35 things Americans do that confuse the rest of the world
There's the American way, and then there's everybody else
Drink Coffee On the Go
Starbucks may be on every block around the globe, but that doesn’t mean people in other countries drink it the same way we do. Most international coffee customs are more about the communal ritual of sharing a cup in a coffee shop with friends, while Americans opt for the less eco-friendly alternative — .
PHOTO: Getty
Use a Single-Colored Currency
American dollars may be powerful, but they are anything but exciting. The green and black design is fairly boring () compared to our cultural counterparts that have rainbow-colored bills — some even with metallic accents!
PHOTO: Getty
Using Identical-Looking Bills
It's not just the color of our money that confuses foreigners. We're living in the age of 3D printing and yet our paper money all looks similar. Our bills have remained the same green color and standard size . Similarly, our habit of walking around and opting to pay with plastic is equally as puzzling to our foreign friends.
Super Size Everything
America has three sizes: large, larger and largest — from super-sized drinks to indulgent feasts. The country even glorifies restaurants with the biggest food (sundaes, burgers, you name it!), while other parts of the world typically .
PHOTO: Getty
Customize Restaurant Orders
In foreign cultures that take pride in their cuisine, it's considered uncouth to request condiments to adjust your meal to taste. Requesting a bottle of ketchup or salt that isn't already on the table will get you some major side-eye from your server. If you're worried about committing a faux pas while eating out, it's not a bad idea to brush up on foreign before traveling abroad.
Request Doggie Bags
Asking for a doggy bag at the end of the meal is just as gauche as asking for ketchup. It might seem terrible to let food go to waste, but many European eateries turn their nose up at the idea of taking food to go — in their view, it's a health hazard that could potentially lead to food poisoning. Despite the local attitude, France attempted to cut down on food waste by making it for restaurants to deny doggy bags if they're requested.
Require a Ton of Ice
Putting ice in everything is mostly just an American thing. Many foreign countries write ice off as something that waters down your drink, in addition to having questionable origins. A Smithsonian writer that it isn't so much of a foreign distaste for ice as it is more of just an American obsession with it.
Give a Thumbs Up
There's even an emoji for it, but the affirming gesture of giving of a thumbs up is not universal. It is actually akin to raising your middle finger in places like Australia, Greece and the Middle East. It's probably best to just use your words — especially in business transactions.
Pay Sales Tax
Foreigners who come to the U.S. for a little retail therapy are usually warned that prices are not what they seem. In other countries, the taxes are reflected in the price of the item you are purchasing. The idea of sales tax that gets applied upon checkout is .
Hold a World Series
Every October, our baseball teams compete in the World Series championship. We call it the World Series, but we're the only country that participates aside from a single Canadian team. The fact that we call our team the best in the world in a competition that doesn't operate internationally is baffling to foreigners. So why is it called that? According to , it may have started as just a marketing ploy.
Refer to Ourselves Simply as America
Sometimes it seems like we forget that the U.S. is not the only America in the world. It is actually considered politically incorrect in South America to call the U.S. just America. In fact, there is a whole dedicated to explaining the common mistake.
Consume All Things Pumpkin
Speaking of U.S. obsessions, our fascination with pumpkins has also been called into question. The rest of the world just sees them as another member of the squash family, but we've come to expect pumpkin-flavored everything once fall hits. The nation's pumpkin pandemonium may never reach the same level outside of the U.S., but are starting to come around.
Write the Date Out of Order
The U.S. always has to be different, even when it comes to something as simple as writing the date. Here, it's typically written as "MM-DD-YY" but most other places write it as "DD-MM-YY." Our reason for doing so remains a mystery, but has some theories.
Hold Baby Showers
We've got major baby fever in the U.S., from the initial pregnancy announcement until the birth. To us, baby showers seem commonplace, but they're not really a in other parts of the world. Some even consider it bad luck to celebrate a baby before they're born. And while we're on the subject of celebrating ...
Open Gifts in Front of the Giver
It's always lovely to receive a gift. Although it may seem polite to open a present in front of the giver in order to thank them personally, it doesn't work that way everywhere. In some , it is considered rude to open gifts immediately after receiving them; you may actually be seen as greedy for doing so.
