People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird

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.

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

digibeta , cottonbro studio Report

149points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

Chemical_Refuse_1030 , Edmond Dantès Report

113points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Buildings that are over 300 years old being used instead of building new ones.

Late_Baker_6728 , Abene Sebei Report

103points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Not tipping.

West_Reindeer_5421 , Tim Samuel Report

99points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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

Sohn_Jalston_Raul , Kevin Malik Report

71points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

No-Comedian4090 , Ashley K Bowen Report

69points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

Fuzzy_Bus458 , Ketut Subiyanto Report

64points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Children walking or cycling to school and outside of school activities such as sport or theater, all by themselves.

CrystalRedCynthia , Tuấn Kiệt Jr. Report

58points

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People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Suggesting a medical visit for a mild injury.

ajbdbds , Antoni Shkraba Report

57points

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#10

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

insubordinate74 , Pavel Danilyuk Report

56points

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#11

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

cutiereddgal , Max Vakhtbovycn Report

54points

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#12

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Walking for ten minutes ina city instead of getting a taxi.

Wiedegeburt , Meruyert Gonullu Report

54points

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#13

Cops without guns.

Major_Honey_4461 Report

53points

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#14

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Nudity in TV and print media.

santaclaws_ , Lisa Fotios Report

47points

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#15

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

qtpetalsxo , Armin Rimoldi Report

45points

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#16

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

garlicroastedpotato , Swapnil Sharma Report

40points

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#17

Letting kids play outside by themselves, or going to the local playground.

Kaalveythur Report

37points

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#18

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Mass gathering without x-ray and bag checks.

Beachhouse15 , NIC LAW Report

36points

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#19

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Having a bidet.

unspeakabledelights , Berna Ekinci Report

35points

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#20

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Not refrigerating eggs.

optoph , Estudio Gourmet Report

35points

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#21

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.

NlghtmanCometh Report

35points

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#22

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Shutting down markets at sundays are perfectly normal in europe

it may cause public outrage at US.

WilhelmTheDoge , Erik Mclean Report

35points

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#23

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.

Bo_Jim Report

34points

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#24

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).

Calbot Report

34points

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#25

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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

Freecraghack_ , Yan Krukau Report

30points

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#26

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Charging for water at a restaurant. Charging to use the restrooms.

shadowsog95 , Pixabay Report

30points

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#27

Paying 8$ for a gallon of gasoline.

pattyG80 Report

29points

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#28

Those tiny streets.

Guntztuffer Report

28points

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#29

The size of a european cup of coffee.

cmvm1990 Report

27points

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#30

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Not owning a car.

geographicfox , Olga Vunder Report

26points

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#31

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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.

Empty-Refrigerator , ELEVATE Report

26points

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#32

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Salaries. At least in my field, they appear to be 1/3 to 1/2 what an equivalent job would pay in the US.

geographicfox , Yan Krukau Report

25points

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#33

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Speedos in a non-sporting context.

stellacampus , Kindel Media Report

24points

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#34

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird 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?”.

Missmaudedoll , Los Muertos Crew Report

21points

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#35

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Beans on toast.

SakkaSouffle , Beck Report

21points

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#36

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Kids being left alone in homes for more than 15 minutes.

thecursedredditor , Julia M Cameron Report

20points

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#37

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Having to pay to pee.

InspectorNoName , Chelsea Cook Report

16points

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#38

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird Throwing dirty toilet paper in the trash can instead of flushing it down the toilet....

Jen120ha , Max Vakhtbovycn Report

14points

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#39

Letting your cat out to enjoy the garden.

farraigemeansthesea Report

14points

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#40

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.

robotbike2 Report

-10points

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#41

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.

degobrah Report

-20points

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What do you think ?

Justin Tyme 6 days ago

According to Bored Panda staff, there are only three locations in the world; Japan, Europe, and America.

Mimi M 6 days ago (edited)

Divisive, stereotyping and condescending. BP - pls get a clue already about what we don't like. (I actually suspect that certain longtime BP writers just like to provoke b/c they know it bothers us. Pls note that passive-aggression belongs in middle-school.)

12points

H R 6 days ago

EUROPE CONSISTS OF SEVERAL COUNTRIES!!!!!! Wediffer in culture, customs and everything you can imagine....

9points

Ellinor 6 days ago

Well, seems that "LuisSD stuff" had a lot to say...

5points

WindySwede 6 days ago

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...?

1point

Load More Replies...

A girl 5 days ago

There's always That Guy.

0points

Panda McPandaface 6 days ago

A real charmer eh?

Ionescu Popa 5 days ago (edited)

you two are opposites in some way: he is a lighthearted badmouth, you a self restrained mean spirit. to decide between the two more criteria are needed: first, topical - you seem gossipier, demeaning and use the acquired progress as an excuse for imposing yourself - if you would live in alabama, you would also reflect the local values, which are racism and maga. he, if you surpass his constant agitation, can start a conversation about good and bad. but even more important than the topical matters are the fundamental ones - which prioritizes altruist objectives, who is more empathetic, whose final goal is the right thing done in the right manner instead of simply obliterating any alternative, and for this i would need to know both better. but from what i read today, he is either more open or fakes it better, while you are either so introverted that you look arrogant for those not knowing you, or you really are arrogant, and progressivism is an unintended and lucky consequence of your upbringing.

-3points

Happy_Pandalover 5 days ago (edited)

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…

2points

Ka Se 5 days ago

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.

Julie S 5 days ago

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.

Terran 6 days ago

This sort of article was funny exactly once. Now they are just a collection of half truths and stereotypes

Jessica SpeLangm 5 days ago

Wasn't even funny once. It should never have been published.

MAtthew Holt 6 days ago

This is mostly urban areas of western Europe

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.

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.

-2points

People Shared 41 Things About Europe That Americans Could Find Extremely Weird

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