things I don't understand about America
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- čas přidán 23. 04. 2024
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There are many things that I don't get and these are a few of them.
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Oh dear, I’m British living in Germany and I say “how are you” as a greeting and every day am surprised when I get a sincere answer. It’s just so hard to stop but after seeing this, I will try to just say “hello”.
(Also I’m a big fan of your channel)
Well, you ask a question we give the answer 😅
In English language classes, we were taught that "How are you?" is not a real question, but it's not within our habit to treat it like that. Cause u never know who and why is asking 👀 Maybe they really wanna know about my cat eating my yoghurt this morning
Actually some Europeans (me, German 29, included) also use phrases like that. "Was geht?" ("What's up?") is my favorite here. It has a double meaning I think. It combines the rhetorical "How are you" with an expression of surprise (a second meaning of "Was geht?"). To emphasize the surprising expression, you can put the "Was geht?" first and change the intonation. At least that's how my peer group uses that. If someone actually asks me "Wie geht's?" ("how are you?") while passing me, that also confuses me tbh.
Drinking is more dangerous when everyone has a gun ...
.. I guess.
Watch Yet Another Urbanist on drunk driving. Because of the city design forcing many Americans to drive there's too much killing people with drunk driving and motor accidents. There isn't enough of a option to walk, bike, or take transit home from a bar.
The mindset is often to put the responsibility on the individual to not drink and drive rather than change the infrastructure.
Many American news headlines and articles victim blame pedestrians and cyclists for getting hit or killed by cars too rather than talk about the road design. Those pedestrians are called jaywalker. Jay means stupid.
They sometimes are biased for drivers and make the excuse that "the drivers couldn't see the pedestrians or cyclists". Or say "cyclists shouldn't be on the road so it was their fault". Even tho there isn't enough bike lanes and sidewalks everywhere. Including not enough transit too.
There not being enough sidewalks has also caused some pedestrians to have to walk on the edge of the road and has caused cops to handcuff them.
Flurfdesign talked about how a bus driver had to block drivers to protect kids cause they even wouldn't stop for kids to cross the street.
Watch Not Just Bikes and About Here.
If you have a detached home in the Midwest, it may be appropriate to have a gun in the house. But anyone who believes they can keep young people away from drinking or drugs is a dreamer or a malicious demagogue.
I think Americans have these large jugs because of suburban city design, where you have to drive about a hour to get to supermarket. So Americans have to buy food for a week or more, and that's why big packages quite useful for them.
In Germany I have to buy food everyday because the fridges are so small you can’t fit more than 3 days worth of food in it. For a family of six, you need at least 3 fridges, unlike in the U.S. you can make it with just one fridge.
@@alphariusomegon4819 BS du kannst american sized Kühlschränke hier kaufen. Kühltruhen auch. Wir hatten vor 50 Jahren schon eine Kühltruhe, wo 2 Schweine reinpassten!
Yep
Thought you were referring to breast size initially... I was like "What is he on about?"
The "how are you" thing is much more widespread to more cultures than just the US. It seems to be something especially designed to trip up german speakers. It happens with my Turkish friends as well. I always try to answer honestly and ask them back which is when I remember it's just part of the greeting.
The increase in quality of editing and humor !! Love it !! Great work !
American here! My home I grew up in, in Tennessee, had no sidewalks, but I walked in the road and got over when cars were coming. My school was a block away, but the principal didn’t want me walking to school, because no sidewalks. The closest grocery store was 5 miles away. Non-existent public transportation, so very car-dependent.
I’ve been able to live and travel around a lot, so I know this isn’t a universal American experience, but my goodness, do I see the same thing all over the place. In the middle of a bigger city now and still find myself being car dependent.
Huge fan of public transportation. Love trains. Dublin and Amsterdam, and to a lesser extent, Seattle and Chicago really spoiled me on trains and now I just don’t get why we don’t have trains all the time everywhere else too. Loved the video Erika!
The urban sprawl is a big part of the reason of why I'm leaving the US. I've had too many close calls in vehicles and have sunk tens of thousands of dollars into them just to have a way to get around. I much prefer just walking or taking the train, tram, or bus, but those are only an option in very few places in the US (and they are usually absurdly expensive and might not be the safest places to live).
If you don’t like urban sprawls, don’t move to Germany:
the population density of the United States is approximately 36.4 people per square kilometer (94.2 people per square mile), while the population density of Germany is approximately 237.016 people per square kilometer (614.6 people per square mile).
^^ that guy clearly has no idea what the term urban sprawl means lmaoooo
@@josiahholsomback7507 In other words, for those without reasoning skills, Germany is one big Urban Sprawl.
@@alphariusomegon4819 you know Urban Sprawl refers to cities with LOW population density, right? OP is condemning how sparsely populated our cities are. Densely populated cities are more walkable, have more transit, and better community. Cities like Austin have huge amounts of urban sprawl and are basically a giant lifeless suburb.
