As an American visiting England I found myself taking a bus to Stonehenge. Amazing site, highly recommend. Often in Europe I feel like the only person willing to stretch the rules. In Germany for...
As an American visiting England I found myself taking a bus to Stonehenge. Amazing site, highly recommend. Often in Europe I feel like the only person willing to stretch the rules. In Germany for example I am the only jaywalker. Americans seem to have a shared understanding that rules, including laws, don’t always need the utmost respect.
While waiting for my return bus trip it started to rain and I didn’t have an umbrella. I saw the bus was parked nearby, perched and ready to move into position. I figured I had nothing to lose by asking if I could step inside early and walked up to the front door. The driver was waiting inside, expecting to move into position on schedule. I waved at him, fully ready to get turned down. The driver couldn’t make eye contact with me, seemed to nearly be shaking from this breach in protocol, and raised a finger towards where I had been standing at the designated pick up spot. I walked back to get picked up by him some 3 minutes later.
In my city you simply get an emphatic no if the bus driver doesn’t want you on. They won’t see you as a breach in the matrix.
For anyone else planning a trip to England who happens to read this: There is another neolithic stone circle not far from Stonehenge called Avebury. It is, in my opinion, a far more impressive...
I found myself taking a bus to Stonehenge. Amazing site, highly recommend
For anyone else planning a trip to England who happens to read this: There is another neolithic stone circle not far from Stonehenge called Avebury. It is, in my opinion, a far more impressive site with far fewer tourists and I would implore anyone to visit that one as well (or even instead).
Americans seem to have a shared understanding that rules, including laws, don’t always need the utmost respect.
I think this is regional in the UK. Up north I think your bus experience would have been quite different, with either the driver letting you on and commenting on the weather, or at least opening the door and apologising if they didn't let you on for some reason.
But yes, this is definitely not an uncommon experience here and I too find it baffling!
Even in the broader area near Stonehenge, that's been my experience that drivers will accommodate something like that. Driver the earlgrey experienced was probably a bit of a jobsworth from the...
Even in the broader area near Stonehenge, that's been my experience that drivers will accommodate something like that. Driver the earlgrey experienced was probably a bit of a jobsworth from the way they were described.
Interesting. In the Netherlands, this would have been fine. If a busdriver needs to leave the bus, they just leave it open for people to get in while waiting for the next one to get on
Interesting. In the Netherlands, this would have been fine. If a busdriver needs to leave the bus, they just leave it open for people to get in while waiting for the next one to get on
When I lived in Germany, my bus route was a circle, but at one end the driver would often take a 15-minute break. Often this break would consist of the driver just sitting inside the bus, but...
Exemplary
When I lived in Germany, my bus route was a circle, but at one end the driver would often take a 15-minute break. Often this break would consist of the driver just sitting inside the bus, but sometimes he'd step out to have a smoke or something. Even if the weather was miserably bad and the bus driver was taking his break inside the bus anyway, passengers would not be allowed onto the bus to sit in the relative shelter during the break and would instead be forced to stand outside in the unsheltered, benchless bus stop. I'm all for bus drivers having periodic breaks during work, but nothing makes me feel quite as murderous in the moment as being forced to stand out in miserable pouring rain or sleet without anywhere to even sit down while the bus I'm waiting for is right next to me but the guy who could let me sit down in it 10 minutes early can't because of the rules.
That's a charitable way of looking at it, lol. IMO Americans largely think, "It's fine for ME to break the rules," but when they're the ones affected by someone else breaking them, it's a problem.
Americans seem to have a shared understanding that rules, including laws, don’t always need the utmost respect.
That's a charitable way of looking at it, lol. IMO Americans largely think, "It's fine for ME to break the rules," but when they're the ones affected by someone else breaking them, it's a problem.
Depends on the person and situation. I try to be careful to make sure when I break a rule or law there's no way any harm can come to anyone. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with boldly living by...
Depends on the person and situation. I try to be careful to make sure when I break a rule or law there's no way any harm can come to anyone. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with boldly living by harm-based ethics if I were raised in another society.
In general your right. I'm an American who tends to not care about obeying rules. My moral guide is: "how would I want everyone else to act in this situation?" That tends to keep me in line with...
In general your right. I'm an American who tends to not care about obeying rules. My moral guide is: "how would I want everyone else to act in this situation?"
That tends to keep me in line with most rules. But allows me to break the ones that I don't agree with. Convenient!
The bus example is gray area to me. Everyone getting on an empty bus a few minutes earlier probably wouldn't hurt. On the other hand if everyone everyday asked the driver for special treatment it might get annoying for them. my social anxiety would probably shut this down.
I want to use this opportunity to say: if everyone would just stand back at the baggage carousel and wait until they see their bag to step forward. then we could all easily see and access our bags when they come!
Yeah, I've heard jaywalking is really frowned upon in Germany, with such follow ups as speeches about burden on the healthcare system and so on. And certainly your view that some rules don't need...
Yeah, I've heard jaywalking is really frowned upon in Germany, with such follow ups as speeches about burden on the healthcare system and so on.
And certainly your view that some rules don't need to be followed to the letter - not even laws! - would get even more frowns.
That's really not been my experience at all in Bavaria... People will cross busy streets literally 10 meters away from the crossing and look at you in the car like you're at fault if you dare make...
That's really not been my experience at all in Bavaria... People will cross busy streets literally 10 meters away from the crossing and look at you in the car like you're at fault if you dare make eye contact
That said, general discipline and rule following feels better than the country I grew up in!
This was something I was warned about prior to coming to Germany, but it was severely over-exaggerated. The average person's threshold for jaywalking does seem different, so they're probably more...
This was something I was warned about prior to coming to Germany, but it was severely over-exaggerated. The average person's threshold for jaywalking does seem different, so they're probably more likely to wait than jaywalk compared to Americans, but at least wherever I've been in Germany, no one yells at you or even gives you side-eye if you jaywalk (although often roads are too large to safely do so anyway). If there's somewhere in Germany where they get really intense about jaywalking, it's a regional thing.
There's this red light on a road in front of my house that I run literally every day. It's a red arrow, and it takes absolutely forever to change, like 8+ minutes per cycle. The road frequently...
There's this red light on a road in front of my house that I run literally every day. It's a red arrow, and it takes absolutely forever to change, like 8+ minutes per cycle. The road frequently has no one coming for miles, and I can see at least a mile in both directions. It's not even that I'm always in a rush, but the idea of wasting up to 8 minutes per day of my precious life doing nothing solely because of the whims of the electronic circuit in the traffic signal, programmed by someone who really didn't think about, and likely didn't give a fuck about its timing just strikes me as cosmically unjust. So I look both ways, and run it every afternoon.
I've realized that one of the biggest difference in cultures are between cultures who would generally approve of that move, and cultures that absolutely would not. In the US, most people are perfectly fine that I do that. In much of the middle east, it would be baffling that anyone would ever even consider stopping at the light. In Japan though? Unthinkable.
Reminds me of the Not Just Bikes video about how trying to take a walk in Houston radicalized him so much he started a YouTube channel about urban planning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxykI30fS54
Reminds me of the Not Just Bikes video about how trying to take a walk in Houston radicalized him so much he started a YouTube channel about urban planning
The further west you go, in America, the less likely you are to encounter pedestrian and public transport infrastructure, until you encounter our oldest western cities like San Francisco and San...
The further west you go, in America, the less likely you are to encounter pedestrian and public transport infrastructure, until you encounter our oldest western cities like San Francisco and San Diego. Downtown Dallas and Fort Worth are both walkable and have buses and trains. Outside of that part of the metroplex, you’ll need a private vehicle or to hire a ride service.
The older a city is, the more likely it was built before car infrastructure was dominant, the more likely it is to offer these other transportation options. You can usually tell the oldest part of a city by how walkable it is.
Older college towns (towns built around universities) also tend to be more walkable as well, since university students tend not to have their own transportation.
