What’s an obvious sign that someone is American?

[@frankshailes3205]

What's that phrase? "To the British, 100 miles is a long way. To an American, 100 years is a long time."

[@LeahTruesdale]

Woah. Never though of it that way, but yeahhhh

[@jmckenzie962]

And then there's New Zealand, where 100 kms is a long way away and 100 years is also a very long time

[@CarbonatedCondensation]

That’s actually an interesting phrase, it makes sense

[@wendwllhickey6426]

There ascent I guess 😂

[@tealkerberus748]

To an Australian, a cultural site that was ten times as old as Stonehenge and still in regular use by the descendants of the people who created it, is now rubble because it got in the way of a mining company.

[@spacecaptain9188]

Given that Americans can travel thousands of miles in almost any direction and still be in a place where they don't need a second language to communicate well, the fact that so many Americans attempt to learn a second language beyond school requirements proves they have a significant interest in the world beyond their own land and culture.

[@justageekygamer]

i mean i get where u r coming from but also like there is a very clear example of culture USamericans disrespect heavily and that is indigenous culture like the country was built on the blood and tears of the indigenous

[@gokuformanvsfood]

​​@@justageekygamer99.9999% of us were born long after that happened, you want me to hold it against Europeans now, all of their colonial abuses they committed in previous centuries too? Like the indigenous Americans were abused by the Brittish, French and Spanish colonizers first, but you don't see every American using that as a reason to look down on the descendants who are just trying to live their lives.

[@juanvaldez7279]

@@justageekygamer show me a country that wasn't?

[@jyuratodus7317]

Also, US is a rich first world country. most american probably arent learning other language for necessary job or education opportunity. So its clear that they are learning other language just because they're interested in the culture

[@eddythefool]

​@@justageekygamerand unlike a lot of countries, the US teaches that history in their schools. Obviously some states limit how much information they teach their students, but at least it's not something that will get you arrested for looking into it. In China you can't even talk about the amount of people who died from famine during Mao's time without getting censored.

[@Eniral441]

Linguists say that part of why we talk so loud is because our accents help shape/ form in the back of our mouths in a way that helps us to project more, generally speaking. It happens when learning American language at a young age, when we're still developing and growing

[@vaudevillian7]

When I do American accents as an actor I definitely notice it forms much more in the throat, whereas English accents are formed on the lips so you have to project much less and can control the volume much more easily

[@christopherkowalczyk4405]

I read another study that had a theory that some regional accents are naturally louder than others in the U.S. because of the the industrial revolution. Areas that had heavy industries like steel mills, mines, and manufacturing devolped louder baselines because the workers had to speak loud, fast, and short to get info across in dangerous work settings. Take a hundred years of that with children hearing parents talk like that as they grew up and a louder baseline is set. I grew up where coal and steel belts crossed and the people here talk much louder than any other place I've lived in the U.S. Funnily I'm a quiet speaker, my dad was a miner but the rest of the family came from farming stock. Me being quiet always made folks around me wonder if I was trustworthy or maybe that I thought I was better than other folks. With that in mind when I lived in other places they said that I came across as too aggressive and confrontational.

[@jam6636]

"american language"---

[@Eniral441]

@jam6636 yeah, yeah...I should've said American English. Sorry, I was stuck in clinical Linquist mode.

[@Wynn_Silver]

As an American who deals with a lot of customers daily I can say a LOT of Americans don't speak loud enough. There's so many soft spoken people who just can't seem to project loud enough to be heard over the tiniest amount of noise. I speak loudly because I didn't want to constantly repeat myself like I have to make these customers do.

[@thomasjohnson-ut7zl]

We host an exchange student from Spain. One of our activities here was to take her to a living museum that is a re-creation of Village in the 1800s --ish US. I explained how we were going to this museum that he had old buildings they were 200 or more years old. She looked at me quizzically, and said “my church at home is 600 years old. “ She could see a Roman aqueduct from her house. At that point, there was nothing more for me to say! Fortunately, our next excursion was to Niagara Falls!

[@kierielong975]

I always forget how young America is compared to most countries.

[@moosefromsky3986]

You can take her to some Native American sites, like Cahokia Mounds, that are hundreds to possibly thousands of years old.

[@therewillbecatswithgwenhwyfar]

@@kierielong975 well of course… America is as old as anything. The United States however… ❤

[@confusedwhale]

Yes, but it's about how people were living back then, what they wore, and how things were done. It's not just the buildings. There are some places in Europe that have villages that have reinactors, but probably not ones your student knew about.

[@KaiHenningsen]

@@confusedwhale 1824? I don't feel like that's yesterday, even as a European. I mean, just around 80 years ago, you could look from one side of this city to the other - very few buildings are that old, apart from some churches. That was ... almost half a century before the earliest contiguous version of this nation was created. In US terms, the equivalent would be before the 13 colonies created their one nation, when they were still separate nations.

[@o_s-24]

I'm not American, but I use time as a measure of distance usually. It just makes more sense. Like: "that place is a 20-minute walk from here"

[@drzander3378]

But you're not using time as a measure of distance! You're using time *and mode of locomotion'. Americans just use time on the assumption that you're driving everywhere. Q. How far is it? US Answer: 5 minutes Non-US Answer: 5 minutes by car

[@TracyII77]

No. Look at the comment again. "walk". Americans use time for distance in all forms of travel because they are more likely to be paying attention to the time when traveling than they are the actual distance. If an American goes for a leisurely bike ride, they are more likely to go as far as they can within a certain time frame and then head back home. If they see something interesting along the way and tell their friends later, they will most likely say, "Oh, it was about 10 minutes down the path." Americans don't care how many miles away something is being shipped from. They care how much time it will take to arrive at their doorstep. Americans are just very time driven. @@drzander3378

[@myra0224]

@@drzander3378 Well, I would also say "I'm 5 minutes away". It doesnt really matter if that's by bus, train or foot, is it? Most of the time you can guess which mode of transport you'd use. I live very remotely so if I say "Wow, that's a whole 40 minutes away!" Then chances are highly likely it's by car.

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

@@myra0224 Of course it matters. 'You ask,because you don't know your way around. If I ask someone in NY ( for example ) where Times square is , and they just answer 5 ,10 or 20 minutes, I still don't have a clue. Is it 5 /10/20 minutes walk ? Underground ? or is it a 5 /10/20 minutes drive ? . How can you guess what mode of transport you need in a place you've never been ?

[@jennyh4025]

@@myra0224if you say „I’m 5 minutes away“ you are probably going to meet someone or have another reason why the time is important. I think it also depends on where you are. In a city I tend think in time needed to get somewhere (usually calculating the fastest mode of transportation at the same time) as well, while for bigger distances I think in kilometers. 🤷‍♀️

[@LordWaterBottle]

On the water bottle everywhere thing, correct. We may not actually have access to clean water wherever we are going. A huge number of locations, especially rural, do not meet safe drinking water standards, be it for failing lead pipes, agricultural runoff, PFAS aka forever chemicals aka Teflon precursor, or pick literally a hundred other things. Our government has not been functional for over 30 years, especially by European standards. Flint Michigan STILL does not have clean water.

[@QoraxAudio]

PFAS is also a big issue over here in the Netherlands, despite our country being labeled as one of the best of Europe in terms of water quality.

[@aprildriesslein5034]

Notable exceptions aside, the US generally has excellent municipal water. Bottled water is actually much less regulated (because it's a money maker and therefore has lobbyists).

[@LordWaterBottle]

@@QoraxAudio I'm honestly not super surprised by that. You are at the end of one of Europe's industrial waterways, after all.

[@LordWaterBottle]

@@aprildriesslein5034 This is why we carry a bottle with water from home instead of buying bottled water. Plus, less plastics need to be made.

[@jonesnori]

The water bottle habit is really quite recent. I believe it's from a combination of education about the need to stay hydrated, and, for reusable bottles, ecological pressure to reduce waste. I don't remember ever carrying water bottles in my childhood in the Sixties and Seventies. If I had to guess, I'd say the habit became common in the Nineties.

[@midorishiwa]

You know you’ve reached mastery of English when you know your shits: “good shit”, “the shit”, “horseshit”, “bullshit”, “batshit” they all have widely different meanings

[@lisapolanski9379]

Up shit's creek, that shit, no shit?

[@CreatingFamilyCode]

There is a line of spices named after the shits. They're a hilarious gift if you've got someone who cooks or grills a lot with a good sense of humor in your life.

[@heliotropezzz333]

No shit Sherlock!

[@ffwast]

That's why the phrase is "Know your shit" after all.

[@ComedorDelrico]

Don't forget "shitload" and "shit ton".

[@dominictemple]

I was talking to an older guy a while ago in a pub who spent some time working in the US, and he said the biggest to get over was that he could never tell if people were actually being genuinely friendly or not because everyone smiled at him and said hello.

[@hesky10]

That is why I don't like American customer service, nobody is that bloody happy to be at work! It reeks of insincerity, and for me as a brit, I'd be less inclined to ask for help from them as I'd be worried I'd have to appear more social than I want and expect me and them to be

[@EmelRaines]

Honestly, genuinely friendly. We don't want to be at work. And we'll hate our jobs. But we don't tend to hate the people. They'll be a few people that don't like the customers. And you'll notice they'll be polite but distant. Friendly is different though. Polite isn't the same. And people walking down the street, if they don't feel like saying hi to people, they'll just watch the sidewalk and not meet people's eyes. We genuinely like to interact socially and surface level with people usually.

[@djs98blue]

It's called emotional work and labor - have a read of 'The Managed Heart'. It's an essential part of late capitalism.....

[@nonstandard5492]

@@hesky10 seeing this sad ass take always makes me chuckle, cringe, and be a little depressed all at once. Imagine living such a sad life that you can't imagine people are just genuinely friendly. Hope it all gets better buddy, hang in there.

[@cameronspence4977]

I hope you told him it was because people are genuinely friendly here? Like it will be obvious if an American isnt actually happy, happy people dont smile and ask "hey how are you", and generally act cheery if they arent, here either. It's probably just from not living on a rain drenched, permanently cloudy, dreary, miserable flavorless bland Island for your entire life, idk.

[@giandoe3616]

19:35 as an american: asking someone how much they make is rude, But it is socially normal conversation to bring up how much things cost, for example: talking about rising prices of gas and food; complaining about how much a new expense just cost you; bragging about how much a new purchase is valued at; friendly gossiping about how much a bride-to-be’s rich new husband earns a year; damages of catastrophes often foremost listed in terms of millions in damages as opposed to other metrics of destruction.

[@larryrapshaw8405]

Some folks from particular areas in the States brag about how much they paid for something. Where I come from, we brag about how little we paid...

