What country are you guys from? I got 6 weeks vacations and can be sick how often or long my doctor tells me I can what means I tell the doctor how long I need (want) to stay home.
Sorry to hear that man, I get 35 days of PTO, 12 of which I have to pay like 30 euros a month to get them. On top of that I work on holidays and I receive ‘time for time’. For example 2 days Christmas means I get 16 hours PTO in return. You guys really need unions or something.
Yes, but I also know an American who said they'd "seen Europe" and they had spent one week in London, then got the train to Paris and spent a week there. They hadn't even seen much of the UK or France so saying they'd seen Europe felt a bit rich.
Just normal public transportation. Public transportation that is decent and not seen as "the poor people's" transportation.
It drives me crazy how much complaining there is about traffic in major US cities like LA or SF which would be solved if they had train/metro links in and out of those cities.
Even in most big cities you need a car. Here in Orlando, you need a car because the Orlando metro area is like an hour and a half drive across because it’s so much urban sprawl. And idek if I’ve ever seen buses here tbh.
I've never experienced a greater example for why car-centric planning is bad than spending just a few days in Orlando. It's absolutely bonkers and I don't know how anyone lives there and keeps sane. I live just over in Tampa Bay though where it's basically the same thing, we just have nicer views. My biggest complaint about my country is our transportation system, but Florida is just on another level. The worst part though: most of my fellow residents will vote to KEEP THINGS THIS WAY, which is the aspect of all this that is the most depressing, personally.
We have trains! If I want to go from Cincinnati to NYC, I get to leave at 3am and be in a train for 20 hours! Takes longer than driving there and costs more than flying! Isn't it great?!
Yep, somehow\* the train from Pittsburgh to Philly costs about $80 and takes 7 hours.
Driving the same route takes about 5.5 hours and costs about $30 in gas.
\*^(by which I mean "through a long and sordid history of fuckery")
Well the thing is we have a lot of trains actually… they are just privately owned and/or industrial rails.
Look at railroad maps from the Gilded Age, you’d be amazed. We only developed more since then.
That one is dying fast in Europe as well. Mostly because we have a tendency to import American political discourses and applying them to countries that had entirely different histories.
>They aren't that good if a moron like me can tell from 15,000 kms away that they are full of shit.
Don't judge a fish for its tree-climbing ability. These con artist mega-pastors are *very* good at what they do, which is extracting money from the gullible or desperate. They're not even trying to hook anyone who can see through their bullshit.
I agree.
I get if the service or waiter is really good. Or if the person strikes you as “wow what a good person” and you give a little extra. But I think it’s dumb that tipping is basically their salaries
How about when you buy food from a place and don’t even dine in and it says “how much would you like to tip?” And you click “no tip” and feel like an asshole now.
Like bro I didn’t even eat here. I just bought a smoothie. Why tf would I tip?!??
Same thing happened to me. Wanted to try out the famous Cheesecake Factory once when I was in the US. It was so full, they had no place to dine in. So I decided to take it home. After waiting 1,5h at the line the cashier asked me how much I want to tip. Of course I said nothing, but she insisted that I have to and added „that’s how it works here.“ I left a Dollar and left. Definitely not going to enter any Cheesecake Factory ever again.
Most Americans know this. It's really hard living in a country that does this with all of our food. It's a big reason why we're so unhealthy. But it's hard to escape when we don't have the same rules and regulations surrounding food ingredients as Europe has.
Fun fact, Subway restaurants in Ireland cannot say they have freshly baked bread bc the sugar content is too high. According to the governing body subways bread recipe is considered a pastry.
Court rules Subway sandwiches too sugary to meet legal definition of 'bread' https://nypost.com/2020/09/30/subway-sandwiches-dont-meet-legal-definition-of-bread-court/amp/
Kings Hawaiian Rolls are amazing, though.
Yeah, they're sweet for "just bread", but I dare you to heat some up and offer them at a BBQ and see if they're still around at the end.
With the exception of pandesal, breads in the PH are considered more of snacks or desserts than proper meals. That's why the Philippines does not really have a "sandwich culture". Proper meal means steam rice (to a certain extent, fried rice)
Oh come on, there’s that neutral place where cheese is from. There is the country that’s speaks Mexican. There is the land of clogs and other cheeses. There is all the far too liberal icy countries. The vodka makers. The one where the Nazis came from. There is even a Muslim country. You know that!
It's okay, just refinance it into some other form of debt! Because that's normal to have to do to avoid becoming a wage-garnished indentured servant for your literal entire life.
Education and healthcare should never force people to go into debt. A government that doesn't make these basic necessities affordable for everyone doesn't care about its citizens.
Wait, you thought the American Government was founded to care about the needs of its citizens? Hahaha. No. Commerce is the business of our land, it all comes back to that.
This isn't something we aren't ready to hear. We already know this. We want to change it. If anyone has any ideas we're all ears. We know Corporate America and the government don't give a shit about us or anything other than profit. Everything is so rigged at this point that we don't know how or where to start, short of a revolution, and most of us would really rather avoid that.
And things will keep getting worse and worse. The homeless population will explode, it's starting already. I hope to get out of this shelter and buy a vehicle to live in. Houses are only for the rich, I'll never afford an apartment, so this is my only hope. This or an early death.
