Amrican facts |Wired Facts about America 

 The word “weird” has come a long way sinceits origins in Old English. It was first related to destiny, or the “power to control one’s fate”, and later was tied up with the super

natural. From there it started meaning odd or uncanny. And odd and uncanny is what we’ll talk about today when looking at folks in the good old USA. 

Every nation has some kind of collective idiosyncrasy,such as those Brits that certainly talk about the weather a lot, or those Japanese that created cuddle cafes where lonely businessmen can repose in the warm embrace of a strangerby the hour or for the whole night. Male friends in some countries kiss when they say hello, women in other countries hide their faces, and this can seem weird for those who don’t understand it. Today let’s look at just one country inparticular, in this episode of the Infographics Show, Weird Things Americans Do.

 A Bucket of Coffee please Ok, so maybe it’s not only Americans that do this, but we reckon Americans excel atit. In a story by British author Julian Barnesin the book “Lemon Table”, one elderly British woman points out how waiters in some restaurants habitually keep filling up her coffee. It’s quite nice in fact, but in Britainsuch service would cost you a small fortune. And Americans seem to drink coffee by the gallon. Go to France or Italy, and in many cafes you’llfind your cup of coffee isn’t cheap and comes in a tiny cup or glass. Americans are mass consumers of coffee, andwe doubt any country can match it. U.S. comedian Bill Hicks made a joke about Americans and their coffee habit before he died. The joke goes, he asked for a coffee in one restaurant and the waiter said, “You want the 32-ounce or the large?” How big is the large asked Hicks, and the waiter replied, “You'll wanna pull your car around back. I'll start the pump.

” The Beast of the Feast So, you probably already know this, and you don’t need to have visited the USA to haveheard about it, but visitors often remark on how damned big portions are there. We’ve talked about this before, but notthe real beast eaters. You see, in the states, all over the place,you’ve got those ‘eat this ridiculously large, heart-stopping, gut-busting meal in30 minutes and you get it for free’. Godzilla would struggle to walk out of thatdeal without begrudgingly pulling out his wallet- yet there are names on the plaqueon the wall. But why would anyone literally make themselvessick and pay for it? Only an American could explain. The question was asked on Quora about this,and most people said food is cheap, and big portions sell to the majority of people ineveryday restaurants. But we like this answer, which kind of flipsit: “Your question might well be turned around to ask why are portions in the restof the world so small? The United States has a good food supply andpeople expect value for their money.” 

Knights everywhereYou won’t find this happening all over the place in the states, but you will likely becalled Sir or for a woman ma’am at some point in your trip. It’s very polite and visitors will havenothing against it, but being called Sir will feel strange for most. Perhaps if you are in the armed forces, itmight work. Even calling cops sir seems weird to outsiders. For most people, you have to be knighted tobe called Sir, although admittedly some school kids in the UK might call their teacher Sir. For Americans, it’s a sign of respect, foranyone else, it’s over the top.You’ll find it’s more common in the southof the U.S. 

Smokes and Drugs" This is weird to just about anyone outside of the USA- the fact that at some pharmaciesor drugs stores, you can buy cigarettes. While many pharmacies in the U.S. stoppeddoing this, you can still find it. It does seem rather odd that the place sellingyou things to improve your health would be selling you those cancerous sticks of tobacco. In 2014, CVS Pharmacies in the U.S. stoppeddoing this, stating, “We came to the decision that cigarettes and providing health carejust don’t go together in the same setting.” Hmm, took a while to figure that out.

 Beer everywhereWhile you must be 21 to buy beer in the United States, you can get it in some surprisingplaces. One such place is the aforementioned pharmacy,but you can add to that..you find beer sold in vending machines, at some clothing stores,some coffee shops, at some Drive Throughs, and even some special hospitals will have

beer for sale.These admittedly are rare.

  Accident Lawyers" If you’ve watched the show Breaking Bad, you’ll know there’s a lawyer who willmake sure you get paid for an accident you had, or even didn’t quite have. In the U.S., you can see signs for these sometimes-sleazyguys on TV, or even see their shiny white teeth on giant advertising boards. This used to be weird in the UK, but overthe last few years, the Brits are also getting in on accident claims, and their TVs are alsofull of nice people saying, “Did you have an accident? Do you know you could get compensated forthat…call this number…?” 