[@magapiff1]

I think anyone who is finds being asked how much they make as rude is a dead give away that person is a massive sucker and is 100% being underpaid. talk about it, find out how much your coworkers make, demand better pay or support them to do so

[@xyyton]

Only insecure people are afraid to mention their salaries

[@jadelynelle218]

@@xyyton Agree. I was thinking this when it was brought up in the video 😅😅 I have 0 shame in how much I make and it's not a lot by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just not insecure.

[@tumultoustortellini]

As an american, it feels like something corporate and the northeast pushed on the rest of the US. Gen z doesn't seem to care, at least

[@andyjohnson4907]

They say the grade they were in instead of what age they were, assuming everyone in the world knows what that means.

[@violetskies14]

On that one always confuses me. I can never remember the conversion between British years and American grades.

[@andyjohnson4907]

@@violetskies14 That's why everyone online should just say their age in their anecdotes. I figured that out in sixth form.

[@pamspray5254]

​@andyjohnson4907 Okay, but problem is that I don't know what age I was in a grade! Our age is less important than our year in school, so it doesn't get remembered as, "I learned this when I was 6," it gets remembered as, "I learned this when I was in Kindergarten." Backtracking and trying to figure out what age I was is possible, but it takes a bit longer since I didn't lock my age into my memories, I locked my grade in. That's at least why I respond with my grade and not age first.

[@andyjohnson4907]

@@pamspray5254 That's a really interesting perspective. No one's ever given me that explanation before. I really appreciate it. Thanks. But, if an American is talking to a multinational audience, they should definitely take the time to translate it.

[@pamspray5254]

@@andyjohnson4907 Agreed. I've been working on trying to integrate age into my memory so I can communicate on a more accessible level with non-Americans. It's definitely an unexpected challenge.

[@AlexTenThousand]

I live in Italy, and at least I personally share the feeling of finding it odd that someone would ask my name if I worked as a waiter. It's overly social, you know, we're not really supposed to know each other.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

And yet here in America any public facing job you'll have a name tag.

[@MartijnPennings]

Isn't it because in America servers work for tips? So each table has one server who serves them the entire meal and they are the one who gets the tip. If you start with "hi, I'm Tom, I'll be your server today", it creates a little personal bond that incentivizes people to give more tips. Where I'm from, guests are served by whomever is closest to the table or whatever and tips (like, 5% or rounded up; nothing like the insane American amounts like 20%) are usually shared among all staff.

[@reinhard8053]

@@oliviawolcott8351 An electronics shop here (Austria) had (first)name tags and then they disappeared. I asked and was told that they had problems with stalking.

[@Ray_Vun]

yeah in america it seems working as a server/waiter requires you to create some sort of "bond" with the customer, so they'll tip you. here in europe, that's really weird. you might know the server's name, but from already knowing them prior, not from asking them their name on your first time ordering something

[@owenhunt]

@@MartijnPennings It's both friendlier and more honest

[@doilus]

forever haunted by the time i told an american in an mmo that i was from the UK and they said "university of kentucky?"

[@Bill-mq7wr]

Lmaooooo

[@AlbertPaysonTerhune]

I like that. When someone says he's from the UK, I go, "Londonderry? Aberdeen?" People from Scotland or Ireland say they're from those places. People from England will say they're from "the UK." Why why why?

[@some_random_wallaby]

@@AlbertPaysonTerhune Presumably because Scotts, Irish & Welsh have their own language (even if English is predominant) & culture. They don't want you confusing them with the British.

[@AlbertPaysonTerhune]

@@some_random_wallaby They ARE British, ethnically and genetically, certainly more so than Anglo-Saxons or Danes. If the ancient Britons can be called British, then the Welsh and Irish and Caledonians can as well. What you mean is, they don't want to be confused with the English. But that's beside the point. I was simply noting that people who are English nowadays say they're from "the UK" instead of from England. And they are unique in this respect.

[@titusfortunus2916]

The Irish are british? I thought they were Irish.​@@AlbertPaysonTerhune

[@nbartlett6538]

16:00 Most people who aren't American or Canadian can't tell the difference between American and Canadian accents. Even though Americans and especially Canadians will insist that they are very different. It's the same with Australians vs New Zealanders... to each other, they are vastly different, to everybody else they are basically the same.

[@honoratagold]

I think most people who care about accents overhearing, say, a New Zealander and Australian having a conversation would be able to tell they had different regional accents from each other, but probably wouldn't be able to say which was from which country, only that they had regional accent variation. Same with Americans and Canadians.

[@goma3088]

American here: I am terrible at spotting a Canadian accent or hearing the difference between that and one from the US. Maybe I've only met Canadians with really subtle accents.

[@jonesnori]

Canadian accents are not all the same, and there is dramatic variation in American accents as well. However, compared to English accents elsewhere, Canadian accents won't sound that different from many Northern Middle America accents. Also, Kiwi accents are distinctly different from Australian ones.

[@myrabeth77]

You can generally pick out a Kiwi in a conversation within the length of a sentence. Listen to the short vowels. Pinpointing the geographic origin of any of the many, many regional accents of native English speakers in North America, though? That can often be a challenge.

[@pileofjunkinc]

I can't either as an American. IF a Canadian says About or Sorry I can tell, outside of those two words nope. But even I say about and sorry the way Canadians do often enough that I've actually had people to point it out. So idk.

[@nadinekurz6117]

I once had an American customer ask me for a veteran's discount. In Europe. That was an akward conversation trying to explain we don't have that in my country and when my older colleagues asked me what he wanted they were all so confused because they had never heard of that before. That was a bit of a give-away. Though in my experience American customers just tend to very quickly tell you that they are American and I appreciate them being talkative.

[@MarieAnne.]

@@matta5749I don't think that asking for a veteran's discount makes someone a "bad one". Perhaps a little uninformed.

[@robfortune6]

​@@matta5749I don't even understand the logic of that though? Even if that was a thing where you lived, then surely it would only apply to veterans of your country's military and not militaries of other countries? I mean, I'm not American and I don't know how it works but do veterans from militaries that aren't the US military get veteran's discounts? In that case then it's more understandable, but if it only applies to the US military in the US then it wouldn't make sense to think a US veteran should get it in another country... Edit: I just realised that most of this reply other than me being confused at how the veteran's discount worked was for the original poster and that I only replied to matta5749 because they're from the US and I was wondering how the veteran's discount worked in terms of whether it applies to all military veterans or only US veterans, sorry if this comment was confusing with how it was worded at times lol

[@thefairguin]

​@robfortune9696 I can't say for certain because I have never encountered this exact experience before. But as somebody who worked in many different places that offered veteran discounts, I imagine that if somebody who was clearly foreign, as in had a clear accent or something like that, told me that they were a veteran and asked if they could take advantage of the veteran discount I would probably just give it to them. I probably would not even ask what Armed Forces they were a veteran of. And I've known several people from other countries who were serving in the US Armed Forces. In general I would never even ask people to prove that they were a veteran before I gave them the discount. The person who gets to decide whether you can use that discount is the customer point of contact employee who is ringing you up and none of those positions are paid well enough for them to concern themselves too much with ensuring that the finer details of that discount policy are followed and that no one is fraudulently taking advantage of that policy. In fact nowhere that I've worked that had that sort of discount even clearly stated to employees what the finer details of the policy were. So I don't think it's completely unreasonable to think that a veteran of a foreign armed forces could be given a veteran discount in the United States regardless of whether it makes a real sense or not lol

[@oliviawolcott8351]

Veterans discounts are a big thing here, that and active military discounts.

[@1983simi]

wtf?!! and even IF your country had something like that, why would it be granted to a veteran of a FOREIGN NATION? lol. if then it surely only would be granted to veterans of the nation in question.

[@HungryOrca]

One of the main reasons Americans carry water bottles while traveling is uncertainty about local water quality. Even if locals can drink the water, travelers may have a negative reaction. Almost everyone I know who has visited Mexico has gotten horribly sick unless they were very careful to drink only bottled beverages.

[@justletmelisten243]

In fairness, a lot of servers in restaurants in America open with "Hi my name is X, and I'll be your server today"

[@sparda9060]

@SanityTV_Last_Sane_Man_Alive Thats when I just take a pic of their face with my phone if i heard that lol And I thought Americans were bad at being self accountable. I'm American myself.

[@Mrdest211]

In a lot of places, first names are used for close friends, family and loved ones only. Even colleagues might not call each other by their first names. That's why it's odd in a lot of places to ask a server for their name, it's like if a server in the US came to your table and you gave them a hug.

[@TheReluctantVlogger]

I like that part. Being asked how I am is the most annoying greeting ever. You don’t really want to know. I’m SUPPOSE to say “I’m well” but what if I’m not? Why did that start? Back when there were less people maybe? Anyway, I stopped asking that a long time ago.

[@romancetips365]

@Mrdest211 I have actually seen that happen in American restaurants quite a few times. I always just thought maybe they knew each other and that's why they're hugging.

[@thepetermullins]

"My sponsor today is Babbel!!" *Somewhere distant, an owl senses a disturbance* *OWL INTENSIFIES!!*

[@alinaqirizvi1441]

Owl plots murder

[@slimeswamps]

Say goodbye to your family in german

[@alinaqirizvi1441]

@@slimeswamps Auf Wiedersehen

[@triciad4100]

So that's what The Birds was about

[@Margen67]

Owls need HUGS

[@Bols847]

For the measurements thing, there was a popular news article about a meteor and this US news station described it as being "the size of half a giraffe" So ... yeah

[@ek0dev]

We're deathly allergic to the metric system

[@allisonwendt8461]

😂...which half? 😅

[@Bols847]

@allisonwendt8461 it didnt specify. But a giraffe is probably the most inconsistent animal to halve

[@clojcloj]

We do be like that 😂

[@some_random_wallaby]

Half the mass? Half the volume? Or is it like Fruit Ninja? How much is that in linebackers?

[@loopylinguist7716]

That McDonalds thing is so real. I swear the French (and French Canadians too apparently!) have a radar for English speakers. They don’t even have to hear you speak. They just know you’re English/American just by looking at you. It drove me crazy when I lived in France because all I wanted to do was practice my French and people would talk to me in English!

[@smythharris2635]

Works both ways, don't you know that?

[@annepoitrineau5650]

Yes we do...and so does the whole of western Europe :)

[@lucie4185]

My friend has emigrated to France and has this issue constantly he needs to learn French and everyone he meets just uses him to practice their English.

[@Hiforest]

You just need to go to Paris. They're allergic to speaking English there.

[@nixthelapin9869]

Maybe when I eventually go to France, I’ll wear a shirt that says “yes I’m American, no don’t speak to me in English” 😂

[@Roonasaur]

16:15 Also, if you're ever flying a plane, being able to tell the tower how many more minutes of fuel you have is much more immediately useful vs. saying "I have X liters of fuel" and then leaving them to figure out what kind of plane, how heavy, what wind conditions, etc.

[@yellowrose0910]

Yeah but. Helps the firefighters more to know how much there is to burn instead of making them estimate consumption rates.

