Things people from the USA do

[WhatTheHellAmy]

First of all, I do not want to offend anyone, so if you're touchy, just leave :)

10. PROMMMM

They just get obsessed with this. The dress, the partner, the crown… Too much stress, dude.

9. Wearing flags

You find it pretty much everywhere: bikini, skirts, dress, jeans, shorts, t-shirts, anything and it’s all good. Some countries take those things as an offensive act.

8. Walmart

(gif: walmart prank)

From buying 24 rolls of toilet paper to a 12 gauge shotgun, all in Walmart. Fascinating.

7. Cheerleaders

Teens wearing tight clothes and dancing provocatively, spreading their legs and showing lot of skin. Mmmm yes ‘Murica!

6. Price tags

The price on things in their stores are not the actual price but the price without tax and such. Some states are the exception though.

5. Inches and yards

When most of the modern world switched over to the metric system in the 1870's, America decided to stick with inches and yards because everything (textbooks and even high-end machinery) was based on those measurements.

4. Freefills

Drinks are big already, but apparently not big enough since you can refill it for free. USA: 1, rest of the world: 0.

3. Drug Advertisements

Commercials for prescription drugs are a uniquely American thing. In most countries, doctors will tell you which drugs to take rather than the patient asking about a specific brand.

2. College Sports

The college athletes are put on a pedestal and treated like celebrities. Other countries view sports as simple extracurricular activities.

1. Calling USA “America”

Again, America is a continent.

Honorable mentions

A. Pumpkin everything

Pumpkin spice coffee… Really? Just no. Sorry but that’s not my thing at all.

B. Peanut butter

Yeah, it's tasty, but you guys take it a bit too far.

C. Red solo cup

There are songs about it...

[OlderAndWiser]

10, Prom. I never went. Probably 1/3 of students never attended prom. Yes, it is absolute craziness.

9, Wearing flags. Many Americans believe that wearing an actual flag is disrespectful of the flag. People wearing a flag are an exception.

8. Walmart. A great convenience to many people but it seems to be a magnet for the weirdos of the universe.

7. Cheerleaders. Girls who think they are the hottest thing ever, but that is what they've been told. I know many women who were cheerleaders when they were kids and most of them became normal people.

6. Price tags. Many items have price tags affixed before they are distributed. The sales tax varies from state to state, and sometimes it varies within the state, so it would be difficult to tag items correctly before they are distributed.

5. Imperial measurements. Our culture is very slowly adopting metric measurements and, yes, life would be easier if we had done it long ago. At the time that we initially rejected the metric system, the US was not a world power and the rejection was not simply the byproduct of American arrogance.

4. Free refills. Long live free refills!

3. Pharmaceutical advertisements. There are too many Americans who are drug dependent or who think drugs can solve their problems. The advertisements all conclude "ask your doctor if [drug name] is right for you," so that patients will pressure their physicians to prescribe specific medications. I would prefer that these ads be banned.

2. College sports. Yes, college sports are glorified and treated as very important, but the revenues help create colleges. Is there no insanity in your country and others for futbol? Don't people die in riots at soccer/futbol matches?

1. "America." People from other countries call us Americans. Our country formally calls itself the Unites States Of America. It is natural for us to refer to our country as America. Actually, "America" is not a continent. There is North America and South America.

A, Pumpkin everything. I have never seen pumpkin pizza, pumpkin tacos, pumpkin salad, etc. Pumpkin is associated with our Thanksgiving holiday and pumpkin latte is actually rather good.

B. Peanut butter. I am not sure why you say we take it too far.

C. Red solo cups. I am only aware of one song about red solo cups. I will apologize for the red solo cup song if you apologize for having a song about a cockroach. :)

[spuitkaas]

10. I never really understood prom with things like prom king and queen. So everyone has to vote which person is the most popular or pretty one of the prom? That must not be good for a healthy social environment.
9. Didn't know that
8. Lol. I love those Wallmart videos
7. I never understood this either. Some school make people wear uniforms where they aren't even allowed to show their shoulders put at the same time have cheerleaders who wear skimpy outfits? What the hell Murica.
6. But that's like, so misleading.
5. USA should really do something about that. It's fucking ridiculous.
4. I WANT THIS IN MY COUNTRY. Paying €2 for a glass of coke sucks.
3. What's the point of advertising if you can only buy it on prescription?
2. It surprises me so much that sometimes you have more chance on earning a scholarship by doing sports than being a good student. Although I do like the idea of school offering sport lessons.
1. I do that too sometimes...
A. Didn't know that
B. Peanut butter is delicious though
C. They use those at college parties right?