@@josiahholsomback7507 Germany the country has a higher density, not just the cities, that means there are more ubran sprawls, in fact, Germany is basically one giant urban sprawl, with some nice scenery a few kilometerrs between each city, unless you go to Bayern or Northern parts of Germany. Yes, the densly populated cities have good public transport, but there are too many other negative aspects of German society that I cannot recommend moving here to anyone at all, especially not just to come here for “walkable” cities, pfffk.
The portion sizes are to emotionally compensate people on the loosing side of the wealth divide. It makes poor people feel like they are getting more for less. Generally you find these giant portion sizes at fast food restaurants that use processed foods to cut corners. Four words, High Glucose corn syrup. It is the byproduct of corn farming, Your body can not actually process it, And it is filler for these large capacity low budget sodas.
The car dependency aspect is sooo true. I’m an American who spent around 2 ish years total in Europe (time in Slovakia and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland for school at 18). The culture shock of even small quaint towns in SK having little city centers and being so walkable was sooo freeing to me coming from the US south. I came back to the states to finish school bc of COVID and going back to an environment where I had to drive to literally anything was beyond depressing. I yearned for the European walkability so bad that I convinced my bf to move to Chicago with me last year. I am 100x happier here! my car in Kentucky was costing me $800 / month between car payments and insurance. Here I pay like $75 per month for an unlimited train + bus pass and my quality of life is sooo much better. Being able to walk to anything I need is something I’ll never sacrifice ever again. I don’t think I could live anywhere in the US other than Chicago or NYC because I refuse to be stuck in car culture again.
anywho, I loved your video and how you explore quirky things about my country without being condescending like a lot of Europeans on tiktok tend to be. I’m hosting my European friends in September for 2 weeks and it will be their first time here and I’m so excited to see their real time culture shocks lol
Because have you seen how huge America is compared to Slovakia? There’s way more space. We’re not all living on top of each other like in Germany. If you’re a city dweller and don’t desire to do anything outside of a city, you can walk everywhere, but most Americans like to travel around the country, to the next town, or explore different places in their own states that are very distant from each other because of geography, it’s not a car “culture”, not sure what that means.
@@alphariusomegon4819 fun fact..23% of grown Americans has never even left their state where there born so "travel the country" statement is kind of..wrong =)
@@nattm6553 I know you’re just trolling me right? 23%? That means most do leave their states …
Population density and geography have a lot to do with the use of cars in America. There’s no conspiracy, no lack of government enforcement or encouragement that needs to happen, there’s no cultural deficiency or anything else, it’s pragmatic.
If I live in a town with less than 1000 people and the nearest town is 30 minutes away, of course I’m going to drive.
@@alphariusomegon4819 Why, exactly, are you trying to mansplain American culture to me, an American?
you know Europe as a continent is also huge, right? Yet most of their cities are walkable and interconnected by rapid transit. The size of the US doesn’t matter when talking about individual cities. Individual cities should be walkable and transit oriented, in addition to people being able to drive if they feel like it. Trust me my guy, I’ve traveled all over the country in my car and have done multiple 12+ hour road trips. I still love a good road trip. Do you think that Europe doesn’t have highways and cars? You’d be wrong. Walkable cities aren’t a threat to you wanting to travel around the country or live in a rural place with your car. Nobody is trying to take your cars away.
Also, the US quite literally is a car culture. When I go back to my home state, everyone has a car, anything you have / want to do has to be done with a car. Even in the big cities there, a car is a necessity. Which is absolutely ridiculous. Being in a walkable city has greatly improved my mental health and lifestyle. Maybe you should try getting out of the US & your little bubble and see how good others have it…..
@@josiahholsomback7507 I live in Germany.
I feel like I need to mansplain to you since understanding things like population density and geography seems to be beyond your abilities.
Consider this, how much do you think the extremely high cost of gas/oil and the amount of taxes you have to pay on vehicles play a role in this lack of “car culture” you see in Europe?
I’ll give you a good example, I was up in Norway a few months ago, and I noticed that many Norwegians drive SUVs with the rear seats removed. When I asked one of my Norwegian friends why this was, he explained that there is a tax in Norway for your car based on the number of people it can hold. So a car that would normally cost 40,000, would be 80,000 Euro if they didn’t take the seats out when registering the car. Norwegians have it so good they can’t even afford an SUV with more than two seats.
Not sure what this “car culture” people keep referencing, I’m assuming it’s some climate zealot phrase to add negative connotations to anything that Americans do that goes against the prevailing wisdom of the technocrats that want to control everything we do. In my day, “car culture” meant a bunch of people who liked the mechanical nature of automobiles, the type of people who built cars, raced cars, and knew everything about cars because they had a passion for it.
My grandmother that owns a pinto just so she can go to church on Sunday is not part of some “car culture”.
