45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group

The United States of America is the land of the free and full of opportunities. It is one of the largest economies in the world and it has always amassed people for the life one can create there. But, like every country, it has its own way of functioning and the people living there have their own culture. And if you are also attracted to this country and would like to travel to the United States or you are planning of moving there, you should expect to encounter things you‘ve never seen before or things done differently to what you are used to.

A few days ago, Reddit user Ymij asked people to share some things Americans don‘t realize exist only in the United States. And people had a lot to say. The post got more than 10k answers and Bored Panda gathered a list of some of the most upvoted responses.

More info: Reddit

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group GoFundMe being an acceptable replacement for a health care system

GTrav44 , gofundme Report

Final score:

381points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Literally being too poor to go to the doctor, but have too much income for any kind of assistance

kaden123drake , Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja Report

Final score:

370points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Tipping as a wage subsidy. Many countries don’t have tipping and those that do generally tip a small amount for good service.

Also displayed prices not including taxes or other fees.

Impossible-Buy-4090 , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:

362points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Pronouncing corruption as "lobbying"

GSLaaitie , RJA1988 Report

Final score:

359points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Assuming that everyone on the internet is American until proven otherwise.

Officer_Cat_Fancy_ , Steven Martin Report

Final score:

341points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group The pledge of allegiance. If you tell people here that in America they make kids stand up and recite some prayer to a flag every single morning, they'll look at you like you just grew a third arm.

emissaryofwinds , USAG- Humphreys Report

Final score:

309points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group I want to say for-profit prison systems.

These things are f***** up. If the state doesn't keep up the prisoner quota they gotta pay a fine to the company they owns the prison.

So this basically makes them try to keep existing prisoners

downtimeredditor , Molly Haggerty Report

Final score:

305points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Gender reveal parties

jemariebearimy , highlander411 Report

Final score:

304points

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45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group People who angrily DO NOT WANT healthcare.

spammmmmmmmy , Presidencia de la República Mexicana Report

Final score:

300points

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#10

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Having the restaurant take your credit card - in most countries it's considered impolite to disappear with the card as they might write the digits down to charge extra later. Therefore they normally bring a portable terminal to your table so you can keep the card in eyesight and have the (optional) tip actually charged when the card is run and not added after the fact.

Broadmin , Unknown Report

Final score:

276points

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#11

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group The Imperial System, Fahrenheits, massive ad breaks. I swear i watched US Television once and i nearly had time to go take a s*** before the adbreak ended. And i'm one of those people that play on their phone while on the throne

Pyanez11 , ilovebutter Report

Final score:

274points

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#12

I am from Europe and I have never seen in supermarkets scooters for people that are so obese they can't walk by themselves.

indigo-wolf Report

Final score:

273points

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#13

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Medical debt

CIA_grade_LSD , Grant Source Report

Final score:

269points

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#14

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Waiting like 8 weeks after your elections till the new guy comes in to power is pretty f****** weird

Snoo61123 , GPA Photo Archive Report

Final score:

261points

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#15

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Massive gaps on all sides of toilet cubicle doors, like why even bother with a door at all when people can see through so easily

digitalelise , Victoria_Borodinova Report

Final score:

259points

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#16

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Flags. Everywhere

psyk738178 , WTF Colorado Report

Final score:

254points

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#17

This may be a shot in the dark but product prices not including tax when they’re displayed? Like if something says it’s $10 and you only have $10, what’s with the surprise tax at the till?

ninjapotatoprd Report

Final score:

250points

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#18

Your toxic grind working culture. I find that Americans define their entire personality around their profession. It all feels so shallow and hollow way of living. Like I work so I can do the things I enjoy ( pre covid) I don't work because it defines me as a person.

vietcong420 Report

Final score:

237points

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#19

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Absurdly long election campaigns. In most countries I've been to election campaigns last a month or two, in the US they seem to go for a full year.

BerserkBoulderer , Unknown Report

Final score:

235points

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#20

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group College sports, people do not care about nor have college sports like we do here.

UnusualLight0 , Unknown Report

Final score:

233points

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#21

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Food portion sizes... In EU you get food portions you can finish and are generally calculated to be pretty much fill/satisfy you over the entire meal.

When I go to the US I can fill myself up with half of the appetizer

Drumah , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:

231points

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#22

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Unused vacation days

Banana_Gorilla , Unknown Report

Final score:

205points

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#23

The use of the words junior, sophomore and senior in school. I don't think I have ever heard these outside of an American TV show or movie.

