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fantastic in plastic posted:What do non-Americans think of American food? If you've visited and eaten at non-chain restaurants or had home-cooked meals in America, what did you think? Most of the American food I ate tasted sweeter than I'm used to. Not in a particularly bad way, but even basic food items like bread were sweeter than I'm used to, as well as sauces, etc. I think my favourite meal out of all of them was Chicago's deep dish pizza, and I'm sad I can't find it over here. A thing I noted was that sushi trains and Japanese restaurants in general were a lot less common than they are where I live. My local small shopping centre has two Sushi places, the street I used to live on had three, etc. They're extremely popular over here, and not so much over there. I thought starbucks being everywhere was a joke. It's not a joke in New York. I literally navigated my way around with starbucks free wifi stops because there was always one or two on every drat street. Skoll posted:American culture and Hollywood has been cited a few times in this thread. Since our media is pretty world reaching, what do you non US goons think about American movies? What kind of impressions do you get from the ones that are centered in the US as opposed to taking place in international venues? 99% of Americans trying to do Australian accents ends terribly. I'm aware Pacific Rim wasn't meant to be a comedy, but the entire theatre was snorting with laughter every time the fake "Australian" actors spoke. Imagine... Gosh, imagine if a British person was pretending to be Texan by going 'Ya'll' while still speaking in a British accent. It was ridiculous. American movies tend to write out every other nation which isn't so bad in sci-fi movies, etc. But it gets a bit annoying when all the world wars suddenly ignore the fact that it wasn't 'America saves the day by itself. AMURICA!' Especially when the message bleeds over into the actual perception of history. I don't have much of an opinion of American movies centred in America, although I imagine I've absorbed lots of questionable pop culture stereotypes of places in it.
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Mar 16, 2017 03:14
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You know that weird bit in every big budget movie where they go to China for no reason (we'll, no diegetic reason, just cause China gave them heaps of money) and spend 5 minutes talking about how great the Chinese government is? The entire rest of the movie is like that for non Americans.
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Mar 16, 2017 08:11
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America gives me the impression of being more contradictory than other places. I've never been to the US, but I know a bunch of Americans and I get a lot of exposure to the culture through media, the internet and of course particularly the forums. Americans seem to truly believe in their exceptionalism, they are often very idealistic and always super individualistic people. They love to talk about success and seem to genuinely want you to be successful and they often show an alarming disregard of failure. Because of this they often tend to think of success as a result of an opportunity-rich society and failure as an individual's mistake. Work and income are valued higher over free time and family than in other countries, which is why Americans spend most of their free time spending money. The amount of working time many Americans experience as normal would be deemed highly exploitative in other places. I'm aware that this is a comparison between American and European middle-class people, but that's the only experiences I have made so far. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting the US for the first time this year, but I'm also more scared of going there than any other place I've been to yet, especially because of what you hear about paranoid officials and all the special things you need to worry about you wouldn't need to do when travelling to other, even non-EU places.
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Mar 16, 2017 09:12
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Honj Steak posted:I'm aware that this is a comparison between American and European middle-class people, but that's the only experiences I have made so far. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting the US for the first time this year, but I'm also more scared of going there than any other place I've been to yet, especially because of what you hear about paranoid officials and all the special things you need to worry about you wouldn't need to do when travelling to other, even non-EU places. if you are coming from the EU, our paranoid officials will probably be nicer to you than they are to us.
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Mar 16, 2017 14:19
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Earwicker posted:if you are coming from the EU, our paranoid officials will probably be nicer to you than they are to us. unless you have brown skin or do anything that could be plausibly mistaken for being muslim, sure
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Mar 16, 2017 15:47
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deathbot posted:American movies tend to write out every other nation which isn't so bad in sci-fi movies, etc. But it gets a bit annoying when all the world wars suddenly ignore the fact that it wasn't 'America saves the day by itself. AMURICA!' Especially when the message bleeds over into the actual perception of history. I don't have much of an opinion of American movies centred in America, although I imagine I've absorbed lots of questionable pop culture stereotypes of places in it. I was seeing a movie in Canada with my (Canadian) husband and before the movie there was a super-!!AMERICA!! trailer for some crappy jingoistic war movie and the last shot was someone saying something like "WE WILL DEFEND IT WITH OUR LIVES" over a shot of a huge American flag and it was amazing how icy the audience reaction was. Even in Canada, which is so similar to America, some of our media seems way, way out of place. I might see if I can't get him to post in here but when he was growing up, the only exposure he had to the states was day trips to Detroit, so he thought the entire country was run-down and scary.
