Cultural differences really make waves. For instance, while the United States and the majority of Europe belong to the Western world, the two are still an ocean apart.
Redditor Comfortable-Use6239 asked everyone on the platform to name the things they believe are normal on the Old Continent but horrifying in America.
In less than a week, they have received nearly seven thousand replies. From tipping to the size of parking spaces, continue scrolling to see which have gotten the most attention.
This post may include affiliate links.
Female nipples on TV and social media? We can’t grasp why the USA is so fixated on censoring them. Violence and death are shown without issue, yet the female nipple is taboo. It seems the influence of fear-mongering religious groups still holds sway. It’s absurd.
Being able to vote even if never registered to vote - you are registered automatically, so that's not even a term. Your voting rights cannot be removed ever. Even if convinced of crime.
Capital punishment is forbidden in the EU countries.
You cannot give up your right to trial, unlike in the US where you are easily forced to give up the right to sue the companies that provide you the services.
This is somehting that Americans look on with envy not with horror. This is how it should be here.
Buildings that are over 300 years old being used instead of building new ones.
Walking to the store.
dyslexicassf**k: My mom traveled to the US for the first time recently, she was shocked at how unwalkable it was and how people went everywhere with the car
The German Foreign Ministry has a travel advisory that you should not photograph your own children naked when you are in the USA at the beach.
In Germany it is quite normal for small children to bathe naked on public beaches or in swimming pools.
The German Foreign Ministry is likely advising in an abundance of caution. As a generalized summary, photographing naked children in the US is legal or not based on intended purpose. As you'd guess, the line is whether it is intended to arouse or be child porn. Between the obvious ends of the spectrum can be a big gray zone. If something just isn't on your camera then you don't have to convince some authority person the intent was innocent. Basically it's laws that had good intent but have sometimes been abused. Seeing toddlers naked isn't that rare. Saw this summer. Not swimming pools though. Usually swim diapers required in case they poop.
Drinking alcohol in public spaces. In many European cities, it’s perfectly acceptable to enjoy a drink in parks or on the streets, while in the U.S., it can lead to fines or legal issues.
Children walking or cycling to school and outside of school activities such as sport or theater, all by themselves.
nope this happens in US too. There are regional variances though
Suggesting a medical visit for a mild injury.
It stings how much this hits close to home for us Americans. I'm a veteran, so my Healthcare is free, crappy because it's the VA, but free. I got commercial insurance once, good insurance too, my blood thinners cost $244 a month. That's insane for a pill that I absolutely have to take to stay alive. Went crawling back to the VA, lol
Calling an ambulance.
NiceGuysFinishLast: I drove myself to the emergency room for a coral snake bite. They didn't have the antivenin, I had to go to the hospital. They called me an ambulance despite the fact that I had already driven there and I said I didn't want one. Total hospital bill was 94K and the ambulance was a separate 3K that dropped to like 1K after I gave them my insurance.
Minimal air conditioning.. Europeans tend to rely less on air conditioning even in warmer weather.. many Americans, used to blasting AC, might find it uncomfortable or surprising.
Here in the UK, during our four days of sunshine per year, we would love AC, but for the rest of the year it wouldn’t be needed so would be a waste of money to instal it
Walking for ten minutes ina city instead of getting a taxi.
This also depends on where you are in the US.. the big cities that got established before cars were ubiquitous are still pretty walkable. In NYC I never bothered to own a car and most days I never needed the train. New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago.. a few other places that at least have city center that you can do this too.
Cops without guns.
Most European Police forces are routinely armed, and a reasonably large proportion of UK Police are - they just aren't armed automatically. Certainly Police at transit terminals or other high-value locations are likely to be armed, in any European country.
Nudity in TV and print media.
FUN FACT, at least until the early 70s, they could not show a woman in a bra on TV. Lived near the Canadian border in the days of broadcast TV. Only got a few channels and about half of them were from BC Canada. The Playtex "cross your heart" bra commercial was on several stations. You could tell whose country you were watching because the Canada ads had a woman modeling the bra and on the US channel the fully clothed woman was pointing to the bra on a mannequin. LOL (And yet we had bikinis and Marianne and Ginger could wear skimpy swimsuits on Gilligan's Island. Mixed signals. )
Directness in communication.. Europeans specially in places like Germany or Netherlands are often more straightforward in conversation which might come off as blunt or rude to Americans used to more indirect communication.
I know this one.
The size of parking spaces. Parking spaces in the US are 1.5x bigger than those of Europe, almost double at Costco. European vehicles are on average very very small and their parking spaces reflect that. I rented as Mazda 3 and it was a pretty tight squeeze in 99% of parkades.
Consider that before you decide to rent an SUV or bigger.
Yeah, nah. "European vehicles are on average very very small "? European cars used to be a sensible size on average, but have grown ridiculously huge in recent years. Compare a modern "Mini" with a proper Austin Mini from the 1960s-80s, or any of those old small Citroens (2CV, Dyane, Ami) with almost anything on the roads these days. Or an original Fiat 500 with what passes for a Fiat 500 these says. And that's before I get on to those ridiculous "SUV" things. They're daftly huge here in the UK, while American SUV and pickup trucks are bigger than WWII tanks. https://www.motorbiscuit.com/american-trucks-suvs-almost-bigger-world-war-ii-tanks/
Letting kids play outside by themselves, or going to the local playground.
Mass gathering without x-ray and bag checks.
Eh, that may change in some countries here in Europe in the future - knives, axes and other blades became quite a problem in the last 10 years
Not refrigerating eggs.
Yes, but they have to be unwashed (bloom must stay intact) and not refrigerated at any time. They're good for a few weeks on the counter.
The Socialist Party winning a national election.
A coronation.
A restaurant that served fries smothered in mayonnaise.
A public restroom with squat toilets.
Seeing people under 21 drink alcohol in public. Legally.
Going into McDonald's and looking at the menu and seeing McFalafel, Croque McDo, and even beer.
Having to pay a fairly significant sum of money to become a licensed driver. Getting a regular license in Europe is way more expensive than in the US.
Yes, because we teach people to drive, we don't just show them the car and wish them luck. Many countries include all sorts of weather conditions, vehicle maintenance, first aid training and other useful skills as part of the driving test.
Shutting down markets at sundays are perfectly normal in europe
it may cause public outrage at US.
Probably would not cause public outrage, but would make some corporate overloards angry
I would say is more a mediterranean thing but eat your lunch with a glass of wine or beer. When I do this in the US, I look almost as an alcoholic. Same about smoke on the workplace (not inside the office but on the terrace or outside the office with the colleagues).
When I was a partner in an accounting firm in NYC in the late Eighties, we went to lunch together, and a drink was the norm. That changed over time. I don't know what the norm is now, as I only had experience at the one place.
Leaving your baby in the stroller while you have dinner.
Normal in denmark(and a few other european countries), gets you arrested for child endangerment in USA
Charging for water at a restaurant. Charging to use the restrooms.
Not owning a car.
Lots of people in the US do not own cars, have u seen how much cars cost!!! All kidding aside there are lots and lots of areas in the states that u don't need a car, in fact I think there is a very large percentage of NYC residents who have never even had a license. Grew up in SF, summers in NYC I do not miss factoring in time to find parking to go to a movie or paying 10 bucks to park for an hour (in mid 1980s).
Going out on "THE SESH!", Americans dont comprehend how much we actually drink as Europeans, and we dont drink water down swill, its proper beer, larger and ale... we go big and then have no idea how we got home, and i think in america they would call that alcoholism but in the UK we call it Saturday night.
Salaries. At least in my field, they appear to be 1/3 to 1/2 what an equivalent job would pay in the US.
Eating dinner at 10 PM! In Europe, it’s just a normal night out but in the U.S., you’d be met with confused looks and a few “Are you planning to party with the vampires?”.
Kids being left alone in homes for more than 15 minutes.
That is not different. I think a run of stories about overprotective priviledged parents gave the world in inaccurate idea that we are all paranoid helicopter parents.
Having to pay to pee.
I've seen this twice here, but actually this is pretty rare. Almost all toilets, at least in the UK, are free. I can't remember when I last had to pay.
It's pretty normal in the Netherlands and i think also in Germany. I know for certain you have to pay when you use a bathroom at an Autobahn gasstation. To be fair, the sanifair bathrooms are excellent.
Load More Replies...When I was in China, the restaurant did not have a public restroom. The server led me down the street to an alley where there was a hole in the ground. The only privacy was a swinging bar room type door. Freaked this westerner out.
In the UK you pay to use some publicly provided toilets. It depends on the council. As more and more councils are going broke, they're just closing the toilets anyway, as they can't afford to clean/maintain them.
VERY rare that this happens, in fact the only place I have had to pay (20p which is roughly 25 US Cents) was at London Euston station and to be frank, Travel For London should pay us to be brave enough to use them
And having gender neutral toilets. My first trip to Europe, I had a layover in Zurich, Switzerland. They did have separate toilets. But I exited the stall and there was a woman cleaning. I thought I had gone in the wrong toilet, but then saw the urinals. No one in there gave her a second glance. But places like Poland, in smaller businesses, toilets are gender neutral and all stall based, and people share the sinks. It seems fairly common, depending on the country.
Th US made it illegal to charge to use a restroom in the 70's, but it's not illegal to close the bathroom whenever you want. So no public restrooms unless you pay for something in the location is a real thing.
I've seen this in Blackpool, specifically at the coach station, and I understand why...... Me (after having been in): Mam, use tissues when you go in there, you can't use the toilet roll. And don't even put your bag on the little bench bit Mam: Why? Me: They've been using the bench to snort stuff, and there's blood spots on the toilet roll Given that all that has to be cleaned up, I don't mind the charge
Some places like train stations charge in order to keep out the homeless sleepers, d**g users and potential vandals.
Yeah... this does horrify me. I have been abroad in places where this was the norm and learned a whole new form of anxiety
Free to pee is changing in Uk i guess because councils love the smell of pee soaked streets after friday nights...
It's generally only in areas with very high pedestrian footfall such as busy stations and tourist areas/attractions. Because these are the main places that tourists go, they make the assumption that this is true of everywhere when it very much isn't.
Load More Replies...Throwing dirty toilet paper in the trash can instead of flushing it down the toilet....
I am soooooo happy I live in a country where you can just throw it in the toilet itself. I've had to throw it in the trash can during some holidays, and I absolutely couldn't stand that, horrible. I get why it's necessary in some places, but I feel so grateful that we have bigger plumbing pipes here and don't need to do that.
Letting your cat out to enjoy the garden.
Mostly still the norm in the US, but the damage to native bird populations prompted a trend towards keeping cats entirely indoors
I might be showing my age, but drowning unwanted pups was pretty common in Ireland back in the 80s. Horrible when you think about it.
Blowing your nose at the dinner table, especially when it's really snotty, and then putting the handkerchief or better yet paper tissue back in your pocket.
I am not leaving the table multiple times in a meal to blow my nose, and if you think blowing it is a problem then feel free to listen to me sniff. And where the heck else do you keep a tissue? Do you ball it up on the table?
According to Bored Panda staff, there are only three locations in the world; Japan, Europe, and America.
And on the Tipping-post they said they leaves religious notes instead of tips, that say "you are going to hell"... Just like Jesus would have wished for...?
Load More Replies...This sort of article was funny exactly once. Now they are just a collection of half truths and stereotypes
Wasn't even funny once. It should never have been published.
Load More Replies...This post ist bonkers, sorry. Europe is a whole continent. There even is the European Union and not all european countries are part of it. Also with some countries people aren‘t even sure if they belong to europe or asia. Not all of these are true with all european countries… big cultural differences and laws everywhere. Even the USA is not all the same…
I recently had a little chat about the differences between the USA and Central and Western Europe. In the end we came to the conclusion that a lot of it boils down to the fact that in the USA there is probably a view that it's your own fault if you get ripped off. Whereas in the parts of Europe that we know (Central Europe and Western Europe), the view is that anyone can get ripped off if it's done right and therefore it's the fault of the profiteers if any damage is done. Accordingly, the laws are different. Of course, I would also be interested to hear what others have to say about this.
I like learning about other countries but why does it always have to be a competition. All countries have good points all countries have bad points.
That sounds like something that someone from -insert name of your country- would say! -s
Load More Replies...you still hope to attract rural people against their weu compatriots, hence the dutch "rural" party, the tractor icons on fascist accounts, the "no farm, no food" slogan that you used first in the sikh separatism against india...nice parallels you draw.
Load More Replies...How about we stop the bashing or talking about what's weird about other countries. How about we just leave those subjects alone.....PERMANENTLY, BP.
According to Bored Panda staff, there are only three locations in the world; Japan, Europe, and America.
And on the Tipping-post they said they leaves religious notes instead of tips, that say "you are going to hell"... Just like Jesus would have wished for...?
Load More Replies...This sort of article was funny exactly once. Now they are just a collection of half truths and stereotypes
Wasn't even funny once. It should never have been published.
Load More Replies...This post ist bonkers, sorry. Europe is a whole continent. There even is the European Union and not all european countries are part of it. Also with some countries people aren‘t even sure if they belong to europe or asia. Not all of these are true with all european countries… big cultural differences and laws everywhere. Even the USA is not all the same…
I recently had a little chat about the differences between the USA and Central and Western Europe. In the end we came to the conclusion that a lot of it boils down to the fact that in the USA there is probably a view that it's your own fault if you get ripped off. Whereas in the parts of Europe that we know (Central Europe and Western Europe), the view is that anyone can get ripped off if it's done right and therefore it's the fault of the profiteers if any damage is done. Accordingly, the laws are different. Of course, I would also be interested to hear what others have to say about this.
I like learning about other countries but why does it always have to be a competition. All countries have good points all countries have bad points.
That sounds like something that someone from -insert name of your country- would say! -s
Load More Replies...you still hope to attract rural people against their weu compatriots, hence the dutch "rural" party, the tractor icons on fascist accounts, the "no farm, no food" slogan that you used first in the sikh separatism against india...nice parallels you draw.
Load More Replies...How about we stop the bashing or talking about what's weird about other countries. How about we just leave those subjects alone.....PERMANENTLY, BP.