based on knowledge of the US : many things that other places take for granted or fight to preserve, you guys struggle to obtain.
based on my trip : fucking nothing, I visited new york and stayed at a run down, pre paid hotel. I ate food from stores or carry out. I can’t exactly critique the healthcare system, tipping culture, driving culture when I had access to a fairly modern public transport system, didn’t need medical assistance and didn’t need to tip 50 people just to eat one thing.
EDIT: it’s like asking tourists in antalya at the beach what they think of turkey, they’re fucking tourists, they aren’t affected by the dictator and his bullshit
Tipping
First thing I (another Canadian) noticed when we switched from the car to a shuttle to the airport (crossed the border by car to take a flight to Florida) was that there were multiple people on that shuttle that were at least as big as the most obese person I’d ever seen in person up to that point.
Even though our cultures overlap quite a bit, there’s something different in that aspect.
You need to visit a Walmart and good luck trying to forget.
In Canada or the US? At least where I am, the Walmart shopping population doesn’t seem that different from the general pop, though I generally avoid going there so maybe I’m just not looking enough.
Disclaimer that I am aware of the people of Walmart meme, but kinda assumed that it was more of a “Walmart is popular therefore you’ll run in to people who live at the extremes” than a “Walmart uniquely attracts those who live at the extremes”.
Walmart’s in the USA. I am amazed how the electric scooter frames hold together.
The obesity epidemic really depends on where you are. I don’t see any fat people where I live now, but they were absolutely everywhere in the city I lived in before.
This was in Detroit. It wasn’t as noticable in Florida, or on separate trips to California. Like I’m sure I saw some pretty obese people in those locations (as I do in various places in Canada), but it wasn’t to the point where my mind made specific note of it for me to remember over a decade later.
Central California has tons of fat people, especially at places like Walmart. They all seem to congregate there. But then places like Huntington Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco, have almost no fat people. I think the better the socioeconomic situation is, and the more accessible walking is, the less likely people are to be overweight in an area.
Yeah, I was in SF and then LA and spent the free days of the LA trip hiking Hollywood Hills and visiting six flags, which probably skews more towards people fit enough to hike or fit in rollercoaster seats.
I also visited a market near the hotel that had prices low enough that my assumption at the time was it had to be mostly stolen and got a great duffel bag for like a quarter of what I’d expect to pay for that back home.
Amusement parks tend to bring some pretty hefty people off the couches. The Hollywood Hills are usually pretty healthy. What did you think of SF and L.A.? SF used to be my favorite city in the world. That was twenty years ago though. I’ve heard that it is in serious decline now. Some parts of Hollywood can be cool to visit, but L.A. in general is completely overwhelming to me. I want to get the fuck out after 2-3 days. To be fair to L.A., I have the same reaction to NYC. I think they’re really neat and amazing for a day or two and then I just want to escape and get away from the oppressive concrete jungle.
I was only in SF for one day and had an event most of that day, unfortunately, so I didn’t get to see much of the city. I think I saw the golden gate bridge from the plane. The hotel they put me in was nice, though, most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.
LA was hot and the traffic was pretty crazy. I was there for about a week for siggraph with work. Santa Monica was nice, it was cool seeing the Hollywood sign in person, and I do remember looking back at the city and seeing all the haze.
Six flags had rollercoasters that lasted longer than the longest one at Canada’s Wonderland (at least at the time, their 3 newest ones are a bit more comparable). I won a giant Scooby Doo stuffy because they had a game where I figured out the trick to it on my first play and returned later to upgrade my small Scooby-Doo to the large one (and bought the bag for the plane trip). The stuffy was pretty cheaply made though, so they might have still made money from the two plays I paid for lol.
Other bits and pieces I remember are the different vegetation they had (my first time seeing palm trees) and noticing the barbed wire on a bunch of flat roofs. Also it was weird to see commercials for prescription drugs.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot one of the highlights of the trip, going to Fry’s during it’s heyday. I was buying my own hardware at that time but it was the first time I saw an aisle of motherboards where you could actually see the boards on display. I think we ended up going there twice, once for cables we forgot to pack for our booth, then later for our own shopping trip.
Ah, it’s too bad you didn’t get to see more of SF. The city itself is neat because it’s built on top of landfill, has tons of hills, good public transportation, and embraces weirdness. The areas surrounding the city are the real gem though. The view from the top of Twin Peaks where you can see the whole bay, the land across the golden gate, all of SF, and the Pacific Ocean, is stunning enough that it caused the Brit who was with me to declare that it’s enough to make one believe in God.
Man, I miss Fry’s! I was fortunate enough to visit that L.A. Fry’s in its heyday too! That place was heaven for a computer nerd such as myself. I was so stoked when we moved to the Seattle area and discovered there was a Fry’s in Renton (near Seattle). Both my wife and I were extremely bummed when covid killed Fry’s. They were already in decline, but covid really finished them off.
Anyways, the USA definitely has some beautiful and amazing places. I’ve only been to B.C. and Victoria in Canada, but I love it there too. I always feel like we’re so crass and aggressive whenever I come back across the border from a Canada trip. You guys are all so friendly up there, and I love it. It’s a beautiful country too.
Where are you crossing? Around here the population on both sides of the border are pretty indistinguishable, except for accent.
I forget which crossing it was exactly. Might have been Windsor or might have been farther north. We drove several hours before switching to the shuttle in any case and didn’t get out to look around on the Canadian side of the crossing.
It could have been a biased sample. I mean, for all I know, one very obese family just happened to get on that same shuttle rather than it being a random sampling of what people were like in that area. Hell, they could have even driven several hours to get there themselves and thus didn’t represent the local population at all.
Could have been bias confirmation rather than culture shock.
I’m from Alberta Canada. I’ve worked up North in camp jobs, and have been working in the trades with the rowdiest people our country has to offer.
Every time I’ve been to the states I’m shocked at how aggressive a large portion of your population is willing to talk to people. Every time I’ve gone there I’ve had at least one negative aggressive interaction with one of your citizens. I’m a large man with a beard and tattooes up to my neck, I’m a pretty intimidating looking dude paired with the Canadian politeness we’re known for. I do not understand how this keeps happening. And I see you guys do it to eachother too! It’s fucking wild.
That’s very surprising. Where have you visited?
I’ve been to Montana, Texas, Florida, Seattle, and Tennessee and Las Vegas most recently. Also worked at a tourist town with lots of Americans for several months in Canmore and the Americans there seemed to have a similar attitude.
Yeah it’s very surprising to me as well. As a life-long resident of one of the states mentioned, having lived in both major cities as well and small-medium towns, I don’t think I’ve experienced this “aggression”
Sometimes the base level of aggression or the base level of inflection is way higher than what you’re locally tuned for.
Anecdotally I have found even business conversations with people from the US to be over the top. Especially through the sales cycle. There is a lot of hype that I need to adjust for in comparison to vendors in the UK, Europe and Asia.
It’s not a bad thing, it’s a social standard. I probably appear quiet reserved and shy by comparison.
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There’s a lot of regional variation in what people do or don’t find to be “aggressive”.
Example?
The amount of sugar in any food of yours! It’s incredibly sickening and I’m not sure how you deal with that.
I’ve started noticing that now that I cook 100% of the food I eat. No more processed anything, no more prepackaged anything, no more eating out.
Mostly because of money and my location, but I’m better off for it.
That’s the neat thing: our pancreases do! Until they don’t…
EZ, don’t eat processed food, and don’t go to fast food restaurants. Don’t give a restaurant that uses excessive sugar a repeat visit.
Signs telling you not to bring guns into shopping centers.
In some states, these signs don’t even mean that a person can’t carry a concealed weapon into the shopping center. In my state, for instance, assuming you are otherwise able to legally carry a gun (meaning you took a class and aren’t a felon), the list of areas where you can’t legally carry a gun is very limited: Federal buildings, courthouses, etc. If a business has a sign posted stating “no guns allowed,” you can still legally carry your weapon in that business. If an employee sees that you’re armed, they can ask you to leave, and you’re trespassing if you refuse, but nothing legally stops you from carrying a gun into the establishment in the first place.
As a disclaimer, I’m not arguing this one way or another. I have a license to carry a concealed handgun, in fact. Just sharing information.
If a business has a sign posted stating “no guns allowed,” you can still legally carry your weapon in that business.
I’m sure that’s the practicality, but I am skeptical of the legality of a CCW permit trumping the rights of the property owner.
It sounds more like breaking the law and just not getting caught. Do you have any links to CCW permit overriding property owner rights?