[@Roonasaur]

@@yellowrose0910 True, but. You need to report how much more time you can stay in the air on a kindof regular basis. You rarely land in a ball of flames, and its not like they unload the firetruck if they think they only need 2/3s of the foam.

[@blitzkrieg237]

I prefer the year-month-day format, because we don’t quote time in minute-hour-second, etc. Time is done from largest to smallest, and since years, months, and days are measurements of time, it only makes sense to use the same format. Year>month>day>hour>minute>second.

[@israellai]

I'm from Hong Kong. I lean on everything. lol Also the "our accent makes it obvious where we're from" is very anglosphere centric - a lot of us in *the rest of the world* genuinely don't know what accent that is. And not care about what state you're from (if they even know names of states, that is). So answering "I'm from the US" makes a lot of sense, instead of confusing people into thinking Minnesota is a country or something and having to explain afterwards... You've been spoilt by Brits, Evan 😉

[@zak3744]

After saying the country was obvious from the accent, he even said himself later in the video that many Canadians sound similar to lots of Americans, and that even Americans find it hard to tell them apart! So... Canada isn't a country apparently? 😄 (Not to mention that lots of second language speakers have an American accent, as it's one of the most common types of English that people learn. So someone with an American accent could easily be from any country!)

[@violetskies14]

Also even we as British people don't know all the states, we'll know North America because of the accent in person but when they say a random state online I assume America not because I know where they're talking about but because only an American wouldn't say the country.

[@israellai]

​@@zak3744oh for sure, I can confirm. everyone educated in every international school seems to have an American accent nowadays

[@jiggyprawn]

@@zak3744 absolutely! My partner is Dutch and learned English quite young, so he sounds mostly American, but he has a slight something that sets him apart. He's been guessed as a few different nationalities, but mainly American. I also knew a Ukrainian who sounded even more American than him.

[@DeborahMaufer]

When we lived in Switzerland people assumed we were Brits because they can't hear the difference between American and British accents, and since there are fewer Americans living there, it was a safe guess. 🤷

[@cdw2468]

RE: “how much do you make”, i’ve made it a personal mission to make money a less taboo topic because it’s that secrecy that allows for things like wage theft to occur. think about who it benefits to not talk about money

[@DeborahMaufer]

People who are very private?

[@cdw2468]

@@DeborahMaufer sure, but there seems to be an extra privacy regarding money that doesn’t exist around other topics

[@tropicalfruit4571]

I agree, I was working with my coworkers some time ago how our pay is shit, and you gotta save up for ages to do anything, and I just assumed we earn about the same so I dropped a number. The shock on their faces was something else, it turned out that I earn the most out of our small team (idk why, one gal had definitely a better resume than me) and it made me think. And what I concluded is that we never know how much money to expect, and at least where I live, people undersell themselves so hard, and employers take advantage of that; we need to talk more about money to just know what is rally happening on the job market. That being said, casually asking someone how much they make still seems insane to me. Just lead a conversation in the right direction, then ask.

[@CyanideCarrot]

Yeah that was surprising to see that comment since American employers loooooove to prohibit you from talking about your pay (outside of the few states that explicitly allow you to)

[@DeborahMaufer]

Perhaps because people feel free to criticize what/how much money you spend on things when they know how much you make@@cdw2468

[@greencupcakes1]

I can tell an American family before I even sit their table, just something about the shoes and jackets they tend to wear really sticks out. And they always have super white T-shirts, socks and teeth… 🤷🏻

[@jonesnori]

The teeth! Yes, they should have called that out. There's a tooth prejudice in the States. Middle class people here expect to see straight, reasonably white teeth, and perceive anything else to be ugly. Most of us are not aware that it's a class prejudice.

[@peanut3438]

@@jonesnori(I’m American) I don’t think of straight white teeth as a class thing, more like the general expected thing. Although I also know getting straight white teeth is pretty expensive so I can see how monetary class comes into play there sweet tea is the delicious downfall of white teeth…

[@larsedik]

When I travel, people think I am French or Italian instead of American, but I like to wear very nice clothes when I travel, and I speak five languages. I always speak in the language of the country I am visiting when I meet someone, even if it is not one of the languages that I speak fluently. I had to learn some Portuguese before I went to Brazil, but I was traveling with a friend who was fluent in Portuguese.

[@tubewatcher117]

​@@jonesnoriwe don't see it as a class thing, but as a hygiene thing.

[@CowgirlWren]

​@@jonesnori As an American, I have never thought about it as a class prejudice, but I can understand the sentiment. Whitening is expensive. Braces are expensive - even with dental insurance. Having dental insurance, especially good/great dental insurance usually comes with a better job, or a Union organized job. I have a friend who is a great looking guy but his teeth are a mess - he has not had dental insurance since graduating high school.

[@luckyaricat]

I visited the Vatican, to show respect, I wore a flowing skirt, long sleeve shirt with a shawl. I saw many tourists step up on the dais, so I stepped up for closer look at the Botticelli. A Guardia came up in Italian asked me to step off. I figured he didn't speak English. He then turned around to the other tourists and in perfect English told them to please step down. My take away, dress nicer and don't go to the Vatican in jeans, T-shirts with big backbacks.

[@silviasanchez648]

What thing is a backback?

[@gcewing]

@@silviasanchez648 A bag that you wear on your back. Also called a rucksack in some places, although that tends to imply something larger.

[@arawilson]

@@gcewing Also knapsack.

[@cebruthius]

@@gcewingWhoosh

[@nucle4rpenguins534]

*backPACK*

[@ElNeroDiablo]

As a Aussie living in Rural NSW - "I'm about a half-hour out" means you're on the road and driving to the next town over that's 45-50km away. As someone that grew up in a city-town "I'm about a half-hour out" can also mean you're stuck in the evening rush where traffic is at a crawl and trying to get home to a hot dinner and catch the evening news on the telly.

[@bottomofastairwell]

Basically same here in the US. We use time as a measure of distance. I think that's purposely hard for europeans to understand though because if they drive half an hour, they'd a strong possibility they're in another country

[@samsanimationcorner3820]

There are so many similarities between Aussies and Americans I've noticed in the way we do a lot of things, and our styles and that sort of stuff. I play with streetview a lot because I can't afford to travel and I noticed your towns look like ours a lot, except the cars are on the other side of the road. I love Australia, man. Would love to visit sometime.

[@jongustavsson5874]

@@bottomofastairwell If I ask someone "how far is it to point B" and I get an answer in time it annoys me, as that assumes everyone travels at the same speed.

[@BeautyMarkRush]

I'm from Brazil and it's funny bc if you ask someone where they are and they answer with "I'm about a half-hour out" , that means they probably just got into the car lol. The shorter the time estimate, the closer they are from their bed, i.e. "I'm about 15 minutes from there" = "I just got ready and I'm looking for my keys". Pro BR tip: when asking someone where they are, always ask for a nearby reference.

[@mpf1947]

@@jongustavsson5874 It's at the typical speed of traffic for that time of day, or about the speed limit if there is no other traffic.

[@CurtisCT]

Obvious signs someone is American (taken from my experiences as an American in Austria): 1. Everyone comments on your GLEAMINGLY white teeth 2. You go around smiling all the time (and it annoys Austrians) 3. You're perplexed and amazed that stores are closed on Sundays in Europe 4. An American actually never says the word "America" 5. You stand in front of doors at stores waiting for them to open automatically 6. You're amazed at the small or narrow size of European streets, cars, refrigerators, houses, apartments, etc. 7. You cry the first time you get dressed down by a store clerk

[@joaniem3817]

My experience: #3, lots of stores are closed on Sunday, depending on where you live. Many states still have “Blue Laws”. #4 All Americans I know say “American”. What’s the alternative? 🤷🏻‍♀️ USian? 😂

[@CurtisCT]

@@joaniem3817 #4 - What I meant was, Americans don't say e.g. I'm from America. We prefer to say I'm from the US, or I'm from the states.

[@retiefgregorovich810]

@@CurtisCT As an American, I say America.

[@jonesnori]

I say "The States", but I learned that in Ontario, Canada. Natively I would previously have said "America".

[@RediuszDvachevski]

Narrow streets aren't so common in many Post-Soviet countries...

[@katiemiller8313]

I respect that a name can be personal information. Americans are used to servers saying "welcome to [restaurant]. My name is [first name] and I'll be your server. Can I get you something to drink?" However, I dont think I'd ever ask a server for their name if it wasn't given. Nor would I ever tell the server my name. I think (stereotypically) often the Americans that choose to travel abroad tend to be more "social" than the average American. In normal social situations, Americans are used to sharing their name, because it's often viewed as foundational as visual appearance (height, color of hair, etc). Using someone's name is seen as respectful in the US; it basically says "I care enough about you as a human to learn your name." Our culture has a dark history of not-using-someone's-actual-name to imply that one of us is "less human" than the other and as such should show more/less respect to one another.

[@cisium1184]

I find it strange that some Europeans consider their name to be private information. The very reason you have a last name at all is to identify you to others.

[@Irish_Enderman]

@@cisium1184 would you tell some random stranger online your full name if they asked? I definitely wouldn't and I don't expect many would

[@shontoo6979]

@@Irish_EndermanBut we aren't talking about a random faceless person online. We are talking about a real life person that we are interacting with in a small setting. Yes, it makes sense to ask their name to properly address them. It is weird (to us) to address someone by their job title or "You". Rude even.

[@Irish_Enderman]

@@shontoo6979 regardless it's not like it's important information for a waiter at a restaurant to have for example, idk how to explain it beyond I'm just not comfortable giving my name to a stranger

[@edward_j_leblanc]

How many American waiters even remember your name 10 minutes later? A few who are really good with names, but not many.

[@Caroline_Tyler]

YYMMDD is the best for file names as it aligns beautifully when sorting

[@marikothecheetah9342]

Mostly because that is the default date setting within the system., it just adjustable in apps :)

[@Ph34rNoB33r]

I prefer ISO dates. YYYY-MM-DD Four digit year as I'm from the previous century, and so are some of my files.

[@myra0224]

For file names I agree. Any other time you put the day first

[@philrichards7240]

@@myra0224 I don't. I work in a multi-national company - to avoid any possible confusion I always use YYYY-MM-DD dates when communicating via a written medium. (Well, not always - sometimes I use the month name, but generally I use ISO 8601 form.)

[@heavyecho1]

The company I work for has offices in the USA and UK so we use YYYY-MM-DD or use the 3 letter month os in Feb

[@TheKaliedescope]

Asking for the recommendation from the server is a dyslexia life hack

[@isaacbobjork7053]

I am Swedish and I would NEVER ask the waiter what their name is. If they have a name tag I will know, but if they don't I really do not need to know. Of course being Swedish the main rule of conduct is not to talk to anyone you do not know unless absolute necessary, in the first place so...

