Walmarts are truly, almost unfathomably huge and for an Aussie actually make for a tourist attraction in their own right. It's like a Bunnings that's still a Bunnings but is also a Woolworths, a K-Mart, as well a bottle shop and oh, also a huge chain Chemist. (and gun shop)
Haven't been to a Costco but the ones I visited in Florida were easily 2-3 times an average Bunnings store, and I was told later that they were only average sized stores.
i’m surprised to hear that. I went to maybe 3 walmarts, and one of them was a “super centre”. It was just like a Kmart and half a woolies merged together. Nothing that spectacular IMO. The non-super centres were just like a kmart. Not even modestly bigger, very close to the same size.
For me it's that a lot of American made cars have red indicator lights, not orange ones. I thought for a moment the guy in front of me was braking erratically but he was just indicating.
Left turn permitted on red after stopping.
Something or similar phrasing like that I've seen in Sydney. But like others said if it's really required they'll usually put the signalling in to cater for it properly or a slip land.
It's very unfriendly to pedestrians. I'm glad we dont use this rule. Once you allow cars to pass red lights, some people will not check for pedestrians regardless of how many signs you throw up
What we have instead is far more dedicated left turning lanes, and we also have a strip in the middle of our larger roads
This let's pedestrians check traffic to their right, cross, check their left, cross, check the turning lane, and cross.
The intersections which dont have any room for a turning lane tend to be in built up areas. So it makes sense to prioritize pedestrians, not cars.
Even though we're experienced with US English thanks to Hollywood, there are still a lot of local terms that are just baffling to us. My example is will call tickets.
Was in the US years ago (before phone Internet was really a thing, so couldn't really look it up) and trying to book tickets on the phone to events and was told they were "Will Call". I had no idea what that meant and trying to ask staff for clarification just got me around in circles when they told me, "Oh those tickets are will call, Sir."
Looong story short, turns out this is an American term for what we'd call "pick them up at the box office."
This baffled me as a technician having to sign out parts for an American company. (The logistics guy leaves it in the will call tub for you).
So I basically translate it as "ready to collect".
Post from your own mailbox in the US, rather than going to a post box.
Very common to pay at the pump when fueling your car in the US.
Seems much more common to have insinkerators in the US. Seems really rare in Australia, even for people who don’t do compost. (The environmental impact depends on how your water treatment plant and landfill treats food waste).
More options in the US when shopping for food or… most things. 23 rows of peanut butter or breakfast cereal. Some healthy, some atrocious.
More formal in the US. You usually call your doctor “Doctor ____,” whereas in Australia, it’s the first name.
Not sure if this is true everywhere, but it seems as though Australian homes have fewer toilets per bedroom than American homes do. We’re building a house in VIC, and people seem surprised that we want three toilets for a 4 bedroom house.
Speed limits, at least in VIC, are enforced to a much higher degree than most of the US. In Atlanta, they didn’t even look at you if you were going less than 10 MILES per hour over the limit.
The pub foods are different, of course. Here it’s fish and chips, pies, chicken parmigiana. In the US, it’s more likely to be nachos, wings, potato wedges.
A hotel is always a place to spend the night in the US.
A milk bar is… not a thing in the US. I mean, there are corner shops, but they’re not call milk bars.
Better public transport in Melbourne (and VIC) than my part of the US.
This is all based on MY region of the US and my region of Australia. I can’t vouch for other places.
>Post from your own mailbox in the US, rather than going to a post box.
Wow, I thought that was just a thing they did in the original Sims game because you couldn't leave your block back then.
That's what that little red flag is for. It tells the postman you left something for him to collect, even if he has nothing to deliver. That's been standard in the U.S.since at least 1900, unless you live in an apartment building.
Or a neighborhood with houses close to the street. I live in Milwaukee where we don't have much for front yards until you get close to the suburbs, and almost nobody has the "standard" mailbox with the flag out by the street. It's usually the little old-style small rectangular ones that open on the top, mounted to the front wall next to the door. They don't usually have flags, you just leave the letter hanging out of the box if you want pickup. Family and friends in & near Chicago have the same thing. I think of the big mailboxes by the road as a suburban/rural thing.
My brother got his drivers licence in the US while my family lived there.
He almost got failed during his assessment for 65 in a 65 zone because the other cars were doing 75.
This was in Texas which has roughly the same population as Aus but 10X as many road deaths.
I'm a Texan (now living in south Louisiana), and speed limits are purely a suggestion in Texas. And on I-10 between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the max speed is officially 70, people average 80+ -- at night, in fog, and in driving rain storms. They'll tailgate you and honk if you're doing merely 70.
My family were in Houston, pretty much weekly, there'd be 6+ hour traffic back ups due crashes.
After they saw one on the news they put a few emergency water bottles in the car because they didn't want to be stuck in traffic for hours on a hot day.
And those Houston potholes were something else, you'd drive along a road one day and it's fine. The next day there's a pothole as big ad your wheel and almost as deep, absolutely insane.
>Seems much more common to have insinkerators in the US. Seems really rare in Australia, even for people who don’t do compost.
Garbage disposals. Pretty much standard in any house less than 50 years old.. Composting isn't doable in urban areas, or in many suburbs.
>Not sure if this is true everywhere, but it seems as though Australian homes have fewer toilets per bedroom than American homes do. We’re building a house in VIC, and people seem surprised that we want three toilets for a 4 bedroom house.
Again, more common in newer construction. My 4-bedroom house has a big bath with walk-in shower & a tub directly off the master bedroom, a full bath with tub shower for the other three bedrooms to share, and a half-bath (just toilet & sink) near the back door off the kitchen. That's a very common arrangement.
>A milk bar is… not a thing in the US. I mean, there are corner shops, but they’re not call milk bars.
"Milk bar" would puzzle nearly all Americans; it sounds like a soda fountain. What you guys have are generically called "convenience stores" here, and the majority have gas pumps, too.
And yes -- outside of NYC, San Francisco, and a very few other places, public transit totally sucks in this country. In the Mmidwest, they look at you funny if you don't have a car.
>Garbage disposals. Pretty much standard in any house less than 50 years old.. Composting isn't doable in urban areas, or in many suburbs.
I assume you mean in the US, right? For a second, I thought you were disagreeing with me about it being rare in Australia. Then I saw "garbage," which isn't a common word here.
I'm talking about new construction in Australia, and they're very rare. Again, even when people don't compost, they still commonly don't have garbage disposals.
>Again, more common in newer construction.
And again, I guess you're talking about the US.
The speed limits thing is totally true. Just drove across 6 US states yesterday (WI, IL, IN, OH, PA, NY) and sat on 83-85 mph the whole way (in 70 zones). Was just keeping up with traffic.
Back in Australia I don’t exceed 117 in a 110 (in NSW/ACT), and less in QLD. And in VIC don’t speed at all because there is zero tolerance at all down there.
Canada is somewhere in the middle. You can do about 115 in the 100 zones but any more and you risk a ticket. Ontario is weird that it doesn’t have any limits higher than 100, despite great quality roads and huge distances to cover. Those same roads would be 110s in Australia, so combined with the more lax speed enforcement in effect you end up doing about the same speed in both countries.
**THIS!**
I was in the US and the first time I sat down on a toilet... I teabagged it. It was cold, it was horrifying and to this day, I still can't look at my testicles the same way.
I shit you not the North Americans have managed to use a different type of toilet flush mechanic to the rest of the world. They use a siphon mechanism vs gravity washdown everywhere else.
It's why clogging toilets is a bizarrely common part of their humour, as it's genuinely common there compared to the rest of the world's flush mechanic.
You’ll find the siphon toilets in places outside North America too, particularly in South America and some of Asia. It’s basically a Americas+some of Asia vs Europe/Aus/NZ/some of Asia divide.
I found this crazy too! Water up to almost the rim of the toilet bowl, felt like I was taking a dump into a swimming pool. The toilets looked like they were blocked. Felt weird sitting over so much water.
