Odd things about other countries

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: Gamer X
I am Egyptian and I got to know from the Internet that in the USA you consider marriage
between cousins a kind of incest,this is not the case here.

Yes, we do consider it incest. However, a numer of rednecks throughout history have married their cousins.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496
In Sweden it is normal to take a sauna naked. Co-ed. I've seen every one of my female and male friends naked. Americans always think it is some sort of orgy, when in fact there is nothing sexual about it at all.
As a matter of fact, if you are not naked in the sauna people think something is wrong with you.

The Germans are also big nudists. The outside temp goes over 80 and people start losing clothes next to any water source they can find. Fine by me!

 

[DougK62]

I went to Canada and was surprised to find that the people had NO IDEA what regular iced tea was. The ones that I gave some to thought it was the most horrible thing ever. Apparently to them, plain ol' iced tea is that sugar filled crap from Lipton, Nestea, etc. - not the unsweetened stuff that's plentiful down in the states.

Also, at every sit-down restaurant I went to they asked me if I wanted gravy with my french fries. WTF is that?

This was in the Toronto area.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: DougK62
I went to Canada and was surprised to find that the people had NO IDEA what regular iced tea was. The ones that I gave some to thought it was the most horrible thing ever. Apparently to them, plain ol' iced tea is that sugar filled crap from Lipton, Nestea, etc. - not the unsweetened stuff that's plentiful down in the states.

Also, at every sit-down restaurant I went to they asked me if I wanted gravy with my french fries. WTF is that?

This was in the Toronto area.

I could read American tourist in Canada anecdotes allll dayyyy loonnng. Why is that? Gravy is something we put on our fries from time to time btw.

 

[DeMeo]

Originally posted by: whitecloak
I have heard that all americans are arrogant, ignorant and rednecks!

Only in the blue states

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: Yanagi
Oh yeah and in sweden we have polar bears on the streets and gay people as pets!

rofl sweet. im moving to sweden!!!

do the polar bears drink coke like in the commercials?

polar bears rock

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: DougK62
I went to Canada and was surprised to find that the people had NO IDEA what regular iced tea was. The ones that I gave some to thought it was the most horrible thing ever. Apparently to them, plain ol' iced tea is that sugar filled crap from Lipton, Nestea, etc. - not the unsweetened stuff that's plentiful down in the states.

Also, at every sit-down restaurant I went to they asked me if I wanted gravy with my french fries. WTF is that?

This was in the Toronto area.

I could read American tourist in Canada anecdotes allll dayyyy loonnng. Why is that? Gravy is something we put on our fries from time to time btw.

I didn't mean anything negative. It's fun to find differences like that since in most other ways we're so alike. Know what I'm talking aboot?

A funny story: A Canadian friend of mine visiting in the states ordered iced tea and got our unsweetened iced tea. He had never had it before and had no idea what it was - so he got pissed and thought the waitress was fvcking with him because earlier he wanted to be moved to a table that wasn't by the toilets. lol

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496
In Sweden it is normal to take a sauna naked. Co-ed. I've seen every one of my female and male friends naked. Americans always think it is some sort of orgy, when in fact there is nothing sexual about it at all.
As a matter of fact, if you are not naked in the sauna people think something is wrong with you.

The Germans are also big nudists. The outside temp goes over 80 and people start losing clothes next to any water source they can find. Fine by me!

True. English Gardens in Munich are a prime example. Our next door neighbor sunbathed topless frequently (it's a shame she wasn't more to look at--not that it stopped me, mind you )
We had a party down at a quarry that had filled with water... the next morning, a really hot chick was sunbathing topless about 15 feet from us. I think that image is burned into my brain.

 

[psebas]

In Portugal we can smoke ( at least for now ) in restaurants, work places, banks etc etc etc ( only in cinemas it is forbiden ).

If you are caught with drugs ( mariajuana only) and are small doses ( for your use only ), the police either lets you walk away or you will only be fined.

Everyone can get alcohol ( to drink not for medecine ), i can send my little brother to the store to get me vodka, tequilla whatever.

Besides that ...

We still kill animals for fun ( in portuguese - TOURADAS ( bull fight ) ) and by god i only hope that every time that happens the bull get a chance of killing the bull fighter.

 

[Martin]

In France many people have terrible BO (big surprise I know) and cover it up with cologne/perfume. Some women, even well dressed, sophisticated women, seem to pee in the middle of the street.

You're not very familiar with critical thinking, are you? *shakes head*

Anyway, in Athens, mopeds and motorbikes form their own lanes between the car lanes. You can see double parking and in some cases even triple parking (people leave their GSM numbers on the windshields and get called to move if someone from inside wants to get out).

In Bulgaria you nod up and down to say "No" and shake your head left-to-right to say "Yes".

 

[hoyaguru]

I did some traveling with the military years ago, here's a few things I found:

Spain - lived there for 4 years. In a restaraunt, in America it is polite for a man to keep one hand in his lap. In Spain, they wonder what the hell you are doing with your hand in you lap. Everyone keeps both hands on the table. Also, they put some STRANGE stuff on Pizza: Fried eggs, baby octopusses, etc.

Drinking: If I'm not mistaken, drinking age starts at about 16. There are discos everywhere, it is like they were back in the 70's. Saturday Night Fever was a big movie over there (this was 1987 to 1991). There were what we called "teeney bars" where the kids would learn to drink and dance, when they got a little older, they would graduate to the real bars/discos.

