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16 People On Things They Couldn’t Believe About America Until They Moved Here
Thought Catalog ^ | 11/13/2013 | Michael Koh

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.

 

1. Rakib Islam

I am originally from Bangladesh and here are a few things that I find hard to explain to peeps back home.



TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Travel
KEYWORDS: america
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To: Responsibility2nd

bkmk


61 posted on 11/13/2013 11:06:41 AM PST by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Steve_Seattle

I’ve been in a lot of major UScities and it is remarkable how similar many of the major business districts and suburbs are. Pretty much complete freedom to travel and mostly universal automobile ownership have produced that. I’m almost 71 and have lived in Chicago, IL, Champaign, IL, Detroit, MI, Milwaukee, WI, and Knoxville, TN. My travels have also covered much of the US.


62 posted on 11/13/2013 11:06:43 AM PST by libstripper (Asv)
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To: Steve_Seattle
As far as similarities are concerned, EVERY culture has a dominant style in a particular era.

A handful of contractors and developers will control a region. Then there are the "planned housing developments".

Heck even our "bidding process" on the major sports stadiums in America was a stacked deck, as I understand it, the architects had to meet with league approval (not just in their designs, but come from an approved list of persons).

63 posted on 11/13/2013 11:08:59 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Responsibility2nd
The more people know about socialism the less they like it.
64 posted on 11/13/2013 11:10:27 AM PST by GeronL
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To: libstripper

I’m from San Antonio. And it used to be known as one of America’s 4 unique cities. I have no idea what the other 3 were.

Now? All cities are cookie-cutter replicas complete with glass and steel buildings, Walmarts, subdivisions and a Starbucks on every corner.


65 posted on 11/13/2013 11:16:21 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: a fool in paradise

I’m not really sure being president is a stage of adulthood since the vast majority of us are never going to even want to be president much less actually be president. To be part of adulthood it needs to be fairly universal. And you can draw on your life saving any time you want, the only limit is if you structure them in a certain way to reduce/ delay taxes, then you get penalized for violating a contract.

These days with the popularity of medical marijuana probably a higher percentage of the over 60 crowd smokes it than the under 18 crowd.


66 posted on 11/13/2013 11:21:27 AM PST by discostu (This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Thanks for posting this R2nd....I suggest some of these are comparisons to their home city vs all of the US because in many countries outside of their big cities it is very unimproved ( even in some European nations).. However the comment on chocolate is very correct....why doesn't body import the good stuff here ?...
67 posted on 11/13/2013 11:22:01 AM PST by virgil283 (When the sun spins, the cross appears, and the skies burn red)
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To: Lou L

You can rent a car if you have a credit card and a license, so that’s at 18. People probably don’t until later in life, but they are legally able to.


68 posted on 11/13/2013 11:22:24 AM PST by discostu (This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there.)
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To: KittenClaws
A lot of those answers were duplicated word-for-word.

Maybe a lot of those observations about the USA are not at all uncommon.

69 posted on 11/13/2013 11:26:48 AM PST by MeganC (Support Matt Bevin to oust Mitch McConnell! https://mattbevin.com/)
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bfl


70 posted on 11/13/2013 11:30:05 AM PST by Drew68
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To: discostu
the only limit is if you structure them in a certain way to reduce/ delay taxes, then you get penalized for violating a contract.

When the government violates a contract (including raising the retirement age, SS eligibility, etc.) there is no penalty.

71 posted on 11/13/2013 11:31:15 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Responsibility2nd
The above point reminds me, that Americans find it very odd if people use different words than them, like British English for eg. people looked at me funny when I asked where the “Chemist” is (Drug Store). Biscuit (Cookie), Billing Counter (Cashier), Coriander (Cilantro), Petrol (Gas) are others.

Why wouldn't we find it very odd that some people use different words instead of the American terms. Are we supposed to learn the popular and/or slang terms for everything, everywhere? Heck, I find it extremely odd that Triya thinks that Coriander and Cilantro are the same things but I guess that could be blamed how Indians call it "Dhania" but generally use that term to refer to the leaves. Cilantro is the Spanish name for the leaves and stalks of the Coriandrum sativum plant. The British call this Corriander. In America, Corriander refers to the seeds from the plant (typcially ground). They taste completely different from the leaves. The Thai call it pak chee but by that they usually mean the roots (which have a different flavor from both the leaves and seeds).

I always find it a bit amusing when someone from another culture comments on what they find odd about America and it revolves around their own ignorance.

72 posted on 11/13/2013 11:31:47 AM PST by Durus (You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality. Ayn Rand)
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To: libstripper

The big tourist shopping mall in New Orleans and Baltimore are by the same people. I think even Boston’s was by them.

Similarity isn’t always by chance. Sometimes it is by design.


73 posted on 11/13/2013 11:32:49 AM PST by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: a fool in paradise

Welcome to the short end of the stick.


74 posted on 11/13/2013 11:32:55 AM PST by discostu (This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express, and I'm talkin' to whoever's listenin' out there.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
America is literally HUGE. My home country is roughly the size of Florida, one of the fifty states.

I make the bigness point every time I tangle with one of these snobbish Europeans: "You Americans aren't multilingual (and are therefore not as sophisticated) as we are."

I tell 'em, "Do you know what 'Balkanized' means? I can drive 1,200 miles from San Diego to Seattle and speak one language all the way. I can drive 2,800 miles from Los Angeles to New York and speak the same language all the way. In Europe, if I drive 1,000 miles from Brussels to Rome, I have to know at least three different languages. You people HAD to be multilingual because you are so fragmented, we don't because we are united."

Then they get huffy.

75 posted on 11/13/2013 11:37:27 AM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: a fool in paradise

I have told my grandchildren that they live in a semi-free country, not the country I grew up in.


76 posted on 11/13/2013 11:44:19 AM PST by goat granny
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To: Oatka

“Then they get huffy.”

I used to tell them: if it weren’t for us, you also would have been monolingual; GERMAN, that is!


77 posted on 11/13/2013 11:46:26 AM PST by melancholy
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To: a fool in paradise

The older I get, the less I like waitstaff trying to clean the table while I’m still at the table. I consider that rude. I don’t like having food or silverware dropped on me or someone reaching across the table to grab a dish while I’m talking to a guest. I’ve seen this grow worse over the past 30 years or so.


78 posted on 11/13/2013 11:49:27 AM PST by AlmaKing
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To: Oatka

You could also tell them that back during the Pax Romana, you could freely travel from southern Scotland to the upper reaches of the Nile, or from Gibraltar to eastern Syria. You can’t do that today.


79 posted on 11/13/2013 11:51:57 AM PST by henkster (Communists never negotiate.)
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To: AlmaKing

I’m just the opposite, when done I hate sitting a table full of dirty dishes and whatnot. Please get it out of my face as soon as possible.


80 posted on 11/13/2013 11:53:03 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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