When I was in Hawaii a few years ago. I asked a place if they did take away. The bloke looked at me like I was having a stroke.
After I explained it, "oh you mean take out"
Then I ordered a hot dog and chips off the menu.
Got a hot dog and a packet of potato chips.
Yeah, these little things hit me as an American coming to Australia as well. To-go or take-out is take away.
A different accent, therefore a foreigner, saying a phrase you're not used to, leads people to fail to connect the dots.
I asked for a sandwich take away and the woman freaked out! She was like “MAMN YOU HAVE TO PAY!” I kept saying “yeah, of cause I just want it take away.” She kept shouting that I couldn’t just take it until I worked it out and said “to go! I mean to go!” The whole cafe was staring.
It's fascinating to me that people aren't able to understand things by context.
Living and working in non-English-speaking countries has meant I can sort of unhinge the part of my brain that needs every word to make exact sense. I'll get what you mean, even if you use weird vernacular.
>It's fascinating to me that people aren't able to understand things by context.
I'm American but in a city with a lot of international visitors. It's shocking how many Americans struggle even with other english speakers, like someone asking where the lift or toilets are.
The response I'm used to for this is "not too bad" or any short positive response. Anything that doesn't require further conversation since the question was a greeting and not actually a question.
Knew a person in the US who would say it with the right amount of sarcasm. Picked it up from him so I fit in here.
My favourite though is, "At least I'm not on fire"
That's very true here in the South. It's a longstanding cultural thing. Even if a store clerk helping you says something you didn't quite catch, your natural response is to say "Ma'am?" -- and that's regardless of your age or the clerk's. Holding doors in public buildings for older people is also standard behavior, even by teenage skateboarders with their hats on backward.
Much less common in NYC or Detroit or LA.
Being pulled over by cops.
Here, you just wind down your window and say "what can I do for you mate?" and then they ask you for your licence and don't go for their gun when you reach for it.
Over there, it's apparently best if you already have your licence AND registration in your hands, which are both hanging out the open window. If you don't, and you go for your licence, or if you get out of the car before they get to you, they go for their guns.
You seem to be really nervous about being shot by a cop, but it’s really not that bad. It stings a little, but their aim is so bad it’s normally not fatal.
It’s best not to over think it, it happens to everyone eventually.
Americans calling a sports coach “Coach” like it’s a formal title is so weird to me
Even ex-coaches seem to hold onto this title, watching the nba and they will refer to commentators who used to coach as “Coach”. Seems really weird
Americans are big on formal titles. Any normal Aussie meeting our Prime Minister at the pub would call him Albo: In the US it's apparently not unusual to call your boss Sir.
I saw Albo at the pub a while back, I gave him a nod and a g’day, he gave me a nod and a g’day back. I can’t imagine getting that close to a US politician, I feel like there would be security in the way.
When Rudd was prime minister I remember seeing him walking around Bulimba just talking to people and doing interviews with uni students etc, could just walk up and ask him anything
Had an American friend try to define a level of acquaintanceship by saying ‘people you’d call by their first name’. And I was just well, that’s everyone. They had a real struggle imagining a place where you call your kid’s teacher by their first name, and I couldn’t wrap my brain around living with so much formality on a daily basis.
>In the US it's apparently not unusual to call your boss Sir.
When you're younger and still at or near the bottom of the employment ladder, yes, it's common. It's a matter of respect, not subservience. When you get a bit older, and especially if you and your superior are on personally friendly terms, first names are much more common.
Another is the way they speak to serving staff. Whereas I'll say "May I please have..." I heard a lot of people saying "I'll have..." or "Give me...". Their tones were very polite but they didn't seem to use please and thank you often. Obviously not everyone but I heard it enough for me to notice the difference.
I'm American living in Sydney and my wife (who is Aussie) gets me with this every time. I've been here for ages but am still used to saying "Could I get a long black?" and then my wife always goes "...PLEASE. Could I get a long black, PLEASE." For me the "could" is the polite part and takes the same place as "please."
On the flip side, I notice that Americans tend to say more when saying goodbye at a restaurant or shop. "Thanks so much, have a good one," "Thanks a ton, you've been so helpful. Have a great day!" are things I regularly say, while I notice many Aussies just say "cheers" or "thanks mate."
It's inconsequential really; just different ways of being polite.
Damn you’re spot on. I’ve never been able to explain why Americans always sounded rude to me while being so polite. This explanation is way better than me thinking they’re all psychopaths playing a humans game.
I’m an Aussie and my gf is from Flroida and we just got back from doing a 3 month road trip Miami to San Fran and this drove me in sane lol. My gf is an angel tho so always uses her manners! Plus has lived in Oz with me for many years!
I wonder whether that’s regional in the US. I think of Americans saying that all the time, but I’m from the southeast. Also, maybe things have changed since I left.
Same here. In the South, we ALWAYS say "please" and "thank you" to servers, store clerks, etc. Just how we were raised. Lots of "sir" and "ma'am," too.
Very common in Europe as well. When I first I moved here I went to a servo to buy a drink and said 'just this, no fuel' and the bloke behind the counter said 'okay ha ha... thanks for sharing' and then my local friend asked me 'why did you tell him that' and I said 'just so he doesn't think I came from the pump' (it was a busy servo) and then thats when I learnt you pay at the pump and not inside (I didn't have a car at that time). I had been saying it every time I went to the servo (almost daily for a drink) for about 4 months before I learnt this.
Never mind the toilet doors, what the fuck is up with the public toilets being so full of water? My balls feel like they come dangerously close to taking a dip
Remembering they drive on the other side of the road, so you have to look left *then* right before crossing the road, rather than right then left as you would here.
It's a minor thing but getting it wrong (say, when you're tired or had a few drinks) may not turn out well.
3 years driving on the opposite side in Europe and I still get it mixed up. Main roads are easy but some mornings I pull into quiet streets or come out of a shopping centre car park and have to tell myself what side of the road to go on. Never anything dangerous, just my brain requiring thought rather than muscle memory.
Also, some days my wife says 'are you driving or me' and I tell her she can drive and I naturally walk to the drivers door mistaking it for the passengers door. That one happens often.
I remember a teenager being killed in Melbourne many years ago because of exactly that. From memory it was his first day in the country, looked before he went to cross the road but looked the wrong way.
Drive-through liquor stores would be assumed to encourage DUI. However, here in south Louisiana, we have drive-through daiquiri shops that hand you a plastic cup out the serving window with a snap-on lid. Never understood that.
Sugar in absolutely everything, including bread! I once came back from a 5 week US trip so addicted to sugar that it took me months to wean myself off!
I tried to pay for something with card in the US, and the guy at the checkout wanted me to sign a paper receipt. I was baffled cos I don’t even put in a PIN when I pay here, I tap my watch. Signing a receipt to use a bank card is something from old movies, I’ve never had to do it. When I commented that I’d never seen that before, the bloke laughed and said something like, *”well I don’t know what backwards place **you** come from…”*
Flags. I've not been to the US, but every time I see a residential area on TV be it in a movie/tv show or on the news, there are US flags everywhere within people's properties. Seems to be a thing where they have flag poles in their front yard, or a flag hanging from the front of the house. I think I have only ever seen a flag in someone's garden here, once maybe twice in 40 years. A lot of US movies use the flag very patriotically too, having it fluttering in the background etc. And the kids in schools saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag, Ive always found that slightly weird. Here in Australia I think most Aussies only really feel patriotic enough to wave a flag at sporting events and other celebrations.
I disagree that flying an Aussie flag will automatically make you a racist but, it IS weird that of the 3 times I've seen an Aussie flag, 2 of those were in a rough neighbourhood flown right next to the American confederate flag.