[@kohakuaiko]

I think I might need to move there

[@DovidM]

A friend from Sweden said that when he was a child, his father would walk him down the stairs in their building. If his father heard people in the lobby, he would stop on the stairs (that is, out of sight of the lobby) until the people left. His father explained that he was avoiding an unnecessary conversation, and that it was always best to wait until the lobby emptied. My friend says that privacy is a precious gift, and that others should not intrude on your privacy, and that you should reciprocate by not intruding on other people’s privacy.

[@juanvaldez7279]

That sounds sad. People have names we are more then cogs. But it seems places with a history of Authoritarian governments has left there people afraid of each other.

[@jongustavsson5874]

@@juanvaldez7279 Sweden does not have a such a history though, so that theory doesn't really hold any water in this case.

[@juanvaldez7279]

@@jongustavsson5874 don't let Russia hear you say that.

[@thisbushnell2012]

"Where are you from?" "I'm an army brat. How far back do you want to go?" (Earth. I'm from Earth.)

[@shontoo6979]

Lol, definitely gonna steal that one.

[@thisbushnell2012]

@shontoo6979 be my guest. It's just the fact, one we all would do well to embrace.

[@Whitewizardofwater]

I'm not an army brat, and I can say "Texas City 1, Texas City 2 (x6), Central Mexico City (x8), Texas City 3, Texas City 4, China, Texas City 3 (again), California." I remember when I was still a minor I had some sorta revelation when I realized my best friend had lived in his same house since I'd first met him. And apparently moved like once. Pretty sure his dad still lives there. I occasionally wonder what it's like to have roots

[@tracyzimmerman7912]

Navy brat here

[@amelliamendel2227]

21 different schools for me to graduate HS

[@itschelseakay]

I have a friend who doesn’t drive and will always say “it’s only 10 miles away” but depending on where you live, that could be 10 minutes or 40 minutes. When I moved to NYC and didn’t have my car she would get so annoyed when I wouldn’t want to meet her “10 miles outside of the city” because it would take like 3 hours. But if you don’t drive in different settings or live in an area with public transport, you can’t understand

[@SwearMY]

Absolutely. My veterinarian's office is only 15 miles away, but it can take an hour to get there.

[@BattyBigSister]

So more than 10 years ago now, an American (I assume, because I can't tell the difference between American and Canadian accents either) lady came up to me and asked for directions... and then she said, "And can you give it to me in blocks?" Me being incredibly young and naive and never having been the quickest wit at any point in my life, then actually tried to work out in my head how big a block would be, how long it would take to walk one and how that converts to distance... in spite of the fact that I've existed almost exclusively in Europe my entire life and had never been in a purpose-built planned city to use as a reference point... and the fact that I have dyscalulia and even regular measurements struggle to turn into meaningful understandings of distance in my mind. Luckily for both of us, she noticed the awkward pause in the conversation and the sight of the obvious cogwheels trying unsuccessfully to turn in my head and said something along the lines of, "Oh. I guess that makes more sense in a place built in blocks, doesn't it?", as she clearly for the first time became fully cognisant of the difference in European and American architectural structuring and what that means in practical terms. I very gratefully pointed and told this much smarter human being that what she was looking for was about twenty minutes that way and she was very grateful too. (Also I think what that earlier Reddit comment was trying to say that when Americans give a distance in time they give it in the distance it takes to *drive* there. All the Europeans I've ever met (and there have been a few) will give the distance in travel time too, but we almost exclusively give the distance in *walking* time unless it is genuinely too far to walk comfortably in which case we will specify that it's X amount of time away *by car*.)

[@annepoitrineau5650]

oh yea, I remember the bloc thig too :)

[@taylor3950]

What a sweet interaction

[@jenniferpearce1052]

If someone wants to know how many blocks, they may be wondering how many streets they have to cross. Not all of our city or town layouts are grids, but we still all the odd shapes blocks. A block is just one street to the next. Directions like "drive three blocks and then turn right" don't really take into account that blocks could be long or short. That said, this woman was really nice, and so were you, for trying to figure it out.

[@gcewing]

Yeah, blocks only make sense when there are actual physical blocks to count. I don't think it would occur to me to try to convert a distance that I only knew in kilometres or whatever into blocks.

[@bottomofastairwell]

Laughs in Boston. Planned cities. Oh man, would that be nice

[@StormTheSquid]

19:37 I'm American, and I'm of the firm belief that discussing finances should never be taboo. Knowing how much you make compared to someone else in a similar field or position can be a good tool for knowing whether your employer is screwing you over or not, or could help them figure that out as well. I actually find a lot of Americans find discussing salaries and wages to be taboo as well, though thankfully a lot less so in the more recent generations.

[@Abby_Liu]

I think it could be a generational thing too, or maybe we zoomer are still too young, but we don’t have a lot to our names yet, we can’t measure ourselves by owning properties or cars or having families or we don’t want to anymore, so we compare relative happiness. If all I do is collect Lego sets and all my friend does is also collect Lego sets and we make similar amount of money and have similar amounts of free time but he has way more Lego sets than me, I know it’s achievable for me I just need to get better at budgeting. If you know someone’s doing better because they have more money you can let yourself off the hook.

[@alanhilder1883]

Many employers ( all over the world ) try to tell you that you can not discuss your wage/salary because that is a breach. In reality it helps to hide how lowly they consider you.

[@matthewharrison3813]

There are places where it might makes sense, but for too many people it would become a proxy for status and that's very uncomfortable. Even if the person asking doesn't think in that way, the person being asked might think they do.

[@TheAngryXenite]

​@SanityTV_Last_Sane_Man_Alive Also, as an aside, it is illegal for any employer to ban you from discussing your wage/salary with other employees specifically because it's an impediment to fair treatment and collective bargaining. Pretty sure you can report it to the department of labor.

[@eldupont3095]

a lot of people get emotional about it. if you make more than them they hold it against you :/ or get depressed or something

[@CullodenCowboy]

Americans don’t claim European nationalities, they claim European ethnicity. When an American says “I’m Irish” they mean ethnically, they obviously don’t mean they were born in Ireland.

[@Myemnhk]

I don't know why this is a hard concept to understand. Do europeans not have basic knowledge of genetics and genealogy?

[@AdamGaffney96]

We do get that, that's rarely the problem. As Evan actually mentioned it's around mentioning it in part of discussing issues affecting a country rather than an ethnic group. Irish is common, however I saw a lot of Americans doing it with their Scottish heritage during the Independence referendum in 2014. It's fine to mention you have Irish lineage, but mentioning it as if that gives some extra air of authority when discussing a concept is silly. Not everyone does that of course but that's the specific bit we get issues with. We also do make fun a bit of the lineage thing because lineage matters a bit less to us. I know I'm mainly Scottish with some Irish in there somewhere since my surname is Irish but the rest of my family is Scottish named. But I don't really care either way and so I think it's more gentle ribbing with the people being like 1/8th German, 1/12th Swedish etc.

[@CullodenCowboy]

@@AdamGaffney96 my experience online has just been seeing Europeans get onto North Americans simply for stating or celebrating their ethnicity, I’ve never seen a North American try to leverage their ethnicity to comment on European politics. I think that may be a matter of what one sees in regards to this conversation in Europe vs North America. Perhaps its that when North Americans visit Europe they make that mistake but not at home? I will note that my initial reaction to your example is to remember that a lot of us are in North America because our ancestors didn’t have much of a choice to stay. The highland clearances and potato famine forced a lot of us over here and that generational trauma can still linger. I don’t feel this way and I don’t think it makes it acceptable to speak on y’all’s issues, but I can see how a lot of ethnic Scots here would feel strongly enough about London to make the mistake of voicing an unnecessary opinion on the subject.

[@ShaCaro]

@@Myemnhk We do. That's why we say we're of x descent, rather than claim nationalities like Americans do. There is a difference between "I'm of Irish descent" and "I'm Irish".

[@jmanius1]

​@@ShaCaroI don't think most Americans are claiming nationality or presuming that they mean nationality when they say "I'm Irish". It's just that in America the predominant assumption is unless you specifically say you are from X country, we just assume you mean descent. Just a symptom of having a lot of different cultural heritage and convenient language shortcuts (which happens in every language in every region, let's not pretend similar examples can't be found elsewhere for other topics in other countries)

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

They say the state because there is SUCH a difference between state to state. Weather, politics, religion, population density, etc.

[@myra0224]

Sure, but on one side it also helps us know who to avoid by what we know of that state. On the other side I feel like if you don't answer with a "Oh, the state with this or that" they're offended? Idk why though

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

@@myra0224Yes, but life in Texas is nothing like life in Alaska. There are positives and negatives to any association, but one person knows snow and the other just doesn't.

[@myra0224]

@@charlotteinnocent8752 Say that next time someone from the US asks if someone is "Asian"

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

@@myra0224I hate that it's one of the most cringe worthy phrases used!

[@signalfirefly]

Honestly, I'd probably even skip the state and just say "Seattle". Enough Americans assume DC when you say "Washington", I wouldn't expect non-Americans to know the difference.

[@BrittPearceWatches]

I’m a Canadian who’s lived in the U.K. for 8 years now. I love when people ask where I’m from! Usually they THINK I’m from the states 🙈 but then I get to deliver the good news!

[@edwardburroughs1489]

'Good news' :)

[@carolynshull4841]

Travelling by train in Europe years ago, my husband and I (Americans) were taken to be Canadian by Europeans sharing our seat compartment. We were so proud!! Usually we were instantly ID'd as Yanks. "Hey American! Double the price!"

[@andyjohnson4907]

I hope you have a maple leaf button on you the whenever you go out so people don't automatically hate you.

[@alfresco8442]

All you have to do is work "out and about" into the conversation. It'll separate Canadians from Americans instantly. 😄

[@evan]

Hahaha

[@lemonZzzzs]

Honestly, describing "distance" with travel time is more efficient for communication. Especially in a country where there are towns across the state that take 4 hours to get to and small towns just outside your own city that also take 4 hours to get to due to the difference in road infrastructure.

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

You can measure distance by time: "How far away are you?" "About 20 minutes." But it doesn't work the other way around: "When do you get off work?" "In about 7 miles."

[@gcewing]

The other way might work if you're a bus driver or something.

[@VestinVestin]

It's like that old Soviet joke: spacetime is digging a ditch from here to 5 o'clock.

[@julieaskingforafriend]

I drove a tour bus for a resort some years ago. "About 7 miles" was actually a legit answer to when I got off work.

[@Kellethorn]

Unless you're a trucker

[@liliyafaskhutdinova6532]

I am from Ukraine, and we, too, say the time talking about distance. At least in my circle for sure. Not in like some official communication, but in a casual one, I would normally say I live 30 min away from my sister, or, since Kyiv is a big city and using public transportation is very common, we can also use stops as a distance measure. Like "I am fairly central, only one metro stop from the office".

