things I don't understand about America

Howdy!
There are many things that I don't get and these are a few of them.
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Disclaimer: Sorry if you see misspellings, it happens more often then i notice. Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video! Almost 50k!
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[@Jiyu]

Drinking is more dangerous when everyone has a gun ... .. I guess.

[@user-gu9yq5sj7c]

Watch Yet Another Urbanist on drunk driving. Because of the city design forcing many Americans to drive there's too much killing people with drunk driving and motor accidents. There isn't enough of a option to walk, bike, or take transit home from a bar. The mindset is often to put the responsibility on the individual to not drink and drive rather than change the infrastructure. Many American news headlines and articles victim blame pedestrians and cyclists for getting hit or killed by cars too rather than talk about the road design. Those pedestrians are called jaywalker. Jay means stupid. They sometimes are biased for drivers and make the excuse that "the drivers couldn't see the pedestrians or cyclists". Or say "cyclists shouldn't be on the road so it was their fault". Even tho there isn't enough bike lanes and sidewalks everywhere. Including not enough transit too. There not being enough sidewalks has also caused some pedestrians to have to walk on the edge of the road and has caused cops to handcuff them. Flurfdesign talked about how a bus driver had to block drivers to protect kids cause they even wouldn't stop for kids to cross the street. Watch Not Just Bikes and About Here.

[@thorstent2542]

If you have a detached home in the Midwest, it may be appropriate to have a gun in the house. But anyone who believes they can keep young people away from drinking or drugs is a dreamer or a malicious demagogue.

[@OpheliaVert]

Oh dear, I’m British living in Germany and I say “how are you” as a greeting and every day am surprised when I get a sincere answer. It’s just so hard to stop but after seeing this, I will try to just say “hello”. (Also I’m a big fan of your channel)

[@annanagornaia2032]

Well, you ask a question we give the answer 😅 In English language classes, we were taught that "How are you?" is not a real question, but it's not within our habit to treat it like that. Cause u never know who and why is asking 👀 Maybe they really wanna know about my cat eating my yoghurt this morning

[@6Korn6Slipknot6]

Actually some Europeans (me, German 29, included) also use phrases like that. "Was geht?" ("What's up?") is my favorite here. It has a double meaning I think. It combines the rhetorical "How are you" with an expression of surprise (a second meaning of "Was geht?"). To emphasize the surprising expression, you can put the "Was geht?" first and change the intonation. At least that's how my peer group uses that. If someone actually asks me "Wie geht's?" ("how are you?") while passing me, that also confuses me tbh.

[@alvaroludolf]

After moving to Germany and meeting Unitedstatians (in Latin America we call them Estadunidenses): "Hi, nice to meet you! Where are you from?" "I am American." "Cool, so am I. But seriously, which country are you from?"

[@AlbertoBalsalm]

Yeah that sounds dumb asf

[@ponrajaprabhus.k5044]

The increase in quality of editing and humor !! Love it !! Great work !

[@Adenisbestwrestler]

American here! My home I grew up in, in Tennessee, had no sidewalks, but I walked in the road and got over when cars were coming. My school was a block away, but the principal didn’t want me walking to school, because no sidewalks. The closest grocery store was 5 miles away. Non-existent public transportation, so very car-dependent. I’ve been able to live and travel around a lot, so I know this isn’t a universal American experience, but my goodness, do I see the same thing all over the place. In the middle of a bigger city now and still find myself being car dependent. Huge fan of public transportation. Love trains. Dublin and Amsterdam, and to a lesser extent, Seattle and Chicago really spoiled me on trains and now I just don’t get why we don’t have trains all the time everywhere else too. Loved the video Erika!

[@josiahholsomback7507]

The car dependency aspect is sooo true. I’m an American who spent around 2 ish years total in Europe (time in Slovakia and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland for school at 18). The culture shock of even small quaint towns in SK having little city centers and being so walkable was sooo freeing to me coming from the US south. I came back to the states to finish school bc of COVID and going back to an environment where I had to drive to literally anything was beyond depressing. I yearned for the European walkability so bad that I convinced my bf to move to Chicago with me last year. I am 100x happier here! my car in Kentucky was costing me $800 / month between car payments and insurance. Here I pay like $75 per month for an unlimited train + bus pass and my quality of life is sooo much better. Being able to walk to anything I need is something I’ll never sacrifice ever again. I don’t think I could live anywhere in the US other than Chicago or NYC because I refuse to be stuck in car culture again. anywho, I loved your video and how you explore quirky things about my country without being condescending like a lot of Europeans on tiktok tend to be. I’m hosting my European friends in September for 2 weeks and it will be their first time here and I’m so excited to see their real time culture shocks lol

[@alphariusomegon4819]

Because have you seen how huge America is compared to Slovakia? There’s way more space. We’re not all living on top of each other like in Germany. If you’re a city dweller and don’t desire to do anything outside of a city, you can walk everywhere, but most Americans like to travel around the country, to the next town, or explore different places in their own states that are very distant from each other because of geography, it’s not a car “culture”, not sure what that means.

[@nattm6553]

@@alphariusomegon4819 fun fact..23% of grown Americans has never even left their state where there born so "travel the country" statement is kind of..wrong =)

[@alphariusomegon4819]

@@nattm6553 I know you’re just trolling me right? 23%? That means most do leave their states … Population density and geography have a lot to do with the use of cars in America. There’s no conspiracy, no lack of government enforcement or encouragement that needs to happen, there’s no cultural deficiency or anything else, it’s pragmatic. If I live in a town with less than 1000 people and the nearest town is 30 minutes away, of course I’m going to drive.

