What else might I not know?
Posted by Open_Pangolin1354@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 149 comments
I'm a middle aged Australian who has never been to the States.
There are some language and cultural differences that are very widely known and I've been aware of since childhood, either from media or just because everyone knows those things.
But there are other interesting things I only heard about quite recently.
Examples: Public toilets often aren't private because the cubicles have large gaps around the doors?
There's some kind of advertising at gas stations that you watch while filling your car?
If you have an accident while driving, the fire brigade comes?
Grits is something like muesli?
So, what other weird, cool, or unique things are there that non US people might not know about, or are often surprised by when they visit?
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JennyPaints@reddit
American car dealerships all seem to fly U.S. flags and every schood flys a flag. Do Australians fly their flag like this?
Pepinocucumber1@reddit
Nope, we don’t place nearly as much significance in the flag.
Knife-yWife-y@reddit
And banks, and some truck drivers...
JennyPaints@reddit
And republican homeowners.
Knife-yWife-y@reddit
True, especially now!
My dad only did it on very specific national holidays: Independence Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, stuff like that. He took the flag code very seriously and hated seeing the stars and stripes on clothing, damaged flags, or flags flying unlit at night or during storms.
Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit
I've been waiting to ask a non American this: do you guys have 'show and tell' in grade school? I'm not even sure if you call it grade school. It's your first 4 or 5 years. Anyway show and tell is when a kid brings in something that means a lot to them, shows the class and then just talks about it for a bit.
Pepinocucumber1@reddit
We call it primary school, and yes we do
DoIHaveTo999@reddit
There's a Bluey episode about Show and Tell, so i think it's safe to say they have it in Australia. 😄
Then_Mastodon_639@reddit
Yes, we have show and tell in grade school, which we also call elementary school. Show and tell day was my favorite day of the week.
Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit
Are you in Australia like OP?
misagale@reddit
Yes, we have show and tell in the early grades.
Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit
You're in Australia like OP?
misagale@reddit
Oh, no. I’m American. I misread the post. Thanks for catching my error.
Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit
All good haha
Old_Promise2077@reddit
Have you ever had Italian Polenta? That's about the closest thing to grits
Yes there are advertising at pumps
The fire department handles traffic control so EMS can assess any possible injury
Those public toilets are kind of a thing of the past
DrBlankslate@reddit
No, they're not. Toilet stalls have a 1.5' gap between the door and the floor, all around. This is to make it easier to clean, but most people not from the US think that they might as well be sitting on a toilet in an open room.
MountainTomato9292@reddit
This is definitely not universal, an inch and a half is insane. I’ve lived in the US for all of my 46 years and never seen a public bathroom like this.
RockItGuyDC@reddit
Yeah, an inch and a half is unheard of. Maybe a half inch, and it does suck, but more and more places are moving to single person bathrooms or at least "stalls" with full walls and doors.
DrBlankslate@reddit
A foot and a half at the bottom of the door, not an inch and a half.
RockItGuyDC@reddit
Fair. I misread and responded to a person who also misread.
Still, these are slowly but surely going away.
DrBlankslate@reddit
Not where I live. They're the standard.
jvc1011@reddit
You’ve seen public toilets that have stall doors that touch the ground? And you’ve never seen any that don’t? Where do you live?
MountainTomato9292@reddit
I responded back to them and said I misread their post as an inch and a half gap around the door, not between the door and the floor. But yes, where I live there definitely are many stalls where the door reaches all the way to the floor. Not all, but many.
jvc1011@reddit
Wow. That’s something I don’t recall ever seeing in the US, and I’ve lived in several states and traveled through more. Bottom gap is pretty standard.
MountainTomato9292@reddit
It’s not the standard, but if you are ever in the southern US, check out a Buccees! It’s the best “gas station” in the country, and their bathrooms are legendary. That’s how lots of bathrooms are around where I live. Grab a pulled pork sandwich while you’re there!
OhThrowed@reddit
Idaho has some at public rest stops that are full stalls with full doors. Can't say its standard, but I have seen 'em. :)
Jemmaris@reddit
I've seen plenty that don't, but Buc-ee's (a gas station that is so much more than a gas station!) has doors and walls for their stalls, AND red/green lights to direct you to the available stalls. It's quite the sight!
