• @[email protected]
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    141 year ago

    This might not be exactly the kind of thing you’re asking, but – as an English speaker (and American) – it always surprises me just how universal the word “okay” is.

    • @[email protected]OPM
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      101 year ago

      That surprises me as well. Also “taxi.” And there are very few languages where the word for “tea” isn’t etymologically related to either “te,” “cha,” or “chai.”

  • @[email protected]OPM
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    111 year ago

    As an American, I was pretty surprised to learn that Civil War reenactments are a thing in Britain, too. Different Civil War, of course.

    • That sounds even cooler than an American Civil War re-enactment. I’m guessing it would be much older so, knights and swords instead of muskets and cannons? Best we got to that in America is LARPing, Renaissance faires, and, to a smaller degree, the Medieval Times restaurant.

  • @[email protected]
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    81 year ago

    indiana, usa

    the almost cultish consumption of coca cola. in northern indiana we have a fair amount of “authentic” and “american” mexican restaurants. almost all of them serve coca cola in a glass bottle from mexico. it tastes so much better than the plastic bottle/can american coca cola

  • @gabrielgio
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    71 year ago

    I thought taking shower every day was a comum thing. Moving to Germany I learned that was not the case.

    • @[email protected]OPM
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      31 year ago

      Hi! Thank you for your contribution.

      In order to ensure that our community remains inclusive and informative, we have a rule in place that requires all top-level answers to mention the specific country or culture they pertain to. This helps avoid assumptions and promotes a more accurate understanding of the cultural context. Although you may think the answer is obvious, we want this community to be accessible to people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

      Please edit your post to say which country you’re answering for. If you have not done so after 24 hours, it may be removed. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

  • @[email protected]
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    21 year ago

    I guess it’s the classic: a dish drying cupboard over the sink. It’s universal in Finland and apparently not too common anywhere else.

  • I am from California, USA and I’ve been to Mexico, Germany, Ireland, England, and Canada. The most surprising thing to me was just how not different the rest of the world I’ve seen was from my home. There’s little things here and there. The taste of certain foods for example. Or what side of the road is being driven on. But all and all, everything seemed the same. I never really felt like a fish out of water except a couple times in Germany when I encountered someone who didn’t speak English (for the most part, they spoke both so not hard to get along).

    Completely changed my worldview. Shown all this shit growing up how we are different and it’s all just superficial bullshit. People are people. Doesn’t matter where they come from. At the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing; the difference is all in how they go about getting there. And even then, they’re not so vastly different that war or violence on someone for who they are or where they come from makes does not make any fucking sense to me under any circumstance.