That’s not to say these are hard rules, just common trends. Things change.
Edit: broke up the wall of text to be more legible, edited a word or two where my phone’s autocorrect chose a small wrong word. Like: out -> or
Also, the further south you go. A lot of southern cities have ripped up their walkable infrastructure and paved over entire blocks to build more parking. In Florida especially, even a lot of the...
Also, the further south you go. A lot of southern cities have ripped up their walkable infrastructure and paved over entire blocks to build more parking. In Florida especially, even a lot of the older cities have completely gutted their downtowns for more parking which usually sits empty.
Car infrastructure has ruined downtowns and other areas for decades, closing in on a century. This country is entirely too friendly to businesses getting to have unlimited freedom and everyone...
Car infrastructure has ruined downtowns and other areas for decades, closing in on a century. This country is entirely too friendly to businesses getting to have unlimited freedom and everyone else taking a hike.
I did the same once in Orlando. Stayed in a hotel close to universal and figured I could walk there. While nerve-wracking, I made it, just to find out that the only entrance was through the...
I did the same once in Orlando. Stayed in a hotel close to universal and figured I could walk there. While nerve-wracking, I made it, just to find out that the only entrance was through the parking lot. No problem, I just imagined they would have a people entrance. Maybe they did and I never found it. I can see why they wouldn't.
I also remember being shocked by the amount of shops that offered drive through. I think there was a drive through bank.
There were drive through places in FL that just sold alcohol, tobacco products, and convenient store style "munchies". People would just get a cold six pack and open a beer and drive off. Seeing...
There were drive through places in FL that just sold alcohol, tobacco products, and convenient store style "munchies". People would just get a cold six pack and open a beer and drive off. Seeing that made me honestly not want to drive.
Common in MN too. Probably opposite reason. Drive thru liquor stores too (mostly northern end of state, and I speak less authoritatively of that in terms of numbers but I have seen some).
Common in MN too. Probably opposite reason. Drive thru liquor stores too (mostly northern end of state, and I speak less authoritatively of that in terms of numbers but I have seen some).
I've lived in north-central MN for most of my life and the only drive-thru liquor store I've ever seen was in North Dakota. I'm surprised MN law even allows such a thing.
I've lived in north-central MN for most of my life and the only drive-thru liquor store I've ever seen was in North Dakota. I'm surprised MN law even allows such a thing.
Drive thru bank windows are common though you have to go inside for more complex transactions. Drive thru liquor stores are more dependent on zoning. We don't allow the drive through cocktails...
Drive thru bank windows are common though you have to go inside for more complex transactions.
Drive thru liquor stores are more dependent on zoning. We don't allow the drive through cocktails @Fiachara described (well now we allow them to be served to-go post COVID,) but tbh it's just convenience and even safety sometimes for folks to drive thru rather than walk in. The drunk drivers would crack open the beer regardless of how they got it
There's an independent drive-through 7-11 style convenience store near where I used to live in San Diego. And it was literally drive-through- the entire middle of the store was the path for the...
There's an independent drive-through 7-11 style convenience store near where I used to live in San Diego. And it was literally drive-through- the entire middle of the store was the path for the vehicles, and you could roll up, stop, and look left and right at the shelves for what you want. It's been there for decades, and I honestly miss it. Nice folks, and a lifesaver when I worked at weird hours.
You mean you hopped in your car, got on the highway, went to the first exit, went under the overpass, got back onto the highway, then took the next exit?
You mean you hopped in your car, got on the highway, went to the first exit, went under the overpass, got back onto the highway, then took the next exit?
I visited japan a few years ago, and I could write entire paragraphs about how different their culture is to mine (Portuguese). So I’ll focus on the weirdest one. Not weird in the sense that they...
I visited japan a few years ago, and I could write entire paragraphs about how different their culture is to mine (Portuguese).
So I’ll focus on the weirdest one. Not weird in the sense that they are weird, but weird for me because I always assumed it was an anime thing, but turns out they really dress like that.
To be more specific, skirts. And how short they are.
One immediate thing I noticed while there is that they like to show their legs. I saw several young women wearing short skirts and high socks. While here more fashionable women tend to wear something that shows their shoulders and cleavage, over there it was their legs.
So I was getting out of the metro in Tokyo, go over the escalators, look up and… Yup.
I always assumed that this was an anime thing, cheap fanservice to show panty shots. I guess I never thought that this also happened in reality. Which, it makes sense considering how short they are? But idk, I always assumed anime exaggerated the size because fanservice, so seeing it in reality was a bit of a shock.
After that I got too conscious and made sure to never look up while going up the stairs or escalators.
———
On another note, their public transport infrastructure is phenomenal, especially in Tokyo. I went to several cities between Tokyo and Fukuoka, and we only had to call a taxi like 2 or 3 times during our whole trip, which was 1 month.
Somewhat orthogonal to the thread, but thank you for being the culture that historically introduced deep frying veggies to the Japanese, so that we can all enjoy the tempura of today...
Somewhat orthogonal to the thread, but thank you for being the culture that historically introduced deep frying veggies to the Japanese, so that we can all enjoy the tempura of today
Growing up, because of the shared language and media, I always assumed the UK and America would be culturally similar. I was 22 when I first visited the states and let me tell you, it was a...
Growing up, because of the shared language and media, I always assumed the UK and America would be culturally similar.
I was 22 when I first visited the states and let me tell you, it was a shocking revelation to realise how much more similar we are to our European neighbours. Perhaps obvious, in hindsight, given the distance and shared history.
This has only been reiterated over time as I've spent more hours working with various American and European companies.
A particularly British shock was finding out that saying "You alright?" is NOT a greeting in the states and people react with surprise that you're inquiring about their health so casually.
Sorry, I didn't really give a story as requested though... I definitely have a few and will endeavour to return to this thread and share some. I'm British and married to an Italian, so we've definitely had our fair share of culture clashes over the years.
Weirdly enough, everyone in the US will think you're weirdly interested in the well being of a total stranger if you say "you alright?", but won't bat an eye at all if you said "how's it going?"...
Weirdly enough, everyone in the US will think you're weirdly interested in the well being of a total stranger if you say "you alright?", but won't bat an eye at all if you said "how's it going?" or "what's up?" to them. Both equally rhetorical questions though.
That is very much the response I tended to receive before realising the error of my ways. Or someone would check over themselves and respond, puzzled, "Yeah... why?"
That is very much the response I tended to receive before realising the error of my ways. Or someone would check over themselves and respond, puzzled, "Yeah... why?"
You didn't mention what parts of the US you visited but there are extreme differences between supercenters. That is to say the Pacific Northwest is completely different country compared to say New...
You didn't mention what parts of the US you visited but there are extreme differences between supercenters. That is to say the Pacific Northwest is completely different country compared to say New Orleans. California completely different than Montana. Some areas are much more " European" than others.
Ah, fair point! We did a trip from LA up to San Francisco and then cut through Las Vegas to Sedona, AZ (with many stops along the way). So California, Nevada and Arizona (we also dipped into Utah...
Ah, fair point!
We did a trip from LA up to San Francisco and then cut through Las Vegas to Sedona, AZ (with many stops along the way).
So California, Nevada and Arizona (we also dipped into Utah but mostly interacted with other tourists there).
I'd venture to say that "you alright" would get the same results though. I haven't been to most of the midwest, but I feel it would be the same on the west and east coasts and in the south.
I'd venture to say that "you alright" would get the same results though. I haven't been to most of the midwest, but I feel it would be the same on the west and east coasts and in the south.
I'm a lifelong vegetarian, but I'm pretty flexible if someone accidentally serves me meat or it would cause trouble. When I was traveling to Shanghai for work, we had a person who would take us...
I'm a lifelong vegetarian, but I'm pretty flexible if someone accidentally serves me meat or it would cause trouble.
