Saying the state or city they’re from when asked where they are from…like the world should know what a Jackson is.
What common American habits do people find quietly annoying?
Submitted 1 day ago by hxxdjay@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Comments
ThunderLegend@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
FaceDeer@fedia.io 1 day ago
The assumption that the American legal, political, and cultural context is the "default." They say "X is illegal" without specifying jurisdiction. They assume a "right wing" or "left wing" party must be like their Republicans or Democrats. And so forth.
RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
It’s funny hearing Americans say they hate liberals, and me being able to agree except meaning the exact opposite. Liberal party is right wing for me lol
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
…cue the argument about what liberal, libertarian, and liberalism really mean. Hell, Americans even (re)define terms to suit their pov, like adding “social liberalism” to make it clear that their definition is correcct. Or my favorite, “Larger Middle East”.
Thorry@feddit.org 1 day ago
Yes, this is also very noticeable in media. They can have some kind of aliens in a future sci-fi universe that somehow have a legal process and trial that exactly mirrors the American way of doing things. For Americans that’s just normal, not realising this is absolutely not the norm in the rest of the world. Same thing with malls, hospitals, roads and many more things.
FaceDeer@fedia.io 23 hours ago
And unfortunately due to the prevalence of American media it "leaks" into other cultures as well. I'm Canadian and it's not uncommon to hear about people being arrested or whatever and claiming that their "first amendment" rights were being violated, or "taking the fifth" (ie, the fifth amendment's right to remain silent). We actually do have somewhat analogous laws for those things but of course they only know about the American ones and often get the details wrong as a result.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
In the Expanse it actually make sense that the UN is in the US… I mean that literally is just irl lol. That UN building location shows just how much the influence the US has. (cuz it really should’ve been in switzerland for neutrality)
Honytawk@feddit.nl 1 day ago
Oh how I love these messages about American companies doing illegal stuff and think they can get away with it just because it isn’t illegal in the US, only for the government to come down hard on them.
Even more funny if they have to leave Europe afterwards.
Sorry you can’t bust unions over here.
SaneMartigan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The big dumb cars.
phr@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
their obsession with genome analysis / where one of their great-great-grandfathers came from.
“i am italian, german, polish, chinese and cree!” “no, you are us-citizen and don’t speak any language but english.”
ViperActual@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
The whole ethnic identity is mostly to identify where in the world you ethnically originated from to other Americans. Because almost every single person in the US is either an immigrant, or a descendent of one. So we identify to each other where we came from as Americans.
Where people go wrong with this is if they happen to be traveling internationally and take this US centric identity with them. If traveling internationally, you could be ethnically from the place you are traveling. But in that context, you’d be American. This is a part of that whole well traveled awareness thing.
The genealogy thing is their curiosity in tracing that ethnic origin with greater detail. I personally don’t find it too interesting myself, but different strokes.
Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
You’re not wrong, this is totally a thing. I’m a euro mutt (I coin for myself) and I can trace some lines.
It’s because were all immigrants in a young country. Even the census we take asks where we hail from. I’ve maked “American” on it the last two times. It is a deal here, and yes it can be annoying especially when you get the tropes going. “Oh my family is Italian we like big families” mean while I’m fourth gen Italian (mixed obvs) and like what, are you inbreeding to stay Italian? Your husbands last name is “smith” like, fuck off. My full first gen Italian great grandmother married a first gen polack and had one kid. One. Fuck off with your stereotypes. This bitch I’m thinking of feed her kids all the american processed foods, give no fucks about the quality of her food ingredients or where they come from, just fuck off “were Italian” bitch shut up.
MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 hours ago
Yep. And so many white people here claim native ancestry. “I’m 1/16th Cherokee” they’ll say. Usually it is Cherokee because that’s the group their parents or grandparents had heard of and told them. I think it comes from trying to absolve the guilty feelings of what the settlers did to the natives.
The genealogy conversations are just tiring and predictable.
jaycifer@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Potentially annoying American here with a point of clarification: is it annoying just to be interested in one’s heritage, or is it Americans that make that heritage their entire personality?
phr@discuss.tchncs.de 23 hours ago
the identity thing. as far as i see it’s usually white people who do this. to gain ethnic distinction?
sure its cool to find out more abt what your granparents did (unless you are german).
Styxia@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
I’m an immigrant in the U.S. When my accent gives me away, I’m often asked where I’m from, which somehow leads to the discovery that the other person is also Irish. Or Scottish. Usually Irish.
I’m not offended so much as confused. “I am Irish” carries an expectation of shared culture and experience. When that’s clearly not what’s being offered, it lands less as connection and more hollow. Offense arises when clichés or affected accents appear. That’s no longer about identity; it’s just being an eejit.
SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
I also find it maddening, not only because it’s silly, but because the analysis is largely crap anyhow.
My mother’s family touted their “Irish heritage for three generations”, then quickly shut up when their genome analysis “proved” they were instead largely English. I’ve had to point out Ireland and England’s relative positions and ask them if they thought anyone in our ancestry might have ever moved from island to island. Maybe consider that they were from somewhere else in Europe even earlier? Now they’re “Irish” again.
Point entirely missed, JFC. They were Irish, their ancestors were maybe English, and way back, their ancestors were definitely African, but I don’t see them getting into African cultural heritage. Thankfully.
You’re United Statesians. I get the draw, they’re looking for genuine but effort-free connection, identity, and belonging in a country whose dominant culture is homogenization, commoditization, and exploitation, but their search for culture through tenuous connections to long-dead ancestors instead of family, friends, and neighbors is just as hollow and unfulfilling.
Don’t obsess about great³-Grandpa Pádraig’s life harvesting peat from the bogs; he’s long dead and probably would have hated you. Embrace what and where you are and utilize and improve what you actually have.
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
I’ve always understood it to be a remnant of a culture that de-emphasized genealogy and family pedigree, and had a lot more cultural and ethnic mixing in marriages at an earlier era. In Europe, it seems like there are a lot more family crests and aristocratic titles, from centuries of families maneuvering for political power through strategic marriages and what not, and stronger cultural taboos against marrying and having children outside of one’s ethnic group (and religion), at least up until maybe World War II.
So if there’s just less to learn from DNA testing (a person who happens to already have records of all 16 of their great-great-grandparents, who all lived in the same geographical area), I’d expect there not to be much demand for that kind of analysis.
Or maybe I’m wrong to focus on the gentry and aristocratic families, and have a misplaced view of how long that kind of stuff culturally persisted in Europe.
phr@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
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“germans”, “french”, “danes” weren’t a thing. up until recently. they are genetically diverse groups.
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euros aren’t all nobles. i don’t know my grandmas maiden names.
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there was a lot of movement (read: fucking around) in europe. what do these tests even mean by “dutch”?
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Doubleohdonut@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
“English, Scotch, Welch and Irish” always drives me nuts. You can’t even pronounce one of them correctly; how is that honouring your “heritage”?
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
And I also wonder how the machines that create these results even manage to distinguish between, say, English and Welsh “genes”. I mean sure, there’s some science behind it. 0.1% to be precise.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Jay parlay Francsays trey beein. Jaytude on laycole quart ans.
phr@discuss.tchncs.de 23 hours ago
if i had the power to do so, i’d give you a french passport right away.
phr@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
maybe clearing this up: germany has a hereditary citizenship. i. e. children of germans can get a german passport.
being “german” means owning german citizenship (or citizenship of the one of the former constructs the federal republic sees as its precursors), not owning a set of genes. you can have no ‘distinct european genes’ (e.g. be ainu?) at all and get citizenship for your kids, as long as you have it. you can be “genetically german” and still don’t have a passport.
jus sanguinis usually isn’t genetically defined
morphballganon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If it means we can get citizenship somewhere else and get out… you’re offended by us figuring out our options? Oh how inconsiderate of us
FaceDeer@fedia.io 1 day ago
We're not talking to you in this thread, we're talking about you. You don't need to jump in with "but that's not annoying!" After people answer the question OP posed, that's not useful.
This is ironically another annoying behaviour.
Jesus_666@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It typically doesn’t. Most countries don’t care about where your ancestors came from. Being fluent in the local language and culture will generally give you a leg up if you already qualify for immigration so I hope your family kept those alive (and not Americanized versions like Irish-Americans wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day). But your ancestry is usually completely irrelevant.
Those genetic test results absolutely don’t mean anything. If you’re culturally American with an American passport, you’re American and that’s it.
Nalivai@lemmy.world 1 day ago
There is only one country that gives a flying shit about where your great-grandma allegedly came from, and that’s Israel. For every other country you’re not figuring out any options, you’re cosplaying.
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
Ah Cheesus that’s funny. I hope you weren’t serious. As if “having Italian genes” makes you eligible for a residence permit.
Honytawk@feddit.nl 1 day ago
You don’t get citizenship just because you had ancestors there once.
Otherwise everyone is an African citizen.
Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com 9 hours ago
annoyi-
Starting your next sentence even if you know the other person hasn’t finished thier last word yet.
deafboy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
new account - check
zero comments - check
inflammatory post - check.
deleted account - TBD…
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
TBF I myself might create a throwaway for asking a controversial question. And they’re not trolling imo.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 1 day ago
Even if it does stir up controversy, OP has a fair question that can lead to some interesting discussion.
