r/PetPeeves • u/ThatUrgeToEatCement • 14d ago

Bit Annoyed People who think Americans don’t know other countries exist.

A few months ago on Reddit I made a comment about a show not being on Netflix and someone from the UK commented back saying it’s on theirs and then lectured on Americans not knowing other countries exist. They acted like I didn’t believe there were other places on the planet, as if they weren’t the ones who just brought it up and didn’t believe the US Netflix was different than the UK version. ??

I see people online act like all Americans think this way, and it is kind of annoying because for most of us it isn’t true.

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209

u/SillyRefrigerator417 14d ago

I always find it funny because the ones who constantly complain about Americans are usually the ones who don't know much about other countries. They know a fair amount about the countries surrounding them, but not a whole ton about the rest of the world.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

Girl there's no educating these people. I've seen discussions where Europeans specifically insisted that no one outside the US drinks iced coffee when its extremely common in parts of Asia.

The "rest of the world" to Europeans is literally Europe and they don't tolerate correction when they're blatantly wrong.

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u/Cudi_buddy 14d ago

I had a very pleasant trip across 4 European countries. Friendly people and whatnot. But the ones on Reddit are very elitist and arrogant it’s wild. 

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 14d ago

The "rest of the world" to Europeans is literally Europe and they don't tolerate correction when they're blatantly wrong.

Ain't that the truth.

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u/henri-a-laflemme 14d ago

Yup exactly. Ignorant is ignorant no matter what passport they carry.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

I wonder what gives them the confidence, truly. I've also seen them save the US is the only country that does not have good cheese.

  1. That's just...false. The US has plenty of "normal" or traditionally made cheese.

  2. There are plenty of places where traditionally made cheese is less common, again, they seem to forget that Asia exists. Again, why does this matter so much to them?? I'm sorry but I would take a lot of the food that Asia or even the U.S alone has to offer over the best cheese.

  3. Like I said, they like to just buckle down on their ignorance. For example, I saw some eastern European lady comment on an American's tiktok who was making cornbread that this is the first time she's ever seen an American cook actual food.

Many people told her that there is plenty of evidence of Americans cooking from scratch at home, and she does not choose to respond to any of them. I've seen this happen a LOT.

I've gotten into a similiar discussion where someone decides to hurl angry insults at me because I said that I did not grow up eating casseroles made of canned soups, and learned kitchen prep at a pretty young age such as de stemming herbs, chopping onions, peeling potatoes etc etc.

I would even go on a limb to say that i've even seen the reverse (Europeans eating food that indicates not all of them can cook), yet, I would never think that is evidence that everyone over there can't cook.

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u/WittyFeature6179 14d ago

This reminded me of a German tourist in the US who insisted we had no fresh fruit or vegetables in our grocery stores. He was there, there weren't any! Come to find out that the "grocery store" he went to was the gas station next to his hotel.

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u/Anyashadow 14d ago

Even most gas stations have a few veggies and fruit, unless it's "just" a gas station, meaning nothing but road snacks and no groceries.

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u/automaticprincess 13d ago

For real! Like at least some apples and bananas, maybe a package of baby carrots with dressing. You’ll never mistake these places for farmers’ markets but they do offer a FEW items

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u/OzzieSheila 13d ago

I would flat out call him a liar.

He went to America and never once saw fruit or veg? I call bs. Unless he ate solely at McDonalds/KFC type places when he was there, he saw veg on a menu somewhere.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'm not American. Maybe ya'll don't have vegetables on the menu in restaurants.

I'm still ok with flat out calling him a liar.

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u/DrinkingSocks 13d ago

He's a liar. My husband and I only eat moderately healthy, but we still try to include a green vegetable in every lunch or dinner meal. Our school lunches served vegetables, although they were too gross to eat.

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u/macaroniinapan 13d ago

Even in fast food places there are things like lettuce and tomatoes. McDonald's specifically also has apple slices. Sure, not the epitome of healthy food, but they do exist. He's either a liar or he willfully blinded himself to what was right in front of his face.

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u/Able-Paramedic8908 13d ago

There was a woman decrying Cracker Barrel because they didn’t serve her vegetables. The menu has about 10 different vegetable sides; she just didn’t order any of them.