When I was traveling to Shanghai for work, we had a person who would take us out and navigate food and what not. My boss had given them a heads up that I was vegetarian, but at the time at least, vegetarian really hadn't entered into the popular conscious in China. So what this turned into, is that our guide would order a small bowl of leafy greens for me at each meal and then I would just break vegetarian and eat with everyone else so I got enough to eat. That enabled him to save face that he was taking care of my vegetarian sensibilities but still allowed me to eat enough to survive.
In Montreal also for work, we had a situation where my French speaking boss ordered a vegetarian omelette for me. When it came out, it had ham in it. That turned into my manager and another consultant arguing very loudly in French with the owner on the definition of vegetarian (in French) and whether it means "has vegetables" or "does not have meat". Given that we had a Parisian, a German who spoke French fluently, and multiple Quebecois, there were a lot of fun conversations about the proper way to speak French.
Last story is that I had a client in Kentucky who I was visiting. The situation was pretty perilous and I was trying to defuse tensions. At the end of the meeting, I suggested we go and have a nice lunch. I had picked out a few nice looking restaurants that had something vegetarian. Instead, the client's manager said very directly that they wanted Mama's BBQ. So I went and had BBQ with them. One of my legends in that job, is that I (the semi-strict vegetarian) went so far as to eat BBQ with the grouchy client.
As of 2024, the Sinosphere still hasn't really got to grips with (edit: I should say, for clarity, a Western concept of) vegetarianism, which to me is especially weird as I even had this problem...
As of 2024, the Sinosphere still hasn't really got to grips with (edit: I should say, for clarity, a Western concept of) vegetarianism, which to me is especially weird as I even had this problem when I was in Taiwan, which has a large Buddhist population. I describe myself as a convenience vegetarian ie. If it is convenient for me not to eat meat, I will avoid eating it. What this looks like is, I won't buy meat, I don't cook with meat, if I'm attending a pot luck, I'll bring a veggie dish. But if I'm the only vegetarian attending, I'll eat what other people bring to be polite. Or maybe I'm visiting a friend for dinner and I forgot to mention I don't usually eat meat. I'll happily eat whatever they have prepared, and probably won't even say anything.
In Taiwan, I was eating with a group of vegetarians at a Chinese hot pot restaurant. As the only Chinese speaker, I asked if the base soup had meat in it, as the table "不吃肉” (directly, don't eat meat*). The waiters confirmed that this would be fine.
Anyway the food came out and we quickly discovered that there were small chunks of meat in the soup (and that it was made with meat stock). I asked the waiters about this and their reply was: we thought you "不吃肉”, not "不碰到肉” (directly: don't encounter meat). They had assumed our problem was with the actual act of eating the meat, not merely eating vegetables that had been in contact with the meat (broth).
I have since learned to say 吃素 (eating a vegetarian diet), rather than 'don't eat meat'. This is complicated a little though, as somebody else pointed out, that many vegetarians in Taiwan are Buddhist and also don't eat alliums eg onions or garlic which I love. There is also the problem that, to my understanding, there isn't really a term for vegan in Chinese (Google suggests 纯素 -pure vegetarian, but this has been disputed by my Chinese language tutors who don't agree), and that many Buddhists wouldn't consider eating eggs as they are not vegetarian. So all that to say, even when I do describe myself as a vegetarian in Chinese, it's still a little of a rollercoaster as to what I might end up with. This works for me as I'm very flexible, but as was the case in the story above, I got a whole hot pot to myself!
*This is further complicated by the fact that colloquially, 肉 can be used to refer to both meat generally, and specifically pork. It is entirely possible you tell somebody that you don't eat 肉 and they serve you chicken or fish instead, as after all, it is not pork.
That seems similar to parts of sub-Saharan Africa where saying "I don't eat meat" can get you into more trouble than explaining that you're vegetarian (and perhaps won't eat meat). While traveling...
That seems similar to parts of sub-Saharan Africa where saying "I don't eat meat" can get you into more trouble than explaining that you're vegetarian (and perhaps won't eat meat). While traveling with vegetarians I've run into a couple instances where them saying "I don't eat meat" has resulted in the offer of chicken as an alternative. I think this must be because many languages interpret "meat" to be "red meat" as we understand it in English and animals like chickens and pigs (white meat) aren't historically common in many places where this misunderstanding remains.
But I also wonder if part of it has to do with understandings of what are often religious values (without even getting into vegan ethics). Or many just insulated societies in general. I don't think that these vegetarian misunderstandings would every happen in parts of Africa with (or adjacent to) diverse religious communities where it would be more common to run into people with strict observances of dietary habits. Whether that be Muslims avoiding pork products or immigrants of India who are strict vegetarians. Incidentally, no matter where I've gone, Indian and Nepali restaurants always have true vegetarian options. Even at small airports.
My understanding is that while the gut microbiome can become less suited to eating meat if it's not consumed for a long time (potentially causing some discomfort in extreme cases), it's a...
My understanding is that while the gut microbiome can become less suited to eating meat if it's not consumed for a long time (potentially causing some discomfort in extreme cases), it's a misconception that humans on strict long term plant based diets typically cease to be able to digest meat.
A friend once told me about eating in a Chinese restaurant where he had asked the waiter if the egg rolls were vegetarian, and been told that they were. He noticed something that seemed like meat...
A friend once told me about eating in a Chinese restaurant where he had asked the waiter if the egg rolls were vegetarian, and been told that they were. He noticed something that seemed like meat in one, and asked the waiter what it was. The waiter replied, “It’s pork,“ as if my friend were some kind of imbecile. All I can think is that the waiter thought that “vegetarian” meant that the dish contained vegetables.
Depends on what they say. 蔬菜 really means a dish that’s primarily vegetables. It can be fried with lard, or have small bits of meat. A western example, a salad with bacon bits would still be...
Depends on what they say. 蔬菜 really means a dish that’s primarily vegetables. It can be fried with lard, or have small bits of meat. A western example, a salad with bacon bits would still be considered 蔬菜. This has less to do with dietary restrictions and more to do with traditional beliefs of a “whole” meal. Generally, meals should have rice or noodles, some vegetable dish, and a meat dish. All meat is generally considered to be upsetting to the stomach.
The strict demarcation of vegetarian does exist, culturally, as devout Buddhists are strict vegetarians. But a “vegetable dish” does NOT mean vegetarian.
Don't forget that the Buddhist vegetarians also avoid alliums (garlic, onions, etc.), so you might want to specify which subset of no-meat vegetarian you are. Allowing alliums will open up more...
Don't forget that the Buddhist vegetarians also avoid alliums (garlic, onions, etc.), so you might want to specify which subset of no-meat vegetarian you are. Allowing alliums will open up more options on the menu.
It's a (lightly butchered) quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, based on the writer/star's own *experience as a Greek-Canadian woman marrying a non-Greek man.
It's a (lightly butchered) quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, based on the writer/star's own *experience as a Greek-Canadian woman marrying a non-Greek man.
And it's been altered or "butchered" to use that exact language pattern. If unintentional, I hope they'd want to change it. If intentional, my point stands.
And it's been altered or "butchered" to use that exact language pattern. If unintentional, I hope they'd want to change it. If intentional, my point stands.
This isn't entirely exciting, and has probably been belaboured to death by people in similar situations, but we recently spend 10 days in Lisbon. We're Canadians and have a small kid. There was no...
This isn't entirely exciting, and has probably been belaboured to death by people in similar situations, but we recently spend 10 days in Lisbon. We're Canadians and have a small kid.
There was no houses anywhere in Lisbon. Everyone lives in apartments to varying degrees of size and amenities. I have lived in a dense city before (Toronto) but not like that. It was incredible to see and we really enjoyed our stay. Hills and all!
But the real cultural clash that hit us was how much the general public likes kids. They don't just tolerate children, they like them. They like having them around. There are places here where it can feel like our family is a burden because our kid is loud on the bus or train, or the kid is running around. We were on the subway and our kid just ran up and sat next to a stranger and she was absolutely lovely with him. They laughed and smiled at each other and goofed around. It was awesome to see and we definitely left the city with a great impression (we'll be back).