Party With Red Solo Cups
This one isn't so much of a weird custom as it is just a funny cultural association. The idea of going to a party and drinking out of red solo cups is viewed by the rest of the world as a very American thing to do. This has a lot to do with Hollywood consistently using them in party scenes. The cups are a staple at parties thrown around the world.
Require Personal Space
We love our personal space here in the United States. Invasion of that space in a social situation (especially with a stranger) makes Americans uncomfortable and is sometimes seen as unnecessarily aggressive (remember that "Seinfeld" episode?). Foreign travel blogs that it's best to give Americans space during conversation, and note that even minimal physical contact is a bit too intimate for most.
Tip (Almost) Everyone
Restaurant-goers outside the U.S. rarely worry about leaving tips for waitstaff. Sounds unfair, until you realize that service industry employees abroad tend to earn higher hourly wages than their American counterparts, whose pay structure is built around gratuity. As one TripAdvisor article , "[Those] who provide service are often dependent on tip income and generally are grateful for any tips received, especially when prompt and exceptional service has been provided."
Follow Strict Alcohol Laws
In addition to being one of just a handful of countries that prohibit alcohol consumption for anyone under 21, some places across the U.S. still abide by Prohibition-era laws restricting the sale of beer, wine and liquor.
Chat Up Strangers
Americans' penchant for small talk can be off-putting to people who didn't grow up talking about the weather. Especially perplexing? The fact that "How are you?" to open up.
Refuse to Discuss Finances
"Americans generally do not discuss how much money they make or how much they paid for certain high-end items," another cautioned. "It is considered very rude and is even more uncomfortable to discuss."
Cover Up
In a country where Speedos never stood a chance, it's no surprise that nude sunbathing is especially frowned upon. "[It] should definitely be noted that nude bathing, and even changing clothes on the beach, can be construed as indecent exposure and therefore may cause problems," the German government told its citizens in for the U.S.
Laugh Out Loud
The Japanese think it's , which is why they aren't fond of Americans' tendency to let out hearty, open-mouthed guffaws.
Measure in Miles, Feet and Inches
This is an obvious one, and, yet, it's still a constant source of bewilderment for most of the world. Instead of following the metric system, America is one of just three countries to follow the imperial system of measurement. The others are .
Eat It All
Visitors to the U.S. are often blown away by the size of American meals. Researchers of certain snacks in Philadelphia to their Parisian counterparts and found that the U.S. candy bars were an average of 41% bigger, sodas were 52% bigger and yogurt servings were 82% bigger. What's more, studies show that people after immigrating to the U.S.
Expect Free Refills
The only eateries outside of the U.S. that offer free refills on soft drinks and coffee are (usually) American fast food chains. But as those fast food brands extend their reach internationally, free refills are spreading — and not everyone is happy about it. France the sale of unlimited-refill soda in an effort to curb rising obesity rates.
Insist on Variety
Americans "can't have just one thing," one U.K. resident . "It has to come in blueberry, vanilla, diet, low fat, low sodium, big, small, round and GRAPE, everything is grape flavoured [sic]. Nothing is grape flavoured in the U.K."
Go Into Debt for a Degree
Europeans in particular balk at the in the U.S., which in 2016 was nearly $25,000 a year for public, in-state colleges and almost $50,000 a year for private universities. Meanwhile, students in countries like France and Germany can attend college .
Tailgate
It's weird enough that American football has almost nothing in common with the sport the rest of the world knows as football. But the culture surrounding both pro- and college-level American football is especially confusing to non-Americans. Check out , in which Americans explain what tailgating entails.
Trick or Treat
The U.S.'s take on Halloween has only recently begun to catch on in other countries. Although some find it bizarre — and point to it as another example of Americans' tendency to commercialize everything — others are envious. "I moved to the U.S. from Poland when I was 26," one Reddit user . "When [my] first Halloween came and my friends explained to me that I am way too old to go trick-or-treating, it almost broke my heart."
Advertise Everything
Prescription drug ads are a head-scratcher to the rest of the world, where direct-to-consumer ads for medications are . Also strange to non-Americans: commercials for lawyers. One visitor to America that there were "lawyer adverts everywhere. Proper Saul Goodman style law adverts. The rented villa we stayed in had at least 4 fridge magnets advertising lawyers, brochures for more lawyers lay around the villa, [and] adverts on TV [constantly] with more lawyers."
