Family eating at shooters (and the whole hooters/twin peaks concept)
Need to take the car for a 500m trip because there is no sidewalk and a highway to cross
The car thing really blew my mind. My hotel was 400m from the office but 1.6km by car. Colleagues were waiting for a taxi while I walked. I had to cut over a couple of car parks and a bit of grass (zero sidewalks) and was there in a few minutes while they turned up 15min later since they were waiting for a taxi.
The worst part, they all jumped in cars to go 300m down the road for lunch. Yeah, I walked. With looking for a parking space then walking from the space to the restaurant, they got there after me.
I adore Americans; they’ve been nothing except kind and generous to me in every part of the country I’ve visited but damn, the money they’re wasting alone just starting their engines and the wear and tear on the vehicles blows my fucking mind. Build some sidewalks, guys!
Many of us would like this, but it’s dangerous or even illegal to get to some places by walking in large parts of America. And zoning laws make it really difficult to change.
It’s illegal to walk to Costco
It’s illegal to cross the street some places
How so ?
Ilegal to walk to to Costco sounds so much non sense to me ? like you can’t go shopping without a car ? Legally speaking ? That makes no sense
It’s a joke, buddy.
and the whole hooters/twin peaks concept
I haven’t thought about Hooters in years. It always did seem like a dated concept from the 1980s that was somehow still clinging to life in the 90s. It’s still in business, so obviously somebody must be going to them, but I don’t know if I’d call it normal for most Americans.
Tipping
Oh we realize, but it’s difficult to stop once it’s been ingrained in the culture. Not only that, employers took advantage of that and therefore tipped employees have a much lower minimum wage.
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.
The chocolate thing is because American chocolate manufacturers use butyric acid to preserve the milk. Basically, using fresh milk in chocolate is expensive, because you need to get it shipped directly and be located near enough to the dairy farm. So they intentionally spoil the milk in a controlled manner. This allows them to preserve the milk (as opposed to having it spoil naturally and go completely rancid,) which allows them a much more relaxed manufacturing process. This controlled spoiling method produces butyric acid in the milk.
The issue is that butyric acid tastes like vomit. Americans are used to the sour taste and don’t even really recognize that it’s not what chocolate is supposed to taste like. To them, that sour note is just part of chocolate. But Europeans come to America (and are used to fresh milk in their chocolate), and they are horribly disgusted when they taste American chocolate for the first time. Because Europeans aren’t used to having that sour note in their chocolate.
This is also why so many Americans fawn over foreign chocolate. It is seen as more luxurious, but most Americans can’t really place why it tastes so much better. The reason is the lack of butyric acid.
Can you explain why all milk tea tastes like it has playdoh in it? I just want a freaking Chai tea like the glass coffee Starbucks drinks but all the Asian teas with milk have an odd flavor from whatever is going on with the milk
Also Smarties! These are Smarties everywhere else in the world apart from the US as far as I can tell.
Just googled it out of curiosity:
Our smarties is because those ones hadn’t made it over from the UK yet, so it got the “I was called that first” power
I think in the UK we have a similar thing but they’re called Refreshers.
So those are actually the exact same thing, apparently
More googling lead to the smarties Wikipedia page, which says the Dee family also owns Swizzles Marlow, and the first product on their page? Refreshers, bi-concave candy disks!
Sex is bad but graphic footage akin to war carnage is just superhero stuff totally appropriate for kids /s
it’s totally fine to have minors play computer games where they can dissect other humans in great bloody detail.
funny that you didn’t mention porn. I feel like that would probably be more relevant, although conservatives are trying to ban it now, so there’s that.
Other chocolate I’ve tried from other countries through import stores definitely tend to beat our chocolate. Definitely gotta agree to a degree with that one.
based on knowledge of the US : many things that other places take for granted or fight to preserve, you guys struggle to obtain.
based on my trip : fucking nothing, I visited new york and stayed at a run down, pre paid hotel. I ate food from stores or carry out. I can’t exactly critique the healthcare system, tipping culture, driving culture when I had access to a fairly modern public transport system, didn’t need medical assistance and didn’t need to tip 50 people just to eat one thing.