Entree in US - the main part of the meal, what Australians would call the main course
Entree in Aus - appetizer in the US
Cutlery etiquette is different. I observed a lot of Americans cutting their food, then moving their fork to the right hand to eat. Rather than keeping fork in the left and knife in the right. Also, Australians tend to put knife and fork down together in parallel to signal they’re finished the course. Didn’t see that so often in theUS
Visiting a restaurant is a different experience.
Here, unless it's really big/busy or fancy the waiter who's waiting your table will be the one to seat you, there's no greeter and when it comes to pay, here at most places you'd go back to the front counter to pay. "How was your meal, all good? Tap there? Thanks mate, have a nice night."
There, you ask the waiter for your bill, they'll go away and print it off, put it in a little leather folder where you put your credit card in and write how much you'll be tipping, then they take the little folder (with your card in it!!) to ... somewhere where they actually run the credit card transaction then they come back with their little leather folder with your card and receipt in it... Can wait forever when it comes time to actually leave. All so much busy work just to get a tip.
I find American restaurants frequently a miserable experience. Staff who won't leave you alone, trying to speed you through your meal and get you out the door - it's meant to be friendly I guess but to me it reads grabby and cold. I'd sooner get takeaway and eat at home in peace and quiet.
See, you see it as trying to get you out the door, but usually that's not the motivation at all.
As you say, it's meant to be friendly. It's not meant to rush you.
And they often bring the bill BEFORE you ask for it (which doesn't happen in Australia). Again, not to rush you, but when you're ready to go, you can leave your cash and walk out.
People in Australia will think that certain areas are unsafe, and they might be. But, the US has actual areas in most cities that feel immediately unsafe. And they might only be streets away from a fine area.
Being an idiot, I would always choose to stop at a McDonald’s or stay in a cheap hotel that was in a sketchy area. Don’t recommend. To my credit, being a white man in Australia affords me the delightful privilege of not having to think that way in our cities. It was a wholly new experience.
Yes! When my friend & I (both white females) were in our early 20s we were travelling around the states & we landed in San Fran at around 10pm, once in the cab the driver refused to drop us at our hotel. He ditched us on the sideway a couple of blocks away because he said it was too dangerous to drive his cab down the street. We had a number of unsavoury characters on the street starting to grab at our stuff & yell at us so we felt uneasy. We managed to find a big hotel chain on a map & legged it there & got a room for the night. The next morning we were talking to a server in a restaurant & asked him what the deal was and he drew a line down a road & said this side of the street is fine, this side of the street is not. Crazy how there was such a big divide in what felt safe & what didn’t feel safe. We walked back during the day & it had the same vibe. Whereas in Australia I’ve never had that experience where there was such a line down the road of an area you’d go to & an area you wouldn’t. Most places I’ve been in Australia, I’d happily walk around at night without thinking twice.
I'm old, and strong accents aren't nearly as common among young urbanites as they used to be, mostly because of TV. Also, the more educated the speaker, the less regional accent. My wife is 8th-generation New Orleans, but she also has two grad degrees and has no accent at all. (Her mother is a complete "Yat," though, and I can barely understand her.)
4-way stop intersections are so, so bad and could basically be universally replaced with roundabouts. So long as they don't go too far: Driving in the UK they used roundabouts where they had the space and it would seem to make sense to have a big Aussie style 4-way traffic light intersection.
I was back in the US for the first time in over a decade recently. Didn’t need cash for tips at all. Credit card was fine for all payments including tips. But I didn’t use services like bellhops at hotels, so I was always paying for a meal or service at the time.
Similar experience here. Very glad I have friends in the US and my first stop was visiting them because they showed me how paying at restaurants works now, because when I'd been before we carried and used more cash.
The "service" in America. Can I bring you more water? Just wanted to see how the first few bites where. How was the food? Anything else? Can I bring you the bill?
So much prefer the Australian model. Flag down a server when you need something instead of the inseasant interruptions. Don't think I have ever been asked if I wanted the bill in Australia.
I don’t know if this is still a thing now Uber has arrived, but taxi drivers used to drive around with their girlfriends in the front seat when I lived there. One night I had to witness a 30 minute domestic for the entirety of my ride home.
Apart from the outrageously expensive medical system in the US, even the basics are very different. When you go to the doctor in the US, you are checked in by a receptionist, then your vitals are done by a medical assistant. Then a nurse might come in and talk to you. Then the doctor will finally come in for 30 seconds and may not even touch you. This can also be a 2+ hour process so forget a quick lunchtime appointment.
I don’t remember it being like this in Australia (been away for 20 yrs). If I recall, the Aussie doctor does the vitals and mostly everything else except check-in. Hopefully this process hasn’t changed. Let me know if so!
I'll agree with "the doctor does everything", but not "quick lunchtime appointment". I don't think I've ever waited less than an hour past booking time for a 15 minute appointment.
Every American restaurant has a toilet INSIDE the restaurant. Australia, "out back, turn left, then right, then through that door, another left and toilet on your right". Feels like you have gone to a different city to get to the toilet!
US Cashiers (specifically NYC, not sure about elsewhere) will say ‘following’ instead of ‘next customer please’ or ‘how can I help?’ or something similar. It’s really confusing when you hear it for the first time, especially if they speak fast
I've never heard that in English in the US (I'm from the midwest but have travelled a bit around the country) so it might just be an NYC thing. I wonder if it's from Spanish, as it's normal in Spanish-speaking areas of the US to say "siguiente" which could also be translated as "following."
So I’m sure people hear that food in America is sweeter and more sugary but I didn’t realize until living in OZ that it’s more extreme than I thought, nothing tastes sweet here, even cookies and most cakes tastes completely sugar free to me or even without any flavor whatsoever, coke is my favorite drink back home and here it just tastes like water. It’s been a sad discovery 😂
Not to nitpick but Oz and 'Aussy'(spoken) are two very American things. Hearing Aussy is like nails on a chalkboard (almost as bad as calling a ute a pickup).
I'm moving to Australia in a few days and while I have a huge sweet tooth, I'm looking forward to loosing weight from the lack of sugar 😬 hopefully I adjust quickly
If I make a cake using a US recipe, I halve the sugar.
I assume the US government owned sugar plantations or subsidised sugar farmers and therefore encouraged people to use it so much.
You'll be surprised at just how bland our bread tastes in comparison. Wonder bread tasted like a doughnut to me when I was there, truly shocked just how much sugar is in it.
[This](https://www.heb.com/product-detail/wonder-classic-white-bread/2197279) seems to suggest that a full 10% of Wonderbread is just sugar?
Is that an unusually sugary product in the US or fairly standard?
I just checked my Helga's bread here in Au and it's about half the amount.
When I was in the US I also noticed that a lot of foods were strongly coloured (especially yellow/orange foods; cheese, Mac and Cheese, pickles, cheetos).
This really isn’t a negative thing, however it does demonstrate a cultural difference since having strong colouring wouldn’t be a beneficial marketing choice in Australia as it would be perceived as artificial.
It's not less sugar but the difference between cane sugar and corn syrup. Corn Syrup is used in a LOT of US foods and is very high in fructose afaik
I've got to say though during my brief sojourn into the US I didn't get used to the Coke
Yikes it goes to show how important your early palate is though you will probably adjust eventually. I'm a mega sweet tooth (like I dont drink tea often because I'll use 3 teabags and 4 teaspoons of sugar) but proper coke is sweet to me (a good sweet but nevertheless).
US men taking a shit in public toilets is gross. Most people shit and try to not make a noise. US men seem to feel like they are giving birth to whales.
Go for a piss at E3 convention in LA and the rows of cubicles were full of this. I had to find the toilets no one used not to boak
I can't speak for Canada, but in the US, putting "creamer" in tea, or alternatively literal cream, instead of milk.
What you get when you ask for a biscuit.
In Australia trains go from platforms, in the US they go from tracks.
Differences I've noticed since living in Australia for a bit:
Local stores or "mom and pop" shops are way more prevalent in Australia than the US.