Sit in the Backseat
Hail a cab in any U.S. city and the driver will likely look at you funny if you try to climb in the front with them. But in places like Australia and New Zealand, opting for the backseat is considered .
Show Too Much in Public Restrooms
Visitors to the U.S. really, really, really don't appreciate American-style bathroom stalls. Several online have been devoted to the mystery of why there's so much space underneath and around stall doors.
Work All the Time
According to a 2013 by the Center for Economic Policy and Research, almost 1 in 4 American workers don't have any guaranteed paid leave, and those that do only get an average of 21 days. "The U.S. is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation," the authors wrote. Compare that to some European countries, like Spain and Germany, where employers are required to offer workers about a month of paid vacation days per year.
Stay Fundamentally Optimistic
"Americans and Russians say different things when faced with the same situation," one Russian website explained. "Seeing the man who has fallen in the street, an American asks, 'Are you all right?' Russians will inquire, 'Are you ill?' … Where we 'aren't sick,' they 'stay well.'" And one to American culture noted that "In America, you can make mistakes, fail, and it doesn't matter. It is a fundamental feeling that to sometimes be incorrect is natural … rather than thinking about mistakes and failures, American's [sic] have curiosity and say, 'Let's try anyway!'"
Drink Coffee On the Go
Starbucks may be on every block around the globe, but that doesn’t mean people in other countries drink it the same way we do. Most international coffee customs are more about the communal ritual of sharing a cup in a coffee shop with friends, while Americans opt for the less eco-friendly alternative — .
PHOTO: Getty
Use a Single-Colored Currency
American dollars may be powerful, but they are anything but exciting. The green and black design is fairly boring () compared to our cultural counterparts that have rainbow-colored bills — some even with metallic accents!
PHOTO: Getty
Using Identical-Looking Bills
It's not just the color of our money that confuses foreigners. We're living in the age of 3D printing and yet our paper money all looks similar. Our bills have remained the same green color and standard size . Similarly, our habit of walking around and opting to pay with plastic is equally as puzzling to our foreign friends.
Super Size Everything
America has three sizes: large, larger and largest — from super-sized drinks to indulgent feasts. The country even glorifies restaurants with the biggest food (sundaes, burgers, you name it!), while other parts of the world typically .
PHOTO: Getty
Customize Restaurant Orders
In foreign cultures that take pride in their cuisine, it's considered uncouth to request condiments to adjust your meal to taste. Requesting a bottle of ketchup or salt that isn't already on the table will get you some major side-eye from your server. If you're worried about committing a faux pas while eating out, it's not a bad idea to brush up on foreign before traveling abroad.
Request Doggie Bags
Asking for a doggy bag at the end of the meal is just as gauche as asking for ketchup. It might seem terrible to let food go to waste, but many European eateries turn their nose up at the idea of taking food to go — in their view, it's a health hazard that could potentially lead to food poisoning. Despite the local attitude, France attempted to cut down on food waste by making it for restaurants to deny doggy bags if they're requested.
Require a Ton of Ice
Putting ice in everything is mostly just an American thing. Many foreign countries write ice off as something that waters down your drink, in addition to having questionable origins. A Smithsonian writer that it isn't so much of a foreign distaste for ice as it is more of just an American obsession with it.
Give a Thumbs Up
There's even an emoji for it, but the affirming gesture of giving of a thumbs up is not universal. It is actually akin to raising your middle finger in places like Australia, Greece and the Middle East. It's probably best to just use your words — especially in business transactions.
Pay Sales Tax
Foreigners who come to the U.S. for a little retail therapy are usually warned that prices are not what they seem. In other countries, the taxes are reflected in the price of the item you are purchasing. The idea of sales tax that gets applied upon checkout is .
Hold a World Series
Every October, our baseball teams compete in the World Series championship. We call it the World Series, but we're the only country that participates aside from a single Canadian team. The fact that we call our team the best in the world in a competition that doesn't operate internationally is baffling to foreigners. So why is it called that? According to , it may have started as just a marketing ploy.