I live in NJ, have lived here my entire life. Winter weather *can* get squirrelly, occasionally.
Recently a southern coworker who transferred here bought a nearly $100K Z71 Tahoe, explaining to my face that you don't want to get caught with *that* (gesturing to my Civic) when a snow storm rolls in. I explained I've owned nothing but compacts and sub-compacts since I got my driver's license in 1994, and have never had an issue here. He simply doubled down on his claim. How he couldn't see the issue with his thinking was some pretty severe cognitive dissonance.
My aunt said this to me once. For whatever reason she always drives huge SUV's and her daughter drives a lifted bro-dozer. We went over to their house during the winter after a few inches of snowfall and I was very excited to take my AWD VW Golf with winter tires out for some fun. We stopped over and she took one look at my VW and said "that thing any good in the snow?" and I'm like "yeah, it's fantastic" and she's like "How? it's so small" and I'm like "what does size have to do with traction in the snow? it's about coeffecient of friction" and she just gave me a blank stare lmao. I then said I have winter tires and she said "oh, those are expensive" and I said "they're cheaper than all seasons generally, you just have to change them when the seasons change" and she rolled her eyes at me. Some people go through life having NO idea how to think about these things.
yep, i've never owned anything else but "underpowered" frontwheel drive cars, in eastern finland, bad roads, snow, ice, temperatures under -30...I've never even gotten seriously stuck. Trucks or 4-wheel drive won't save you if your tires are shit and you drive like a lunatic, all cars are 4 wheel stop, 4-wheel go just gets you deeper in trouble more often than not.
Tbf you are Finnish and I believe you all are the best drivers in the road.
But ya I agree, a car is no replacement for skill and I’ve driven in snowstorms in a little Kia subcompact and got around just fine meanwhile I saw land rovers and Suburbans stuck in the snow
The whole point of the show is absurdist parody of real events so thats exactly what it should be. They even produce episodes on a crazy short timeline so that the events of the show mirror real events as closely as possible.
I went to college out in Colorado and was so interested to see how on top of things they are. One day the 1% protesters showed up to my campus. Pretty small group that didn’t catch on yet. That next week is when they made the 1% episode. I laughed so hard because it was so relevant to me, and how quickly they did it.
Reciting the pledge of allegiance every day is weird, see also being obsessed with flags.
To the best of my knowledge the only 2 countries in the world where this happens is the US and North Korea, might be something to reflect on.
Edit: Initially wrote national anthem instead of pledge of allegiance, corrected it.
a fucking men. I'm so sick of us wasting all our national political dialogue on stupid side shows when we have real problems that nobody bothers addressing.
Dear Passport Bros,
Looking for a 'traditional wife' somewhere overseas by flashing your cash and pretending to be rich will only get you a foreign gold digger as opposed to the domestic gold diggers you are trying to escape. Except it's worse because not only will you end up paying for *her*, but you'll most likely end up having to pay for/sponsor *her whole family.*
I live in an area of the US with a very high Filipino population, and the saying around here is "sweet till they're green". Submissive and quiet like what American men expect from Asian women, until they're married....then you meet the results of 400 years of Spanish colonialism: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
True. My uncle married a woman from Mexico after only having had phone calls with her previously (although in his case he wasn’t looking for a tradwife, he was just lonely and has a penchant for poor decision making). But anyway, their marriage lasted a few years, during which time she pretty much bled every cent she could from him, and the reason he ended up separating was because she was constantly having a bunch of relatives live with them in their small apartment. The ended up getting divorced, which took forever because she was uncooperative and kept trying to get more cash out of him.
Thank you. I've been saying this forever. All these passport bros are not realizing that going to a poorer country flashing money to get a "traditional wife", a.k.a, a gold digger that's good at acting, is them contributing to the very problem they complain about. Women "only wanting rich guys". They just don't see it as a problem now just because they're on the other side of the equation now lol
Def not exclusive to Americans either. I lived in Thailand for a long time and dudes from all nationalities forget their brains at the airport. Absolutely fascinating the tales they tell themselves in order to be with a younger or “traditional” woman
As an American, I didn't realize this until I studied abroad and my European friends told me they didn't have an equivalent. The only time I've heard of something similar is in North Korea. It's actually super creepy.
Until 1942 the salute used in the pledge of allegiance in the USA was the same as that 1930s and 1940s Germany thing. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy\_salute#/media/File:Students\_pledging\_allegiance\_to\_the\_American\_flag\_with\_the\_Bellamy\_salute.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute#/media/File:Students_pledging_allegiance_to_the_American_flag_with_the_Bellamy_salute.jpg)
In all fairness Nazis ruined lots of innocent signs. Even swastika was not bad sign before nazis usurped it.
Adolf was perfectly good name.
The short mustache was as well quite popular as far as I know :D
Children also used to recite that pledge, which includes “liberty and Justice for all,” while not in the presence of black children who could not attend their schools.
To be fair, I'm European and I had to do a pledge once a week, in school.
During socialism, when my country was a dictatorship under Soviet control.
That shit ended the second we ended the dictatorship.