[@lajoyalobos2009]

The ultimate American vs Canadian test: have them say "Oh, I'm so sorry about the boat."

[@clockside]

That's a stereotype that isn't nearly as reliable as people think it is. I grew up in a border state (though several hours south of the actual border) and my accent and dialect are heavily aligned with those found in Washington, Minnesota, and California. My accent alone is widespread across the upper Midwest/Great Plains. I have had several Canadian friends throughout the years and you wouldn't be able to tell who was what from that sentence. I have even sounded "more Canadian" than many of them. Do other Americans find it funny when I say things like goose, sorry, and ope? Sure, I've been laughed at and told to say certain phrases for people's entertainment before. I'll poke fun at myself sometimes for how strong my accent can come out too. I've still never spent event 12 hours of my life in Canada though. My accent is wholly American, but most other Americans wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the accent here and the one north of the border.

[@myrabeth77]

Start a conversation about household expenses. As soon as you hear "hydro bill," you know you're talking to a Canadian. I've never once heard an American use that phrasing.

[@toothless3835]

I mean, upper Wisconsin and upper Minnesota have very similar accents to a Canadian. THere are differences, but it's hard to tell sometimes if you're not listening to them side by side.

[@clockside]

@@toothless3835 I'm from the Twin Cities region of Minnesota (definitely not in the northern area of the state) and our local accent here falls under that too. The upper regions tend to have more of the stereotypical accents that people think of, but that stuff is a stereotype for Canada too. It's all just a small part of a range of different accents that vary across the continent.

[@alanhilder1883]

The equivalent here in Oz to ask if someone is a kiwi is to get them to count to seven. ( The "i" in six sounds like an "e" )

[@AdrianColley]

As an Irish person, it's frustrating how often I know X when asked "oh, you're Irish, do you know X?"

[@dancing_fig]

The quote they used was from a Delawarean, and this is *freakishly* true about us. (Probably also true for folks from the even less populous states, too, like Wyoming). And for every fellow Delawarean I've met, we've found someone we know in common, even though it's been over 20 years since I've lived there.

[@ffwast]

@@dancing_fig That's not surprising when the whole state is about the size of a county in another state.

[@aengusdedanann181]

you're irish? do you know Arthur McBride?

[@Armadeus]

well? do you know the social network formerly known as twitter?

[@AlbertPaysonTerhune]

ACKshully, 3 times out of 5, you DO know X. I know all these mostly random Irish people on social media, and they often turn out to know each other and it's not through me.

[@jasoncollins5949]

My mum is from London herself and will still engage people in conversation when out and about (including in London). People often don't seem to mind and sometime it it goes quite well, you'll find a lot of 'old London' types are actually very keen to speak to people out in public

[@marikothecheetah9342]

When I was with my ex and lived in London he started to talk to a guy from a little shop and they talked like they've known each other for years. I asked him later on where did he know the guy from and he said: Oh, I don't know him, we first talked just minutes ago. British in London nowadays :D

[@puellanivis]

It’s kind of a friendly thing to do, and most Americans I feel are generally actually interested in talking with people. (For clarity, I am from America.) Though, it can get a bit weird. I was with my dad once and we were in a hospital, because my mom had a pretty big accident. Anyways, we were in an elevator with some young-ish girls, and my dad started trying to talk to them, and I’m just like… dad, not cool.

[@TomTomicMic]

Be polite, talk about the weather and such like, but not personal, "not too bad" is the best way to appear to give a friendly but unhelpful answer, hoping there are no more!?!

[@ffwast]

@@puellanivis "No one is friendly here it's not allowed dad"

[@suzbone]

@@Pizzatime8612 chatting with strangers in an elevator is generally perceived as too intrusive for such a confined space and time. Younger people may feel more free to do it, but older people generally avoid it. Age and gender differences can cause justifiable discomfort and elevator or not, it's best to not bother (or worry) people for no good reason.

[@NormyTres]

I think I will subscribe, mainly because I love that confused accent and your cheerful demeanour. And you're kind to everyone.

[@evan]

Thanks! :)

[@PaulGuy]

I get a kick out of the "one language" thing, as if it's some sort of dunk. In the US, you can go from LA to NYC and it's the same language the whole way. That's like 17 different countries in Europe, and somehow half of them have a different language in every valley. We have little need to learn another language unless we travel to another country. And news flash, one of those two bordering countries also speaks English. And they're both so big that to reach any other, you pretty much need to fly, which again puts them out of range for most people.

[@joaniem3817]

Exactly!

[@nriamond8010]

Well ... do you know where I use foreign languages most? In the internet. The same place where you are. It's super useful for everyone who bothers about people from other countries instead of focusing only on their own. News flash: Germany has borders to 9 countries. None of them has English as language. I learnt 4 languages at school, most of them languages of countries I never intend to visit.

[@joaniem3817]

@@nriamond8010 Newsflash: Germany is about the size of one of the 50 US states. The US is approximately 28 times larger than Germany. Your driving over your border to another country is a day trip. Our driving to one of the 2 border countries can take days depending on where one lives. And in one of those countries, English is also the primary language. Also, your countries are so close you may pick up tv channels from other countries where a different language is spoken. Nowadays there’s the internet, which makes it easier to familiarize oneself with another language and many people here choose to do that as well. So things are changing.

[@Tessa_Gr]

I have no idea why US-Americans think being physically close to a country means you'll learn that language. I'm German, had vacations in Italy pretty much every year since I was like 5 years old. Never learnt Italian beyond very few words, that I also forget until the next vacation (also many service workers in Italy speak German as well). I've even taken 4 years of French, forgot pretty much 100% of it, even though I've watched French movies and been to France I can't speak it at all anymore. But I can speak English (C1-2 level) (and Korean which I learnt later). Even though I've never been to an English speaking country and never had spoken to a native speaker until after finishing school. The reason I learnt English has nothing to do with geographic distance at all. It's because we learnt the fundamentals in school and then people just started watching KZbin videos and went on from there.

[@serenahiggins1849]

Have you heard of this thing called the internet? It’s this thing that lets you communicate with people all around the world. And umm, knowing another language can be great for that. It’s not the 1850s you don’t have to go to another country to encounter a person from another country.

[@djs98blue]

When I was young we had a big meningitis outbreak in the class in my school near Stroud, Gloucestershire. It hit the national headlines as one of my classmates died. We were away on holiday and had to return to be tested. After then I noticed many public places and schools closed water fountains for fear of another outbreak as this was a possible source. The National Meningitis Trust was later founded in Stroud.

[@nicolehughes7863]

I've noticed since COVID a lot of buildings (at least in NJ) have started removing water fountains and replacing them with the water bottle refill stations. It makes sense hygienically, but still a sad loss.

[@djs98blue]

Given the drive against single use plastic etc fountains make sense but I do think hygiene concerns, like that in Stroud, played a part in reducing numbers over here. Most school children here are now instructed to bring a water bottle.

[@pauljones2510]

I live near Springfield MO (southwest corner). I've met people from around the world online. It's common for someone to say something like, "Oh, you live in Missouri. I know a guy named _______ ________. Do you know him?" Where does he live? Saint Louis. That's three and a half hours away. No. I don't know him. *** If I come visit you, can we go see the giant redwoods. They are 2,000 miles away.

[@katiemiller8313]

"5 miles away" can mean VERY different things in city vs rural America. The travel could be 5 minutes or over an hour. When someone asks "how far away are you," usually they care more about travel time than physical distance. That said, when people are asking where a location is (like a city or town) and the response is "Town A is 2 hours south of City B," I understand how that can sounds annoying to non-Americans. However, with so much rural land and such a huge country that is not set up for public transportation, it's practical to respond in this way. Side note: It blew my mind when I found out that the UK uses miles for distance! Since then, I've found the UK uses non-metric measurements for a number of things. (Stones, anyone?)

[@lollertoaster]

It's quite normal to talk about distances in car hours pretty much everywhere where there are cars.

[@jongustavsson5874]

@@lollertoaster I've only met a few people that ever did that, and they all annoyed me to no end.

[@vaudevillian7]

That applies in Europe too, with the traffic in the UK 5 miles could take an hour or 5 minutes

[@jaspermooren5883]

It is a very car centric view. To state how long something takes in time presumes the mode of transport, and how you are using it. For example by bike time is a very inaccurate measurement, because it really depends on how fast someone is driving on their bike, and of course a bike and a car can differ quite a bit in time. In a city in rush hour a bike will be much faster, but intercity the car is obviously faster. So it all really depends, but distance is always the same. And yeah, to no ones suprise I'm Dutch. Possibly the only country in the world where going intercity by bike is a reasonable thing to do.

[@bluekestral8316]

The wild thing for me was when my town became big enough that I didn't have to say it was two hours south of Tampa I just say the town now.

[@AndrewJLeslie]

Tap water is free by law in pubs, bars and restaurants in the U K. Always specify tap, not bottled.

[@Dennise_Who]

While it isn't a law in America the need to be specific is becoming more common.

[@BionicMilkaholic]

In the US, water in restaurants is free, at least every one I've gone to, and they don't serve bottled water.

[@AndrewJLeslie]

@@BionicMilkaholic I'm sure you're right about your experience, however I have been given Perrier in various States when asking for water. Perhaps it's my exotic accent.

[@ffc1a28c7]

Honestly, I get really on edge when someone asks my name. I feel like it's the first step in them trying to scam me.

[@ians_mind]

The correct date format is ISO8601: YYYY-MM-DD. It follows the same descending pattern as time and allows for proper sorting by date with a simple sort

[@nefertitimontoya]

Hard agree

[@themaskedhobo]

Unix time is best time. The number of seconds since January first 1970

[@Anonymous-df8it]

If the year only changing once every ~365 days is an argument to place the year last, then the month only changing once every ~30 days is an argument to place the month last

[@Anonymous-df8it]

@@themaskedhobo But you can't determine the time of day without arithmetic that requires paper and a pencil. Something like the Julian day has all the advantages, but none of the drawbacks of UNIX time

[@TheCowboyOfEpic]

Which, in my opinion, is very different to MM-DD-YYYY. I completely disagree with the point in this video because he's not defending MM-DD-YYYY, he's defending ISO8601 which is completely different, as well as logical (as it's ordered biggest to smallest - great for sorting in file systems). DD-MM-YYYY is also logical in a smallest to biggest sense, and makes sense for daily life as the day changes the most so you can just look at the first number (example - expiration dates) and know whether or not you can use something. I'd be interested to hear his defence for MM-DD-YYYY as it was defended at all in this video.

[@Uncle_Jacob]

For the talking loud one. People from Arabic countries also talk loud and sound passionate about what they are talking about and they respect it if you do too when you're talking to them.