Quantity-Used@reddit
You misunderstand DrBlankslate. They said there is a 1.5 FOOT gap between the bottom of the stall and the floor, to make mopping easier. And yes, there is a very small gap between the door and its frame.
DrBlankslate@reddit
That's a foot and a half, not an inch and a half.
Sl1z@reddit
A stall with a foot+ gap is also kinda insane though
The_Bjorn_Ultimatum@reddit
I think he was thinking inches for the gap on the side of the door. He misread the comment in every way possible, lol.
MountainTomato9292@reddit
Oh I see, I misread and thought you meant around the edges of the door 😂
DrBlankslate@reddit
No, at the bottom of the door. And the gaps around the door bother non-USians, apparently, even though you can't see anything important through them.
MeanTelevision@reddit
It depends on how well the stall holds up after years of use. I've seen some doors hanging crookedly or which have a 2-3 inch gap (I'd estimate.)
Also the gap under the door, is one people remark upon because they say ones in their country go to the floor.
terrible-gator22@reddit
That kind of toilet was everywhere I had been in. The US when I traveled across the country 6 years ago. It is cool if they are really replacing them, but I’d not seen evidence of it.
TexanInExile@reddit
On the pumps that have advertising, on the right side, press the second button down from the top to kill the sound.
curlyhead2320@reddit
Fire department also has the jaws of life in case car parts need to be pried apart. EMS and police don’t carry those. Sometimes fire trucks are closer, and many firefighters are also trained in emergency medicine.
Grits are delicious. OP, try them if you have a chance.
Chewiedozier567@reddit
Yes as a native born Southerner, grits are great whether you eat them with eggs and bacon for breakfast or if you have shrimp and grits for dinner.
AdEmbarrassed9719@reddit
Also there are usually a few firemen on each truck, as opposed to one cop or 2 EMTs. At a wreck you might need the extra manpower. Plus it’s easier to effectively block off accidents with firetrucks than police cruisers alone.
Yes on grits! But not plain. They have to be “fixed” to your liking. I like butter, salt, pepper and crumbled bacon personally.
shelwood46@reddit
Fire departments also usually handle heavy rescue, like extrication (Jaws of Life stuff) and cars that have been in accidents can burst into flames. As a retired fire chief, I am gobsmacked that apparently they don't dispatch fire for car crashes in Australia. I'm hoping OP just never noticed.
door-harp@reddit
When I went to Europe as a teenager I was shocked to see that the big public restrooms in the airport had fully enclosed rooms for each toilet, like a whole closet. Waaaaay more private than in the US. And boy did I miss the air circulation provided by the standard US metal partitions.
hsj713@reddit
When you go to a store to buy something the price tag is not what you pay at the counter. Sales tax is not included in the price tag and all cities have their own sales tax rate.
Honeycrispcombe@reddit
Our coins are similar sizes to Australian coins but different values for each size. When I was in Australia, I kept on thinking the clerks were short changing me because of that (thankfully I never said anything 🤣).
delilah9@reddit
The gas station advertising is fairly recent, and it drives me mad. It's possible to find gas stations without them. But I'm fairly sure they will soon be coming to Australia.
Superpilotdude@reddit
The ones I've seen you can change the channel to the weather or news, btw. Didn't realize this at first until I actually looked at the screen.
relikter@reddit
The screens at gas pumps usually have 8 buttons around them, 4 on either side. If you hold the 2nd button on the right down for a few seconds it usually mutes the ads.
spitfire451@reddit
That might be true but if you are at a sizable gas station and the screens are all synced up then you will still hear the echo of the audio coming from all around you.
curlyhead2320@reddit
I’ve never heard of this until now! I mostly get gas at Costco. But I’ve been to other gas stations a handful of times each year and have yet to encounter it. Something to keep an eye out for apparently.
expatsconnie@reddit
There's usually a button to push that mutes them. Usually, it's the second from the top on the right side.
internetismoist@reddit
We don’t tax like Australia. Prepare your liver!
cownan@reddit
We don’t put beetroot on hamburgers, or really any sandwiches. I was surprised that you do, my first time in Oz.
Hungry Jack’s is Burger King.
