Posted on 11/13/2013 9:34:38 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
A lot of people around the world have ideas of what America is like, possibly thanks to Hollywood, or their local news channels, and maybe from what they’ve heard from families and friends. But then, they came here, to the grand old United States and their minds exploded. Taken from Quora.
I am originally from Bangladesh and here are a few things that I find hard to explain to peeps back home.
- Fruits and vegetables are way more expensive than meat and poultry.
- That, generally speaking, the poor is more obese than the rich.
- A lot of couples adopt children, sometimes in spite of having their own, and treat them exactly like their own. (To me, this alone is a marker of a great people)
- By and large, people do not carry cash.
- That you address your boss (and some of your professors) by some abbreviated variation of their first name. And that applies to pretty much everyone, regardless of how much older they are than you.
- Parents can get arrested for physically punishing their children.
- Severe poverty, homelessness, etc, no matter how limited, actually exist. Even in America.
- A name as common and as easy to pronounce as mine is almost invariably incomprehensible to most Americans.
- America is literally HUGE. My home country is roughly the size of Florida, one of the fifty states.
- In spite of the society being openly hedonistic and liberal, the social norms and standards still have very strong conservative religious influences.
- People don’t really care about the FIFA World Cup even though USA qualifies.
- The importance of credit rating/ credit score.
- Return policy.
- The history behind Thanksgiving.
- Black Friday and the frenzy associated with it.
- Amazingly friendly, hospitable and helpful people. Yet, a very conveniently private lifestyle.
- That, American foreign policy is a very inaccurate reflector of public consensus.
- Grinding. The dance form.
- That you cannot purchase alcohol unless you are 21 but can purchase a gun if you are 18.
Some freak out over all the selections at Dunkin Donuts, Wallmart or the grocery stores.
I was out in the middle of nowhere in Southern Africa. Hadn’t seen a hut in the last several miles. My cell had 5 bars showing. I was amazed.
Abroad a meal can run two to three hours (mostly spent NOT eating or nibbling, just maybe drinking a cup of coffee or an adult beverage).
Here the waitstaff are apportioned sections in a restaurant. If you aren't buying anything, and you don't know to tip accordingly for tying up a "station", you are denying them a sizeable portion of their daily paycheck. It is considered inconsiderate. If there is no table service and there are not people waiting for tables, it is not an issue.
If you order an appetizer, a soft drink, etc. and others at the table only order "water" and an entree, you should pay more.
The people I always see pushing for "flat rate" are those who got the extras. Some people budget their meal expenses.
Many liberal “talking points”. Our fear of socialism, how we drive everywhere, how fat we are - insurance was a big topic as well.
I suggest individual answers were written on a piece of paper, tossed into a hat, shaken, then pulled at random by the one person who also pulled different ethnic names from another hat...
I don’t know where this person has been, but I do NOT see the flag everywhere, and I really think that American patriotism is not substantially different from patriotism in many other countries. And I find the “cookie-cutter” homes thing a very tired and boring Leftist refrain. Actually, America has a very wide variety of homes. As far as similarities are concerned, EVERY culture has a dominant style in a particular era.
Need 16 Americans to write on the topic:
“Things I couldn’t believe about immigrants until they moved here”
Was true once upon a time. The significant contributions have been on the wane since 1970. Today the supposed role models are Oprah, Obama, Jay-Z, Puff Diddy, Russell Simmons, Danny Glover, Samuel Jackson, Jamie Foxx, etc.
Not a lot of likeable persons in that group (of "music" or "cultural") icons.
Actually, I would say that renting a car is the "final stage of becoming an adult.
Great post! Fun to read their thoughts. Obesity and food portions seem to be at the top.
< /Switzerland >
"And with good reason!!!"
Not like a lot of the western US.
Loony Democrats and loonier Democrats.
This isn't a good thing. I am humiliated that this is their view of America.
I wonder what a FIFA is, not that I care enough to google it.
1. Well, Mr. Oh-So-Educated-Professsional-Person, you can't seem to extrapolate that this perceived increase in "intensity" is proportional to the current Regime increasing efforts to take the guns away, can you?
2. Simple conversations about guns give him the creeps? Really? Grow a spine you wuss.
The Left in America is trying to kill the car culture here.
Outrageous (and unnecessary) fuel expenses.
Smaller “people movers” that can’t go more than 40 miles without an 8 hour recharge.
No idling in the “drive-through”.
Smaller people movers that can’t carry 4 bags of groceries or travel out of town for an overnight trip.
Your freedom of travel is being restricted.
There was an effort in the 1990s to limit the percent of persons who could park at an employer (like 75% of the staff). We all know that the higher ups wouldn’t be in car pools or riding public transportation.
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