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Mar 19, 2017 06:40
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Honj Steak posted:I'm aware that this is a comparison between American and European middle-class people, but that's the only experiences I have made so far. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting the US for the first time this year, but I'm also more scared of going there than any other place I've been to yet, especially because of what you hear about paranoid officials and all the special things you need to worry about you wouldn't need to do when travelling to other, even non-EU places. If you feel nervous in America, remember that your passport should be good enough to prove that you're over 18, and you can buy a drop knife for like $20. Usually a three-inch or smaller blade is classified as a tool, not a weapon, but that depends on jurisdiction. e: some shops don't really care though, knives like that were pretty common in my high school. e2: Euro-types, what's your opinion of US weed culture? Grand Prize Winner fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Mar 19, 2017 |
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Mar 19, 2017 21:49
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Grand Prize Winner posted:If you feel nervous in America, remember that your passport should be good enough to prove that you're over 18, and you can buy a drop knife for like $20. Usually a three-inch or smaller blade is classified as a tool, not a weapon, but that depends on jurisdiction. This reminds me of that time a new guy at work who had just moved here from NYC asked me why everyone carried pocketknives around all the time, while I was in the middle of cutting some boxes open, because don't they worry about everyone having weapons in here? And I was completely taken aback by the idea of knives being on the radar because we were almost certainly the only two people in the building who didn't own a gun.
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Mar 19, 2017 22:11
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Grand Prize Winner posted:e2: Euro-types, what's your opinion of US weed culture? Not a European, but I imagine it's very similar to my own nation. What starts as teenagers/uni students who can't shut up about weed, and base their entire lives around a plant, eventually mature and realize that bonging some choof isn't as "hardcore" as it was during high school and keep it more or less in the background of their lives. Of course, there are always exceptions.
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Mar 20, 2017 09:22
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Tarantula posted:I don't think Americans take criticism of their country very well, they always seem to have to jump to it's defense no matter the issue especially if it's a foreigner saying something about them. Also in general they seem to lack a good sense of self depreciating humor. Oh yea and the nationalism in even people who call themselves leftist is creepy as gently caress with all the flags and military worship. skit herre posted:Exactly what I meant with weirdly defensive. Bloke posted:First time in the US 2 months ago, NYC and Philly and was surprised by the lack of morbid obesity. Americans really aren't as fat as I thought.
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Mar 20, 2017 15:44
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It's worth noting, since he mentioned the lack of obese folks in NYC and Philly, that Philly is consistently in the running for the fattest large city in the US. If you're in Center City, or Old City, or some of the gentrified hipper neighborhoods, then you'll see a bunch of great, fit, attractive people. If you venture off into West or North Philly, or South Philly you'll notice a fair bit more obese people. The city actually just passed a pretty draconian sugary drinks tax that has caused a fair amount of controversy. That said, NYC, Philly, and other older east coast cities tend to be far more walkable.
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Mar 20, 2017 20:09
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There are no loving light fixtures on the ceiling. There is no loving DOOR TO THE KITCHEN. Every single public bathroom door has a gap of 4cm down the side and like a foot at the bottom. Been here 6 years and I still can not get the gently caress over this poo poo.
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Mar 24, 2017 00:53
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Ceiling lights are the devil.
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Mar 24, 2017 04:40
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Retro Access posted:
A physical door? Like bedrooms and bathrooms have? Where is that standard?
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Mar 24, 2017 12:18
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light fixtures on ceilings are very common all over the US  I think the question in the OP is about impressions of the country as a whole not one specific building
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Mar 24, 2017 13:47
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Scudworth posted:A physical door? Like bedrooms and bathrooms have? Also the blinds in Germany don't screw around. The blinds built into the walls of this apartment seem like they were designed for a zombie apocalypse. It's fantastic and I love it (the blinds that American homes come with are almost always garbage).