No one small talks in a McDonalds in America just letting you know
i live in a big city in the US, not far from downtown at all, but it’s so unwalkable. our neighborhood does have sidewalks but the only think i could walk to in 20 minutes is the library. you also have to cross some dangerous roads to get there. the grocery store is a 42 minute walk away, or you could take the bus for 25 min (which comes rarely) or drive for 7 minutes.
not to mention that this close grocery store is dangerous so we don’t even go to it. even though we live in a very nice neighborhood, there are shootings multiple times a month in the area :(
On credit scores: I Germany we have the Schufa-score, which is pretty similar. It's made by this private company that uses secret algorithms to assign you a score based on credit history, amount of bank accounts, how likely you are to change into a wolf at full moon, etc.
So all in all very dubious and annoying. Like, why are they exempt from so many privacy laws?
Anyways it's used by banks to decide if they give you a loan or credit card and even by some landlords when they decide if they're going to rent out their flat to you.
I live in a small walkable town and things are pretty good. America does have Suburbs but you don't have to live in them if you don't want to. There are so many Cities and towns that are walkable especially in the Northeast and Midwest.
unless you live in like a dense urban area, or near a city or town center, pretty much nothing is walkable
I live in the Midwest in a suburban neighborhood and it is very walkable, also a shit ton of deer. College towns here are definitely more walkable. This is all so funny as an American. Hope to experience and learn European cultures, I want to do my masters program in the Netherlands.
"moving out" at 18 is more related to college. not many kids go to college within driving distance. when you go home for the holidays, your childhood home is not quite your home anymore as you expand your view of the world. it feels different. Also, when you move out for college, good chance you'll find employment not near your childhood home. hence you move out.
as for onions, point a fan(like those little battery powered ones) to blow over your onion while cutting, and have that pushed air going to the extractor. it'll keep the lachrymatory agents from getting into your eyes. or point the wind toward your partner and laugh like doctor evil.
I vote for you to keep doing what you do, Erika, especially the snarky humor!
I'm from the US, I've had a few times where things were just terrible for me or someone else and when we simply said "How are you?" The person having a genuinely bad time gave a truthful answer. Same when things were great.
having had lived in a large town in alabama with no sidewalks before moving to a very walkable city in the UK with great public transit, I can tell you its absolutely miserable having to drive what is physically a 4 min walk but because of road heirarchy is impossible.
They tried dropping the drinking age to 18 in the US but it increased accidents and death so they moved back up to 21. This was many decades ago.
i googled the fast food restaurant number from the us and it seems to be around 204k so yea way less than expected but STILL A LOT
Actually we used to have the Mars bar, twas my favorite.
We have WhatsApp. We’re not monsters.
:D okay good to know
don't you colonials dare to deep fry Mars bars ? is it true isn't ?
@@Guiscardo777 no thats scottish people
It was chocolate covered nougat and almonds. My dad loved them.
@@Guiscardo777 that's a southern thing. they'll deep fry anything and it's disgusting
I am living in Denmark at the moment and I don't think I will ever see my home city in the US the same after experiencing a walkable city in a more suburban setting on the island of Zealand. I feel like this is how it's supposed to be and I'll never understand why American developers always have to take cars into account for every little decision.
What do I really like about the U.S.A? Well, I'm an American, so while I might be biased, I also have had much opportunity to begin to appreciate some things. I would say 1. Charitable giving. 2. The sheer amout of research we have contributed the past 80 or so years. 3. Natural beauty, particularly in the West, well preserved. Just as an anecdote, in an office where I had a photograph of Saturn as my desktop background. One day, a janitor asked me if that was a painting. I said, "No, it's a photograph." He said, "It looks like its up close. Who has been close to that planet? Who did that?" I said, "We did that, or rather the U.S. Government did in our name. NASA. They sent an automated probe there to take pictures and send them back pixel by pixel via radio."
14:07 - YES THAT WAS SO CONFUSING for me when I moved to the U.S. , like wtf?
The tie really worked. I enjoy listening to your look on things every time. The city reviews are also great. Keep it up, as long as you enjoy it. Please ❤
I for one do appreciate your videos Erika, and looking at the comments and statistics, I'm not the only one.
"Sure, we obey" would have only ever been uttered in prehistoric times, and by prehistoric I mean before July 4, 1776.
Edit: Also, according to Statista there were 198,000 fast food restaurants in the US as of 2022.
As of the latest data, there are approximately 200,000 fast food restaurants in the United States. The number of grocery stores is around 40,000.
Fast Food Restaurants
US: Approximately 0.000604 per capita (1 fast food restaurant per 1,655 people)
Europe: Approximately 0.000201 per capita (1 fast food restaurant per 4,986 people)
Grocery Stores
US: Approximately 0.000121 per capita (1 grocery store per 8,275 people)
Europe: Approximately 0.000134 per capita (1 grocery store per 7,437 people)
yeah i think she added 3 orders of magnitude but the number was about correct ignoring that lol.
The 🇺🇸 USA uses a janky bassackwards date format of MM/DD/YYYY vs EU's 🇪🇺 DD/MM/YYYY -- Also I love not having to specify AM / PM in EU itineraries. "Meet us at 19:30" vs "Meet me at 7:30" "Wait bro, Is that AM or PM ?"
