Adrian Berlutti
There’s something comforting about your own cultural quirks until you realize the rest of the world thinks they’re absolutely deranged. And for Americans, that list of “Wait, you guys don’t do this?” is longer than we like to admit. Here are 20 things Americans think are completely normal but make the rest of the world tilt their heads in confusion.
Red Solo Cups As A Cultural Symbol
These plastic cups aren’t just for beer pong—they’re visual shorthand for “American party” in movies and music videos. Nobody outside the U.S. associates drinking with specific cup branding, but here? Solo red cups might as well be honorary frat house members. Their stackability, anonymity, and low price are part of the lore. Other countries just… use glasses.
Gargantuan Gaps In Bathroom Stalls
If you’ve ever felt like you were pooping in a hallway, congratulations! You’ve used a public restroom in America. The stall design practically invites eye contact. Supposedly, it’s about airflow and preventing “misuse,” but let’s be real: it’s mostly just cheap construction. Europeans stare at these gaps in horror. And honestly, so do a lot of Americans.
Putting Ice In Every Single Drink, No Matter What
Even if it’s below freezing outside, restaurants will still serve your soda with half a glacier in it. At this point, you might as well chew it. Everyone unanimously believes that cold equals refreshing, and warm beverages (unless it’s coffee) are suspect. In most of the world, ice is for emergencies or cocktails. In America, it’s a beverage requirement.
Writing Dates Backwards
Month/day/year makes zero sense unless you’ve grown up with it. Most countries go from smallest unit to largest (day-month-year), but America jumps in like a kid doing cannonballs. It’s inconsistent, confusing internationally, and guarantees that at least once, you’ll miss an appointment because you thought 04/08 was April, not August.
Pharmacies That Sell Cereal And Toys
You walk into a drugstore for aspirin and leave with shampoo, frozen pizza, lawn gnome, and some chocolates. And then you remember that you came to fill a prescription. U.S. pharmacies double as convenience stores. In other countries, pharmacies are strictly for medication. Here, they’re the place to get everything from meds to snacks.
Sales Tax That’s Not Included In The Price
Nothing like grabbing a $9.99 item, handing over a ten, and realizing you’re short because sales tax wasn’t listed. Every country that uses VAT bakes it into the sticker price. America prefers the surprise. It’s not even consistent—cross a state line, and the tax rate might change. Tourists hate it. So do locals. But here we are.
“How Are You?” Means “Don’t Actually Answer”
You’ll hear it a hundred times a day, and it’s not a question. It’s a greeting. The correct response is “Good, how are you?” even if you’re absolutely not good. This confuses visitors from cultures where asking someone how they are implies genuine interest. Americans mastered the art of emotional autopilot.
Wearing Shoes Indoors Like It’s No Big Deal
Ask someone to take their shoes off in an American house, and you might get a weird look—unless it’s white carpet territory. In much of the world, shoes-off is automatic, out of hygiene or custom. But many Americans don’t see the problem with tracking city grime through the living room. It’s a “freedom” thing. Kind of.
Tipping Like It’s A Moral Obligation
15–20% isn’t optional here—it’s baked into the pay structure. Waitstaff often make below minimum wage because tips are expected to make up the difference. Visitors from countries with livable wages for servers are often baffled and then guilted into over-tipping. And if you don’t tip? You’re not just cheap. You’re seen as a fundamentally bad human.
Measuring Everything In Feet, Pounds, And Freedom
The imperial system is America’s most passive-aggressive form of national identity. Three countries in the world still use it: the U.S., Liberia, and Myanmar. Everyone else uses metric because it’s logical and consistent. But Americans still cling to inches and Fahrenheit like it’s a personality trait. Metrication is a decades-old dream that nobody seems to want.
Drive-Throughs For Literally Everything
Burgers, coffee, dry cleaning, banking, and even weddings in Las Vegas can all be done without getting out of your car. It’s the natural outcome of car-centric design and a convenience-first mindset. Most of the world walks more, waits more, and expects less speed. In America, if you can’t get it from a window, is it even worth getting?
Birthday Parties For Dogs
You know you’ve fully assimilated into American culture when you’re at a dog bakery buying a bone-shaped cake for Scout’s “gotcha day.” Pet culture in the U.S. goes hard. You’ve got it all: doggy daycares to Halloween costumes. Even strollers for chihuahuas! In most countries, a pat on the head and a bowl of kibble will do. In America? It’s a lifestyle.
Medical Bankruptcy Is A Thing
It’s not just that healthcare is expensive. It’s that even with insurance, an ambulance ride or surprise ER visit can derail someone’s entire financial life. In most developed nations, this is unthinkable—public healthcare or strict pricing keeps costs in check. Here, you can be charged $600 for Tylenol. And no, that’s not a joke.
Obsessing Over High School Like It Was The Peak
American high school is structured like a teen drama, and adults still reference it like it was yesterday. Most other countries treat secondary school as a means to an end. In the U.S., it’s a whole identity. There are adults in their 40s still talking about their senior year, prom, varsity jackets, yearbooks, homecoming queens, yada yada.
Having Garbage Disposals In Kitchen Sinks
To many non-Americans, the garbage disposal is a bizarre little monster living under the sink—loud and growly. In the U.S., tossing food scraps straight into the drain and flipping a switch is as normal as brushing your teeth. People are horrified at the idea of grinding leftovers in the plumbing. It’s way too close to your fingers!
Putting Peanut Butter On Everything
Sandwiches to smoothies, apples to celery—whatever it is, someone’s added peanut butter to it. It’s creamy nostalgia and budget protein rolled into one, and Americans grew up with it as a pantry staple. But in other countries, it’s a niche item or even considered gross. Most non-Americans know it as “that weird nut paste from the States.”
Air Conditioning Like It’s A Competition
You haven’t experienced climate whiplash until you’ve walked from a humid sidewalk into a 62-degree store. Americans crank the AC like it’s a point of pride. In countries where energy costs are high, or summers are milder, AC is a luxury. Restaurants here are colder than meat lockers, so bring a hoodie.
Free Refills As An Unspoken Right
In most places, you order a Coke, drink it, and that’s it. In America, finishing your drink is a signal to the server to keep them coming. Fountain drinks are cheap, so the refills flow. It’s normal here, but it’s baffling abroad because drinks are smaller and more expensive there. They’re not bottomless by design.
Flags Everywhere—Even On Pickup Trucks
The sheer number of American flags per square mile is something that shocks visitors. They’re on houses, lawns, shirts, and bumper stickers—sometimes more than one per household. In other countries, flag-waving is reserved for national holidays or sporting events. In the U.S., it’s Tuesday, and the mailbox is wrapped in the stars and stripes.
Calling Themselves “America”
This one genuinely confuses people. There are 35 countries in the Americas, but only one calls itself America. Technically, it’s the United States “of” America, but that part gets dropped casually as if it were just decorative. To everyone else, “America” is a continent, not a country. But try telling that to someone in Texas.
