I'm sure that in this internet age few people are unaware that visiting the USA will give you the chance to receive compliments on how well your pants fit and allow you to reduce the amount of time you take to write the word 'colour' by a sixth. Likewise, I doubt that there are many Americans that would dream of mentioning the fact that they had an itchy fanny on the plane to Britain. But at the same time I have noticed that there are quite a few American customs that are rarely mentioned in guidebooks or travel blogs. Here I enumerate just a few:
Eating out
The USA is without a doubt a nation with a sweet tooth as such practices as eating pancakes for breakfast seem to be commonplace. However, I'll admit that I was surprised to learn that even the otherwise ubiquitously savoury dish of French toast comes laced with sugar in the US of A.
Sticking with breakfast dishes it would appear that Americans are one of the pickiest nationalities when it comes to the cooking of their eggs; as such, you will most likely find these phrases useful:
1. 'sunny-side up' specifies that you want the yolks to be facing upwards.
2. 'Over [easy (i.e. runny)/hard (i.e. solid yolk)/medium (i.e. in between)] -meaning that you want your eggs turned over.
Moving on to dinner and I can confirm that the rumours about American portion sizes are all true, to the extent that some side dishes could be served as starters in parts of Europe and still considered to be large. As such, the USA seems to be one of the best countries for getting your value for money from restaurants as, on top of the massive portion sizes, free refills on soft drinks seem to be common in many establishments; as does the practice of asking for your leftovers in a 'doggy bad' to take home.
In saying that, there are also more unusual, and even completely negative, aspects to American dinning. These range from an expectation of a tip even when the service was lacklustre, or the food downright terrible, to a habit or removing empty plates whilst other dinners are only half way through their meal.
It's also worth noting that the legal age for alcohol consumption is 21 in the USA, however, the US also lacks the same 'drinking culture' that is found in other parts of the world, and, in particular, Britain. Also, lemonade often comes uncarbonated, so if you have really picky children this may be one to avoid.
People
Whilst most of the stereotypes regarding Americans are pretty downright negative, it's also pretty obvious that to view all Americans as gun-toting, morbidly obese young earth creationists that think the Earth orbits Pluto, is just ridiculous. However, there is one character trait prevalent in the USA that really did get on my nerves, one that I'm going to label: 'overt friendliness'. Having just left a culture where the words: 'super' and 'awesome' are only used by either the most irritating children, or perpetually sarcastic adults, I found this apparent perma-happyness to be very irritating, false, and, quite frankly, creepy. I actually started to miss being back home and getting scowled at on the bus.
Culture
The US seems to be a land were individual freedoms are values more highly than in many other parts of the developed world. This may even be the reason why issues that appear so clear cut to outsiders (e.g. creationism, healthcare, gun control etc) are so polarising amongst the US populace. Nonetheless, the US is also very much a nation of contradictions as, despite the obsession with individual freedoms, when it comes to politics the US is one of the most conservative on the planet. Perhaps this is what lead political commentator, and editor of Private Eye magazine, Ian Hislop, to remark that: 'America's two main parties are its conservative party, and its really conservative party'.
This isn't a political blog so I'm not going to go into any more details regarding US politics, but I well relay the main experience that cemented the view of Americans as a conservative people in my mind.
At the first and only baseball game I've ever been to I was rather amazed by the way that, prior to the start of the game a member of the military was paraded out onto the field, labelled a 'hero' (with no further information given about where he'd been or what he'd been doing previously) and received a standing ovation from many members of the crowd.
After this, it was time for the US national anthem. When this was announced silence immediately enveloped the entire ballpark. Instantly every last person in the ballpark was on their feet and I could see many men with solemn expressions standing (literally) with hand on heart. For a moment I thought people were about to start weeping.
Having come from a country where it's common practice to insert expletives into the national anthem (or to go and buy pies) I found this particular episode to be rather creepy. Frankly, I think what struck me the most was the fact that this sort of behaviour wouldn't be out of place in North Korea, or any Orwellian dystopia that I can think of.
Endnotes
There's probably a whole multitude of things that I've missed out in this post – if fact it has already dawned on me that I've forgotten to mention the lack of street lights and pavements/side walks in suburban USA, and that many T.V. channels have add breaks every 5 minutes- but if there's anything major you fell should be included then feel free to contact me at [email protected] and I'll be happy to amend the post.