The “menu” in a fast food restaurant is everything they serve, we call an individual meal a “meal”
IPreferDiamonds@reddit
Don't say the C word here!
morningtrain@reddit
That’s the biggest one.
Also, Thongs are underwear and not footwear.
MeanTelevision@reddit
They're both really. "Thong" could refer to either one.
THE_CENTURION@reddit
If someone else says it, yes. You can guess that maybe they mean the sandals.
But a visitor to the US should not go around using it to mean the footwear in polite company, because a lot of Americans are not familiar with that (I'm sure there's some correlation with how close they live to the ocean). The risk/reward is pretty clear.
MeanTelevision@reddit
Didn't say they should but it still is a word used for either thing. And it should be clear in context if they're talking about flip flops / some type of shoe or panties. Frankly why would they be talking about panties in most conversations? e.g. "Granny are you bringing your thongs to the beach?"
Bright_Ices@reddit
I agree, though I think thong for footwear is much more common among older Americans. My mom calls them thongs. She’s in her 70s.
byebybuy@reddit
Yeah, Sisqó pretty much ruined the footwear usage for my generation.
Bright_Ices@reddit
But what a banger!
LadyInCrimson@reddit
Jumpers aren't Jackets either.
Recent_Permit2653@reddit
Kinda sorta accurate…bathroom doors have gaps, but nobody looks. And if they do, you know you’re in there with a weirdie. Public restrooms aren’t private anyway. I got over this in my truck driver days, but trading fart and plop noises is more unpleasant than a peeper.
Gas station ads exist, but are by no means universal (thankfully). At least, not yet.
Grits aren’t really like muesli, but can be similarly flavoured. Here it’s ground corn.
Beyond that, not sure what other misconceptions you might or might not know. You’d have to ask more specific questions to get a specific answer. We also don’t know what’s different from Australia.
We talk a lot about food and governing, how people interact, how our cities live and breathe and function.
What kind of animals do you see when driving around? What kind of weatherstorms do you get in your region? What can you tell me about your rainfall patterns, or what the foliage is like? Who administers your sewers and fresh water systems? What do urban planners there do?
Those are just a flowstate moment of the questions I’d ask to fill in what’s missing besides your examples. But they’re also ones I’d personally be most interested in reading about, not necessarily ones you’d care about.
Gordita_Chele@reddit
Where I live, the fire department is the first to respond to most injury or health-related emergencies. They’re all trained paramedics and they seem to just be able to get places faster. Usually they arrive and are the first to provide aid, and then an ambulance shows up to transport to the hospital (fire trucks don’t transport patients). This is true for a car accident involving injury but also true for someone who calls 911 because they’re having chest pains.
You’ve probably heard health care is hugely expensive. Emergency rooms are required to treat you, regardless of your ability to pay. You’ll just get billed afterward, but if you live in another country, you can get away with just never paying. Unpaid debt will not cause your visa to be revoked or for you to be denied entry on a future trip to the United States.
Every food or beverage business prompts you to tip when you pay, but it’s still acceptable to not tip if there’s no wait service. If someone is waiting on you or delivering food, tipping is expected (minimum 15%, but a lot of people tip 20% as long as service wasn’t disastrous).
amcjkelly@reddit
Free speech is really broad, so you are going to hear and see medicine advertisements.
Freedom of religion is very broad so you are going to see Amish people, people of all faiths, someone may talk to you about religion in public.
Gun ownership is protected by the constitution, breaking into someones house (even by accident) means you are likely to get shot. And nobody is going to care if you do.
If you insist on going deep into animal habitat you may see wild animals. Including good sized bears, mountain lions etc. You can run into black bears just about anywhere in the woods on the east coast. If you see certain animals during the day, like a raccoon, you need to stay away from them.
If you are into outdoors stuff, don't do silly things like mountain climbing in the winter or jumping into a swimming spot in April in upstate NY in early April (even if it is 80 degrees out). We lose way more tourists that way than we do to bears.
If you are working here, we don't really drink much during the morning hours or at a business lunch. Talking about doing that is probably not the best idea.
If I say I am from New York, it doesn't always mean NYC or even metro NYC.
We know the metric system, we just don't care.