[@josiahholsomback7507]

@@alphariusomegon4819 Why, exactly, are you trying to mansplain American culture to me, an American? you know Europe as a continent is also huge, right? Yet most of their cities are walkable and interconnected by rapid transit. The size of the US doesn’t matter when talking about individual cities. Individual cities should be walkable and transit oriented, in addition to people being able to drive if they feel like it. Trust me my guy, I’ve traveled all over the country in my car and have done multiple 12+ hour road trips. I still love a good road trip. Do you think that Europe doesn’t have highways and cars? You’d be wrong. Walkable cities aren’t a threat to you wanting to travel around the country or live in a rural place with your car. Nobody is trying to take your cars away. Also, the US quite literally is a car culture. When I go back to my home state, everyone has a car, anything you have / want to do has to be done with a car. Even in the big cities there, a car is a necessity. Which is absolutely ridiculous. Being in a walkable city has greatly improved my mental health and lifestyle. Maybe you should try getting out of the US & your little bubble and see how good others have it…..

[@alphariusomegon4819]

@@josiahholsomback7507 I live in Germany. I feel like I need to mansplain to you since understanding things like population density and geography seems to be beyond your abilities. Consider this, how much do you think the extremely high cost of gas/oil and the amount of taxes you have to pay on vehicles play a role in this lack of “car culture” you see in Europe? I’ll give you a good example, I was up in Norway a few months ago, and I noticed that many Norwegians drive SUVs with the rear seats removed. When I asked one of my Norwegian friends why this was, he explained that there is a tax in Norway for your car based on the number of people it can hold. So a car that would normally cost 40,000, would be 80,000 Euro if they didn’t take the seats out when registering the car. Norwegians have it so good they can’t even afford an SUV with more than two seats. Not sure what this “car culture” people keep referencing, I’m assuming it’s some climate zealot phrase to add negative connotations to anything that Americans do that goes against the prevailing wisdom of the technocrats that want to control everything we do. In my day, “car culture” meant a bunch of people who liked the mechanical nature of automobiles, the type of people who built cars, raced cars, and knew everything about cars because they had a passion for it. My grandmother that owns a pinto just so she can go to church on Sunday is not part of some “car culture”.

[@davidhumphrey1558]

The portion sizes are to emotionally compensate people on the loosing side of the wealth divide. It makes poor people feel like they are getting more for less. Generally you find these giant portion sizes at fast food restaurants that use processed foods to cut corners. Four words, High Glucose corn syrup. It is the byproduct of corn farming, Your body can not actually process it, And it is filler for these large capacity low budget sodas.

[@gammothguy4866]

I live in Maine (not the French one) and I have a good friend in Nantes that I went to visit about half a year back. I’m only 18 and was sort of thrust into the American grindset so when I visited France, I’ve began to really consider getting out of what I believe to be a capitalistic nightmare and found your channel while doing research. I’m very happy I did so, your videos are very charming and give what I think to be well rounded information based on your experience. I’ve been very carefully considering where I might want to go and plan to visit many parts of Europe during the end of the summer to get a feel for a few different places and kind of gauging them based on my personal preferences. I plan to get info from other sources as well of course, ideally from people who live in the places I am interested in and I look forward to my eventual new life in Europe, and getting settled in thanks to my mother for allowing me to be eligible for polish citizenship. I appreciate your videos and wish you the best going forward!

[@metalblind95]

French Maine doesn't exist anymore, for about 250 years now

[@funguz333]

i googled the fast food restaurant number from the us and it seems to be around 204k so yea way less than expected but STILL A LOT

[@tayekoo]

having had lived in a large town in alabama with no sidewalks before moving to a very walkable city in the UK with great public transit, I can tell you its absolutely miserable having to drive what is physically a 4 min walk but because of road heirarchy is impossible.

[@ZZEEBBRRA]

"moving out" at 18 is more related to college. not many kids go to college within driving distance. when you go home for the holidays, your childhood home is not quite your home anymore as you expand your view of the world. it feels different. Also, when you move out for college, good chance you'll find employment not near your childhood home. hence you move out. as for onions, point a fan(like those little battery powered ones) to blow over your onion while cutting, and have that pushed air going to the extractor. it'll keep the lachrymatory agents from getting into your eyes. or point the wind toward your partner and laugh like doctor evil.

[@lingrensteve]

We are a bit odd. Entertaining and humorous video. Great job. ❤😊

[@supaschwamal]

The "how are you" thing is much more widespread to more cultures than just the US. It seems to be something especially designed to trip up german speakers. It happens with my Turkish friends as well. I always try to answer honestly and ask them back which is when I remember it's just part of the greeting.

[@stechistech5522]

Totally agree. I would never want to work in the US because of the vacation and sick days. Also, no little flags :(

[@michaelrains64295]

I get seven weeks and 8 holidays paid per year. That’s 43 paid days off.

[@arnodobler1096]

@@michaelrains64295 As a US American, that makes you 0.0x percent of the US people. 🤔

[@zhenli2345]

@@arnodobler1096 Wrong. In 2022, there were over 4 million teachers in the US. In addition, in 2021 there were about 210,000 college professors in the US. All these people get winter and summer vacations plus a winter and a fall break. All told, the vacation time is about 4.5 months a year. I know because I'm married to a professor. BTW, government employees also get pretty generous (by US standards) time off, too, in addition to great benefits, pension, and job stability. Four million federal government employees get anywhere from 2.6 weeks (for the first 3 years) to 5.2 weeks (starting from year 15) off. I know because I am one of those employees. There are also a host of state and local government employees, too. My SIL worked for New York State. She and her husband both retired from there in their mid- to late 50s, with a combined pension check of $200,000 a year. When they reach full social security age (67), there'll be another $80,000-$90,000 a year in income for them. They also enjoyed generous vacation time while working.

[@camelusdromedarius3789]

The urban sprawl is a big part of the reason of why I'm leaving the US. I've had too many close calls in vehicles and have sunk tens of thousands of dollars into them just to have a way to get around. I much prefer just walking or taking the train, tram, or bus, but those are only an option in very few places in the US (and they are usually absurdly expensive and might not be the safest places to live).

[@alphariusomegon4819]

If you don’t like urban sprawls, don’t move to Germany: the population density of the United States is approximately 36.4 people per square kilometer (94.2 people per square mile), while the population density of Germany is approximately 237.016 people per square kilometer (614.6 people per square mile).

[@josiahholsomback7507]

^^ that guy clearly has no idea what the term urban sprawl means lmaoooo

[@alphariusomegon4819]

@@josiahholsomback7507 In other words, for those without reasoning skills, Germany is one big Urban Sprawl.

[@josiahholsomback7507]

@@alphariusomegon4819 you know Urban Sprawl refers to cities with LOW population density, right? OP is condemning how sparsely populated our cities are. Densely populated cities are more walkable, have more transit, and better community. Cities like Austin have huge amounts of urban sprawl and are basically a giant lifeless suburb.

[@alphariusomegon4819]

@@josiahholsomback7507 Germany the country has a higher density, not just the cities, that means there are more ubran sprawls, in fact, Germany is basically one giant urban sprawl, with some nice scenery a few kilometerrs between each city, unless you go to Bayern or Northern parts of Germany. Yes, the densly populated cities have good public transport, but there are too many other negative aspects of German society that I cannot recommend moving here to anyone at all, especially not just to come here for “walkable” cities, pfffk.

[@PeterDrewVoiceovers]

I vote for you to keep doing what you do, Erika, especially the snarky humor!

[@bravetraveler1985]

lmao enjoyed the 40min roast! love your videos and intellectual humor/banter keep up the good work 😂❤🙏

[@hadessah368]

The tie really worked. I enjoy listening to your look on things every time. The city reviews are also great. Keep it up, as long as you enjoy it. Please ❤

[@legochickenguy4938]

the drinking age is 21 because an organization called Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbied Congress to increase the drinking age in the 80s and they were successful, so Congress essentially forced all of the states to change it to 21 and they all eventually gave in. Now every 18 year old still drinks but with no adult supervision. It's really really stupid.

[@user-xi6nk4xs4s]

I for one do appreciate your videos Erika, and looking at the comments and statistics, I'm not the only one.

[@NiloAzzurro]

Thanks for your interesting videos, and... Yes, you always put in so much information that we are sure it requires a lot of research!

[@dafxxk9286]

This is the content I wanna see !

[@emi5294]

brit living in the usa here - here are my experiences and comparisons and culture shocks after living here for 5 months. please excuse the amount of brain mush and garbled thought trains in this comment, i'm so tired right now lol. i live in a small city on the outskirts/suburbs(?) and the pavement/sidewalk just ends halfway down the road i live on, i dont know why they even bothered putting one because the road my road comes off of doesn't have a pavement/sidewalk either. and then you get to a bigger road/highway from there so it's not safe to cross and there aren't any crossings. the closest walmart to me is an hour walk each way with no sidewalks or crossings and im in florida so in the summer the heat gets dangerous for walking that long, especially with having to carry everything back. it just is not feasible. a car makes life 1000x easier here for literally everything. the most unfortunate part is that not everyone can afford a car and people who don't have access to a car are forced to walk and cross these dangerous roads in insane heat in the summer to get to and from work or to and from walmart/other supermakets/grocery stores. it just sucks, especially because of what i'm used to there being in the uk. in the uk i lived in a similarly populated large town, also on the outkirts but there was a co-op 5 minutes away and a larger supermarket about 15 mins away each way. there aren't any convenience stores that aren't petrol stations near me here, and though there is one closer than walmart, it isn't close enough to actually be convenient, it would shed off maybe 10 mins each way to walk to that instead. something i really miss about the uk is trains and buses actually existing, even with some decreased routes in the case of buses. where i live now only downtown has buses and they are extremely sparse, i've only seen a bus like two or three times?? its crazy. im very thankful that my husband drives and can shoulder that responsibility until i learn to drive and can get my license. there is a huge emphasis on drive-thru establishments, not only fast food, but also banks have drive thrus as well as pharmacies. its kinda funny, i can't get used to that being the norm. its also true that there are fast food places and restaurants everywhere. my british town of around 40k only had a mcdonalds, other than that it was mostly local run takeaways and chippes. i do like the usa, i like it probably as much as i like the uk, but i am feeling homesick right now so that is skewing my view a bit to the negative side. of course the main reason i like the usa is because it has my husband in it, i would not be here otherwise. i think the usa is a lot more fun to visit than to actually live in. i think if you get the chance to visit, there are a lot of cool places you can choose from and you absolutely should. this country is HUGE. i'm no longer surprised about the americans never having left their country statistic because there are so many things you can see just in the states alone. there are some truly beautiful places, and the food is great as well as the people. i think anyone with a foreign accent gets an advantage when interacting with people here, people seem to be friendlier to me by default if i approach them to ask a question or strike up a conversation with them, and i get a lot of questions about where i'm from and compliments on my accent which makes me feel teehee inside. overall, the usa is nice, it's just hindered by capitalism going a bit too far (i.e health insurance/sick leave/at will employment), strange politics/political idolisation (i have thoughts and feelings that i won't go into here) and poor infrastructure, especially outside of the main big cities.

[@HomersIlliad]

"Sure, we obey" would have only ever been uttered in prehistoric times, and by prehistoric I mean before July 4, 1776. Edit: Also, according to Statista there were 198,000 fast food restaurants in the US as of 2022.

[@Ceelbc]

18:50 In Belgium the milk is in packs of 12 times 1,5 liters. So a galon is really not that much.

[@TomMarvan]

5:26 Germans: hold mein Bier.

[@gloofisearch]

Stumbled over your video. What a lot of fun to watch. All points are spot on. I am from Germany, but a US citizen, living on both sides of the Atlantic in equal years. To this day, I do not understand why people would want to get out the house, drive to a restaurant, wait in line at a drive through, get the food and either eat it in the car and drive home, or, drive home and eat there....food is cold till then, of course. BTW, there are about 200,000 fast food restaurants in the US. Still way to many;-)

[@CrumbMonster]

We dont go through the drive thru to just park and eat. We take it home and eat at home.

[@britters3906]

ty for the fun video

[@sergeymaslow9403]

I think Americans have these large jugs because of suburban city design, where you have to drive about a hour to get to supermarket. So Americans have to buy food for a week or more, and that's why big packages quite useful for them.

[@alphariusomegon4819]

In Germany I have to buy food everyday because the fridges are so small you can’t fit more than 3 days worth of food in it. For a family of six, you need at least 3 fridges, unlike in the U.S. you can make it with just one fridge.

[@arnodobler1096]

@@alphariusomegon4819 BS du kannst american sized Kühlschränke hier kaufen. Kühltruhen auch. Wir hatten vor 50 Jahren schon eine Kühltruhe, wo 2 Schweine reinpassten!

[@MOHAMEDGADSUS]

I really love this content and its vibes

[@boop-da-SNOOT]

American here! Got me cracking up over here 🤣 Also the salads you’ve mentioned is mostly a Minnesota/Wisconsin thing. I’m from the South and I’ve never tried any of those dishes. 😅

[@Francosantiago10]

Love the tie and your content.

[@novonick0081]

YAYYYY NEW ERIKA VIDEO

[@spooky_mane]

Yes yes, very professional presentation. Thank you, very good.

[@just_a_random_person9910]

Hello erika i have been watching you for such a long time and i absolutely love your vlogs and your personality keep making these videos ❤

[@RyanCarteret]

The ceramic mugs exist in many a US Starbucks (or at least they did when I lived there), but you specifically have to ask for them even if you order your food ‘for here’. What’s the point of asking if you’re just going to give me the same thing anyway?! 😑

[@TravelingThruLife]

Actually we used to have the Mars bar, twas my favorite. We have WhatsApp. We’re not monsters.

[@helloerika]

:D okay good to know

[@Guiscardo777]

don't you colonials dare to deep fry Mars bars ? is it true isn't ?

[@livelaughsol7066]

@@Guiscardo777 no thats scottish people

[@michaelrains64295]

It was chocolate covered nougat and almonds. My dad loved them.

[@TravelingThruLife]

@@Guiscardo777 that's a southern thing. they'll deep fry anything and it's disgusting

[@julientrue]

If they already change the mars bar to a milky way, they should also make it like 1000x bigger to be more accurat 🤔

[@sunmethods]

2:41 "later scientists came up with a better way of measuring things that's more precise" I must correct you on that - fahrenheit is by definition more "precise" because there are more degrees fahrenheit per degree celcius, allowing for more precise measurement & communication (although they can both be equally "precise" if we allow for any amount of decimal places) I am american and I do use whatsapp, but only for some specific group chats. The huge packages of Oreos are genuinely popular at parties 198M fast food restaurants is not believable because that's more than one for every two people 22:35 urbanists in the US say "car dependent" I have never heard of any of those "salads"

[@linuxman7777]

I live in a small walkable town and things are pretty good. America does have Suburbs but you don't have to live in them if you don't want to. There are so many Cities and towns that are walkable especially in the Northeast and Midwest.

[@itseveryday8600]

They tried dropping the drinking age to 18 in the US but it increased accidents and death so they moved back up to 21. This was many decades ago.

[@senfdame528]

In Germany we also have a Credit score. It is called "SCHUFA" and no one knows, how they roll their dice to "calculate" your credit score

[@alexisalucas98]

Hey! American here!! America is heavily car cultured because unless you are in a big city like New York and Chicago, there is NO public transportation. No buses, taxis, Lyft, nothing! No sidewalks to walk on, and you can either walk in the ditch or on the road 😂 It is very different here and I don’t think you realize it until you’re actually here. Some streets don’t even have a shoulder for you to walk on or even ride a bike on.

[@lilakrestel3868]

11:41 😂😂appreciate zoom out and echo effects

[@pierrebidkhanian3135]

I prefer public transport than car however, my only worry is like I’m gonna have a kid soon, and I’m not sure how easy it is to go on a public transit with a zero month old or even a six month old

[@hglundahl]

21:17 I think the idea is to go to the supermarket for a week at a time, and arrive there after eating, so you don't waste part of that week's provision on sweets or unhealthy stuff.

[@SteveGoTex]

Many years ago the Three Musketeers bar was segmented into three parts, which you could break apart. Each part was a different flavor of insides: vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. You could swap out the parts with your pals. How many years ago? At least 60. I am very old, and enjoyed that candy a lot.

[@MBGamerZone]

I live in the Midwest in a suburban neighborhood and it is very walkable, also a shit ton of deer. College towns here are definitely more walkable. This is all so funny as an American. Hope to experience and learn European cultures, I want to do my masters program in the Netherlands.

[@camelusdromedarius3789]

I am disappointed every time I go to the grocery store and can't get 2 gallons of the milk I drink

[@thalesmello]

Hello Erika. Your channel is very creative, entertaining to watch, and honestly feels like a breath of fresh air. Genuine, if I'm am to find a right word.

[@holzvvrm7718]

On credit scores: I Germany we have the Schufa-score, which is pretty similar. It's made by this private company that uses secret algorithms to assign you a score based on credit history, amount of bank accounts, how likely you are to change into a wolf at full moon, etc. So all in all very dubious and annoying. Like, why are they exempt from so many privacy laws? Anyways it's used by banks to decide if they give you a loan or credit card and even by some landlords when they decide if they're going to rent out their flat to you.

[@gunbuster363]

I really like your video. I find it insightful and it is presented in an interesting way. I like your English accent, it is clean and easy to listen to. All together I find it delightful to sit through the whole video.

[@florencelina9303]

nice video - as always

[@stella505]

Hope this goes as well as the Europe one did!!❤️

[@JimBarcelona]

Unlimited texting and calls (including international for some carriers) are included on most American plans. Things aren't getting bigger anymore - the US is going through shrinkflation. But they're big because of an economies of scale philosophy that started in the 1990s. "Bigger is always better" is an American philosophy, but after 9/11 or 11/9 lol not so much. I lived all over the USA and can answer all your questions. :D Pfiati, Erika!

[@KopaiSverli]

credit score is a thing everywhere, you just don't know it

[@NomadicIslanders]

Not a thing in my country. There is no bureau actually keeping track of any of it, so they aren’t somehow pulling the information out of thin air. Nothing is connected, not even the government offices in my country (which is a 30 minute flight from the U.S.), so no, it’s not a thing everywhere.

[@cristoforestman]

Us supermarkets are big bc they don't have small ones. They don't have small ones because these are not profitable bc of lower population density and car culture(park lots, highways, etc)

[@e123shadowaisha]

I am an American and I love this.

[@squidcaps4308]

The gaps on the toilet stalls is NOT because people doing shady shit, pun intended, in those stalls. They are there solely to make it less convenient for the user so they don't stay in the toilet any second longer they have to. Guess who wants the most to teach everyone that you going to toilet in public is wrong? Could it be.. yet another thing that industrialists invented so you will work more?

[@jawadalaaedeen9485]

Love this😂

[@ceezest]

I'm in California so we're a weird. But parts of the US have paid sick days some do have requirements its just done state to state or even city to city depending of the state like California. Jobs are required to have paid vacation time in California as well.

[@shnake_case]

Celsius is not more precise than Fahrenheit, it's just more widespread around the world. Fahrenheit is actually a better unit for measuring ambient temperature because it was designed specifically for that. If you look at the F scale, 0F (-15C) corresponds to a very cold day outside, while 100F (+36C) corresponds to a hot day outside. It is much more intuitive than measuring ambient temperature against a freezing and boiling points of water.

[@Lumiobyte]

That's still a pretty weak argument, as your anchor points of "very cold day" and "very hot day" are subjective. Meanwhile the anchor points of Celsius are objective, 0c is where water turns to ice. For "ambient temperature" as you said, they are just as effective as each other and it's a matter of which system you learned first.

[@shnake_case]

@@Lumiobyte You realize that F also has a standard, right? It is also anchored to a freezing/boiling temperature of liquids, in that sense it's just as objective as C. You make it sound like the dude picked the anchor points randomly 😁 I never said that F was more effective than C, I said it was more intuitive for ambient temperature. Of course you would be more comfortable using whatever you grew up using, I'm just saying that F is designed specifically for ambient temperature, so it is better for that specific purpose

[@purveshsane1435]

I've never seen oreos in a tube-shaped plastic wrapper in the United States. Always as you had shown in your video.

[@marufulislam4311]

hey Erika, I love your eye makeup & hair, can you make a video regarding upcoming opportunity card?

[@JohnLewis-old]

As of the latest data, there are approximately 200,000 fast food restaurants in the United States. The number of grocery stores is around 40,000. Fast Food Restaurants US: Approximately 0.000604 per capita (1 fast food restaurant per 1,655 people) Europe: Approximately 0.000201 per capita (1 fast food restaurant per 4,986 people) Grocery Stores US: Approximately 0.000121 per capita (1 grocery store per 8,275 people) Europe: Approximately 0.000134 per capita (1 grocery store per 7,437 people)

[@christopherrseay3148]

yeah i think she added 3 orders of magnitude but the number was about correct ignoring that lol.

[@zenithlight6132]

It's funny how much of the stuff you talked about is a direct result of car culture tbh. Like the drinking age, is because it is much more of a necessity for people to own and drive a car here than in Europe, and so drunk driving is a lot more of a public danger. There was some research that younger people especially are likely to get into severe accidents while drunk than older people, so there was a big lobbying push where the federal government basically twisted the states' arms into raising the drinking age to 21, by threatening to withhold federal transportation funds if they didn't. (The federal gov actually can't force states directly to set their drinking age) Similar thing with obesity rate, since cars mean people aren't forced to walk to and from school/work as much, people get less physical activity as part of their daily routine. If you look at the bigger cities like New York and Chicago which have decent public transportation systems, the obesity rate is actually much closer to the rates in most of Europe.

[@Cursedschnitzel]

Omg I just had biggest most significant revelation of my life about the onions! This makes so much sense!

[@orfeasdroop2733]

198 million fastfood restaurants 😂😂😂 Dear sweet Erika, maybe you have to remove 3 zeroes???

[@omgdodogamer4759]

i was so confused about that 😭

[@thethirdgeneration1738]

Covid increased the eating in Car's technique a lot during that period. Of Course, you had fast food chains like Sonic, where you pulled in for you to eat out of your car. The waitresses come up your car window to serve the food to you on a tray. You order your food through the car window into the intercom, and you sit right there and eat the food in your car. There are fast food chains here in the US that use that design. That might explain what has flourished the tradition somewhat of this? Yes, the tipping needs to be re-thought out. On both sides of the Atlantic. I'm sure the owners/employers are influencing the outcome on this subject. But, there needs to be changes.

[@rjculliford]

Futurama & Simpsons wallpaper = you won life.

[@lilakrestel3868]

14:07 - YES THAT WAS SO CONFUSING for me when I moved to the U.S. , like wtf?

[@campagnollo]

The drinking age is steeped in American culture. Note that our driving age starts younger, 16, to enable children to work on the farms. Also, because of some protestant religions believing that alcohol should be banned, it was first at a minimum age of 18 before being increased to 21. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was at one time the 18th Amendment which prohibited all alcohol. In a few years, crime actually increased due to the bootlegging and was eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment.

[@Objective-Observer]

The Drinking Age was NOT due to any religion. It was mutually agreed that TEEN AGERS AREN'T MATURE ENOUGH TO BE RESPONSIBILE DRINKERS. THEY PROVED THAT CORRECT, with numerous drunk driving deaths, hence the age was increased to 21. The famous Sufferagette: Susan B. Anthony, WAS AN ABOLITIONIST FIRST. NOT BECAUSE OF HER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, BUT BECAUSE SHE WAS TIRED OF SEEING WOMEN AND CHILDREN STARVE, BECAUSE THE PROVIDER OF THE FAMILY GOT OFF WORK, AND WENT STRAIGHT TO THE BAR. She tried for years, working with other charity organizations to get MEN SOBER, so they could provide for their families. She later faught for Women's RIGHT TO WORK, as well as the right to Vote, so a Mother could support herself and her children, when her husband would wallow in his booze at the bar. ALCOHOLISM FUELED THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT; RELIGION WAS JUST AN EXCUSE.

[@arnodobler1096]

R. Reagan raised the age to 21.

[@beldin2987]

@@arnodobler1096 Exactly, just one of the many things he fucked up. The best was of course that he made you believe that its good to give all your money to the rich so they could care better about the poor 🤣

[@arnodobler1096]

@@beldin2987 👍

[@serenediipity]

"9th of november? wait-" oh i think you mean the 21st night of september! wait-

[@nataliegrayson5935]

Hello Erika, I love your videos and they have been very helpful for me because I’m planning on moving to Germany. It is such a difficult language. Anyways, I’m curious as to what your current apartment looks like!! ❤❤

[@KN-er3if]

ものすごく共感しました。貴重な動画ありがとう。

[@eschiedler]

Great video, as an "American" I can give every European one tip: don't think of the US as "one country" but a collective of many ethnic and sub-cultures under a larger structure and ethos. Imagine if I said Iceland and Poland were the "same" because they were in "Europe". Even the word for "Europe" is new in history, relatively. The wide vareity of people in the US explains many confounding paradoxes.

[@michaelrains64295]

Agreed. There is great cultural diversity depending on region and state and even regions within larger states.

[@arnodobler1096]

There are more than 200 languages in Europe (name from the Greeks!!!), in Germany alone 200 dialects and 5 protected languages. Official language in the USA? 0. Europe has been a melting pot for over a thousand years, ppl migration after the Romans, for example. But even before that.

[@jinjunliu2401]

I think you're correct in that Europeans think of the US too much as a unified monolith. But I'm having the impression that you're underestimating the diversity spread throughout Europe compared to the US

[@eschiedler]

@@jinjunliu2401 Please reconsider. There are ovet 1,000 languages spoken in the US. 800 just in New York City. Hawaii, Utah, Louisiana, Puerto Rico etc. are very different plaves culturally and ethnically. There are 324 Native American reservations or villages. And consider the wide range of arts and music.... etc. etc.

[@jinjunliu2401]

@@eschiedler I would still have to say that there's is a general baseline of "american" culture permeating through most regional groups of the US (except some fringe ones), because even the 2nd generation immigrants in the US have noticeable and recognizable differences from their parents. I would say that maybe the diverseness of the US is akin to UK + Germany combined or something, surely cities like London and Berlin (combined if necessary) will have similar numbers as New York in terms of languages. But both UK and Germany have tons of regional differences which are over regions even smaller than US states. But we still have the rest of Europe which has aspects that are totally different than what's in UK and Germany. In addition I wouldn't count Hawaii and Puerto Rico to "US culture" or at least the perception of it. (puerto ricans don't even have voting rights if I'm not mistaken) Otherwise you could also say the Caribbean islands of the UK, France, The Netherlands and tons of random islands over the world from European countries make the "European culture" even more diverse as well

[@Nabium]

About the wastefulness of disposable cups and plates. There was a study that compared paper cups with mugs, and found the differences were negligible. If you don't wash your mug that often, or not at all, then the mug is better, but even then the production of the mug is very energy costly so you need to use each mug for years before it becomes comparable to paper cups. Plastic cups is obviously a different beast. You also need to dispose of the paper cup properly and not throw it in the general waste. I am sick with cfs/me and at my sickest it became impossible for me to do the dishes, so I was forced to switch to disposable. Luckily the EU enforced rules reducing plastic disposable utensils and cups so I got less of a guilt trip after that, but after learning that as long as I dispose of it in a good way it's comparable to ceramics and steel in terms of environmental impact, I didn't bother switching back. If I ever get a girlfriend I'm gonna have a real problem, but, I'd also have a problem with disgusting week-long dishes in my sink.

[@ronnysmobilephone]

The reply to, how are you? Is, living the dream. Which of course means the opposite. And then we laugh inside, while also crying, because we get it.

[@SiempreAndres]

19:20 On average, onions are like this in America (All the continent). Here in Colombia, carrots, onions of all kinds, bananas, potatoes and others tend to have a larger size and greater potency in their flavor. Thankful for that, really

[@user-mq4kr9rw6j]

europeans also has a credit score but in a more sneaky and less transparent way, and its often topped with a cruel customer rating from the bank that you got the loan or credit card from, which rating is also hidden from the customer. great isn't it?

[@user-jm5yl5dh6o]

I'm from Omaha, Nebraska.The bus service goes from West only downtown.If you need to go anywhere else until you have to have a car

[@alphariusomegon4819]

There are two measurement systems in the U.S. metric and imperial, and we also use Celsius or Fahrenheit, it just depends on your profession.

[@hglundahl]

14:49 I forget which country it was, but in some countries, a public bathroom will actually have ultra violet light so you can't see your veins. Denmark, or parts of? Netherlands? Belgium? Not sure. Can't recall that from last year, but I think I can recall it from 2004.

[@6Korn6Slipknot6]

I think you find that in a many places (German train stations or club bathrooms sometimes have that kind of light).

[@chuylisten4115]

Pretty spot on But she just looking at it on the top surface. America is a whole lot different culture from region to region. But cool video I just found shout out from Atlanta Georgia

[@Fatblue246]

A few things, the first is driving age is completely different state to state, many laws in general are. America isn’t a unitary state, and states have a lot of autonomy and very different topography/demographics/culture/socioeconomic conditions etc. so law varies a lot even in the same regions. Driving laws in particular are one that vary quite a bit state to state. Drinking age is also technically on the state level, and the reason it was raised was it was proven to statistically lower drunk driving incidents. How they got every state to adopt it was that the federal government passed a law that would require states to raise the age to 21 if they wanted to receive their road funding from the federal government. Most states rely heavily on federal subsidization and this wasn’t a big enough issue to fight them on so they complied, however Louisiana did not for a few years so there were some hold outs. Most of the US is a car dependent society(there are exceptions like the North East corridor)so issues like drunk driving and underage drinking are a lot more of a focus point than they would be in Europe. Tbh a lot of this stuff varies a lot region to region, the US is as much of a monolith as Europe is. States have very different economies with very different histories and demographics, so what is normal somewhere is often not somewhere else. The federal government is also quite a bit smaller than most europeans realize, they have control entirely over foreign affairs but as far as domestic enforcement that’s a bit different. The IRS, our tax agency, for example has less than 1 million employees for a country of 330 million. Other agencies aren’t much bigger either. So state governments drive a lot of policy and are realistically more relevant on a day to day level for the average American than the federal government. States have their own laws and constitutions on top of the federal governments, and realistically with how little ability the federal government has to enforce law without cooperation makes the State have more power than the Feds in many situations though it does depend. Weed is legal in many US states for example but is entirely illegal on the federal level still. The federal government just lacks the ability to enforce properly in a manner to curb the legal defiance, especially since the states being enforced in would not be cooperating with their own agencies. So while there is some legal cohesion through the federal government, more often than not it’s playing catch up to policy that’s already implemented in many other states of one political ilk or the other. It does depend on the issue, some stuff is federal only, but more often than not issues fall to the states and that’s what causes the large lack of legal cohesion in the US, and why these kinds of perspectives are very similar to making broad generalizations about europe. it’s just not a homogenous place

[@minthethtwe2952]

I'm going there this July. Wish me luck ;))

[@Azhureus]

You dont need luck, you need to learn how to dodge bullets.

[@michaelrains64295]

@@Azhureusthat’s a massively overstated issue. I’ve literally never seen a gun menacingly presented in public in my 52 years. 2/3 of reported stats are from suicides and most of the rest are amongst criminal elements and confined to obviously problematic areas. 99% never see the type of violence you imagine. The US is generally safe if you have any common sense at all.

[@xenotiic8356]

@@michaelrains64295 I think they were making a joke, you can't really dodge a bullet

[@LukeOranje]

Probably the best way to think about the USA is that basically nobody's life is the same, whatsoever. It's way too diverse and states/cities all have different laws to say anything for certain. I would say many people's lives are similar in many ways, but you have millions of others who are not at all similar. For example, if you get good health insurance in a large metropolitan area, it's likely you're going to be getting the best care from the best providers, possibly in the world. Many people have to pay nothing to get excellent health insurance. Others have to pay hundreds of thousands in medical bills. It's very confusing. Sick time is the same - some jobs will be extremely understanding and let you go for months on end. Many others will treat you as expendable and fire you for taking too much sick time. And different states have different rules. There are absolutely smaller supermarkets, but the ones you see highlighted in videos are the biggest ones. Also, there are many smaller, older cities across the US that are pretty walkable. The newer neighborhoods, by and large, are as you see in the picture. Pretty sad. In European countries, like Nederland, you do essentially have a hidden credit scores when making home purchases - at the end of the day, there is not a tremendous amount of difference between credit scores and the credit system of these countries. But yes, I would say the biggest mistake most Europeans make is to think that American life is similar enough to generalize. But, it very much is mind-numbingly diverse, from region to region, state to state. Tipping and massive gaps in bathroom stalls, however, are truly universal in the US.

[@girlgofar546]

There are a few reasons for the portion sizes. One being that the US has a huge left over culture. We eat some at the restaurant and then take the rest home for later. Also the portions stay that big because alot of people have been trained to eat that way unfortunately. People continue to eat large amounts so the resturants keep seving the big sizes. Its one of the hardest things to unlearn when trying to get healthy. I hope that helps you understand us in the US a little more. ❤

[@crimsonjynx5707]

I am living in Denmark at the moment and I don't think I will ever see my home city in the US the same after experiencing a walkable city in a more suburban setting on the island of Zealand. I feel like this is how it's supposed to be and I'll never understand why American developers always have to take cars into account for every little decision.

[@cristi.scoarta]

In one way or another, credit scores exist in EU countries as well. For instance, in Germany there's a company called Schufa that handles this. In Romania, it's Biroul de Credit.

[@6Korn6Slipknot6]

Hello Erika! :) There is a highly intransparent and very controversial credit score system in Germany by a private German company called "Schufa". They collect massive amounts of data of pretty much everyone and use those to magically create a score for every German (or person in Germany?). Not being able to pay yout credits in time may give you huge problems in getting any more credits for decades. There are attempts to change the system because the parties started to realize, that the whole thing is screwed. In 2023 the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg held that the current practice is actually against European law. So we'll see what happens... ... and I love your tie! Greets! :)

[@econometrics469]

We have Whatsapp, but I don't know anyone who actually uses it. The average American just texts. It doesn't cost us anything because most of us rarely (if ever) leave the country. Personally, I live just outside downtown Minneapolis, so it's relatively walkable for the US, but I've been to Germany and it's not comparable. If you go just a couple minutes down the road from me away from the city, pedestrian space disappears. The closest grocery store is a 10 minute drive, which is like a 90 minute walk because the only foot paths to it go through or around a bunch of places designed exclusively for cars. I think this is probably why our milk jugs etc are so large. We tend to stock up on groceries because in some places it's a 15-30 min drive to the store and a 15-30 min drive back, so it's not the kind of trip you want to make 2-3 times per week.

[@gambit_toys6554]

i'm from America! good points!

[@timwauman]

Ha! Love your sense of humor! The US Tipping Culture is out of control, and while I had to laugh at the salad portion, I still think the most bizarre 'salad' and alsoone of the most delicious is teh German Wurstsalat!

[@kjfoxx]

I'm from the UK living in America, I feel like after moving here these questions just raise more questions than answers. This place confuses me in too many ways

[@schzean]

Quick search says about 202,000 fast food restaurants in US. Not verified but probably a little closer. I live about 20 min walk to grocery store but I have to cross at a huge intersection twice (I’m on SE corner, store is on NW corner of six lane intersection.) so the heavy traffic dissuades people from going by bike or on foot.

[@xavi-23]

Using paper plates daily is not a normal thing... like I haven't seen many people do this.

[@ggguitar.]

Totally anecdotal comparison but people in my small midwestern town do this depressingly often. And when I used to live in an even smaller, more midwestern town, it was even more common... but I did not live in a nice part of my state before so that's neither here nor there

[@jesusofgreenday1108]

Commenting as I watch so I hope my comments don’t become too annoying lol but I just wanted to bring up the fact that you brought up the big products in grocery stores. We have a big products I think because we go to stores less often. I have a friend that lives in Austria and she goes to the grocery store nearly every day. I live in Texas just outside of a big city and the closest grocery store to my house is just over 9 miles away which is a 16 minute drive. So we go less often than Europeans I think. Also I just got to the part where you mention sidewalks. My neighborhood has literally no sidewalks. I once walked from my house to the main street near my house and that took me an hour walking on the street

[@daniellycosta6927]

Last time I tried to go less often to the supermarket here in Europe, I lost a lot of groceries. I feel that products here get spoiled really fast, but I also noticed that here products tend to be healthier

[@jeremiahreilly9739]

(Former) American living in Basel, Switzerland. I love your videos. They are so Erika. That's good. Sorry about DB. Swiss trains run on time. You forgot to mention guns. Maybe you understand guns in America?