Usual Things in the US That Confuse Non-Americans

One of the first things a foreign visitor notices upon entering the United States is flags. In some respects, the United States is a completely different world from everywhere else, so let's look at what's typical there that confounds visitors. There are American flags everywhere—on houses, schools, even clothing, such as shorts and t-shirts—and they have changed 27 times in American history. The current American flag was not designed by the government, although there was a competition in 1958 to create a new flag design. It was only accepted in 1960 and is currently the nation's longest-lasting flag and the winning flag was created by a 17-year-old Ohio high school student.

Americans' love of their flag is fueled by a sense of national pride, so why don't other countries share this sentiment? Some avoid flying their flags for historical reasons, while others only do so on special occasions to emphasize the significance of the event. However, some nations do fly their flags as frequently as Americans do. For example, Danish people are quite proud of their flag and use it to decorate birthday cakes and winter holiday trees. You can also always find stickers with Danish flags, red and white candles, and other flag-themed goods in grocery stores.

Let's head to a restaurant where there are many items that are extremely distinctive to the states, like tons of ice in every drink—it turns out there is some history to this taste. People in Sweden are also quite passionate about their flag and have flag PS everywhere. Since New England's lakes and rivers produced an abundance of ice during the winter centuries ago, before refrigerators and other useful cooling devices, the states began to export ice to other countries and, naturally, began to consume it as well, adding ice to hot beverages. As a result, America has always had an abundance of ice as a resource. Unlike the British who insisted on drinking their drinks hot, Americans have adopted the practice of adding ice to their drinks, which was once associated with being a wealthy person's beverage. Yes, the ice would also indicate a person's status.

Of course, once refrigerators became more widely available, Americans began to frequently add ice to their beverages. The next striking thing is the large portions that are served, and there is a reason for that as well. Ice drinks are very refreshing, which is especially important in the hot south of the country, but if you are from abroad and don't want your drink freezing cold, always specify that to the waiter. Though it wasn't always this way, the government began to subsidize farmers to grow even more food in the second half of the 20th century, which allowed them to grow more food than they had previously. As a result, businesses began to increase the size of their portions, reasoning that it was better to serve slightly more food and charge more than to serve less and lose money.

Larger portions are stuck because customers receive more food for a slightly higher price. Alright, time for a quick bathroom break. It's surprising how many foreigners find American toilets strange. Let's start with the more obvious issue: the gaps on the bottom of the doors, which are quite common even outside of the US and serve a variety of purposes. It serves two purposes: first, it lets you see if someone is inside without having to break into an occupied stall; second, it lets in some ventilation and makes cleaning the restroom floor easier. The openings on the sides are more dubious; obviously, those outside can't see everything that happens behind the door, but even so, there is very little privacy.

In most other nations, these gaps are either very small or nonexistent, so why are they there in America? I did some research, and according to some sites, large gaps are built to lower the cost of restroom stalls because every inch of material is expensive.

According to other statistics, people are less likely to commit crimes in public restrooms when they feel this exposed. The reason why American toilets have far more water in their bowls than European ones, for instance, is that the two types of toilets have distinct flashing systems, and an American one requires more water to flush properly.

Most bathrooms in many countries, especially in Asia, have bedets, which are used for cleaning up after toilets. Tourists often wonder why Americans wouldn't adopt these as well; after all, if you step in mud, you'll go wash your foot rather than just wiping it off with a tissue. The same reasoning applies here as well. It also uses less toilet paper, making it more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Some claim that there is a strong stigma in America surrounding Beday that is very difficult to overcome, while others claim that there isn't enough space in US toilets for a bedet. so those are not present. We should tip the server before we leave the restaurant, especially if there are other well-known methods. In the United States, tipping is much more common than in most other countries.

You are expected to tip any service personnel who assisted you with something, but in some other countries, tipping is not as common. Other countries that have minimum wage laws that require employers to pay their workers a decent wage also have no tipping practices at all. In these countries, the cost of providing services is not passed down to the customers. By the way, here's another fact about the prices.

The prices in stores are arguably the most absurd thing that visitors to the states have to get used to. Taxes are added on top of the displayed price during the checkout process, making it impossible for those with limited funds to estimate how much they will have to pay ahead of time and ensure they have enough cash on hand. However, the main reason for this strange policy is transparency. This lets consumers to accurately compare the prices of goods among States because tax rates may vary, and it also enables taxpayers to know how much tax they pay and to reject raising the tax rate should it become a national priority.

Therefore, if the tax is not included, you can compare the real cost of bread between Alabama and Alaska. For instance, in some American regions, getting around is difficult unless you drive; in these areas, there are frequently neither sidewalks leading to the closest convenience store nor crosswalks that let you cross the street in front of the store. The primary cause of such is presumably the fact that the United States is a large nation with enormous landmasses, and as a result, neighborhoods can be dispersed throughout expansive suburban areas that are quite apart from one another. That is already far from walking distance, and sidewalks are unnecessary because, while studies indicate that Spaniards and Germans walk at least twice as much as Americans do, everything is much closer in those nations.

Finally, you guessed it—the imperial system—which is based on the human body and uses feet, inches, gallons, and Fahrenheits while you might think this is fairly intuitive for everyone, foreigners are incredibly confused by these units of measurement and tend to convert everything to the more familiar metric system.

In this sense, the British are even more confusing because they employ both the Imperial and Metric systems for height. Most of it is in feet and inches, however Great Britain used to use the imperial system for weight kilograms before being compelled to move to the metric system. As a result, they currently employ a blend of whatever helps them be most precise.