Topic: How Americans are? Tell an European.

@ReaderRagfihs The Americans I like, like you and others, act naturally, perhaps a bit more straightforward and naïve than people here. I guess it's because I am like that too. I see many differences among European countries, quite often I guess the country after reading a comment and clicking on the profile but that's probably because I know Europeans quite well because of family and work.

The problem with the garden was that it was a bit old and parched because they had bought the house recently. The neighbours complained and I thought it was rude. I don't know if it's a normal thing there, that's what I said "I don't know if it's true", what I mean is that "I don't know if it's common".

@GyroZeppeli That's quite enlightening.

@nintendobynature I will, it is on Netflix? I like watching those series that make you laugh about everyday's problems and that somehow mocks stereotypes. I know it's even older but The Simpsons are great too (but I prefer Modern Family). It helps me to not take life too seriously after some sad moments in my life.

@BlueOcean it's not on Netflix unfortunately. Ive seen every episode and used to watch it on some local channels. I'm born and bred in Chicago and it's based in Chicago so it always hit home for me. I just loved how every time al thought he was ahead, some thing would happen to him to set him back and his kids would always say, "thanks dad." We used to say that to my dad as a joke because of the show. A good episode was when they went to England. One of my favorites!

@nintendobynature Great! I will see where can I watch it on over here. Sounds good.

I just remembered in Cars 2 it's very funny how they portray Japan with the tiny round cars, the technological toilets, the signs and the music. 😄

@BlueOcean you can probably catch it on YouTube.

@nintendobynature OK. I'll see you tomorrow guys. I just remembered another joke, when Haley tells her mother that she will travel Europe hitch hiking just to bother her.

@BlueOcean: I try to look at an issue from multiple angles before making a decision about it. Unfortunately investigating said issue in an unbiased manner is a struggle sometimes. Sometimes I'm even more confused about a topic than I was before digging into it. Sometimes I admittedly wish I didn't have to worry about being informed with what's going on in the world. Yet at the same time, I also don't want to be a zombie (Yes, I'm loosely referencing a certain Cranberries song here.) XD

I feel like words such as "conservative", "liberal", "progressive", etc. are thrown around as insults a lot here in the US. I don't feel that they, like a lot of things, are bad terms; it just depends on how they're applied and used.

Also, keep in mind that the US and its oversea territories take up a lot of surface area. The weather, climate, ways of life/living, culture, ideals, and so on may be very different from place to place. I'm sure that someone from, say, Los Angeles has very different ideologies and values than I do. I'm mostly just describing my experiences in the area that I live in. I have considered moving out of state more than once and still might, but I'm fairly content with living where I am for the time being.

Also, beware of "reality" TV. A lot of that is exaggerated/scripted for ratings.

@nintendobynature: Hello, northern fellow native!

@Blitzenexx hey there! Hopefully youre staying warm!

@nintendobynature: Same to you! There's a reason why I invest in multiple layers for this time of year!

...And it's supposed to get below zero this coming weekend. Boooo!...Or should I say brrrrr? 🥶

@Blitzenexx When I said "individualistic" I specifically did not say "selfish" or "greedy" on purpose. Because that is not what I meant. I more meant as opposed to community based or society oriented or reliant. Rather than doing things for and relying on a united society, I believe that most Americans feel they can only rely or at least should only rely on, and work for, their own good, or the good of their small "in-group".

@Heavyarms55: Right, I pretty much follow you (Though the clarification was nice, as I indeed didn't initially grasp your meaning earlier when constructing that response). Perhaps "selfless" was too narrow of a term/outlook on my part. That particular angle of it, I'd say, is slightly more common than uncommon.

I'm not entirely sure if that's only an American behavior, but I also can't comment from the perspective of another country either.

@Blitzenexx Well, like I said, generalizations. Japan for example is generally a much more community based society concerned with maintaining its internal stability for the group (or depending on who you ask, stagnation, status quo or staleness). But extremely self reliant, individualistic people exist here as well.