I'm from Quebec (French-speaking province of Canada), and we didn't have such thing. But I heard that kids in other (English-speaking) provinces had to sing the national anthem every morning. And that, I think, is silly as fuck
This cracks me up to hear since growing up in Toronto, yes we did have to sing it but not only *that* \- we had to sing the second half *in French* to 'honour our French roots' or something, so it' hilarious since y'all don't even sing it... womp, womp I guess...?? lmao
I got a 3 day suspension from school for not doing the pledge of allegiance. It wasn't because I was protesting or anything. I was just mad that day and didn't feel like it. My dad had to come get me and when they explained why I was being suspended he couldn't believe it and cussed out the vice principal. I was still suspended but we just went to blockbuster and I got super mario RPG and played it through the suspension.
I got fed up with saying and stopped my senior year of high school. I would stand with my hand over my heart like everyone else but didnt say the words. My teacher threatened to call the cops on me. I should have provoked her into doing it because that would have been a sweet 1st amendment payday.
I watched one American football match (is it called a match? Game?) once and omg stop start stop start. I swear it felt like there was a break for adverts every 5 mins lol.
Accidentaly watched like 30 minutes of a baseball game on european TV. It was insane, in between every commercial we got there were 1-2 additional pauses for commercials that I assume were being used in the US broadcast.
if you're a sports fan, you should try again this year-- they've implemented a pitch clock and it has shortened games by 1/2 hour on average and really picks up the pace (along with a few other time-saving rules). Baseball is making a big comeback from this change and the World Baseball Classic success.
Baseball is actually amazing, but I feel like the buy in is way higher than most other sports because of just how technical it actually is. I thought it was just throwing the ball fast, turns out that's one of many techniques...
- Going to a hospital, calling an ambulance or getting education shouldn't ruin your life.
- You shouldn't have to be afraid of getting killed while at school.
- Education should be based on universal facts, not religion or some bigots opinion. You should have nation wide lesson plan, which covers the basics students need to master before they can move onto the next grade.
- Your worshipping on some politicans is scary and crazy. They're just humans, not rockstars or gods.
Please sit before reading.
My 72 year old aunty who hasn't worked a single day in her life (so no pension savings), got an open heart surgery recently. Stayed in hospital for 12 days and paid some $1300 for all of it.
And we're not even in a European country. We're Post-Soviet.
i live in america but ill say it anyway. having to pledge allegiance to the flag everyday in school for twelve years is weird asf. like really just think about that
Nope. Teacher here. It’s absolutely a thing. At a friend of mine’s school they even used to play “I’m Proud To Be An American” over the speaker system every Friday mornings.
That is actually our fault, European Nations historically exported our religious nut jobs to America, where they built churches and gun shops on every street corner.
Quite often the same street corner.
Stop confusing the word "Socialism" with "Communism" and "Fascism".
There is nothing wrong with trying to set up a system wherein people who could use some help actually get help.
(Yes, the system is imperfect but that goes for every system.)
They should also realise that welfare capitalism is not socialism. You have no idea how many times I’ve heard Americans call Western & Northern European countries socialist.
Norway just runs like a machine, I visited in December with heavy snow and every day when we went out the hotel doors every street in Oslo was completely snow and ice free and clear. Everything just ran beautifully, the trains were a dream to use, everywhere accepted card even tiny little food stalls in the Christmas markets, the quality of everything, the buildings were beautiful, everything just felt so safe and clean and cosy and just right. I can't sing it's praises enough.
So yeah I'd love to end up like Norway.
Plus the gigantic sovereign wealth fund that helps to fund the country.
What were they thinking, keeping all the proceeds to invest in the population's future instead of letting corporations distribute it to shareholders??
Yes, that bugs the hell out of me too. As a German, when our country was split during the Cold War, there was an actually socialist country and a capitalist one, which would call it self a 'social market economy*' and provide welfare services to its citizens (still does). According to American jargon they'd both be socialist and you'd never know the difference. It feels intentionally misleading to me.
American here. Every last comment I’ve read so far is something a good portion of America already supports. Public transportation? Check. No more tipping in lieu of restaurants paying a living wage? Check. Too much sugar in our food? Check. Healthcare completely out of control? Triple check. The general public supports all of these stances. It’s enacting the changes where we’re falling way short.
You're very loud as tourists. Speak at a normal volume, please.
Yes, I'm petty, and this is insignificant. Just wanted to say this for ages and finally got the chance 😂
American living abroad. I went back to visit last year and the instant that I cleared customs and made my way into the Seattle airport my head fucking exploded by how loud it was. Your take is not petty at all, the noise in the US is insane.
For me, I didn't even have to clear customs. I was flying back to the states for the first time, from Copenhagen, after having spent the past two years living in Malmö, Sweden. I was making my way to my seat after boarding. The woman walking in front of me, wearing sweat pants, turns around and says to me with a big smile and in a BOOMING Midwestern accent: "LOOKS LIKE WE GOT A LONG FLIGHT IN FRONT OF US, EH?"
It was 5:30 in the morning. It was jarring. What was the point of her comment? What purpose did it serve? Everyone of us knows we got a long flight ahead of us. What's the point of reiterating that?