[@aimeeontheharp]

Yes, my dad nicknamed me Eileen… I leaned MORE than other people. :P 4 hours isn’t "close by" but it’s "not bad". As a Marylander, we skip another step and say "Baltimore or “Washington DC" because people aren’t familiar with the little state of Maryland and we have to explain we are from the Baltimore/ DC area anyway. In this area, smiling at strangers is concerning and suspicious- are you robbing me, running for office, selling me something, or just a creep? As far the date system, I use YYMMDD for my files. Years are passing by more quickly all the time. For photos, I group them in a year folder first, but same idea. On a trip to Germany, we stood out as Americans because wanted water- especially not bubbly water! Blew their minds! I don’t curse AT ALL…

[@SwearMY]

I curse like a lifelong sailor. Might have been the Army, who knows. I took to swearing like a duck to water.

[@tlockerk]

I read the Brits in WWII initially doubted the fight in US soldiers, they LEANED, and stood with their hand in their POCKETS for heaven's sake. Later one described it as 'a tensile rubber ready to spring'.

[@aeray3581]

😂 RODL

[@aeray3581]

A tensile rubber "over here, over sexed, and overpaid"

[@thadtuiol1717]

You weren't quite so ready to spring after 5 years of futile fighting Vietnam, you couldn't wait to get out of there!

[@tumultoustortellini]

​@@thadtuiol1717 Something something the brits also told us to stop being sexist during ww2, something something the soldiers loved vietnam, but their wives didn't.

[@AlbertPaysonTerhune]

They first encountered American soldiers (in the field, not at Blackpool) in late 1942. At that time the Brits had lost about every land engagement they'd had. Norway, France, Greece, Crete, Tobruk, Singapore. (Victories in North Africa coming up, of course.) Bit of a complex there. So they were ready to see deficiencies in Americans. How Green Was My Ally, etc.

[@lg4377]

so much of this was spot on. i lived in AZ for 20 years and still bring a drink with me everywhere i go... even if i'm going to buy a drink. you never know what may happen!

[@PrincessPixieBell]

Having a water bottle is a valid caution! Dehydration can come on fast!

[@eh1702]

Where I’m from, calling someone by name is only done to attract their attention. If you are already speaking to them, using their name is like pointing at their face or poking them with your finger. It’s something you would only do for very strong emphasis. Very foreard, borderline aggressive.

[@nineteenfortyeight]

Where are you from? If you don't mind

[@peanut3438]

I’m American, and calling someone by name is either very polite if you say it casually, trying to get someone’s attention or directing a comment towards one person in a group, or awkward

[@emb21982]

As a 5ft tall British woman - men starting conversations with you for no reason when you are alone. This happened a lot when I visited the US and it made me feel unsafe. In UK/Europe men don't normally walk up and make conversation about nothing unless they have an ulterior motive. Some examples - a man tried to make small talk when we were waiting to cross the road and then walked along the street trying to continue the conversation. Another man started a conversation when I was sitting opposite him on a long distance train, and kept trying to talk to me even after I gave one word answers and got out my laptop to work. Another guy came up and started cracking jokes when I was alone on Brooklyn Bridge taking photos at night. On top of that all these men launched straight into asking questions like my name, occupation, where I am staying/going to, and if I am travelling alone. I think they were just trying to be friendly but they didn't seem to have any concept that talking to strangers and asking their personal information could be viewed as a safety concern.

[@enjoystraveling]

I hope you didn’t give any of these strangers, personal information. I find it very odd that they asked you questions like that, and I live in the United States.

[@clockside]

As someone of the same height, I assure you we find those kinds of men unnerving here as well. Their refusal to acknowledge the risk we face with those situations is legitimately part of why the whole fiasco over choosing the bear is even a thing.

[@bultvidxxxix9973]

@@clockside As a European bear, I would never ask random strangers these kind of questions.

[@clockside]

@@bultvidxxxix9973 Not fully sure if you're stating your orientation via that label, but sadly the unique American flavoring of jerkness makes even gay men here part of the "potential danger" category. I'm queer (in gender and orientation; afab but nonbinary trans) and have ended up in nonconsensual situations with men of straight, gay, and multi-spec orientations. Even with just gay men in their attitudes towards cis women there's a lot of misogyny that runs wild and free. It's a very pervasive problem here. I've had way more luck with international friends than American ones. :c

[@Blackoutdmc]

You ever consider those guy's "ulterior motives" was just they thought you looked pretty and maybe wanted to get to know you a little bit better? If you're not interested, the easiest way to get that point across is to literally say, "hey, i'm not interested." It's a lot more immediate and effective then trying to drop hints that you're disinterested. Not that there aren't creeps out there, because there totally are, but most of them are pretty decent folk. But getting scared anytime a man talks to you sounds exhausting.

[@nortenorancio4884]

6:37 I genuinely struggle to tell Canadians and Americans apart from the accent alone actually

[@scragar]

RE: monolingual That describes most of the English as a first language world, because English is the most popular second language(by a huge margin) it's weirdly a language you'll find people know no matter where you go, and weirdly you'll find it's often the language in common people from different continents have meaning it's a weird bridge everyone uses. As a result it's one of those things where because everyone speaks English there's less incentive to engage in other people's languages. You'll see this weirdly in places like France, if you look like a tourist most people will default to English because even if you're not a British/American tourist you'll probably know English.

[@KiraFriede]

Even as a non-native English speaker, it's much easier for me to keep my English updated than the other languages I learned in school.

[@cleansweepman]

I saw a video showing Macron having a phone conversation with Zelensky in English. It really encapsulated the bridge nature of English to me.

[@barnettmcgowan8978]

I travel internationally and have lived overseas. I can't tell you how many times I've seen two people of different nationalities speaking to each other in English. It's the most useful language in the world.

[@teriannebeauchamp254]

I often think that most Europeans and people from other continents, (other than Australia and New Zealand) simply don't realize how far most Americans would have to travel to find an area where English isn't the language. Unless you live close to the Mexixan border, which is only four states, you have to travel hundreds if not Thousands of miles. Compare that with most places in the world.

[@cleansweepman]

@@teriannebeauchamp254 That is quite true. I can technically say that I am not that far from french speakers (I am in Maine, which borders Quebec), but I have not visited Canada since 1993, and only an English majority area. Heck, if i were to learn french, it would be different from the version spoken nearer to me.

[@_productofboredom_]

Traveling to Germany, everyone wanted to talk to me on public transit and such. Like, WAY more than I've ever experienced in the US.

[@smorrow]

18:15 Americans not knowing geography or being able to identify languages is the stereotype, but like, are Europeans not the same for the non-Western world?

[@dABoX33]

i have found that in the US you HAVE to smile (even if it’s an awkward or a little one ) at strangers or they tend to think your a murderer psychopath who is going to stab them on the spot.

[@indigobunting5041]

The stores in the US expect their employees to smile and act friendly. They sometimes even advertise how friendly they are over the intercom in the store.

[@frolickinglions]

@@indigobunting5041 That would be exhausting for the employees and as a customer it would drive me batty!

[@ezzie_is]

I would happily be thought of as a murderer if it meant random American’s didn’t start conversations with me out of nowhere. I’ve been held hostage by a chatty American far too many times.

[@barnettmcgowan8978]

Trust me you don't want a random American thinking that you're a murderer or otherwise dangerous. That can have bad outcomes. @@ezzie_is

[@haroldcampbell3337]

@@frolickinglionsProbably because you're not friendly.

[@olivinemage4233]

The variegated monstera in the background looks very cool. Much appreciation for the many videos featuring cool rare plants from Evans collection. One day I hope we get a plant collection tour video.

[@evan]

Thanks! :)

[@aoibhk7786]

Second the plant tour video !!

[@jacquespoulemer3577]

Hi Evan, As a fellow NJ ex-pat, retired to Mexico 37 years ago, enjoyed your analysis of "Innocents Abroad" 2024. Stumbling through other countries wondering where my next meal will come from. Back in 1979 I went to Dublin and London (with my best friend who already knew England, but figuring out the maze of the Irish capital's streets, which changed names at every turn. Compounded with the uselessness of asking anyone directions, ah the memories) Of course we have our variably useful guide books. always with a map in my satchel. Thanks for the funny insights into navigating the queue. Viel Erfolg beim Deutschstudium. I will keep my eye out for you Jim Oaxaca

[@coasttocoast2011]

I’m Australian, a good story I heard was my old English teacher was walking down the street in London toward a young bloke. She thought he looked familiar but dismissed it until she got close and he said what are you doing in London Mrs C. It was also someone from the tiny town where we all live in QLD. And thanks to all your videos about duolingo I have finally decided to start learning French, 8 day streak so far

[@annepoitrineau5650]

I was in Paris, on the stairs of the Pompidou museum. I head somebody speak Swiss German...one of my students in Zurich. We nearly fell, we were both laughing so hard!!

[@annafirnen4815]

My friend was on vacation with family on Canary Islands (we are from Poland) and in the harbour someone started waving to her from a ship and turned out it was our PE teacher 😂

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Quite some years back (over 40), my sister (we're Welsh) and her German husband were touring Australia. On a bus outside of Cairns, they were quietly speaking in a mix of German and English - just because - when an old guy turned around and apologized for interrupting but wanted to know if she was Welsh. By then she didn't have much of a Welsh accent anymore, so she was a bit surprised, but said yes. He said he was too, but he'd been in Australia since before the war (WWII). She asked where he was from, he said the name of a little place just outside Carmarthen. It surprised her because our dad spent a fair bit of his youth there and told him so. He asked Dad's name, she gave it, including the surname which is an uncommon one, and the old feller looked surprised and said, "What? Fred's boy!?" 😂 He knew my grandfather in particular because he used to charge these big old acid batteries that houses not on the grid (this was the 1920-30s) used for electricity. Bampa was very much "Gadget Man" and was the only person who had the equipment to do it. That may have had something to do with his job as a signalman on the Great Western Railway, but I don't know. Anyway, literally in the middle of nowhere (it was still a few hours to Cairns IIRC), she met someone who knew my grandpa so well he remembered him 40 years on! It's definitely a small world! Good luck with your studies. I'm studying Dutch with DL. I first signed up in 2014, completed the French and Dutch courses - they were much, _much_ smaller then! - and left it for a few years before returning. I did much of the French course, but they completely changed the system when I was about ¾+ through the course, and it totally screwed up my note-taking system, so I gave up and swapped languages. If you're on the paid version (I don't recommend it, btw), you can't get more coins, gems, whatever every hour, only as a prize for completing something. Even then you might just get another 15 minutes of double points. The losing a life thing can be undone by clicking on the red gem and doing a "practice" exercise - the selection at the lowest part of the "bubble". You don't have to get every exercise right, just complete a set of exercises (a typical number that you get in the main "steps"; 16-17? I don't pay too much attention) and you'll get a life back each time, up to 5. When you start a study session, click on the chest to double your points and go to that practice section, and you'll get 30 easy points for each one you complete. It's a good way to warm your brain up too! If you're not overly competitive, don't worry about the level you're on. You'll probably get through the course quicker because you'll be concentrating on moving on, rather than getting extra points. I _hate_ being so competitive! 😂😂 Enjoy it as best you can. The forums no longer exist on the app, but a bunch of past mods got together and moved everything off-site. You should be able to Google "Duolingo Forums" or something similar. You'll know automatically when you see it. Sign up using your DL info, pick your language and join in. You should get any questions answered, which is great because you'll get bugger all from DL!