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Mar 24, 2017 14:06
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Cicero posted:In my apartment in Bavaria there are doors to the kitchen and living room. Basically when you enter the apartment you're in a sizable hallway, and every room attached to it has a door. Many older (pre-1940s) homes in the US had doors everywhere too. Once central heating and central air started taking off, doors disappeared, and many older homes were retrofitted to remove them. Like, my house is a pre-1900 farmhouse. There used to be a central hall with doors to the living room, dining room, and kitchen. In the past 100 years though, that's all been removed since...well, it's kind of annoying to have to open a door or keep the swing radius clear. With modern venting there's no real need to close off the kitchen as well. Cicero posted:Also the blinds in Germany don't screw around. The blinds built into the walls of this apartment seem like they were designed for a zombie apocalypse. It's fantastic and I love it (the blinds that American homes come with are almost always garbage). I'm thinking there might be some confusion here since your talking about "built in blinds". What exactly are you talking about? The cheapo blinds that come with most apartments in the US are...well, cheap because people often either remove/replace them with something nicer or the apartment has high turnover and the landlord doesn't want to risk investing in something that can be easily wrecked by an idiot. If you rent higher end places, you'll see higher end window dressing.
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Mar 24, 2017 16:01
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Earwicker posted:light fixtures on ceilings are very common all over the US I've lived in three apartments in Florida and visited multiple houses. Yes this is not the whole of the USA, just Florida but this lack of ceiling lights and ability to close off your kitchen from children or pets is really strange to me. Especially given I've lived in two other countries (for years) and not having ceiling lights would render your apartment an unlivable space. Not having a kitchen door, I guess is ok in a really small studio apartment but all of ours have been huge.
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Mar 24, 2017 21:52
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Retro Access posted:not having ceiling lights would render your apartment an unlivable space uh what? you just buy a lamp or two in any case, maybe that's a Florida thing but its definitely not an "American thing", almost every apartment I've lived in had ceiling light fixtures, some buildings dont but its not a big deal because lamps exist (or you can just install some ceiling light fixtures yourself if they are so necessary) Earwicker fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Mar 24, 2017 |
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Mar 24, 2017 21:55
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Earwicker posted:uh what? you just buy a lamp or two They aren't as bright in general than something carefully planned as a feature of the room design and if you want to dissipate light all over the whole of the room you end up either having several annoying lamps taking up wall sockets for, and in the way for your animals to knock over or one big one in the middle of the room for the whole family to knock over I guess. I want that poo poo out of the way, and I want my pets to not have free access to my kitchen. As to all the other things I think of the USA besides these relatively trivial things, it's all poo poo that I'm deeply ashamed of my own country for because it's a tiny microcosm of the USA, and it recently did something way more embarrassing than Trump. So it's not something I can even state as a difference.
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Mar 24, 2017 22:06
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Ah!! That reminds me: Why the hell is almost every building in America using a revolving door? I swear, I went through more of them in a week than I have in my entire life.
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Mar 24, 2017 22:39
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deathbot posted:Ah!! That reminds me: They were invented to sidestep the custom of men opening doors for women, and they stayed in use because they're actually really good at improving a building's energy efficiency.
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Mar 25, 2017 02:05
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Vincent Van Goatse posted:They were invented to sidestep the custom of men opening doors for women are you sure? I thought they were invented just because they prevent a big draft of cold air from entering a building every time the door opens, the page you link also seems to suggest the same reason
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Mar 25, 2017 02:09
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Earwicker posted:are you sure? I thought they were invented just because they prevent a big draft of cold air from entering a building every time the door opens, the page you link also seems to suggest the same reason Depends on who you ask.
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Mar 25, 2017 02:27
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Retro Access posted:They aren't as bright in general than something carefully planned as a feature of the room design and if you want to dissipate light all over the whole of the room you end up either having several annoying lamps taking up wall sockets for, and in the way for your animals to knock over or one big one in the middle of the room for the whole family to knock over I guess. People who sit around in rooms lit by just the ceiling light are weirdos, way to go making your place look like a jail cell.
