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38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate

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Change is constant. But it takes time. Especially when we're talking about society. After all, one person's idea of what is good or positive might very well be another person's definition of bad or negative.

Interested in which processes people would like to speed up if given a chance, Reddit user NewImprovement1160 asked everyone else on the platform to list the traditions and cultural norms they wish would disappear for good. And their call was answered — continue scrolling to check out the most popular answers.

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate I'm Spanish, so bullfighting would be a great one to get rid of.

LeMaigols , Francisco Fernández / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

193points

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#2

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Tipping. Just pay the waiter/waitress a real wage and stop leaving that up to the customer.

naterzgreen , Sam Dan Truong / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

184points

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#3

Chop off puppies' tail bones so they "look cuter" with stumps.

It's cruel and disheartening.

Raymond74 Report

Final score:

161points

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#4

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Forced marriages.

AnnemarieOakley , Spora Weddings / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

158points

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#5

Changing the damn clocks twice a year. Just keep one time.

MisterSmithster Report

Final score:

158points

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#6

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Any variation of "let's make animals fight".

Mairhiel , David Taffet / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

155points

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#7

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate All those familiy vloggers. Exploiting their children en putting them on the internet for all the creeps to see.

bananasareverycool1 , Julia M Cameron / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

137points

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#8

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Not sure if this counts as a "tradition"- but there are a lot of weirdly accepted social norms surrounding pregnancy.

* Asking newlyweds when they are going to try for a baby.
* Assuming a woman is pregnant because she is not drinking.
* Assuming a woman is pregnant because she has gained weight in her belly area.
* Touching (!!!?????) a pregnant woman's belly without her consent (!!!???).

Women are women first before they are mothers! Can we please remember that?

catsandthat , John Looy / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

121points

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#9

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Celebrity idolatry.

Mr_Alan_Stanwyk , Chad Kirchoff / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

113points

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#10

Letting balloons go at funerals, it’s horrible for the environment and the animals that ingest it. Plant a memorial tree instead.

Final score:

106points

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#11

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Forcing children to give hugs and kisses bye to family members. Children deserve bodily autonomy and you would never force a grown adult to do the same so why a child?!

books_and_tacos , Andrea Piacquadio / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

105points

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#12

I'd like to throw in stupid over the top gender reveals with all the wedding stuff. If you're literally killing yourself to let people know your baby's gender, it might be time to take a step back and plan something more quiet and simple. Or if you're just inconsiderate pricks who don't clean up all the confetti etc afterwards.

Widepaul Report

Final score:

102points

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#13

Respecting parents/elders no matter what. Some of them are just bad people.

Mossberg500_ Report

Final score:

94points

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#14

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Expensive wedding and funerals, specially with funerals, that person is already dead.

ALI4MHR , Rhodi Lopez / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

88points

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#15

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Smashing of the face on the birthday cake.

Arlington817 , shotprime / envato (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

83points

BoredPossum 6 months ago

Not a tradition in most parts of the world.

33points

roddy 6 months ago

Not a tradition anywhere, it's a relatively new thing, like gender-reveal parties (which I'm sure people will soon be calling traditional). When was the earliest this prank was mentioned as happening? I'm guessing it was within living memory.

4points

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William Plummer 5 months ago

But still stupid.

1point

Toothless Feline 6 months ago

Most traditions are localized, not global, so your statement is pointless.

0points

Daniela Lavanza 6 months ago

This is no social norm, sorry: it's a stupid disrespectful habit from douches. Normal people don't.

12points

Bols 6 months ago

The wedding cakes mostly!

8points

flower petals 6 months ago

That’s a horrible waste of delicious cake! 🍰🎂

6points

GlitterPanda 6 months ago

And wedding cakes!!! Any cake really.

4points

shanila.pheonix_ 6 months ago (edited)

sometimes decorations and stability skewers could be in there and you wouldn't even know. its a safety risk too.