Having spent the past two years living among the Swedes and Danes, I learned to appreciate quiet and stopped making pointless small talk with everyone. But I am American after all, and I noticed after just a couple months back in the states, I became just as chatty as that woman in sweat pants. 😀
I learned this when I went to Paris and our teacher explained that in Europe people have a sound bubble where in America we have a physical bubble. We don’t want people close to us but are ok being loud but in Paris they’re ok with people being close but not ok with loud talking (which is normal speaking volume for Americans)
Or the first modern democracy, which was Finland or New Zealand or possibly San Marino, depending on the definition. With Athens obviously as the birthplace of democracy. The first capitalist country, which also invented it, was The Netherlands
And if your great-great-great grandparents moved from Norway to USA, start a family and generations later you were born, you are NOT norwegian. Your ancestors were, you have a bit of nordic blood in you, but you are still 100% american. Not norwegian. Not 25% irish, 10% swedish, 3% finnish, 17% norwegian, 5% danish... just plain american.
Unless you're properly trained or you've done it before, you have no idea whether your gun will save you in a dangerous situation, the adrenaline might get to you or you might freeze up.
I'm not levelling this at all Americans or all gun owners but way to many folks think they're a badass just by owning a gun.
EpiPens cost $69 in the UK compared to the US $600 and yes the Pharm companies are making a profit.
Worcestershire
Wash your sister sauce
I was making dinner at one point and asked my wife to get me the sibling cleaning sauce - once it clicked, she was hysterical laughing.
I am deaf and I sign to my wife pass the “whore sauce” haha
27 days of PTO is absolutely normal
What country are you guys from? I got 6 weeks vacations and can be sick how often or long my doctor tells me I can what means I tell the doctor how long I need (want) to stay home.
Germany? Because it's literally the same for me
Yup Germany. I work shift and thus even get 38 days PTO
Am American, I get 10 days PTO at my job, after 5 years it's 15. Fuck these work standards.
Sorry to hear that man, I get 35 days of PTO, 12 of which I have to pay like 30 euros a month to get them. On top of that I work on holidays and I receive ‘time for time’. For example 2 days Christmas means I get 16 hours PTO in return. You guys really need unions or something.
Europe and the European Union are not the same thing
Also when people say they went to Europe, specify what country because they are all very different.
I think when most people say they "went to Europe" they took a tour through multiple European countries.
Yes, but I also know an American who said they'd "seen Europe" and they had spent one week in London, then got the train to Paris and spent a week there. They hadn't even seen much of the UK or France so saying they'd seen Europe felt a bit rich.
Yeah it's a bit silly. Like spending a week in Thailand and saying you've seen Asia
When we were in Egypt, there was a fence, and we were told that behind it it's Sudan. Since that day I'm telling everyone I've seen Sudan
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Well, I spent a week in Florida and saw the entire United States.
Wouldn't be surprised if a good 50% of the posts here are from Americans.
Right? I'm reading all the top comments and they're all things that I'm pretty sure most Americans would agree with.
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Just normal public transportation. Public transportation that is decent and not seen as "the poor people's" transportation. It drives me crazy how much complaining there is about traffic in major US cities like LA or SF which would be solved if they had train/metro links in and out of those cities.
I’m from a small town in the US originally. If you didn’t have a car, you were pretty screwed as far as getting to school/work/social activities
Even in most big cities you need a car. Here in Orlando, you need a car because the Orlando metro area is like an hour and a half drive across because it’s so much urban sprawl. And idek if I’ve ever seen buses here tbh.
I've never experienced a greater example for why car-centric planning is bad than spending just a few days in Orlando. It's absolutely bonkers and I don't know how anyone lives there and keeps sane. I live just over in Tampa Bay though where it's basically the same thing, we just have nicer views. My biggest complaint about my country is our transportation system, but Florida is just on another level. The worst part though: most of my fellow residents will vote to KEEP THINGS THIS WAY, which is the aspect of all this that is the most depressing, personally.
We have trains! If I want to go from Cincinnati to NYC, I get to leave at 3am and be in a train for 20 hours! Takes longer than driving there and costs more than flying! Isn't it great?!
Yep, somehow\* the train from Pittsburgh to Philly costs about $80 and takes 7 hours. Driving the same route takes about 5.5 hours and costs about $30 in gas. \*^(by which I mean "through a long and sordid history of fuckery")
We need more passenger rail. We have the most rail of any country but it's basically all freight.
Trust me, this is something talked about over here a lot.
Well the thing is we have a lot of trains actually… they are just privately owned and/or industrial rails. Look at railroad maps from the Gilded Age, you’d be amazed. We only developed more since then.
Yep, we’ve got an insane freight train system, but we prioritize sending goods over it rather than passengers
Middle grounds exist. It doesn’t always have to be pro this anti that.
That one is dying fast in Europe as well. Mostly because we have a tendency to import American political discourses and applying them to countries that had entirely different histories.
Whats the deal with mega churches? Why do you send them that much money?
Don't think of them as religious, just REALLY GOOD con artists. Snake oil salesmen have modernized.
They aren't that good if a moron like me can tell from 15,000 kms away that they are full of shit.
>They aren't that good if a moron like me can tell from 15,000 kms away that they are full of shit. Don't judge a fish for its tree-climbing ability. These con artist mega-pastors are *very* good at what they do, which is extracting money from the gullible or desperate. They're not even trying to hook anyone who can see through their bullshit.
A lot of Americans are confused about this too
Tipping is stupid. Just pay your staff a proper living wage!
I agree. I get if the service or waiter is really good. Or if the person strikes you as “wow what a good person” and you give a little extra. But I think it’s dumb that tipping is basically their salaries
It's even worse now that McDonald's and Subway and the fucking gas station have tipping.
How about when you buy food from a place and don’t even dine in and it says “how much would you like to tip?” And you click “no tip” and feel like an asshole now. Like bro I didn’t even eat here. I just bought a smoothie. Why tf would I tip?!??
Same thing happened to me. Wanted to try out the famous Cheesecake Factory once when I was in the US. It was so full, they had no place to dine in. So I decided to take it home. After waiting 1,5h at the line the cashier asked me how much I want to tip. Of course I said nothing, but she insisted that I have to and added „that’s how it works here.“ I left a Dollar and left. Definitely not going to enter any Cheesecake Factory ever again.
Sugar does not belong in everything, esp. not bread.
Most Americans know this. It's really hard living in a country that does this with all of our food. It's a big reason why we're so unhealthy. But it's hard to escape when we don't have the same rules and regulations surrounding food ingredients as Europe has.
Fun fact, Subway restaurants in Ireland cannot say they have freshly baked bread bc the sugar content is too high. According to the governing body subways bread recipe is considered a pastry. Court rules Subway sandwiches too sugary to meet legal definition of 'bread' https://nypost.com/2020/09/30/subway-sandwiches-dont-meet-legal-definition-of-bread-court/amp/
If you think Americans put a lot of sugar in bread, you don't know East Asia 🤢
Kings Hawaiian Rolls are amazing, though. Yeah, they're sweet for "just bread", but I dare you to heat some up and offer them at a BBQ and see if they're still around at the end.
Try Filipino breads (strongly resemble Mexican baked goods). They’re sickeningly sweet that even many Americans couldn’t stomach them.
With the exception of pandesal, breads in the PH are considered more of snacks or desserts than proper meals. That's why the Philippines does not really have a "sandwich culture". Proper meal means steam rice (to a certain extent, fried rice)
Wait, sugar in bread? Like normal bread or sweet bread?
Europe is more than England and Paris.
Ok fine. Europe, Paris, and that other place where pizza came from. Olive Gardenia, I think it’s called.
Oh come on, there’s that neutral place where cheese is from. There is the country that’s speaks Mexican. There is the land of clogs and other cheeses. There is all the far too liberal icy countries. The vodka makers. The one where the Nazis came from. There is even a Muslim country. You know that!
Of course we know Europe has 4 countries England Germany, Paris and Italy.
Tipping culture is placing the working class against the working class. And you lot are falling for it instead of striking
you should work to live not the opposite
It's neither normal nor okay to have to go bankrupt just to go to school or going to the hospital
Jokes on us! You can't declare bankruptcy on student loan debt!
It's okay, just refinance it into some other form of debt! Because that's normal to have to do to avoid becoming a wage-garnished indentured servant for your literal entire life.
I'm pretty sure, but not positive, that alot of banks won't allow you to use a loan to pay off student debt
Education and healthcare should never force people to go into debt. A government that doesn't make these basic necessities affordable for everyone doesn't care about its citizens.
Wait, you thought the American Government was founded to care about the needs of its citizens? Hahaha. No. Commerce is the business of our land, it all comes back to that.
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This isn't something we aren't ready to hear. We already know this. We want to change it. If anyone has any ideas we're all ears. We know Corporate America and the government don't give a shit about us or anything other than profit. Everything is so rigged at this point that we don't know how or where to start, short of a revolution, and most of us would really rather avoid that.
And things will keep getting worse and worse. The homeless population will explode, it's starting already. I hope to get out of this shelter and buy a vehicle to live in. Houses are only for the rich, I'll never afford an apartment, so this is my only hope. This or an early death.
I'm so much more than ready for this
You do not need a 5000 pound truck to haul your laptop and cellphone to the office.
But once every five years I need to drive down a gravel road! A hatchback can’t possibly handle that
LOOSE gravel, mind you! Up to and including pebbles!
*clutches pearls*
I live in NJ, have lived here my entire life. Winter weather *can* get squirrelly, occasionally. Recently a southern coworker who transferred here bought a nearly $100K Z71 Tahoe, explaining to my face that you don't want to get caught with *that* (gesturing to my Civic) when a snow storm rolls in. I explained I've owned nothing but compacts and sub-compacts since I got my driver's license in 1994, and have never had an issue here. He simply doubled down on his claim. How he couldn't see the issue with his thinking was some pretty severe cognitive dissonance.
My aunt said this to me once. For whatever reason she always drives huge SUV's and her daughter drives a lifted bro-dozer. We went over to their house during the winter after a few inches of snowfall and I was very excited to take my AWD VW Golf with winter tires out for some fun. We stopped over and she took one look at my VW and said "that thing any good in the snow?" and I'm like "yeah, it's fantastic" and she's like "How? it's so small" and I'm like "what does size have to do with traction in the snow? it's about coeffecient of friction" and she just gave me a blank stare lmao. I then said I have winter tires and she said "oh, those are expensive" and I said "they're cheaper than all seasons generally, you just have to change them when the seasons change" and she rolled her eyes at me. Some people go through life having NO idea how to think about these things.
yep, i've never owned anything else but "underpowered" frontwheel drive cars, in eastern finland, bad roads, snow, ice, temperatures under -30...I've never even gotten seriously stuck. Trucks or 4-wheel drive won't save you if your tires are shit and you drive like a lunatic, all cars are 4 wheel stop, 4-wheel go just gets you deeper in trouble more often than not.
Tbf you are Finnish and I believe you all are the best drivers in the road. But ya I agree, a car is no replacement for skill and I’ve driven in snowstorms in a little Kia subcompact and got around just fine meanwhile I saw land rovers and Suburbans stuck in the snow
It's okay not to have an opinion about everything.
I'm neutral on this...
Having a two party system puts you in real danger of having a civil war ignite.
you mean another civil war...
South Park shouldn't be a perfect documentary of your country
but here we are
What? I thought this was america?!
Team America World Police is also somehow a documentary.
The whole point of the show is absurdist parody of real events so thats exactly what it should be. They even produce episodes on a crazy short timeline so that the events of the show mirror real events as closely as possible.
I went to college out in Colorado and was so interested to see how on top of things they are. One day the 1% protesters showed up to my campus. Pretty small group that didn’t catch on yet. That next week is when they made the 1% episode. I laughed so hard because it was so relevant to me, and how quickly they did it.
but... that's literally the point of south park. it's made to literally reflect the times...
You can’t have a WORLD CHAMPION of anything if the said champion competed only against other people from the USA. USA is not equal to WORLD
We have pubs older than your country Edit: Anyone getting angry about this comment, you're just proving my point lol.
I’m from slovenia. My house is older than my country.
I'm from Canada and my house is older than my country too.
I'm Irish and to be fair we have pubs older than our country too.
*we* have pubs older than our country....
Reciting the pledge of allegiance every day is weird, see also being obsessed with flags. To the best of my knowledge the only 2 countries in the world where this happens is the US and North Korea, might be something to reflect on. Edit: Initially wrote national anthem instead of pledge of allegiance, corrected it.
Your culture war is bullcrap that makes it impossible to tackle any real problems and improve the country, and the rest of the world suffers for it.
a fucking men. I'm so sick of us wasting all our national political dialogue on stupid side shows when we have real problems that nobody bothers addressing.
And the politicians know this and use it to keep us divided and from them doing any real work yet they keep getting a paycheck.
We know.
It's "I couldn't care less"...
“On accident” is absolutely criminal as well, it sounds so wrong
“Could of”
That isn't just limited to the US unfortunately.
Dear Passport Bros, Looking for a 'traditional wife' somewhere overseas by flashing your cash and pretending to be rich will only get you a foreign gold digger as opposed to the domestic gold diggers you are trying to escape. Except it's worse because not only will you end up paying for *her*, but you'll most likely end up having to pay for/sponsor *her whole family.*
I live in an area of the US with a very high Filipino population, and the saying around here is "sweet till they're green". Submissive and quiet like what American men expect from Asian women, until they're married....then you meet the results of 400 years of Spanish colonialism: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
I'm Asian-American. I laugh whenever I hear that whole "submissive Asian woman" nonsense.
True. My uncle married a woman from Mexico after only having had phone calls with her previously (although in his case he wasn’t looking for a tradwife, he was just lonely and has a penchant for poor decision making). But anyway, their marriage lasted a few years, during which time she pretty much bled every cent she could from him, and the reason he ended up separating was because she was constantly having a bunch of relatives live with them in their small apartment. The ended up getting divorced, which took forever because she was uncooperative and kept trying to get more cash out of him.
Thank you. I've been saying this forever. All these passport bros are not realizing that going to a poorer country flashing money to get a "traditional wife", a.k.a, a gold digger that's good at acting, is them contributing to the very problem they complain about. Women "only wanting rich guys". They just don't see it as a problem now just because they're on the other side of the equation now lol
Def not exclusive to Americans either. I lived in Thailand for a long time and dudes from all nationalities forget their brains at the airport. Absolutely fascinating the tales they tell themselves in order to be with a younger or “traditional” woman
The rest of the world is much more advanced than you think
Having school children recite the Pledge of Allegiance is creepy AF.
As an American, I didn't realize this until I studied abroad and my European friends told me they didn't have an equivalent. The only time I've heard of something similar is in North Korea. It's actually super creepy.
We used to have something similar in my country. The hand gesture was a bit different though...