Soccer is barely a thing is most places. And while we don't mind if you like Rugby, we really are not that interested. Sorry.
fakesaucisse@reddit
None of those things fit my experience as a US citizen.
Public bathroom stalls usually have a little gap but it's not huge.
I've never seen an ad while pumping gas.
When I've been in an auto accident nobody comes to the scene unless someone is seriously injured, you just file paperwork online with the police and call your insurance and a tow truck if you need it.
Grits is absolutely nothing like muesli. Now I think you are just trolling.
relikter@reddit
Not trolling, but what part of the country do you live in that you don't have video screens with ads at gas pumps? I've seen these all up and down the East Coast for a long time now.
Future-Water9035@reddit
This was the one thing that shocked me too. Must not be a thing in the PNW because I've never seen them anywhere in Oregon either. Though pumping our own gas has only been legal for a year or two. Would be silly to force employees to watch ads while being paid to pump gas.
LiqdPT@reddit
I definutely have them in the Seattle area and have seen them elsewhere around the PNW.
fakesaucisse@reddit
Currently live in WA but used to live in MD and still visit there occasionally.
LiqdPT@reddit
I live in the Seattle area and have gas pumps with ads. Have driven around the west over the last 5 years and seen them all over
bkinstle@reddit
They are quite common in California
DownVegasBlvd@reddit
Nevada, too.
DrBlankslate@reddit
They're all over SoCal, too.
relikter@reddit
I'm just outside of DC and have seen it in MoCo, Baltimore, Annapolis, and all the way down to St. Mary's County.
fakesaucisse@reddit
I'm guessing it has to do with the type of gas station you go to. When I visit my family in MD and have a rental car I will get gas at stations near them that are kinda small and dinky. Their pumps aren't up to date at all. I have seen the ones with screens elsewhere but have never had them show me ads.
relikter@reddit
That could be. I have an EV as my daily driver and a plug-in hybrid for longer trips, so I usually only hit gas stations near interstate exits.
fakesaucisse@reddit
Ah, that would make sense! I avoid those since the gas prices are higher but I can see how they would do something like this.
mrsrobotic@reddit
We definitely have them in MD but they are easy to miss or ignore. A lot of times, by the time they start rolling you're already back in your car waiting for the pump to finish or in the store getting a snack. I have never stood there and watched one.
Self-Comprehensive@reddit
There's only one gas station in my town that has them. Granted it's a pretty small town, but there are plenty of gas stations.
Colseldra@reddit
A firetruck arrives all the time for auto accidents, a lot of the time first
fakesaucisse@reddit
Definitely regional and not a countrywide thing. Where I am the police won't even come out for a home break-in unless someone is armed. When I called in an auto accident the dispatcher said to call my insurance and ask them to send a tow truck and then file a report online.
Colseldra@reddit
I've seen it in NC, SC, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware myself and they do it on basically every state that appears on live pd and cops
fakesaucisse@reddit
For every accident though? OP is implying this happens with every accident and that's not my experience. It would have to be pretty serious for someone to be sent out.
Again, maybe regional. I live in the Seattle area and had my car totaled in an accident. Called 911 and the dispatcher was confused because I didn't need medical attention so why was I calling? She said just call your insurance and file a police report online. It's the norm out here anyway.
Colseldra@reddit
Probably not a fender bender, but they usually show up in accidents that aren't even that serious because someone just calls in that isn't even involved that there has been a car crash
mcm87@reddit
If there aren’t injuries and the vehicles can be moved out of the lane, nobody will be dispatched. If there are injuries, they’ll send an ambulance and maybe a firetruck, and a cop will come take a report.
fakesaucisse@reddit
Sure, that all will happen. OP said if you're in an accident (eg ANY accident) the fire brigade will come out. In my experience that is not the case. It has to be pretty serious, not just any fender bender on the road.
Quantity-Used@reddit
They are not trolling, they are asking for clarification. That’s what the sub is for.
fakesaucisse@reddit
I know what the sub is for and I post here somewhat often. It's just the grits = muesli one is pretty absurd when you can Google how they look and see they aren't at all the same.
izlude7027@reddit
Grits is just corn porridge. Muesli is more similar to granola.
cakeswindler@reddit
I live in NYC and we eat food and drink coffee while we are walking. That also seems to culture shock my friends from other states/countries. Also NY specific, my friends also get a kick on all our fruit stands. You can buy most popular fruits on street corners from Spring through Autumn
We have sales for every holiday. I’m sure you heard about Black Friday(day after Thanksgiving Day) sales but we have sales on the day we honor our dead service people which seems so weird.
