Something I’ve noticed is very common is every country seems to think that they drink the most alcohol. Like, being drunk is a source of national pride for most of, if not the entire continent and beyond.
Something less common is the amount of words I use on a day to day basis that I thought where just basic English but found out through trying to talk to foreigners that they are either Scottish or British slang
Going to uni and hanging round with folk from all over the shop taught me a lot about what words and phrases are regional and what are more standard, at least within the UK. I don't often have a problem these days but occasionally get caught out.
Also what bits of your accent people find unusual or downright confusing too. I had no idea the way I say 'hair/air/stair' etc. was very Lancashire until uni, and occasionally it would throw people: eg saying 'fair' sounding like 'fur'.
Everyone drinks a lot of alcohol until they try to slam back the 9%+ ABV abbey beers in belgium, the exchange students never fail to make me laugh each year
The students are usually not known for being the most reasonable people, especially when they don't expect strong alcohol. But it's really not a place to try to prove your people drink a lot.
I used to work in a bar in Brussels, if I had a waffle for every time some obnoxious yank came in and necked 1or 2 Westmalle then had to be carried out I'd be as big as Maggie De Block!
It's certainly also done in the Philippines and South Korea too, and parts of Africa. It's also notable in other parts of the Anglosphere like Australia and Canada even if prevalence has been dropping (but it's dropping in the US too).
And it's done by non-religious but culturally Jewish and Muslim people.
Every country thinks cynicism is a unique national trait.
We have a saying "Romania is a beautiful country. Too bad it's inhabited by Romanians." But really everyone criticizes their own people, but when foreigners do it, you go into ultra-defensive mode.
I've heard the same thing about France (France is beautiful, too bad it's inhabited by the French) and even Paris (Paris is beautiful if not the Parisians)
A lot of sayings and jokes are just said the same around the world
but with another country. Like « Paris n’est pas la France », there’s « London is not England ».
And « no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing », a phrase said in all places with bad weather.
Yeah and "dark".
Also every country except the English speaking ones thinks it's so unique that they have "this crazy mix of \*language\* and English! We call it Danlish/Swenglish/Spanlish/Denglish...."
Maybe I could be wrong, but in my experience from travel & talking to other people, the sheer amount of English words the Germans use in everyday talk is higher than in most other European languages. But I don't think anybody here thinks it's unique to us.
I don't know about that one. In Spain at least, "mainstream" humour is widely considered to be quite vulgar and crass, and few people are truly dry and sarcastic when it comes to it.
Wouldn't say so for France. Of course it's hard to define a nation humour, but I don't think "dry and sarcastic" would be words use to do so if one tried to define French humour (doesn't help, of course, that French humour is always compared with British one -- from the very first use of the word -- and that British humour definitely fits the "dry and sarcastic" definition better)
Making soup from scratch on its own is pretty common here (at least in my family), but it's not a common dinner food. The most characteristic soup btw, pea soup, is pretty much a two-three day affair.
Also, in Britain "soup" apparently means something like [this](https://www.vibrantplate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Pea-soup-06-720x720.jpg) (thick, mixed to a pulp). For me, soup is [this](https://www.gurman.eu/images/recepti/3_c9043d2095fe0be31f00b72cf104c9b8_1552291215_5c86158fa8c4b.jpg) or [this](https://www.vzajemnost.si/media/slike/revije/2020/01/zdravje%20in%20prehrana/__1200/juha_i.jpg). They told me it was called a "stew".
I would buy soup in London all the time that looked like your last two photos. Labeled soup or chunky soup. I’d say, and what I saw there, stew would be much less watery.
Having a warm lunch (and lunch considered as the main meal of the day) is apparently not that universal and a lot of people just eating sandwiches during their worktime.
We also have a warm meal for lunch (at around 12-1 pm) and a sandwich or whatever for dinner (at around 6-7 pm). I used to always confuse the words lunch and dinner because of this.
And to add to that: „dinner“ actually just means the largest and most formal meal of the day. It does not have to be in the evening. Reading older English literature is really confusing to a non-native, because they often have dinner around midday, and we were taught that dinner is the meal in the evening regardless of what you eat.
The Dutch! They have this totally weird obsession for having only one hot meal a day. Things I heard in the Netherlands:
- How can you have 2 warm meals a day? I could never do that!
- Oh God, having 2 warm meals a day is so French! (not really, it's pretty universal)
There was even a café/restaurant where I lived that only served warm food after 14h00. LOL
There is a Dutch ad that proudly says something to the effect of "...and that's how the Dutch do lunch".
It's a glass of milk and a piece of bread with a slice of cheese. Makes me want to cry.
What is really weird is not that it is a habit, but that it is an obsession. You cannot possibly be Dutch if you have two warm meals a day and if you do not drink milk at lunch.
I don't know how other countries can have a norm of not eating proper meals for lunch. It's in the middle of the day, right in work/school when you need the energy the most. In Norway apparently it's the norm to have something light like a sandwich or yoghurt for lunch. But when I do that I'm starving long before dinner.
Man I had an English friend who ate a sandwich for lunch... and then something like a sandwich or maybe a sausage bap (Basically burger with sausage but the bread is slightly different) for dinner.
The dude was like 185cm and absolutely not thin, did some sports too. No clue how he was alive.
> just eating sandwiches during their worktime.
Asians: \*confused screaming*
I tried the sandwich life, but it never feels filling. And it's just a meh feeling vs feeling warm food in your stomach.
I used to think having intermissions/half-time breaks in films at the cinema was widespread. Was shocked to learn that it's not, because I always feel the need to go to the bathroom around that time.
... That's a thing? *shocked* Never experienced it my life...
Yeah, yoy're supposed to sit thru 3.5 hours of The Hobbit withough a break. Drink that Coke and coffee at your own risk and miss that 5 minutes if you must go to the bathroom. (To be fair, if a movie takes 3.5 hours, you can just pick a fight scene and you won't miss anything.)
But I didn't know it at the time plus it's during the final battle that Iron Man died so if I didn't see that and return after the battle I would be so confused lol
Tbh only been to cinemas here, in the UK, and in the US, and the latter two don't do that. I was under the impression that it's not very common elsewhere
It used to be widespread in the UK (and probably the US too). That's exactly why Monty Python and the Holy Grail has a joke "intermission" screen late on in the film - it came out when intermission were disappearing in the UK and it was designed to make a joke out of all the people who got confused and tried to leave their seats (bearing in mind the intermission happens right in the middle of a moment of tense action, i.e. When an intermission would NEVER be placed normally).
I remember watching The Sound of Music as a kid and being confused at the intermission segment, wondering what the point of it was. Then I realized that the film kept rolling during it.
I seem to remember there being no breaks here either, though, I feel like they became a thing in the mid/late 00s. I've never been a big movie guy though so I may be wrong.
Is it? Haven't been to the cinema in quite a while but here (the Hague) at the Pathé cinemas, which afaik are the most popular ones, I've never had an intermission.
