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this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023
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Everything in this thread so far is normal stuff I could have guessed. Guns, metric, tipping, etc. Most of it has large groups of people in the country that agree, or at least know.
What are some non-obvious things? Culture shock isn't about major political issues. It's about universal things that turn out to not be universal.
For example, US people have a strong culture of how standing in line works. It's basically a moral sin to butt in line unless you have someone holding your place. This is universal in the country. My understanding is that other countries differ. Is that true?
I know some small petty things!
You say "off of". In the UK we just say off. "Get off my lawn" Vs "Get off of my lawn". Why do you need the extra word?
You call pasta noodles. Pasta is not noodles.
I once got kicked off (of) a beach at 9pm by a police officer. Wtf? It's the beach, who cares if I'm on it at night? And why is it so important to have a police car patrolling it?
On that note, trespassing seems much more serious in America. In a lot of the world you can just wander around, if it's on somebody else's land it's no big deal as long as you don't cause a mess.
For the culture thing, Americans are generally louder and less subtle than any other nationality. They're more friendly and energetic. There's a certain type of dry sarcastic humour that never lands with Americans. I don't want to call it British humour because there's never any confusion with the rest of Europe