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Mar 25, 2017 15:55
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LogisticEarth posted:I'm thinking there might be some confusion here since your talking about "built in blinds". What exactly are you talking about?
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Mar 26, 2017 00:47
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Retro Access posted:They aren't as bright in general than something carefully planned as a feature of the room design and if you want to dissipate light all over the whole of the room you end up either having several annoying lamps taking up wall sockets for, and in the way for your animals to knock over or one big one in the middle of the room for the whole family to knock over I guess. I have ceiling lights in all the rooms of my home, but the only ones that actually gets used are the light over the kitchen table for dinner and the big bright light in the kitchen for food prep (safety first!). Having a lamp shade direct light to the ceiling or floor before hitting me in the eyes makes it much gentler. At work it's big bright fluorescents all day, when I get home I just want to chill out with some gentle light, y'know?
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Mar 28, 2017 20:49
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Cicero posted:The mechanism for controlling the blinds goes through the wall, because the blinds are on the outside. This sounds like some kind of industrial shutter, which are totally different than blinds and serve a separate purpose.
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Mar 28, 2017 21:31
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Retro Access posted:They aren't as bright in general than something carefully planned as a feature of the room design and if you want to dissipate light all over the whole of the room you end up either having several annoying lamps taking up wall sockets for, and in the way for your animals to knock over or one big one in the middle of the room for the whole family to knock over I guess. How loving clumsy are you and your family?
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Mar 28, 2017 23:16
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LogisticEarth posted:This sounds like some kind of industrial shutter, which are totally different than blinds and serve a separate purpose.
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Mar 29, 2017 13:48
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Retro Access posted:I've lived in three apartments in Florida and visited multiple houses. I am from Florida and have literally no idea what you're talking about Question for non-muricans: Did any of you have a chance to visit any of the national parks or do other outdoorsy stuff? What were your experiences there, good or bad? Thoughts/recommendations for other non-Americans visiting American parks? Specifically I've heard from a few Australians that while there are tiny insects that (rarely) might kill you, they find the concept of predatory megafauna (wolves/bears/panthers etc) utterly terrifying, but don't know if thats A Thing that people think about when thinking of America in general. Obligatory pointless American brag: our national parks are probably bigger than your whole country 
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Apr 1, 2017 16:37
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grumplestiltzkin posted:Obligatory pointless American brag: our national parks are probably bigger than your whole country Only until the Republicans are done selling them to the highest bidder.
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Apr 3, 2017 22:36
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america sucks rear end, it's a poo poo place to live, it's loving up the rest of the world and most americans are either for-real stupid or as smart as normal people but so messed up by lack of education and media brainwashing that they might as well be stupid
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Apr 4, 2017 08:46
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also the american military is going to go down in history as a monstrous conquering force that has destroyed millions of innocent lives and ancient cultures. we pretend to respect individual troops to avoid a fight but in actuality anyone who voluntarily joins the american military is a selfish subhuman who's putting their own finances above other people's lives and deserves nothing but mockery
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Apr 4, 2017 08:51
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and finally, america doesn't have electric kettles and that is incredibly loving strange
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Apr 4, 2017 08:57
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Avshalom posted:and finally, america doesn't have electric kettles and that is incredibly loving strange nah we have those. i didnt understand your other posts, because of the media and schools, so i wont comment there
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Apr 4, 2017 16:04
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Jamwad Hilder posted:nah we have those.
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Apr 4, 2017 23:40
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I'm in america and there are like three different electric kettles in my lab's kitchen area for some reason
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Apr 5, 2017 00:21
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Avshalom posted:you loving don't. do not give me that poo poo. i'm going to kill you I'm in america and I've got an electric kettle and I use it every day, you lepton
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Apr 5, 2017 02:09
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disjoe posted:I'm in america and I've got an electric kettle and I use it every day, you lepton Yeah, but can you confidently go to a neighbors and find one? It exists but it's not a standard appliance.
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Apr 5, 2017 02:28
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