I'm thinking things like flagpoles in the yard.

Like you waste however much money and resources to keep your non-native grass around and they drop in a 60 foot pole into it to be able to fly an American flag and flag for whatever shitty college you went to.

What other things are there?

  • Civility [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    There's some excellent ones that already been mentioned. Here's some I haven't seen yet:

    Clapping

    Tipping

    Being incredibly shitty to customer service workers

    Being weirdly formal (who the fuck calls their dad sir???) and yet, at the same time

    Having the audacity to openly ask someone how much they earn in order to know if you need to care about them as a human being instead of having the human fucking decency of trying to infer it from their clothing, body and speech patterns like a civilised human, and in general

    Being weirdly open about their surprising genuine belief that they (Yanks) think the USA and maybe a little bit Canada (which in your minds is an honorary 51st state) are the best places in the world and the only parts of the world that matter.

    • Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Tipping

      Being incredibly shitty to customer service workers

      Honestly have no fucking idea how both of those remain to be true but god damn, they really do

    • LeninWalksTheWorld [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Having the audacity to openly ask someone how much they earn in order to know if you need to care about them as a human being instead of having the human fucking decency of trying to infer it from their clothing, body and speech patterns like a civilised human, and in general

      I thought Americans were uniquely prudish about their income and refuse to share it with others, even if it would benefit them say forming a union and getting a raise.

      • AlexandairBabeuf [they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        yes. PMC Americans don't ask & the whole 'middle class' is very strange about it. us low-earners are pretty open about it tho lmao

        • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          i used to be a low earner and then PMC'd myself about 10 years ago in a Rodney Dangerfield/Back To School type scenario and i still maintain the "talk openly about money" mentality. it freaks a lot of the other PMCers out, but non-douches and younger people in general seem to appreciate it because everybody struggles at least sometimes and other times you're wanting to know if you are getting fucked on some deal... but nobody wants to admit that they may have gotten fleeced so we can maintain this aura of all being fiscally astute.

          i tell people anything they want to know. what i paid for my car, housing, insurance, medical costs, loan terms, credit rating, whatever. i hate the conspiracy of silence around this shit. makes us all more likely to be suckered, imo.

    • Llituro [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Being weirdly formal (who the fuck calls their dad sir???) There's a bit in Debt: The First 5,000 Years where Graeber describes how most of our etiquette is essentially the petit bourgeoisie affecting the social relations of feudal lords, pretending that our baseline, non-exchange obligations to each other, down to our pleasantries, are still somehow an exchange. Definitely something that you still find more entrenched in the US than anywhere else.

      Having the audacity to openly ask someone how much they earn in order to know if you need to care about them as a human being instead of having the human fucking decency of trying to infer it from their clothing, body and speech patterns like a civilised human On the other hand, there's the culture of not asking your coworkers what they make, which is a tactic to discourage organizing. Maybe a better rule would be to not ask random people what they make unless it's to build class consciousness or to organize your coworkers. I'm not sure.

    • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      (who the fuck calls their dad sir???)

      I think this is an artifact representative of American culture prior to the Vietnam War.

      Growing up in the 90's I think I only ever heard one person call their dad sir, and it was when we got caught drinking passionfruit vodka in a friend's basement.

      "The American Military Family" cohort/trope has changed a lot over the past 50 years or so.

      • EATFOOD [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        my dad beat it into me so I pretty much addressed all adults as "sir/mam" until like a year ago, when I turned 20

        • Leon_Grotsky [comrade/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Yeah this sir/maam "parenting strategy," I think, was kind of the result of the camo-humping culture and PTSD of the post-WWII era that (according to my analysis) was kinda stifled off by the anti-war sentiments common during the Vietnam War era.

          Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying America doesn't worship the military now (because we most certainly do) just that before it was like a.... participatory worship whereas now it's more like a distanced reverence?

          Maybe I'm not expressing my thoughts well, this is a pretty abstract concept in my head I haven't really put to words yet.

    • Rem [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Wait hol up do other countries not clap

      • Shmyt [he/him,any]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Think like people clapping after the movie finishes at the cinema or when the airplane lands, that sort of clapping. The weird clapping, not like applauding a speaker or musician. This weird American clapping (which has spread to Canada because both counties are garbage) is done for someone who isn't there, just to signify that something is finished.

        • Rem [she/her]
          ·
          4 years ago

          I've never experienced people clapping for a plane land tbh but I'll take your word for it. Clapping at movies I have seen, agree that shit is generally dumb.

        • prismaTK
          ·
          1 year ago

          deleted by creator

          • Shmyt [he/him,any]
            ·
            4 years ago

            No, the bus driver is a discrete person who you greeted and then thanked. Both parts of that are polite and help them enjoy their day: they are a worker who you saw and recognised. The pilots of an airliner can't hear you, they're still in the cockpit doing post flight stuff. You probably didn't see them before or during the flight unless its a really small plane or you're a time traveler and flying pre911. Sure it would be good to say thanks to the pilot if you see them but clapping isn't really that is it?

            • prismaTK
              ·
              1 year ago

              deleted by creator

              • Shmyt [he/him,any]
                ·
                4 years ago

                I will. One of these days I will stop you all :ground-pog: