Sometimes it takes seeing something through a foreigner’s lens to understand the differences between Americans and the rest of the world. Ready for a good laugh?
Note: Some quotes in this piece have been lightly edited for grammar.
1: So Much Green
“Why is all your money the same colour?” questions a foreigner. How can one possibly know what bill they’re picking out of their wallet without pulling it all the way out to see the number?
2: Lineage Pride
A Scottish-born person says that Americans “are obsessed with their ancestry.” They give this example: “Jeremy was born in America, raised in America, but he found out that he is 1% Irish, and he goes around screaming that for the world to hear.”
3: Defining Oppressed
A Brazilian implies that Americans need to look up the word “oppression” to learn that the average person in the U.S. is anything but that. They explain, “Poor areas in the US are considered well above luxury for a poor Brazilian.” From their Brazilian family’s point of view, “Oppression in the US is better than what most people have anywhere else.”
4: So Very Friendly
American introverts may want to consider a change of residence. An American living in South Korea shares that “Koreans are always blown away that Americans will talk to COMPLETE STRANGERS.”
5: Super Sized
One foreigner has two words for the most surprising thing about America from their experience: Portion sizes.
6: Tell Me All
An odd thing about the U.S. is that “Total strangers will ask you about your religious and political views,” according to one foreigner. For certain Americans, that also may seem extreme and provoking.
7: Medical Bills
“Having to pay to go to [the] hospital” is a shocking concept to one foreigner. Another person chimed in, saying, “the ’emergency room’ shouldn’t make you wait 12 hours.'”
8: My World
A Canadian says, “Something that always surprises me about the Americans is how much they think the world revolves around them.” They now live in the Netherlands, where “American politics infiltrates less and less of [their] life.”
9: Where’s the Gratitude?
To one foreigner, the lack of gratitude Americans have “to live in such an amazing country” is outrageous to them.
10: School Taxes
It’s absolutely insane to one foreigner that “schools are funded by local land taxes, making the difference between rich suburbs and poor areas.” They believe “Good schools [are] only in rich neighborhoods and make sure to keep all the poor away so there are still enough people desperate enough to work for nothing but tips because they have no other opportunities.”
11: Come Again?
There’s nothing surprising about the U.S. in the eyes of one foreigner. They note, “American culture is so disseminated in movies and television that there wasn’t much that shocked me.”
12: Firearms Galore
A foreigner said the amount of people who own firearms in the U.S. is shocking to them. Americans jumped into the conversation, with one saying they hadn’t ever seen a civilian walking around with a firearm, only police officers.
13: Lovely Accents
A British tourist in the U.S. says they were surprised by how “The California and Texan accents are lovely on women.” They were equally surprised that their British accent wasn’t as charming to all the ladies as they had been led to believe.
14: Surprise Tax
One foreigner questions what’s up with not including tax in an item’s price. They think it’s ridiculous that it’s legal to display a price without the tax already included.
15: Tipping Missteps
“Tipping should be optional and not expected of a customer,” states a foreigner who was surprised by Americans looking down on people who don’t tip. “Employers should pay their staff properly,” they add.
16: Financial Extremes
An Eastern European tourist says that the “USA seems like the chasm between the poor and the rich is really big.” They explain, ” You have billionaires who can buy whole countries and people who have to live on the streets,” saying they prefer their Eastern European home.
17: So Poor
A UK citizen says they can’t believe how poor much of the US is. They described wanting to see the “real” America, so they toured Route 66 and weren’t impressed. “The southern states ironically remind me of the Middle East,” they said.
18: Imperial Woes
One foreigner can’t wrap their head around why Americans don’t use the metric system. “Imperial is one of the dumbest things in human life,” according to them.
19: Shoes On
The surprise of all surprises to one foreigner is that Americans wear “shoes on the sofa.” Another person piped in, “Or on the bed.” Should the commenter have visited more households, it may have cleared up the fact that shoe-wearing inside American homes isn’t a hard-and-fast rule.
20: Processed Everything
A Brit says they can’t believe “The sheer quantity of food in restaurants and how processed a lot of supermarket food is” in the US. The worst part? They admit the UK’s food quality isn’t the best compared to many countries, yet the USA’s food still stands out to them in all the wrong ways.
21: Trump Supporters
A self-proclaimed left supporter says the most surprising thing about the U.S. is “how a bunch of you voted for Trump.” They continue to be shocked to this day, acknowledging that “there were better Republican candidates.”
Source: Reddit.
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