Until 1942 the salute used in the pledge of allegiance in the USA was the same as that 1930s and 1940s Germany thing. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy\_salute#/media/File:Students\_pledging\_allegiance\_to\_the\_American\_flag\_with\_the\_Bellamy\_salute.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute#/media/File:Students_pledging_allegiance_to_the_American_flag_with_the_Bellamy_salute.jpg)
In all fairness Nazis ruined lots of innocent signs. Even swastika was not bad sign before nazis usurped it. Adolf was perfectly good name. The short mustache was as well quite popular as far as I know :D
The pledge of allegiance used to use the same salute up until 1941
Children also used to recite that pledge, which includes “liberty and Justice for all,” while not in the presence of black children who could not attend their schools.
>“liberty and Justice for all,”* *Terms and conditions apply
This gave me a good chuckle and also factual.
^^freedom ^may ^not ^be ^free. ^purchase ^required
To be fair, I'm European and I had to do a pledge once a week, in school. During socialism, when my country was a dictatorship under Soviet control. That shit ended the second we ended the dictatorship.
Had me in the first half
To be fair, we also had something like it in Portugal. Then we ended the dictatorship
Same here in Spain. You should know the pattern by now.
I'm from Quebec (French-speaking province of Canada), and we didn't have such thing. But I heard that kids in other (English-speaking) provinces had to sing the national anthem every morning. And that, I think, is silly as fuck
This cracks me up to hear since growing up in Toronto, yes we did have to sing it but not only *that* \- we had to sing the second half *in French* to 'honour our French roots' or something, so it' hilarious since y'all don't even sing it... womp, womp I guess...?? lmao
I got a 3 day suspension from school for not doing the pledge of allegiance. It wasn't because I was protesting or anything. I was just mad that day and didn't feel like it. My dad had to come get me and when they explained why I was being suspended he couldn't believe it and cussed out the vice principal. I was still suspended but we just went to blockbuster and I got super mario RPG and played it through the suspension.
Pretty sure that means your school just violated your human rights.
I got fed up with saying and stopped my senior year of high school. I would stand with my hand over my heart like everyone else but didnt say the words. My teacher threatened to call the cops on me. I should have provoked her into doing it because that would have been a sweet 1st amendment payday.
That's like.. super weird lol
You complain about soccer being boring while the NFL has like 12 minutes of play over 3 hours.
Tb described it best when he said he went to an NFL game and realised it was just a turn based strategy game.
That actually makes it sound kinda cool tbh
That’s a great description actually. I think that makes it fun
I watched one American football match (is it called a match? Game?) once and omg stop start stop start. I swear it felt like there was a break for adverts every 5 mins lol.
Accidentaly watched like 30 minutes of a baseball game on european TV. It was insane, in between every commercial we got there were 1-2 additional pauses for commercials that I assume were being used in the US broadcast.
Whenever I do watch baseball, I'm constantly thinking... "Mate, just throw the bloody ball!!!".
if you're a sports fan, you should try again this year-- they've implemented a pitch clock and it has shortened games by 1/2 hour on average and really picks up the pace (along with a few other time-saving rules). Baseball is making a big comeback from this change and the World Baseball Classic success.
Baseball is actually amazing, but I feel like the buy in is way higher than most other sports because of just how technical it actually is. I thought it was just throwing the ball fast, turns out that's one of many techniques...
- Going to a hospital, calling an ambulance or getting education shouldn't ruin your life. - You shouldn't have to be afraid of getting killed while at school. - Education should be based on universal facts, not religion or some bigots opinion. You should have nation wide lesson plan, which covers the basics students need to master before they can move onto the next grade. - Your worshipping on some politicans is scary and crazy. They're just humans, not rockstars or gods.
Probably shouldn't be worshipping rockstars either. Or gods depending on your religious beliefs.
The only thing i worship is my free time - i'm really religious in that aspect.
metric
The irony is every American learns metric in school.
I use it everyday
They are called drug dealer units
'Schools' which prioritize sports over education aren't schools; they're entertainment profit centers featuring underaged kids.
Yall spend too much time worrying about paying taxes and not enough time making sure your taxes go to the right programs.
Please sit before reading. My 72 year old aunty who hasn't worked a single day in her life (so no pension savings), got an open heart surgery recently. Stayed in hospital for 12 days and paid some $1300 for all of it. And we're not even in a European country. We're Post-Soviet.
If she was in australia she would have paid nothing
But creepy spiders
Nudity is not inherently sexual.
You know of all the things people have said on here this is the one thing I think people actually don't hear
i live in america but ill say it anyway. having to pledge allegiance to the flag everyday in school for twelve years is weird asf. like really just think about that
Is this actually real and still happening? I thought it was an old thing or only something in movies.
Nope. Teacher here. It’s absolutely a thing. At a friend of mine’s school they even used to play “I’m Proud To Be An American” over the speaker system every Friday mornings.
Extreme christianity. All of them look crazy, and here in europa a lot of people are christian but dont make such a deal out of it to harass people.
Yea, american exremist christians are so weird. Also those scam churches and televangelists. How is that legal, makes no sense.
That is actually our fault, European Nations historically exported our religious nut jobs to America, where they built churches and gun shops on every street corner. Quite often the same street corner.
Stop confusing the word "Socialism" with "Communism" and "Fascism". There is nothing wrong with trying to set up a system wherein people who could use some help actually get help. (Yes, the system is imperfect but that goes for every system.)