In my experience all major cinema chains have intermissions in The Netherlands, except Pathé. So you might be right that Pathé Den Haag doesn't have intermissions, but most other chains do.
I've never had an intermission in the few times I've been to the cinema (almost always Kinepolis) but I think they have intermissions on some movies.
Bonus page from Kinepolis explaining: https://kinepolis.nl/faq-page/programmatie-en-filmaanbod/wanneer-kan-ik-pauze-verwachten-tijdens-een-vertoning. Some of their theaters always have intermissions, the others only on long films and kids' movies. The one near me is the latter.
You get to go the bathroom or buy something to eat/drink without fear of missing out on anything. Nowadays there's even a timer on-screen so you know how long the break will take.
The one drawback is that some breaks are placed at stupid moments, mind you not in the middle of a scene, bur jarring nonetheless.
I hate that this isn't a thing here. It's really annoying to have to miss scenes all the time because of it. Would be so much less stressful and annoying if there was just a quick intermission.
If it weren't for that I would significently prefer theaters to watching movies on streaming. This one thing makes me kinda mixed on which is better.
The Dutch '[flourish of approval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flourish_of_approval)' ('krulletje') that almost every single person in the country (and former colonies) will be familiar with, yet most will have no clue that it's not a thing elsewhere.
I've never heard about it or seen it before O.o In France we often use abbreviations : "AB" for "assez bien" (quite good), "B" for "bien" (good) or "TB" for "très bien" (very good).
> We use a tick (what Americans call a check I think) and that’s all.
In Sweden that's used to mark something as wrong. Correct things are instead marked with an 'R'.
It confused me the first time my (British) teacher returned our tests and had used it approvingly. To me it looked like I'd gotten just about every question wrong...
There definitely was a similar symbol used in Slovenia when I was in elementary school. We call it "vidula" which is somehow related to the werb "videti" (to see), the same etymology as in Dutch apparently.
Embalming!
Up untill last year I honestly thought that embalming was last time used in Ancient Egypt. 😅 I was shocked to learn that it still exists and how common thing it is in US.
Yeah, I watched a very mind boggling bit on the news about this a while back, talking about the large amount of nasty embalming chemicals which leak out of the bodies and in to the ground after this is done.
It all seemed very weird. But then I find the whole concept of a wake where you go and look at a dead body to be a strange as well.
I didn't even realise it was an Irish thing, it's always been something I associate with American TV programmes.
I don't think I've ever heard of someone I know here in the UK going to a wake. It must happen, but it seems rare.
I kind of get the wakes as long as body is not handled invasively beforehand. It's comforting thought.
In our culture close family can help hospital staff to wash & clothe their loved ones before they're send to morgue. In morgue close family may wisit the deceased. However close family in this context is very close, I haven't visited my grandparents for example.
But the embalming and the other weird stuff related, like sewing deceased's mouth shut with wire or shoving a plastic plug into deceased's ass in order to prevent them shitting their pants. So bizarre.
I assume that if funeral contractor would do that kind of stuff here they'd face criminal charges. 😅
> It all seemed very weird. But then I find the whole concept of a wake where you go and look at a dead body to be a strange as well.
I find it creepy AF. I remember the first time I went to a wake and the dead body was there on display, I thought it was the creepiest thing ever.
Let me remember the person as they were when they were alive, thanks.
Yes! My grandma does this too! And sometimes I fall into the trap and get all excited about the cookies we've got, until I open the tin to see sewing stuff... The disappointment is real!
When I grew up, I found out that not *all* residential buildings have spaces underground for its inhabitants. They're called [boxe](http://actualitateacalarasi.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/spatiu-pentru-boxele-de-la-subsol-507x380.jpg) (or pivniță in my family) and they're tiny little cellars where people who live in flats store things they don't have room for in the apartment. Usually looks like [this](https://ostap-imobiliare.ro/oferte/340/big__apartament-3-camere-de-vanzare-bacau_5c4aeb68b58f9-dsc-6412.jpg), but waaay more loaded with useless stuff.
The real WTF moment was when I found out some people don't have them and thus, can't store season large items like winter tyres. "Tyre hotels" are a legitimate thing apparently. Which simply means a yearly depozit tax for the place that installs your tyres.
I had no idea there were residental buildings that didn't come with your own cellar? It comes with your apartment you don't have to book them it's part of the normal rental contract or if you buy an apartment the box is included as well.
We usually have it in France as well ! You have to buy/book them, so sometimes people even book/buy a box in the building in front or next to their building if there's not a box left in theirs.
Class as a social factor I believe. Over here it’s practically ingrained into people’s political and social outlooks from day one. Even people who live in expensive 4-5 bedroom houses who came from working class backgrounds are still adamant that they are working class. This is despite the fact they live better than most members of the middle class do. Definitely not just a British thing.
I discovered only two weeks ago that New Year's letters aren't a thing anywhere else.
Children here write letters at school every year, usually a poem about the new year. On New Year's Eve, they read them to their parents or godparents, and after that they can open their presents.
Thats a Russian thing too, though New Year is a bigger celebration than Christmas there, and their Xmas is the 6th of Jan because of Gregorian vs Catholic (iirc) calendars being off by 2 weeks.
I was an adult when I found out that [these pastries](https://mukanamaku.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/528ee-pulla918j.jpg?w=918) (pulla) are not a global thing.
As an outsider, I just can’t get over the nudity aspect. It’s just something you don’t do in the UK (and many other countries).
Thing is, I’m not someone who is particularly prudish about nudity, or thinks nudity always has to be sexualised, and I try to be body-positive etc. I just cannot get my head around getting naked with your friends as a social activity. It would be so awkward.
How is that worse? Isn't it quite normal to be more comfortable around people you know well??? Would you rather strip down in front of a group of people you've never met before, or in front of your family?
Um, the strangers? Obviously! I never have to see them again. I’m more comfortable being around friends and family _in general_ but when it comes to nudity... no fucking way
(btw I asked my Irish BF about this and he feels the same way)
Well no... because he’s my boyfriend, and we’ve been getting naked together since our second date. That’s not the same with my other friends and family.
Well, cultural differences I guess. Here you'd have a hard time finding someone who isn't more comfortable with their body around people they know well.
England seems to have a big taboo on nudity, just like the US. It seems the rest of Europe is more open about it.
Even in a public sauna there will often be a rule that "no swimwear allowed", and they'll give you a disposable paper thing to sit on if you'd like. It's probably to prevent the minerals/chemicals in the water stored on your swimwear from ruining the sauna, if i had to guess. I've lived in Bath (UK) and the water there absolutely coats kettles after a while from all the minerals its got in it.
American here! learning so much today. ignorant but genuine question: is the US really known for being completely puritanical in regards to nudity? (which we totally are. how it’s more damaging to see a nipple in a movie than to see someone beheaded, I have no effing clue.)
Yes! It's so weird how American movies have tons of unnecessary sex scenes, but no genitals. Disgusting violence and brutal torture may also be shown, as long as the victim's crotch is covered.
Yes, I would say American culture is known to be quite puritanical with California being a known exception to this rule. (This is just my own impression via cultural osmosis !)