I don’t know the statutes offhand; I’m basing this on what I was taught in my CCW class years ago.
The general idea is that the state sets limited laws on where you can’t carry concealed. Government buildings, etc. These restrictions hold the force of law. For a private property owner, they can certainly say “no guns,” but it has the same legal weight as if they said “no hats.” They can set rules for their property, but those rules don’t magically become law. That’s where trespassing laws come in; if you’re asked to leave, they have the right to ask you to do so.
Some states do have laws in place stating that “no guns” signs are legally binding, but the signs must meet certain legal criteria as far as wording. Surprisingly, I think Texas is one of these states, but I could be wrong.
My state is solidly blue, so it does seem strange to me that the laws are written as they are.
Property owner rights do not magically override the 1A.
Property owners are welcome to write scary notices. They are just not legally enforceable.
I only stopped there for transit on a flight to Mexico. Just before boarding my flight I was told that I need a visa for the US, which is extremely weird because normally airports have transit zones where you don’t need any visa. But apparently the US is special, so you actually have to enter the country before going right back into the airport. This nonsense made me miss my flight.
Also I remember in the airport there was a security guard doing nothing but shouting nonstop that it’s not allowed to carry water. Why not simply put up a sign?
Americans don’t read.
We read, just not posted signs without a skull on it or something cool like that.
If it is important they would put it on a hat.
I’d also say sign fatigue (plus general fatigue) is a thing. When you go to an airport security line there’s like these giant signboards stood up like the 200 Commandments, each with a mix of pictures and walls of text of for things you’re not allowed to bring on a plane. Or some things you can check and not carry on or you can carry on and not check. And you’re also expected to know all of that while you are in transit, stressed, and maybe also sleep deprived.
Too many signs to properly pay attention to them all.
Am American, don’t know what this says
We weren’t elected to read.
Just before boarding my flight I was told that I need a visa for the US […] This nonsense made me miss my flight.
I WOULD HAVE FUCKING LEFT IF YOU’D LET ME ASSHOLE
Not like that, they didn’t let me board my flight from Europe to Texas. Even though I had a connecting flight to Mexico few hours later. Why can’t they have a visa free transit zone like every other country in the world?
Because fuck you, that’s why.
Also, freedoms or something, I dunno.
I only stopped there for transit on a flight to Mexico. Just before boarding my flight I was told that I need a visa for the US, which is extremely weird because normally airports have transit zones where you don’t need any visa. But apparently the US is special, so you actually have to enter the country before going right back into the airport. This nonsense made me miss my flight.
Not like that, they didn’t let me board my flight from Europe to Texas. Even though I had a connecting flight to Mexico few hours later.
I am no longer on your side. if your journey is :
European country X -> Somewhere in the US -> Texas -> Mexico
Then of course you’re going through security controls, etc etc. You’re going from the international processing and flights part of the airport to the domestic flights part of the airport, which is the zone where any asshole in that country can travel in, so you’re properly entering the US. Of course you need proper clearance and visas and all that.
I initially assumed your journey was
Non US country-> Somewhere in the US -> Mexico
which you’d be completely right
No domestic flight, just Europe -> Texas -> Mexico.
i’m back your side fuck that airport
The fear of naked (intact) female bodies, i.e. censoring of even the slightest nudity, when at the same time, it’s totally fine to have minors play computer games where they can dissect other humans in great bloody detail.
Oh, and chocolate that tastes like somebody barfed into it during manufacturing.
The chocolate thing is because American chocolate manufacturers use butyric acid to preserve the milk. Basically, using fresh milk in chocolate is expensive, because you need to get it shipped directly and be located near enough to the dairy farm. So they intentionally spoil the milk in a controlled manner. This allows them to preserve the milk (as opposed to having it spoil naturally and go completely rancid,) which allows them a much more relaxed manufacturing process. This controlled spoiling method produces butyric acid in the milk.
The issue is that butyric acid tastes like vomit. Americans are used to the sour taste and don’t even really recognize that it’s not what chocolate is supposed to taste like. To them, that sour note is just part of chocolate. But Europeans come to America (and are used to fresh milk in their chocolate), and they are horribly disgusted when they taste American chocolate for the first time. Because Europeans aren’t used to having that sour note in their chocolate.
