How Russians See America: 50 Facts About the USA

Фото: Depositphotos

Each country has its own characteristics that are easier for tourists or immigrants to notice. The blogger under the nickname Zaneta shared her impressions of the USA on her page in Live internet.

1. Even if you buy one banana in the supermarket, they will put it in a plastic bag or paper bag. Or maybe even at two. As a result, a huge amount of both constantly accumulates in houses.

2. If you ask an American where he comes from, he will first tell you what state or city he was born in, even if he was taken out of it in infancy, and he never went there again. In addition, Americans love to list what percentage of what nationality is present in their pedigree.

3. You can return almost everything you bought back to the store, saying that it “didn’t suit you.” You will receive either your money back or a purchase credit. I personally saw how one woman brought a huge bag filled with used cosmetics without a receipt, and received $300.

4. The system of mediation, or snitching, is unusually developed. For example, if there is a “No Smoking” sign in a public place and someone starts smoking, none of the visitors will personally reprimand the smoker. They will go to complain to the manager.

5. Bouquets of flowers are sold for a penny in all supermarkets, but men give them to women very rarely. A bouquet brought on a date will induce the girl to think that the guy is a loser and is desperately trying to win her favor.

6. Americans are incredible workaholics. If you come to the office at 6 in the morning or stay at work until midnight, no one will appreciate it. That is how many work.

7. If you really want to make someone feel guilty and apologize to you, it’s enough to say that their words or actions hurt your feelings. “Hurting someone's feelings” is a very serious offense in the United States.

8. Americans know how to make money on the most incredible and even idiotic idea. One, seeing dentures in the dentist's office, molded crooked teeth in plastic houses to scare his friends, and became a millionaire, putting this production on stream.

9. Americans are not taken to meet on the street. If someone approached you, get ready to hear a foreign accent.

10. Americans consider potato chips to be part of the dish - a side dish, like Russians, for example, fried potatoes.

11. The Russian dish aspic makes Americans wonder, or rather, carefully hidden disgust. Jelly here can only be sweet.

12. In America, the concept of "no prophet in his own country" does not exist. Americans are proud and trumpeting at all angles if their compatriots succeed abroad. In the same way, they make a fuss if someone from theirs got into trouble in abroad.

13. The American army not only pays well and provides numerous benefits - often parents themselves send their teenagers there to be “turned into men.” The result is usually very impressive.

14. Suing some company for a completely idiotic reason is a favorite way for Americans to earn income, reminiscent of a national sport. Sometimes a person becomes involved in a collective court by accident: several times I received a piece of paper in the mail asking me to confirm my desire to participate in a collective court and receive compensation. It turns out that someone didn’t like the purchase (or service), and he decided to sue, and also involve another hundred to five hundred people who shopped there at about the same time. The irony is that the real money is made by lawyers, because they get a percentage from each person involved, and they will send you twenty bucks divided among one hundred to five hundred people.

15. American girls are very independent and confident from an early age. It is difficult to imagine a young American woman trying to win the favor of her parents or others by being obedient. The famous Russian remark “well, you’re a girl” has no equivalent here. Appearance, and especially thinness, comes first and foremost here.

16. American boys will do everything possible to have a girlfriend as early as possible. It doesn't matter how many guy friends you have or whether you're good at sports, if you don't have a girlfriend, you're a loser. When you have a girlfriend, your buddies automatically think you're having sex (which isn't always true), which means you're incredibly cool.

17. Until recently, the buyer was asked his postcode at the box office to find out where else a new supermarket could be built, but someone sued, and now companies are prohibited from finding out such personal information.

18. American husbands often repeat the saying “happy wife, happy life,” hinting that you shouldn’t argue or contradict your wife, it’s better to agree right away, you’ll lose anyway. American fathers have no problem pulling out a credit card when their daughters want to buy something or spend a day at the salon. Fathers are much stricter with their sons and generally treat their daughters' boy friends with great distrust.

19. While traveling to other countries, Americans never try to learn a local language. They do not understand why the French refuse to accept their order in English, believing that they just show off and create unnecessary problems. The whole world already speaks English, what's the problem?

20. Americans are not interested in foreign films and celebrities. Only when a European star moves to the United States can newspapers write something about her, but otherwise the Americans are completely indifferent to foreigners.

21. Living with parents or relatives is not accepted here and it only happens if a person has no money at all. But a great number of Americans rent their house to rent or rent housing with perfect strangers, which they found on the ads. It is not uncommon for lonely people to take tenants in order not only to save money, but also to avoid loneliness.

22. Americans go crazy about pets and often treat them better than their family members. The hostess of the house can not bother cooking dinner for children and her husband, while zatarivayas with a variety of canned food and mixtures for a dog or cat.

23. If you do something with your own hands, no matter how crooked and askew it is, Americans will admire and advise you to start your own business. It is normal to loudly applaud a home-grown singer, even if a bear has stepped on his ear. Therefore, indescribable mediocrities often flaunt on the screens in full confidence of their talent.

