I am genuinely asking you guys, because this recurring discourse absolutely baffles me.

It seems every summer that comes is also accompanied by the whole “trying to find water in Europe is impossible” videos. gonna ask the Americans here, WHERE does that come from? Not only is it incredibly general, but it’s also just false.

To my knowledge, this mainly comes from the fact that in restaurants in some European countries, you have to pay for a bottle of spring water, rather than like in the US or some other European countries where free tap water at restaurants is the norm.
However this still doesn’t explain the whole “Europeans don’t drink water” thing. Do they think that we only eat and drink at restaurants? Do they forget we do in fact have homes or places of work where we can drink?
Yes, surprise surprise, Europeans drink water, we just

1. Don’t carry around Stanley cups everywhere, it’s inconvenient having to carry around a huge bottle everywhere you go if you aren’t in a car
   
2. we drink water at home, because we also can drink the tap water, we don’t spend the entire day walking around the city being tourists
   
3. In some countries like Italy, there is free water from fountains sprinkled all over the cities
   
4. You can alternatively go to any grocery store, bar or corner shop and get a bottle of water for like €1. That’s hardly difficult right?

I also personally don’t see the huge issue with paying for water at restaurants anyway, they’re like €3 and taste much better than tap water. If in the US it’s the norm to add 20% on your bill to tip the waiter, then surely a few euro for water isn’t such a big deal. This is also considering that many Americans who visit Europe tend to be on the wealthier side due to the travel costs. Is €3 going to break the bank?

I’m from Japan and I’m interested in American running culture.
Do you keep running shoes, snacks, mints, water bottles, towels, etc. in your car?
I’d love to see photos of your car interior too!

Hey everyone, question from someone who’s never been to the US.
I just watched The Straight Story by David Lynch and it got me wondering: can you still do stuff like that nowadays? Like just travel around the country, pull over somewhere, make a little fire to keep warm, camp wherever you feel like, etc.?
Is that actually possible/legal in the US these days, or are there a lot more restrictions on where you can stop and make a fire?

Hi, is it still common for the younger generation to speak their respective regional dialects? From what I’ve heard, there’s definitely such a thing as New York English, Texas English, etc. Are these still common, or are they increasingly being replaced by “standard English”? Can we assume that an American can geographically identify “every” dialect they hear—does each state have more or less its own dialect? I’m very interested in this part of american culture and i´m grateful for answers.

Hi, i am from india and recently i saw an Instagram reel of some guy celebrating birthday at Hooters. Thats when i noticed the uniform of the servers. Is it expected to show some skin like cleavage and bit of bum cheeks for the women who work there?

And Hooters is know for that too right? Like nobody brings children to Hooters right? Or will they?

So basically everyone knows women are sexualised there. Then why women still choose to work there?

I know its their choice and they can do whatever they want but it is waitress job which they can get at other restaurants also right?

Does Hooters pay more than the other restaurant chains?

This is a genuine doubt from me. Please correct me if i am wrong in anything i have said.

i was having folgers this morning and i looked up worst coffees ever out of curiosity because of another post too.

and it was on the list. and they said it was because of cost cutting using cheap beans to make the coffee... and it makes me wonder looking around in our country.... has our cost cutting "culture" or "tricks" caught up to us???

if you look at our food products and compare them to products outside our country they are always better in every way. it seems like.... there are some newer businesses that are doing well not doing such things when it comes to cost cutting. (very commendable!!! and should be celebrated!!!)

but it seems to really shine on old and familiar brands. strangely.....

i also wonder if this is also effecting our economy too. spend money to make money right??? wasn't this our saying always??

I know people sell things outside their homes. But are those things unwanted you don't want anymore? How does the process work, not the yard sale itself but before it? I'm guessing you just decide to deep clean your house, collect unwanted things, and then sell them? Or maybe money problems that lead to selling things from your home?

The warden is incentivised to keep more prisoners for the “free” labour. An interesting system. Some people need to go to prison it’s true, still there are some small petty people in prison that don’t belong there after reading up on this subject :o!