Refer to Ourselves Simply as America
Sometimes it seems like we forget that the U.S. is not the only America in the world. It is actually considered politically incorrect in South America to call the U.S. just America. In fact, there is a whole dedicated to explaining the common mistake.
Consume All Things Pumpkin
Speaking of U.S. obsessions, our fascination with pumpkins has also been called into question. The rest of the world just sees them as another member of the squash family, but we've come to expect pumpkin-flavored everything once fall hits. The nation's pumpkin pandemonium may never reach the same level outside of the U.S., but are starting to come around.
Write the Date Out of Order
The U.S. always has to be different, even when it comes to something as simple as writing the date. Here, it's typically written as "MM-DD-YY" but most other places write it as "DD-MM-YY." Our reason for doing so remains a mystery, but has some theories.
Hold Baby Showers
We've got major baby fever in the U.S., from the initial pregnancy announcement until the birth. To us, baby showers seem commonplace, but they're not really a in other parts of the world. Some even consider it bad luck to celebrate a baby before they're born. And while we're on the subject of celebrating ...
Open Gifts in Front of the Giver
It's always lovely to receive a gift. Although it may seem polite to open a present in front of the giver in order to thank them personally, it doesn't work that way everywhere. In some , it is considered rude to open gifts immediately after receiving them; you may actually be seen as greedy for doing so.
Party With Red Solo Cups
This one isn't so much of a weird custom as it is just a funny cultural association. The idea of going to a party and drinking out of red solo cups is viewed by the rest of the world as a very American thing to do. This has a lot to do with Hollywood consistently using them in party scenes. The cups are a staple at parties thrown around the world.
Require Personal Space
We love our personal space here in the United States. Invasion of that space in a social situation (especially with a stranger) makes Americans uncomfortable and is sometimes seen as unnecessarily aggressive (remember that "Seinfeld" episode?). Foreign travel blogs that it's best to give Americans space during conversation, and note that even minimal physical contact is a bit too intimate for most.
Tip (Almost) Everyone
Restaurant-goers outside the U.S. rarely worry about leaving tips for waitstaff. Sounds unfair, until you realize that service industry employees abroad tend to earn higher hourly wages than their American counterparts, whose pay structure is built around gratuity. As one TripAdvisor article , "[Those] who provide service are often dependent on tip income and generally are grateful for any tips received, especially when prompt and exceptional service has been provided."
Follow Strict Alcohol Laws
In addition to being one of just a handful of countries that prohibit alcohol consumption for anyone under 21, some places across the U.S. still abide by Prohibition-era laws restricting the sale of beer, wine and liquor.
Chat Up Strangers
Americans' penchant for small talk can be off-putting to people who didn't grow up talking about the weather. Especially perplexing? The fact that "How are you?" to open up.
Refuse to Discuss Finances
"Americans generally do not discuss how much money they make or how much they paid for certain high-end items," another cautioned. "It is considered very rude and is even more uncomfortable to discuss."
Cover Up
In a country where Speedos never stood a chance, it's no surprise that nude sunbathing is especially frowned upon. "[It] should definitely be noted that nude bathing, and even changing clothes on the beach, can be construed as indecent exposure and therefore may cause problems," the German government told its citizens in for the U.S.
Laugh Out Loud
The Japanese think it's , which is why they aren't fond of Americans' tendency to let out hearty, open-mouthed guffaws.
Measure in Miles, Feet and Inches
This is an obvious one, and, yet, it's still a constant source of bewilderment for most of the world. Instead of following the metric system, America is one of just three countries to follow the imperial system of measurement. The others are .
Eat It All
Visitors to the U.S. are often blown away by the size of American meals. Researchers of certain snacks in Philadelphia to their Parisian counterparts and found that the U.S. candy bars were an average of 41% bigger, sodas were 52% bigger and yogurt servings were 82% bigger. What's more, studies show that people after immigrating to the U.S.
Expect Free Refills
The only eateries outside of the U.S. that offer free refills on soft drinks and coffee are (usually) American fast food chains. But as those fast food brands extend their reach internationally, free refills are spreading — and not everyone is happy about it. France the sale of unlimited-refill soda in an effort to curb rising obesity rates.