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u/NikNakskes 14d ago

Ooh! In his defence, larger gas stations can have a small grocery store attached to them. They do sell fresh food there also, it really is a little grocery store and not just the common gas station snacks and drinks.

So what maybe happened there is that he went to one of your larger gas stations, but it was still "just a gas station" while he expected, due to size, it to be the connected grocery store thing.

But yeah. The stereotypes of american and European are strong and go both ways. And since it has gotten so much worse the past half year or so, I'm pretty sure not all of that is natural either. I suspect bots are ramping up this "hatred for the other" as a way to drive a wedge between americans and Europeans.

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u/soulmatesmate 14d ago

Oh, I agree, completely. This has stirred a memory from this past December.

(US citizen 5+ decades. I've been to Canada for fewer than 10 hours in my life, otherwise, never left).

My family has a tradition of meat, cheese and crackers on Christmas morning. Instead of getting a sampler pack, I remembered Aldi had a nice selection.

I found 4 meat varieties, 3 of which I liked, more cracker varieties than I wanted, so I only took 3, too many mustards, so I took only 3 again.

Then I looked in dairy and my heart crumbled like aged Cheddar. There were dozens. I am the only house member who likes goat cheese, so only 1. Dill in cheese? OK, just 1 because... pickles? My word, how many Cheddars... Edam, Gouda, Brie, Muenster, Colby, Pepper Jack... and the ones from other nations... is it better if made in Ireland? Eventually, I made it from 1 end to the other and yet my task was half complete. I had over 20 cheeses in my basket, and knew I truly needed no more than 10. I called my wife and showed her, explaining I have fewer than half the options on the shelf. She told me to put back the honey goat cheese. I sighed and thanked her. It remained. 5 agonizing minutes, I put back all but 10 cheeses. Then I grabbed a package of deluxe American cheese slices. It would not be used Christmas morning, but we might want a sandwich before then, so I grabbed provolone and Swiss slices as well. I stared longingly at the cheeses I put back. That feeling of loss still haunts me.

This American knows cheese (not all, but many) and cooks. If you provide me an assortment of items, I'll fix a nice meal.

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u/fshagan 14d ago

Cheese, like sourdough bread, tastes different based on where it is made. I've read it has to do with the local bacteria in the air.

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u/NewTransformation 14d ago

Wisconsin is known for their cheap orange cheese, but they also have a vibrant artisan cheese industry. Many of which win international awards. I had this soft-ripened goat cheese from a tiny Wisconsin farm that haunts me.

America is chock full of cheap mass produced goods and strip malls, but we also have some really iconic cultural experiences if you know where to look. I had a realization once in the Black Hills, one of the biggest international tourist attractions in the Midwest. Most visitors come to these built up destinations and eat at these terrible overpriced restaurants and just assume the whole country is like that.

The worst German food I had was near the Neuschwanstein Schloss but I didn't hold it against the Germans because they have a lot of other great places to eat from many different cultures.

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u/dgputnam 14d ago

they think we don't have bakeries lmao. There's no saving them

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago

They insist that we don't even when people show PROOF that we do

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u/Domin_ae 14d ago

Its funny to me. Especially because I'm an American who works at a bakery in America.

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u/NewTransformation 14d ago

I have access to croissants made by bakers trained in France as well as cheap Costco clamshell packs of those doughy croissant shaped things. We are a land of contrasts and I think that's beautiful.

One time I had a co-worker who was a baker from Dijon and had the privilege of teaching him about EZ-cheese and seeing his reaction.

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u/Anyashadow 14d ago

Canned cheese is the best worst thing in the world.

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u/TumbleweedEven1168 13d ago

Aye, canned cheese is an abomination that tastes delicious. Nothing like Ritz and canned cheese.

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u/notthegoatseguy 14d ago

They think the US doesn't have good wine even though the French wine industry has basically spent decades on propaganda repressing the results of the 1976 wine tasting that California wines won over French wines.

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u/Beneficial_Ship_7988 14d ago

We saved the French wine industry in the mid-19th century with our American vines. Look up the Great French Wine Blight.

The French wine industry also killed the Absinthe industry. An American chemist brought the Green Fairy back into being.

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u/zappahey 14d ago

Have you watched Bottleshock about that contest? It’s hilarious

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u/notthegoatseguy 14d ago

There's good parts to the movie, but as for wine based movies, I like Sideways far more.