This is also why so many Americans fawn over foreign chocolate. It is seen as more luxurious, but most Americans can’t really place why it tastes so much better. The reason is the lack of butyric acid.
Can you explain why all milk tea tastes like it has playdoh in it? I just want a freaking Chai tea like the glass coffee Starbucks drinks but all the Asian teas with milk have an odd flavor from whatever is going on with the milk
Sex is bad but graphic footage akin to war carnage is just superhero stuff totally appropriate for kids /s
Also Smarties! These are Smarties everywhere else in the world apart from the US as far as I can tell.
Your urban planning. Your cities are unwalkable, the scenery makes me depressed af, everything is scaled up for cars, even restaurants are for cars, the highways are huge, all I can see is tar. I don’t know how you can live like that.
I don’t know how you can live like that.
We don’t, we develop mental health issues and our bodies get crippled in the process too.
Shoes. Indoors, in your own house, on your furniture?!
Yeah as someone living in Canada that seems wild to me. I can’t imagine they still do that in places with snow, that would be madness.
Sorry to be honest, but this is my view…
Voting between two parties, and then getting whatever the “electors” pick. All the while, thinking they live under the biggest democracy of the world.
Having all sorts of inhuman behaviors, like robbing childs from immigrants.
Child marriage.
Having lots of weapons in the country but all wars outside.
Mmm… What else? Ah, prisoners are slaves.
The toilets/restrooms at restaurants (or at least many fastfood restaurants?) are often shared and used by both employees and customers. It grossed me out a bit a bit at first, especially as they are, in my experience, quite often pretty filthy. So all the nastiness customers drag in could potentially be picked up by employees.
I’ve been to BKs and Wendys’ where I left the establishment as soon as I entered, just because the whole place looked and smelled like somewhere you shouldn’t eat. I suppose these were more often than not in pretty rural areas…
While on the toilet topic, I’ve found public restrooms at e.g. gas stations and shopping malls to often be, uh, less than inviting. I think I’ve seen more overflowing toilets on a 4 week vacation in the US than I’ve seen in 40 years over here, in northwest Europe.
To be fair, I’ve driven east/west at least 10 times over the years, so I’ve been to a lot of public restrooms and the bad experiences tend to stay with you for longer than the good ones.
Juxtaposition of pearl-clutching Puritanism w/ a 21 drinking age against beer available in a 7-11.
Pick a fucking lane
The firearm culture, and how normalised it is.
I went into a Walgreens in Chicago, and waited in line behind two other people. There was a cashier free but the person in front of the line was waiting to be called. The guy behind the person in front politely said, “ma’am, the cashier is free” ‘I’m waiting to be called” was the response.
So the guy behind her just walked past her, and she pushed him and said, “Careful buddy, you’ll get shot for doing something like that”
I was taken aback at how quickly a simple discourtesy escalated to shooting someone. It just blew my mind that shooting someone over queue jumping was verbalised, and seemingly normal to each other.
The brown paper-bag thing with alcohol in public. I mean, everybody and their dog knows what’s in there, right?
And the fact that people ask if you need help if you decide to NOT take the car but instead walk the 5 minutes to somewhere.
As someone that sold liquor for a while, if the bag is dropped and the bottle shatters, the brown paper holds up a bit better when you’re cleaning that shit up compared to the thin plastic that rips when you breathe on it,
Everyone does know. I can’t speak for all states/counties/cities/etc, but the brown bag thing is mostly a legal grey area for allowing folks to drink in public. Most of the time drinking isn’t legal to just do while walking around and can be given fines by cops. However this can be problematic for additional resources being redirected from more important crimes. So as long as the cops don’t see a label or the whole bottle/can, then they can ignore it as “it could be anything.”
For example, in the summer people in my state like to go tubing down sections of rivers. While tubing you can have coolers and stuff, however open drinking of beer or other such drinks isn’t legal. So if cops were to be watching the river and clearly see the labels it can mean that they order you to get out and hand them over and/or be fined. But everyone makes sure to put their cans/bottles in foam cozies, and therefore it is a low-key unofficial understanding that as long as you aren’t smashed and/or causing lots of problems everything is good. The same also applies to other places like lakes and the beach (at least in my state). But if you are super drunk and/or being an asshole, then the cops will use that as probable cause to actually search the bag/cozies and all that.