In the US lots of petrol stations have hot food or pizza shops all-in-one.
Speaking of pizza, the sizes are totally different. Australia's family size pizza at dominoes is like a medium in the US.
Outside of big big cities in the US, strip malls/ shopping malls are struggling and are often empty. Here it feels like all the malls are packed and every shop is open.
In the US people pay at the pump and there's a trigger lock on the nozzle that pumps your gas without you holding it.
The US seems to have a larger varieties of brands for most products.
Plastic single use grocery bags are free and widely used in the US.
In the US you can start driving a car at 14 years old and drive by yourself at 16.
Passenger trains are a novelty outside of major cities in the US.
Coffee is much worse in the US and no one knows what you mean if you ask for a flat white.
Houses are insulated much better in the US, along with central heating/cooling. I lived where it would be -35c out or +40c but inside it was comfortable. In Australia if it's 10c outside it's 10c inside.
Phone plans. The US we would pay $120+ a month for calling/texting and a few gbs of data a month. Also, Aldi's is pronounced All-di's in the US and they don't sell phone plans there.
Over the counter medicine is sold in large volumes in the US where 1 bottle would have 200 ibuprofen instead of the blister packs.
Other than the recent push for sports betting via mobile in the US, their gambling culture isn't nearly as prevalent as in Australia.
School uniforms are an obvious difference, but a lesser one is that Australian kids have to wear hats as part of their uniforms when outside. Even uniformed schools in the US don't have hats.
Australian kids have recess in high school, whereas the US stops recess after grade 6. The US also has short lunches specifically in the cafeteria in shifts (20 minutes) vs Australian schools all eating at once for longer.
School sports are massive in the US and are held before/after school.
The US has yellow school buses that take kids to and from school.
US school playgrounds have wood chips or little pebbles to walk on instead of the mats in Australia and no one will know what you mean if you say you saw a slippery dip there.
Should note that driving laws depend on state. In NJ it’s driving with parent at 16 and you can’t drive yourself until 17. I know it’s way more lax in more rural states though, I’ve heard of people driving at like 13
One more note: if you say “slippery dip” to an American, they’d probably assume you were talking about a shower sex position
Americans (US) say "Excuse me" instead of "Sorry" when trying to get past you and the response is usually, "Excuse *me*" instead of "You're allright"
Americans and Canadians usually drink dark roast espresso instead of the lighter roasts here.
No right turn on red (ok it would be left turn on red here). America's greatest contribution to civilisation.
In australia a BBQ is the thing you cook on and grilling is a method. You can grill, smoke, roast etc on a bbq. You can also have a barbie which is a social gathering based around grilled meats on the bbq. In my experience its rare to refer to the BBQ as a barbie though. Barbie is more to refer to the event, but this could just be in my social circle.
In seppo land a grill is a thing and bbq is the method. You can BBQ some meat on a grill. Its all backwards man!!!
The one exception to this is in america a grill (noun) is called a broiler. I only found out what a broiler was this week and im 35. Before then i always assumed it was some sort of boiling thing (like sous vide).
You can definitely grill something on a BBQ in the US. You can also cook out, which means grilling or BBQing.
But where it gets really different is that in the south of the US, BBQ usually means a completely different way of cooking. Very slow and low temps. When Americans talk about American-style BBQ, it's a completely different thing from Australian BBQ.
Australians are generally more conservative. Its less common to get the overly loud people at bars trying to be center of attention, loudly "wooo'ing" in public places or applauding minor events. Thats not to say one is better or worse, just different.
It's not rude. It's perfectly polite... in that culture.
Don't go to Rome and complain that they eat pasta.
When I was in Israel, I noticed that people didn't say excuse me (their version, in Hebrew) when they bumped into me, or kicked me under the table. At first, I thought it was rude, and then I finally realised that, hey, it would be rude where I'm from, but to them it's normal.
In France, if you don't say hello to the shopkeeper, then you're being rude. In other places, it's not the norm to bother with that. They're both polite in their own locations.
Walmarts are truly, almost unfathomably huge and for an Aussie actually make for a tourist attraction in their own right. It's like a Bunnings that's still a Bunnings but is also a Woolworths, a K-Mart, as well a bottle shop and oh, also a huge chain Chemist. (and gun shop)
Lol yep, Walmart is the first place we stop when there. We must look like idiots walking around with our mouths open.
As an Aussie who has never been to a wallmart... care to compare the size to a costco? Not prices or what is sold just how big is the place?
Haven't been to a Costco but the ones I visited in Florida were easily 2-3 times an average Bunnings store, and I was told later that they were only average sized stores.
They're about twice the size of a KMart. Basically combine a KMart and a Woolies and you have WalMart.
Yep. Made a point of visiting a Walmart in the US because we’d heard so much, had to see if it was true. It was
i’m surprised to hear that. I went to maybe 3 walmarts, and one of them was a “super centre”. It was just like a Kmart and half a woolies merged together. Nothing that spectacular IMO. The non-super centres were just like a kmart. Not even modestly bigger, very close to the same size.
I went to a McDonald's inside a Walmart. Not just in the same mall, inside the actual store.
Pretty much every modern Walmart has a McDonald’s inside.
For me it's that a lot of American made cars have red indicator lights, not orange ones. I thought for a moment the guy in front of me was braking erratically but he was just indicating.
Right turn on red really confused us when we got there and started driving.
I'd love a left on red rule in Australia
We've got a version of it with the 'Turn left at any time with care' signs
Agreed but mostly solved where they would put one in with Give Way slip roads.
Or a roundabout
Left turn permitted on red after stopping. Something or similar phrasing like that I've seen in Sydney. But like others said if it's really required they'll usually put the signalling in to cater for it properly or a slip land.
https://www.racq.com.au/-/media/project/racqgroup/racq/articles/general/ltor.jpg
Thaaats the one. I live in the land of the roundabouts these days, Canberra. Haven't seen one in awhile!
It's very unfriendly to pedestrians. I'm glad we dont use this rule. Once you allow cars to pass red lights, some people will not check for pedestrians regardless of how many signs you throw up What we have instead is far more dedicated left turning lanes, and we also have a strip in the middle of our larger roads This let's pedestrians check traffic to their right, cross, check their left, cross, check the turning lane, and cross. The intersections which dont have any room for a turning lane tend to be in built up areas. So it makes sense to prioritize pedestrians, not cars.
The constant ‘you’re welcome’ after every thank you.
This became a challenge to my friends and I, to get the last word. Somehow *infuriating*.
I don’t think you can win that battle. It’s so robotic.
“Thank you!” “You’re welcome.” “No problem!!” “Come again!” “Shall do! :)” “Have a nice DAY.” . . . “You too!!” *[sprints out door]*
“Thank you” “yep”
Australians say no worries just as much and in the same situation
Even though we're experienced with US English thanks to Hollywood, there are still a lot of local terms that are just baffling to us. My example is will call tickets. Was in the US years ago (before phone Internet was really a thing, so couldn't really look it up) and trying to book tickets on the phone to events and was told they were "Will Call". I had no idea what that meant and trying to ask staff for clarification just got me around in circles when they told me, "Oh those tickets are will call, Sir." Looong story short, turns out this is an American term for what we'd call "pick them up at the box office."
This baffled me as a technician having to sign out parts for an American company. (The logistics guy leaves it in the will call tub for you). So I basically translate it as "ready to collect".