This is a small one, but it bothered me greatly when I lived in France for a year. They don't have peanut butter! Okay, they do, but not real, good peanut butter. Whether you like chunky or not,...
This is a small one, but it bothered me greatly when I lived in France for a year.
They don't have peanut butter!
Okay, they do, but not real, good peanut butter. Whether you like chunky or not, peanut butter is allowed only two ingredients. Peanuts, and salt. If there is anything else, you did something wrong. Every jar of peanut butter I found in a French grocery store had fucking sugar added. I was so impressed with now little sugar was in anything in France, but somehow they fell down with peanut butter. I finally found Hema, a Dutch retailer that expanded to France, had a peanut butter with no sugar, but it still had a palm oil to prevent it separating. Not ideal, but workable. For the 4 months I lived in the countryside in Bordeaux, some of my 1 hour each way train trips back to the city were exclusively to stock peanut butter from Hema.
I wonder if this was a general European thing. That kind of peanut butter was also very common in Portugal when the product first started appearing on shelves a decade or so ago. It tasted...
I wonder if this was a general European thing. That kind of peanut butter was also very common in Portugal when the product first started appearing on shelves a decade or so ago. It tasted digusting and made me wonder how Americans ate the stuff.
But after some time brands started making peanut butter with peanuts only and I discovered it is actually supposed to taste good... Like peanuts! Wow!
Now, on top of the big selection of brands, some supermarkets even have machines to crush and squeeze peanuts for you on the spot if you want.
I think it is a European thing. I've heard from people in many different cultures that peanut butter is considered American, so much that many European people I talked to haven't heard of the...
I think it is a European thing. I've heard from people in many different cultures that peanut butter is considered American, so much that many European people I talked to haven't heard of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
It is. Peanut butter was introduced to Europe largely through the efforts of American GIs during WW2. It became a smash hit in the Netherlands since hence the more US style peanut butter over...
It is. Peanut butter was introduced to Europe largely through the efforts of American GIs during WW2. It became a smash hit in the Netherlands since hence the more US style peanut butter over other European countries.
We now also have plenty of 100% peanut butter options available that have no added oils, palm or otherwise.
That's so odd to me (I live in Germany). Granted, I haven't really examined the peanut butter in shops, but the few brands i've tried have been just peanuts and salt... the annoying type that you...
That's so odd to me (I live in Germany). Granted, I haven't really examined the peanut butter in shops, but the few brands i've tried have been just peanuts and salt... the annoying type that you had to vigurously stir before using because it separated, lol
I don't currently have a jar, but i've got Cashewbutter and Roasted Hazelnut and they're both 100% of the respective nut.
Sort of a culture clash story I think? This was many years ago when my (now) wife and I were dating: We took a trip to Europe in 2014, beginning in Barcelona. On our last day in that city, we had...
Sort of a culture clash story I think?
This was many years ago when my (now) wife and I were dating: We took a trip to Europe in 2014, beginning in Barcelona. On our last day in that city, we had breakfast at the little cafe next door to our hotel. As we're sitting and enjoying our breakfast, a (clearly American) tourist comes in to place an order. He opens by (loudly) asking the person behind the counter:
Can I order two coffees? To go? You know, uses fingers to mimic a person running, to go?
In that loud voice people do when they think increasing volume will help with a language barrier. The girl behind the counter responds in perfect English, "Yes, no problem, two coffees, to go. Would you like to order anything else?"
And my wife and I looked at each other and quietly cringed, remarking between the two of us, "People like that are why Europeans have a bad taste for American tourists."
I was in Montserrat (spain) at the gift shop and heard a British lady angrily yelled at the cashier who was helping another customer, "I need someone ring me up in English. English please". The...
I was in Montserrat (spain) at the gift shop and heard a British lady angrily yelled at the cashier who was helping another customer, "I need someone ring me up in English. English please". The British lady was yelling the whole entire time when the cashier was trying to do her job of helping another customer. Cashier was funny though. She was just ignoring her, pretending not to understand her. When it was our turn, she was happy my husband spoke Spanish after that whole exchange.
When I was in Barcelona, the worst I saw wasn't the Americans, it was the British and the French. I saw british teenagers getting tattooed on the beach even though there is announcement not to so. And a French group leaving trash behind the beach and being straight up obnoxious.
I mean, you'd still be understood, and it's a better bet than English... same as in Valencia, Galicia, Vizcaya, etc. They'll definitely be sure to tell you it isn't their first language, but the...
I mean, you'd still be understood, and it's a better bet than English... same as in Valencia, Galicia, Vizcaya, etc. They'll definitely be sure to tell you it isn't their first language, but the percentage of Catalans who don't speak any Castellano at all has to be miniscule.
When I spent a few weeks traveling around England, I was surprised by how often strangers offered help at the slightest sign of struggle. A few times, someone even handed me a tissue when I had a...
When I spent a few weeks traveling around England, I was surprised by how often strangers offered help at the slightest sign of struggle. A few times, someone even handed me a tissue when I had a runny nose on the train, and another stranger opened my plastic bottle of Dr Pepper because their grip was stronger than my slippery dry hand.
In Quebec province, where I'm from, people usually tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business unless the situation is more serious. It often feels like you need to be in real trouble, or cause someone a significant inconvenience, before people step in. My impression is that Quebec society is still fairly individualistic, even if it may feel a bit more community-oriented than some other parts of North America.
Never really experienced that helpfulness in London. I was once on a university field trip and trying to ask for directions to where Harrods was sixteen years ago. Everyone ignored me. In...
Never really experienced that helpfulness in London. I was once on a university field trip and trying to ask for directions to where Harrods was sixteen years ago. Everyone ignored me.
In retrospect should've used Google Maps, but I didn't know exactly how the place was spelled.
I should have clarified more about when and where I got spontaneous assistance, all of which I never had to ask for first. My only trip to the UK was a little under three years ago, and I don't...
I should have clarified more about when and where I got spontaneous assistance, all of which I never had to ask for first. My only trip to the UK was a little under three years ago, and I don't remember that kind of helpfulness in London either, though that may simply be because I wasn't struggling to get around there.
There were two times during my month-long trip through England, Edinburgh, and Glasgow when I was automatically handed several tissues while I visibly had a runny nose. Both happened on trains with a young woman, and one of them was on a journey to or from Bath or York. There was also an adult man in Salisbury's Greggs who, without being asked, opened a surprisingly difficult Dr Pepper bottle for me after seeing I was struggling to twist the cap with my slippery, dry hands.
I talked about Korea in my last comment of this topic so this time I'll talk about Japan! First culture shock was just how tightly packed businesses can be in a building and how things often hide...
I talked about Korea in my last comment of this topic so this time I'll talk about Japan! First culture shock was just how tightly packed businesses can be in a building and how things often hide in plain sight. My second shock was just how widespread cash and, more importantly, coins are in day-to-day life there.
For the first point, I don't just mean that every building has a different business on each floor, that I see here in the states as well. But what really got me was just how much they try to maximize the space for the business in said building. In the US and the few parts of Europe I've been to, when an elevator in a building opens its doors, it opens to a small foyer/shared space type area before you walk into the business itself. Often, this is where the stairs also connect. Throughout Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Hiroshima, it was common for the elevator doors to just open up into the business itself. It was just little odd to me stepping into an elevator from the ground floor and then when the doors open, you could be in the middle of a restaurant, or a stationery store, or whatever. The stairs would also be weird to me since it'd be completely separated from the stores themselves and be absolutely tiny.
As a result of such high density, it's easy to miss a restaurant or a store you want to go to. Countless times on both my trips to Japan, I would miss whatever shop I wanted to go to since they wouldn't have any obvious signs pointing to it. I remember once my friends and I wanted to go to a jazz bar we'd seen on Google Maps. We got to the building and at first we were confused if we were even in the right area since the building just looked like an apartment building. Even entering and taking the stairs up one floor, it felt like just going through an apartment building. We soon ran into the wife of the owner of the jazz bar that then told us that the unmarked door at the end of the hallway we were in was the jazz bar we were looking for.