I'm also aware that the USA is a truly huge country (with the whole of Britain capable of fitting inside many states several times over). As such, what I experienced in the small part of the country I visited may not be representative of the country as a whole. As such, criticisms are also welcome.
Eating out
The USA is without a doubt a nation with a sweet tooth as such practices as eating pancakes for breakfast seem to be commonplace. However, I'll admit that I was surprised to learn that even the otherwise ubiquitously savoury dish of French toast comes laced with sugar in the US of A.
Sticking with breakfast dishes it would appear that Americans are one of the pickiest nationalities when it comes to the cooking of their eggs; as such, you will most likely find these phrases useful:
1. 'sunny-side up' specifies that you want the yolks to be facing upwards.
2. 'Over [easy (i.e. runny)/hard (i.e. solid yolk)/medium (i.e. in between)] -meaning that you want your eggs turned over.
Moving on to dinner and I can confirm that the rumours about American portion sizes are all true, to the extent that some side dishes could be served as starters in parts of Europe and still considered to be large. As such, the USA seems to be one of the best countries for getting your value for money from restaurants as, on top of the massive portion sizes, free refills on soft drinks seem to be common in many establishments; as does the practice of asking for your leftovers in a 'doggy bad' to take home.
In saying that, there are also more unusual, and even completely negative, aspects to American dinning. These range from an expectation of a tip even when the service was lacklustre, or the food downright terrible, to a habit or removing empty plates whilst other dinners are only half way through their meal.
It's also worth noting that the legal age for alcohol consumption is 21 in the USA, however, the US also lacks the same 'drinking culture' that is found in other parts of the world, and, in particular, Britain. Also, lemonade often comes uncarbonated, so if you have really picky children this may be one to avoid.
People
Whilst most of the stereotypes regarding Americans are pretty downright negative, it's also pretty obvious that to view all Americans as gun-toting, morbidly obese young earth creationists that think the Earth orbits Pluto, is just ridiculous. However, there is one character trait prevalent in the USA that really did get on my nerves, one that I'm going to label: 'overt friendliness'. Having just left a culture where the words: 'super' and 'awesome' are only used by either the most irritating children, or perpetually sarcastic adults, I found this apparent perma-happyness to be very irritating, false, and, quite frankly, creepy. I actually started to miss being back home and getting scowled at on the bus.
Culture
The US seems to be a land were individual freedoms are values more highly than in many other parts of the developed world. This may even be the reason why issues that appear so clear cut to outsiders (e.g. creationism, healthcare, gun control etc) are so polarising amongst the US populace. Nonetheless, the US is also very much a nation of contradictions as, despite the obsession with individual freedoms, when it comes to politics the US is one of the most conservative on the planet. Perhaps this is what lead political commentator, and editor of Private Eye magazine, Ian Hislop, to remark that: 'America's two main parties are its conservative party, and its really conservative party'.
This isn't a political blog so I'm not going to go into any more details regarding US politics, but I well relay the main experience that cemented the view of Americans as a conservative people in my mind.
At the first and only baseball game I've ever been to I was rather amazed by the way that, prior to the start of the game a member of the military was paraded out onto the field, labelled a 'hero' (with no further information given about where he'd been or what he'd been doing previously) and received a standing ovation from many members of the crowd.
After this, it was time for the US national anthem. When this was announced silence immediately enveloped the entire ballpark. Instantly every last person in the ballpark was on their feet and I could see many men with solemn expressions standing (literally) with hand on heart. For a moment I thought people were about to start weeping.
Having come from a country where it's common practice to insert expletives into the national anthem (or to go and buy pies) I found this particular episode to be rather creepy. Frankly, I think what struck me the most was the fact that this sort of behaviour wouldn't be out of place in North Korea, or any Orwellian dystopia that I can think of.
Endnotes
There's probably a whole multitude of things that I've missed out in this post – if fact it has already dawned on me that I've forgotten to mention the lack of street lights and pavements/side walks in suburban USA, and that many T.V. channels have add breaks every 5 minutes- but if there's anything major you fell should be included then feel free to contact me at [email protected] and I'll be happy to amend the post.
I'm also aware that the USA is a truly huge country (with the whole of Britain capable of fitting inside many states several times over). As such, what I experienced in the small part of the country I visited may not be representative of the country as a whole. As such, criticisms are also welcome.