Open air markets: Kind of disgusting if you're not used to it. They generally didn't have big refridgerators like we have in the states, and did their food shopping every day. There were these open air markets with all the mets and vegetables, the smell took some getting used to. They sold skinned rabbits, but they had to leave the heads on them because apparently there were people selling cats as rabbits. With the head on, no one could get fooled.

TV: They showed strippers on talk shows, game shows, all kinds of shows. Saturday morning TV, you'd end up seeing some girl taking off her clothes. They would have a talk show and it would be like a show here in the states, then in the last few minutes they would bring a girl out, play some music, and she would take off her clothes.

Bars: If you were in a bar that you liked, you threw your trash on the floor. When you were looking for a good bar, all you had to do was find the one with the most trash on the floor.

Drinking: LOTS of alcoholics there. The drinks were very strong compared to here int he USA, a Rum and Coke was about 75% rum, the coke was barely noticable. When I cam back to the states I ordered a rum and coke at a bolwing alley, I thought they had made a mistake and just gave me a coke, I couldn't even taste the little bit of rum in it. Also here in the states when you go to a bar, you put your money on the table and the bartender takes the cost of your drink as you order. In Spain you drink for hours, then when you are leaving they tell you haw much you owe. I never could figure out how they could keep track of everyone.

Australia: Australia ROCKS! If you ever get the chance, go to Australia, the best people in the WORLD. Can't think of anything "weird" about Australia, everything seemed a lot more expensive, and they ate some things you wouldn't find here (vegemite - enough said), but the people there are for the most part great. I was in the middle of the outback (Woomera Air Station) so I didn't get to see a lot of the culture except on the rare trips to Adelaide. Oh yeah, there is no tipping in Australia. Taxi cabs, meals, etc., you don't tip for these things.

 

[ondarkness]

In Japan,
in the country you pee and poo in a hole in the ground if its old skool.
In the city you pee and poo in a futuristic toilet that shoots warm water at your bung hole and gets rid of the need for tp.

 

[maddogchen]

In China they don't understand what a line is.
They just pile up and push and shove.

 

[rezinn]

In America we let fruit from our trees fall all over the ground and rot. In a lot of poorer countries, the fruit rarely hits the ground, and if it does they still eat it.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: DougK62
I went to Canada and was surprised to find that the people had NO IDEA what regular iced tea was. The ones that I gave some to thought it was the most horrible thing ever. Apparently to them, plain ol' iced tea is that sugar filled crap from Lipton, Nestea, etc. - not the unsweetened stuff that's plentiful down in the states.

Also, at every sit-down restaurant I went to they asked me if I wanted gravy with my french fries. WTF is that?

This was in the Toronto area.

I could read American tourist in Canada anecdotes allll dayyyy loonnng. Why is that? Gravy is something we put on our fries from time to time btw.

I didn't mean anything negative. It's fun to find differences like that since in most other ways we're so alike. Know what I'm talking aboot?

A funny story: A Canadian friend of mine visiting in the states ordered iced tea and got our unsweetened iced tea. He had never had it before and had no idea what it was - so he got pissed and thought the waitress was fvcking with him because earlier he wanted to be moved to a table that wasn't by the toilets. lol

Oh I know. It's so great to hear stories like that though, I love it! I guess I am just happy when someone comes to Canada and enjoys it. A lot of things are similar but it's the subtle differences that are interesting!

I also wanted to add that hoyaguru's post kicks ass! Thanks dude! :beer:

 

[eakers]

Originally posted by: DougK62
I went to Canada and was surprised to find that the people had NO IDEA what regular iced tea was. The ones that I gave some to thought it was the most horrible thing ever. Apparently to them, plain ol' iced tea is that sugar filled crap from Lipton, Nestea, etc. - not the unsweetened stuff that's plentiful down in the states.

Also, at every sit-down restaurant I went to they asked me if I wanted gravy with my french fries. WTF is that?

This was in the Toronto area.

One time I went to the states and ordered an ice tea and i got regular tea that was cold! SO GROSS!

 

[meltdown75]

:laugh:

 

[Thurgo0dy]

Originally posted by: Mucho
One of my best friends worked for ten years on a cruise ship where he met almost every nationality. He said Americans are very arrogant but good tippers whereas Europeans are polite but poor tippers. Blacks on the other hand are arrogant and never tip.

don't get racist please. b*tch

 

[Sunbird]

Here in South Africa, we call the traffic lights (the actual metal poles with the red, orange and green lights) at intersections, robots.

We say things like, "Pick me up at the robots."

 

[Fingers]

In middle east people will take a dump in the street then wipe their butt with their left hand. It is considered the dirty hand and one of the biggest insults you can do is offer to shake with the left hand.

Or so i've heard

 

[Stark]

in amsterdam they don't have butt gaskets in public toilettes. i guess the dutch have better aim than americans.

 

[Chaotic42]

Heck, you don't need to go to other countries for weirdness.

In Indiana they don't have sweet tea, watermelons aren't ripe until the end of summer, and the coffee doesn't have chicory in it!

Seriously though, everyone's going to think that other countries do things strangely.

 

[phreakah]

Well, in Amsterdam, you can buy beer in a movie theatre. And I don't mean in a paper cup either.They give you a glass of beer, like in a bar. In Paris, you can buy beer at MacDonald's.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: Thurgo0dy

Originally posted by: Mucho
One of my best friends worked for ten years on a cruise ship where he met almost every nationality. He said Americans are very arrogant but good tippers whereas Europeans are polite but poor tippers. Blacks on the other hand are arrogant and never tip.

don't get racist please. b*tch

Give me a break...that's not racist; it's the sad truth. Have you worked in the food industry? If not then you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[kalster]

in India lot of marraiges are arranged, I might be going that route myself