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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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.
This is what too much censoring gets you BP. Those are moles, not nipples. You'd know if you ever looked at one. /J
I am 70 years old. As a teenager, we thought the repressive Catholic church was the end all of narrow minded prudishness. Then Evangelicals and Baptists come along and made Catholics look like amateurs. Now they have merged religion with government and Fascism. Just keeps getting better!
I post on a closed page on FB. Today, I posted a picture of a beautiful woman, who was obviously naked, but you couldn't see anything; it was a photo taken from the side, just bare skin, no nipples, no "full frontal", or anything, just a beautiful woman. I also post pictures of men (for the ladies on the page), you can show their nipples. FB flagged me for posting "porn", for the woman, but said absolutely nothing about the bare-chested man I posted. I think that amounts to double standards.
That’s a turnaround, as it used to be the opposite. I recall a friend of mine posting pictures of himself and his partner on holiday, just pictures of two topless men wearing shorts and trainers, but they were flagged as being ‘porn’.
Load More Replies...Yup, a relic of the many shiploads of over-marinated religious sects who were kicked out of Europe and moved to North America. We are still fighting against the same kind of people, who believe what they are told to believe, but now by sources that are controlled by the 1%: A guy named Lee Atwater realized that the easiest people to convince to believe things that have no proof are people who are already accustomed to believing things with no proof. Simply by telling them that Republican candidates will make the government a Christian nation, they just vote like they are told. When they noticed that their lives were considerably worse off than before, they were told it's the Democrats' fault and they believed it (Don't get me wrong, the Democratic party aren't innocent people either). Lee Atwater later admitted feeling guilty, because his idea worked far better than he expected. There is a documentary about him: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boogie_Man:_The_Lee_Atwater_Story]
This even varies across Europe. I remember sitting in a place that showed three danish TV channels with a brit next to me. He nearly had a conniption when one channel showed a french movie with bare breasts, another a program rating dildos, and a third a childrens program about how babies are born, with a close up of the head breaching. It was at 16h on a Saturday on the main channel of the danish broadcasting corporation.
I remember a trip to Paris which at the time was showing a similar billboard advert to the UK - I think for perfume. It was a naked woman, save for a fairly broad red silk scarf; in the UK, it was round her midriff, in France it was round her chest. Nothing untoward was visible on either picture, but it struck me as an interesting contrast.
Load More Replies...Europe wished you a speedy recovery. In the meantime, go vote yall!
Load More Replies...I remember watching a show from the US about maximum security prisons: they interviewed an inmate about his experience at the facility. This guy described, in intricate and gruesome detail how he brutally murdered his cell mate and mutilated the corpse, including cannibalism. But they drew the line when he said the f word, and censored that. Hilarious
That’s so stupid especially when some dudes have bigger b00bs and nipples than women. But it’s perfectly fine to show shirtless men.
Nipples and tits are fine as ling as you're putting a bullet or knife into them.
I recently watched a TV movie on public television in Germany, and in one scene you just saw a group of men showering. All naked from the front. Nothing sexual, it just happened in the plot and was nothing special
Get rid of religion and you'd get rid of a lot of problems in society.
If the nipples are just shown as part of the human body, I don't see any issue about showing them.
Men have nipples. They show them on tv. If they were big as a slice of meatloaf then I'd worry.
Problem is: It's literally dangerous to be sexualized in the US. Check out our rape & femicide rates. For freeing the nipples to be safe & mean the same as it does in Europe, we need to change the way boys & men here orient to females, consent, & sexuality.
Maybe the trick is to free the nipples thus taking away the sexuality of a body part
Load More Replies...ha, bored panda is based in eastern Europe? Yes? its censorship makes america look libertine
Oh dear your complete ignorance is showing, that is more scary than nudity.
Load More Replies... 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.
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.