EDIT: it’s like asking tourists in antalya at the beach what they think of turkey, they’re fucking tourists, they aren’t affected by the dictator and his bullshit
I was just in Göcek and Ankara and I had some wildly interesting interactions with locals when they asked me how I liked Turkey.
“I like it, very beautiful country, lovely people, great food.”
“So you’d move here?”
“Uh… perhaps not”
“So you don’t like Turkey”
👀
lol
those fuckers have some nerve asking you that shit, when we have so much brain drain that most high streets are basically completely catering to elderly people with hearing aid and similar stores on each one, because all the working age people leave to live abroad.
No shit rich foreigners don’t want to move to turkey.
source : part of the brain drain for both turkey and the UK. fuck them countries.
My girlfriend and her sister are also in the brain drain. Definitely a sad state of affairs, so many of her friends and friends family’s have been either political prisoners, or had ongoing court cases, etc.
I’ve been trying to learn Turkish so we can move her family over here too and I can actually chat with them, but I fear they’ll need to work on their English so they can get around.
many of her friends and friends family’s have been either political prisoners, or had ongoing court cases, etc.
wow. I’m assuming the people asking you “wanna move to Turkey?” aren’t aware of this.
Best of luck to your gf’s family , gurbet recognise gurbet.
Teşekkürler!
I hope where you are now is more stable.
I only stopped there for transit on a flight to Mexico. Just before boarding my flight I was told that I need a visa for the US, which is extremely weird because normally airports have transit zones where you don’t need any visa. But apparently the US is special, so you actually have to enter the country before going right back into the airport. This nonsense made me miss my flight.
Also I remember in the airport there was a security guard doing nothing but shouting nonstop that it’s not allowed to carry water. Why not simply put up a sign?
Americans don’t read.
We read, just not posted signs without a skull on it or something cool like that.
If it is important they would put it on a hat.
I’d also say sign fatigue (plus general fatigue) is a thing. When you go to an airport security line there’s like these giant signboards stood up like the 200 Commandments, each with a mix of pictures and walls of text of for things you’re not allowed to bring on a plane. Or some things you can check and not carry on or you can carry on and not check. And you’re also expected to know all of that while you are in transit, stressed, and maybe also sleep deprived.
Too many signs to properly pay attention to them all.
Am American, don’t know what this says
We weren’t elected to read.
i dont obey bullshit signs. like there are still signs demanding i wear mask in a restaurant, but nobody cares.
its a diff story if someone gives me a hard time: `sure if it|l make you shut up´
You sound pleasant.
Just before boarding my flight I was told that I need a visa for the US […] This nonsense made me miss my flight.
I WOULD HAVE FUCKING LEFT IF YOU’D LET ME ASSHOLE
Not like that, they didn’t let me board my flight from Europe to Texas. Even though I had a connecting flight to Mexico few hours later. Why can’t they have a visa free transit zone like every other country in the world?
A couple of times I’ve travelled Air NZ route that goes London-Auckland via LAX. The plane has to stop to refuel I guess. All the passengers are forced to queue up to be fingerprinted and have their eyeballs scanned, while a security guard walks up and down screaming “STAY IN THE LINE!” Then they’re herded into a lounge barely big enough to hold everyone (first class passengers have their own little pen next to the toilets). Apologetic air crew distribute apples, crisps and bottles of water. For hours. Through a glass wall is a view of the rest of the airport: shops, cafes, bars, space to stroll. But hey, at least you get to not miss your flight, and the US is safe from Kiwi tourists.
I don’t know if they still do this, I avoid the route.
Because fuck you, that’s why.
Also, freedoms or something, I dunno.
Because fuck you, that’s why.
America in a nutshell.
So they can rob noncitizens using asset forfeiture laws. Never travel in or through the US if you need to transport large sums of money or valuables.