4points

David 6 months ago

Only happens if your friends are asshats. I've never had a BD cake smashed in my face or seen it done at any BD party I have attended. (we also didn't do that at my wedding)

2points

Dread Pirate Roberts 6 months ago

Never heard of this being a birthday tradition lol only a wedding tradition...which is even worse actually lol

2points

Brian Droste 6 months ago

Or at weddings. Especially if the bride request not to do that.

1point

Regina Holt 6 months ago

I went to the wedding of my friends. They didn't do the stupid cake smash. They just booped each other on the nose with a little icing off the cake.

0points

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Carla Olavarría 1 month ago

Stupidest thing ever

0points

d0nuts 6 months ago

aka ungrateful brats wasting wasting food

0points

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

america.

0points

Heather Talma 6 months ago

Why would people do this? Then nobody gets any cake!

0points

Cole Barry 6 months ago

Did it once when I was 5 never did it again

0points

J J 6 months ago

Ever seen a birthday candle pierce an eye?

0points

Andy Frobig 6 months ago

Nobody's ever done this to me, surprisingly not even my sisters

0points

moggie63 6 months ago

Followed immediately by the retaliatory smashing of the face into the table, wall, fist, etc.

0points

Multa Nocte 6 months ago

Any cake, actually.

0points

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#16

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate 5 day working weeks.

Whole-Bank9820 , Go to Alex Kotliarskyi's profile Alex Kotliarskyi / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

82points

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#17

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Bachelor and Bachelorette parties that are there to celebrate "your last day of freedom"
And also theyre weirdly sexual sometimes with the phalic shaped things or strippers. Id be pissed if MY husband was MOURNING what he could have had on the night before our wedding by ogling some half naked chick.

HelloCrazyFanfiction , Zoriana Stakhniv / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

81points

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#18

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate For Americans, Black Friday shopping. It's stupid, dangerous, selfish, and ruins Thanksgiving. Go spend time with your families while they're alive.

WeaponX-92 , Ashkan Forouzani / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

80points

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#19

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Having women doing all of the kitchen work at parties and get togethers.

colleen2163 , Le Creuset / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

80points

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#20

Piercing babies ears.

Drownedgluten11 Report

Final score:

79points

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#21

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Super extravagant and expensive weddings.

llcucf80 , Ahmed ツ / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

77points

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#22

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Asking the father's permission to marry a woman.

In this day and age, it's just creepy.

endorrawitch , Korie Cull / unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

77points

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#23

Paying for things as a males responsibility for a relationship. It should be a 50% 50% thing to do.

willy_the_seahorse Report

Final score:

70points

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#24

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Hazing in fraternities and sororities.

DJlonghammer , Juan Vargas / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

69points

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#25

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Giving your kids the boot right when they turn 18.

DeathbySnuSnu84 , Ketut Subiyanto / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

67points

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#26

Presenteeism at work. Even now, I have colleagues coming in when they’re sick.

Seleniuret Report

Final score:

65points

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#27

The father giving away his daughter at her wedding.

Women aren’t possessions.

Lavender_Llama_life Report

Final score:

61points

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#28

The idea that it's important to keep traditions.

Or just generally the overall line of thinking that "because a large amount of people have always done this/thought this/believed this, it must clearly be a good idea (for everyone)".

FoilHattiest Report

Final score:

55points

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#29

Women changing their name. Seriously.
When I was engaged I floated the idea. Didn't really care a LOT. Mostly it seemed like an unnecessary administrative hassle
He said: it goes to commitment.
I wish I had said: you change yours.

ArnieBird1 Report

Final score:

55points

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#30

The husband stitch.

Minionhunter Report

Final score:

51points

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#31

Men must make the first move

In all fairness, it is already dying, especially in Western culture, but I want to end its misery. It is both a pressure on guys who will hesitate and spiral into crazy plans, but also on girls who can see "making the first move" as shameful.

I met a female colleague who considered the boys HAD to make the first move, and that she will sit here for eternity waiting for someone to go to her instead of going for what she wants.