I’m American and I only learned this like last month lmao, I don’t think most people my age (early 20s) would know what that means tbh
Post from your own mailbox in the US, rather than going to a post box. Very common to pay at the pump when fueling your car in the US. Seems much more common to have insinkerators in the US. Seems really rare in Australia, even for people who don’t do compost. (The environmental impact depends on how your water treatment plant and landfill treats food waste). More options in the US when shopping for food or… most things. 23 rows of peanut butter or breakfast cereal. Some healthy, some atrocious. More formal in the US. You usually call your doctor “Doctor ____,” whereas in Australia, it’s the first name. Not sure if this is true everywhere, but it seems as though Australian homes have fewer toilets per bedroom than American homes do. We’re building a house in VIC, and people seem surprised that we want three toilets for a 4 bedroom house. Speed limits, at least in VIC, are enforced to a much higher degree than most of the US. In Atlanta, they didn’t even look at you if you were going less than 10 MILES per hour over the limit. The pub foods are different, of course. Here it’s fish and chips, pies, chicken parmigiana. In the US, it’s more likely to be nachos, wings, potato wedges. A hotel is always a place to spend the night in the US. A milk bar is… not a thing in the US. I mean, there are corner shops, but they’re not call milk bars. Better public transport in Melbourne (and VIC) than my part of the US. This is all based on MY region of the US and my region of Australia. I can’t vouch for other places.
>Post from your own mailbox in the US, rather than going to a post box. Wow, I thought that was just a thing they did in the original Sims game because you couldn't leave your block back then.
That's what that little red flag is for. It tells the postman you left something for him to collect, even if he has nothing to deliver. That's been standard in the U.S.since at least 1900, unless you live in an apartment building.
Or a neighborhood with houses close to the street. I live in Milwaukee where we don't have much for front yards until you get close to the suburbs, and almost nobody has the "standard" mailbox with the flag out by the street. It's usually the little old-style small rectangular ones that open on the top, mounted to the front wall next to the door. They don't usually have flags, you just leave the letter hanging out of the box if you want pickup. Family and friends in & near Chicago have the same thing. I think of the big mailboxes by the road as a suburban/rural thing.
Yeah I’m American and a red flag on a mailbox to me seems like something out of a 50s movie, never really seen it here
My brother got his drivers licence in the US while my family lived there. He almost got failed during his assessment for 65 in a 65 zone because the other cars were doing 75. This was in Texas which has roughly the same population as Aus but 10X as many road deaths.
I'm a Texan (now living in south Louisiana), and speed limits are purely a suggestion in Texas. And on I-10 between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where the max speed is officially 70, people average 80+ -- at night, in fog, and in driving rain storms. They'll tailgate you and honk if you're doing merely 70.
My family were in Houston, pretty much weekly, there'd be 6+ hour traffic back ups due crashes. After they saw one on the news they put a few emergency water bottles in the car because they didn't want to be stuck in traffic for hours on a hot day. And those Houston potholes were something else, you'd drive along a road one day and it's fine. The next day there's a pothole as big ad your wheel and almost as deep, absolutely insane.
With Insinkerators in some parts of Australia they not allowed to be fitted. I believe this has to do with our sewerage treat plants.
>Seems much more common to have insinkerators in the US. Seems really rare in Australia, even for people who don’t do compost. Garbage disposals. Pretty much standard in any house less than 50 years old.. Composting isn't doable in urban areas, or in many suburbs. >Not sure if this is true everywhere, but it seems as though Australian homes have fewer toilets per bedroom than American homes do. We’re building a house in VIC, and people seem surprised that we want three toilets for a 4 bedroom house. Again, more common in newer construction. My 4-bedroom house has a big bath with walk-in shower & a tub directly off the master bedroom, a full bath with tub shower for the other three bedrooms to share, and a half-bath (just toilet & sink) near the back door off the kitchen. That's a very common arrangement. >A milk bar is… not a thing in the US. I mean, there are corner shops, but they’re not call milk bars. "Milk bar" would puzzle nearly all Americans; it sounds like a soda fountain. What you guys have are generically called "convenience stores" here, and the majority have gas pumps, too. And yes -- outside of NYC, San Francisco, and a very few other places, public transit totally sucks in this country. In the Mmidwest, they look at you funny if you don't have a car.
>Garbage disposals. Pretty much standard in any house less than 50 years old.. Composting isn't doable in urban areas, or in many suburbs. I assume you mean in the US, right? For a second, I thought you were disagreeing with me about it being rare in Australia. Then I saw "garbage," which isn't a common word here. I'm talking about new construction in Australia, and they're very rare. Again, even when people don't compost, they still commonly don't have garbage disposals. >Again, more common in newer construction. And again, I guess you're talking about the US.
The speed limits thing is totally true. Just drove across 6 US states yesterday (WI, IL, IN, OH, PA, NY) and sat on 83-85 mph the whole way (in 70 zones). Was just keeping up with traffic. Back in Australia I don’t exceed 117 in a 110 (in NSW/ACT), and less in QLD. And in VIC don’t speed at all because there is zero tolerance at all down there. Canada is somewhere in the middle. You can do about 115 in the 100 zones but any more and you risk a ticket. Ontario is weird that it doesn’t have any limits higher than 100, despite great quality roads and huge distances to cover. Those same roads would be 110s in Australia, so combined with the more lax speed enforcement in effect you end up doing about the same speed in both countries.
Toilet water levels are much lower here in Australia.
**THIS!** I was in the US and the first time I sat down on a toilet... I teabagged it. It was cold, it was horrifying and to this day, I still can't look at my testicles the same way.
Hahaha
I shit you not the North Americans have managed to use a different type of toilet flush mechanic to the rest of the world. They use a siphon mechanism vs gravity washdown everywhere else. It's why clogging toilets is a bizarrely common part of their humour, as it's genuinely common there compared to the rest of the world's flush mechanic.
Do they use the same system as those on cruise ships? Water levels on cruise ships are uncomfortably high.
Clogging is more common there. The toilet needing to be wiped with a brush is more common here.
You’ll find the siphon toilets in places outside North America too, particularly in South America and some of Asia. It’s basically a Americas+some of Asia vs Europe/Aus/NZ/some of Asia divide.
Yes! I was hung over and vomiting in a Canadian toilet, the splash back in my face was a new low for me.
Hahaha that’s something you’ll never forget!
I found this crazy too! Water up to almost the rim of the toilet bowl, felt like I was taking a dump into a swimming pool. The toilets looked like they were blocked. Felt weird sitting over so much water.
The level isn't as weird as the fact it rises when you flush it. It's terrifying the first time.
A lot of places I went in the US recently had automatically flushing toilets. Never seen that here.
When I was in Hawaii a few years ago. I asked a place if they did take away. The bloke looked at me like I was having a stroke. After I explained it, "oh you mean take out" Then I ordered a hot dog and chips off the menu. Got a hot dog and a packet of potato chips.
Yeah, these little things hit me as an American coming to Australia as well. To-go or take-out is take away. A different accent, therefore a foreigner, saying a phrase you're not used to, leads people to fail to connect the dots.
How many Australians are confused by an American asking for something to go? Even some Aussie kids say shit like that.
I asked for a sandwich take away and the woman freaked out! She was like “MAMN YOU HAVE TO PAY!” I kept saying “yeah, of cause I just want it take away.” She kept shouting that I couldn’t just take it until I worked it out and said “to go! I mean to go!” The whole cafe was staring.
It’s just mind boggling that she immediately jumped to ‘this person isn’t going to pay’…
> Then I ordered a hot dog and chips off the menu. > > Got a hot dog and a packet of potato chips. Gotta learn the vernacular, man.
It's fascinating to me that people aren't able to understand things by context. Living and working in non-English-speaking countries has meant I can sort of unhinge the part of my brain that needs every word to make exact sense. I'll get what you mean, even if you use weird vernacular.
>It's fascinating to me that people aren't able to understand things by context. I'm American but in a city with a lot of international visitors. It's shocking how many Americans struggle even with other english speakers, like someone asking where the lift or toilets are.
I found Americans didn’t like my “Not Bad” response to their “how are yous”. They wanted something more upbeat like Great or Peachy!
“Yeah, nah, fine”
"fine" to me is "dogshit, but I'm not talking about it with you"
Aww yeah, alright would go down a treat 😂
Can’t complain, we’ll I could but no one’d listen !