In other discussions of culture shocks of Japan, people always bring up the widespread use of cash but what really got me was the widespread use of coins still. Not just in vending machines but cash registers and even some stores would rather you pay in coins than bills. I've never carried around more coins in my pocket in my life than when I was in Japan. More than once I'd often just pull out a handful of coins from my pocket when paying for something and the cashier would help me pick out the most optimal coin combo to pay for whatever I was paying. I eventually learned to just pay for my convenience store purchases with coins to go through them but I now have a concerning number of 1 yen coins in my drawers at home.
The only time I really felt a culture clash when travelling abroad was when I went to Santorini four years ago. The locals seemed quite hostile and rude, which is unusual because I've always found...
The only time I really felt a culture clash when travelling abroad was when I went to Santorini four years ago. The locals seemed quite hostile and rude, which is unusual because I've always found Greeks and Cypriots quite friendly.
Not the reason I wouldn't really recommend Santorini. It's very mountainous (if you have a fear of heights, you definitely won't like it), has basically zero sandy beaches, and is the kind of place where newlywed couples go for their honeymoon because nothing is more romantic than eating a meal with a twilit view of Fira or Oia. I stayed in Fira for a few days and the only place I really recommend in terms of nightlife is 2 Brothers Bar.
Only two people I really struck a conversation with on that trip was an Aussie couple who I went on a cruise across the island with.
Coming to Malaysia I needed to get used to calling people older than me "aunty" and "uncle". Forgetting to say it is rude, but if you say it to someone whom you think is older than you but isn't...
Coming to Malaysia I needed to get used to calling people older than me "aunty" and "uncle". Forgetting to say it is rude, but if you say it to someone whom you think is older than you but isn't that much older than you, it is rude. I'm also now into my 30s so it can be less clear who will be mildly put off if I call them aunty or uncle.
The slightly embarrassing/funny thing was I had just gotten used to calling my in-laws "aunty" and "uncle" and then we got married and during the wedding reception I called my now father-law "uncle" when he expected me to call him "dad".
My wife and I were spending a few days in Córdoba, Spain on a vacation. We are early risers, even by American standards, and had the absolute damndest time finding a place to serve us coffee...
My wife and I were spending a few days in Córdoba, Spain on a vacation. We are early risers, even by American standards, and had the absolute damndest time finding a place to serve us coffee before we'd been up for hours and hours. We eventually found an American-style coffee shop that opened at, IIRC, 9, and was obviously the preferred haunt of all the expats and visitors getting up way too early for the locals.
We tried to get dinner at a nice-looking restaurant somewhere around 6:30 and the maître d' ("maestro del"?) told us to come back at 8. I asked if we could reserve a table and he told us that absolutely was not necessary; and he was right, the place was empty except for us for at least another hour. The food was delicious, but we were still eating way past our bedtime.
At a different restaurant, on a different trip, in Vienna, we ordered a wine pairing with dinner, and they absolutely plied us. That was the drunkest I've ever been, and I went to some pretty boozed-up parties in college. It was a good thing Vienna is a very safe city! I think an American server would have been a lot more circumspect about it, and not just to save the restaurant money. Europeans really like their wine, lol.
As an American visiting England I found myself taking a bus to Stonehenge. Amazing site, highly recommend. Often in Europe I feel like the only person willing to stretch the rules. In Germany for example I am the only jaywalker. Americans seem to have a shared understanding that rules, including laws, don’t always need the utmost respect.
While waiting for my return bus trip it started to rain and I didn’t have an umbrella. I saw the bus was parked nearby, perched and ready to move into position. I figured I had nothing to lose by asking if I could step inside early and walked up to the front door. The driver was waiting inside, expecting to move into position on schedule. I waved at him, fully ready to get turned down. The driver couldn’t make eye contact with me, seemed to nearly be shaking from this breach in protocol, and raised a finger towards where I had been standing at the designated pick up spot. I walked back to get picked up by him some 3 minutes later.
In my city you simply get an emphatic no if the bus driver doesn’t want you on. They won’t see you as a breach in the matrix.
For anyone else planning a trip to England who happens to read this: There is another neolithic stone circle not far from Stonehenge called Avebury. It is, in my opinion, a far more impressive site with far fewer tourists and I would implore anyone to visit that one as well (or even instead).
I think this is regional in the UK. Up north I think your bus experience would have been quite different, with either the driver letting you on and commenting on the weather, or at least opening the door and apologising if they didn't let you on for some reason.
But yes, this is definitely not an uncommon experience here and I too find it baffling!
Even in the broader area near Stonehenge, that's been my experience that drivers will accommodate something like that. Driver the earlgrey experienced was probably a bit of a jobsworth from the way they were described.
Interesting. In the Netherlands, this would have been fine. If a busdriver needs to leave the bus, they just leave it open for people to get in while waiting for the next one to get on
When I lived in Germany, my bus route was a circle, but at one end the driver would often take a 15-minute break. Often this break would consist of the driver just sitting inside the bus, but sometimes he'd step out to have a smoke or something. Even if the weather was miserably bad and the bus driver was taking his break inside the bus anyway, passengers would not be allowed onto the bus to sit in the relative shelter during the break and would instead be forced to stand outside in the unsheltered, benchless bus stop. I'm all for bus drivers having periodic breaks during work, but nothing makes me feel quite as murderous in the moment as being forced to stand out in miserable pouring rain or sleet without anywhere to even sit down while the bus I'm waiting for is right next to me but the guy who could let me sit down in it 10 minutes early can't because of the rules.
/noise damn that does suck yeah
That's a charitable way of looking at it, lol. IMO Americans largely think, "It's fine for ME to break the rules," but when they're the ones affected by someone else breaking them, it's a problem.
Depends on the person and situation. I try to be careful to make sure when I break a rule or law there's no way any harm can come to anyone. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with boldly living by harm-based ethics if I were raised in another society.
In general your right. I'm an American who tends to not care about obeying rules. My moral guide is: "how would I want everyone else to act in this situation?"
That tends to keep me in line with most rules. But allows me to break the ones that I don't agree with. Convenient!
The bus example is gray area to me. Everyone getting on an empty bus a few minutes earlier probably wouldn't hurt. On the other hand if everyone everyday asked the driver for special treatment it might get annoying for them. my social anxiety would probably shut this down.
I want to use this opportunity to say: if everyone would just stand back at the baggage carousel and wait until they see their bag to step forward. then we could all easily see and access our bags when they come!
Yeah, I've heard jaywalking is really frowned upon in Germany, with such follow ups as speeches about burden on the healthcare system and so on.
And certainly your view that some rules don't need to be followed to the letter - not even laws! - would get even more frowns.
That's really not been my experience at all in Bavaria... People will cross busy streets literally 10 meters away from the crossing and look at you in the car like you're at fault if you dare make eye contact
That said, general discipline and rule following feels better than the country I grew up in!
This was something I was warned about prior to coming to Germany, but it was severely over-exaggerated. The average person's threshold for jaywalking does seem different, so they're probably more likely to wait than jaywalk compared to Americans, but at least wherever I've been in Germany, no one yells at you or even gives you side-eye if you jaywalk (although often roads are too large to safely do so anyway). If there's somewhere in Germany where they get really intense about jaywalking, it's a regional thing.
There's this red light on a road in front of my house that I run literally every day. It's a red arrow, and it takes absolutely forever to change, like 8+ minutes per cycle. The road frequently has no one coming for miles, and I can see at least a mile in both directions. It's not even that I'm always in a rush, but the idea of wasting up to 8 minutes per day of my precious life doing nothing solely because of the whims of the electronic circuit in the traffic signal, programmed by someone who really didn't think about, and likely didn't give a fuck about its timing just strikes me as cosmically unjust. So I look both ways, and run it every afternoon.