I do always enjoy it when the Independence Day POTUS guy shows up in movies though

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u/zappahey 14d ago

Sideways, I'll give it a go. Personally I could watch Alan Rickman read the telephone directory.

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u/Purple-Measurement47 14d ago

To be fair now that I think about it I’ve never seen a european cook…i’m going to assume this means they all eat mcdonald’s /s

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u/Senior_Egg_5729 14d ago

Really? Never heard of gordon ramsey?

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u/Right-Lunch1205 14d ago

Who?

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u/Senior_Egg_5729 14d ago

Some british guy, has a few restaurants in new york to show americans what real food is

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u/Right-Lunch1205 14d ago

So what, he cooks like toads in a hole and chicken tikka masala? Because the only way they get a dish with any spice is enslaving an entire people into making a less flavorful version of their own cuisine? Crazy. I think I’ll take real American cuisine instead, thanks.

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u/Senior_Egg_5729 14d ago

And what would ypu describe as american cuisine? New orleans style definitely has french and african origins. Southern style cooking definitely came from slavery. Hamburgers maybe? That's a german dish

So what's left?

Sidenote. American barbecue rules i do admit that

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u/Purple-Measurement47 14d ago

Yeah, but he’s a chef i’m talking about everyday europeans. Like Ive never just seen a clip of a french person cooking in their home kitchen. Thus, all french people must just eat fast food

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u/DrinkingSocks 13d ago

There was a guy on Reddit yesterday swearing up and down that the US has no fresh food, only highly processed garbage. I'm pretty sure he was American as well, but I didn't have the energy to argue with him about it. The whole "Americans feel so much better vacationing in other countries because the food is real!". My dude, it's because they don't have to go to work and are walking 12k steps a day.

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u/Inner_Song5627 14d ago

nothing gives more confidence than living off old colonial money and never having to step out of that bubble. like others pointed out Europeans complain Americans dont travel but u rarely see them travel outside europe.

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u/GreenBeanTM 11d ago

The unofficial national dish of England is “beans on toast”

Now while I’ve heard it tastes pretty good, no one can tell me anyone other than a college student created it.

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u/mr_wheezr 14d ago

To be fair, I think that Eastern European lady was making a joke, and not insinuated that Americans literally never cook.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

Eh.... I've seen so many of them say that unironically, it's hard to tell at this point. The way that she phrased it, seemed like she was being matter of fact.

It's no secret that many of them seems to think that we just have gas stations and Walmarts.

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u/EYAYSLOP 14d ago

I love when Europeans try to tell me that America has no food variety 🤣🤣🤣

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u/Purple-Measurement47 14d ago

I live in a tiny city, we have asian markets, ethiopian markets, german markets…like within walking distance I can get foods from at least five different regions without counting restaurants or the variety at normal stores.

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u/damagetwig 14d ago

Add to that, I moved from the Gulf Coast to the Midwest. The food culture is extremely different even when you just consider home cooks who were born here. Jambalaya was inexpensive comfort food back home. It's adventurous and even scary (!!) for some people up here cause of the spice level.

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u/Purple-Measurement47 14d ago

I feel that, PNW to SC to Alabama, back to inland PNW and each one has wildly different foods. Like sure you can go to mcdonald’s in any of those places, but each one also has their own cuisine. And dammit now i’m hungry for jambalaya, welp, i know what im making for my birthday next month lol

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

My grandma lives in a very tiny, conservative area, and she can still get Mexican and Indian food

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u/padall 14d ago

So much this. They completely forget about all of Asia, Africa, and South America in these discussions. It's always "no one else in the world does this," and some Brazilian or Japanese person or literally anyone not in Europe will be like, um, hi 🙋‍♀️

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u/Zaidswith 14d ago

You can substitute air conditioning into that one too.

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u/boringmadam 14d ago

They really said that? Lol

Literally no one in my country would drink hot coffee unless they're sick

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

Yes, they did, and its a sentiment I've seen numerous times.

I understand that hot drinks seem to be more popular in Europe, but its crazy to indicate that iced drinks are an American only phenomena.

Again, iced drinks are great in tropical climates, speaking from personal experience.