No-Soft-3703 Report

Final score:

197points

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#24

I can't speak for the whole world, but having elections on a weekday seems crazy to me. We do it in the weekend so that people are off work anyway.

frosty_hotboy Report

Final score:

192points

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#25

A single pool of paid time off that you use for both vacation and sick leave. Therefore having to forego vacation to keep a bank of leave just in case you get ill.

littleloucc Report

Final score:

185points

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#26

People constantly thanking god for every day occurrences

toshredsyousay6502 Report

Final score:

176points

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#27

Those commercials featuring some sort of drug or medication. With the typical closing where the narrator states "Side effects includes blah blah blah...Discuss with your doctor about blah blah blah"

Noor_awsome Report

Final score:

164points

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#28

Tipping, most other places actually pay their waiters/waitresses and tippings just for extremely good service or rounding up.

Undisclosed-Fruit Report

Final score:

162points

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#29

Having to drive everywhere. I'm 27-years-old, not from the US and never learnt to drive. I've also never felt like I needed it.

FreshNebula Report

Final score:

158points

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#30

It's pretty funny watching Americans moan over their super-cheap petrol prices. "But we drive everywhere, cars are fundamental to our society". Yep, same here in Australia, too. Your fuel is still incredibly cheap.

vacri Report

Final score:

156points

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#31

Garbage disposal units in sinks. I've been to nearly 20 countries, and I've never seen one.

TypingLobster Report

Final score:

141points

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#32

Longer ad breaks in the Muppet Show.

The UK version had two minutes of extra content in every episode due to restrictions on the amount of ads you could play on British TV.

That's 240 minutes of extra Muppet content that most Americans never saw.

JeremiahSpankMouth Report

Final score:

140points

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#33

Playing the national anthem before sporting events. There may be a handful of other countries that do, but in much of the world it's only played for international matches.

SkippyNordquist Report

Final score:

134points

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#34

Your identity politics used to be just in America, then it spilled out like a burst sewage pipe.

Consistscent Report

Final score:

122points

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#35

Red solo cups. My european cousins asked me if parties in the us really had those red cups.

Belgianwafflz Report

Final score:

116points

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#36

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Bumper stickers. They’re a lot less common in Europe anyway, not sure about the rest of the world.

Random_Machiavelli , dalliedee Report

Final score:

115points

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#37

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Nearly everything about their high schools

Unfair-Act-4499 , Wikimedia Commons Report

Final score:

101points

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#38

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Free refills at restaurants

milwaukeeminnesota , James Petts Report

Final score:

97points

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#39

Stores like Wal-Mart where you can buy everything that are open all the time. Groceries, alcohol, plants, medicine, tires, toys...

The first time I went to Germany on a work trip it was a bank holiday and everything was closed.

I live in Jerusalem now and there is a separate store for everything.

windwalker28 Report

Final score:

96points

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#40

Girl Scout cookies?

iamnotdoctordoom Report

Final score:

95points

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#41

Graham Crackers.

Remember when I picked up a friend's mother and her friend at the airport, fresh from the US. One of them was like 'They don't have Graham crackers here?' I'm like nah mate we have crackers for everyone.

EdwardCosmos Report

Final score:

93points

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#42

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group Parking lot size. I’ve been to about 20 different countries, all over the place, and I have never seen a standard Walmart sized parking lot anywhere out of America.

Upstairs_Cow , Walmart Report

Final score:

90points

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#43

Buscuits and gravy. This conjures up images of having a plate of cookies smothered in a sauce made from the the meat juices of a roast.

plasmadrive Report

Final score:

87points

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#44

I wanna say jaywalking. Like, in Europe, you can pretty much cross a road wherever you want but when I visited America there seemed to be this weird sense you were being judged if you walked out into an empty road. Maybe just me idk.

Caughtinjail1 Report

Final score:

84points

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#45

It always surprises me when someone from another country has never heard of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

helplessAteverything Report

Final score:

82points

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#46

Ranch dressing obsession. The World Series.

LederhosenSituation Report

Final score:

61points

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#47

I wasn't aware we and New Zealand, possibly Australia(?) Are the only countries with ads for prescription drugs.

wickedblight Report

Final score:

52points

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#48

The fuel-brand Exxon. Throughout the rest of the world, it's known as "Esso." It's only Exxon in the US.

Taman_Should Report

Final score:

46points

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#49

Small talk among strangers.

CallieIsQueen Report

Final score:

25points

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#50

Thanksgiving

StonyandUnk Report

Final score:

-31points

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Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

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What do you think ?

POST

Carrot dude 3 years ago

Here, I'm just going to copy Vunn's comment on a similar post from about a month ago: "Does this really need to be covered once a month?"

43points

Nevits Yibble 3 years ago

Evidently it does. There's an obsession here with this s**t. I've never seen anything like it

16points

45 Things That Are Normal In The US, But Seem Bizarre In Other Countries Shared In This Online Group

Games

Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Jurgita Dominauskaitė

Lukas Garnelis

Lukas Garnelis