I've realized that one of the biggest difference in cultures are between cultures who would generally approve of that move, and cultures that absolutely would not. In the US, most people are perfectly fine that I do that. In much of the middle east, it would be baffling that anyone would ever even consider stopping at the light. In Japan though? Unthinkable.
I once tried to walk 100 metres to the nearest shop... while staying in Texas.
Reminds me of the Not Just Bikes video about how trying to take a walk in Houston radicalized him so much he started a YouTube channel about urban planning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxykI30fS54
The further west you go, in America, the less likely you are to encounter pedestrian and public transport infrastructure, until you encounter our oldest western cities like San Francisco and San Diego. Downtown Dallas and Fort Worth are both walkable and have buses and trains. Outside of that part of the metroplex, you’ll need a private vehicle or to hire a ride service.
The older a city is, the more likely it was built before car infrastructure was dominant, the more likely it is to offer these other transportation options. You can usually tell the oldest part of a city by how walkable it is.
Older college towns (towns built around universities) also tend to be more walkable as well, since university students tend not to have their own transportation.
That’s not to say these are hard rules, just common trends. Things change.
Edit: broke up the wall of text to be more legible, edited a word or two where my phone’s autocorrect chose a small wrong word. Like: out -> or
Also, the further south you go. A lot of southern cities have ripped up their walkable infrastructure and paved over entire blocks to build more parking. In Florida especially, even a lot of the older cities have completely gutted their downtowns for more parking which usually sits empty.
Car infrastructure has ruined downtowns and other areas for decades, closing in on a century. This country is entirely too friendly to businesses getting to have unlimited freedom and everyone else taking a hike.
I did the same once in Orlando. Stayed in a hotel close to universal and figured I could walk there. While nerve-wracking, I made it, just to find out that the only entrance was through the parking lot. No problem, I just imagined they would have a people entrance. Maybe they did and I never found it. I can see why they wouldn't.
I also remember being shocked by the amount of shops that offered drive through. I think there was a drive through bank.
I was at an actual drive-thru-only cocktail bar. The legal loophole is that they give you your drinks in sealed plastic bags.
There were drive through places in FL that just sold alcohol, tobacco products, and convenient store style "munchies". People would just get a cold six pack and open a beer and drive off. Seeing that made me honestly not want to drive.
Drive through banks are incredibly common in FL, I don't know of any banks that didn't have drive through tellers.
Common in MN too. Probably opposite reason. Drive thru liquor stores too (mostly northern end of state, and I speak less authoritatively of that in terms of numbers but I have seen some).
Interesting. I am now in MN and I have yet to see one of those, but I don't get to the more northern areas very often.
I've lived in north-central MN for most of my life and the only drive-thru liquor store I've ever seen was in North Dakota. I'm surprised MN law even allows such a thing.
Drive thru bank windows are common though you have to go inside for more complex transactions.
Drive thru liquor stores are more dependent on zoning. We don't allow the drive through cocktails @Fiachara described (well now we allow them to be served to-go post COVID,) but tbh it's just convenience and even safety sometimes for folks to drive thru rather than walk in. The drunk drivers would crack open the beer regardless of how they got it
There's an independent drive-through 7-11 style convenience store near where I used to live in San Diego. And it was literally drive-through- the entire middle of the store was the path for the vehicles, and you could roll up, stop, and look left and right at the shelves for what you want. It's been there for decades, and I honestly miss it. Nice folks, and a lifesaver when I worked at weird hours.
[edit] I found a picture! https://photos.app.goo.gl/f4kgA5LJD8zUa9SD6
You mean you hopped in your car, got on the highway, went to the first exit, went under the overpass, got back onto the highway, then took the next exit?
Car? Surely you mean lifted pickup truck.
Wouldn’t be caught dead without my Truck Nutz attached firmly to the hitch.
Why did you walk in metric instead of in imperial?
I use the Imperial system because I prefer my units of measurement to be based on the whims of a medieval king, as God intended.
"Texans would drive to the bathroom if it had parking spaces."
Tried that in San Jose once, we have smaller motorways than the “local” road the hotel was on.
I visited japan a few years ago, and I could write entire paragraphs about how different their culture is to mine (Portuguese).
So I’ll focus on the weirdest one. Not weird in the sense that they are weird, but weird for me because I always assumed it was an anime thing, but turns out they really dress like that.
To be more specific, skirts. And how short they are.
One immediate thing I noticed while there is that they like to show their legs. I saw several young women wearing short skirts and high socks. While here more fashionable women tend to wear something that shows their shoulders and cleavage, over there it was their legs.
So I was getting out of the metro in Tokyo, go over the escalators, look up and… Yup.
I always assumed that this was an anime thing, cheap fanservice to show panty shots. I guess I never thought that this also happened in reality. Which, it makes sense considering how short they are? But idk, I always assumed anime exaggerated the size because fanservice, so seeing it in reality was a bit of a shock.
After that I got too conscious and made sure to never look up while going up the stairs or escalators.
———
On another note, their public transport infrastructure is phenomenal, especially in Tokyo. I went to several cities between Tokyo and Fukuoka, and we only had to call a taxi like 2 or 3 times during our whole trip, which was 1 month.
Somewhat orthogonal to the thread, but thank you for being the culture that historically introduced deep frying veggies to the Japanese, so that we can all enjoy the tempura of today
https://www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/how-tempura-evolved-from-a-portuguese-staple-to-a-japanese-art-article
Growing up, because of the shared language and media, I always assumed the UK and America would be culturally similar.
I was 22 when I first visited the states and let me tell you, it was a shocking revelation to realise how much more similar we are to our European neighbours. Perhaps obvious, in hindsight, given the distance and shared history.
This has only been reiterated over time as I've spent more hours working with various American and European companies.
A particularly British shock was finding out that saying "You alright?" is NOT a greeting in the states and people react with surprise that you're inquiring about their health so casually.
Sorry, I didn't really give a story as requested though... I definitely have a few and will endeavour to return to this thread and share some. I'm British and married to an Italian, so we've definitely had our fair share of culture clashes over the years.
Weirdly enough, everyone in the US will think you're weirdly interested in the well being of a total stranger if you say "you alright?", but won't bat an eye at all if you said "how's it going?" or "what's up?" to them. Both equally rhetorical questions though.
“You alright?” is what you say when someone trips and falls.
Honestly if someone said it to me, I'd assume I'd been scowling or sniffling.
That is very much the response I tended to receive before realising the error of my ways. Or someone would check over themselves and respond, puzzled, "Yeah... why?"
You didn't mention what parts of the US you visited but there are extreme differences between supercenters. That is to say the Pacific Northwest is completely different country compared to say New Orleans. California completely different than Montana. Some areas are much more " European" than others.
Ah, fair point!
We did a trip from LA up to San Francisco and then cut through Las Vegas to Sedona, AZ (with many stops along the way).
So California, Nevada and Arizona (we also dipped into Utah but mostly interacted with other tourists there).
I'd venture to say that "you alright" would get the same results though. I haven't been to most of the midwest, but I feel it would be the same on the west and east coasts and in the south.
I'm a lifelong vegetarian, but I'm pretty flexible if someone accidentally serves me meat or it would cause trouble.
When I was traveling to Shanghai for work, we had a person who would take us out and navigate food and what not. My boss had given them a heads up that I was vegetarian, but at the time at least, vegetarian really hadn't entered into the popular conscious in China. So what this turned into, is that our guide would order a small bowl of leafy greens for me at each meal and then I would just break vegetarian and eat with everyone else so I got enough to eat. That enabled him to save face that he was taking care of my vegetarian sensibilities but still allowed me to eat enough to survive.
In Montreal also for work, we had a situation where my French speaking boss ordered a vegetarian omelette for me. When it came out, it had ham in it. That turned into my manager and another consultant arguing very loudly in French with the owner on the definition of vegetarian (in French) and whether it means "has vegetables" or "does not have meat". Given that we had a Parisian, a German who spoke French fluently, and multiple Quebecois, there were a lot of fun conversations about the proper way to speak French.
