Lugnasa Garlic Planting Moon
Just read a very interesting couple of threads on Quora about how persons from other cultures view US culture. What’s most interesting to me is the reveal achieved by others, showing us aspects of our common life, aspects we pay little attention to (the most likely reservoir of culture, BTW), for example:
American culture and society is a naturally high-trust society.
…religious diversity here has made me realize how many south american customs are rooted in catholicism,
and on this set of questions on another thread: What parts of American culture are not easily understood by foreigners? The list below is a composite from individual answers in this thread:
The view of American peculiarities depends on the cultural origin of the respondent.
What is generally found peculiar:
- Permissive gun laws
- Lawsuits
- Euphemisms
- Individualism
- Resistance to the metric system
- Fashion: chiefly ugly footwear
What Asians find more peculiar:
- Less filial piety – disrespect for the elderly
- “Cutting off” children upon adulthood
- Manners: Small talk, sarcasm, showing off, pitching
- Protecting individual rights to an extreme
- Blurry social hierarchy
- The notion that you can be happy without success
- “Going Dutch” and tipping in restaurants
- Drinking ice water year-round
- Overmedication
What Europeans find more notable:
- Manners: Exclamative language and loudness, enthusiasm, friendliness, liberal use of humour
- Moral contradictions
- Social injustice: healthcare, unemployment payments
- Politics: Tolerance for lobbying, the Right Wing, the election system
- Psychological traits: high trust, self-deprecation, diversity, openness
- A culture of meetings
- Sports
- Subtitles instead of dubbing
- Restaurants: boxing leftovers, waiting in line
Note: This list is to be treated as merely an index of motifs found in the answers below and does not attempt to construct a stereotype. Each item here should be read in context with the rationale of the individual answers where it is found
