What things do Americanophiles never know if they had never been to America?

36 comments

1. That most Americans live quiet, uneventful and somewhat disconnected lives.

   Every Freeaboo I’ve ever met is sure we all go to Bald Eagle races every day after work at the luxury car nightclub.

2. I hate when we break the hearts of foreign OPs who wanna learn more about ranchers & cowboys 😩 life is always more mundane than the national stereotypes portrayed in movies suggest, and that can let down a lot of foreigners

3. State fairs are a wildly overlooked piece of American culture.

4. It’s *very* rare to see a firearm in the US. If someone has a firearm, it’s typically concealed. There are exceptions. If I’m going on a hike or something I’ll open carry a handgun or if I’m camping I’ll have a rifle on a sling, but people don’t typically walk around in public with a gun belt on like its the wild west. I’ve seen this weird, although not totally unwarranted, perception that everybody in the states has several guns on them at all times.

5. > ~~Americanophiles~~ *Freeaboos*

   FTFY

6. We’re just trying to live our lives and survive. Most of us live boring, mundane lives. We wake up, go to work, go home, maybe go to a board game night or a rec sport once or twice a week, and that’s about it.

7. Road trips seem to figure in the imaginations of people as a very American thing and as something that are a lot more fun than they actually are (and I say that as someone who likes a road trip pretty well). I hope everyone realizes when planning a trip to the US that a lot of road trips involve looking at anonymous interstates for many, many hours.

8. I’d say road trip culture. Few other countries have a similar “I’m gonna drive 6 hours to see some random monument, stay a night, then drive another 6 hours back home” culture.

   We are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of time on the road for the smallest things. I have an Aunt that’ll drive 4hrs 1 way for some grits from Cracker Barrel when she feels like it.

9. That not all the food is processed or unhealthy. It’s like they forget we have most of the foods they have here. Lmfao. They act like they don’t have frozen/fast food either.

10. We drive everywhere, even if it would only take us a few minutes to walk to a destination. There are more cars in the US than people.

11. Don’t get your meals from gas stations and fast food or chain restaurants and then complain that all our food is processed junk. Go to local places, or if you have the opportunity a cook out. If you have the ability to cook where you’re staying, go to a grocery store and see that theres more available than sliced white bread.

12. I’ve lived abroad a little bit and one thing that always surprised people who studied American history, but then actually met Americans, was that we really don’t smoke cigarettes anymore. I know it’s not portrayed in movies and the media as much as it has in the past, but compared to our across the pond counterparts, we really don’t smoke that much anymore. I don’t know the numbers on this though.

    Also, our apartments are nowhere near the size of what’s portrayed in television and movies. Especially when the main character is a waitress or works in retail!

    The people who were obsessed with American culture that I’ve encountered were also surprised to usually know more about our history than the average American. They could talk about the civil war or presidents or anything else, and were surprised to learn that many of us only vaguely knew about what they were talking about. They usually could sing all the verses of our national anthem when most people barely know the first, if at all.

13. Most big name restaurants are mediocre and underwhelming. Most are the best spots will be local restaurants.

    63% of Americans live in suburbs. Even if you commute into NYC everyday, it’s probably a very different lifestyle people imagine when they say they live in NYC.

    Many don’t seem to realize there’s tons of great smaller cities to visit, natural beauty to explore and even charming small towns that dot the country, each with its own proud culture and history.

14. Yes, we are a friendly nation and often chat up strangers.

15. I’m a car guy and other car guys who are fond of American cars, but have never been here, think we all drive V8 pick-ups or muscle cars because why would we drive anything else? Truth is, you’re far more likely to find someone driving a mundane crossover with a 2.0L inline-four.

16. That it’s very easy to get fresh fruits and vegetables.

    Just because your friend visited for a week and went to the 7-11 near the hotel and couldn’t find kale, doesn’t mean we don’t have it. Go to a proper grocery store and gaze in awe upon the produse section.

17. Honestly the thing most not from here can’t grasp is the sheer scope of the country. I live in Virginia. If I point my car southwest, I can drive for 8 hours, and all be in Virginia.

    Virtually everything anyone knows about America is actually a thing about a sub group of Americans.

    Like, people open carry guns in stores. Yes, they do. Every day. Also it is so rare that I don’t remember having seen it.

    Whether your image of America is cowboy hats, Manhattan city lights, or beaches and traffic, no matter how true it is in one area, it is not true everywhere.