We don’t openly talk about salaries. I was kind of shocked when my Indian and Romanian co-workers told me their salary and asked me mine.
ketamineburner@reddit
This is interesting, I think there are some misunderstandings.
American public toilets definitely have larger gaps than in other countries, but they are usually still private. I've seen beach bathrooms with no doors, but otherwise (outside of jail and prison), there is some level of privacy.
T>here's some kind of advertising at gas stations that you watch while filling your car?
I've never personally seen this, but i also haven't been to a gas station in years.
Only if there's an injury or fire, not for minor accidents. American fire fighters are also EMTs.
No, not at all. Grits is corn-based, like polenta. Nothing like muesli.
People always seem surprised to find out that some school districts charge $ for the school bus. We paid more than $300/semester when my kids were young.
Haunting_Head5325@reddit
American restaurants generally have a "to-go" culture. Yes, portion sizes are huge, but it's also incredibly common to get a box to take the rest of your meal home. Apparently that's not common in other places?
senjisilly@reddit
I lived in Geraldton, WA for 2 years as an expat.
The USA magazine "People" is "Who" in Oz, while your "People" is pornography.
Pubs in Oz had "special and extra- special barmaids" nights. We only have normal barmaids. You need to go to strip clubs for the "special" ones. Also, you cannot bring children into pubs or bars here, there is no family room. It's not like Australia or the UK. Unless things have massively changed, women weren't allowed in certain drinking establishments in Australia, although that could just be my experience living in the boonies. In the US, women have unfettered access to all bars and breweries.
FunProfessional570@reddit
The gap thing is not as crazy as you’ve been led to believe.
Some gas stations have pumps with ads kind of like ads during YouTube videos or Netflix.
Grits are mostly a Southern thing. The South is the only place that can cook them so people would think it’s an edible item. Grits can be gritty. I have never liked them but I’m a Yankee.
Where will you be visiting? You can be an American and have some culture shock just driving a few states over. We can probably clue you in on things if we know where you’ll be going.
And as someone else said the “c” word is like worse than the “f” word. You honestly don’t hear a lot of cursing in public.
OwslyOwl@reddit
There can be some massive gaps depending on the place. Like, big enough to see everything if one stopped to look. I heard it’s to encourage people to not stay in as long, but I think it’s mostly poor design.
*There's some kind of advertising at gas stations that you watch while filling your car?
Not every place, but I’ve seen it before. It’s usually for drinks or food inside the gas station.
*If you have an accident while driving, the fire brigade comes?
Depends on the severity of the accident and how far various emergency vehicles are. Fire trucks go to many accidents, but not all.
JesusStarbox@reddit
Grits are more like polenta.
annacaiautoimmune@reddit
Grits are exactly like polenta.
CalmRip@reddit
No, polenta is just coarsely ground corn meal, but grits are made from dried hominy.
Then_Mastodon_639@reddit
Hominy...which is also corn, just treated with lye.
Timely-Field1503@reddit
The primary difference is you get grits in a diner for $5 or so (inflation) and polenta is $15 at a restaurant.
annacaiautoimmune@reddit
And it may be interesting to a visitor that the exact same thing can be called by a different name depending on where you are in the US.
curlyhead2320@reddit
Grits are delicious.
Miyagidog@reddit
You need consent to put your shrimp on the Barbie.
stinky_jenkins@reddit
Most of the bogans in the US live in trailer parks
NewOrleansLA@reddit
Is that the dudes with the mullets and race cars? They seemed pretty cool on some youtube videos I've seen before.
Forlorn_Cyborg@reddit
Do they live down the hollar?
HerdingCatsAllDay@reddit
We do not call it the fire brigade, or at least I've never heard it called that. To me fire brigade would be the old fashioned fire fighters that use a bucket brigade.
The guys who come to an accident with their big red truck are fire fighters or firemen from the fire department. The police also come, along with an ambulance.
The flat surface that goes all around our kitchen is called the counter.