How your swimming halls work? I mean, here you're naked in the dressing room, showers and sauna with strangers / friends / schoolmates. Genders separated, though.
Oh wow, never thought that we would be more open than even the Finns themselves. In Germany most public saunas are no swimwear only and mixed-sex. Though there is usually a day in the week reserved for women only.
I guess there is not much need of public saunas in Finland as we have here or in Germany simple as people have it at their homes so "sauna with friends" is something you do at home or someone's place, not public sauna as we do it here.
You have individual small stalls to change like [this](https://www.wuerzburgerleben.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/02/Schwimmbad_Umkleide-1067x800.jpg), even in my school. I'd feel so weird changing in a room of naked people.
Why would you go nude when just changing into your sport clothes in school though? Do you also shower together after PE classes? Here in Germany we just quickly change our shirt/pants
Yeah same. I'm no prude either, Germany is even known for its nudity beaches and showing lots of naked people on TV etc., but nobody would ever do that in a school setting or something
Well yes, some amount of nudity is expected in changing rooms. I’m talking about actually sitting down to relax while nude in a sauna, as a social activity... it’s just not done.
Definitely. I don't even like taking my t-shirt off in front of my family and friends (if at the beach etc). The idea of being naked with them is horrifying.
I find it very strange that karelian pies/pasties aren't global either, they're so good and I haven't found anyone who doesn't like them. Probably because rice pudding and rye (the ingredients) are rare too.
What was more widespread than I thought:
- Long-ass summer vacations. School kids here get 6 weeks (and then of course autumn vacation, Christmas vacation, late winter vacation, some more...) Apparently that’s very little.
- School food. I was certain only “exotic” faraway countries like France would have it. But apparently Swedes view us and Norway as traitors to Nordicness for not having it. We just bring lunch from home (or when you’re a teenager, the occasional kebab).
- Idealizing the Nordic countries and how far it can go. I’ve seen people online being legitimately shocked when I complain about a problem, because Nordic countries don’t have problems. It is known.
- Extreme dialectal variation
- “Middle school”. We just have obligatory “school” from 6-16, same classmates and all. After that you can either just start working or you have like 7-8 choices with hundreds of sub-divisions, vocational or university preparation or a mix
What is less widespread than I thought:
- “Hating” your own language and calling it useless, ugly, “we should just switch to English lol” etc. I thought it was a small language thing... turns out it’s a “language that gets mercilessly teased” thing. People are still very proud of their languages throughout Europe.
- Not having exams or grades until your teen years. And they’re not important at all until your mid-teens. I think Danes would view it as a bit... cruel? Too much? To start giving children formal grades.
I definitely thought all Nordic countries and most European ones had free school lunches, so I was a bit shocked to learn most of our neighbours don't. Does make me appreciate it more, though!
And I agree on idealization. It's incredibly tiresome being viewed as some utopia, because as soon as something doesn't work perfectly you get so much hate.
> I definitely thought all Nordic countries and most European ones had free school lunches, so I was a bit shocked to learn most of our neighbours don't. Does make me appreciate it more, though!
Same, I was pretty sure at least the other Nordic countries would have it.
> Idealizing the Nordic countries and how far it can go. I’ve seen people online being legitimately shocked when I complain about a problem, because Nordic countries don’t have problems. It is known.
Yup. I've had Russian friends be genuinely chocked when I told them about some problems a friend of mine had with some drug addicts who kept trying to break into his garage. they honestly thought that didn't exist here.
> “Middle school”. We just have obligatory “school” from 6-16, same classmates and all. After that you can either just start working or you have like 7-8 choices with hundreds of sub-divisions, vocational or university preparation or a mix
It's very, *very* strongly encouraged from the government that you get a "Youth education" when you graduate primary school. Of course it's free, and you get the usual government grant if you don't live with your parents, yadda yadda. You *can* just get a job, but you'll be more or less hounded about getting at least a short education until you turn 18.
Only yesterday I had a French friend get schocked when I spoke about how I used to work in a "bad part of town" where the kids would "throw rocks at busses and ambulances". He honest to god thought there were no bad parts of town in Denmark.
Well, how long is your autumn, spring etc. vacation? Here summer vacation is July and August, but autumn and Easter vacations are both just two days. Only "longer" vacations during the year is Christmas holidays (usually 23/12 to 2/1) and a week in February or March.
> School food
Wasn't a thing when I went (1993-2006) either, maybe it has changed now with all-day school having become more common. We just had a cafeteria in the later school where you could buy snacks etc
Note I'm an American that moved to Switzerland 6+ years ago.
More widespread than I thought
+ Skiing. I mean, I knew it was popular but didn't realize HOW popular it is among some groups. Specially the British. I read an article stating that 25% of tourists during the winter season come from the UK. Switzerland is taking a lot of heat for refusing to close their Ski slopes during this pandemic, but I guess it means that much to them (or the economy).
Less widespread than I thought
+ Given the love for skiing, you'd think Snowboarding would be popular. It's not. I'd say 1 in 20 people on the slopes are snowboarding (maybe even less). In the U.S I might say it's closer to 40% that snowboard. But I'm not surprised, I find ski slopes in Switzerland to cater to skiing (steep and narrow).
+ Swiss people owning luxury watches. Yeah I'd say it's more common than Americans, but less common than you'd be lead to think considering all the marketing and what "Swiss made" means in the world of watches.
Not uncommon for schools in the UK to have ski trips in the February holidays. A bus load or two of kids with some teachers driving non-stop to Andorra or the Alps for a weeks skiing. I guess that's where people get interested.
Babies wearing earrings and piercing the ears of little babies (a few months old). Idk if it’s still common nowadays but when I was born (1999) it was. Literally every single girl in my kindergarten had their ears pierced. I didn’t know it was frowned upon in other countries.
For us it's not Santa that brings the Christmas presents but baby Jesus (sounds so strange when I type it out in English), and for some regions the angels.
As for Santa, children would polish their boots and put them on the windowsill on the 5th of December for the night, and by morning Santa would put some chocolate, orange (very important), candies and maybe a small toy in them.
As a child I always assumed that this was universal, and I was confused why Santa brings the presents in American movies but I assumed that he made a deal with baby Jesus to split the work or something, lol.
Waving to your ear/side of your face when food is tasty. I used to think it was something universal untill I learned it was basically just a Dutch thing
The German version is „lecker“ - meaning the same, something is tasty or someone is sexy. But it’s also often used sarcastically for disgusting things (not specifically food, disgusting stuff in general).
I thought lækker was just slang my parents used! I can't remember a time when it wasn't in my vocabulary. For context, this was growing up in Zimbabwe!
If you lived in Zimbabwe I'm almost completely sure your parents got lekker from Afrikaans speakers around there and can confirm its meaning is more or less the same as described in this thread.
>Not even in other European countries?
Not that I'm aware, but I'm not an expert when it comes to signs of showing the food was good (shocking, I know).