DarkDinner@quokk.au 1 day ago
Shooting children.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I haven’t heard of a school shooting in a long time. I can’t tell if that’s because they stopped happening, or if it’s because they happen so often that it’s not even considered newsworthy anymore.
IvyisAngy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
… yeah it’s the second one. The US does not go a week without one really, you’ll find reports of them on local channels along with the traffic reports, weather forecast and car accidents. It rarely makes national news.
I want off the ride. To be sure.
Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They absolutely aren’t as widely reported; but not because of desensitization, it’s for the same reason suicides aren’t reported. Theres been studies showing it’s “contagious” and that reducing coverage helps suppress further occurences.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Thread went from 0 to 100 real quick
~Just~ ~like~ ~the~ ~number~ ~of~ ~fatalities~ ~in~ ~the~ ~school~
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
It’s only quietly annoying because we legalized fun silencers this year!
Nasan@sopuli.xyz 23 hours ago
The only thing that’s changed is the $200 stamp tax was removed from the process. Everything else including registration and the background check remains the same. Wait times had only really come down from ~a year to a month or less for most cases because the ATF finally got their systems in a decent state for form 4 eFile.
The last one I bought early last year took about a week for the form to be approved. The first one I ever bought a decade ago took nearly a year.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Asking “so what do you do?” when meeting someone new as if their job defines them. It’s one of the first questions Americans will ask someone when meeting for the first time. I am American, but as I understand it, this question is far less common elsewhere in the world.
frostedtrailblazer@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
I feel it’s a bit tacky as a first question, but if I’m not asking it at some point I personally feel like I’m not making a real effort to know someone.
For a lot of people I think it’s just their go-to ice breaker since most people have a job or some kind of education they are involved in.
I personally really enjoy hearing about many people jobs since they really open my eyes to a different lifestyles and working environments out there, or I might get the scoop on workplace drama stories.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I usually wait for the other person to bring up work. There’s no reason to assume, because idk, maybe they’re a stay at home parent, maybe they’re in between jobs or just got laid off, maybe they do work but it’s shitty. There are all sorts of reasons someone wouldn’t want to talk about it.
mech@feddit.org 1 day ago
There are worse first questions.
Like the “Where are you from? No, I mean originally” you get asked in Germany if you aren’t white and straight-haired.A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 5 hours ago
“Where are you from? No, I mean originally”
I can have so much fun with that question! Esp. because in German (“Wo kommst du her?”) I can logically answer “from work” first, then my home, then I ask them to specify what they mean by originally. By that point they are usually sufficiently humbled.
Some keep on stumbling not realizing that the words they choose don’t matter, it’s their attitude I resist.
And if someone asks me that question before asking my name I refuse to answer anyhow.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Omg this fucking question.
I swear, white people never get asked that question.
It’s always like Hispanics/Latinos and Asians getting asked that.
I think I’ve internalized it a bit that I realized when I was in school, I never asked where the white classmates are from.
Feel so weird that “white” is “default” in the US.
Makes me feel like a perpetual foreigner.
Maeve@kbin.earth 1 day ago
Also, "where do you go to church?"
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I just try not to be around people that would ask that
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I just ask, in a screaming tone, WHO DOES NUMBER TWO WORK FOR???
They usually just look at me, and assume there’s been some kind of language barrier. Nope. I’m just referencing an obscure scene that nobody remembers from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. A film that came out in 1997. So a lot of people these days weren’t even BORN when that movie came out.
MotoAsh@piefed.social 1 day ago
You show that turd who’s boss!
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Can we get a courtesy flush?
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Depends on where in America, too. It literally is question #1 in D.C., but has been less so elsewhere, in my experience.
saltesc@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I ask, “So what do you do?”
If they answer with hobbies and interests, they’re more my kind of person. If they answer with their job stuff, well that’s just their main life thing.
morphballganon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If you ask an American they will assume you MEAN their job, whether it’s their “main life thing” or not, because that’s how people talk here
Pavidus@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This has always gotten under my skin as well. I generally downplay it to make my job sound as common as possible, and I do not return the question. What I do for money has very little influence on who I am or what I enjoy.
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
I like the phrase “make a living” though because it doesn’t necessarily refer to economical stuff.
SeaSgt@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Their support of pedos.
1984@lemmy.today 21 hours ago
Voting. You guys are really bad at voting.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 35 minutes ago
Good thing we have the electoral college to make sure we vote correctly :3
brap@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Saying “I could care less” instead of “I couldn’t care less”. Annoyingly incorrect but not exactly a critical issue.
morphballganon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Oh we non-idiot Americans find the doofuses who do that annoying too
remon@ani.social 1 day ago
Also “holding down the fort” instead of “holding the fort”.
morphballganon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Your assumption that bouncy castles are more likely than aircraft is amusing
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
Jarix@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I think the best response, because it amuses me greatly, is to reply simply with “as if”
I wait to see if they figure out that I’m just pointing out 2 worlds they missed saying at the beginning of that phrase to make it resemble what they intend.
bstix@feddit.dk 1 day ago
The size bragging.