A jumper is a type of sleeveless dress usually worn with a blouse under it. We don't have other articles of clothing called jumpers.
Big yellow school buses do pick up our kids to take them to school and bring them home (every school district makes its own rules about this, so some might not have them or offer it for every student-ours is for greater than 1 mile away). We do not have any other public transportation in most towns.
My kids' bus stops at the end of our street. My 14 yr old middle school son's comes at 6:42 am, my elementary 11 yr old daughter's comes at 7:50, and my 17 yr old high schooler drives herself and starts at 7:25 am.
annacaiautoimmune@reddit
You might not know about regional differences. What part or parts of the USA will you be visiting? There are regional cuisines and dialects. There are large variations in climate, weather patterns, and terrain.
Where you gone be at?
Hollow-Official@reddit
Grits are not muesli they’re more like porridge but bad.
Public toilets do have those gaps because we keep having people OD shooting heroin in bathrooms for some reason.
I have never seen an add while refueling my car, and don’t know how that would even work. It’s mostly just standing around holding the little nozzle thing.
The fire department does come if they’re closer to the accident than the nearest ambulance but only if someone is terribly hurt. I’ve been crashed into a few times and usually no one comes and occasionally the cops put up little cones around the wreckage.
HerdingCatsAllDay@reddit
It is very common to get bread and a salad before your dinner is served at a sit down restaurant. And fresh brewed iced tea is a very common drink here that nearly every restaurant and fast food place has.
When my husband went to Adelaide he had a hard time getting something like a typical US salad. He did get a couple salads but he said they used weird ingredients like mint or something. Here a typical salad is lettuce (romaine, iceberg, or mixed greens) with at least a couple other things such as tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, shredded cheese, egg, sunflower seeds, or croutons.
Classic-Difference44@reddit
Um, why are you going to the US?
Flimsy-Owl-8888@reddit
Where I live, in the Pacific Northwest....Halloween is a big holiday. There are some fun activities during the month of October - at pumpkin farms and such. It's a lot of fun and we carve pumpkins, have corn mazes for the kids, do trick or treating. Older kids go to Haunted Houses with jump scares and scary decor. Some people enjoy Hallowwen parties. .Lots of people decorate their house for Halloween and some get very into this - making their yards look like graveyards, haunted, ghosties and things. IT's a fun time !
American Thanksgiving - is yummy...my family does a Turkey (Or Tofu Tofurkey) -- up with roasted vegetables, gravy, stuffing, wild rice, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (yams), cranberry sauce, green beans, and a relish tray (stuffed blue cheese celery, pickles, olives for instance) and fresh rolls and for dessert pumpkin pie or pecan pie usually with whipped cream. WE eat the leftovers for about a week.
When I was a little kid in school we had popcorn and dressed up as "Pilgrims" and "Indians" and made paper turkeys by tracing our hands and cutting out the shape -- but they don't do that these days because it's problematic....
I don't know how you name things there - but...
pies for us almost always mean sweet pies (apples, cherries, peach, pumpkin, for instance....). If we have a small "pie" with meat and vegetabless in a white gravy, we would call it a "pot-pie"...such as when I was a kid I loved these frozen mini "chicken pot pies" my mom would bake. we don't really have "meat pies" here (as far as I've seen).
Biscuits are like Biscuits and Gravy -- biscuits being a sort of a buttery individual soda bread baked often baked in an iron pan often served with butter and jam (as a side) or with gravy (sometimes as a meal). What you call "biscuits" we would call "cookies"....but we do have cookies called biscotti (italian biscotti)
Grits is like.... Do you have "cream of wheat" (Farina)? It's like farina, but corn instead of wheat -- cereal.... it's good with cheese and pepper and tabasco mixed into it, but it's more popular in the South. My family eats oatmeal steel-cut for breakfast more often.
Yes, there are gaps beneath and around the bathroom door and once in a while, a little kid will peak under to see if someone is in there...some restrooms are better and some worse in this regard.
Some animals we have are: raccoons, deer, squirrel, opposums, coyotes, beavers, bald eagles, stellar jays (in the West)....
Wise_Yogurt1@reddit
Dang there’s a lot of comments but I’ve always wondered if American accents are as difficult for you to understand as Australian accents are for us to understand.
