Top 10 Common Things in the U.S. that Other Countries Find Odd

The Top Ten
1 American Flags Being Everywhere

America is an extremely patriotic country, and they will make sure you know it. The red, white, and blue flag isn't solely reserved for the Fourth of July, you walk down any street in America and you see the nation's flag perched on a few houses. No other country seems to be that way

As an American, I find extremely patriotic Americans overvaluing American Life, America, and the values itself really weird (if that makes sense).

Well AMERICAN flags aren't bound to be anywhere else lol. Anyways I get your point. Here in Sweden it's the literal opposite, but in my other motherland Lithuania, it's the same situation as in the US (everyone loves their country there)

2 People Being Obsessed with Guns

Yeah Americans love their guns. They like hunting and owning one just gives them a sense of power and pride I guess.

3 Not Using the Metric System

So many mistakes have been made in collaborative works because of this difference. So many dumb conversions have to be memorised because the ratios between units are completely illogical. It's prosaic and it's time we all moved on.

4 Trick or Treating as a Part of Your Childhood

I never understood the level of commitment to Halloween that America has. To me, it's just one night of the year where kids dress up and collect chocolates. To them, it's when grown men and women spend hundreds of dollars on a costume that they only wear once, and have parties where they invite an entire town to congregate.

America is a country that loves to commercialise everything, including the spooky holiday where kids dress up as their favourite character and run around their neighborhood collecting candy. In the US it's seen as odd not to participate in this tradition while other countries find it a bit bizarre

5 Writing Dates Differently

The best way to classify or list something is from the general to the specific. So, the best way to write dates is Year/Month/Day. This is used in some places, and should be universal. It gives an immediate understanding in historical dates and birth dates. The American way, Month/Day/Year, is half bad. The British way, Day/Month/Year, is all bad.

Yes even something as simple as writing the date America has to be different than the rest of the world. While most of the world typically write it as "DD/MM/YY", America writes it as "MM/DD/YY". So for example the 4th of July in other countries is
4-7-2020 while here in the US it's
7-4-2020 The reason the country does this is unclear, but they probably just have a thing with always wanting to be unique from the rest of the world.

6 Using Fahrenheit
7 Dollars and Coins All Looking Similar

All of America's Bills look alike which can be confusing for foreigners. A lot of other countries have more colorful bills spanning all colors of the rainbow but America instead has grey-ish black with a green tint

We swedes take pride in differently colours depending on the type of bill..., or at least I do

They look too plain tbh why couldn't they be like red or blue or yellow?

8 Expensive Healthcare
9 Thumbs Up as a Common Gesture

The thumbs up gesture is used by Americans to show affirmation, to say 'yes', or to congratulate someone on a job well done. Even though it is used constantly in the U.S., it is definitely not universal. On the contrary, it is actually equivalent to using the middle finger in countries including Australia, Greece, and the Middle East.

Interesting how it's seen as a negative gesture in other countries

10 Pumpkin Flavor Craze

As soon as autumn hits in America, everyone goes absolutely insane for anything pumpkin flavored. Pumpkin spiced lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice-cream, and pretty much anything else you can think of is made pumpkin themed in the fall. Those from the U.S. have come to expect pumpkin-flavoured everything once summer ends, while the rest of the world simply sees them as another member of the squash family.

This has caught on in the UK as well, and it causes a lot of people to flock to coffee shops in October and November. Then there are Christmas-themed coffees and hot chocolates the next month. The crowds can be huge.

The Contenders
11 Going Through the Drive Thru is Normal

The concept of driving through a drive-thru to get a cup of coffee is a foreign concept to a lot of countries other than America. In most countries, you would at least take the time to park and walk into a shop to get what you needed. But it's not just coffee. You can get fast food, groceries liquor and even make a deposit or withdraw from the bank without leaving your car

12 Tailgating as a Huge Event

Trust me on this one I know a thing or two since Chiefs Kingdom has one of the best spots to tailgate in the entire NFL. Not only does America have a completely different form of 'football' than the rest of the world, since they call soccer football in other countries, but the US also have some pretty crazy traditions that come along with it. One of these traditions includes tailgating, which includes drinking on the back of pick-up trucks whilst enjoying a BBQ (another Kansas City staple) in the parking lot outside the stadium.

13 Customizing Your Order

If you visit anywhere in Europe and you ask to customise your meal, especially places like Italy, they will a lot of the times refuse any customisation request you make. This is because they take pride in their cuisine and the traditional recipes should not be tampered with. This is not the case in the US where you could add or take away something from your main meal no problem. America is more customer oriented than Europe in this regard

Imagine going to another country and they don't ask you how you want your steak.

14 Celebrating Thanksgiving

There's nothing pointless about giving thanks to God. It's a nice 'food holiday' too.

15 Strict Alcohol Laws

America's drinking age is 21, which is well above a lot of country's minimum age. With teenagers at 16 drinking in places like Europe, the legal age Canada being 19 (and 18 in certain provinces), and Australia 18—the States definitely have more strict laws when it comes to drinking. Also in some states they don't sell any liquor on Sundays as it conflicts with the Church. It's weird considering that in a lot of other circumstances the US has rather relaxed laws

Yeah, I'm one of those people that believe if you are considered responsible enough to vote and old enough to go to war to kill other human beings or be killed, you should be able to drink alcohol.

16 Using Microwaves for Making Tea
17 Hating Russia
18 Massive Restaurant Portions
19 Telling the Time Differently
20 Spending a Lot of Money
21 Eating Unhealthily

Yeah this is a stereotype about Americans we love our fast food despite it not being healthy. That's why you can go to any random town and there's at least going to be a McDonalds. No other country eats so much fast food it seems

It's kinda a stereotype that's true.

22 Gigantic Cars

Indeed especially those full size SUVs like the Cadillac Escalade or the GMC Yukon.

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