[NearlyNapping]

10: Yea we have proms. I wouldn't say we are obsessed. Most people don't want anything to do with them. However for some people it's pretty important.

9: Lol, Technically yes. Like maybe one out of 10k people I see, if that. I have never personally known someone who wore a flag.

8: Yep, that's an American store. Many of us wish it would just go away. Things were better before Wal-Mart came along and destroyed all the local stores.

7: That's an American thing also and I hear it's spreading.

6: I guess I didn't know it was different here, although I knew not every place had sales tax. Not all states have it either.

5: Units of measure. We are about freedom, right? :) There is no way we'd let our government dictate what unit of measure to use. Officially the government has encouraged voluntary use of metric since (I think) the late 1800s. I don't really see a reason to change myself.

4: Yuck. Ya know, it wasn't always that way. We used to have reasonable sized drinks with no refills. Free refills came from competition. It was a way for companies to offer more for the same price, but with no cost to them since soda costs almost nothing for them. by the way, the huge burgers and other food servings were the same thing. They used to be normal, then kept getting bigger and bigger because of competition. Everyone trying to outdo everyone else.

3: Another thing that is relatively new. It used to be illegal to advertise drugs. I don't know the rules, but I think it's still highly restricted.

2: Yes and no. It's only a small minority of colleges like that. At a few of them it's HUGE. At most colleges the sports teams are pretty much invisible. Although personally I don't see anything wrong with college sports. I think it's a good thing, except for a few places where they go completely overboard.

1: It's mostly not Americans who call the country America. It's mostly people from other countries who call it that, not us. I hate that name. The large majority of Americans call it the United States or the US. Even when spoken the majority say "the US", so it's not just online people using the initials because it's shorter to write. Seriously, I hate it when people call it America. There is no such country by that name.

Peanut butter. Yes. I love peanut butter.

Pumpkin everything? Um, no.

Red cups? I seriously don’t even know why anyone would think this. I mean I know what they are, but I bet it’s been at least 10-20 years since I’ve seen anyone use one.

[ObscuredBeyond]

I went single to most of the proms in high school. Then again, there was only one every single year. It wasn't a twice-per-semester deal like you see on TV. Yeah, my peers were sometimes dumb and bad luck would strike even the ones that weren't, but TV Land exaggerates greatly.

Of all that happened, about the only time police ever got involved was to issue a speeding ticket. The "every cute blonde in school is suddenly charged with murder" thing you see on "Pretty Little Liars" is ludicrously scripted and very rare in real life.

Wearing flags does happen, but rarely is it this exaggerated, again, except on TV or on election night or Halloween. In some schools in southwestern states, high schoolers have been harassed at school for wearing USA flag T-shirts because it "might offend" Mexican students who are children of illegals. Which I call that an asinine opposite of a valid excuse to suspend someone, but it is what it is. Cultural treason.

Wal-Mart is one of the most successful chains, so it's going to attract a large number of weirdos. But while something about Wal-Mart inspires eccentric behavior, Meijer seems to inspire coldness and hostility. At Wal-Mart, half the shoppers are normal and the other half are Gogo Dodo. At Meijer, Cruella deVil takes over for Gogo Dodo.

Most real cheerleaders are nowhere near as pathetic or pretentious as seen in teen movies, written by lazy and underpaid Hollywood writers with specific fetishes. You're spot on about price tags.

The Imperial system is based on everyday surroundings, and was never meant to be easy to put a decimal in a spot. Think Einstein vs. Newton. Both got a lot right, but one is more precise. Freefills rock. Drug ads are overblown and horrible. Big Pharma is ripe with corruption and cronyism. Peanut butter, yes, is everywhere, as is pumpkin spice everything. And the red Solo cup is everywhere too.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

y'all had more than 1 prom? we just had senior prom and that's it.