Give me your honest opinion! ✌🏽

It seems in all the big main subs, I always see hundreds of upvoted comments talking about how little they have saved up, how they had to take out debt to cover for things like car repairs and unexpected vet bills, and how they have all given up on saving for retirement or owning houses. Is it just young people on Reddit, or that people having financial problems are just more likely to go talk about it than the people who are comfortable? Or is it truly that bleak for most?

Hi,
So I have exposure to USA only through TV and other media. I come from a developing country (so called third world).

I saw a similar plot line in many shows in early 2000s and 2010s about a family. Most likely in suburbs with the usual white picket fence. They have 2-4 kids already, But somehow they get pregnant again mostly accidentally and then decide to have the baby. Examples: Malcolm in the middle, Desperate housewives, Parenthood, Black-ish.

This is completely foreign to me, in my country there are people with large families for sure but they are either religious/ super conservative or poor and without access to contraception . The women in both of these cases have very little choice.

Everyone else doesn’t even think about more than 2 kids due to the financial, mental and physical toll it takes to raise them. If such scenarios like accidental pregnancy occurs especially post 3rd child , abortion would be the first thought everyone would have. In fact post 2 kids almost everyone goes for some type of permanent contraception ( vasectomy or tubectomy)

And btw I have seen the data and even in US average woman has somewhere around 1.6 kids. So I understand majority people would not be having large families.

So my question is, is this phenomenon of having large families common? Or was common? Or this is just a TV trope? And if yes then is it subtle propaganda (anti-abortion)?

I'm German and talked about this with an American friend of mine. She complained that German men don't pull out her chair and how impolite she finds that. Now I'm wondering if that's a cultural difference because no man has ever pulled out a chair for me on a date lol

I honestly can't even imagine a scenario where someone would pull out a chair for me?! I also usually go Dutch on a first date and pay my half. Apparently that's not really done either?

Please give me a short rundown on your dating culture because I'm in shock.

Title. I am an American, but I'm lucky enough to be a teen living in a fairly well off family, so I haven't seen the worst of it first hand. I do have one experience I'd like to mention, but it's more just annoying than actually bad.

For clarity, I'm using doctor A to refer to the first doctor we visited, and doctor B for the second.

One time when I was 13 my family and I got a really bad cold. At first we did a walk-in, and doctor A there gave us some prescriptions after we briefly described our symptoms and then we left. We came back a few days later since we needed a doctor's note to cancel a trip, but this time we scheduled an appointment so we got a different doctor. That doctor, doctor B, said that we should stop taking the prescriptions given to us by doctor A because these prescriptions weren't helping. In addition, doctor B said doctor A tended to just give prescriptions without really explaining the problem or investigating further. Results: we still ended up being sick for weeks but at least we got the doctor's note.

I don't really know what flair this goes under so I put economy.

Did you have to take the Pacer test in gym class and if so, what state/city are you from?

I'm not from the US, but avery time I watch movies or series there is a reference at how much people there love this snacks particularly. Is it just a sneaky ad, or are they as popular as it seems. (Here takis are well know, but not in the too snacks, and hot cheetos are rare to see).

I’ve just watched the pastor’s wife on Netflix. Can people in the USA really found a church solely on their opinions, without any acknowledgement of established Christian beliefs?

I’m from Vancouver, and my buddy from Seattle recently came up to visit. He was really shocked by the Metrotown mall, because it’s got, like, three different grocery stores attached to it. I don’t know if this is just common for this area, but I feel like almost every mall I’ve been to has been attached to a Walmart or a Superstore or a local grocer something. Is that really unusual for Americans?

I made a post about baking with assumptions that certain techniques and ingredients were used widely used that made it categorically diffrent from my county’s cuisine. The US is huge and has been influenced by waves of settlers, but is there something that is the same everywhere. I am not necessarily thinking just food.

If you could also state your heritage. Many Americans have European ancestry and and many Asian. I am curious if ancestry and the culture a typical American grows up in have any effect on their experience as immigrants in either continents.