24. Americans are not very superstitious. Except for knocking on wood, I can't remember a single superstition. Trips to fortunetellers and fortune tellers are mainly engaged in immigrants. But one and all believe in the apocalypse and the existence of UFOs.

25. Higher education in the United States is considered the key to a successful career. At the same time, the majority of all billionaires and truly wealthy people either never crossed the threshold of college, or earned their money on something to which their diploma has nothing to do. Graduates of pre-retirement universities pay loans for studies and await old age with fear.

26. Americans consider a lost day if they have bad hair and they are generally very sensitive to haircuts. They can walk in training pants and a T-shirt, but with a beautiful haircut, high-quality make-up and very well-groomed.

27. Work as a service staff is not considered shameful. But gardening is done only by Hispanics. The worst thing you can do for your reputation is to use government assistance.

28. Americans love to read and buy a huge number of books every year. At the same time, the majority of the population can not correctly write half the words of the English language and does not know the meaning of the other half. It is not uncommon for a professor to write something on the blackboard in the classroom and be corrected by the students. Errors in spelling are not considered a cause for embarrassment.

29. Americans do not hesitate to talk about sex and the anatomical structure of both women and men, as if it were a conversation about the weather. All non-destructive designations of sexual characteristics have long been a part of everyday speech, and menstruation, members, vagina and sexual intercourse are quietly on the TV screen. Also, for some reason, asshole always dubbed on television as well bitch or son of a bitch - not.

30. The most terrible structure in the USA is not the police or the courts, but the tax authorities. The defaulter will be pulled out of the ground - and a concrete guard will come. Although they don’t play with the police either - you won’t be able to dodge a fine on the road. Maybe, if you are a pretty woman.

31. In America, there are bars and clubs only for black. Only for whites have I not seen, and most likely, such a bar will often have to change the glass in their windows.

32. Only narrow family parties and dinners in the White House are celebrated with a feast. In all other cases, the meeting is likely to be held either in a bar or restaurant, or at home there will be a buffet and no toast.

33. Americans do not write congratulatory poems for birthdays and holidays. A card for the occasion with a ready-made text is bought in the store, signed and presented most often without a gift. The most popular birthday greeting is “Happy Birthday!”

34. Americans don’t like to openly disagree and say “no.” When they refuse, they will most likely say, “yes, maybe, maybe.” You need to get used to reading these signals and not insisting or accidentally mistaking “maybe” for agreement.

35. In schools, no one studies in the same class for 10 years, and, like in universities, they meet different people in certain lessons. Americans remember the school with hostility, and some with hatred. There are constant clashes between teenagers, jokes between girls, competitions about who has more money, who is better dressed and who has the coolest boyfriend (girlfriend).

36. Americans travel very rarely. Canada and Mexico don't even count as "foreign countries". Those who vacation in France are considered to have seen the world.

37. Bargaining in America is not accepted, but if you find any defect in the product, you can get a discount. Sometimes 50%.

38. Cars drive everything, and even driving stereotypes exist:

if a car is lagging ahead - Asian;

if a car with turns on is lagging ahead - a pensioner;

if you are overtaken with tinted windows - an Iranian or a Russian;

if there are 25 people in the car - Mexicans;

if the music is blaring and the car doors are shaking - an African American.

39. It’s very easy to register and open your own business—you won’t encounter much paperwork along the way.

40. Americans are not at all offended when someone speaks negatively about their country. They will even agree that their president is a joke, democracy is not real, and that everyone around the world laughs at them or hates them. At the same time, almost no one would think of trying to emigrate somewhere.

41. According to an incredibly popular site where you can order a letter from Santa for your child, his office is in Texas. This is another example of the entrepreneurial spirit of Americans - someone came up with the idea of ​​writing wishes from Santa on beautiful paper and selling them for 10 bucks. The founder's annual income is in the millions.

42. Enjoying a leisurely lunch in the middle of a working day is not a typical picture for the United States, and even snoring for a quarter of an hour sounds unrealistic. Mostly, people grab sandwiches and eat them at their desks.

43. Being photographed for Playboy magazine is not considered something shameful. Posting nude photos of yourself from behind that you took at home is a shame.

44. Americans love to sell their junk by posting yard sale signs and displaying old items, furniture, and whatever else outside their garages. People are buying it up - the noise alone is worth it.

45. Losing weight in the United States is considered an achievement more important than success in business. If any fat businessman with his millions loses weight to normal size, more will be said about this than about his business.

46. All modern houses and apartments are designed with mandatory built-in wardrobes. Usually they have sliding doors that can be replaced with mirrored for an additional fee.

47. It’s not uncommon to see children of rich parents working at Starbucks. Parents' money is not considered an automatic inheritance for children, and the latter often make their way on their own, relying on the education they receive and their parents' acquaintances, but not on their money.

48. Couples of aged women dating young men have become commonplace.

49. Crying in a public place is very undesirable. Swearing loudly on the phone while discussing intimate details is common.

50. Americans can easily part with friends and just as easily find new ones. It is not customary to ask friends for money, salt, or children.

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