Great video, as an "American" I can give every European one tip: don't think of the US as "one country" but a collective of many ethnic and sub-cultures under a larger structure and ethos. Imagine if I said Iceland and Poland were the "same" because they were in "Europe". Even the word for "Europe" is new in history, relatively. The wide vareity of people in the US explains many confounding paradoxes.
Agreed. There is great cultural diversity depending on region and state and even regions within larger states.
There are more than 200 languages in Europe (name from the Greeks!!!), in Germany alone 200 dialects and 5 protected languages. Official language in the USA? 0. Europe has been a melting pot for over a thousand years, ppl migration after the Romans, for example. But even before that.
I think you're correct in that Europeans think of the US too much as a unified monolith. But I'm having the impression that you're underestimating the diversity spread throughout Europe compared to the US
@@jinjunliu2401 Please reconsider. There are ovet 1,000 languages spoken in the US. 800 just in New York City. Hawaii, Utah, Louisiana, Puerto Rico etc. are very different plaves culturally and ethnically. There are 324 Native American reservations or villages. And consider the wide range of arts and music.... etc. etc.
@@eschiedler I would still have to say that there's is a general baseline of "american" culture permeating through most regional groups of the US (except some fringe ones), because even the 2nd generation immigrants in the US have noticeable and recognizable differences from their parents.
I would say that maybe the diverseness of the US is akin to UK + Germany combined or something, surely cities like London and Berlin (combined if necessary) will have similar numbers as New York in terms of languages. But both UK and Germany have tons of regional differences which are over regions even smaller than US states. But we still have the rest of Europe which has aspects that are totally different than what's in UK and Germany.
In addition I wouldn't count Hawaii and Puerto Rico to "US culture" or at least the perception of it. (puerto ricans don't even have voting rights if I'm not mistaken) Otherwise you could also say the Caribbean islands of the UK, France, The Netherlands and tons of random islands over the world from European countries make the "European culture" even more diverse as well
the drinking age is 21 because an organization called Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbied Congress to increase the drinking age in the 80s and they were successful, so Congress essentially forced all of the states to change it to 21 and they all eventually gave in. Now every 18 year old still drinks but with no adult supervision. It's really really stupid.
Thanks for your interesting videos, and... Yes, you always put in so much information that we are sure it requires a lot of research!
21:17 I think the idea is to go to the supermarket for a week at a time, and arrive there after eating, so you don't waste part of that week's provision on sweets or unhealthy stuff.
Celsius actually less precise; And it says nothing to me about my life.
We have Whatsapp, but I don't know anyone who actually uses it. The average American just texts. It doesn't cost us anything because most of us rarely (if ever) leave the country.
Personally, I live just outside downtown Minneapolis, so it's relatively walkable for the US, but I've been to Germany and it's not comparable. If you go just a couple minutes down the road from me away from the city, pedestrian space disappears. The closest grocery store is a 10 minute drive, which is like a 90 minute walk because the only foot paths to it go through or around a bunch of places designed exclusively for cars.
I think this is probably why our milk jugs etc are so large. We tend to stock up on groceries because in some places it's a 15-30 min drive to the store and a 15-30 min drive back, so it's not the kind of trip you want to make 2-3 times per week.
I really love this content and its vibes
I really like your video. I find it insightful and it is presented in an interesting way. I like your English accent, it is clean and easy to listen to. All together I find it delightful to sit through the whole video.
The drinking age is steeped in American culture. Note that our driving age starts younger, 16, to enable children to work on the farms. Also, because of some protestant religions believing that alcohol should be banned, it was first at a minimum age of 18 before being increased to 21. As if that wasn't bad enough, there was at one time the 18th Amendment which prohibited all alcohol. In a few years, crime actually increased due to the bootlegging and was eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment.
The Drinking Age was NOT due to any religion. It was mutually agreed that TEEN AGERS AREN'T MATURE ENOUGH TO BE RESPONSIBILE DRINKERS. THEY PROVED THAT CORRECT, with numerous drunk driving deaths, hence the age was increased to 21.
The famous Sufferagette: Susan B. Anthony, WAS AN ABOLITIONIST FIRST. NOT BECAUSE OF HER RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, BUT BECAUSE SHE WAS TIRED OF SEEING WOMEN AND CHILDREN STARVE, BECAUSE THE PROVIDER OF THE FAMILY GOT OFF WORK, AND WENT STRAIGHT TO THE BAR. She tried for years, working with other charity organizations to get MEN SOBER, so they could provide for their families.
She later faught for Women's RIGHT TO WORK, as well as the right to Vote, so a Mother could support herself and her children, when her husband would wallow in his booze at the bar.
ALCOHOLISM FUELED THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT; RELIGION WAS JUST AN EXCUSE.
R. Reagan raised the age to 21.
@@arnodobler1096 Exactly, just one of the many things he fucked up. The best was of course that he made you believe that its good to give all your money to the rich so they could care better about the poor 🤣
@@beldin2987 👍
Hello Erika. Your channel is very creative, entertaining to watch, and honestly feels like a breath of fresh air. Genuine, if I'm am to find a right word.