[ObscuredBeyond]

@Other_Tommy_Wiseau: Prom was for all students in the high school. It was a small school, and allowing seniors only would mean only about 10 students would get a prom at all. There was one year we got two proms, but that was the exception rather than the norm. So I went to five total. I only had a date for two of them. The first girl left after freshman year. The second girl was my senior date, even though she was a freshman at a different school. Both my dates spent more time with everyone else than they did with me, almost forgetting it was a date.

[Anonymous]

Fellow American here...
10) so unbelievably true. My prom dress surpassed a couple hundred $. Limo/party bus is a big perk.
9) one of my tank tops is an American flag. That's about it for me. I might have an American flag bandana for the Fourth of July
8) Walmart... Never go there. But I have to admit it's fun playing pranks there.
7) I don't like cheerleaders. I've had to deal with lots of drama from them. Of course not all of them are bad, I have some friends, but the ones where I'm from are not great
6&5) no preference and don't really care
4) refills, the joy of life😂
3) it gets really awkward sitting with parents seeing commercials about medical drugs (specific kinds don't need to be shared with the kids. Just no)
2) GO DAWGS! -American football on Saturdays= life complete. (Except for the new coach at UGA. He's gonna drive us into the ground. Worse than Richt) college football is the only college sport I really pay attention to.
1) couldn't care less.
A) white girl here, I don't prefer those fancy Starbucks drinks. Pumpkin is freaking amazing- especially pumpkin seeds in a salad YUM! Just not in coffee-Ew
B) when I get home from a workout (tennis, kickboxing, yoga... Whatever it is that day) I either drink a protein shake or eat an apple with peanut or almond butter. Peanut butter is addictive. There's a game where you have a peanut butter fight. You run around with the players and throw, smear, or slap peanut butter on each other- messiest looses. Usually the game is with shaving cream or colored powder, but peanut butter makes everyone laugh most.
C) ahhh the red solo cup. I think it's more the idea of the cup to be a scandelous thing than anything. And you don't have to wash the cup, just throw it out! especially with large barbecues or parties. The clean up is easier with the solo cup.
Bonus: everyone is not fat. It depends on where you go. Where I live, everyone is really active in physical activities and being healthy is strived for.

[peachblossomluck]

Such silliness but yes, you are correct, this is what goes on in the USA lol! We tend to be a little naive about geography and Wal-Mart is simply too convenient. Our teenage culture is glorified so that's partially why theProm is such a celebrated part of us. It's an an informal yet formal rite of passage in US culture. Cheerleading is a social hierarchy thing in our land of equality and opportunity. Consumerism drives us which explains the interest in medication brands. The firearms, well, we just love guns. Something satisfying about pulling the trigger in a society where one has to be so careful not to offend this person or that. Hopefully that has shed some light on why some of these things are sensations for us:)

[godfatherfan]

Actually, wearing the flag is against the law. It is just something that people take pride in and they will never prosecute it.
You have to assume there are taxes on everything. You already know the tax rate in your state. why do you need the end price on items? You are being told the actual cost of the item. not the cost plus government charge. if you can do simple percentages it is not an issue.
The metric system is horrible. Thankfully we stayed true... We lead, we do not follow..
I actually replaced all my cups with 32oz heavy plastic replica's of the Red Solo cup. They are diswasher safe.
And I drink 2 to 3 2-liter bottles of pop a day. I dam well better get free refills of pop. Do you know how little it costs a place for pop? and they want to charge me $2.50 a glass? no way

[QuestionMan]

I still can't believe this is a song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKZqGJONH68

Most of the stuff you mentioned is the same in Canada.
Although I've only seen a cheerleader once and we use both metric and imperial measurements.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

i love that song!!!

[Waffles731]

Wait you use both metric and imperial, dude that must be hard to get used to.
Personally, I think we are going to make the switch seeing as the military already uses metric, but its going to be a while

[QuestionMan]

@Waffles731 It all depends on the person. Personally I use metric since I'm an immigrant however others who were born here tend to use imperial due to the proximity with the US.
I actually wrote about it in a myTake
www.girlsaskguys.com/.../a21869-things-you-might-want-to-know-about-canada-but-are-too-afraid-to-ask

[godfatherfan]

Lol... wow that is an awesome song.
just torrented it... I have replaced all my cups with heavy plastic red solo cup version.