    The only exceptions are those few federal things, like that you can up and travel or move anywhere you can afford to move, without permission from any kind of authority.

18. >What do you think that an “Americanophile” would never have known if they just know about American and its culture through the media or other forms and not actually been there.

    New York City isn’t an accurate representation of most places in the US. In the sense, downtown Des Moines, or Tulsa aren’t going to look like a replica of Manhattan (with a gazillion sky scrapers, and bustling traffic).

    And contrary to the depiction of American ppl in Friends, Seinfeld, etc. it’s not like buddies hangout at each other’s apartments or go to spend time at a coffee shop everyday. Everyone’s busy for most part, and people only hangout occasionally.

19. Do you know what Bucee’s is?

20. You can actually find some pretty odd things. Once as a tour guide at the Oregon Maritime Museum a Kenyan walked in. There was a map comparing the travel routes near the river. So he asked what an Indian trail was and thought it meant actual Asian Indians. When I told him about Columbus he thought it hilarious. And it is kind of but it is funnier if you never heard the story.

21. That the Pacific Ocean is very cold.

22. Probably that the US is diverse and there are many people who have none or not much ancestry from Europe. Also Native Americans also exist and history is still around. I’ve noticed that a lot of Europeans on Reddit seem to think it doesn’t.

23. Not quite an americanphile, but a friend who consume american media before coming here for college freaked out a bit when he first visited the bathrooms here. Primarily because of the lack of bidets. None of the shows and media he saw really showed bathrooms so he assumed we also had bidets lol

24. We’re not all walking around with guns on our hips. Wellll…I mean most of us aren’t

25. Car-centricity. Most people in the US live in suburban sprawl and have to drive to get anywhere. This is what gives the illusion of everything being big in the country (aside from the food portions). People come here thinking they can walk everywhere not realizing we demolished large parts of the cities for cars.

26. I’ve met a lot of people in Germany that romanticize life in America as seen from the eyes of influencers on social media.

    Usually they’re the children of extremely rich families living in NYC or LA on their parents’ dime. Life in the US is not like that if you’re not rich or extremely lucky. Most people lead much less exciting lives in the suburbs somewhere.

27. Come to Miami only if you want a Latin American experience in America. Beach is great and city is beautiful but you’ll feel like a tourist amongst tourist amongst foreigners here. Others can speak for other cities.

28. The diversity of what America is like. Boston feels like a town in northern England, Houston is like a Dali painting, San Antonio is dreamy friendly community with high quality Mexican food, LA is like a cartoon of what you think LA is like.

29. Most Americans get along and even like each other. You’d think we were on the cusp of a civil war if you just watched our news channels.

30. >”Americanophile”

    The term I’ve seen bandied about is ‘freeaboo’, though that’s specifically in reference to the more pro-American military enthusiasts

31. Just how wild some of the country is. I have had several encounters with European tourists in state parks surprised by the elk or bears. They seem to think they are more like zoo pets, not wild animals living their life. Also, don’t try to let the elk.

32. The people. The interesting mix of cultures. You would never know America. You just know what others have said. Come to New England during leaf season. Drive our back roads. Stop at the little diners for an early breakfast and then at lunch. Visit the out of the way places during the off-season. Then go to the Midwest. Stay out of the cities. Visit them last. Talk to the people and then you’ll know why you love America.

33. Just how radically different the regions are. Portland, Maine and Albuquerque, New Mexico are far more different from one another than Switzerland and France.

34. I’ve noticed a couple of times that some foreigners associate the U.S. with cowboys. Cowboys and their culture are mostly a Southwestern thing. I haven’t had an opportunity to go further west than Memphis, and I’ve never seen an actual cowboy in person in my entire life.

35. Just how big the states are individually. I just took a trip from South Wisconsin to Ohio and we went straight down to Bloomington and over instead of going though Chigaco and it was about a ten hour trip. 5 hours were spent in Illinois alone. Indiana surprised me, though, since it was only about 2 and a half hours.

36. When I was 21, after college and before law school, I went backpacking in Western Europe. Virtually everyone I met was shocked that I wasn’t a moron. According to them, Americans were generally considered to be dumb as hell worldwide. It was an interesting take, when the US has consistently been one of the most educated countries in the world. (Last I checked, the US was #3 in terms of percentage of tertiary education.)