Actually, the better advice is never travel in or through the US. I wish that were an option for me.
I only stopped there for transit on a flight to Mexico. Just before boarding my flight I was told that I need a visa for the US, which is extremely weird because normally airports have transit zones where you don’t need any visa. But apparently the US is special, so you actually have to enter the country before going right back into the airport. This nonsense made me miss my flight.
Not like that, they didn’t let me board my flight from Europe to Texas. Even though I had a connecting flight to Mexico few hours later.
I am no longer on your side. if your journey is :
European country X -> Somewhere in the US -> Texas -> Mexico
Then of course you’re going through security controls, etc etc. You’re going from the international processing and flights part of the airport to the domestic flights part of the airport, which is the zone where any asshole in that country can travel in, so you’re properly entering the US. Of course you need proper clearance and visas and all that.
I initially assumed your journey was
Non US country-> Somewhere in the US -> Mexico
which you’d be completely right
No domestic flight, just Europe -> Texas -> Mexico.
i’m back your side fuck that airport
The US doesn’t do sanitized transport because there’s not really a need in most airports. The vast majority of passengers are Americans or coming into America. It’s also self reinforced, because once others learn they stop doing layovers in the US. It might make sense for a few large airports like Atlanta, JFK, and LAX.
Signs telling you not to bring guns into shopping centers.
In some states, these signs don’t even mean that a person can’t carry a concealed weapon into the shopping center. In my state, for instance, assuming you are otherwise able to legally carry a gun (meaning you took a class and aren’t a felon), the list of areas where you can’t legally carry a gun is very limited: Federal buildings, courthouses, etc. If a business has a sign posted stating “no guns allowed,” you can still legally carry your weapon in that business. If an employee sees that you’re armed, they can ask you to leave, and you’re trespassing if you refuse, but nothing legally stops you from carrying a gun into the establishment in the first place.
As a disclaimer, I’m not arguing this one way or another. I have a license to carry a concealed handgun, in fact. Just sharing information.
Yeah I’m sure minimum wage clerks are going to totally feel comfortable asking the armed person (someone who believes they need to arm themselves to enter a shopping center) to please leave.
Yeah I’m sure minimum wage clerks are going to totally feel comfortable asking the armed person (someone who believes they need to arm themselves to enter a shopping center) to please leave.
yeah, they probably would. Shooting someone is very fucking illegal.
also most larger establishments are going to have security, and, you can call the police if you wish.
Most people who have a concealed carry permit are generally law-abiding. I would certainly leave immediately if asked.
If a business has a sign posted stating “no guns allowed,” you can still legally carry your weapon in that business.
I’m sure that’s the practicality, but I am skeptical of the legality of a CCW permit trumping the rights of the property owner.
It sounds more like breaking the law and just not getting caught. Do you have any links to CCW permit overriding property owner rights?
I don’t know the statutes offhand; I’m basing this on what I was taught in my CCW class years ago.
The general idea is that the state sets limited laws on where you can’t carry concealed. Government buildings, etc. These restrictions hold the force of law. For a private property owner, they can certainly say “no guns,” but it has the same legal weight as if they said “no hats.” They can set rules for their property, but those rules don’t magically become law. That’s where trespassing laws come in; if you’re asked to leave, they have the right to ask you to do so.
Some states do have laws in place stating that “no guns” signs are legally binding, but the signs must meet certain legal criteria as far as wording. Surprisingly, I think Texas is one of these states, but I could be wrong.
My state is solidly blue, so it does seem strange to me that the laws are written as they are.
Property owner rights do not magically override the 1A.
Property owners are welcome to write scary notices. They are just not legally enforceable.
Never seen this where I live. Not every state is a complete shit hole thankfully
I haven’t seen it many times, but the first was definitely a bit surprising.
Going out in public in your pajamas.
How difficult it is to find fresh produce in small shops (food deserts)
How much fat is in all the meat.
