every language you can imagine, and seeing grown adults brought to tears or rage or both, we ended up assigning a troop of volunteers whose entire job for two weeks was opening lockers for non-North Americans.

Lesson learned!

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arthbach
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've read the instructions three times, and it's still incomprehensible! If I had the instructions in front of me as I was doing it, I'd manage, but just being expected to be able to do this.... yoicks!

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#36

40 Things Americans Weren’t Aware Were So Blatantly American Until They Traveled Abroad Root beer is apparently disgusting and an offense to most of the world's palate.

Routine-Aspect1000 , wikipedia.org Report

#37

Not american but I'm surprised to not see americans mention going outside dressed like s**t... In France it may take 20 minutes to get ready to go grab something for breakfast or walk the dog, but nobody would go out in PJs or kinda-workout clothes...

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Bernd Herbert
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For a more detailed study I recommend visiting the breakfast at any large chain hotel in the US.

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#38

I was in Germany and had people asking how far I lived from certain American landmarks. They would get a strange, kind of “wow” expression on their face when I told them.

Turns out they were just getting a kick out of the fact I was explaining it by time and not distance.

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John Harrison
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It makes sense to describe it by time. Ten miles in the city is entirely different than ten miles in the country.

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#39

I learned that American fast food is disgusting and way overpriced.

Out in Seoul you can almost guarantee that you'll find a fried chicken and beer place, and barely pay anything for a delicious meal. Korea changed my world on food.

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PhaseWitFact
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

TBF I've been in McDonald's in Spain. It was as gross as the McDonalds here in the US.

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#40

Half and half. I watched an American family try to order coffee in London with half and half and the server just kept saying “half what?” and neither side understood what was happening.

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Landithy
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The one that really messed me up was sticks of butter. Butter doesn't come divided in sticks where I'm from and until I moved to the US, I thought a "stick" was an entire 500g block of butter. I messed up so many American recipes.

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