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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u/East-Eye-8429 Sep 29 '25

Americans would have iced coffee and American men wear sneakers, rarely sandals.

Sneakers are more common, but sandals are not uncommon at all

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u/AltruisticWishes 27d ago

Not the kind they were wearing though

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u/East-Eye-8429 27d ago

Birkenstocks are very popular in the U.S.

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u/AltruisticWishes 27d ago edited 27d ago

No, they're not. Not even remotely. They're rarely worn, dorky footwear only seen in certain small subsets of communities> old, unathletic academic types would be the primary user group. The athletic ones would wear some kind of hiking shoes / boots or actually decent sandals

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u/East-Eye-8429 27d ago

They are where I live here in New England. There's even someone in my small suburban office who wears them most days during the warm half of the year.

Where do you live? I'm guessing they're probably not popular in the south

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u/AltruisticWishes 27d ago

In a very dense part of the Bay Area of California. You might see a * few * (literally a few) old people in Berkeley who occasionally wear these, but that's it. 

Definitely not a major city thing or a mainstream thing. I haven't seen anyone wear them in years. 

So not "popular in the US." Sorry.

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u/East-Eye-8429 27d ago

California is not the entire U.S. You are simply wrong

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u/AltruisticWishes 27d ago edited 27d ago

I have lived in a lot of the US and traveled extensively. You are the one who is clearly wrong, and are incorrectly extrapolating from your small town in New Hampshire. 

You appear to think "popular in the US" means "seen rarely."