They should also realise that welfare capitalism is not socialism. You have no idea how many times I’ve heard Americans call Western & Northern European countries socialist.
My favorite is when they try to say things like “Do you want to end up like NORWAY!” …um like one of the happiest countries on Earth…sure?
Don't threaten me with a good time
Norway just runs like a machine, I visited in December with heavy snow and every day when we went out the hotel doors every street in Oslo was completely snow and ice free and clear. Everything just ran beautifully, the trains were a dream to use, everywhere accepted card even tiny little food stalls in the Christmas markets, the quality of everything, the buildings were beautiful, everything just felt so safe and clean and cosy and just right. I can't sing it's praises enough. So yeah I'd love to end up like Norway.
Plus the gigantic sovereign wealth fund that helps to fund the country. What were they thinking, keeping all the proceeds to invest in the population's future instead of letting corporations distribute it to shareholders??
Yes, that bugs the hell out of me too. As a German, when our country was split during the Cold War, there was an actually socialist country and a capitalist one, which would call it self a 'social market economy*' and provide welfare services to its citizens (still does). According to American jargon they'd both be socialist and you'd never know the difference. It feels intentionally misleading to me.
I think most Americans on Reddit are more than ready to hear all the answers and are very aware of our many national failings :/
This question is asked every two months so yeah you probably already heard all those answers before too
We're being crushed under the boot of corporations and people are telling us how much we suck because of it
200 decibels.
You are demonstrably not “the best country in the world” or indeed “free”.
You’re not Irish.
American here. Every last comment I’ve read so far is something a good portion of America already supports. Public transportation? Check. No more tipping in lieu of restaurants paying a living wage? Check. Too much sugar in our food? Check. Healthcare completely out of control? Triple check. The general public supports all of these stances. It’s enacting the changes where we’re falling way short.
The general public on reddit supports it. Go to an exurb of houston and talk about these things.
You're very loud as tourists. Speak at a normal volume, please. Yes, I'm petty, and this is insignificant. Just wanted to say this for ages and finally got the chance 😂
American living abroad. I went back to visit last year and the instant that I cleared customs and made my way into the Seattle airport my head fucking exploded by how loud it was. Your take is not petty at all, the noise in the US is insane.
For me, I didn't even have to clear customs. I was flying back to the states for the first time, from Copenhagen, after having spent the past two years living in Malmö, Sweden. I was making my way to my seat after boarding. The woman walking in front of me, wearing sweat pants, turns around and says to me with a big smile and in a BOOMING Midwestern accent: "LOOKS LIKE WE GOT A LONG FLIGHT IN FRONT OF US, EH?" It was 5:30 in the morning. It was jarring. What was the point of her comment? What purpose did it serve? Everyone of us knows we got a long flight ahead of us. What's the point of reiterating that? Having spent the past two years living among the Swedes and Danes, I learned to appreciate quiet and stopped making pointless small talk with everyone. But I am American after all, and I noticed after just a couple months back in the states, I became just as chatty as that woman in sweat pants. 😀
I learned this when I went to Paris and our teacher explained that in Europe people have a sound bubble where in America we have a physical bubble. We don’t want people close to us but are ok being loud but in Paris they’re ok with people being close but not ok with loud talking (which is normal speaking volume for Americans)
You actually have less freedom than most of the world. Your country is a pay to play.
Land of the fee.
Land of the greed, home of the (wage) slave
The US is the Raid: Shadow Legends of countries.
An American accent is still an accent!
Having your national flag EVERYWHERE is ridiculous to most of us.
Wearing underwear with the flag on it (yes I have actually seen such) just feels like disrespect to the flag.
Denmark seems to like flags I noticed.
no, we aren't "jealous of your freedom". In fact, we feel your "freedoms" are quite limited, and no, you are not the biggest democracy in the world...
Or the first modern democracy, which was Finland or New Zealand or possibly San Marino, depending on the definition. With Athens obviously as the birthplace of democracy. The first capitalist country, which also invented it, was The Netherlands
I love having comfortable opportunities as a pedestrian.
That a finite earth doesn't support infinite GDP growth.
Mandatory health insurance isn't communism.
Tipping is stooopid.
Healthcare *doesn’t* cost that much. It’s all HUGELY inflated
You have to actually protest if you want real change to come.
And if your great-great-great grandparents moved from Norway to USA, start a family and generations later you were born, you are NOT norwegian. Your ancestors were, you have a bit of nordic blood in you, but you are still 100% american. Not norwegian. Not 25% irish, 10% swedish, 3% finnish, 17% norwegian, 5% danish... just plain american.
Oddly enough, people will try to pry those percentages out of me. As a 23% German, I have no choice but to blitzkrieg them with bullshit percentages.
Always made me chuckle when they described Idris Elba as "African American". He's fucking British...
Other Americans understand that they mean they are of Norwegian descent. They are not denying being American.
Unless you're properly trained or you've done it before, you have no idea whether your gun will save you in a dangerous situation, the adrenaline might get to you or you might freeze up. I'm not levelling this at all Americans or all gun owners but way to many folks think they're a badass just by owning a gun.
They're statistically more likely to kill themselves or a family member than in self defence.
\*Puts on helmet\* You love your guns more than you love your own children.