Culture shock! bzzzt!

I suck, and I've never been to another country. All of the information I get about cultures other than mine (American) comes from books, television, film, music, and these forums. Strange as it may seem, I haven't yet been exposed to a whole lot that's very unusual to me, especially when it concerns EoFFers in Great Britain. However, partly thanks to the thread about the bollards, and partly because I remembered a thread about needing licenses to watch television, I have realized that there are some weird things that are way, way different from America.

So, have you ever noted anything in particular you were exposed to on the forums that was bizarre or seemingly nonsensical on a cultural level? Something other members from the same cultural background took as a matter of course?

EDIT: Also, feel free to discuss real life experiences with different cultures. This doesn't have to be restricted to the forums. :D

Read my post in the other one to get my answer.

Mostly the fact that in Britain, page 3 has NUDES.

Also, this isn't so much of a cultural shock, but I would have never learned some "tasteful" Norwegian vocabulary if it weren't for EoFF and Levian. :D

My experiences in Korea, Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, and Ireland have led to to many interesting opinions, but none of them have really come from forums. They come from real life experience.

Not all page 3's Rye. :O_O:

But anyway, I'll be sensible now. I noticed how Americans spell A LOT of words wrong. I mean differently. No, I mean wrong.

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Originally Posted by theundeadhero

My experiences in Korea, Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, and Ireland have led to to many interesting opinions, but none of them have really come from forums. They come from real life experience.

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I have decided it would be stupid of me to exclude real life travels. Just because I have a limited world view doesn't mean everyone else should. I'll edit my first post!

And hahaha QnT

You so want me. :jokey:

Who doesn't? :jokey:

I don't really notice much on the forums I have visited that has really shocked me.

BoB kept going on an on about some sort of Kiwi burger with beetroot and I was all, "eww!" and he was all, "it's really good!" and I was all, "it's still ew!" and he was all, "you've never even tried it!" and I was all, "but wtf beetroot??"

Yeah. I guess it was sort of a culture shock to realize that New Zealand folk eat beetroot.

Up until recently, as far as I know, Coca Cola was the largest distributor of consumable goods in Mexico. In fact more people drink Coke in Mexico than they do water. I remember going one time to Mexico City to visit my grandmother and aunt, and seeing a mother give her baby Coca Cola out of the bottle.

It takes more than a high voltage fence to shock my culture!

I find it freaky that people drive on the left side of the road. It's just wrong. I was surprised to see they did that in Thailand too, but some people said it used to be a british colony, so I guess that explains it.

and apparantly they don't have this in Sweden. Not the hot dog, the thing soon to be wrapped around it. I asked for it in the store and they acted like it didn't even exist. It was my biggest nightmare coming true I tell ya.

Hong Kong still uses the old British roadway system, so when you leave the city the traffic reverts back to the right side.

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Originally Posted by Annie

BoB kept going on an on about some sort of Kiwi burger with beetroot and I was all, "eww!" and he was all, "it's really good!" and I was all, "it's still ew!" and he was all, "you've never even tried it!" and I was all, "but wtf beetroot??"

Yeah. I guess it was sort of a culture shock to realize that New Zealand folk eat beetroot.

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Beetroot is great. :D

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Originally Posted by Arkady

However, partly thanks to the thread about the bollards, and partly because I remembered a thread about needing licenses to watch television, I have realized that there are some weird things that are way, way different from America.

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The TV license is a sum that you need to pay each year if you own a device that can recieve and decode TV signals. It is used to finance a few national TV channels.

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Originally Posted by Ranzar

and apparantly they don't have this in Sweden. Not the hot dog, the thing soon to be wrapped around it. I asked for it in the store and they acted like it didn't even exist. It was my biggest nightmare coming true I tell ya.

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That's because it tastes awful.

In French class, I learned that French kids are drinking wine by the time they can eat on their own basically...That shocked me and made me a bit sad that we Americans can't do that :(

Well, if I was my dad, I'd probably say....In Europe, people have manners.

I dunno if I've ever had that sort of thing on my own, though. I've never been out of America either. :D Oh; it isn't really appropriate for here, but recently I learned about something funny and painful-sounding that Arabs do. Eek.

A friend of mine told me that in...either Korea or China, I believe, that when people greet each other when they're out and about in the morning, and instead of saying "good morning!" I think they say "Have you eaten?" And they don't expect you to answer them.

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Originally Posted by Uh oh

BoB kept going on an on about some sort of Kiwi burger with beetroot and I was all, "eww!" and he was all, "it's really good!" and I was all, "it's still ew!" and he was all, "you've never even tried it!" and I was all, "but wtf beetroot??"

Yeah. I guess it was sort of a culture shock to realize that New Zealand folk eat beetroot.

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New Zealand folk don't really eat beetroot, that's just Daniel. :p
The Kiwiburger was delicious without beetroot though.

This isn't really a "culture shock", but having lived on the East Coast for oh, a considerable amount of time my move to California has been pretty "shocking" to say the least.

People (not all but some i've run into, to save myself a WERE NOT ALL LIKE THAT later on) seem to be on some distant planet or something.