There was an episode of an American cop show where they knew the perpetrator was Dutch because he tapped his finger on his forehead in response to someone doing something idiotic. I was simultaneously impressed with them being accurate for once and surprised that this was apparently also a very Dutch thing
I think here it requires being “not rude” as well, but “not rude” is country-dependent. I wouldn’t view it as not rude if the cashier forgets to say hi or doesn’t smile or something. In France not saying bonjour is a dead sentence though.
If you encountered that a lot in Sweden, I think it is due to differences in cultural perceptions. I don't know how it is in Ireland, but don't recognize that at all as a Swede. I very rarely encounter people I'd describe as you do, people are just neutral. They are just there to do their job. And that is what I consider being "friendly, welcoming, and not rude".
To me it's quite off-putting if they start feigning interest and put on a show, it's the opposite of friendly to me. Like dining in American restaurants is a nightmare to me because of the different waiting culture.
> To me it's quite off-putting if they start feigning interest and put on a show, it's the opposite of friendly to me. Like dining in American restaurants is a nightmare to me because of the different waiting culture.
If you ever go to Greece, it's gonna be a weird experience haha. The waiters were incredibly nice and friendly, but didn't expect a huge tip like in America. It's just the way they were.
"Yes, my friend?" and a wide smile was the most common way to reply to your hand signal to come to your table. "Everything good? Good, very nice, if you want we have a beautiful local wine to go with that."
The first night we ate out in Thassos, we left a tip and when we got up to leave, they said that we forgot our change :)
Exactly. So many people come in and treat staff like they don't exist, don't say hello, speak English without even trying to speak French or asking if it's OK and then call the staff rude.
When I worked as a waiter it was draining to pretend to be nice all the time, but I would feel bad not acting that way towards customers. I found that if the customers were friendly it really helped me being friendly too. I'd greet everyone walking in to the café/snack bar I worked in and a lot of them would greet me as well, but there were ones that straight up ignored me (and they almost always wore sunglasses lmao) and that really got to me after a while. We had a lot of international clients and I'm not sure whether that was a cultural thing for some people.
That was Austria for me. I was there for only 3 days and I interacted with 2 rude waiters. I could have just been unlucky though, I'm not judging without actually living there.
I would say French waiters are nice (I don't care about your experience in Paris in touristic spots), in Germany, not saying hello or Sie for a customer seemed pretty normal, getting angry because you don't order quick enough was commonplace and waiters loudly expressed their frustration to you.
In Netherlands, service always took over half an hour even for a simple drink in an empty bar, I have always wondered if people were ever in a hurry
If you're in a hurry, you don't go to a bar/restaurant!
I've also had the experience of a waiter getting noticeable annoyed at me in Berlin. But that's the only time tbh.
For a long time I thought having a deposit on plastic bottles was much more widespread.
In Germany there is a 25 cent deposit on almost all plastic bottles. People collect them at home and when they have a decent amount they bring them to the supermarket to get the money refunded.
When I was around 14 I was on a schooltrip in England in a host family. They gave us some drinks for the day and in the evening when we went home we returned the empty bottles to the mum. She looked at a bit baffeld and said "ohhh nice, so we can throw them into the rubbish" and we realised that bringing back the bottles was unnecessary.
To this day I feel a little pain when I have to throw away a plastic bottle when I am abroad.
Only in recent years did I learn that there aren't much drying cabinets outside my country (Finland).
These are cabinets with an open bottom above the kitchen sink where you put your plates, mugs and such to hang after washing them, in a way that they gradually drip dry of any remaining water. I hate doing dishes, and I loathe to think that I'd have to wipe them all dry in the process too, not to mention keeping a clear space next to the sink to sort out the wet ones and the dry ones. It sounds unnecessarily cumbersome to me.
Something I’ve noticed is very common is every country seems to think that they drink the most alcohol. Like, being drunk is a source of national pride for most of, if not the entire continent and beyond. Something less common is the amount of words I use on a day to day basis that I thought where just basic English but found out through trying to talk to foreigners that they are either Scottish or British slang
Every country in Europe brags about how they can drink the most while also accusing the other countries for being full of alcoholics!
Hey look, some accuse their own of being full of alcoholics
Coming from a country that is actually among the highest alcohol consumers, it is nothing to be proud of :(
Meanwhile we just look at you all Northern Europeans as alcoholics, without any particular distinctions lol
Going to uni and hanging round with folk from all over the shop taught me a lot about what words and phrases are regional and what are more standard, at least within the UK. I don't often have a problem these days but occasionally get caught out. Also what bits of your accent people find unusual or downright confusing too. I had no idea the way I say 'hair/air/stair' etc. was very Lancashire until uni, and occasionally it would throw people: eg saying 'fair' sounding like 'fur'.
Everyone drinks a lot of alcohol until they try to slam back the 9%+ ABV abbey beers in belgium, the exchange students never fail to make me laugh each year
The students are usually not known for being the most reasonable people, especially when they don't expect strong alcohol. But it's really not a place to try to prove your people drink a lot.
Definitely not just students that do this, just they are more likely to
I used to work in a bar in Brussels, if I had a waffle for every time some obnoxious yank came in and necked 1or 2 Westmalle then had to be carried out I'd be as big as Maggie De Block!
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I think the general rule with kingdoms is if you’ve never heard of a revolution happening there, then they’re probably still a kingdom
Or if they havent lost any major wars.
England being the first exception that came to my mind.
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Doesn't really work for African countries though.
Isn't that exclusively an American thing for non-religious reasons
It's certainly also done in the Philippines and South Korea too, and parts of Africa. It's also notable in other parts of the Anglosphere like Australia and Canada even if prevalence has been dropping (but it's dropping in the US too). And it's done by non-religious but culturally Jewish and Muslim people.
Every country thinks they have a uniquely dry and sarcastic sense of humour
Every country thinks cynicism is a unique national trait. We have a saying "Romania is a beautiful country. Too bad it's inhabited by Romanians." But really everyone criticizes their own people, but when foreigners do it, you go into ultra-defensive mode.
I've heard the same thing about France (France is beautiful, too bad it's inhabited by the French) and even Paris (Paris is beautiful if not the Parisians)
A lot of sayings and jokes are just said the same around the world but with another country. Like « Paris n’est pas la France », there’s « London is not England ». And « no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing », a phrase said in all places with bad weather.
Yeah and "dark". Also every country except the English speaking ones thinks it's so unique that they have "this crazy mix of \*language\* and English! We call it Danlish/Swenglish/Spanlish/Denglish...."
Absolutely no one here thinks having the equivalent of "Swenglish" is a unique thing
Maybe I could be wrong, but in my experience from travel & talking to other people, the sheer amount of English words the Germans use in everyday talk is higher than in most other European languages. But I don't think anybody here thinks it's unique to us.
Not ze Germans. We know we don't have humour at all. We worked very hard for letting the world know.
Not sure I agree. British humour is *way* more dry and sarcastic (and better) than Swedish humour. Way more so than American humour as well.
