On a trip to japan, our host ordered dinner for us at a top of the line restaurant. They brought out a hunk of raw meat and cut thin slices, served it with a little sauce. I ate mine, it tasted ok ,then asked the stupid question. What is it? Horse.. My response was Wilbur I didn't eat the apples. all the Americans at the table cracked up, and the Japanese just looked at us until I explained why we were laughing.
Lol. Americans and American culture can be “foreign” to people around the world. Especially, Asia. Metaphors and references to Americana are especially confusing and almost always have to be explained. And how we phrase things... there is often an underlying meaning that only an American would understand... and must not be taken literally.