American flags everywhere. Like EVERYWHERE. I get a bit of national pride but holy crap, every other house in the street is flying a flag, clothing has flag patterns, bumper sticker American flag, it’s everywhere. And no, it wasn’t even close to July 4.
It’s like Americans are afraid they might forget what country they’re in if they aren’t in sight of a flag at all times.
White socks and how Americans eat with their knife and fork.
The flags on the cars.
First thing I (another Canadian) noticed when we switched from the car to a shuttle to the airport (crossed the border by car to take a flight to Florida) was that there were multiple people on that shuttle that were at least as big as the most obese person I’d ever seen in person up to that point.
Even though our cultures overlap quite a bit, there’s something different in that aspect.
Another Canadian.
All-green money is weird, about as weird for us as ours is for you. Once I knocked over some products in a store and then picked them up. The staff acted like that was saintly, so I guess other people just make a mess and move on? Drive through liquor stores are weird, and seem like an invitation to drink and drive. Paying at a hospital is weird just in concept, although thank god I’ve never had to deal with it down there.
Uhh, other than that it’s been pretty similar in the places I’ve been. Etiquette around “sorry” is famously different, but aside from giving me away as Canadian it has little impact.
Edit, to add a couple positive things: Amazing Mexican food and barbecue not only exists but are ubiquitous. Coding jobs pay good money.
Everyone has an air conditioner, although Canada might be the weird one there.
In many of the responses I can tell which part of the US they visited by the things they list as weird. It’s funny that they think the entire country is like some particular city or area.
Canadian here, British Columbia.
Going to a Wal-Mart in a small-ish town and counting 38 CCTV cameras across the outside front of the building. Ours, in a city with 28× the population, has only 6.
Inside that same Wal-Mart, going into a checkout line without first checking out the customers, and the very next guy ahead of us was an open carry: a semi-auto (AR-15 like looking weapon) slung over his shoulders, a handgun in a holster on his waist, and a lump on his right ankle above his boots. And two knives on his belt. Dude looked like he was ready for some urban warfare.
The sheer amount of infrastructure decay. Sure, even Canadian towns that haven’t seen economic good times look run down and dilapidated, but American towns really kick that up a notch. Most small-town buildings look like they haven’t seen a makeover since the Carter administration.
Unusually authentic Mexican food. Up here 90% of Mexican places are run by white dudes who make semi-authentic “fusion” dishes that are mainly just spicy. Cross the border and less than 15 minutes in, there is one family-run chain (Rancho Chico, Rancho Grande) with super-cheap 100% authentic foods run and staffed solely by Mexicans. And like, holy shit, that’s good food.
The sheer number of people who support and vote for a party who will do absolutely nothing for them, and will enact policies that will drive them even further into poverty and destitution just so their Parasite-Class campaign donors can get even more obscenely wealthy. Conservative voters are just weird, man.
Canadian checking in.
Biggest oddity to me is that the default for restaurants is one bill, and waiters get annoyed if you ask them to split it by person.
Like why would I want to either:
- do math correctly splitting the bill while trying to leave; or
- be worried I ordered something more expensive than the average and unfairly make others cover it?
It’s complete insanity to me.
The fear of naked (intact) female bodies, i.e. censoring of even the slightest nudity, when at the same time, it’s totally fine to have minors play computer games where they can dissect other humans in great bloody detail.
Oh, and chocolate that tastes like somebody barfed into it during manufacturing.
Fast food portion sizes. It’s out of control. Drinking 1 liter of soda for lunch shouldn’t be normalized. BTW most people are super friendly and nice, in Michigan at least.
Oh, and why is all the cheese orange ?
The amount of sugar in any food of yours! It’s incredibly sickening and I’m not sure how you deal with that.
Shoes. Indoors, in your own house, on your furniture?!
British.
I found a lot of things weird, but I did go to Florida like 8 times so it’s to be expected and maybe some of these are exclusive to that state.
- I found it weird that alcohol seemed to be sold only in liquor stores. But you can buy a machine gun in Walmart.
- The food. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice and all but the quantity. Take sizzlers, you go in order your main meal then get an endless buffet for free. Like I couldn’t eat my steak when it arrived as I was full from the buffet.
- syrup all over breakfast items and people bigger than id ever seen were gorging and then taking a box home too.
- enthusiasm: grown ass adults whooping and hollering as we were queuing for rides. I’m a man child myself but it was startling.
- Jaywalking. Wtf
To throw out some positives. Everyone I met was lovely and nothing like the nut jobs we get to see online. People were polite, friendly and accommodating.
Beautiful nature and national parks.
A/C particularly, electricity waste. It’s damn ridiculous, even for Texas. Are northerners born in fridges?
Canadian, so it’s not all that different, but why. can. I. buy. liquor. in. a. PHARMACY?
Don’t know if this is just a California thing, but it was weird as fuck. What’s even weirder, in light of this, is they didn’t go whole hog and sell cigarettes too. 'Cause helf.
Side story: Went into a Dollar General and bought a can of Sapporo. Ok, not so weird, it’s functionally a super basic grocery store with a bunch of other cheap goods. Guy at the counter said, “Oh yeah, they make this beer in some place very far away”. Looked at the can - I’m pretty sure he meant Japan, not Guelph, ON Canada.
He wasn’t wrong but I did chuckle.