Aussies and the Irish sound like they’re speaking a different language with some English words thrown in
OhThrowed@reddit
Y'all seem to think the stalls are wide open. Unless you are being a super creep and getting right up close and trying to look through them, you can't.
HerdingCatsAllDay@reddit
Eh... not always true. Sometimes the gap is very wide!
MeanTelevision@reddit
I've heard sometimes the stalls in men's rooms do not have doors at all. It depends on the place.
mcm87@reddit
If a car accident is severe enough to require an ambulance, they also often send a fire truck because the firefighters are trained to at least EMT (and often paramedic) standard and are able to assist as well. The fire engine also serves as a big red roadblock to shield the crash site from oncoming traffic and carries the extraction equipment if they need to cut somebody out of the wreck.
In a lot of cities, the fire department also operates the ambulance service, so they’re backing up their colleagues.
reyadeyat@reddit
This can vary based on a bunch of factors, including how serious the accident was, but one big reason is that a lot of firefighters are also trained as EMTs (emergency medical technicians) and they can generally get there faster than an ambulance and start patient care. When my mother and sister were hit by a car, the first fire truck was there \~5min after we called 911. The first ambulance took significantly longer.
door-harp@reddit
All our paper currency is all the same size and shape, which seems increasingly rare as more countries move to modern paper currency that varies by size for different denominations for accessibility purposes. It’s all almost all the same color too.
We haven’t retained as many britishisms as Canada or Australia. We don’t have many things randomly named Victoria, especially in the west. Tea isn’t the default beverage, nor is it considered a meal here. The whole s/z thing.
Americans are super into peanuts which is wild considering how many people have deadly allergies to them.
From what I’ve heard, Americans in regular everyday discourse talk about race, racism, and historical wrongs way more than most other countries. Obviously you know as an Australian that America isn’t the only country with an ugly past with regard to indigenous folks (plus slavery, wars, Japanese internment… I mean really the list goes on and on…), but I’ve heard the way that we talk about those things, sort of plainly and openly is fairly unique.
stillnotelf@reddit
Nothing costs what it says it does.
If it's an item in a store it costs 5 or 10 percent more in tax.
If it's food in a restaurant it costs even more extra than that in a tip, although you can pick the tip amount.
Bright_Ices@reddit
Only foreigners are freaked out by our bathroom stalls. Yes there are small gaps, but no one here looks through them or feels weirded out by them. Here’s an example photo: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/26620/why-do-public-toilets-in-the-us-have-large-gaps-no-privacy
It’s just completely no big deal to us.
Historical_Bunch_927@reddit
Possibly it could be different in different states, but I'm in Massachusetts and I've never thought the bathroom doors lacked privacy. Yes, there is a very small gap around the sides and a large gap at the bottom, but you'd have to be pretty close to the door to see anything through the sides, and you'd have to get close to the ground to see through the bottom.
Ew_fine@reddit
In other developed countries, there are no gaps at all. The doors go all the way to the floor, basically giving you a little personal room.
The American style of public bathrooms—which you described and is the same across the country—is considered not private to other first world countries.
MeanTelevision@reddit
The gap is probably overstated in most cases. The etiquette is just not to stare into the cracks. If anything, when people bring their children with them, the kids might stare, if they're not well mannered.
There are some stalls which are ceiling to floor with a wooden door on each; but those are fancier and not typical.
Princess-Reader@reddit
I agree
Timely-Field1503@reddit
If you can find a quality, scratch-made sausage gravy and biscuits it's worth trying. You might be put off by the look, but the taste will make you a convert.
Also, if you find it at a diner and like it, and then they try to sell you dessert with it? Buy that dessert - it's almost guaranteed to be amazing.
ALoungerAtTheClubs@reddit
Our Target is a different company than your Target, despite having the same name and logo.its the same with K-Mart (which is basically dead here).
questertx@reddit
Blue laws. Do y’all have those? Things you can’t buy on sundays. Currently, we can’t buy liquor or cars on Sundays. When I was a kid you could only buy food on Sundays. So the “office supplies and paper good aisles would be completely roped off.