Love the tie and your content.
American here! Got me cracking up over here 🤣 Also the salads you’ve mentioned is mostly a Minnesota/Wisconsin thing. I’m from the South and I’ve never tried any of those dishes. 😅
Hope this goes as well as the Europe one did!!❤️
We are a bit odd. Entertaining and humorous video. Great job. ❤😊
Us supermarkets are big bc they don't have small ones. They don't have small ones because these are not profitable bc of lower population density and car culture(park lots, highways, etc)
YAYYYY NEW ERIKA VIDEO
This is the content I wanna see !
14:49 I forget which country it was, but in some countries, a public bathroom will actually have ultra violet light so you can't see your veins.
Denmark, or parts of?
Netherlands? Belgium? Not sure.
Can't recall that from last year, but I think I can recall it from 2004.
I think you find that in a many places (German train stations or club bathrooms sometimes have that kind of light).
Stumbled over your video. What a lot of fun to watch. All points are spot on. I am from Germany, but a US citizen, living on both sides of the Atlantic in equal years. To this day, I do not understand why people would want to get out the house, drive to a restaurant, wait in line at a drive through, get the food and either eat it in the car and drive home, or, drive home and eat there....food is cold till then, of course. BTW, there are about 200,000 fast food restaurants in the US. Still way to many;-)
I'm in California so we're a weird. But parts of the US have paid sick days some do have requirements its just done state to state or even city to city depending of the state like California.
Jobs are required to have paid vacation time in California as well.
Using paper plates and plastic cups is actually less expensive than running your dishwasher every 3-4 days. Having nice clean plates every meal is nice, but practically if you don't have guests over its just a waste of time and money even if you hand wash it cause the water, soap, whatever you used to clean it with, and what it took to clean the thing you cleaned the dishes with costs money too.
Using paper plates daily is not a normal thing... like I haven't seen many people do this.
Totally anecdotal comparison but people in my small midwestern town do this depressingly often. And when I used to live in an even smaller, more midwestern town, it was even more common... but I did not live in a nice part of my state before so that's neither here nor there
America is on one of the top countries in CO2 emission with 14.4 metric ton CO2 per capita per year, the world average is only 4.66. the same goes for wastage and many things
In Germany we also have a Credit score. It is called "SCHUFA" and no one knows, how they roll their dice to "calculate" your credit score
I've never seen oreos in a tube-shaped plastic wrapper in the United States. Always as you had shown in your video.
Hello erika i have been watching you for such a long time and i absolutely love your vlogs and your personality keep making these videos ❤
The Kit Kat logo I europe is the original english one from rowntrees
Omg I just had biggest most significant revelation of my life about the onions! This makes so much sense!
I'm from the UK living in America, I feel like after moving here these questions just raise more questions than answers. This place confuses me in too many ways
Totally agree. I would never want to work in the US because of the vacation and sick days.
Also, no little flags :(
I get seven weeks and 8 holidays paid per year. That’s 43 paid days off.
@@michaelrains64295 As a US American, that makes you 0.0x percent of the US people. 🤔
@@arnodobler1096 Wrong. In 2022, there were over 4 million teachers in the US. In addition, in 2021 there were about 210,000 college professors in the US. All these people get winter and summer vacations plus a winter and a fall break. All told, the vacation time is about 4.5 months a year. I know because I'm married to a professor.
BTW, government employees also get pretty generous (by US standards) time off, too, in addition to great benefits, pension, and job stability. Four million federal government employees get anywhere from 2.6 weeks (for the first 3 years) to 5.2 weeks (starting from year 15) off. I know because I am one of those employees.
There are also a host of state and local government employees, too. My SIL worked for New York State. She and her husband both retired from there in their mid- to late 50s, with a combined pension check of $200,000 a year. When they reach full social security age (67), there'll be another $80,000-$90,000 a year in income for them. They also enjoyed generous vacation time while working.
Doesn't help companies are getting greedy, they're starting to take away benefits from workers to save money each year. Only to brag they're making record profits.
CZcams hates me for simply saying corporate getting greedy and taking away workers benefits each year to save money.
I am an American and I love this.
the reason america used the imperial units of measure is, historically, Americans saw themselves as an extension of the English people, with the American revolution being a break away from the English crown rather than English people. As for the continuation of this system, the US has been the largest power in it's region, has been less reliant on foreign imports than other countries and it's largest trading partners have been the UK and Canada, so shifting customary units hasnt been necessary.
In America we actually do use an IM app that is hugely popular, and that is iMessage. Since apple integrated their IM client into their SMS app since the beginning, and since Americans always had a proclivity to texting, that means apple especially created a monopoly on the US phone market since you can only use iMessages on an apple devices, and non tech inclined individuals just end up buying iPhones because “the texting on an iPhone is better for some reason”.
lmao enjoyed the 40min roast! love your videos and intellectual humor/banter keep up the good work 😂❤🙏
Germany does have credit scores - commonly referred to as SCHUFA scores. In the US a high credit score is good, but in Germany the lower the number the better I believe.