How old and badly maintained many of the roads and bridges are (I am from Africa, so that says something)
The levels of national arrogance.
How old and badly maintained many of the roads and bridges are (I am from Africa, so that says something)
The US is very large, and this varies wildly by state. Some states actually care about funding/repairing infrastructure. Others, not so much.
Going out in public in your pajamas.
I have seen this on very few occasions, and each time, the pajama-wearing individual is very obviously only out in public so they can either stock up at the liquor store or meet their meth dealer. I don’t think this is common.
Go to Walmart (not the neighborhood Walmart, the super Walmart) and look around
This was in early 2000 New York and Washington DC. Spent about a month there and saw it daily.
Once upon a time not long ago
when people wore pyjamas and lived life slow…checks out.
It’s common at the high school level. It’s a byproduct of pandemic lockdowns.
I see that with adults, and WAY before the pandemic. First time I saw that, Bush Jr. was in his first term
I do it regularly because it’s comfortable and I do not give a single shit about what anyone thinks.
I have seen thqt zero times.
But tbf I don’t live in a big metropolitan area.
Your urban planning. Your cities are unwalkable, the scenery makes me depressed af, everything is scaled up for cars, even restaurants are for cars, the highways are huge, all I can see is tar. I don’t know how you can live like that.
I don’t know how you can live like that.
We don’t, we develop mental health issues and our bodies get crippled in the process too.
To be fair, the national parks are really beautiful. But you need a car to even reach these parks, then drive into a massive parking lot – really depressing.
I took the Empire Builder train, then walked into Glacier National Park. But, then, the only way to get up Going-to-the-Sun Road was by shuttle bus, and we got stuck in a mile-long traffic jam on the side of a mountain. So ridiculous.
Shoes. Indoors, in your own house, on your furniture?!
How can you guys get any work done around the house if you’re constantly swapping shoes?
You buy shoes that are easy to swap - like no need to use hands kind of easy. You can also go barefoot at home, because the floor is clean.
Pffft
Just go barefoot everywhere
Hard agree, but you won’t gain any friends by mentioning this to Europeans. I guess they just stopped for tea after bringing in a single grocery bag, then change back into their shoes to get the rest of the bags, followed by a nice cigarette outside, another shoe change, and some black pudding for dinner.
I don’t really do this but I knew people who did growing up so I’ve got experience:
Laced shoes go on for big outdoor trips. If you’re walking around your yard or the immediate area it’s loafers/flip-flops/Crocs/etc, something you can slip on/off easily as you come in/out the house
It’s not really much of a time investment at all except if you live where it gets rainy and muddy, because then youre gonna put on more hardcore outdoor shoes like wellies
I bought a pair of Ariat western style work boots last winter exactly for this situation. I didn’t want to track all the water and pine needles all over my floor, but I was sick and tired of spending 1.5 minutes lacing up my work boots every time I went outside. It’s still a little bit of a pain, but much better than floozie shoes while doing manual labor, or dealing with boot laces a dozen times in a work session.
Cascadian here to confirm. Throw on an insulated flannel and a pair of muck boots and you can stay in your pjs when you chore in and out.
Yeah as someone living in Canada that seems wild to me. I can’t imagine they still do that in places with snow, that would be madness.
on your furniture?!
Carpet counts as furniture?
Otherwise, no, I don’t tend to walk on my tables, chairs, and couch very often. If I do need to do that for some reason I tend to do it barefoot for the grip, tho
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.
The obesity epidemic really depends on where you are. I don’t see any fat people where I live now, but they were absolutely everywhere in the city I lived in before.
This was in Detroit. It wasn’t as noticable in Florida, or on separate trips to California. Like I’m sure I saw some pretty obese people in those locations (as I do in various places in Canada), but it wasn’t to the point where my mind made specific note of it for me to remember over a decade later.