Insist on Variety
Americans "can't have just one thing," one U.K. resident . "It has to come in blueberry, vanilla, diet, low fat, low sodium, big, small, round and GRAPE, everything is grape flavoured [sic]. Nothing is grape flavoured in the U.K."
Go Into Debt for a Degree
Europeans in particular balk at the in the U.S., which in 2016 was nearly $25,000 a year for public, in-state colleges and almost $50,000 a year for private universities. Meanwhile, students in countries like France and Germany can attend college .
Tailgate
It's weird enough that American football has almost nothing in common with the sport the rest of the world knows as football. But the culture surrounding both pro- and college-level American football is especially confusing to non-Americans. Check out , in which Americans explain what tailgating entails.
Trick or Treat
The U.S.'s take on Halloween has only recently begun to catch on in other countries. Although some find it bizarre — and point to it as another example of Americans' tendency to commercialize everything — others are envious. "I moved to the U.S. from Poland when I was 26," one Reddit user . "When [my] first Halloween came and my friends explained to me that I am way too old to go trick-or-treating, it almost broke my heart."
Advertise Everything
Prescription drug ads are a head-scratcher to the rest of the world, where direct-to-consumer ads for medications are . Also strange to non-Americans: commercials for lawyers. One visitor to America that there were "lawyer adverts everywhere. Proper Saul Goodman style law adverts. The rented villa we stayed in had at least 4 fridge magnets advertising lawyers, brochures for more lawyers lay around the villa, [and] adverts on TV [constantly] with more lawyers."
Sit in the Backseat
Hail a cab in any U.S. city and the driver will likely look at you funny if you try to climb in the front with them. But in places like Australia and New Zealand, opting for the backseat is considered .
Show Too Much in Public Restrooms
Visitors to the U.S. really, really, really don't appreciate American-style bathroom stalls. Several online have been devoted to the mystery of why there's so much space underneath and around stall doors.
Work All the Time
According to a 2013 by the Center for Economic Policy and Research, almost 1 in 4 American workers don't have any guaranteed paid leave, and those that do only get an average of 21 days. "The U.S. is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation," the authors wrote. Compare that to some European countries, like Spain and Germany, where employers are required to offer workers about a month of paid vacation days per year.
Stay Fundamentally Optimistic
"Americans and Russians say different things when faced with the same situation," one Russian website explained. "Seeing the man who has fallen in the street, an American asks, 'Are you all right?' Russians will inquire, 'Are you ill?' … Where we 'aren't sick,' they 'stay well.'" And one to American culture noted that "In America, you can make mistakes, fail, and it doesn't matter. It is a fundamental feeling that to sometimes be incorrect is natural … rather than thinking about mistakes and failures, American's [sic] have curiosity and say, 'Let's try anyway!'"
Drink Coffee On the Go
Starbucks may be on every block around the globe, but that doesn’t mean people in other countries drink it the same way we do. Most international coffee customs are more about the communal ritual of sharing a cup in a coffee shop with friends, while Americans opt for the less eco-friendly alternative — .
PHOTO: Getty
Use a Single-Colored Currency
American dollars may be powerful, but they are anything but exciting. The green and black design is fairly boring () compared to our cultural counterparts that have rainbow-colored bills — some even with metallic accents!
PHOTO: Getty
Using Identical-Looking Bills
It's not just the color of our money that confuses foreigners. We're living in the age of 3D printing and yet our paper money all looks similar. Our bills have remained the same green color and standard size . Similarly, our habit of walking around and opting to pay with plastic is equally as puzzling to our foreign friends.
Super Size Everything
America has three sizes: large, larger and largest — from super-sized drinks to indulgent feasts. The country even glorifies restaurants with the biggest food (sundaes, burgers, you name it!), while other parts of the world typically .
PHOTO: Getty
Customize Restaurant Orders
In foreign cultures that take pride in their cuisine, it's considered uncouth to request condiments to adjust your meal to taste. Requesting a bottle of ketchup or salt that isn't already on the table will get you some major side-eye from your server. If you're worried about committing a faux pas while eating out, it's not a bad idea to brush up on foreign before traveling abroad.