Yes, there is schufa but we recently moved to Germany and had to look for the apartment. We got our schufa and there was no number or anything just „positive“
ものすごく共感しました。貴重な動画ありがとう。
When I go out and the bill is anywhere up to around $30, I try to tip close to half. If the bill is around $100 or more, I usually try to tip $20-$40. It means I don't go out to eat as much, but food service workers are some of the hardest workers and deserve every penny.
No they deserve being paid a livable wage from their employers, just like every other country does. But that will never happen because the employers and the government know y’all will continue to foot the bill that they should be paying. That’s the difference. It will NEVER change if you keep paying it.
@@NomadicIslanders They do deserve to be paid a liveable wage, I completely agree with that. The impetus shouldn't be on the costumer to make up for the employer shafting them, I fully agree with you there. I definitely don't think skipping out on tipping would foment any meaningful change other than less pay for food service workers. Employers and the gov't don't give a shit whether costumers tip or not and I highly doubt they'd see a shortage in tipping as an act of protest. I'd much rather the gov't admit the system is broken and just mandate employers to pay them a fair wage, but I doubt that'll happen any time soon.
Covid increased the eating in Car's technique a lot during that period. Of Course, you had fast food chains like Sonic, where you pulled in for you to eat out of your car. The waitresses come up your car window to serve the food to you on a tray. You order your food through the car window into the intercom, and you sit right there and eat the food in your car. There are fast food chains here in the US that use that design. That might explain what has flourished the tradition somewhat of this?
Yes, the tipping needs to be re-thought out. On both sides of the Atlantic. I'm sure the owners/employers are influencing the outcome on this subject. But, there needs to be changes.
Quick search says about 202,000 fast food restaurants in US. Not verified but probably a little closer.
I live about 20 min walk to grocery store but I have to cross at a huge intersection twice (I’m on SE corner, store is on NW corner of six lane intersection.) so the heavy traffic dissuades people from going by bike or on foot.
After moving to Germany and meeting Unitedstatians (in Latin America we call them Estadunidenses):
"Hi, nice to meet you! Where are you from?"
"I am American."
"Cool, so am I. But seriously, which country are you from?"
Yeah that sounds dumb asf
Ich komme aus den USA would be a better answer. I always thought whenever people say we're Americans is kinda dumb because we're not the only Americans that lives on continent.
After you moved to Germany, you met some "Americans". Americans are from the US. You're simply uneducated.
But.. I'll help educate you.
I think it would be a good idea if the concept of "linguistic shortening" as a very common feature in most languages...and definitely Romance and Germanic languages....was taught in each countries educational system. It might clear up a very common mistake being made. Also special attention to "context" and "reference" should be taught....because it is clearly lacking. I'm guessing that you are aware of a thing called a "dictionary" and that most words in the dictionary have more than a single definition....or perhaps you don't know this.
When US citizens say, "American" as a self-description..... it is NOT that "we think we own all of the Americas" as is commonly claimed.
It is a feature of many languages used throughout the world known as "linguistic shortening".
"America" is a linguistically shortened form of "United States of America".
I WISH there were another common example of this....Oh Wait, There Is.
There is no country named "Mexico".
The country's name is "Estados Unidos Mexicanos", However due to the same exact, identical "linguistic shortening", it is most often referred to as Mexico and the citizens refer to themselves as "Mexicans"...... this is the exact same reason that US citizens refer to themselves as Americans.
Mexico and the US share this in common.
It is linguistically correct to describe anyone originating from the continent of "America" or "The Americas" as American.
When that is done, the context is the Continent of Origin and the Reference is the name of the continent.
It is linguistically correct to describe anyone originating from the US as "American". When that is done, the context is the Country of Origin and the Reference is the LINGUISTICALLY SHORTENED name for The United States of America. The same as we all do for Mexico/Mexicans.
The fact that so many people don't know this is lack of education and the failure of various countries educational system.
NOTE: On a side note, when you ask a person from Greece, "where are you from?" They will most likely say they are from Greece rather than say that they are from Europe. The context of the question is the nation of origin, not the continent of origin. That, in itself, should have prevented this very obvious mistake.
@@chandie5298 Dear person from the Country without a name... blah... blah... blah... you are dumb... blah... blah... blah... Fuck your imperialism... blah... blah... blah... Kisses, bye.
@@chandie5298 pfff. No. And your condescending example of Mexico doesn't apply since there is nothing else called Mexico, whereas America was and is already something else: a CONTINENT
(Former) American living in Basel, Switzerland. I love your videos. They are so Erika. That's good. Sorry about DB. Swiss trains run on time. You forgot to mention guns. Maybe you understand guns in America?
The fast food i could see the grocery store looks low
In city centres within Europe, it's better to just book parking a few days before if you plan to go to an event right in the centre, then you don't have to worry about parking and you know what walking distance to expect.