Want to know how my parents got into a relationship ? They were hanging out with friends, and after some time my mom jumped on my dad and said "You're the man of my life, we're going to get married and have kids". He obviously laughed, but still accepted to date her and eventually she proved to be right

It's not just that men want to sit and have the privilege to be the one asked out. It's that women aren't able to pick who they want, they can pick out of the few who asked her. It's a relic from a time where the women had no agenda and it must die for good. Also, yes I don't want to be the one who always ask !

Final score:

43points

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#32

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate Using the same first names down through generations of boys. Isn't carrying on the surname enough?!

LucyVialli , Vika Glitter / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

42points

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#33

Having to ask people to school dances in a "fun" or"unique" way (this one is mostly the Utah and Idaho area I think)

Setting the table in a particular way (who cares if my fork is on the right side?)

Not wearing hats while eating (why is this a "rule", I like wearing hats)

Baptizing children (they aren't old enough to choose to commit to any religion for themselves)

Asking what children want to be when they grow up (and expecting them to reply with a job)

Participation trophies

Child beauty pageants.

Nitsuj_ofCanadia Report

Final score:

41points

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#34

Groom pulling off the garter with his teeth, throwing the garter into the crowd of single men, throwing bouquets at crowd of single woman. Yuck.

Visible_Product_286 Report

Final score:

41points

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#35

38 People Share Traditions And Social Norms They Absolutely Hate I love my lawn but grass that has to be maintained is kinda dumb.

bigmistaketoday , Kelly / pexels (not the actual photo) Report

Final score:

39points

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#36

Valentine’s Day. It puts pressure on relationships, especially if they’re new. It’s also terribly unromantic to be dining out with crowded restaurants while being up charged to do so.

remgirl1976 Report

Final score:

38points

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#37

We have an Easter tradition in Hungary and Transylvania where girls that day simbolise flowers and guys have to water the flowers. It used to be with actual buckets of water and guys just went around to all the girls' houses they knew and they said a poem and threw the water at the girls. Now they do the same but they buy perfume instead of water and grandpas usually perfume the girls' head instead of their clothes. It's an annoying tradition, I thought I didn't have to face it this year but I did. It always happens after you wash your hair. Who thinks girls like to think of themselves as flowers and like to be "watered"?

eszther02 Report

Final score:

31points

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#38

Greeting each other by kissing both cheeks and even people you barely know. For me as an introvert, this was a Nightmare each time.

Sutech2301 Report

Final score:

29points

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Rokas Laurinavičius

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

Kotryna Br

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

Kotryna is a Photo Editor at Bored Panda with a BA in Graphic Design. Before Bored Panda, she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illiustrator. When not editing, she enjoys working with clay, drawing, playing board games and drinking good tea.

What do you think ?

WonderWoman 6 months ago

Wedding showers for people who have been cohabitating. You've set up your household, why are you asking others to upgrade your household stuff at a shower AND at the wedding? Wedding registries with over-the-top gimme sh!t. Showers used to be to help set the young couple up for living together. Baby showers for second child.

7points

OneHappyPuppy 6 months ago

Showers in general, ones that do not include an actual shower and water, are wtf to me... Like, let's have a party where you'll give me presents, additionally to my wedding where you'll buy me another present?

1point

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Debbie 6 months ago

In the Netherlands: Kids doing their communion eventhough religion is otherwise not present in their lives, but the parents do it because they did it and it's tradition and there will be a big party. Kids like it because they get gifts. Do it because you practice the religion or think of God regularly etc, do it because you have faith, but when you're praticatlly an atheist or non praticing believer, why do this?

4points

Amadiro 6 months ago

I'd say the one cookie thing! I love more cake and cookies!

1point

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Say No to Downvoting 6 months ago

Men being the “primary bread winners” or women doing the vast majority of the household tasks despite hours worked outside the home and still being the “default parent”.

2points

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

tradition = mostly bad. Society changes and moves on. If you are hanging on to some weird behaviour because it's "tradition" you are holding society back. Fortunaetly in my family we only do ONE traditional thing and that is gifts at xmas. No church stuff, no prayers, no santa, nothing. Just the gifts.