Last story is that I had a client in Kentucky who I was visiting. The situation was pretty perilous and I was trying to defuse tensions. At the end of the meeting, I suggested we go and have a nice lunch. I had picked out a few nice looking restaurants that had something vegetarian. Instead, the client's manager said very directly that they wanted Mama's BBQ. So I went and had BBQ with them. One of my legends in that job, is that I (the semi-strict vegetarian) went so far as to eat BBQ with the grouchy client.
As of 2024, the Sinosphere still hasn't really got to grips with (edit: I should say, for clarity, a Western concept of) vegetarianism, which to me is especially weird as I even had this problem when I was in Taiwan, which has a large Buddhist population. I describe myself as a convenience vegetarian ie. If it is convenient for me not to eat meat, I will avoid eating it. What this looks like is, I won't buy meat, I don't cook with meat, if I'm attending a pot luck, I'll bring a veggie dish. But if I'm the only vegetarian attending, I'll eat what other people bring to be polite. Or maybe I'm visiting a friend for dinner and I forgot to mention I don't usually eat meat. I'll happily eat whatever they have prepared, and probably won't even say anything.
In Taiwan, I was eating with a group of vegetarians at a Chinese hot pot restaurant. As the only Chinese speaker, I asked if the base soup had meat in it, as the table "不吃肉” (directly, don't eat meat*). The waiters confirmed that this would be fine.
Anyway the food came out and we quickly discovered that there were small chunks of meat in the soup (and that it was made with meat stock). I asked the waiters about this and their reply was: we thought you "不吃肉”, not "不碰到肉” (directly: don't encounter meat). They had assumed our problem was with the actual act of eating the meat, not merely eating vegetables that had been in contact with the meat (broth).
I have since learned to say 吃素 (eating a vegetarian diet), rather than 'don't eat meat'. This is complicated a little though, as somebody else pointed out, that many vegetarians in Taiwan are Buddhist and also don't eat alliums eg onions or garlic which I love. There is also the problem that, to my understanding, there isn't really a term for vegan in Chinese (Google suggests 纯素 -pure vegetarian, but this has been disputed by my Chinese language tutors who don't agree), and that many Buddhists wouldn't consider eating eggs as they are not vegetarian. So all that to say, even when I do describe myself as a vegetarian in Chinese, it's still a little of a rollercoaster as to what I might end up with. This works for me as I'm very flexible, but as was the case in the story above, I got a whole hot pot to myself!
*This is further complicated by the fact that colloquially, 肉 can be used to refer to both meat generally, and specifically pork. It is entirely possible you tell somebody that you don't eat 肉 and they serve you chicken or fish instead, as after all, it is not pork.
That seems similar to parts of sub-Saharan Africa where saying "I don't eat meat" can get you into more trouble than explaining that you're vegetarian (and perhaps won't eat meat). While traveling with vegetarians I've run into a couple instances where them saying "I don't eat meat" has resulted in the offer of chicken as an alternative. I think this must be because many languages interpret "meat" to be "red meat" as we understand it in English and animals like chickens and pigs (white meat) aren't historically common in many places where this misunderstanding remains.
But I also wonder if part of it has to do with understandings of what are often religious values (without even getting into vegan ethics). Or many just insulated societies in general. I don't think that these vegetarian misunderstandings would every happen in parts of Africa with (or adjacent to) diverse religious communities where it would be more common to run into people with strict observances of dietary habits. Whether that be Muslims avoiding pork products or immigrants of India who are strict vegetarians. Incidentally, no matter where I've gone, Indian and Nepali restaurants always have true vegetarian options. Even at small airports.
Wow, that's fascinating!
For what it's worth, the easiest way for me to explain myself has been simply "wo su shi", 我素食, followed up with 不吃肉 to make absolutely sure
Thankfully you seem to eat meat often enough for your body to still digest it.
My understanding is that while the gut microbiome can become less suited to eating meat if it's not consumed for a long time (potentially causing some discomfort in extreme cases), it's a misconception that humans on strict long term plant based diets typically cease to be able to digest meat.
A friend once told me about eating in a Chinese restaurant where he had asked the waiter if the egg rolls were vegetarian, and been told that they were. He noticed something that seemed like meat in one, and asked the waiter what it was. The waiter replied, “It’s pork,“ as if my friend were some kind of imbecile. All I can think is that the waiter thought that “vegetarian” meant that the dish contained vegetables.
Depends on what they say. 蔬菜 really means a dish that’s primarily vegetables. It can be fried with lard, or have small bits of meat. A western example, a salad with bacon bits would still be considered 蔬菜. This has less to do with dietary restrictions and more to do with traditional beliefs of a “whole” meal. Generally, meals should have rice or noodles, some vegetable dish, and a meat dish. All meat is generally considered to be upsetting to the stomach.
The strict demarcation of vegetarian does exist, culturally, as devout Buddhists are strict vegetarians. But a “vegetable dish” does NOT mean vegetarian.
Don't forget that the Buddhist vegetarians also avoid alliums (garlic, onions, etc.), so you might want to specify which subset of no-meat vegetarian you are. Allowing alliums will open up more options on the menu.
Thanks for this explanation. I suppose the waiter was thinking that vegetarian meant 蔬菜.
"He no eat meat?! That's okay, I make lamb!"
This language is a stereotype of Chinese (and Japanese) immigrants speaking English. I don't think it belongs on Tildes, or anywhere.
It's a (lightly butchered) quote from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, based on the writer/star's own *experience as a Greek-Canadian woman marrying a non-Greek man.
And it's been altered or "butchered" to use that exact language pattern. If unintentional, I hope they'd want to change it. If intentional, my point stands.
This isn't entirely exciting, and has probably been belaboured to death by people in similar situations, but we recently spend 10 days in Lisbon. We're Canadians and have a small kid.
There was no houses anywhere in Lisbon. Everyone lives in apartments to varying degrees of size and amenities. I have lived in a dense city before (Toronto) but not like that. It was incredible to see and we really enjoyed our stay. Hills and all!
But the real cultural clash that hit us was how much the general public likes kids. They don't just tolerate children, they like them. They like having them around. There are places here where it can feel like our family is a burden because our kid is loud on the bus or train, or the kid is running around. We were on the subway and our kid just ran up and sat next to a stranger and she was absolutely lovely with him. They laughed and smiled at each other and goofed around. It was awesome to see and we definitely left the city with a great impression (we'll be back).
This is a small one, but it bothered me greatly when I lived in France for a year.
They don't have peanut butter!
Okay, they do, but not real, good peanut butter. Whether you like chunky or not, peanut butter is allowed only two ingredients. Peanuts, and salt. If there is anything else, you did something wrong. Every jar of peanut butter I found in a French grocery store had fucking sugar added. I was so impressed with now little sugar was in anything in France, but somehow they fell down with peanut butter. I finally found Hema, a Dutch retailer that expanded to France, had a peanut butter with no sugar, but it still had a palm oil to prevent it separating. Not ideal, but workable. For the 4 months I lived in the countryside in Bordeaux, some of my 1 hour each way train trips back to the city were exclusively to stock peanut butter from Hema.
I wonder if this was a general European thing. That kind of peanut butter was also very common in Portugal when the product first started appearing on shelves a decade or so ago. It tasted digusting and made me wonder how Americans ate the stuff.
But after some time brands started making peanut butter with peanuts only and I discovered it is actually supposed to taste good... Like peanuts! Wow!
Now, on top of the big selection of brands, some supermarkets even have machines to crush and squeeze peanuts for you on the spot if you want.
I think it is a European thing. I've heard from people in many different cultures that peanut butter is considered American, so much that many European people I talked to haven't heard of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
It is. Peanut butter was introduced to Europe largely through the efforts of American GIs during WW2. It became a smash hit in the Netherlands since hence the more US style peanut butter over other European countries.
