What’s normal for you and me might not be normal for someone we know who lives abroad. Or their neighbor. One of the harsh truths of life is that reality isn’t always as objective as we might think it is.
In a viral thread, Redditors shared the best examples of what’s completely normal for people from their country and absolutely weird for foreigners. We’ve compiled some of the best answers that we hope will make you smile and laugh.
Scroll down and upvote your favorite things that are normal for some people, but are unusual for the rest of the world. If you enjoyed this list, why not share it with your friends? And be sure to let everyone know in the comments if you’ve got any of your own stories about what’s normal for your country, but that you realize to be strange when you go abroad.
#1
Going bankrupt from medical debt. (USA)
Image source: Deus_Norima
#2
Everyone rags on the US for using imperial, but can we talk for a second about how weird we are here in the UK for using both inconsistently?
You buy a pint of milk or beer, but a litre of coke and 25ml of whiskey
People know how many miles to the gallon their cars get, but you buy fuel at pence per litre.
You watch the weather forecast and the temperature is in Celsius but the wind speed is in miles per hour
Most people can tell you their weight in kilograms, and their height in feet, and if they can’t give you kilograms they can probably give you stone instead, which is even older than pounds, which nobody uses as a unit of measurement, probably because of the confusion between lbs and £…
It’s a glorious mess.
Image source: Koras
#3
upset? have a cup of tea
happy? cup of tea
bored? cup of tea
literally any feeling? cup of tea
edit: yes, I’m from the UK, tea is our answer to all of life’s problems.
Image source: bethkatez
#4
Unsuccessfully helping your dad look for one of his missing thongs and then watching him squeeze into one of your mum’s so he can go out into the back yard and get the laundry. I’m told the rest of you (incorrectly) call them flip flops. (Australia)
Image source: Somobro
#5
Eating with our hands.
In 1969 (the same year the man landed on the moon), Miss Gloria Diaz coveted the Philippines’ first Miss Universe Crown. During the preliminary Q&A, she was asked “Is it true that you Filipinos use your hand when you eat?” To which she replied “Why? Do you use your feet?” and went her way to winning the crown. (Phillipines)
Image source: NorqMarash
#6
Tax not included in advertised price (USA)
Image source: UltimateAnswer42
#7
Bears on motorcycles driving on roads, drinking vodka and playing balalaikas.
…
…
…
Hahaha! Gotcha. What I said was untrue. Russia doesn’t have roads.
Image source: WeedMan420BonerGod
#8
Putting broken glass bottles on the walls around your house so burglars cant jump it and rob you. I moved to Canada and they don’t even have walls around the houses! (Brazil)
Image source: jvcscasio
#9
Having a reality tv star as president (USA)
Image source: idiotwithajob
#10
In my high school (US) we had a group of australian students come to live a day in the life of an american high school. They all thought it was so bizarre and cult-ish that every morning we had to stand and recite the pledge of allegiance to the flag with our hands over our hearts. I couldn’t agree more that it is, indeed, bizarre and cult-ish.
Image source: maamela
#11
Direct democracy in Switzerland. It often baffles me when I read what the government can pull off in other countries without ever involving the population. Like…yea, you get to elect representatives but it often seems to me that those people then elect someone who elects someone who elects someone…is it really still democracy if you’re about five steps removed from the actual decisions? (Switzerland)
Image source: SyrusDrake
#12
Men holding hands in public as a display of friendship is normal in Afghanistan but super weird in the west.
Image source: MichianaMan
#13
In my country you bike everywhere. Cars aren’t used much. For longer distances you mostly use train and public transport. Also being 6 foot is normal (The Netherlands)
Image source: Dutch_Dumbass
#14
I have two to share since I’m half and I get to see those every year. Dead. We celebrate dead and we have parades about dead. We laugh about dead. Dead is our friend. In Mexico we treat dead with love and fun.
Also in Japan we celebrate kanamara Matsuri. Wich is basically a parade about fertility with dicks everywhere. Small dicks. Giant dicks. Dicks as food.
Image source: nikoyo00
#15
Small talk in Poland actually is quite sincere. If someone asks you what’s up, you tell them exactly that it’s s**tty etc.
Image source: daneelr_olivaw
#16
Being left off of maps (New Zealand)
Image source: dogmanbush
#17
Whole restaurants cheering when a plate or glass is smashed (UK). Once was in a Canadian bar/restaurant on holiday and a waiter dropped a tray of glasses, the local looked horrified when i was out of my seat screaming “wheyyyyyy”
Image source: owen-sksk
#18
Leaving your baby alone outside for their nap, even if it rains or snows. (Norway)
Image source: e_ph
#19
Being middle-class with a property having a 6′ wall, electric fencing linked to an alarm, automated gate and garage doors (with security clamps over the gate motor to prevent theft of the motor), security gates over every door, burglar bars, and a house alarm system with infra-red sensors linked to armed response with a reaction time of under 3-4 minutes. (South Africa)
Image source: Claidheamhmor
#20
We have no sun here. Around this time of year everyone start asking each other “You been taking vitamin D?”. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about feeling sad, dealing with the flu, or missing limbs… you been taking vitamin D bro? (Canada)
Image source: ablindbabywith7legs
#21
To get money back when you bring empty plastic bottles to the supermarket. In Germany its called Pfand. Each bottles makes 25 cents.
Image source: bettikonfetti
#22
On Valentine’s day, men don’t give any gifts. Only women give gifts, they only give it to men, it’s always chocolate, and they get it for all the men in their lives, including coworkers. Then there is a day on the 14th of March where the men reciprocate. The gifts are only from men to women this time, and are chocolate or jewelry or nice clothes, and the amount spent is directly related to the amount of chocolate received. (Japan)
Image source: videovillain
#23
Eating most of the organs of an animal, I had some people look at me in disgust when I told them how tasty the brain and the heart of an animal are (Romania)
Image source: EmbarrassedLock
#24
I think tips are a thing in other countries, but in America you have to tip almost everywhere you eat or you get hardly judged by everyone. And if the tip isn’t big enough, they judge you too. It’s so dumb.
Image source: StellaChar
#25
People are always shocked at in my country: 1) our “public” restroom stalls are constructed in such a way that you can pretty much see what a person is doing in there thanks to a constant crack between the door and its frame… 2) I say “public” in quotes because most of our so-called public restrooms are in private businesses who don’t let our surprisingly very large number of homeless use and since there is no actual fully public restroom to use, said homeless often piss and sometimes even s**t in our streets. Oh- and we have a higher percentage of our population in jail than literally every single nation on earth. (USA)
Image source: stos313
#26
Strangers sitting totally naked skin to skin in a steamy room heated to +80 to +100C… and us having competitions on who can last the longest in there. (Finland)
Image source: SinisterCheese
#27
In my friend’s country, Easter is when gangs of boys roam the countryside, pouring water over girls and beating them (gently) with sticks. The girls then have to thank them for it. I thought that was pretty weird. (Slovakia)
Image source: himit
#28
Queuing politely (UK)
Image source: Sergana
#29
Putting cable ties, branches, fake eyes etc on helmets, buckets and hats in spring time to scare away the birds. Magpies are vicious bastards (Australia)
Image source: LostBetweenthePages
#30
Calling a Traffic Light a Robot (South Africa)
Image source: itryandgiveadvice
Follow Us