Why go to a city center by car???
@@arnodobler1096I regularly go to a town near me for work, but the buses take a while to arrive and is overall annoying, therefore I drive there instead, which means that it's stupid to not make the most of my car by driving to the city centre.
nice video - as always
EU has a credit score too, it is just used internally by Banks. If you have failed to pay a credit loan, they can see that. In the US you can check your credit score every time you want. Valid points btw.
11:41 😂😂appreciate zoom out and echo effects
I prefer public transport than car however, my only worry is like I’m gonna have a kid soon, and I’m not sure how easy it is to go on a public transit with a zero month old or even a six month old
If they already change the mars bar to a milky way, they should also make it like 1000x bigger to be more accurat 🤔
Hey Erika, there is actually a credit score in Germany and there have been a lot of complaints in the past that it's not transparent at all and usually if you rent an apartment (well at least here in NRW) the land lords wants to see your SCHUFA score. No idea why though, as if my SCHUFA score has anything to do with my income and my ability to pay rent. Long story short the SCHUFA is an organisation banks share their customer's data to and you get ranked on only god knows what. Basically it's a score how much the banks in germany like you.
Yes yes, very professional presentation. Thank you, very good.
I'm going there this July. Wish me luck ;))
You dont need luck, you need to learn how to dodge bullets.
@@Azhureusthat’s a massively overstated issue. I’ve literally never seen a gun menacingly presented in public in my 52 years. 2/3 of reported stats are from suicides and most of the rest are amongst criminal elements and confined to obviously problematic areas. 99% never see the type of violence you imagine. The US is generally safe if you have any common sense at all.
@@michaelrains64295 I think they were making a joke, you can't really dodge a bullet
A few things, the first is driving age is completely different state to state, many laws in general are. America isn’t a unitary state, and states have a lot of autonomy and very different topography/demographics/culture/socioeconomic conditions etc. so law varies a lot even in the same regions. Driving laws in particular are one that vary quite a bit state to state. Drinking age is also technically on the state level, and the reason it was raised was it was proven to statistically lower drunk driving incidents. How they got every state to adopt it was that the federal government passed a law that would require states to raise the age to 21 if they wanted to receive their road funding from the federal government. Most states rely heavily on federal subsidization and this wasn’t a big enough issue to fight them on so they complied, however Louisiana did not for a few years so there were some hold outs. Most of the US is a car dependent society(there are exceptions like the North East corridor)so issues like drunk driving and underage drinking are a lot more of a focus point than they would be in Europe. Tbh a lot of this stuff varies a lot region to region, the US is as much of a monolith as Europe is. States have very different economies with very different histories and demographics, so what is normal somewhere is often not somewhere else. The federal government is also quite a bit smaller than most europeans realize, they have control entirely over foreign affairs but as far as domestic enforcement that’s a bit different. The IRS, our tax agency, for example has less than 1 million employees for a country of 330 million. Other agencies aren’t much bigger either. So state governments drive a lot of policy and are realistically more relevant on a day to day level for the average American than the federal government. States have their own laws and constitutions on top of the federal governments, and realistically with how little ability the federal government has to enforce law without cooperation makes the State have more power than the Feds in many situations though it does depend. Weed is legal in many US states for example but is entirely illegal on the federal level still. The federal government just lacks the ability to enforce properly in a manner to curb the legal defiance, especially since the states being enforced in would not be cooperating with their own agencies. So while there is some legal cohesion through the federal government, more often than not it’s playing catch up to policy that’s already implemented in many other states of one political ilk or the other. It does depend on the issue, some stuff is federal only, but more often than not issues fall to the states and that’s what causes the large lack of legal cohesion in the US, and why these kinds of perspectives are very similar to making broad generalizations about europe. it’s just not a homogenous place
Ha! Love your sense of humor! The US Tipping Culture is out of control, and while I had to laugh at the salad portion, I still think the most bizarre 'salad' and alsoone of the most delicious is teh German Wurstsalat!
well, the british pound is called a pound because it used to equal a pound (weight) of silver if I remember correctly. Lindybeige has an excellent video about English coinage
The reply to, how are you? Is, living the dream. Which of course means the opposite. And then we laugh inside, while also crying, because we get it.
As an American living in Germany - We don't know what's going on or why, either 😅🤣 (Hence why I moved)
Nice. What type of VISA did you get? Was in the Netherlands for 2 years after leaving the U.S.
ty for the fun video
About the wastefulness of disposable cups and plates. There was a study that compared paper cups with mugs, and found the differences were negligible. If you don't wash your mug that often, or not at all, then the mug is better, but even then the production of the mug is very energy costly so you need to use each mug for years before it becomes comparable to paper cups. Plastic cups is obviously a different beast. You also need to dispose of the paper cup properly and not throw it in the general waste.