Drug dealers on TV The last thing you need when all you really need is some exercise and clean living issomeone on TV telling you can buy a possibly addictive, happy drug that can solve all your problems. These commercials might have calming music,birds flying over rainbows, people skipping and dancing through the park, and then someonesaying a wonder drug made that happen. The original Zoloft (anti-depression drug)ad, told you, “You just shouldn’t have to feel this way.” Maybe not, but to many Europeans, pushingit on TV seems a bit too much..

 Drinking Games" Now for something a bit more fun, but still related to drugs. If you visit America, and certainly if youare young, you might get caught up in any number of drinking games they have over there. Beer Pong, that’s got to be American. Or what about Truth or Dare – works betterwhen alcohol has oiled the inhibitions. Or Quarters – no cursing, no first names,no right hand accepting…no chance of staying sober. There’s even Drink-A-Palooza, an actualboard game for drinking. In most other countries drinking isn’t alwaysthat much fun. 

What happens in America, stays in AmericaOk, so many of those videos out there on YouTube showing the glaring ignorance of some Americansabout the rest of the world were made by Americans, so we don’t feel like we are picking onAmericans too much here. But it’s not only just world history thatsome folks from the USA might not have read up on. We heard a story about a guy that asked anAmerican friend when travelling in Europe what accent she thought she had. She replied, “I don’t have one.” She thought she spoke pure English. Another tale we heard was of a young man fromWest Virginia who met some Brits while travelling in Israel. He asked the Brits how the highways were inEngland. The Brits, jokingly, replied that they didn’thave cars and still used the horse and cart. The guy replied, “Wow.” When the question was asked on Quora why some,and we say some, Americans don’t know much about the world, the answers were mostly relatedto the education system focusing only on the U.S., and the country already being so bigand diverse. The American writer and intellectual Noam Chomsky wrote that the reason why Americans know so much about sports but so little aboutworld affairs is because that’s just the way the system was set up for most people. Is it weird? You’ll find it everywhere, but those videoswe see do seem to make some Americans seem quite ignorant of the world outside America. Let’s just say if you can’t get closeto pointing where North Korea is on a map but hate the country, there is a problem.

 Peeping TomOk, let’s stop being so harsh now. We’ll turn to something amusing and askwhy in the USA, some toilet stalls have such big gaps between the doors and the outer pieceof the stall, so people can virtually watch you do your private business. Many Americans have asked this online. Foreigners ask this a lot, too. One guy on Twitter writes, “When ur sittingon the toilet and u make eye contact with someone through the little crack in the door.” A woman asks, “What's the point of a toiletstall door when there is a 2-inch gap on each side?” Most answers we can find were related to safety,to know someone is in there, to get you out quickly, and making it easier to clean. There’s a huge debate on TripAdvisor aboutthe topic, but no one seems to know the answer. 

How Are You" This could be said to be similar in other countries, but when an American asks “Howare you?” they are not usually looking for an answer. It’s just a way of saying hello. An extensive reply about your ingrown toenail,your setback with Bitcoin, and the fact your father didn’t give you enough attentionas a kid, is probably not what your interlocutor was wanting or expecting. You can just answer with, “Hey.” 

The Real Home of FootballOk, as we’ve just had the World Cup of a game called football, we might as well goahead and say that the rest of the world thinks America is weird for calling its strange stop-and-startgame, football. But we should tell you that it was the Britsthat first called the game soccer, which is a diminutive of the words “Association Football.” The word ‘soc’ came from association andthe Guardian tells us Brits back then loved to put an -er at the end of words. Later the Americans naturally called it soccerjust as the Brits did. Then the Brits decided the word soccer soundedtoo American and let it go. Now, the Brits and Europeans had been playingthis football thing since medieval times, and it was called football back then too. But there were many types of football, includingrugby. That’s why the word soccer became a thing. Americans just took the word football fortheir own game just as Europeans had done. But to be honest, American football is muchcloser to rugby, so it’s still a bit weird. But just let’s finish with saying, if anyBrit or European gives you a hard time about calling the game soccer just tell them whatwe told you. They started it. You have no defense though for calling a gameplayed mostly with the hands, football.

 So, can you add to this list? Have you visited America and found some thingsweird? Are you American and disagree with what wesaid? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other videocalled American Things Europeans Find Weird. Thanks for reading, and, as always, don’tforget to share, and subscribe. See you next time! 

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