No, Texas isn’t that big. Texas is about the same size as France.
USA also isn’t that big. Europe is larger than USA.
Sure it’s big and all, but the main difference is really just that there are fewer people in USA than in Europe. It has a lower population density, making everything seem further apart.
The reason I find it annoying is that the most obnoxious types have a tendency to use it to validate their own opinions on every fucking topic. Obviously we tiny Europeans just can’t comprehend the scale of their American way of doing things in the most backwards and old fashioned manner.
I’ve met plenty of American immigrants. Most of them are really nice and humble and appreciate learning how stuff works here. However some will eventually encounter something that doesn’t make sense to them, but rather than learn, they’ll cave in on trying to explain in the role of the world conquering strongman why it just won’t work in the scale that they’re used to in America, as if that would make any sense to do in that situation.
It’s delusional.
just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Invading other countries, ignoring international law, supporting palestinian genocide, toppling foreign governments… i find them kinda annoying you know?
ohulancutash@feddit.uk 1 day ago
Not using indoor voice.
And pretending to be anything but american.
A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 1 day ago
“Quietly” annoying? That’s a tough one.
remon@ani.social 1 day ago
The fake friendliness, especially in customer service.
CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Pretending they’re well travelled by bragging about how many states they’ve visited.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Having to answer constant questions about Americans.
SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Thinking cheaper automatically means you’re getting more value out of something, (example: I got this whole cake that can feed 10 people for $15 bucks!) ignoring the quality of that thing.
Thinking something expensive automatically means you’re getting something of better quality (example: This bottle of wine is over $100. It’s definitely better than one that uses much better methods of wine production that only costs $20).
Basically, my beef is with Americans having little sense of discernment and/or lack of good taste.
tiredofsametab@fedia.io 1 day ago
Americans are mostly super loud. You can hear them from forever away like they're competing to be the loudest in any space. ~ someone originally from the US that had this pointed out to me.
saltesc@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Comparing everything to their insignificant home town.
“Wow! Ancient aqueducts! We don’t have that back in Springfield, but we have faster table service.”
Okaaaay…
karashta@piefed.social 1 day ago
Lmfao at the super salty person.
As an American, I find all of these criticisms largely true and things I also find annoying about us and our culture.
Zier@fedia.io 1 day ago
AMERICANS ARE LOUD DRAMA QUEENS.
GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Treating their assumptions about others as facts.
Being Northern Irish I see this a lot. Always about The Troubles, Political Identity, and the modern working of Northern Ireland.
When Michelle O’Neill became First Minister all the plastic Paddy’s came out the woodwork to say that Ireland would be united in 5 years time.
Despite Unionists still holding the majority of seats, the larger share of votes, and British being the most popular political identity.
TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 1 day ago
Quietly annoying? I feel like the rest of the world has been making most of their grievances with the US habits/culture heard
starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The obsession with brands. Insisting off brand medication is different when it literally HAS to be the same.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The same variety every country finds annoying about tourists from different cultures because foreigners. Loud, demanding, not obeying local social cues or courtesies, not speaking any of the language, walking too slow because tourist, crowding, messing up local living conditions thanks to vacation rentals, drunks, etc.
reksas@sopuli.xyz 23 hours ago
sayings like “make no mistake”
mech@feddit.org 1 day ago
When you sit in a crowded German café and there are 2 Americans in it, you can be sure they’ll be louder than everyone else combined.
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
Invading other contries to kidnapp head of states?
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They said QUIETLY annoying. Things you wouldn’t speak up about. I feel like kidnapping world leaders doesn’t qualify as that. I’m American, and it’s been about a full day now, and it’s just now setting in just how insane it is that we just kidnapped a world leader. Just…took him. Meanwhile, here in the states, we’re also kidnapping random people off the street in unmarked cars for committing the crime of being not white.
These are things that should be screamed about, not silent.
cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Some people are screaming. Most are not. And the words, from those screaming, are cheap. The silence of actions continues to be, and likely will continue to be, deafening.
morphballganon@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Oh yeah that’s definitely representative of the majority of us, got us figured out you have
FaceDeer@fedia.io 1 day ago
Alright, here's another one. Americans bragging about their democracy until all of a sudden it's more convenient to blame the politicians for bad behaviour rather than the electorate that put them in power.
Take some responsibility for your government, does it represent you or not?