Central California has tons of fat people, especially at places like Walmart. They all seem to congregate there. But then places like Huntington Beach, San Diego, and San Francisco, have almost no fat people. I think the better the socioeconomic situation is, and the more accessible walking is, the less likely people are to be overweight in an area.
Yeah, I was in SF and then LA and spent the free days of the LA trip hiking Hollywood Hills and visiting six flags, which probably skews more towards people fit enough to hike or fit in rollercoaster seats.
I also visited a market near the hotel that had prices low enough that my assumption at the time was it had to be mostly stolen and got a great duffel bag for like a quarter of what I’d expect to pay for that back home.
Amusement parks tend to bring some pretty hefty people off the couches. The Hollywood Hills are usually pretty healthy. What did you think of SF and L.A.? SF used to be my favorite city in the world. That was twenty years ago though. I’ve heard that it is in serious decline now. Some parts of Hollywood can be cool to visit, but L.A. in general is completely overwhelming to me. I want to get the fuck out after 2-3 days. To be fair to L.A., I have the same reaction to NYC. I think they’re really neat and amazing for a day or two and then I just want to escape and get away from the oppressive concrete jungle.
I was only in SF for one day and had an event most of that day, unfortunately, so I didn’t get to see much of the city. I think I saw the golden gate bridge from the plane. The hotel they put me in was nice, though, most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.
LA was hot and the traffic was pretty crazy. I was there for about a week for siggraph with work. Santa Monica was nice, it was cool seeing the Hollywood sign in person, and I do remember looking back at the city and seeing all the haze.
Six flags had rollercoasters that lasted longer than the longest one at Canada’s Wonderland (at least at the time, their 3 newest ones are a bit more comparable). I won a giant Scooby Doo stuffy because they had a game where I figured out the trick to it on my first play and returned later to upgrade my small Scooby-Doo to the large one (and bought the bag for the plane trip). The stuffy was pretty cheaply made though, so they might have still made money from the two plays I paid for lol.
Other bits and pieces I remember are the different vegetation they had (my first time seeing palm trees) and noticing the barbed wire on a bunch of flat roofs. Also it was weird to see commercials for prescription drugs.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot one of the highlights of the trip, going to Fry’s during it’s heyday. I was buying my own hardware at that time but it was the first time I saw an aisle of motherboards where you could actually see the boards on display. I think we ended up going there twice, once for cables we forgot to pack for our booth, then later for our own shopping trip.
Ah, it’s too bad you didn’t get to see more of SF. The city itself is neat because it’s built on top of landfill, has tons of hills, good public transportation, and embraces weirdness. The areas surrounding the city are the real gem though. The view from the top of Twin Peaks where you can see the whole bay, the land across the golden gate, all of SF, and the Pacific Ocean, is stunning enough that it caused the Brit who was with me to declare that it’s enough to make one believe in God.
Man, I miss Fry’s! I was fortunate enough to visit that L.A. Fry’s in its heyday too! That place was heaven for a computer nerd such as myself. I was so stoked when we moved to the Seattle area and discovered there was a Fry’s in Renton (near Seattle). Both my wife and I were extremely bummed when covid killed Fry’s. They were already in decline, but covid really finished them off.
Anyways, the USA definitely has some beautiful and amazing places. I’ve only been to B.C. and Victoria in Canada, but I love it there too. I always feel like we’re so crass and aggressive whenever I come back across the border from a Canada trip. You guys are all so friendly up there, and I love it. It’s a beautiful country too.
You need to visit a Walmart and good luck trying to forget.
In Canada or the US? At least where I am, the Walmart shopping population doesn’t seem that different from the general pop, though I generally avoid going there so maybe I’m just not looking enough.
Disclaimer that I am aware of the people of Walmart meme, but kinda assumed that it was more of a “Walmart is popular therefore you’ll run in to people who live at the extremes” than a “Walmart uniquely attracts those who live at the extremes”.
Walmart’s in the USA. I am amazed how the electric scooter frames hold together.
Where are you crossing? Around here the population on both sides of the border are pretty indistinguishable, except for accent.