[@coasttocoast2011]

@@y_fam_goeglyd I’m lucky because I was talking to my mum about it and she was so interested/inspired she decided to sign up too, also French. I have been pretty competitive with the league thing but I think it’s probably a good thing because it means I’m practicing more

[@crystaledwards8854]

Ha! We’re English, and my friend was on holiday in Australia, and bumped into someone from our school when she was on a beach there!

[@cfctvaus]

find it super odd when strangers randomly ask my name. like unless youre trying to make friends with me or it's in a business setting, why do they need to know my name?

[@davie1560]

It's a mutual interaction of trust and personification. It bridges the gap of workers and fellow passengers or whatever being a faceless entity only there to do a job or take up space. Trust, in that I trust you with my name (which isn't that private here anyways) and you trust me with yours. That distrust of asking "why do you *need* to know?" tells me that the social trust isn't there for you for that kind of interaction. Plus, it's also nice to remember people as actual people and seeing them again, like a restaurant you frequent or commute you take.

[@fishrechaun6425]

As an American, I've always found people asking/wanting to know a stranger's name awkward and strange. Like an attempt to artificially close the unfamiliarity gap with a semi-meaningless bit of personal information.

[@davie1560]

I can see calling anything about you that you have to tell someone in order for it to be known as "personal information" but I don't think a name is horribly private. You don't ask someone their name so you can think "Great, now I can call this stranger Miguel and get this interaction over with". The name is the first step to getting to know someone. Even if you don't like Miguel, at least you know him and think of him as a human being with a life and history instead of a faceless being taking up space on a bus or plane. There isn't anything artificial about it, unless you're personally being artificial and don't actually care to know someone's name.

[@qfrax]

@@davie1560 You're the one dehumanizing strangers, I don't need someone to tell me their name to know that they're a person with experiences, desires, relationships, and values.

[@davie1560]

@@qfrax I never said I did, but have you worked retail? Oh yeah, people do. Sharing names is a sign that you aren't like that and attempting to connect as people. A lot of commenters ask why someone would "need to know" your name. They don't, but it's friendly and sociable. It takes trust in your neighbors and others to be able to share a name without thinking that person is going to follow you home, stalk your socials, and and murder you. I think the more dense the population, the more closed off everyone wants to be.

[@michaelmartin5177]

When salespeople do this I find it uncomfortable and gross. Annoying and manipulative.

[@VVybie]

Wow, you must not have many friends then.

[@lisapolanski9379]

I visited Florida recently and Floridians are very chatty. I loved it! Two different times in two different Florida cities women actually hollered across the street to say "I love your dress!" (A knee-length sundress.) It wasn't weird, it was genuinely friendly. People were chatty waiting in line. I think Floridians are very happy-go-lucky, it must be all the sunshine.

[@namesarehardlol]

I'll bet 100 fake dollars that this didn't happen in Palm Beach, Broward, or Dade counties. I think the sheer volume of New York transplants make the culture in that part of the state noticeably less friendly 😂

[@lisapolanski9379]

​@namesarehardlol true, it happened in Tampa and St Augustine

[@eirinym]

Florida is just full of weird people.

[@savannah4439]

When I studied abroad in London, I usually answered “I’m from the US” when asked where I’m from, and I’d almost always either get an eye-roll or like a “yeah, but where in the States?”…you can’t win 😂😂

[@NotesNNotes]

Right? I didn’t choose to be born here 😅

[@SomebodyHere-cm8dj]

"I'm from XYZ in the states." will something like that work?

[@tomrogue13]

I could really confuse people by pointing to my hand since I'm from Michigan and not giving a verbal answer

[@DeborahMaufer]

Exactly!

[@oliviawolcott8351]

@@tomrogue13 lol where in the mitten are you from... Lol

[@DFisher5555]

Hey man I was putting this on for a couple of mins before I had to do something and watched the whole thing instead. Great delivery man!

[@Hulachowdown]

As an italian canadian ( I legitimately have both passports not just claiming heritage thing lol) , I have to laugh at the loud thing. I have never heard a louder thing then when we had a family dinner and all 20+ of us get talking 😂

[@alisoncampbell5041]

As an American living in Italy I have to say that Italian loudness is somehow different from American loudness. You can usually hear the Americans on the bus and metro. A loud family dinner is great. Two people talking so that the whole bus can hear, not so much.

[@barbarar5869]

I feel your pain. Grew up in the US and Italy. I am very loud, which is a problem because I don't live in the US anymore and can't just blend in 🤣

[@lindawilson4625]

The "leaning" made me LOL! Didn't know it is an American trait. Fun video. BTW-The water bottle thing is a fairly recent thing. Thanks

[@bonniepinney2884]

Best argument I've ever heard for month day year written dates. I'm using that! Thanks!

[@trishamarie671]

I'm an American living in the UK and when asked where I'm from I also say the town where I live in the UK. Then once pressed I say "America". Inevitably I get asked where in America and when I say South Carolina I just prepare myself for a slightly confused look that tells me they have no idea where the hell that is...could be near Texas could be just under Oregon! 😂 I then explain it's near Florida because most people here seem to have a general idea where Texas, California, NY and Florida are. Also wondering why I get asked if I'm Irish or Australian so often...

[@haroldcampbell3337]

But Europeans know all about geography.

[@NormyTres]

I'm a Brit. I've tried to learn all the US states on several occasions, and all I can remember is Florida and California

[@moosefromsky3986]

​@@NormyTresI mean to be fair, those two states are so much louder than the rest. Should you ever visit, you may love the lesser known states.

[@NormyTres]

​@@moosefromsky3986 Oh I would deffo visit other states! I know people from the US and would go and visit - I would just have to consult a map first! 🤣

[@moosefromsky3986]

@NormyTres Fair enough lol. New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont are supposed to be beautiful during fall, and the Midwest has some lesser traveled gems, like Shawnee National Forest.

[@CommonInternetLurker]

I find it very invasive when someone asks what I do for a living. As someone with an invisible disability, I either have to lie, or awkwardly tell them I can't work and have them silently judge me as I seem perfectly able (on the surface) to work so I must be a benefits scrounger.

[@dragonwings36]

Ooof yeah. I made a separate comment here about being disabled. I have a mix of more visible and less visible disabilities. And like you said, sometimes when you mention you're disabled and unable to work, people really do get really rude. Nothing like being told that you're a "useless leech" or a "burden on society and better off dead". Granted I see that more online but ow. So really, you can have both visible and less visible disabilities or visible disabilities and still be screwed by jerks.

[@argusfleibeit1165]

This is very true. I found it really hard to socialize, always trying to steer the conversation away when meeting new people. If I was sure I'd never be back again, I'd actually make up lies. Luckily, now I live in a very friendly neighborhood, and once I'd explained my situation to a couple of people, I think word got around, and they're friendly and mostly the topic never comes up.

[@Vulpix298]

Yep, Uber drivers ask me this all the time (disabled + can't drive so I Uber a lot). I usually lie and make up a career, but I've started trying to just be upfront about my health issues to make it feel less taboo to talk about. It shouldn't feel shameful to talk about being disabled. I need to work on my feelings about that, and normalising it by talking about it is slowly helping.

[@CRMcGee2]

Try not to take it as being invasive; they are probably trying to find a topic to talk about with you. Here is a little trick if you are uncomfortable, mirror the question back and get them talking about them self. If the person is judgmental, you don't want them in your life anyways.

[@dragonwings36]

@@CRMcGee2 how about you take a step back and realize that it doesn't matter that they didn't mean to be invasive? Impact over intent. Plus, it's tiresome to have to say no, I'm unable to work and I'm disabled. Because a lot of people actually do think terribly about disabled people, especially those of us who can't work. And it's not only people who we only see once.

[@radbytrade]

As a former southern-New Jerseyan myself, the reason you DON'T feel like anything under 4 hours away is "close by" is because in New Jersey, everything you need is EXTREMELY local compared to locations in the rest of the country.

[@estebanmorales6487]

I think the water/ice thing has more to do with your home country's weather than being American. In most parts of Latin America ─the hotter parts─ putting ice into soda is quite standard, and in a few of these countries offering a glass of cold water to someone visiting (your home or your office) is quite expected. Now, walking around with a water bottle is a little bit more rare and recent, and most people will assume the person with the bottle is some kind of fitness freak - happened to me, a few times actually.

[@DovidM]

A doctor in Rome saw me with a bottle of water, and asked if I was a diabetic.

[@donaldroehrig7817]

I carry a water bottle because when I'm thirsty, I want to drink, not look for something to drink. It's really not that complicated.

[@RadioactiveAnt7]

In the UK any place that sells food or water has to give you free water on request. I literally went to a cinima and asked for 3 cups of water even tho I was wasnt watching anything.

[@drzander3378]

@RadioactiveAnt7, That's not exactly right. Only if the establishment engages in 'licensable activities' in England, Wales or Scotland, but not Northern Ireland. Also while the water must be provided 'free', you can still be charged for any container they provide you with such as a glass or bottle, and you can also be charged for the service.

[@breakfreak3181]

Not true. Only premises that are subject to a premises licence that allows for the sale of alcohol *for consumption on the premises* must provide free potable water for customers.

[@breakfreak3181]

​@@drzander3378 Not licensable activities, just the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises.

[@drzander3378]

@@breakfreak3181 No, I'm right. It isn't confined to licensed premises that serve alcohol. For example, a cinema that shows films for entertainment (not just education, information or advertising) is licensable and must provide potable water on request regardless of whether or not it serves alcohol.

[@matthewkendrick8280]

I didn’t know you were American until you said it. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what your accent was but now I can hear that you’ve adopted parts of some British accent (that I can’t distinguish from any other British accent) but not the whole thing. Frankly I think that’s very cool.

[@maureenlea572]

Thank you for correcting the bizarre myth about Canadian pronunciation of "about". You got it absolutely right. I'm a Canadian outside of North America and depending on where the American or Canadian is from, sometimes they can sound interchangeable. There are a few cue words where the syllable stress differs but that's about it. As for Montreal, I used to play a game identifying anglos or francos (English or French speakers) just by the way they were dressed and I was right more than 90% of the time. Montreal has a strong, diverse fashion culture and I'm not sure I can identify exactly the things that tipped me off but there was just something about what people wore and how and how they carried themselves that announced very loudly what language they spoke.