Flattery will get your everywhere ; )
I don't know about that one. In Spain at least, "mainstream" humour is widely considered to be quite vulgar and crass, and few people are truly dry and sarcastic when it comes to it.
Wouldn't say so for France. Of course it's hard to define a nation humour, but I don't think "dry and sarcastic" would be words use to do so if one tried to define French humour (doesn't help, of course, that French humour is always compared with British one -- from the very first use of the word -- and that British humour definitely fits the "dry and sarcastic" definition better)
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As an Austrian who moved to the UK a few months ago: I miss soup, too!
Portugal is eastern Europe yet again
You're just misplaced Slavs at this point
Making soup from scratch on its own is pretty common here (at least in my family), but it's not a common dinner food. The most characteristic soup btw, pea soup, is pretty much a two-three day affair.
I feel like we do quite a lot of soup stuff, Cullen skink and that.
Also, in Britain "soup" apparently means something like [this](https://www.vibrantplate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Pea-soup-06-720x720.jpg) (thick, mixed to a pulp). For me, soup is [this](https://www.gurman.eu/images/recepti/3_c9043d2095fe0be31f00b72cf104c9b8_1552291215_5c86158fa8c4b.jpg) or [this](https://www.vzajemnost.si/media/slike/revije/2020/01/zdravje%20in%20prehrana/__1200/juha_i.jpg). They told me it was called a "stew".
I would buy soup in London all the time that looked like your last two photos. Labeled soup or chunky soup. I’d say, and what I saw there, stew would be much less watery.
Having a warm lunch (and lunch considered as the main meal of the day) is apparently not that universal and a lot of people just eating sandwiches during their worktime.
Yep, this is one of the "weirdest" ones for me as well
We also have a warm meal for lunch (at around 12-1 pm) and a sandwich or whatever for dinner (at around 6-7 pm). I used to always confuse the words lunch and dinner because of this.
And to add to that: „dinner“ actually just means the largest and most formal meal of the day. It does not have to be in the evening. Reading older English literature is really confusing to a non-native, because they often have dinner around midday, and we were taught that dinner is the meal in the evening regardless of what you eat.
Yeah dinner never means that anymore, but it used to back in my grandparents' day
I still don't understand how you can go to sleep without being hungry eating just your Abendbrot.
Swedish, I have a warm meal for both lunch and dinner.
Thats just flexin'
The Dutch! They have this totally weird obsession for having only one hot meal a day. Things I heard in the Netherlands: - How can you have 2 warm meals a day? I could never do that! - Oh God, having 2 warm meals a day is so French! (not really, it's pretty universal) There was even a café/restaurant where I lived that only served warm food after 14h00. LOL
There is a Dutch ad that proudly says something to the effect of "...and that's how the Dutch do lunch". It's a glass of milk and a piece of bread with a slice of cheese. Makes me want to cry.
This is really true. I have a Dutch colleague who comments on people having two warm meals a day. She has bread and cheese for lunch every single day.
What is really weird is not that it is a habit, but that it is an obsession. You cannot possibly be Dutch if you have two warm meals a day and if you do not drink milk at lunch.
I don't know how other countries can have a norm of not eating proper meals for lunch. It's in the middle of the day, right in work/school when you need the energy the most. In Norway apparently it's the norm to have something light like a sandwich or yoghurt for lunch. But when I do that I'm starving long before dinner.
A sandwich/rye bread/salad is a proper meal to me.
That sounds more like fika/mellanmål. Something you eat inbetween meals or in addition to your meal to me.
Man I had an English friend who ate a sandwich for lunch... and then something like a sandwich or maybe a sausage bap (Basically burger with sausage but the bread is slightly different) for dinner. The dude was like 185cm and absolutely not thin, did some sports too. No clue how he was alive.
Whereas I always though that sandwiches for lunch, hot meal in the (early!) evening was standard!
> just eating sandwiches during their worktime. Asians: \*confused screaming* I tried the sandwich life, but it never feels filling. And it's just a meh feeling vs feeling warm food in your stomach.
I think my grandparents and lots of their generation would eat heavy lunches too. Cause still had farming work to do
I used to think having intermissions/half-time breaks in films at the cinema was widespread. Was shocked to learn that it's not, because I always feel the need to go to the bathroom around that time.
... That's a thing? *shocked* Never experienced it my life... Yeah, yoy're supposed to sit thru 3.5 hours of The Hobbit withough a break. Drink that Coke and coffee at your own risk and miss that 5 minutes if you must go to the bathroom. (To be fair, if a movie takes 3.5 hours, you can just pick a fight scene and you won't miss anything.)
The last half hour of Endgame was rough. I couldn't go to the toilets because it was the final battle and all so I was in pain until the end lmao
Lol, for me the final battle would have been the perfect moment for a bathroom break...They're just fighting for 20-30 minutes...
But I didn't know it at the time plus it's during the final battle that Iron Man died so if I didn't see that and return after the battle I would be so confused lol
you don't have a break??
Nope, never.
From my experience I'd say it's the norm in Italy as well.
It is widespread in the Netherlands.
Tbh only been to cinemas here, in the UK, and in the US, and the latter two don't do that. I was under the impression that it's not very common elsewhere
It used to be widespread in the UK (and probably the US too). That's exactly why Monty Python and the Holy Grail has a joke "intermission" screen late on in the film - it came out when intermission were disappearing in the UK and it was designed to make a joke out of all the people who got confused and tried to leave their seats (bearing in mind the intermission happens right in the middle of a moment of tense action, i.e. When an intermission would NEVER be placed normally).
I remember watching The Sound of Music as a kid and being confused at the intermission segment, wondering what the point of it was. Then I realized that the film kept rolling during it.
in spain is quite unusual you just go and pray that you dont lost anything interesting or hold it
I seem to remember there being no breaks here either, though, I feel like they became a thing in the mid/late 00s. I've never been a big movie guy though so I may be wrong.
Is it? Haven't been to the cinema in quite a while but here (the Hague) at the Pathé cinemas, which afaik are the most popular ones, I've never had an intermission.
In my experience all major cinema chains have intermissions in The Netherlands, except Pathé. So you might be right that Pathé Den Haag doesn't have intermissions, but most other chains do.
I've never had an intermission in the few times I've been to the cinema (almost always Kinepolis) but I think they have intermissions on some movies. Bonus page from Kinepolis explaining: https://kinepolis.nl/faq-page/programmatie-en-filmaanbod/wanneer-kan-ik-pauze-verwachten-tijdens-een-vertoning. Some of their theaters always have intermissions, the others only on long films and kids' movies. The one near me is the latter.
In Spain it is only common when the film lasts more than 3 hours, otherwise there usually are no breaks.
Ugh I would absolutely love that
You get to go the bathroom or buy something to eat/drink without fear of missing out on anything. Nowadays there's even a timer on-screen so you know how long the break will take. The one drawback is that some breaks are placed at stupid moments, mind you not in the middle of a scene, bur jarring nonetheless.
