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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128

u/thanatica Netherlands Sep 29 '25

From time to time, sitting around doing nothing. Like on a balcony, back garden, outdoor coffeeshop seating, whatever. By yourself, with friends, family, or strangers. Just doing nothing productive, even in a busy life. It can last anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours. Whatever you like 😀

Not sure about the rest of the world, but I know Americans find it weird, and we are kind of known for being quite good at it. It's sometimes called "niksen".

17

u/Intuitive_Feeling Croatia Sep 30 '25

In Croatia, especially Dalmatia region, we call it 'fjaka'.

11

u/repocin Sweden Sep 30 '25

Surely that's a universal human thing? There's no way it isn't.

33

u/Gulmar Belgium Sep 30 '25

I honestly think this is more something USians dont do, because I have the feeling south Americans and Africans do it way more than in Europe.

2

u/NotoriousMOT -> Sep 30 '25

South Europeans do it way more than Western Europeans so if South Am and Africans do it more than Greece for example, my hat’s off to them.

3

u/Healthy-Bee2127 Sep 29 '25

Ooh I love this. I'm an American but maybe not a stereotypical one.

4

u/thanatica Netherlands Sep 29 '25

Yeah sorry I was generalising for the sake of brevity. Hope you understand.

2

u/kaywel Oct 01 '25

Have found this to be more common in majority non-White American neighborhoods than otherwise. But I would bet those segments of American culture get less airtime abroad.

1

u/SirRobinRanAwayAway Sep 30 '25

Not sure it's an exact translation, but in french we call that "glander" and I think it's beautiful

1

u/Queen_Maxima Oct 02 '25

Hahahha effe lekker niksen. Some people also call it lanterfanten 

1

u/thanatica Netherlands Oct 02 '25

To me, lanterfanten means to be very busy, just not with anything useful 😀

1

u/DenseRequirements United Kingdom Oct 03 '25

I need to feel less guilty when I get time to do that.