1point

SonicAlchemy 6 months ago

Anyone that wears an "It's a *blank* Thing" t-shirt. That's great, you're from New York. Your stupid shirt still doesn't explain what a New York thing is.

1point

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

I would assume the stereotype of being outspoken and in a hurry.

0points

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Maudelin 6 months ago

Many of these are just common practice, not tradition.

1point

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

common practice in a cultural setting precisely is the definition of tradition.

2points

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Lene 6 months ago

I am neurodivergent and totally burnt out about 300 days per year. Meaning I do not have a job and I struggle really hard with keeping the house. I try really hard to explain this to family and I talk about it with my bf a lot. I do this because I HATE that somehow it is 100% my responsibility (at least for our parents) that our house is not super clean and tidy all the time. And since I stay home a lot... why can't I also not just keep the garden tidy as well? It bothers me a lot because I am struggling on a daily basis and I have a bf and 3 kids who also aren't too interested in tidying and cleaning. I hate that it's my "job" to do all those things and I hate all the "when my kids were little and I had a job and my husband was having all these messy hobbies I still kept the house clean and tidy"-speeches. I already feel like a failure... please don't make it worse. 😕

0points

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

sounds like depression more than ASD. speaking as an ASD person. Suggest you go for agoraphobia counselling. Agoraphobia caused by ASD will lead to depression.

0points

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WonderWoman 6 months ago

Wedding showers for people who have been cohabitating. You've set up your household, why are you asking others to upgrade your household stuff at a shower AND at the wedding? Wedding registries with over-the-top gimme sh!t. Showers used to be to help set the young couple up for living together. Baby showers for second child.

7points

OneHappyPuppy 6 months ago

Showers in general, ones that do not include an actual shower and water, are wtf to me... Like, let's have a party where you'll give me presents, additionally to my wedding where you'll buy me another present?

1point

Load More Replies...

Debbie 6 months ago

In the Netherlands: Kids doing their communion eventhough religion is otherwise not present in their lives, but the parents do it because they did it and it's tradition and there will be a big party. Kids like it because they get gifts. Do it because you practice the religion or think of God regularly etc, do it because you have faith, but when you're praticatlly an atheist or non praticing believer, why do this?

4points

Amadiro 6 months ago

I'd say the one cookie thing! I love more cake and cookies!

1point

Load More Replies...

Say No to Downvoting 6 months ago

Men being the “primary bread winners” or women doing the vast majority of the household tasks despite hours worked outside the home and still being the “default parent”.

2points

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

tradition = mostly bad. Society changes and moves on. If you are hanging on to some weird behaviour because it's "tradition" you are holding society back. Fortunaetly in my family we only do ONE traditional thing and that is gifts at xmas. No church stuff, no prayers, no santa, nothing. Just the gifts.

1point

SonicAlchemy 6 months ago

Anyone that wears an "It's a *blank* Thing" t-shirt. That's great, you're from New York. Your stupid shirt still doesn't explain what a New York thing is.

1point

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

I would assume the stereotype of being outspoken and in a hurry.

0points

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Maudelin 6 months ago

Many of these are just common practice, not tradition.

1point

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

common practice in a cultural setting precisely is the definition of tradition.

2points

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Lene 6 months ago

I am neurodivergent and totally burnt out about 300 days per year. Meaning I do not have a job and I struggle really hard with keeping the house. I try really hard to explain this to family and I talk about it with my bf a lot. I do this because I HATE that somehow it is 100% my responsibility (at least for our parents) that our house is not super clean and tidy all the time. And since I stay home a lot... why can't I also not just keep the garden tidy as well? It bothers me a lot because I am struggling on a daily basis and I have a bf and 3 kids who also aren't too interested in tidying and cleaning. I hate that it's my "job" to do all those things and I hate all the "when my kids were little and I had a job and my husband was having all these messy hobbies I still kept the house clean and tidy"-speeches. I already feel like a failure... please don't make it worse. 😕

0points

censorshipsucks 6 months ago

sounds like depression more than ASD. speaking as an ASD person. Suggest you go for agoraphobia counselling. Agoraphobia caused by ASD will lead to depression.

0points

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