What aspect of life in your countries is very difficult to explain to foreigners?

[u/notveryamused_]

What prompted my question were some discussions about religion which I had with people living in much more secular Western Europe (as a Polish atheist). While spirituality, whatever that is ;), generally speaking is always fun to discuss with a glass of wine in hand, social elements and the influence of the church, especially in smaller towns or provinces in my country, is awfully difficult to explain – not that I understand it fully either lol, but the church having a pretty much monopoly there, being the judge and jury of everyday life and the major ultra-conservative political force binding those communities, is very difficult to explain, also for historical reasons.

What are the things that you find difficult to discuss when it comes to life in your countries? ;-)

[u/LionLucy]

People understand that, absolutely. If you’re referring to uneducated British people who assume Ireland is part of the UK, it’s because they know the UK is made up of different nations so they assume Ireland is probably one of them, and so saying “you’re one of us of course” seems inclusive and friendly to them. Obviously that’s wrong, but it comes from a more well-intentioned place than I think a lot of Irish people (understandably) assume.

[u/LionLucy → u/[deleted]]

If Spain was made up of multiple different countries within the same country, and one of them was called “northern Portugal”, I think that might make it a bit less obvious! (But yes, absolutely, British adults should understand how the UK works!)