[@austinwiththehat]

Drip is one I really can’t get on board with. Whenever I hear someone say they have drip, it sounds like they have a bladder problem

[@DeborahMaufer]

I'm so old I have no idea what that (drip) means

[@austinwiththehat]

@@DeborahMaufer I only know of it because of other KZbinrs

[@xenon8117]

I detest it, makes no sense whatsoever.

[@annai157]

Also, back-in-the-day it was slang for an unmentionable communicable disease.

[@wildraspberrie]

Or a post-nasal thing.

[@ShizuruNakatsu]

I'm from Ireland, and Seán Connolly was my best friend growing up 😂 I had to do a double-take when you said that name. I haven't seen him in like 15 years, but I was talking to him in a dream I had yesterday.

[@emmynoether9540]

I carry a reusable water bottle everywhere and refill it in kitchens or if they are clean in bathrooms. Also, you can often ask in small self service shops like icescream shops if they would refill your water bottle and they usually do.

[@Ryan-mm1oj]

I'm quarter German technically (otherwise just british) but I don't go round giving my opinions about the goings on in the country cos I've never lived there, only visited. I wish I'd gotten a chance to get to know my Oma better and her culture but she died before I picked up an interest in my heritage. I find the ways Americans talk about their heritage weird and the ways the obsess over St Patrick's day and such kinda strange lol

[@peterpain6625]

Love it when Americans insist being "Irish" despite being at least 4th generation american. Drives an Irish friend up the wall every single time ;)

[@annepoitrineau5650]

I did the last high school year in the US. We had a whole module about our ancestry. When I was going to school in France, that was never a topic, until we did the Romans and the teacher mentoned some names in the class, that were Italians, and we went into the meaning of our names. Mine is hilarious, but she deconstructed it, and it became sthg interesting. And then she mentioned the fact that in Spain and Portugal, they also add the mother's name, and that in Iceland etc...and that was my first exposure to feminism, and I never looked back 😀

[@robertjones3568]

Gotten, aargh is not an English word.

[@lucie4185]

​@@robertjones3568 "gotten" is a word in English. It's fallen out of use in British English that's just linguistic snobbery, we still say "forgotten".

[@Ryan-mm1oj]

@@robertjones3568 Ah I just looked this up and apparently gotten is used in American English not British English but as I’m gen z (20) I’ve very much grown up with the internet and so I guess I’ve adopted some American English 🤷

[@nadroj-88]

6:20 nah I’m usually just trying to determine whether they’re Canadian or from the USA but I’m so glad you explained the difference in accents because EVERYONE ELSE always says they say aboot and I’ve been to Canada and met Canadians and never heard that in my life

[@jiggyprawn]

but the expressing distance in time wasn't the biggest gripe of that poster - it was the fact that it was in relation to driving, not walking or biking, and maybe they weren't driving, so it was inaccurate, or the poster just can't relate as many inner city people don't drive. I dunno.

[@sinkingkitchen]

this! when people say online that something is x time away from them, it'd really depend on what mode of transport how far it actually is..

[@ffwast]

That's called a "skill issue"

[@LC-wv7tz]

Sounds like they are just mad that there are people in the world who think and live differently than they do. Get over it, there are many types of people in the world. If you didn't get the answer you wanted, then ask for additional clarification.

[@nonstandard5492]

@@LC-wv7tz oh my goodness, a youtube commenter with a brain. what a rare encounter, thank you

[@danh4698]

I'm so with you on water bottles - I'm English but I take water with me everywhere - even friend's houses. But then I think friends do the same? Water fountains would be the dream - buy you can go into coffee shops and just ask them to refill your bottle. I've never been turned down!

[@moosefromsky3986]

Thing is, some people have to have water with them at all times due to health conditions where it becomes essential. I always have a water bottle or two on me for my grandma on days we are out for long hours.

[@madeline5138]

10:20 I was born and raised in Arizona so when I moved out to Nebraska I was actually feeling the common symptoms of dehydration because its the same as over hydration. My body was not prepared for not intense hear. Even here people don't just have water bottles with them all of the time and mine was iconic because it was the only reusable one and I think I actually remember taking it with me more than my keys. It's such a habit for me not to leave the house without water that I don't even think about it, even though the environment has changed. I keep a few water bottles in my car still in case it breaks down or if someone else is dehydrated since I have a really good eye for when someone starts slowing down or looking like they have a hangover. You never know when it will happen in my experience, and it was especially common when I worked outdoors back in AZ. Your first instinct is to want to give them water, but you have to be well enough yourself to go out and get more water. You only learn that lesson once. Just sit them down in the shade, give them a little bit, leave for twenty minutes to get some and not rush, and come back. Edit: lmfao I watched a few seconds later and saw that an Arizonan mentioned Arizona.

[@mytube001]

Where I'm from, we don't use first names when addressing each other in regular speech. We would really only use them when talking about someone not present, or when calling for someone, like "Hey, Tom!". So knowing the name of someone serving you at a restaurant is irrelevant.

[@jaythebarbarian195]

Where are you from? If you don't mind me asking. Also out of curiousity, is using first names just considered overly familiar?

[@NicoAshKurz]

​@@jaythebarbarian195 I don't know where the first person is from, but it's the same for me (in Poland). You'd only call someone by their name if you want to catch their attention. I'm not sure why it is that way, but using someone's name in a conversation just feels really weird. I guess it might feel a bit like your honing in on someone way too much, but like I said, I'm really not sure.

[@avagubbiotti4507]

What do you use instead, if you don't mind me asking?

[@dododge9428]

I think it may be more of a personal thing, even as an American I basically only address someone by name if I need to get their attention or there might be actual confusion about who I'm talking to, such as in a loud group setting or maybe during a video chat with several participants. But I might be an outlier.

[@carolineskipper6976]

@@avagubbiotti4507 If you are talking to someone, you just call them 'you' - "What would you like to drink?" There's no need to add 'Jane' to the sentence.

[@rikmoran3963]

You can usually tell a KZbinr from the US, as they are the ones drinking water from an over-sized container the same size as a window cleaner's bucket!

[@ffwast]

My goodness your window cleaners must be outright deprived!

[@obsidianflight8065]

Hey hey these cups are necessary! For, hydration purposes...

[@ripleyhrgiger4669]

When I was young lad I worked at "Boston Market" and it was the most eye opening experience for me in regards to the sanitary conditions of fast food restaurants. And one of the most grotesque things I saw was the ice box and ice machine. Brown yellow mold fungus, dirt and grim on the rim and doors, and the scoop was never cleaned and put back in the ice box on top of all the other ice. The ice machine wasn't much better and the only thing really different is that no one manually took ice out of it. Ever since then I ask for no ice because the soda or whatever you're ordering already comes out cold and doesn't need ice.

[@tommarsdon5644]

The problem I have with people saying how far away something is in time is that it's often inaccurate. People walk at different speeds.

[@kirchfam]

We say it in time because we all drive cars.

[@oblivi8games808]

when people say how far away something is in America, they are never talking about walking or biking speed. It is almost unilaterally the driving speed, assuming you're going at the speed limit and traffic is average.

[@Anonymous-df8it]

"It's ten minutes away" You: Spend two hours walking because you thought that it was only a ten-minute walk away

[@annaflanagan3721]

In Glasgow we have some water refill stations dotted about (central station for example has one) Also any place that has an alcohol license is legally required to offer free tap water even if you aren’t a customer, I believe this law applies to the whole of the U.K.

[@l3xigee]

OH MY GOD! Finally!! As a Canadian, thank you for actually saying "about" how we say it correctly! I feel like I'm losing it when I see everyone going around insisting it's "aboot" haha. I have never heard that naturally in my life. It sounds closer to "a boat" almost. I actually thought a coworker was talking about boats randomly once because her northern Ontario accent was so thick 😅

[@mytube001]

Regarding clothes - one thing that gives away many (not all) US males is poorly fitting, often a bit too large, clothes. It's particularly obvious with suits, but also t-shirts, shorts and jackets. There's also certain combinations of clothes that are much, much more common.

[@MartijnPennings]

Also, baseball caps, sweaters with university names and old people with very brightly colored sneakers. Does anyone outside of America seriously wear baseball caps?

[@reinhard8053]

@@MartijnPenningsI do wear baseball caps if I need them (but not from baseball teams). That means outside and sunny. If one of that is not valid anymore, the cap goes down. KZbinrs inside doing videos with caps on look quite odd to me (that's the polite version). Sweat pants are OK for home, but I would never wear them going shopping or something. Only exception is a camping site or if I'm really into sports.

[@Coccinelf]

@@reinhard8053 Not American but my partner wears his cap automatically when he goes out, even at 10 pm when putting the bins out.

[@charlotteguare7849]

Wearing 'Khaki pants' and polo's is distinctly American.

[@rhuxley5130]

I'm an American who feels that the "what u do 4 a living?" Question to be a little unhelpful. In the south it's seen as nosey. And sometimes u just don't bring it up cuz ur in an area with high unemployment.

[@enjoystraveling]

I’m American I also feel that the, what do you do for a living is nosy or it can be a put down if the person you asked doesn’t seem to have as good of job as the one who’s asking. If you want to get to know, someone a little better, you can ask other questions such as, what are your hobbies?

[@jes2276]

Always felt that question is just a way to place you on the social ladder. They want to know if they are better than you. It's just my personal experience, but maybe I'm just paranoid.

[@enjoystraveling]

@@jes2276 I think you’re right about that at least in some cases

[@signalfirefly]

I'm on disability and a lot of us dread that question. Like, thanks, now you're forcing me to lie, suspiciously evade the question or disclose sensitive personal information to someone I just met. Thanks a lot.

[@Marialla.]

I'm sure people are only fishing for a topic of conversation, and hoping to find an activity they can relate to. Something vague is always acceptable, like "I work in customer service", or "I work in an office all day". For me (disabled, but don't look it) I try to swing it around to something I'm doing a lot lately or care about, like "I'd rather not talk about work, but I do love gardening. I'm learning all I can lately about native grasses." I try to find a subject I could enjoy talking about while giving them a chance to weigh in on their experience, or change the subject to whatever they find fascinating.

[@vociferonheraldofthewinter2284]

3:23 Regarding the 'asking the server's name thing: It's used to inform our waitress that we don't see her as a servant. We're saying, "I respect you as fellow American and don't think I'm above you at all." It really is subconscious. In our country it's driven into our heads that every individual is equal to any other. We hate class and don't believe that the class you're born into is a barrier. Back when I was a kid it was a common thing to say, "Anybody can work their way up and even become the president." I haven't heard that one in a very long time.

[@danielintheantipodes6741]

You are onto something with the ice situation. I used to experience great reluctance from a certain fast foot restaurant (I no longer do fast food very often) when I would insist on 'no ice please'! Thank you for the video!

[@tealkerberus748]

Ice at a fast food place will fill about half the volume of the cup. If your drink is something other than water, that the company has to pay for, then taking it without ice means they have to put twice as much actual drink in your cup than if they could add ice.