I forget which crossing it was exactly. Might have been Windsor or might have been farther north. We drove several hours before switching to the shuttle in any case and didn’t get out to look around on the Canadian side of the crossing.
It could have been a biased sample. I mean, for all I know, one very obese family just happened to get on that same shuttle rather than it being a random sampling of what people were like in that area. Hell, they could have even driven several hours to get there themselves and thus didn’t represent the local population at all.
Could have been bias confirmation rather than culture shock.
The toilets/restrooms at restaurants (or at least many fastfood restaurants?) are often shared and used by both employees and customers. It grossed me out a bit a bit at first, especially as they are, in my experience, quite often pretty filthy. So all the nastiness customers drag in could potentially be picked up by employees.
I’ve been to BKs and Wendys’ where I left the establishment as soon as I entered, just because the whole place looked and smelled like somewhere you shouldn’t eat. I suppose these were more often than not in pretty rural areas…
While on the toilet topic, I’ve found public restrooms at e.g. gas stations and shopping malls to often be, uh, less than inviting. I think I’ve seen more overflowing toilets on a 4 week vacation in the US than I’ve seen in 40 years over here, in northwest Europe.
To be fair, I’ve driven east/west at least 10 times over the years, so I’ve been to a lot of public restrooms and the bad experiences tend to stay with you for longer than the good ones.
The firearm culture, and how normalised it is.
I went into a Walgreens in Chicago, and waited in line behind two other people. There was a cashier free but the person in front of the line was waiting to be called. The guy behind the person in front politely said, “ma’am, the cashier is free” ‘I’m waiting to be called” was the response.
So the guy behind her just walked past her, and she pushed him and said, “Careful buddy, you’ll get shot for doing something like that”
I was taken aback at how quickly a simple discourtesy escalated to shooting someone. It just blew my mind that shooting someone over queue jumping was verbalised, and seemingly normal to each other.
I’ve never seen an interaction like that and I’ve lived in this country 40 years
That’s not gun culture per se, but gang culture. Gun “culture” in the US is something that trends far more right wing in general, and tends to be mostly white, mostly (nominally) christian.
I can’t speak to other cities, but the south side and west side of Chicago (esp. around Garfield Park, Douglas Park, and all of Austin) have a serious gang problem. If you aren’t willing and able to engage in violence at the slightest perceived provocation, then you tend to be victimized. The net result is that someone that jumps a line can end up getting a beat down, or killed. (And, BTW, the gang problem is a result of a century of institutionalized racism, combined with a few decades when CPD was exceptionally effective at jailing gang leaders; instead of just two or three major gangs in Chicago, you have hundreds of small ones, all constantly fighting over tiny patches of turf.)
I get what you mean, but this was in the central loop, in a business district, between a white woman in her 50’s and a black man in his 30’s. Very much gun culture by your definition.
Gang culture I can somewhat understand, but this was just wild to me.
Not saying it’s right or wrong… not my circus. But at a chemist?
I think that most people that have lived in Chicago for a while are pretty aware that, due to this kind of culture of violence, that kind of action in Chicago carries a degree of risk that wouldn’t be present in many other places. So I don’t think that it would be that out of line to make that kind of comment in general. It’s just kind of pervasive.
I would be much more surprised to hear that kind of statement in, say, Phoenix, AZ, where you almost certainly have far, far more people carrying concealed firearms legally, but don’t seem to see the same kind of gang/violence problems.
Sounds like someone was just being hyperbolic?
Where I’m from, the hyperbole would go “You’ll get punched.”
Well yeah… That’s America for you
yeah that’s equivalent to getting shot here in the US lol.
I would probably argue if someone said “i’m going to punch you” would be more of a threat than “you’ll get shot for that”
Thats mostly just Chicago to be real
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Btw, it’s illegal to kill someone for checks notes cutting you in line. Had he wanted to waste the next three hours he could have reported her and if the cops decided to do their job it is a crime (communicating threats and assault for the push). I don’t think that criminal acts gun owners aren’t allowed to do are really part of the “culture” just because criminals sometimes do crime, like, people steal but theft isn’t part of “shopping culture,” y’know?