The two things I hear about America that baffles me the most are:

1) The idea of tipping waiters/waitresses as a mandatory act

2) The state tax thing where the price of something on the shelf isn’t what you pay at the till.

I’ve heard these from multiple people but apologies if it’s not true.

Wow if this is what an open heart looks like god forbid I ever see a cadaver.

Sorry to derail, I just... did an animal crossing avatar say all that? lol

@LilDoggo48 I sincerely and unironically love you

Nah you're thinking of the UK mate. And they don't even wanna be Europeans anymore. Bit silly if you ask me, I thought there was a good thing going on there. Jolly co-operation and all that.

Us actual Europeans all speak a wild variety of silly languages (I can't even understand what most of the continent is saying, and I speak 4-ish languages) and we eat things like snails and frogs and horses. And we drive on the right side of the road.

@Bart_T

I know this is supposed to be about Americans telling us about them, but as someone who voted for the UK to leave the EU, it wasn't because I didn't "want to be European anymore". I'll always be European by virtue of being born on the continent of Europe, but when it comes to my national identity, I'm English.

Doesn't the fact that you cannot understand the wide variety of languages (even though you speak 4, which is commendable) across the EU continent underline how flawed a union of such different peoples is? Case in point, I've watched some EU Parliament, and even the official translators seem to struggle to keep up.

@BenGrimm I'm an American who was in Italy back in September and when i heard rumors you didn't have to tip waiters and waitresses, I thought my freinds were playing with me. The servers knew we were American and actually came out and said, You aren't supposed to tip us when they brought the bill. My wife being a former server, of course wanted to tip anyway so we did. Still baffling to me how different we are in that regard.

I'm going to supplement both of those points with my input, but those are correct.

1. Yes, tipping (depending on the service you're paying for) is mandatory. Some places do add it automatically; where I live, this is often if you have a group size of a certain amount of more. This number depends on the establishment. A restaurant, for example, will add the automatic tip to the bill for a group of 8 or more. Another may apply that same method for a higher or lower amount of people.

How much you tip really depends on how you feel the service was. I was always taught that you should tip 15-20% on average. I'll tip towards the lower end of that if the service was meh but will exceed the 20% if I feel it was exceptional.

2. The state tax thing is also true. Sometimes certain towns/cities/municipalities have their own taxes (depending on the good or service) piled on top of that. This is something where I'd prefer Europe's approach to how things are done here.

I have a question of my own: For anyone out near the west coast, is the law where you can't pump your own gas in most parts of the state of Oregon true?

That is sad and significant.

I think that this is because what were discussing, politics being polarised over there and some people being extremely defensive or scared. It makes communication much more difficult with some individuals.

That makes sense, that's why I wanted to know the state of origin. In Europe the weather and latitude differences also influence the lifestyle somehow, but I think that UK, Western and Northern Europe share a lot of goals and values and I like that. The differences are anecdotal.

Sure, but somebody confirmed the garden judgements are real so...

I think it's like that over here too, unfortunately. Probably, the main difference is that we are assisted by the nation if needed, e.g., medical care. In US if you lose your work do you get some money from the government or you just starve?

In which city do you live? Are there sociable with foreigners? And, most importantly, do you think that they are attractive?

Well, UK + Europe then. I was a bit disappointed with that @ReaderRagfihs's reply. I've never eaten snails, frogs and horses as far as I know. Yeah we have many languages around but most people speak English, French or Spanish... Some languages are quite difficult to learn because of different origin, e.g., German.

@edhe, Nah, I think the opposite. As proven here, sharing a language doesn't make things any easier. Perhaps the Eastern countries are way too different (totally different cultures, I am thinking Middle East) but they aren't part of EU anyway.

@nintendobynature Tips are optional and even rare here. If it's a very nice restaurant and you have spent a long time there and you loved everything then it's an usual thing to do, unless it's very expensive and you feel like you have paid enough. I don't know if restaurants are cheaper there and thus tips are like a rule but here some restaurants are quite expensive. When you pay before the meal (fast-food, cafeteria...) they give you the change and that's it. It seems that tips are included in the bill.