Request Doggie Bags
Asking for a doggy bag at the end of the meal is just as gauche as asking for ketchup. It might seem terrible to let food go to waste, but many European eateries turn their nose up at the idea of taking food to go — in their view, it's a health hazard that could potentially lead to food poisoning. Despite the local attitude, France attempted to cut down on food waste by making it for restaurants to deny doggy bags if they're requested.
Require a Ton of Ice
Putting ice in everything is mostly just an American thing. Many foreign countries write ice off as something that waters down your drink, in addition to having questionable origins. A Smithsonian writer that it isn't so much of a foreign distaste for ice as it is more of just an American obsession with it.
Give a Thumbs Up
There's even an emoji for it, but the affirming gesture of giving of a thumbs up is not universal. It is actually akin to raising your middle finger in places like Australia, Greece and the Middle East. It's probably best to just use your words — especially in business transactions.
Pay Sales Tax
Foreigners who come to the U.S. for a little retail therapy are usually warned that prices are not what they seem. In other countries, the taxes are reflected in the price of the item you are purchasing. The idea of sales tax that gets applied upon checkout is .
Hold a World Series
Every October, our baseball teams compete in the World Series championship. We call it the World Series, but we're the only country that participates aside from a single Canadian team. The fact that we call our team the best in the world in a competition that doesn't operate internationally is baffling to foreigners. So why is it called that? According to , it may have started as just a marketing ploy.
Refer to Ourselves Simply as America
Sometimes it seems like we forget that the U.S. is not the only America in the world. It is actually considered politically incorrect in South America to call the U.S. just America. In fact, there is a whole dedicated to explaining the common mistake.
Consume All Things Pumpkin
Speaking of U.S. obsessions, our fascination with pumpkins has also been called into question. The rest of the world just sees them as another member of the squash family, but we've come to expect pumpkin-flavored everything once fall hits. The nation's pumpkin pandemonium may never reach the same level outside of the U.S., but are starting to come around.
Write the Date Out of Order
The U.S. always has to be different, even when it comes to something as simple as writing the date. Here, it's typically written as "MM-DD-YY" but most other places write it as "DD-MM-YY." Our reason for doing so remains a mystery, but has some theories.
Hold Baby Showers
We've got major baby fever in the U.S., from the initial pregnancy announcement until the birth. To us, baby showers seem commonplace, but they're not really a in other parts of the world. Some even consider it bad luck to celebrate a baby before they're born. And while we're on the subject of celebrating ...
Open Gifts in Front of the Giver
It's always lovely to receive a gift. Although it may seem polite to open a present in front of the giver in order to thank them personally, it doesn't work that way everywhere. In some , it is considered rude to open gifts immediately after receiving them; you may actually be seen as greedy for doing so.
Party With Red Solo Cups
This one isn't so much of a weird custom as it is just a funny cultural association. The idea of going to a party and drinking out of red solo cups is viewed by the rest of the world as a very American thing to do. This has a lot to do with Hollywood consistently using them in party scenes. The cups are a staple at parties thrown around the world.
Require Personal Space
We love our personal space here in the United States. Invasion of that space in a social situation (especially with a stranger) makes Americans uncomfortable and is sometimes seen as unnecessarily aggressive (remember that "Seinfeld" episode?). Foreign travel blogs that it's best to give Americans space during conversation, and note that even minimal physical contact is a bit too intimate for most.
Tip (Almost) Everyone
Restaurant-goers outside the U.S. rarely worry about leaving tips for waitstaff. Sounds unfair, until you realize that service industry employees abroad tend to earn higher hourly wages than their American counterparts, whose pay structure is built around gratuity. As one TripAdvisor article , "[Those] who provide service are often dependent on tip income and generally are grateful for any tips received, especially when prompt and exceptional service has been provided."
Follow Strict Alcohol Laws
In addition to being one of just a handful of countries that prohibit alcohol consumption for anyone under 21, some places across the U.S. still abide by Prohibition-era laws restricting the sale of beer, wine and liquor.
Chat Up Strangers
Americans' penchant for small talk can be off-putting to people who didn't grow up talking about the weather. Especially perplexing? The fact that "How are you?" to open up.
Refuse to Discuss Finances
"Americans generally do not discuss how much money they make or how much they paid for certain high-end items," another cautioned. "It is considered very rude and is even more uncomfortable to discuss."