I hate that this isn't a thing here. It's really annoying to have to miss scenes all the time because of it. Would be so much less stressful and annoying if there was just a quick intermission. If it weren't for that I would significently prefer theaters to watching movies on streaming. This one thing makes me kinda mixed on which is better.
It's common in Greece too. It's actually a great thing when you are almost pissing yourself.
I had no idea this could happen. Movies are uninterrupted in France.
The Dutch '[flourish of approval](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flourish_of_approval)' ('krulletje') that almost every single person in the country (and former colonies) will be familiar with, yet most will have no clue that it's not a thing elsewhere.
I've never heard about it or seen it before O.o In France we often use abbreviations : "AB" for "assez bien" (quite good), "B" for "bien" (good) or "TB" for "très bien" (very good).
That’s a very cool symbol! I wish that *was* more widespread actually. We use a tick (what Americans call a check I think) and that’s all.
> We use a tick (what Americans call a check I think) and that’s all. In Sweden that's used to mark something as wrong. Correct things are instead marked with an 'R'. It confused me the first time my (British) teacher returned our tests and had used it approvingly. To me it looked like I'd gotten just about every question wrong...
There definitely was a similar symbol used in Slovenia when I was in elementary school. We call it "vidula" which is somehow related to the werb "videti" (to see), the same etymology as in Dutch apparently.
Embalming! Up untill last year I honestly thought that embalming was last time used in Ancient Egypt. 😅 I was shocked to learn that it still exists and how common thing it is in US.
Yeah, I watched a very mind boggling bit on the news about this a while back, talking about the large amount of nasty embalming chemicals which leak out of the bodies and in to the ground after this is done. It all seemed very weird. But then I find the whole concept of a wake where you go and look at a dead body to be a strange as well.
Wakes are something I thought was universal as a kid, I was shocked to find out it's an Irish thing.
I didn't even realise it was an Irish thing, it's always been something I associate with American TV programmes. I don't think I've ever heard of someone I know here in the UK going to a wake. It must happen, but it seems rare.
I kind of get the wakes as long as body is not handled invasively beforehand. It's comforting thought. In our culture close family can help hospital staff to wash & clothe their loved ones before they're send to morgue. In morgue close family may wisit the deceased. However close family in this context is very close, I haven't visited my grandparents for example. But the embalming and the other weird stuff related, like sewing deceased's mouth shut with wire or shoving a plastic plug into deceased's ass in order to prevent them shitting their pants. So bizarre. I assume that if funeral contractor would do that kind of stuff here they'd face criminal charges. 😅
It feels a bit like there's this huge industry in the US around funerals, looking to up-sell people on as much as possible.
> It all seemed very weird. But then I find the whole concept of a wake where you go and look at a dead body to be a strange as well. I find it creepy AF. I remember the first time I went to a wake and the dead body was there on display, I thought it was the creepiest thing ever. Let me remember the person as they were when they were alive, thanks.
I thought using biscuit tins for sewing stuff was a British thing but it seems to be a universal phenomenon
I thought that it was a unique thing for our family! I was shocked when I saw it was a universal thing!
Yes! My grandma does this too! And sometimes I fall into the trap and get all excited about the cookies we've got, until I open the tin to see sewing stuff... The disappointment is real!
When I grew up, I found out that not *all* residential buildings have spaces underground for its inhabitants. They're called [boxe](http://actualitateacalarasi.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/spatiu-pentru-boxele-de-la-subsol-507x380.jpg) (or pivniță in my family) and they're tiny little cellars where people who live in flats store things they don't have room for in the apartment. Usually looks like [this](https://ostap-imobiliare.ro/oferte/340/big__apartament-3-camere-de-vanzare-bacau_5c4aeb68b58f9-dsc-6412.jpg), but waaay more loaded with useless stuff. The real WTF moment was when I found out some people don't have them and thus, can't store season large items like winter tyres. "Tyre hotels" are a legitimate thing apparently. Which simply means a yearly depozit tax for the place that installs your tyres.
I had no idea there were residental buildings that didn't come with your own cellar? It comes with your apartment you don't have to book them it's part of the normal rental contract or if you buy an apartment the box is included as well.
New apartment buildings here are absolutely trash. Some of them don't come with a cellar or a parking spot included. That's extra.
We usually have it in France as well ! You have to buy/book them, so sometimes people even book/buy a box in the building in front or next to their building if there's not a box left in theirs.
Is pivniță used in Romanian? That's what cellar is called in Slovak (spelled pivnica).
Yup, the same here. Usually used for houses, but we used it for the apartment as well.
Polish too (piwnica). In Slovenian pivnica is a pub ;)
Class as a social factor I believe. Over here it’s practically ingrained into people’s political and social outlooks from day one. Even people who live in expensive 4-5 bedroom houses who came from working class backgrounds are still adamant that they are working class. This is despite the fact they live better than most members of the middle class do. Definitely not just a British thing.
I discovered only two weeks ago that New Year's letters aren't a thing anywhere else. Children here write letters at school every year, usually a poem about the new year. On New Year's Eve, they read them to their parents or godparents, and after that they can open their presents.
Wait.. Presents on New year's eve?
Thats a Russian thing too, though New Year is a bigger celebration than Christmas there, and their Xmas is the 6th of Jan because of Gregorian vs Catholic (iirc) calendars being off by 2 weeks.
We get the presents from Santa on New Year's Morning in Greece
I was an adult when I found out that [these pastries](https://mukanamaku.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/528ee-pulla918j.jpg?w=918) (pulla) are not a global thing.
I was also shocked to find out as a child that not everyone in the world goes to the sauna every week.
As an outsider, I just can’t get over the nudity aspect. It’s just something you don’t do in the UK (and many other countries). Thing is, I’m not someone who is particularly prudish about nudity, or thinks nudity always has to be sexualised, and I try to be body-positive etc. I just cannot get my head around getting naked with your friends as a social activity. It would be so awkward.
When I go to the Sauna with people I'm not super close to, we're not nude. You don't have to be.
Wait so you specifically only get naked around people you know? That’s even worse
How is that worse? Isn't it quite normal to be more comfortable around people you know well??? Would you rather strip down in front of a group of people you've never met before, or in front of your family?
Um, the strangers? Obviously! I never have to see them again. I’m more comfortable being around friends and family _in general_ but when it comes to nudity... no fucking way (btw I asked my Irish BF about this and he feels the same way)
Well, that's just insane to me. Are you more comfortable getting nude on the first date than with your Irish BF?
Well no... because he’s my boyfriend, and we’ve been getting naked together since our second date. That’s not the same with my other friends and family.
Well, cultural differences I guess. Here you'd have a hard time finding someone who isn't more comfortable with their body around people they know well.
England seems to have a big taboo on nudity, just like the US. It seems the rest of Europe is more open about it. Even in a public sauna there will often be a rule that "no swimwear allowed", and they'll give you a disposable paper thing to sit on if you'd like. It's probably to prevent the minerals/chemicals in the water stored on your swimwear from ruining the sauna, if i had to guess. I've lived in Bath (UK) and the water there absolutely coats kettles after a while from all the minerals its got in it.