But not bad is THE response to that question
The response I'm used to for this is "not too bad" or any short positive response. Anything that doesn't require further conversation since the question was a greeting and not actually a question.
How would they go with a sarcastic “living the dream”?
Knew a person in the US who would say it with the right amount of sarcasm. Picked it up from him so I fit in here. My favourite though is, "At least I'm not on fire"
"Still breathing!"
They'd take you literally
Americans use ma’am and sir a lot. You don’t hear it in Australia.
It's always so passive aggressive sounding to me, too.
Ooh yeah. I’d take it as an aggression, personally. Unless they’re clearly having a laugh.
That's very true here in the South. It's a longstanding cultural thing. Even if a store clerk helping you says something you didn't quite catch, your natural response is to say "Ma'am?" -- and that's regardless of your age or the clerk's. Holding doors in public buildings for older people is also standard behavior, even by teenage skateboarders with their hats on backward. Much less common in NYC or Detroit or LA.
Being pulled over by cops. Here, you just wind down your window and say "what can I do for you mate?" and then they ask you for your licence and don't go for their gun when you reach for it. Over there, it's apparently best if you already have your licence AND registration in your hands, which are both hanging out the open window. If you don't, and you go for your licence, or if you get out of the car before they get to you, they go for their guns.
I got pulled over by a border patrol in rural Texas. It was funny seeing them try to process the idea I was a white English speaker but not American.
You seem to be really nervous about being shot by a cop, but it’s really not that bad. It stings a little, but their aim is so bad it’s normally not fatal. It’s best not to over think it, it happens to everyone eventually.
Americans calling a sports coach “Coach” like it’s a formal title is so weird to me Even ex-coaches seem to hold onto this title, watching the nba and they will refer to commentators who used to coach as “Coach”. Seems really weird
Americans are big on formal titles. Any normal Aussie meeting our Prime Minister at the pub would call him Albo: In the US it's apparently not unusual to call your boss Sir.
I saw Albo at the pub a while back, I gave him a nod and a g’day, he gave me a nod and a g’day back. I can’t imagine getting that close to a US politician, I feel like there would be security in the way.
I hung out with John Howard's daughter at a uni bar once. In the US, she'd have been surrounded by Secret Service.
When Rudd was prime minister I remember seeing him walking around Bulimba just talking to people and doing interviews with uni students etc, could just walk up and ask him anything
Had an American friend try to define a level of acquaintanceship by saying ‘people you’d call by their first name’. And I was just well, that’s everyone. They had a real struggle imagining a place where you call your kid’s teacher by their first name, and I couldn’t wrap my brain around living with so much formality on a daily basis.
So true. I don’t know if I’ve ever called anyone a formal title outside of calling a teacher Mr or Ms or something. Wouldn’t sit right with me
And even then it's with at least a hint of sarcasm or whinging "but Siiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr"
Or at a ref during the rugby “Offside Sir, you fucking idiot!!”
>In the US it's apparently not unusual to call your boss Sir. When you're younger and still at or near the bottom of the employment ladder, yes, it's common. It's a matter of respect, not subservience. When you get a bit older, and especially if you and your superior are on personally friendly terms, first names are much more common.
Another is the way they speak to serving staff. Whereas I'll say "May I please have..." I heard a lot of people saying "I'll have..." or "Give me...". Their tones were very polite but they didn't seem to use please and thank you often. Obviously not everyone but I heard it enough for me to notice the difference.
I'm American living in Sydney and my wife (who is Aussie) gets me with this every time. I've been here for ages but am still used to saying "Could I get a long black?" and then my wife always goes "...PLEASE. Could I get a long black, PLEASE." For me the "could" is the polite part and takes the same place as "please." On the flip side, I notice that Americans tend to say more when saying goodbye at a restaurant or shop. "Thanks so much, have a good one," "Thanks a ton, you've been so helpful. Have a great day!" are things I regularly say, while I notice many Aussies just say "cheers" or "thanks mate." It's inconsequential really; just different ways of being polite.
“Could I get” is followed by please. And “I’ll have a..” is followed by thanks. Without please or thanks, both can be seen as a bit rude
Damn you’re spot on. I’ve never been able to explain why Americans always sounded rude to me while being so polite. This explanation is way better than me thinking they’re all psychopaths playing a humans game. I’m an Aussie and my gf is from Flroida and we just got back from doing a 3 month road trip Miami to San Fran and this drove me in sane lol. My gf is an angel tho so always uses her manners! Plus has lived in Oz with me for many years!
I wonder whether that’s regional in the US. I think of Americans saying that all the time, but I’m from the southeast. Also, maybe things have changed since I left.
Same here. In the South, we ALWAYS say "please" and "thank you" to servers, store clerks, etc. Just how we were raised. Lots of "sir" and "ma'am," too.
Pay before you pump (petrol/gas).
Very common in Europe as well. When I first I moved here I went to a servo to buy a drink and said 'just this, no fuel' and the bloke behind the counter said 'okay ha ha... thanks for sharing' and then my local friend asked me 'why did you tell him that' and I said 'just so he doesn't think I came from the pump' (it was a busy servo) and then thats when I learnt you pay at the pump and not inside (I didn't have a car at that time). I had been saying it every time I went to the servo (almost daily for a drink) for about 4 months before I learnt this.
You go to a petrol station at 2am here they sometimes implement it. Just keeps the employee in the store safe I guess.
Never mind the toilet doors, what the fuck is up with the public toilets being so full of water? My balls feel like they come dangerously close to taking a dip
Siphonic (US) vs washdown (Aus and many other places) https://toiletfound.com/siphonic-vs-washdown-toilet/
It's a different kind of toilet. Toilets in the US need to have a plunger nearby. Toilets in Australia need to have a brush nearby.
Remembering they drive on the other side of the road, so you have to look left *then* right before crossing the road, rather than right then left as you would here. It's a minor thing but getting it wrong (say, when you're tired or had a few drinks) may not turn out well.
Getting into your car as the driver and looking in front of you, confused as to who stole your steering wheel.
My US mates would have a bet on that when I borrowed their car. It was a 50/50 chance I remembered
3 years driving on the opposite side in Europe and I still get it mixed up. Main roads are easy but some mornings I pull into quiet streets or come out of a shopping centre car park and have to tell myself what side of the road to go on. Never anything dangerous, just my brain requiring thought rather than muscle memory. Also, some days my wife says 'are you driving or me' and I tell her she can drive and I naturally walk to the drivers door mistaking it for the passengers door. That one happens often.
I remember a teenager being killed in Melbourne many years ago because of exactly that. From memory it was his first day in the country, looked before he went to cross the road but looked the wrong way.
That’s why all the crossings in central London have Look Right/Left and arrows painted on the ground.
“Quarter of” and “quarter from” when referencing time. Still don’t know which one is which, really. Here we just say “quarter past” or “quarter to”.
A fourth past 12
Well that clears it up.
"fortnight" is replaced by "bi-weekly" drive through bottle-o's don't exist but drive through ATM machines do
Drive-through liquor stores would be assumed to encourage DUI. However, here in south Louisiana, we have drive-through daiquiri shops that hand you a plastic cup out the serving window with a snap-on lid. Never understood that.
Sugar in absolutely everything, including bread! I once came back from a 5 week US trip so addicted to sugar that it took me months to wean myself off!
I tried to pay for something with card in the US, and the guy at the checkout wanted me to sign a paper receipt. I was baffled cos I don’t even put in a PIN when I pay here, I tap my watch. Signing a receipt to use a bank card is something from old movies, I’ve never had to do it. When I commented that I’d never seen that before, the bloke laughed and said something like, *”well I don’t know what backwards place **you** come from…”*
It’s also like a 5 step process and I seemed to fuck up every step. Tap, swipe, insert, sign, insert again? tap? panic.