I am sick with cfs/me and at my sickest it became impossible for me to do the dishes, so I was forced to switch to disposable. Luckily the EU enforced rules reducing plastic disposable utensils and cups so I got less of a guilt trip after that, but after learning that as long as I dispose of it in a good way it's comparable to ceramics and steel in terms of environmental impact, I didn't bother switching back. If I ever get a girlfriend I'm gonna have a real problem, but, I'd also have a problem with disgusting week-long dishes in my sink.
Hello Erika, I love your videos and they have been very helpful for me because I’m planning on moving to Germany. It is such a difficult language. Anyways, I’m curious as to what your current apartment looks like!! ❤❤
It's funny how much of the stuff you talked about is a direct result of car culture tbh. Like the drinking age, is because it is much more of a necessity for people to own and drive a car here than in Europe, and so drunk driving is a lot more of a public danger. There was some research that younger people especially are likely to get into severe accidents while drunk than older people, so there was a big lobbying push where the federal government basically twisted the states' arms into raising the drinking age to 21, by threatening to withhold federal transportation funds if they didn't. (The federal gov actually can't force states directly to set their drinking age)
Similar thing with obesity rate, since cars mean people aren't forced to walk to and from school/work as much, people get less physical activity as part of their daily routine. If you look at the bigger cities like New York and Chicago which have decent public transportation systems, the obesity rate is actually much closer to the rates in most of Europe.
Celsius is not more precise, neither is. It's like saying 2.54cm is more precise than 1 inch.
In regards to food: Larger portions is a good thing. Can't finish it? Take some home.
Yes, both are equally precise, but calculating is easier with the metric system. It gets complicated when the two meet, NASA and other production companies. Costs millions.
Other countries favour quality over quantity, almost all of them!
@arnodobler1096 I actually am a fan of the metric system in other aspects (like distance...you know what a meter is? Congrats you know what a millimeter up to a kilometer is automatically). Temperature to me is better in Fahrenheit, has a finer discrimination in a useful range.
As for quality over quantity (I'm going to assume you mean in regards to my food comment) bold of you to assume that the United States does not have quality food. In fact, the United States was 6th highest ranking in the world for Michelin star restaurants. As a bonus: I would argue that the United States also has the most diverse cuisines available as well
I live in Maine (not the French one) and I have a good friend in Nantes that I went to visit about half a year back. I’m only 18 and was sort of thrust into the American grindset so when I visited France, I’ve began to really consider getting out of what I believe to be a capitalistic nightmare and found your channel while doing research. I’m very happy I did so, your videos are very charming and give what I think to be well rounded information based on your experience. I’ve been very carefully considering where I might want to go and plan to visit many parts of Europe during the end of the summer to get a feel for a few different places and kind of gauging them based on my personal preferences. I plan to get info from other sources as well of course, ideally from people who live in the places I am interested in and I look forward to my eventual new life in Europe, and getting settled in thanks to my mother for allowing me to be eligible for polish citizenship. I appreciate your videos and wish you the best going forward!
French Maine doesn't exist anymore, for about 250 years now
Pretty spot on
But she just looking at it on the top surface. America is a whole lot different culture from region to region. But cool video I just found shout out from Atlanta Georgia
I am disappointed every time I go to the grocery store and can't get 2 gallons of the milk I drink
Erika, I'm 5 minutes in and already sent 3 comments, firstly the how are you question works exactly the same in Britain where everyone greets each other saying "you're right?" and most will answer "you're right?" back, no one cares how you're actuially doing here in Britain either lol (I'm not British btw, I'm a migrant from the Italic peninsula haha) Also Americans don't use Whatsapp because they all have iPhones and use Facetime instead of Whatsapp, Android phones are not very popular there, I guess it's cause iPhones are cheaper in the US) this will be my last comment btw :)
The gap exists in many places in Europe. Airports, restaurants, clubs. If you pee on your feet you feel uncomfortable knowing that the user next to you may miss to the floor and spoil your shoes.
What???
@@arnodobler1096 What you mean what ?
Hello Erika! :)
There is a highly intransparent and very controversial credit score system in Germany by a private German company called "Schufa". They collect massive amounts of data of pretty much everyone and use those to magically create a score for every German (or person in Germany?). Not being able to pay yout credits in time may give you huge problems in getting any more credits for decades. There are attempts to change the system because the parties started to realize, that the whole thing is screwed. In 2023 the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg held that the current practice is actually against European law. So we'll see what happens...
... and I love your tie!
Greets! :)
credit score is a thing everywhere, you just don't know it
Not a thing in my country. There is no bureau actually keeping track of any of it, so they aren’t somehow pulling the information out of thin air. Nothing is connected, not even the government offices in my country (which is a 30 minute flight from the U.S.), so no, it’s not a thing everywhere.
5:41 actually, in the United States, we have sonic (idk if you know what sonic is but I don’t want to insult your knowledge by explaining it to you), and you can get a ‘Route 44’ sized drink. It’s 44 ounces which is the next largest size I think? Anyways it’s a travesty, and so are three musketeers’, I’m moving to Germany ASAP.
American here. I live in a rural spot with zero areas to walk on. The only flat surface I can walk on is the main road- which is dangerous with how fast people are!!