20 American Culturalisms That Confuse the Rest of the World

America has become the butt of the world's jokes recently, and why shouldn't we be? We're a hot mess of a country and nothing seems like it's going to change anytime soon.

By zachnading

Published 2 years ago in Funny

America has become the butt of the world's jokes recently, and why shouldn't we be? We're a hot mess of a country and nothing seems like it's going to change anytime soon.

We thought we'd hear from the out-of-towners on this one. So we sourced AskReddit and compiled the strangest American culturalisms that totally confuse the shit out of everyone else.

Some of these are silly, some are serious, some are good, some are bad. But there's no question that America is just as confusing as it is unique. Enjoy.

1
MM/DD/YY. -SuvenPan

2
Entering America from Canada is strange. Immediately I see billboards about abortion and religion lol. -Paralta

3
How you find the word 'cunt' so offensive. -gdcunt
4
You are allowed to drive a car at 16, own guns and sign up for the military at 18. But alcohol - behold the devils liquid - is only for 21+. -lover_of_wisdom_

5
'Entrée' means main course. -Caractacutetus
6
A lot of people follow and worship politicians like they’re gods - flags and all that shit. In the UK it’s universally acknowledged that we hate all politicians pretty much equally. -Monkeytennis01
7
Having to tip almost everywhere. It definitely makes sense at some places, but feel like we have to tip at the most random of places these days. -Educational_Word_647

8
Private health insurance that is tied to your employment. And sucks. -WittyMonikerHere
9
How casual debt is. How easy it is to take loans and credit cards out in other people's names without their knowledge. -StrangeDarkling
10
As a general rule, it's how fu*king lovely Americans are. There's more of a culture of being effortlessly welcoming than I've seen elsewhere. I emigrated and have never had an ounce of hate. It's been the opposite. People will be nice, won't cross the line when it comes to banter, are really careful not to offend and will offer you their spare room when you visit. -No_Percentage7306

11
School mascots. Where I live, we just have teams and just play matches against people. In America, it’s all like “GO EASTTOWN EAGLES!!! OOGACHACKA!” and there would be some person in a cheapo eagle suit spinning a basketball on his fingers or something. You would have a full dramatic cheerleader dance off before your match, we just shake hands and stare at each other. -benderbrodriguez2
12
Americans love french fries, cheese, and gravy, but poutine never took off south of the border. Always found that odd. -righthanddan
13
You Americans seem to have both the smartest and the stupidest humans on earth coexisting in your country. -vomahaf244

14
American here, I still don't understand why we can't just TRY something outside republican or democrat. everyone always acts like the 2-party system is great, but nobody is ever happy with the results. Edit, RIP inbox. Thank you everyone for your interactions. -Sunnyeggsandtoast
15
"Hey, thanks for working for us for 10 years. Here's 10 cents of extra pay."
16
Water. Why are Americans so weird about water? I've lived here for 20+ years and it still makes no sense to me. So many people will drink Coke or juice or Gatorade all day. And if they do drink water it needs to be ice cold or flavored with mio or some shit. Like just drink the f*cking water. I've heard people say "Oh I don't like water." The f*ck do you mean?! Do you also not like breathing air? Do you breathe in febreeze all day? -PhreedomPhighter

17
Having 2 weeks vacation, or no PTO for most. In my current country you have to takes 2 weeks of mandatory leave in a row. Including public holidays I get about 7 weeks vacation a year. -poor_decision
18
Living to work. -HairyNippleCrust
19
Zero tolerance rule... Who came up with that shit? The victim is the one who is f*cked. Either he gets bullied or he gets a penalty for defending himself. -vomahaf244

20
Why do you have to do your taxes? If the Government, in the end, knows if what you paid was what you actually owed, why not just tell you? -Lolleos