Unless you’ve actually been to the U.S., you might not really have a grasp on its culture . And even if you have visited in the past , you might have still missed out on a lot of details .
That’s where American Redditors come in. They’re here to tell you about the things they think every non-American should know about the US of A.
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“No, in the south, we do not all have alligators in our back yards.” – Tinfoilhat14
“If someone tells you otherwise, they’re lying.”
I’ve been to Florida a few times and never actually saw an alligator, so I feel like this is probably true.
“You can ski and surf on the same day in California.” – Optimus0ne
After all, not only is California on the Pacific Coast, but it also has mountains. In fact, it might be better to ask what California doesn’t have.
“Some of us do know our geography.” – soul_hyacinths
Sure, there are probably plenty of Americans who don’t know China from India (or who can’t locate Canada or Australia on a map), but that doesn’t mean they’re all bad at geography. Right?
“We only have a few hundred years of recorded history so yeah, we talk about our civil war, etc. because we haven’t had ten civil wars and thousands of battles and centuries of political suppression.” – druscarlet
“Also, since we are so ‘new’ we do talk about our European/Asian/African heritage.”
“I don’t want to be car dependent. I have to be.” – Kalron
“If I could bike everywhere in a REASONABLE amount of time, I probably would. But biking to my work takes an hour because our cities sprawl so much…”
“…and our bike paths are not good…”
“…and car traffic usually is higher on priority lists than bikes so our bike lanes are usually non existent or minimal. And I live in one of the best cities/areas to bike in, according to some lists online.”
“Americanized versions of food are still good and we still enjoy them.” – punkhobo
“You don’t have to tell us ‘this isn’t authentic [country] food.’ We know it isn’t. Just because it’s not exactly like the origin country’s version doesn’t make it bad.”
Not to mention a lot of “Americanized” dishes are the results of immigrants working with whatever they could get as substitutes.
“‘Florida Man’ is only a thing because the State of Florida has really weird rules about how crimes are reported/put into the public record.” – JoeMorgue
“So stories out of Florida just make better tabloid headlines and click bait if you’re an editor scrolling through the AP feed looking for wacky stories.”
“We hate our politicians as much as non-Americans do.” – Blackops606
“We do indeed have a few good ones trying to do the right thing but they are heavily outnumbered by both people/votes and money.”
Another user added, “And people disagree about which ones are trying to do the right thing.” Politics, man.
“30-45 minutes is not a ‘long drive’ yet I hear of people in Europe not seeing family members for months over this timeframe.” – redditorrrrrrrrrrrr
“My point of considering something a ‘long drive’ is around 3-4 hours. My drive to work 5 days a week is 30 minutes each way itself. I and many people I know in the US will regularly drive 1.5 hours to see extended family on a weekend or even just to go to a store we like.”
“It’s not that we don’t want to visit other countries.” – RHess19
“It’s that for the majority of Americans, Canada and Mexico are a day or two drive away, and paying over $1,000 to get a round-trip ticket overseas isn’t something a lot of people can justify buying.”
“We’re not all like what you probably see on the news.” – BondraP
“America is a very big country where you can see it all – beaches, mountains, rural areas, big cities, you name it. There’s a lot of different people and it’s embarrassing to be defined by the worst of us.”
“But also our healthcare system is exactly as stupid and terrible as you think and if you visit here don’t get sick or hurt.” – BondraP
At the very least, make sure you invest in some good travel insurance if you’re planning on visiting.
“Stop telling us where various cities are located as if we’re too stupid to figure it out. We know where Paris is. It’s in Texas.”
There are actually a lot of American (and Canadian, for that matter) cities that are named after European cities. As if we needed any more confusion.
“American cuisine is incredible and diverse. I don’t mean McDonalds or bacon wrapped fryer food.” – Hot_Salad9000
“You have some of the best seafood in the northeast and pacific coast. Cajun and southern cooking in the south east, Tex-Mex of the south west, BBQ everywhere and everyone has their meat and potato favorites.”
“Ya’ll are getting fat too. We’re not even in the top 10 anymore.” – JoeMorgue
While most of the world is still, on average, at a “healthier” weight than the US, obesity rates in Europe, South America, and even Asia are probably higher than you’d think .
“We also use the metric system. Some of us more than others but it’s pretty standard here.” – Japoppolo
“It always baffles me that people seem to think we don’t use it at all even though that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
If you’ve ever met an American scientist, you’d know they use metric measurements.
“There’s American chocolate other than Hershey’s. Seriously, stop with the aMeRiCaN cHoCoLaTe TaStEs LiKe PuKe.” – IBeTrippin
“Just because all you can get at Tesco is Hershey’s doesn’t mean that’s all we can get. There’s quite a few commercial chocolatiers just in my state, and probably hundreds of mom & pop ones too.”
“We really don’t care about the royal family for the most part. And the Kardashians.” – Bubblekinss
Another user added, “I think a good amount of us hate the Kardashians since they are textbook annoying rich people.”
All I’ll say is, they definitely make for good conversation.
“We have our problems but most Americans are kind people who will go out of their way to help anyone in need.” – Valiantlycaustic
“It’s just that a few bad apples take all the spotlight so everyone in the world thinks we are assholes.”
I’ve met plenty of Americans in my life, and very few of them turned out to be bad people.