[BigJake]

I like most of what you write, but this take is condescending and obviously the views of a foreigner who's never actually set foot in the US. It's the equivalent of some yahoo from Kentucky writing a screed about how all Mexicans eat enchiladas for every meal and they all work in sombrero factories. It pretty much misses the essence of this country.

by the way, it's mostly foreigners who refer to the United States as "America." I don't know a single American who calls our nation "America," just fyi.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

actually, america is an official name, just like American is the official demonym. united. states. of. america. 50 states comprised to make up america... that's if you want to take the literal meaning, but that isn't really here nor there...

but you forgot yellow school busses. and apparently europeans are fascinated with squirrels. I don't know if it's like that everywhere else too.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Oh yeah, I'll think about it next time haha thanks!

And about America, yeah, that's the official demonym, but let's not forget Latin Americans are also Americans.
Thanks for the info!

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

actually, america outside of the usa doesn't exist. north and south america are 2 separate land masses (separated by tectonic plates)... it's like people having a problem saying that the south africa isn't the only "south africa" cause it neglects the rest of the bottom 50% of africa.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Well, in Mexico and in many other countries we call the whole thing "America".
But apparently, you guys call it "the Americas"
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americas

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

well, i say "the americas" since 1, it makes more sense to me, 2, it's easier than saying, united states of American (i ain't about dat life), and 3, i feel like people say it's america are the same nerds who call Europe and asia, eurasia... which i don't understand cause it's connected to africa so wouldn't it be eurasica?

https://i.imgur.com/dM63MQ1.jpg

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Wait.. What? XD

America is shorter then the Americas. You refer to the whole continent as the Americas, we call it just America.
And we usually don't divide it, we think about it as one. Yeah, we know there's north, central and south, but America is the whole thing for us.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

And about Eurasia, to which continent does Russia belong? Lol

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

i meant saying america is shorter than saying i'm from the united states of america or united states of American (don't get used to me doing that, either, hahaha). i'm a lazy shit, but i'm not so lazy that i can't add an "s" to america :D

wait, so what do you call someone from the united states?

depends where you are. i have friends in yekateoprjeip... burg (i have no idea how to even spell or pronounce it and i'm not gonna try, haha). it's right on the border of Europe and asia. there's actually a line that goes through the middle of the city.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

You can simply say, "I'm from the USA"
But the continent could be America or the Americas, or yeah, you can divided and say north/central/south America.

We call it "estadounidense", it's like "United states citizen"

And sure, it depends, but you refer to Russia as the whole thing.

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

nope :P. wait, then if we should say, "i'm from the usa", then why couldn't you just say you're from north america (or south america for south americans) : ? also, if you can say you're mexican, i wanna have the right to say i'm American, dammit!!! XD. but yeah... we don't have an equivalent in English (or any other language that i know of).

and you say russia is in both, but if you refer to a city or a state, you say it's in Europe or asia. that's what my friends told me at least, so i'm going with that.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Hahahahah you made laugh XD lol call what you want dude, you win lol

Oh yeah.. But again, RUSSIA, the whole thing, belongs to both XD

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

phew... good thing you caught that i was trying to be more funny than serious cause i had no idea if it sounded like i was being a total asshole or not :D.

upload.wikimedia.org/.../Asian_Russia.png

here's a map of the cutoff. historically, russia is considered european for obvious reasons... then you forget that 70% of russia geographically (west of the ural mountains) looks like this

i.ytimg.com/vi/wMJwdX5IHm8/maxresdefault.jpg
c8.alamy.com/.../...aigan-region-native-A2FWT7.jpg

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Hahah I hate taking things seriously, I hate to argue, so I totally caught your vibe XD

And omg lol those Russians are totally Asian Lololol
And dude... Asian and European = Russia is Eurasia confirmed 😂😂

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

egypt has that little nub connecting africa to the middle east. they should be included. i'm advocating it go from eurasia to eurasica #blacklivesmatter... oh wait :/

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

either that or afrasiope... whichever one sounds better :D

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Lolololo XD we're taking this too far

[Other_Tommy_Wiseau]

nope. the only thing i take too far is people to the house like deandre jordan on brandon knight!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh0AQw3WFkE

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Omg!!! That was one amazing kick

[oddwaffle]

Yes, I can never understand the insanity of working with a hexadecimal system using decimal numbers. Why is it 16? Why can't these nutcases usea base 10 so they can calculate it?

