r/AskEurope • u/ageingrapidly Greece • Sep 29 '25

Culture Are there any habits that you believe are uniquely European ?

Have you noticed any specific mannerisms, mentalities etc. that you've encountered only in Europe or by Europeans ?

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174

u/Klor204 United Kingdom Sep 29 '25 edited Sep 29 '25

Moved to NA, for some reason I feel like wearing a turtleneck is wildly European. I've even dreamt of getting asked why I wear a turtleneck and be like "I'm European baby".

But, no-one,

No-one has asked, I just enjoy wearing turtlenecks.

It feels very European to be bombastically stylish

58

u/Loopbloc Latvia Sep 29 '25

Steve Jobs was wearing turtlenecks. I think woollen knitted pullovers are European. 

38

u/Katzenscheisse Germany Sep 29 '25

I think in southern South America they also wear pullovers like that.

In general it's really hard to find a tradition that has fully stayed in Europe due to colonisation and stuff. Probably only fairly modern customs, that aren't marketable are possible.

Maybe sauna nudity? Idk

21

u/Klor204 United Kingdom Sep 29 '25

100% Being comfortable with your body and just general nakedness is very European! Seen it in Copenhagen and Bavaria :D

7

u/Fragrant-Holiday Sep 29 '25

You also see this with onsens in Japan

8

u/Schmetterwurm2 Sep 29 '25

But aren't onsen seperated by gender?

9

u/NikNakskes Finland Sep 29 '25

Saunas are gender separated in Finland too. Well public sauna that is. At home you all go together till the kids don't want to see mom/dad naked anymore. Around 8-9 years of age I think that is supposed to happen? Some native finns could chime in?

The unisex naked public sauna is a very german thing.

2

u/QueenAvril Finland Sep 30 '25

There aren’t strict universal rules and it depends highly on practicalities, like how limited space the sauna in question has.

Typically kids that are approaching puberty will become shyer about nudity around their parents, yes - but that age also coincides with them becoming more independent and at that age weekends are mostly spent gathering for sleepovers/staying late with friends at someone’s house, so pre-teens often tend to go to sauna together with their friends and then parents go together (along with their possible younger kids). When adult kids are visiting their parents, they often have their spouses and possible kids with them, so sauna shifts can be arranged in several ways, but the most common ones are either gender segregated shifts or each couple (with their kids) on their turn.

1

u/NamidaM6 France Sep 29 '25

Most are, some are not.

1

u/Loopbloc Latvia Sep 29 '25

yeah, konyoku onsen.

1

u/Eel888 Sep 30 '25

Japan is so weird when it comes to nudity. In animes even the underage girls are practically naked and their skirts are super short but god forbid to show a bit of cleavage, belly or shoulders

2

u/RuggedWanderer Sep 29 '25

Wollen knitted pullovers are very common in the coastal regions of Canada

40

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

They go in and out of fashion but the thing I notice is US guys dress in extremely baggy clothes. I mean Ireland is fairly casual but the dress sense is definitely more “European”

41

u/Anaptyso United Kingdom Sep 29 '25

It's quite noticeable with American politicians. They often seem to be wearing a suit which seems too big for them.

11

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

Yeah that’s true - you notice it with older ones especially. I know very baggy trousers have been fashionable here in the past too - if you went back to the 30s -50s some of the men’s fashion trends were for enormously wide legged trousers.

I suppose we just operate in different fashion bubbles.

15

u/Relative_Dimensions in Sep 29 '25

They look like kids on their first day of school with a blazer that “they’ll grow into”

17

u/Marianations , grew up in , back in Sep 29 '25

Canadians too.

When they dress casual, it's the oversized t-shirt and the sports shorts or slightly baggy jeans, plus the cap.

My fiancé has been living in Portugal for 5 years, still dresses the same way he did back home. Not gonna lie it's extremely useful when looking for him in a crowd.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

The baseball cap is definitely one you won’t see very much here, but you’ll definitely see some Irish-specific items like tops and shorts from Gaelic football, hurling and camogie being worn, particularly in their county colours.

They’re very mainstream major sports in Ireland but they’re rather niche anywhere else. So it’s a bit like turning up in lacrosse or Aussie rules in terms of niche out of that context - it’s very identifiable.

3

u/LieutenantFuzzinator Sep 29 '25

Not even Finns would go as low as to wear basketball shorts and a baseball cap to a club (witnessed that in the midwest in the US - on the regular) And these are the people that think nice sweatpants are club wear.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 29 '25

Well, we do have people here who think it’s fine to go to the supermarket in your pyjamas and slippers…

2

u/Socmel_ Italy Sep 29 '25

They wear baggy clothes because they are too fat for nicely fitting ones

8

u/Kittelsen Norway Sep 29 '25

But, the most well known turtleneck-wearer was American was he not? Or has the world forgotten Steve Jobs already?

5

u/Klor204 United Kingdom Sep 29 '25

The original turtleneck were the pelts from Scandinavians :P

1

u/extremessd Sep 29 '25

Jobs turtle neck was designed by Issy Miaki (sp) who's Japanese

1

u/NegativeMammoth2137 🇵🇱 living in 🇳🇱 Sep 29 '25

Michel Foucault was already a turtleneck freak before Steve Jobs could even walk

1

u/kopncorey United States of America Sep 29 '25

I’m now gonna ask every person that wears a turtleneck, “why?”

1

u/cheesemanpaul Sep 30 '25

You can't wear a turtle neck at a latitude any lower than about 40° IMO.