People Overseas Share The 'Weirdest Things About America That Americans Don't Realize Are Weird'
Pretty much everyone does pretty much everything differently than us, it turns out.
PeopleImages | KeithBinns | Getty Images Signature | Canva Pro It's no secret that Americans aren't the most well-traveled people in the world. Sure, most of us have seen multiple states, but only about half of us have a passport — and that's a relatively new thing. It used to be only about a third of us on average!
So it's only natural that we tend to be a bit unaware of the perceptions people overseas have of our country and the people in it. People recently got to talking about this on Reddit, and the things they identified might surprise you.
People overseas shared the weirdest things about America that people in the U.S. don't realize are weird.
Culture shock is an inherent part of traveling to another country, but it seems the uniqueness that comes with America's position as "the leader of the free world" goes further than most of us would guess.
And no, we're not just talking about how a lot of our food is, um, illegal in other countries (though our portion sizes continue to shock our overseas brethren). Redditors identified all kinds of everyday practices and cultural mores that are defaults in America and that nobody really does anywhere else.
1. Putting real estate agents' faces on 'for sale' signs
OK, wait a minute — other countries don't do this?! Those smiling, perfectly manicured headshots of the local realtor may be standard here, but if you think about it, this really doesn't make a lot of sense.
As one Redditor joked, "'nice house, but... that chick's fugly! C'mon, let's go check out the other one."
Sure, nobody's probably actually done that (here's hoping, anyway), but that IS kind of the implication of the whole headshot-on-the-sign thing. Weird!
2. Prescription drug ads
If you ever make any friends overseas, they will likely mention this at some point. Advertising medications is illegal in most countries because… well, the very idea of for-profit healthcare itself is bizarre to pretty much the entire rest of the world.
The warnings these ads contain especially throw foreigners for a loop.
"Prescription drug ads on TV that casually say 'side effects may include death,'" one person wrote. "I was shocked." Another added, "And they say it while the people are dancing joyfully." Yeah, no two ways about it, that is… EXTREMELY weird.
3. Our coins aren't labeled with how much they're worth
One Redditor described this bizarre system perfectly: "[A] 10-cent piece just says 'one dime.' How tf are tourists supposed to know how much a dime is worth?" As they went on to point out, judging by size is no help either. "Oh well, it’s the smallest so it must be worth the least, right? WRONG," they added.
Tons of other Redditors described having experiences in the US where they had to ask a cashier or even a total stranger to help them sort this out so they wouldn't become that guy holding up the line. Truly, why are we like this? Someone get the U.S. Mint on the line!
4. How enormous our country is
Several Redditors expressed how they truly had no concept of how big our country is until they tried to visit more than one part — and found it takes days of driving or an all-day plane trip. The amount of wide, open space we have threw people for a loop as well.
One cited the old refrain that says Americans don't understand how old Europe is, and Europeans don't understand how big America is — which certainly seems to be true.
One even mentioned how thrown they were by TV shows having multiple air times like "Thursday at 9/8 Central" — because it never occurred to them that one country would have six different time zones.
5. How kind, open, and friendly we are
Far and away, the biggest surprise to people from overseas was how gregarious and nice we Americans are.
"You could strike up a conversation with a tree," one person joked, while others noticed things like holding doors for people, smiling at strangers as you walk by, and especially offering casual greetings to any and everyone.
Our tendency to ask people "How are you" struck many as odd, too — this simply isn't done in a lot of places.
I experienced this once on a trip to France, where it is an expected custom to say "bonjour" to the clerk of any business — but to ask "how are you" is considered intrusive. The surprised look and stammered, "Eughhhh bien? et… vous?" I got from the saleswoman in a bookstore when I reflexively asked her "How are you" was quite something!
Our love of casual conversation with total strangers — on a train, in the checkout line, wherever — is another uniquely American thing that people on Reddit said they found awkward at first, but ultimately came to love, and even miss once they got home.
Perhaps most instructive of all, people noted how this warmth is totally at odds with how America is depicted in the media — not just overseas, but in our own country, too. "Looking at the news, you'd think they're the angriest, most aggressive people in the world."
That's probably one American oddity we could probably all stand to learn a thing or two from.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.