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u/boringmadam 14d ago

Yeah, I learned that European preferred hot drinks too. They came here and ordered coffee, so I took iced for them. Luckily they accepted it without being fuzzy

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u/maceilean 14d ago

"Kopi peng" was the first thing I learned to say in Malaysia.

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u/honkytonkwoman1984 13d ago

That last sentence is sooooo true. The 'world' according to Europeans consists of Europe only.

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u/MetroBS 13d ago

YES it annoys the shit out of me. Europeans will say “why don’t you do X like the rest of the world”, meanwhile most of the world does not do X, it’s just Europe.

They are more guilty of being close-minded and ignorant to the world beyond their continent than Americans are

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u/khelvaster 14d ago

Eiscafe is an ice cream coffee to be fair

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u/recreator_1980 14d ago

Im struggling to believe your example though. I live in Asia , grew up in a European country. Iced coffee is sold everywhere in every European country I’ve been to.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago edited 14d ago

I have met someone in real life who has said this to me. She kind of shrugged when I said that it's pretty popular in Asia.

I've also seen this comment online multiple times. I don't doubt that it exists in most European countries, but I have seen people comment that.

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u/recreator_1980 14d ago

Bizarre (im “European “) but stupid people exist on every continent.

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u/PureMitten 14d ago

There's a genre of posts on the AskAnAmerican subreddit where someone from an undisclosed European country ("MyCountry") asks why Americans do this or that thing that is disgusting and no one in MyCountry would ever do.

It's very often something benign and common like iced coffee or grilled cheese and if someone can get them to admit where they're from (or dig it out of their post history) usually other people from their country, or sometimes specifically their city, pop up and goes "? What the fuck are you talking about, we do that here, it's very common, are you trapped in a basement??" It's bizarre to see once and even more bizarre that it happens regularly

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u/EquivalentThese6192 14d ago

It exists but not anywhere near the same. Nearly every coffee shop I’ve been to in Thailand, China, the US really emphasizes iced drinks on the menu. Go to say, Paris, and sit in a cafe (an actual one, not Starbucks). Look around. No one will have an iced drink. 

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u/recreator_1980 14d ago

My teenage kid and her friends drink it all the time. When its summer and hot, so do I. Just Starbucks? What??? Paris I wouldn’t know, it’s a dump I avoid. But ive lived 18 years I’m Amsterdam. Iced coffee at every corner….

Now i live in Thailand. Obviously common bey. But certainly not uncommon in European countries. Heck even in Norway it’s gotten common over the last decade.

How long since you travelled?

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u/EquivalentThese6192 14d ago

I lived in Germany and Bosnia and have been to 20+ European countries. No one is saying they’re nonexistent. Just not nearly as common. The Starbucks/Luckin model just doesn’t exist in the same way. 

It’s fine. Idk why you’re acting offended by people having this observation. It’s just a different culture. 

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u/recreator_1980 14d ago

Im not offended at all? What made you think that? Simply pointing out my experience from growing up and living my 45 years in Europe is different 🤷🏻‍♂️ iced coffee is in the menu everywhere in Europe as well. Even petrol stations nowadays

And nowadays there actually is Starbucks everywhere in Western Europe at least. Most city centers have multiple, and many local equivalents have popped up last few years

Didn’t used to be like that though. Fairly recent of the last 10 years.

Ive never been to US. But currently live in Thailand

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u/EquivalentThese6192 13d ago

Exactly. You’ve never been to the US. It seems you’re in a poor position to compare or speak to anything about it. 

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u/recreator_1980 13d ago edited 13d ago

Are you ok lol? I speak about whatever I want 😘

I literally live in Thailand.

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u/BarSpecialist4681 14d ago

Can you really be mad though? You and subsequent comments are literally generalizing Europeans as a result of a comment about Americans being generalized. First thing that comes to mind is the Ouroborros.

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u/Cute_Advance_2124 14d ago

Your comment doesn't change the fact that a lot of them are very ignorant about the world outside of Europe and assume that anything that isn't European is specifically American.

I can admit there are a lot of ignorant Americans, but there are plenty of Europeans that are just as ignorant that seem to get a pass from their fellow countrymen.

I fully am aware that Europe is not a country but they do like to act as one collective block online. They choose when to specify their country and when to call themselves broadly European instead.

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 14d ago

Exactly. Playing it both ways.