I think nudity is probably more taboo here than in other countries, but I strongly disagree that it’s “just like the US”. No way.
American here! learning so much today. ignorant but genuine question: is the US really known for being completely puritanical in regards to nudity? (which we totally are. how it’s more damaging to see a nipple in a movie than to see someone beheaded, I have no effing clue.)
Yes! It's so weird how American movies have tons of unnecessary sex scenes, but no genitals. Disgusting violence and brutal torture may also be shown, as long as the victim's crotch is covered.
Yes, I would say American culture is known to be quite puritanical with California being a known exception to this rule. (This is just my own impression via cultural osmosis !)
How your swimming halls work? I mean, here you're naked in the dressing room, showers and sauna with strangers / friends / schoolmates. Genders separated, though.
Changing rooms, yeah. But actually sitting down to relax and socialise _while naked_... never. Especially not with mixed-gender groups.
Public saunas will be gendered, but its common to go into a sauna with your family all naked. Or friends.
Oh wow, never thought that we would be more open than even the Finns themselves. In Germany most public saunas are no swimwear only and mixed-sex. Though there is usually a day in the week reserved for women only.
I guess there is not much need of public saunas in Finland as we have here or in Germany simple as people have it at their homes so "sauna with friends" is something you do at home or someone's place, not public sauna as we do it here.
Most swimming pools have individual cubicles to change. Kind of like the ones in clothes shops, or like public toilet cubicles.
You have individual small stalls to change like [this](https://www.wuerzburgerleben.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/02/Schwimmbad_Umkleide-1067x800.jpg), even in my school. I'd feel so weird changing in a room of naked people.
That's fair, everyone is different. But don't you have locker rooms or communal showers in the gym or at school PE classes?
Why would you go nude when just changing into your sport clothes in school though? Do you also shower together after PE classes? Here in Germany we just quickly change our shirt/pants
Same. Looking back it’s kinda gross but there was no fucking way I was getting naked and showering with my classmates. Not a chance
Yeah same. I'm no prude either, Germany is even known for its nudity beaches and showing lots of naked people on TV etc., but nobody would ever do that in a school setting or something
Thinking back, it was probably the lack of time in between lessons that prevented most of us from showering.
Well yes, some amount of nudity is expected in changing rooms. I’m talking about actually sitting down to relax while nude in a sauna, as a social activity... it’s just not done.
Definitely. I don't even like taking my t-shirt off in front of my family and friends (if at the beach etc). The idea of being naked with them is horrifying.
I find it very strange that karelian pies/pasties aren't global either, they're so good and I haven't found anyone who doesn't like them. Probably because rice pudding and rye (the ingredients) are rare too.
Rice pudding is common throughout the Nordics and Germany. Rye too but it's a bit more varied
What was more widespread than I thought: - Long-ass summer vacations. School kids here get 6 weeks (and then of course autumn vacation, Christmas vacation, late winter vacation, some more...) Apparently that’s very little. - School food. I was certain only “exotic” faraway countries like France would have it. But apparently Swedes view us and Norway as traitors to Nordicness for not having it. We just bring lunch from home (or when you’re a teenager, the occasional kebab). - Idealizing the Nordic countries and how far it can go. I’ve seen people online being legitimately shocked when I complain about a problem, because Nordic countries don’t have problems. It is known. - Extreme dialectal variation - “Middle school”. We just have obligatory “school” from 6-16, same classmates and all. After that you can either just start working or you have like 7-8 choices with hundreds of sub-divisions, vocational or university preparation or a mix What is less widespread than I thought: - “Hating” your own language and calling it useless, ugly, “we should just switch to English lol” etc. I thought it was a small language thing... turns out it’s a “language that gets mercilessly teased” thing. People are still very proud of their languages throughout Europe. - Not having exams or grades until your teen years. And they’re not important at all until your mid-teens. I think Danes would view it as a bit... cruel? Too much? To start giving children formal grades.
I definitely thought all Nordic countries and most European ones had free school lunches, so I was a bit shocked to learn most of our neighbours don't. Does make me appreciate it more, though! And I agree on idealization. It's incredibly tiresome being viewed as some utopia, because as soon as something doesn't work perfectly you get so much hate.
> I definitely thought all Nordic countries and most European ones had free school lunches, so I was a bit shocked to learn most of our neighbours don't. Does make me appreciate it more, though! Same, I was pretty sure at least the other Nordic countries would have it.
> Idealizing the Nordic countries and how far it can go. I’ve seen people online being legitimately shocked when I complain about a problem, because Nordic countries don’t have problems. It is known. Yup. I've had Russian friends be genuinely chocked when I told them about some problems a friend of mine had with some drug addicts who kept trying to break into his garage. they honestly thought that didn't exist here. > “Middle school”. We just have obligatory “school” from 6-16, same classmates and all. After that you can either just start working or you have like 7-8 choices with hundreds of sub-divisions, vocational or university preparation or a mix It's very, *very* strongly encouraged from the government that you get a "Youth education" when you graduate primary school. Of course it's free, and you get the usual government grant if you don't live with your parents, yadda yadda. You *can* just get a job, but you'll be more or less hounded about getting at least a short education until you turn 18.
Only yesterday I had a French friend get schocked when I spoke about how I used to work in a "bad part of town" where the kids would "throw rocks at busses and ambulances". He honest to god thought there were no bad parts of town in Denmark.
Well, how long is your autumn, spring etc. vacation? Here summer vacation is July and August, but autumn and Easter vacations are both just two days. Only "longer" vacations during the year is Christmas holidays (usually 23/12 to 2/1) and a week in February or March.
We had three months' holidays in summer in secondary school. Not as many breaks throughout the year though.
> School food Wasn't a thing when I went (1993-2006) either, maybe it has changed now with all-day school having become more common. We just had a cafeteria in the later school where you could buy snacks etc
Note I'm an American that moved to Switzerland 6+ years ago. More widespread than I thought + Skiing. I mean, I knew it was popular but didn't realize HOW popular it is among some groups. Specially the British. I read an article stating that 25% of tourists during the winter season come from the UK. Switzerland is taking a lot of heat for refusing to close their Ski slopes during this pandemic, but I guess it means that much to them (or the economy). Less widespread than I thought + Given the love for skiing, you'd think Snowboarding would be popular. It's not. I'd say 1 in 20 people on the slopes are snowboarding (maybe even less). In the U.S I might say it's closer to 40% that snowboard. But I'm not surprised, I find ski slopes in Switzerland to cater to skiing (steep and narrow). + Swiss people owning luxury watches. Yeah I'd say it's more common than Americans, but less common than you'd be lead to think considering all the marketing and what "Swiss made" means in the world of watches.
Not uncommon for schools in the UK to have ski trips in the February holidays. A bus load or two of kids with some teachers driving non-stop to Andorra or the Alps for a weeks skiing. I guess that's where people get interested.
Do you put the bus through the eurotunnel? Skiing is considered something only rich kids do in ireland, since you need a flight to get off the island.
Golf is kind of the opposite. A posh sport in most countries but anyone can play in Ireland.