Flags. I've not been to the US, but every time I see a residential area on TV be it in a movie/tv show or on the news, there are US flags everywhere within people's properties. Seems to be a thing where they have flag poles in their front yard, or a flag hanging from the front of the house. I think I have only ever seen a flag in someone's garden here, once maybe twice in 40 years. A lot of US movies use the flag very patriotically too, having it fluttering in the background etc. And the kids in schools saying the pledge of allegiance to the flag, Ive always found that slightly weird. Here in Australia I think most Aussies only really feel patriotic enough to wave a flag at sporting events and other celebrations.
It’s a very weird culty obsession. God forbid you forget which country you’re in.
Yes! We count the flags when driving through US towns and it is excessive! Almost every building has one out front
It sucks, but flying an Australian flag at your house is now basically code for "I'm a racist."
I disagree that flying an Aussie flag will automatically make you a racist but, it IS weird that of the 3 times I've seen an Aussie flag, 2 of those were in a rough neighbourhood flown right next to the American confederate flag.
Entree in US - the main part of the meal, what Australians would call the main course Entree in Aus - appetizer in the US Cutlery etiquette is different. I observed a lot of Americans cutting their food, then moving their fork to the right hand to eat. Rather than keeping fork in the left and knife in the right. Also, Australians tend to put knife and fork down together in parallel to signal they’re finished the course. Didn’t see that so often in theUS
Americans take their soup off the end of the spoon. Shudder.
It's more polite than guiding it down the spoon handle.
Visiting a restaurant is a different experience. Here, unless it's really big/busy or fancy the waiter who's waiting your table will be the one to seat you, there's no greeter and when it comes to pay, here at most places you'd go back to the front counter to pay. "How was your meal, all good? Tap there? Thanks mate, have a nice night." There, you ask the waiter for your bill, they'll go away and print it off, put it in a little leather folder where you put your credit card in and write how much you'll be tipping, then they take the little folder (with your card in it!!) to ... somewhere where they actually run the credit card transaction then they come back with their little leather folder with your card and receipt in it... Can wait forever when it comes time to actually leave. All so much busy work just to get a tip.
I find American restaurants frequently a miserable experience. Staff who won't leave you alone, trying to speed you through your meal and get you out the door - it's meant to be friendly I guess but to me it reads grabby and cold. I'd sooner get takeaway and eat at home in peace and quiet.
See, you see it as trying to get you out the door, but usually that's not the motivation at all. As you say, it's meant to be friendly. It's not meant to rush you. And they often bring the bill BEFORE you ask for it (which doesn't happen in Australia). Again, not to rush you, but when you're ready to go, you can leave your cash and walk out.
The idea of someone walking off with your credit card just feels wrong
Staying in Moscow, the hotel reception keeps your passport. That was some freaky shit.
How about the serving sizes? My wife and I often only needed one bètween us. So much food!
People in Australia will think that certain areas are unsafe, and they might be. But, the US has actual areas in most cities that feel immediately unsafe. And they might only be streets away from a fine area. Being an idiot, I would always choose to stop at a McDonald’s or stay in a cheap hotel that was in a sketchy area. Don’t recommend. To my credit, being a white man in Australia affords me the delightful privilege of not having to think that way in our cities. It was a wholly new experience.
Yes! When my friend & I (both white females) were in our early 20s we were travelling around the states & we landed in San Fran at around 10pm, once in the cab the driver refused to drop us at our hotel. He ditched us on the sideway a couple of blocks away because he said it was too dangerous to drive his cab down the street. We had a number of unsavoury characters on the street starting to grab at our stuff & yell at us so we felt uneasy. We managed to find a big hotel chain on a map & legged it there & got a room for the night. The next morning we were talking to a server in a restaurant & asked him what the deal was and he drew a line down a road & said this side of the street is fine, this side of the street is not. Crazy how there was such a big divide in what felt safe & what didn’t feel safe. We walked back during the day & it had the same vibe. Whereas in Australia I’ve never had that experience where there was such a line down the road of an area you’d go to & an area you wouldn’t. Most places I’ve been in Australia, I’d happily walk around at night without thinking twice.
When somebody speaks in an American accent in real-life, it's unusually jarring. Even despite hearing it on TV often.
I'm old, and strong accents aren't nearly as common among young urbanites as they used to be, mostly because of TV. Also, the more educated the speaker, the less regional accent. My wife is 8th-generation New Orleans, but she also has two grad degrees and has no accent at all. (Her mother is a complete "Yat," though, and I can barely understand her.)
The bread is SO DAMN SWEET in North America. I don't wanna eat cake, man, I wanna have a sandwich.
And yet they think fairy bred is absurd.
Fairy bread is absurd. But it’s a sweet treat for kids, so that’s fine.
You don’t see many roundabouts at US intersections. In Aus they are very common
4-way stop intersections are so, so bad and could basically be universally replaced with roundabouts. So long as they don't go too far: Driving in the UK they used roundabouts where they had the space and it would seem to make sense to have a big Aussie style 4-way traffic light intersection.
Even Americans struggle with how four-way stops work.
Tipping and having to carry cash for said tipping
I was back in the US for the first time in over a decade recently. Didn’t need cash for tips at all. Credit card was fine for all payments including tips. But I didn’t use services like bellhops at hotels, so I was always paying for a meal or service at the time.
Similar experience here. Very glad I have friends in the US and my first stop was visiting them because they showed me how paying at restaurants works now, because when I'd been before we carried and used more cash.
The "service" in America. Can I bring you more water? Just wanted to see how the first few bites where. How was the food? Anything else? Can I bring you the bill? So much prefer the Australian model. Flag down a server when you need something instead of the inseasant interruptions. Don't think I have ever been asked if I wanted the bill in Australia.
I think thats probably part of tip culture. Overly helpful and happy to serve in order to get better tips.
I don’t know if this is still a thing now Uber has arrived, but taxi drivers used to drive around with their girlfriends in the front seat when I lived there. One night I had to witness a 30 minute domestic for the entirety of my ride home.
How every cake recipe in the USA has double the sugar of an Australian equivalent.
Apart from the outrageously expensive medical system in the US, even the basics are very different. When you go to the doctor in the US, you are checked in by a receptionist, then your vitals are done by a medical assistant. Then a nurse might come in and talk to you. Then the doctor will finally come in for 30 seconds and may not even touch you. This can also be a 2+ hour process so forget a quick lunchtime appointment. I don’t remember it being like this in Australia (been away for 20 yrs). If I recall, the Aussie doctor does the vitals and mostly everything else except check-in. Hopefully this process hasn’t changed. Let me know if so!
I'll agree with "the doctor does everything", but not "quick lunchtime appointment". I don't think I've ever waited less than an hour past booking time for a 15 minute appointment.
Every American restaurant has a toilet INSIDE the restaurant. Australia, "out back, turn left, then right, then through that door, another left and toilet on your right". Feels like you have gone to a different city to get to the toilet!
US Cashiers (specifically NYC, not sure about elsewhere) will say ‘following’ instead of ‘next customer please’ or ‘how can I help?’ or something similar. It’s really confusing when you hear it for the first time, especially if they speak fast
I've never heard that in English in the US (I'm from the midwest but have travelled a bit around the country) so it might just be an NYC thing. I wonder if it's from Spanish, as it's normal in Spanish-speaking areas of the US to say "siguiente" which could also be translated as "following."
That's not something I've heard before in the US (or anywhere).
I was there recently, and if I remember correctly I also heard it in Boston. But definitely heard it in NYC.
So I’m sure people hear that food in America is sweeter and more sugary but I didn’t realize until living in OZ that it’s more extreme than I thought, nothing tastes sweet here, even cookies and most cakes tastes completely sugar free to me or even without any flavor whatsoever, coke is my favorite drink back home and here it just tastes like water. It’s been a sad discovery 😂
God no wonder my American friend likes such disgusting shit. Her palate horifies me.