To make matters worse, these crazies are using duodecimal also! Can't they just use one? Like hexadecimal with ABCDEF like a computer?

[CheerGirl38139]

Ok you kinda got cheerleaders wrong and I would rather be punched in the face than go to Walmart. .. but the rest of it was pretty damn funny. Good job.

😂😂😂👍👍

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Hahah thanks!!

[ThisDudeHere]

Can any ameriyank confirm if it's true or not that price tags display the price without the tax thus not letting you know how exactly does an item cost?

[WhatTheHellAmy]

@front2back can you help me again? Just copy and paste pleaaaaseee ❤️

[front2back]

Yank here:
Yeah so some states have what's called a "sales tax" (some don't). When you go to buy something, say a drink for $1.25, that's only the price of the drink itself. The tax varies by state/county, but usually it's around 7%. So that $1.25 drink in reality is $1.34. That doesn't seem like much until you buy something expensive, like say a car. Then that $20,000 car is now $21,400.

The problem with sales tax is that (1.) it applies to nearly every purchase and to every person. Those that aren't from the US pay it and it exists on necessities like deodorant. (2.) It can hurt the poor more, since a small sales tax to a rich person means little but to a poor person it means a lot.

The advantage of it is that you can't hide from a sales tax. That's actually how the US makes about $13 billion dollars from illegal immigrants, by having them pay the sales tax on their purchases. Also, it's technically a consumption tax so you really only pay it and pay more by the more you consume. A rich person who buys more stuff and more expensive stuff will contribute more to the tax revenue.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

@front2back Thanks a lot :D

[cavmanier]

There are also five states entirely without sales tax.

[ThisDudeHere]

@front2back thanks.

[Pinkbeauty]

nice mytake 😊 everything u said in your mytake is true Americans do go to prom and Walmart I'm American and I never went to prom and I don't go to Walmart I like to go to food stores like trader joes and hole foods

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Sure, they're many exceptions lol
And thanks

[Pinkbeauty]

lol ya and your welcome

[tyber1]

Actually America is two continents.

Also I can't stop looking at the picture of the cups, for unknown reasons.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

I know the reason XD

[tyber1]

Looking at it I can't help but wonder what sized cups those are...

[WhatTheHellAmy]

C cups maybe lol

[tyber1]

I was thinking 16 ounces. Cups. Gosh Amy, get your mind out of the gutter ;)

[WhatTheHellAmy]

looooooooooooool

[maria96]

This really sums up the rest of the world's view of the US 😂😂😂
Great take Amy!

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Haha thanks!

[ConsultantIsBack]

I LOVE THIS
Yes America Prom = Mexican Quincenera
Spot on and agree about everything, walmart, peanut butter, soda, large portions, red solo cup lol (good choice in picture btw), COLLEGE SPORTS

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Hahah thanks dude 😁😁

[Anonymous]

At least we don't border hop and have anchor babies and live off American citizens tax payers money

LOL

don't get offended it's just a joke of course, so when I say don't get offended it automatically means it's not offensive

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Hahah it's actually funny XD thanks dude

[mr90skid]

Aye, you preaching! I still get ripped years later for not going to prom but Wal-Mart fascinating? Um.. yeah :) lol wonder if ya seen "the people of Walmart videos" online

[Bluemax]

North America is a continent. South America is a continent. The Americas are two continents. America isn't a continent.

People from all over the world often refer to the U. S. A. as "America."

[Anonymous]

The price without tax is actually a good system. It keeps politicians from just raising a hidden tax (like value added tax) without people being aware of just how big it has gotten. It's one of the reasons many things cost less in the USA.

[ClassicRocker]

Are there other countries with the word "America" in their title? If not "America" is an acceptable shorthand for The United States of America.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Estados Unidos Mexicanos
United Mexican States

[WhatTheHellAmy]

Wait.. What? Lol

I thought you said with the words "United States" hahaha sorry

[ClassicRocker]

If you're going to say that it's unfair of the USA to call itself "America" I'm looking for another country that might have a justifiable claim to the same name.

[WhatTheHellAmy]

yeah, I know what you mean but it's USA dude lol
we will not agree so lol