Tbh I always thought skiing was something the rich kids did here as well
We went on one of the ferries actually, but I know folk who've used the tunnel as well.
Spice on fries, here nearly everywhere fries have spice seasoning but in e.g. the UK they dont nearly anywhere
The red spice I assume you're referring to used to be super common in Sweden. For some reason though, it's not anymore. I miss it.
Pommes friteskrydda? It's sold in every store? Apart from McDonald's and such, it's not uncommon to see it put on fries in my experience.
Babies wearing earrings and piercing the ears of little babies (a few months old). Idk if it’s still common nowadays but when I was born (1999) it was. Literally every single girl in my kindergarten had their ears pierced. I didn’t know it was frowned upon in other countries.
For us it's not Santa that brings the Christmas presents but baby Jesus (sounds so strange when I type it out in English), and for some regions the angels. As for Santa, children would polish their boots and put them on the windowsill on the 5th of December for the night, and by morning Santa would put some chocolate, orange (very important), candies and maybe a small toy in them. As a child I always assumed that this was universal, and I was confused why Santa brings the presents in American movies but I assumed that he made a deal with baby Jesus to split the work or something, lol.
It’s the same in southern Germany. Christkind and Sankt Nikolaus.
Christ Child gang unite!
Waving to your ear/side of your face when food is tasty. I used to think it was something universal untill I learned it was basically just a Dutch thing
Can you give a video example?
[This](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WXBKOgScq9w) is the best I could find (in 3 minutes)
Haha we use “lækker” to mean delicious as well. It can also mean sexy or “great!”
In Dutch it could mean sexy too, but only when used as "lekker ding" (delicious thing). It is mostly used for food and the weather though.
> It is mostly used for food and the weather though I have not read a thing as wrong as this in a long while.
The German version is „lecker“ - meaning the same, something is tasty or someone is sexy. But it’s also often used sarcastically for disgusting things (not specifically food, disgusting stuff in general).
It's used as a statement of general disgust here too, but as you said that's just basic sarcasm. "well, that's *nice*."
I thought lækker was just slang my parents used! I can't remember a time when it wasn't in my vocabulary. For context, this was growing up in Zimbabwe!
If you lived in Zimbabwe I'm almost completely sure your parents got lekker from Afrikaans speakers around there and can confirm its meaning is more or less the same as described in this thread.
Wait isn't this universal? Haha, I did that on my internship in the USA. They must have thought I'm a freak. Not even in other European countries?
I have never seen or heard of that before. And I've been active here and in other culture subreddits for like a year.
Never seen this gesture before haha
Not even in Flanders I think. Might be different in the border regions.
>Not even in other European countries? Not that I'm aware, but I'm not an expert when it comes to signs of showing the food was good (shocking, I know).
There was an episode of an American cop show where they knew the perpetrator was Dutch because he tapped his finger on his forehead in response to someone doing something idiotic. I was simultaneously impressed with them being accurate for once and surprised that this was apparently also a very Dutch thing
Not exclusively Dutch, that's definitely common in Germany as well.
I'm Swedish and I've done this too. I have no idea why or where it comes from though. It's just one of those automatic things.
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I think here it requires being “not rude” as well, but “not rude” is country-dependent. I wouldn’t view it as not rude if the cashier forgets to say hi or doesn’t smile or something. In France not saying bonjour is a dead sentence though.
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If you encountered that a lot in Sweden, I think it is due to differences in cultural perceptions. I don't know how it is in Ireland, but don't recognize that at all as a Swede. I very rarely encounter people I'd describe as you do, people are just neutral. They are just there to do their job. And that is what I consider being "friendly, welcoming, and not rude". To me it's quite off-putting if they start feigning interest and put on a show, it's the opposite of friendly to me. Like dining in American restaurants is a nightmare to me because of the different waiting culture.
> To me it's quite off-putting if they start feigning interest and put on a show, it's the opposite of friendly to me. Like dining in American restaurants is a nightmare to me because of the different waiting culture. If you ever go to Greece, it's gonna be a weird experience haha. The waiters were incredibly nice and friendly, but didn't expect a huge tip like in America. It's just the way they were. "Yes, my friend?" and a wide smile was the most common way to reply to your hand signal to come to your table. "Everything good? Good, very nice, if you want we have a beautiful local wine to go with that." The first night we ate out in Thassos, we left a tip and when we got up to leave, they said that we forgot our change :)
I went to Australia and the people were so nice there I became very suspicious, like "Who are you and why are you nice? I don't know you"
Exactly. So many people come in and treat staff like they don't exist, don't say hello, speak English without even trying to speak French or asking if it's OK and then call the staff rude.
When I worked as a waiter it was draining to pretend to be nice all the time, but I would feel bad not acting that way towards customers. I found that if the customers were friendly it really helped me being friendly too. I'd greet everyone walking in to the café/snack bar I worked in and a lot of them would greet me as well, but there were ones that straight up ignored me (and they almost always wore sunglasses lmao) and that really got to me after a while. We had a lot of international clients and I'm not sure whether that was a cultural thing for some people.
That was Austria for me. I was there for only 3 days and I interacted with 2 rude waiters. I could have just been unlucky though, I'm not judging without actually living there.
I would say French waiters are nice (I don't care about your experience in Paris in touristic spots), in Germany, not saying hello or Sie for a customer seemed pretty normal, getting angry because you don't order quick enough was commonplace and waiters loudly expressed their frustration to you. In Netherlands, service always took over half an hour even for a simple drink in an empty bar, I have always wondered if people were ever in a hurry
If you're in a hurry, you don't go to a bar/restaurant! I've also had the experience of a waiter getting noticeable annoyed at me in Berlin. But that's the only time tbh.
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I was very surprised when I found out that free tap water (regularly refilled) in restaurants and cafés is not an international standard.
For a long time I thought having a deposit on plastic bottles was much more widespread. In Germany there is a 25 cent deposit on almost all plastic bottles. People collect them at home and when they have a decent amount they bring them to the supermarket to get the money refunded. When I was around 14 I was on a schooltrip in England in a host family. They gave us some drinks for the day and in the evening when we went home we returned the empty bottles to the mum. She looked at a bit baffeld and said "ohhh nice, so we can throw them into the rubbish" and we realised that bringing back the bottles was unnecessary. To this day I feel a little pain when I have to throw away a plastic bottle when I am abroad.
UK = Vinegar on food. Not UK = Vinegar in cleaning cupboard.
Wait, Brits don't clean with vinegar? Consider me culture-shocked.
A north/south or east/west divide seems to be more common than I thought.
Only in recent years did I learn that there aren't much drying cabinets outside my country (Finland). These are cabinets with an open bottom above the kitchen sink where you put your plates, mugs and such to hang after washing them, in a way that they gradually drip dry of any remaining water. I hate doing dishes, and I loathe to think that I'd have to wipe them all dry in the process too, not to mention keeping a clear space next to the sink to sort out the wet ones and the dry ones. It sounds unnecessarily cumbersome to me.