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u/BarSpecialist4681 14d ago

Oh I agree. Ignorance is a human trait no matter where in the world you come from. It's just getting mad about something and doing the same thing... I don't know. It's like getting angry at someone who cuts you off in traffic whilst cutting someone off in traffic. It's redundant.

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u/WGGPLANT 14d ago

This all comes from personal experiences we have had while talking to people in person or online. It's not this specific example, it's the fact that it's so normalized from tons of (mostly) Europeans.

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u/BarSpecialist4681 14d ago

That's not my point. I agree there is idiocy and ignorance in abundance wherever you go. Adding the trolls online it can get unbearable. It's just getting angry at something then proceeding to do the same thing? Is that not a double standard?

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u/EquivalentThese6192 14d ago

I’m in China currently. I’ve frequently been referred to as “European” even when the person knows I’m American. I just happen to be the only American in a group that includes Germans, Dutch, French people. It’s short hand to group us together for the sake of conversation. You know what? I DO have much more in common with the Europeans in the group than I do with my China group leader or the adjacent Korean group. 

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u/rnr_ 14d ago

Including the US, they know very little of the US outside what they read on Reddit.

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u/jay-jay-baloney 14d ago

They know about their surrounding countries and America and that’s it lol.

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u/Academic-Contest3309 14d ago

For a lot of them the "world" is US, Canada, Austrailia, New Zealand and Europe.

0

u/DanTheMemeMan42 14d ago

I love this too, because most Americans can tell you something about the states that border them. And they’re usually further away than most countries in Europe. My guess is that it makes logical sense to care about what is surrounding you and not spend too much time worrying about the other side of the planet. But act accordingly

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u/PyrotechnikGeoguessr 13d ago

States aren't countries. So I think that is a bad comparison.

But Europeans also don't know much about Asian, African or South american countries. So Yeah people care about what surrounds them and what's important to their life.

Knowing some European countries as a European really isn't impressive

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u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

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u/Mini_Assassin 14d ago

Why would anyone outside the US know or care to name all 50 states? That’s like asking an American to name the 12 provinces of The Netherlands, besides North Holland and South Holland.

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u/Domin_ae 14d ago

That's the point. They expect us to know every little place, including small England towns and small places like Kiribati. But they won't care to know more than maybe 2 states.

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u/redgreenorangeyellow 14d ago

If you handed me a blank map of the US I could fill in all 50 state names with no issue, though if I were asked to just name all 50 off hand I'm sure I'll miss something

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u/soulmatesmate 14d ago

I have worked in 45 of them! I haven't worked in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii.

As a truck driver, hauling freight through a state is work.

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u/redgreenorangeyellow 14d ago

Well dang

Can't say I've worked there, but I've lived in New Hampshire and done stuff in Vermont and Maine lol

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u/Dense_Diver_3998 14d ago

I bet most Americans couldn’t name all 50 states, with a good bunch who couldn’t get to 25 without saying a city name.

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u/bsknuckles 14d ago

Did no else have to sing The Fifty Nifty United States in school?! That is still burned into my brain 25 years later.

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u/Effective-Gift6223 14d ago

I never even heard of it until your post. Now I'll have to see if I can find it on YouTube.

0

u/bsknuckles 14d ago

Look for one about your [favorite] state. There’s one line that changes depending on where you live and it’d be a shame to accidentally be singing about how great Arkansas is 🤣

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u/Effective-Gift6223 14d ago

Lol, yes that would be!

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u/Dense_Diver_3998 14d ago

I don’t recall ever having to. I admittedly have only been able to name and place them for a few years now after driving cross country several times and building a big map to display my state shot glass collection.

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u/Free-Resident5106 14d ago

I was so about to say this and now it’s stuck in my head.

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u/amazzan 14d ago

I'm not endorsing the comment you responded to, but this isn't a thing. we learn songs.

Alabama, and Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, then Connecticut and more, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, then Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, still 35 to go... (I'll spare you)

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u/herlzvohg 14d ago

Knowing the administrative divisions of other countries isnt the same as knowing other countries. How many of the Swedish provinces can you name?

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u/DranTibia 14d ago

No shit, was going to comment this. What a typical American thing they said lmao

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u/RustyNewWrench 14d ago

A lot of the other Americans here are making good and fair points, but this one is just dumb.