We now also have plenty of 100% peanut butter options available that have no added oils, palm or otherwise.
That's so odd to me (I live in Germany). Granted, I haven't really examined the peanut butter in shops, but the few brands i've tried have been just peanuts and salt... the annoying type that you had to vigurously stir before using because it separated, lol
I don't currently have a jar, but i've got Cashewbutter and Roasted Hazelnut and they're both 100% of the respective nut.
Cool it in the refrigerator and it won't separate. Got that trick from @nukeman
Sort of a culture clash story I think?
This was many years ago when my (now) wife and I were dating: We took a trip to Europe in 2014, beginning in Barcelona. On our last day in that city, we had breakfast at the little cafe next door to our hotel. As we're sitting and enjoying our breakfast, a (clearly American) tourist comes in to place an order. He opens by (loudly) asking the person behind the counter:
In that loud voice people do when they think increasing volume will help with a language barrier. The girl behind the counter responds in perfect English, "Yes, no problem, two coffees, to go. Would you like to order anything else?"
And my wife and I looked at each other and quietly cringed, remarking between the two of us, "People like that are why Europeans have a bad taste for American tourists."
I was in Montserrat (spain) at the gift shop and heard a British lady angrily yelled at the cashier who was helping another customer, "I need someone ring me up in English. English please". The British lady was yelling the whole entire time when the cashier was trying to do her job of helping another customer. Cashier was funny though. She was just ignoring her, pretending not to understand her. When it was our turn, she was happy my husband spoke Spanish after that whole exchange.
When I was in Barcelona, the worst I saw wasn't the Americans, it was the British and the French. I saw british teenagers getting tattooed on the beach even though there is announcement not to so. And a French group leaving trash behind the beach and being straight up obnoxious.
Sorry, there's a specific "no tattoos on the beach" announcement? I guess if it happens a lot...
Americans only think Americans are bad tourists because they've never seen British tourists.
I bet a lot of people try speaking Spanish there not realizing it isn't the local language.
I mean, you'd still be understood, and it's a better bet than English... same as in Valencia, Galicia, Vizcaya, etc. They'll definitely be sure to tell you it isn't their first language, but the percentage of Catalans who don't speak any Castellano at all has to be miniscule.
When I spent a few weeks traveling around England, I was surprised by how often strangers offered help at the slightest sign of struggle. A few times, someone even handed me a tissue when I had a runny nose on the train, and another stranger opened my plastic bottle of Dr Pepper because their grip was stronger than my slippery dry hand.
In Quebec province, where I'm from, people usually tend to keep to themselves and mind their own business unless the situation is more serious. It often feels like you need to be in real trouble, or cause someone a significant inconvenience, before people step in. My impression is that Quebec society is still fairly individualistic, even if it may feel a bit more community-oriented than some other parts of North America.
Never really experienced that helpfulness in London. I was once on a university field trip and trying to ask for directions to where Harrods was sixteen years ago. Everyone ignored me.
In retrospect should've used Google Maps, but I didn't know exactly how the place was spelled.
I should have clarified more about when and where I got spontaneous assistance, all of which I never had to ask for first. My only trip to the UK was a little under three years ago, and I don't remember that kind of helpfulness in London either, though that may simply be because I wasn't struggling to get around there.
There were two times during my month-long trip through England, Edinburgh, and Glasgow when I was automatically handed several tissues while I visibly had a runny nose. Both happened on trains with a young woman, and one of them was on a journey to or from Bath or York. There was also an adult man in Salisbury's Greggs who, without being asked, opened a surprisingly difficult Dr Pepper bottle for me after seeing I was struggling to twist the cap with my slippery, dry hands.
I talked about Korea in my last comment of this topic so this time I'll talk about Japan! First culture shock was just how tightly packed businesses can be in a building and how things often hide in plain sight. My second shock was just how widespread cash and, more importantly, coins are in day-to-day life there.
For the first point, I don't just mean that every building has a different business on each floor, that I see here in the states as well. But what really got me was just how much they try to maximize the space for the business in said building. In the US and the few parts of Europe I've been to, when an elevator in a building opens its doors, it opens to a small foyer/shared space type area before you walk into the business itself. Often, this is where the stairs also connect. Throughout Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Hiroshima, it was common for the elevator doors to just open up into the business itself. It was just little odd to me stepping into an elevator from the ground floor and then when the doors open, you could be in the middle of a restaurant, or a stationery store, or whatever. The stairs would also be weird to me since it'd be completely separated from the stores themselves and be absolutely tiny.
As a result of such high density, it's easy to miss a restaurant or a store you want to go to. Countless times on both my trips to Japan, I would miss whatever shop I wanted to go to since they wouldn't have any obvious signs pointing to it. I remember once my friends and I wanted to go to a jazz bar we'd seen on Google Maps. We got to the building and at first we were confused if we were even in the right area since the building just looked like an apartment building. Even entering and taking the stairs up one floor, it felt like just going through an apartment building. We soon ran into the wife of the owner of the jazz bar that then told us that the unmarked door at the end of the hallway we were in was the jazz bar we were looking for.
In other discussions of culture shocks of Japan, people always bring up the widespread use of cash but what really got me was the widespread use of coins still. Not just in vending machines but cash registers and even some stores would rather you pay in coins than bills. I've never carried around more coins in my pocket in my life than when I was in Japan. More than once I'd often just pull out a handful of coins from my pocket when paying for something and the cashier would help me pick out the most optimal coin combo to pay for whatever I was paying. I eventually learned to just pay for my convenience store purchases with coins to go through them but I now have a concerning number of 1 yen coins in my drawers at home.
The only time I really felt a culture clash when travelling abroad was when I went to Santorini four years ago. The locals seemed quite hostile and rude, which is unusual because I've always found Greeks and Cypriots quite friendly.
Not the reason I wouldn't really recommend Santorini. It's very mountainous (if you have a fear of heights, you definitely won't like it), has basically zero sandy beaches, and is the kind of place where newlywed couples go for their honeymoon because nothing is more romantic than eating a meal with a twilit view of Fira or Oia. I stayed in Fira for a few days and the only place I really recommend in terms of nightlife is 2 Brothers Bar.
Only two people I really struck a conversation with on that trip was an Aussie couple who I went on a cruise across the island with.
Coming to Malaysia I needed to get used to calling people older than me "aunty" and "uncle". Forgetting to say it is rude, but if you say it to someone whom you think is older than you but isn't that much older than you, it is rude. I'm also now into my 30s so it can be less clear who will be mildly put off if I call them aunty or uncle.
The slightly embarrassing/funny thing was I had just gotten used to calling my in-laws "aunty" and "uncle" and then we got married and during the wedding reception I called my now father-law "uncle" when he expected me to call him "dad".
My wife and I were spending a few days in Córdoba, Spain on a vacation. We are early risers, even by American standards, and had the absolute damndest time finding a place to serve us coffee before we'd been up for hours and hours. We eventually found an American-style coffee shop that opened at, IIRC, 9, and was obviously the preferred haunt of all the expats and visitors getting up way too early for the locals.
We tried to get dinner at a nice-looking restaurant somewhere around 6:30 and the maître d' ("maestro del"?) told us to come back at 8. I asked if we could reserve a table and he told us that absolutely was not necessary; and he was right, the place was empty except for us for at least another hour. The food was delicious, but we were still eating way past our bedtime.
At a different restaurant, on a different trip, in Vienna, we ordered a wine pairing with dinner, and they absolutely plied us. That was the drunkest I've ever been, and I went to some pretty boozed-up parties in college. It was a good thing Vienna is a very safe city! I think an American server would have been a lot more circumspect about it, and not just to save the restaurant money. Europeans really like their wine, lol.
Previous discussion: What's a culture shock that you experienced? (January 13)
Wrong thread, mate?
Also risky click
You're right. This was meant for a thread about a Discord ban wave. I was exhausted.