Careful buddy, you’ll get shot for doing something like that”
i guarantee you this is a joke.
Not that it can’t happen, but i am willing 100% to bet that this was a joke.
As an American, my top realization was… everywhere else in the world yall use electric kettles - Americans frequently only have a stove top kettle like it’s the fucking eighteenth century.
Honest truth is that people in the US don’t need to use kettles as much, so for a lot of households it’s just a question of why buy an extra appliance when the cheap $10 kettle from Target or a small saucepan will do for the few times a year a kettle becomes convenient.
Also: Microwave. Apparently, lots of people heat their water in the microwave. (See pinned comment here.)
I will admit as a kid when I wanted tea I used to just fill a mug with water and stick it in the microwave for a minute.
But my electric kettle only cost me $10
+1 for the account name being on topic
You ever eat instant ramen? You enjoy boiling things? Do you drink tea multiple times a year?
The kettle is worth it.
That’s the thing, the answer for a lot of people in the US is no.
After coffee, the most common need for boiled water in US households is probably for pasta, and a kettle’s not really the tool for either of those.
People that do eat a lot of instant ramen or drink a lot of tea in the US are more likely to have electric kettles (as some people I know do) but most don’t eat ramen often enough and tea just isn’t as big here.
Ramen is most commonly sold in sealed plastic bags in America. We just cook it in a pot like any other pasta. Lots of people I know don’t own any kind of kettle. If they need to boil water a pot or the microwave both work just fine.
Personally, I like tea, but I also have an induction cooktop, so I just have a kettle for that. It’s great. All the advantages of an electric kettle without having to put an electrical appliance by my sink.
you can boil water in a pot on the stove, or in the microwave, we have options.
This is sort of the point - it’s such a pain compared to an electric kettle and I just don’t understand why Americans are so dedicated to avoiding such a useful appliance.
is it though?
- kettle: fill it with water, turn it on, and wait
- stove: fill a pot with water, put it on the stove and turn it on, wait
- microwave: put a cup of water in the microwave and wait
- coffeemaker: press the go button, it makes hot water
it’s useful in the same way that a rotary hammer drill is useful for drilling through masonry, i’m going to assume you probably don’t drill through much masonry in your life, therefore you don’t need it.
Americans aren’t stupid or daft, we just dont fucking need them. 95% of the time we need hot water, its for cooking, or coffee.
If we had a kettle it would literally just be landfill.
you’re effectively asking someone who doesn’t eat toast frequently why they don’t have a toaster, it’s a silly question.
They are common among US tea drinkers, but coffee seems more popular.
I actually find this cute. Like we’re all out camping and someone wants to make a brew. Adds an element of magic to making a simple tea.
coffee makers (basically everyone has one) are basically just a kettle
Juxtaposition of pearl-clutching Puritanism w/ a 21 drinking age against beer available in a 7-11.
Pick a fucking lane
You could probably sell Americans on lowering the drinking age in many States, but there’s some big legal hurdles and pretty much everyone agrees we’ve got bigger problems to deal with first.
Many things. To say some…Billboards with lawyers advertising for things like demands after accidents. Like dozens one after another on the road.
So much sugar in everything. Last time I was there had to throw to the bin a yogurt. Was so sweet It was awful. Prices of “fresh” food.
Tips for everything. Going to a restaurant and have to tip like 20% of the bill, or even more, is crazy.
Wáter consumtion. Like big golf camps completely green in the middle of a desert (Vegas). When asked about It, people there just answered “no problem, we have the Hoover Dam for that”.
Lack of public transport outside four or five big cities. And that just walking on the streets in some places is very strange fot the people living there. I was asked ten years ago in Palo Alto if I was Russian because I was not driving, just walking on the street!!
