American things

“Where’s Rob?”

“He’s in the toilet”

American thing: flying to Dallas because you heard on Facebook that JFK Jr will miraculously come to life make an important announcement at the AT&T Discovery Plaza.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/joe-biden-mispronounces-glasgow-glass-25355010

That's J.B. for ya... Dunkin' on your big Glasgow and then getting out of there.

First the farting and now this, is there going to be a war?

Thinking that Tom Holland can't pronounce croissant.

"In back of".

Hanging out in back of.

“Where’s Rob?”

“He’s in the toilet”

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, November 2, 2021 2:57 PM (two months ago)

creepy

83. “thank you for your service”

― rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 11 February 2018 09:28 (four years ago) link

I don’t think I’ll ever get over realising that this frankly demented practice is widespread over there and not just something Fox News weirdos do

I need to start saying this to customer-facing retail people. They get shit on worse than anybody.

"thank you for your service"

"and also with you"

"let us pray"

Well, they have a type

83. “thank you for your service”

― rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Sunday, 11 February 2018 09:28 (four years ago) link

I don’t think I’ll ever get over realising that this frankly demented practice is widespread over there and not just something Fox News weirdos do

xp to Chris yeah, or like when you meet a librarian or something. Someone who makes a positive contribution to the world

I mean it would still be slightly weird

letting active service military first on planes! Fuck that Prussian shit.

to me, this is a cheap gesture of gratitude. after all, the modern US military is a bunch of poor kids who volunteered to be cannon fodder, just so that middle class kids don't have to be conscripted and shot at. this frees up the US war machine to pursue global domination with much less political blowback. a win-win-win, all around!

does anyone outside of America say "have a blessed day" because that is super common.

OMG no!

I've only ever heard that from older Black ladies, although I could imagine evangelicals using it.

people say it all the time. like at the checkout counter. it’s creepy as fuck.

I've gotten the blessing when getting off an elevator, no other conversation involved, just a shot in the back from a stranger causing me to turn and say "uh, thanks?"

P sure the correct response is “hallelujah!!!!”

p sure it’s “achoo!”

"free refills"

The correct response is "Inshallah".

Add shrimp to any entrée - $4.95

Half Sandwich and [other lunch item]

Shoehorning every military acronym into a ridiculous word. Brought on by

https://www.navy.mil/DesktopModules/ArticleCS/Print.aspx?PortalId=1&ModuleId=523&Article=2250056

hang on snoopie, snoopie hang on

white claw
la croix

Mormons

"We proudly serve Pepsi products."

In "The Looming Tower," there's a section on Sayid Qutb that also quotes Qutb's own descriptions of his time in the United States. One of the observations he made was that Americans would eat pretty much any combination of flavors without regard for taste. I don't remember what it was specifically, but e describes actually inventing a fake Egyptian food combination and convincing an American student to try it, which she does and claims to like it.

the most american photo doesn’t exi- pic.twitter.com/LO5fHpKHKQ

— Adam (@adamgreattweet) April 7, 2022

actually inventing a fake Egyptian food combination and convincing an American student to try it, which she does and claims to like it.

It was probably good

In about 1979, a family in our town had a foreign exchange student from rural Argentina. His name was Paco.

Someone decided that it would be an amusing prank to tell Paco that Americans like ketchup on their pancakes, and that this was the normal American thing to do. So, for like seven months, everybody pretended to love ketchup on pancakes. (This was the suburbs before cable TV; we were bored and needed to make our own fun.)

It was a simpler time, and a less connected time. Nowadays a prank like that couldn't work, because internet. But I am curious whether there was ever a group of people in Argentina who believed that ketchup on pancakes was the style in America.

Slightly apropos: in about 1965, my American stepmother was studying in what was then West Germany. There was a German woman in her dorm who had previously regarded herself as an expert on American culture... before the arrival of an actual American (my stepmother). So this German woman felt offended and displaced, but she was sometimes confidently wrong.

Anyway, the story goes that my stepmother once made popcorn. The jealous German woman reportedly said, "Ach, I know what that is. You put milk on it and eat it for breakfast."

So. Not sure what it all means but people and habits remain a fascinating mystery

Those both sound hella gross.

We had a German exchange student who ate ham sandwiches with ketchup for breakfast every morning. I was never sure whether that was something he did back home or something he adopted here because he thought it was "American."

Germans are more than capable of doing that sort of stuff on their own. I mean Currywurst ffs.

In about 1979, a family in our town had a foreign exchange student from rural Argentina. His name was Paco.

Someone decided that it would be an amusing prank to tell Paco that Americans like ketchup on their pancakes, and that this was the normal American thing to do. So, for like seven months, everybody pretended to love ketchup on pancakes. (This was the suburbs before cable TV; we were bored and needed to make our own fun.)

It was a simpler time, and a less connected time. Nowadays a prank like that couldn't work, because internet. But I am curious whether there was ever a group of people in Argentina who believed that ketchup on pancakes was the style in America.

― So's your imam (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, April 8, 2022 1:57 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

I lol'd hard at this -- "Haha, jokes on you, we don't eat ketchup on pancakes (except for the past seven months straight)"

In "The Looming Tower," there's a section on Sayid Qutb that also quotes Qutb's own descriptions of his time in the United States. One of the observations he made was that Americans would eat pretty much any combination of flavors without regard for taste. I don't remember what it was specifically, but e describes actually inventing a fake Egyptian food combination and convincing an American student to try it, which she does and claims to like it.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, April 8, 2022 7:11 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this just sounds like ... being polite? is being polite an american thing?

Well, according to Israelis it is IME. Not sure how similar Egyptians are in that regard. But I once got a good inadvertent laugh from hosts because they made me coffee that was all fucked up (they made it "mud" style with the grounds in the cup, but the grounds failed to sink) and I didn't immediately tell them and pretended it was ok.

this just sounds like ... being polite? is being polite an american thing?

IME you do get some endearingly earnest Americans who call everyone 'sir' and say 'excuse me' a lot.

(xxp)

ovens where the top heating element doesn’t come on unless you’re “broiling”? this is seemingly normal??

Do you mean the grill?

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/345769/why-do-we-say-under-the-grill-not-above-or-on-the-grill

lol yes although i refrained from using that word because of the potential for confusion

i just wonder how anything ever gets nicely browned on the top in america if the top heating element doesn’t come on.

You take a spatula and flip it over.

lol

I've seen in various recipes to bake something for a while and then turn on the broiler for the last x minutes or something.

My current oven doesn't have a bottom heating element, only a top one. But curiously, there is also a setting for "broil". We weren't thinking about it too much when we picked it out because it was an emergency purchase. I've never quite figured out what's going on.