Forlorn_Cyborg@reddit
Or alcohol before 9am in my state.
questertx@reddit
The “y’all” is the key here. Southern states love blue laws.
Alpacazappa@reddit
I'm in upstate NY and we can buy liquor on Sunday after 10:00 am, and cars any time on Sunday.
arbitraryupvoteforu@reddit
You can buy liquor, beer and wine on Sundays in Connecticut.
jvc1011@reddit
We don’t have blue laws out here in CA, and you can buy hard alcohol at Kroger, CVS, or Target, 7 days a week.
SandstoneCastle@reddit
Doesn't apply most places I've lived in the US. Though ages ago I lived in a state with blue laws for a few years.
tegeus-Cromis_2000@reddit
Depends on the state.
MeanTelevision@reddit
No the fire dept. does not typically show up if there is a traffic accident. Not even police do. It would depend.
Typically people just exchange contact and/or insurance info and go. If it's severe enough, or a car can't move, then police might be called. If there are severe injuries, EMTs would be called.
Grits is hominy, so it would have a consistency more similar to mush or oatmeal or risotto, than to muesli.
Not all gas stations have videos or ads to watch. Maybe, most don't.
The bathroom stall doors often are not very long or don't fit well or lock well, so yeah. But that's once you're in the bathroom itself. There are some which are single-use.
MetroBS@reddit
The gap thing in stalls is extremely overhyped it’s like half an inch wide and if you really wanna see behind a stall you’d have to like press your face against the gap and squint
Forlorn_Cyborg@reddit
Grits are a type of porridge made from coarsely ground corn, typically dent corn, and are a staple food in Southern American cuisine. They are cooked in salted water or milk, and are often served with flavorings like butter, salt, or more elaborate toppings.
I like them savory with cheddar cheese and hot sauce.
starcityguy@reddit
Will chime in on grits. They can be served flavorless (you would add butter and salt to your taste). But the further south you go, the better they get, in my experience. And some places serve grits that are the tastiest stuff you will ever eat.
Pleased_Bees@reddit
Not all of us are loud and obnoxious.
FutureHot3047@reddit
The gap in public restrooms isn’t a big of a deal as some people claim. No one is looking through the small gap and even if they wanted to, they’d have to get close and close one eye to see clearly most of the time.
bkinstle@reddit
If you get into an injury accident, you defintely want the fire department to come. They are trained paramedics and due to liability laws protectiong them but not protecting ambulance drivers, firemen will actually give you aid. Ambulances will just take you to the hospital and hope you don't die on the way.
Lets see, Nobody here has heard of vegimite. People drink way less beer than in Australia. You can't get in trouble for offending the monarchy, except for Trump. Gun ownership is sky high but varies radically with what state you are in. If you want to go shooting just ask a few americans to take you to the range. Coins are useless so just use your debit card instead.
questertx@reddit
Have you heard about the sink things that grind up all the food and send it to the sewers? That seems like a thing that’s not a thing anywhere else?
pepperw2@reddit
Do you mean garbage disposals?
questertx@reddit
Yes. I was being facetious. I can’t imagine not having a garbage disposal.
KeyJunket1175@reddit
Gave me quite a big jump scare on my first stay in a US apartment. I thought the switch above the sink was for an oversink light. It was for the disposal thing. (It used to be a bit popular in my country after we beat communism and american things started flooding in, but never really caught on. We call it "kitchen pig", as in it eats any and everything.)
No-Environment6103@reddit
Don’t piss in the urinal next to someone if there’s others open.
crinkum_crankum@reddit
Most public toilets don’t have gaps that wide. Very occasionally you will see one that has a wide gap.
Most gas stations do not have TV ads. Chains like Wawa and Sheetz now show advertising, and I think I saw one at 7-11 recently, but these are all chain convenience stores.
Grits is like a cream of wheat made of crushed corn. It’s gross.
relikter@reddit
The gaps in toilet doors aren't that bad. You've still got privacy, just not as much as in other developed nations. It could be improved, but no one is staring at you while you poop.
Grits are delicious, especially with shrimp.
A car accident only gets the fire department and EMT if you call for them. If you have a simple fender bender, you just pull off to the shoulder and exchange info with the other driver. If someone needs to be extracted from a seriously damaged car, then yes the fire department is going to come and do that.