Cover Up
In a country where Speedos never stood a chance, it's no surprise that nude sunbathing is especially frowned upon. "[It] should definitely be noted that nude bathing, and even changing clothes on the beach, can be construed as indecent exposure and therefore may cause problems," the German government told its citizens in for the U.S.
Laugh Out Loud
The Japanese think it's , which is why they aren't fond of Americans' tendency to let out hearty, open-mouthed guffaws.
Measure in Miles, Feet and Inches
This is an obvious one, and, yet, it's still a constant source of bewilderment for most of the world. Instead of following the metric system, America is one of just three countries to follow the imperial system of measurement. The others are .
Eat It All
Visitors to the U.S. are often blown away by the size of American meals. Researchers of certain snacks in Philadelphia to their Parisian counterparts and found that the U.S. candy bars were an average of 41% bigger, sodas were 52% bigger and yogurt servings were 82% bigger. What's more, studies show that people after immigrating to the U.S.
Expect Free Refills
The only eateries outside of the U.S. that offer free refills on soft drinks and coffee are (usually) American fast food chains. But as those fast food brands extend their reach internationally, free refills are spreading — and not everyone is happy about it. France the sale of unlimited-refill soda in an effort to curb rising obesity rates.
Insist on Variety
Americans "can't have just one thing," one U.K. resident . "It has to come in blueberry, vanilla, diet, low fat, low sodium, big, small, round and GRAPE, everything is grape flavoured [sic]. Nothing is grape flavoured in the U.K."
Go Into Debt for a Degree
Europeans in particular balk at the in the U.S., which in 2016 was nearly $25,000 a year for public, in-state colleges and almost $50,000 a year for private universities. Meanwhile, students in countries like France and Germany can attend college .
Tailgate
It's weird enough that American football has almost nothing in common with the sport the rest of the world knows as football. But the culture surrounding both pro- and college-level American football is especially confusing to non-Americans. Check out , in which Americans explain what tailgating entails.
Trick or Treat
The U.S.'s take on Halloween has only recently begun to catch on in other countries. Although some find it bizarre — and point to it as another example of Americans' tendency to commercialize everything — others are envious. "I moved to the U.S. from Poland when I was 26," one Reddit user . "When [my] first Halloween came and my friends explained to me that I am way too old to go trick-or-treating, it almost broke my heart."
Advertise Everything
Prescription drug ads are a head-scratcher to the rest of the world, where direct-to-consumer ads for medications are . Also strange to non-Americans: commercials for lawyers. One visitor to America that there were "lawyer adverts everywhere. Proper Saul Goodman style law adverts. The rented villa we stayed in had at least 4 fridge magnets advertising lawyers, brochures for more lawyers lay around the villa, [and] adverts on TV [constantly] with more lawyers."
Sit in the Backseat
Hail a cab in any U.S. city and the driver will likely look at you funny if you try to climb in the front with them. But in places like Australia and New Zealand, opting for the backseat is considered .
Show Too Much in Public Restrooms
Visitors to the U.S. really, really, really don't appreciate American-style bathroom stalls. Several online have been devoted to the mystery of why there's so much space underneath and around stall doors.
Work All the Time
According to a 2013 by the Center for Economic Policy and Research, almost 1 in 4 American workers don't have any guaranteed paid leave, and those that do only get an average of 21 days. "The U.S. is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation," the authors wrote. Compare that to some European countries, like Spain and Germany, where employers are required to offer workers about a month of paid vacation days per year.
Stay Fundamentally Optimistic
"Americans and Russians say different things when faced with the same situation," one Russian website explained. "Seeing the man who has fallen in the street, an American asks, 'Are you all right?' Russians will inquire, 'Are you ill?' … Where we 'aren't sick,' they 'stay well.'" And one to American culture noted that "In America, you can make mistakes, fail, and it doesn't matter. It is a fundamental feeling that to sometimes be incorrect is natural … rather than thinking about mistakes and failures, American's [sic] have curiosity and say, 'Let's try anyway!'"
There's the American way, and then there's everybody else
Even though laughing loudly and are both part of most American's everyday lives, to others it's downright strange — and even rude. These are all of the common practices and cultural norms in our society that the rest of the world doesn't share.
