Ask Lemmy

Crippling medical debt and outrageous student loans.

In Germany people seem to like opening windows when entering a room, even in the middle of the winter. Or maybe I only know weird Germans.

A few central/northern European countries also don't believe in curtains.

Germany: Workers have rights, and can go to court easily if needed.

Own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion.He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up, Just as the founding fathers intended.

Well, you don't wear shoes indoors in any of the Nordic countries.

We have pineapple and banana and kebab and salad on pizza¹. Apparently it is considered weird.

¹ not the same pizza, obviously. That would be weird.

In Canada, people do not run from the rain... if they are out and about and it starts raining, they just ignore it, they don't walk faster, rarely improvise coverage, etc

In Venezuela, my country of origin, people run from the rain like it's lava falling from the sky

Losing a ground war against flightless birds.

Hospital bills. I guess some of y'all have some kinda universal health care? Wild. Here, illnesses can lead to bankruptcy. Cool. Yeah.

Hearing gunshots in the wild and not giving a shit. I came straight out the woods, not even off a trail, and there was a young couple by the creek. Having a .22, though really wimpy, didn't want to frighten them. Not the sort of place you typically see other humans. Also, I look like a well-outfitted homeless guy when hiking. I waved and smiled, walked up to introduce myself.

The were super nice. "Sorry if I worried you. I was popping beer cans down the creek and I never fire any other direction." "Oh! That must have been you were heard!" Given how sound carries over water, I must how sounded like I was very close. No worries.

LOL, how many non-Americans would hear gunfire in some lonely woods and not run like hell? :) We're rednecks, or redneck adjacent, so it's plenty safe to assume we know how to be safe. Shooting is a brutally Darwinian sport for dumbshits.

Ireland: chicken fillet rolls, spice bags

Scotland: deep fried pizzas, macaroni pies

Tipping as a social obligation when eating at dine in restaurants which in turn allows the waiter to be paid less by the employer and theoretically lowers menu prices.

Germany: public benches are specifically placed to be full view of the sun for as long as possible, a wild proportion of people have bread slicing machines, and you’re not allowed to prevent someone from using even a private toilet if they really need it.

Easy: school shootings, together with politician denial about the causes of this, guns, and lack of regulation for who owns them, make owning guns easier than getting a driver's license.

Super sad, but here we are.

Bagged milk

Italy: always offering (and accepting) food or drinks while visiting. It’s impossible and/or incredibly rude to pass by a friend’s house without getting at least a coffee or a glass of water.

Netherlands: cold lunch. Traditionally, you’d have only one hot meal a day, and lunch would be sandwiches. I don’t mean to say that sandwiches don’t happen in other countries, but that hot lunches are basically unheard of in NL.

US: everyone has one or multiple cars. Walking to the grocery store means you are basically destitute. (That was quite the culture shock!)