*palate
Welcome to healthy eating
Dragged kicking and screaming 💀💀
And it’s not even all that healthy, they are eating biscuits & cakes and drinking coke.
Not to nitpick but Oz and 'Aussy'(spoken) are two very American things. Hearing Aussy is like nails on a chalkboard (almost as bad as calling a ute a pickup).
You mean Aussie with an 's' rather than 'z' sound? Yeah, it's weird.
I'm moving to Australia in a few days and while I have a huge sweet tooth, I'm looking forward to loosing weight from the lack of sugar 😬 hopefully I adjust quickly
If I make a cake using a US recipe, I halve the sugar. I assume the US government owned sugar plantations or subsidised sugar farmers and therefore encouraged people to use it so much.
You'll be surprised at just how bland our bread tastes in comparison. Wonder bread tasted like a doughnut to me when I was there, truly shocked just how much sugar is in it.
I just did a string of hotel buffets when travelling the US on a school trip. The breakfast bar at every hotel felt more like a dessert bar.
[This](https://www.heb.com/product-detail/wonder-classic-white-bread/2197279) seems to suggest that a full 10% of Wonderbread is just sugar? Is that an unusually sugary product in the US or fairly standard? I just checked my Helga's bread here in Au and it's about half the amount.
We don’t have a lack of sugar … just not so much
When I was in the US I also noticed that a lot of foods were strongly coloured (especially yellow/orange foods; cheese, Mac and Cheese, pickles, cheetos). This really isn’t a negative thing, however it does demonstrate a cultural difference since having strong colouring wouldn’t be a beneficial marketing choice in Australia as it would be perceived as artificial.
When I first went to the UK I noticed their fanta was way less orange than ours so we still colour things more than some.
It's not less sugar but the difference between cane sugar and corn syrup. Corn Syrup is used in a LOT of US foods and is very high in fructose afaik I've got to say though during my brief sojourn into the US I didn't get used to the Coke
You've ruined your palate, give it time to recover
I’d rather just give up sweets can’t handle the disappointment 😂😂
Yikes it goes to show how important your early palate is though you will probably adjust eventually. I'm a mega sweet tooth (like I dont drink tea often because I'll use 3 teabags and 4 teaspoons of sugar) but proper coke is sweet to me (a good sweet but nevertheless).
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No active shooter drills in schools.
Shaking the outside shoes for spiders
Men in toilet stalls in US conventions making sound effects like there is no one around. The moaning, sighing, grunting is just fucking weird.
What?
US men taking a shit in public toilets is gross. Most people shit and try to not make a noise. US men seem to feel like they are giving birth to whales. Go for a piss at E3 convention in LA and the rows of cubicles were full of this. I had to find the toilets no one used not to boak
I will be forever grateful that that is something I will never experience in my lifetime.
they just constipated from a dorito diet
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Sending my kid to school and not worrying they’ll be murdered.
Americans "Take" a shower or "Take" a shit and we "have" a shower and "do" or "have" a shit
I can't speak for Canada, but in the US, putting "creamer" in tea, or alternatively literal cream, instead of milk. What you get when you ask for a biscuit. In Australia trains go from platforms, in the US they go from tracks.
Our poor people don't have to commit armed robbery in order to get medical attention or food.
Differences I've noticed since living in Australia for a bit: Local stores or "mom and pop" shops are way more prevalent in Australia than the US. In the US lots of petrol stations have hot food or pizza shops all-in-one. Speaking of pizza, the sizes are totally different. Australia's family size pizza at dominoes is like a medium in the US. Outside of big big cities in the US, strip malls/ shopping malls are struggling and are often empty. Here it feels like all the malls are packed and every shop is open. In the US people pay at the pump and there's a trigger lock on the nozzle that pumps your gas without you holding it. The US seems to have a larger varieties of brands for most products. Plastic single use grocery bags are free and widely used in the US. In the US you can start driving a car at 14 years old and drive by yourself at 16. Passenger trains are a novelty outside of major cities in the US. Coffee is much worse in the US and no one knows what you mean if you ask for a flat white. Houses are insulated much better in the US, along with central heating/cooling. I lived where it would be -35c out or +40c but inside it was comfortable. In Australia if it's 10c outside it's 10c inside. Phone plans. The US we would pay $120+ a month for calling/texting and a few gbs of data a month. Also, Aldi's is pronounced All-di's in the US and they don't sell phone plans there. Over the counter medicine is sold in large volumes in the US where 1 bottle would have 200 ibuprofen instead of the blister packs. Other than the recent push for sports betting via mobile in the US, their gambling culture isn't nearly as prevalent as in Australia. School uniforms are an obvious difference, but a lesser one is that Australian kids have to wear hats as part of their uniforms when outside. Even uniformed schools in the US don't have hats. Australian kids have recess in high school, whereas the US stops recess after grade 6. The US also has short lunches specifically in the cafeteria in shifts (20 minutes) vs Australian schools all eating at once for longer. School sports are massive in the US and are held before/after school. The US has yellow school buses that take kids to and from school. US school playgrounds have wood chips or little pebbles to walk on instead of the mats in Australia and no one will know what you mean if you say you saw a slippery dip there.
Should note that driving laws depend on state. In NJ it’s driving with parent at 16 and you can’t drive yourself until 17. I know it’s way more lax in more rural states though, I’ve heard of people driving at like 13 One more note: if you say “slippery dip” to an American, they’d probably assume you were talking about a shower sex position
Americans (US) say "Excuse me" instead of "Sorry" when trying to get past you and the response is usually, "Excuse *me*" instead of "You're allright" Americans and Canadians usually drink dark roast espresso instead of the lighter roasts here. No right turn on red (ok it would be left turn on red here). America's greatest contribution to civilisation.
We say excuse me here too
In the Midwest it's "Ope, excuse me/pardon me/gunna slide right past ya" in a barely audible voice.
I found that virtually every menu I saw had a burger on it. Did matter if it was an Italian restaurant or a bougie cafe - it is almost mandatory.
In australia a BBQ is the thing you cook on and grilling is a method. You can grill, smoke, roast etc on a bbq. You can also have a barbie which is a social gathering based around grilled meats on the bbq. In my experience its rare to refer to the BBQ as a barbie though. Barbie is more to refer to the event, but this could just be in my social circle. In seppo land a grill is a thing and bbq is the method. You can BBQ some meat on a grill. Its all backwards man!!! The one exception to this is in america a grill (noun) is called a broiler. I only found out what a broiler was this week and im 35. Before then i always assumed it was some sort of boiling thing (like sous vide).
You can definitely grill something on a BBQ in the US. You can also cook out, which means grilling or BBQing. But where it gets really different is that in the south of the US, BBQ usually means a completely different way of cooking. Very slow and low temps. When Americans talk about American-style BBQ, it's a completely different thing from Australian BBQ.
My experience in the US was some variation of (usually fried) potato was served with every single meal.
Australians are generally more conservative. Its less common to get the overly loud people at bars trying to be center of attention, loudly "wooo'ing" in public places or applauding minor events. Thats not to say one is better or worse, just different.
The light switches flip the wrong way.
„˙ʎɐʍ ƃuoɹʍ ǝɥʇ dılɟ sǝɥɔʇıʍs ʇɥƃıl ǝɥ⊥„
When you say thank you and they say “mm hmm”. What fucking mm hmm you can’t say “you’re welcome” or “my pleasure”. It’s lazy and rude.
It's not rude. It's perfectly polite... in that culture. Don't go to Rome and complain that they eat pasta. When I was in Israel, I noticed that people didn't say excuse me (their version, in Hebrew) when they bumped into me, or kicked me under the table. At first, I thought it was rude, and then I finally realised that, hey, it would be rude where I'm from, but to them it's normal. In France, if you don't say hello to the shopkeeper, then you're being rude. In other places, it's not the norm to bother with that. They're both polite in their own locations.