those "what??" moments (food, slang, etc.)

[differentcountries]

Getting Ramadan offers in the mail, through the Miles and Smiles membership in Turkish Airlines. Wow, am I in a long distance relationship.... I also keep some cooking magazines in our flat, which tells you (int Turkish) how to get the best food ready for Radadan/Ramazan (When they apparently binge eat at night). When go now, it is Ramazan (poor people in the heat), but I will miss the suger feast this year, I hope to get to know it last year. Actually, my SO could not care less about the whole thing, but I like to know what is going on.

[Miasmata]

We're sort of the same. It's not really a custom here.

I think it varies by part of the country and/or closeness to the person/people. I take my shoes off without thinking about it in most people's houses when I walk in, unless I don't know them very well. Sometimes people will explicitly ask if they should, or the host will ask you politely to remove them, etc.

Many thanks for your insights, you two! I always love to learn about different cultures, especially when it's about seemingly silly, small stuff like this.

When it comes to putting your shoes on - In Germany, we often have the dining room close to the entrance, or at least something else that provides seating if you need to sit down to put your shoes on. It's still close to the front door, so you can leave your shoes there easily and get them there too. In houses like my mom's that have an entire small room for the front door, there's always a spot to put your shoes, usually under or next to the coathangers. It's true though, a lot of people put their shoes on kneeling down or standing.

In public places like work and school, we keep the shoes on, but at someone's home it's generally considered rude or at least uncomfortable, especially when you are going to stay longer than a few minutes.

The thing with not wanting to look at people's feet sounds like my SO - It bugs him too, though he said he'll most likely get used to it. I think that one definitely comes from just being used to it differently. I reckon if he was used to people taking their shoes off, it wouldn't bother him as much.


And the thing about the kettles is really interesting to me. I seriously can't imagine ever microwaving water! If I had to, sure, but I guess it just never struck me as a possibility since I always had something else to heat water with. I think my SO had the same reaction with the electric water boiler, though - He had never thought of such a thing, and he was really amazed by how practical and neat it was.

I really can't recommend hot water boilers enough though. If you like making tea, instant soups and stuff like that, they're just incredibly useful.

[BlueCat]

Him: Hoagies
Me: Subs

I had no idea what a hoagie was when I first went to the USA, before subway, I don't even know what I would have called it, probably just a sandwhich :P

[Dziubka]

When it comes to putting your shoes on - In Germany, we often have the dining room close to the entrance, or at least something else that provides seating if you need to sit down to put your shoes on. It's still close to the front door, so you can leave your shoes there easily and get them there too. In houses like my mom's that have an entire small room for the front door, there's always a spot to put your shoes, usually under or next to the coathangers. It's true though, a lot of people put their shoes on kneeling down or standing.

In public places like work and school, we keep the shoes on, but at someone's home it's generally considered rude or at least uncomfortable, especially when you are going to stay longer than a few minutes.

The thing with not wanting to look at people's feet sounds like my SO - It bugs him too, though he said he'll most likely get used to it. I think that one definitely comes from just being used to it differently. I reckon if he was used to people taking their shoes off, it wouldn't bother him as much.

I always have a problem in summer, because I don't like to wear shoes inside but being barefoot in someone else's house also makes me kind of uncomfortable. Can't win that one.
I'm always barefoot at home, though so I make all our guests take off their shoes. In Poland most people have slippers for their guests (and they're always hideous, but I've never succeeded at refusing them. Apparently everyone knows better than me that not wearing them will give me a killer cold!).


I know my SO's culture and language quite well, but when he first moved to Germany I felt he was really weird about riding a bike after parties. He'd refuse to go home by bike even if he had had only one or two beers. I just thought he was weirdly careful with it...
...until I learnt that in Poland riding a bike with an alcohol level of 0.2 or more was actually a criminal offense that you can get in jail for
It explained a lot.

[BlueCat]

I know my SO's culture and language quite well, but when he first moved to Germany I felt he was really weird about riding a bike after parties. He'd refuse to go home by bike even if he had had only one or two beers. I just thought he was weirdly careful with it...
...until I learnt that in Poland riding a bike with an alcohol level of 0.2 or more was actually a criminal offense that you can get in jail for
It explained a lot.

Do you mean 0.02, and not 0.2? Since the legal limit for driving here is 0.05. I can imagine at 0.2 most people aren't even able to stand

[Dziubka]

Do you mean 0.02, and not 0.2? Since the legal limit for driving here is 0.05. I can imagine at 0.2 most people aren't even able to stand

I don't know how you measure? We measure in per mill, so it's 0.2, if you use % (percent), then yes 0.02

[silvermoonfairy3]

I had no idea what a hoagie was when I first went to the USA, before subway, I don't even know what I would have called it, probably just a sandwhich :P

Okay, so ready? Ready?

In Massachusetts (or at least western Mass) we call them "grinders."

[silvermoonfairy3]

...until I learnt that in Poland riding a bike with an alcohol level of 0.2 or more was actually a criminal offense that you can get in jail for
It explained a lot.

In (most of?) the US, bikes have to abide by the same laws as automobiles, so would be subject to the same limitations on riding under the influence, running stop lights, etc.

[BlueCat]

A grinder is a weird term for a sub :P

I don't know how you measure? We measure in per mill, so it's 0.2, if you use % (percent), then yes 0.02

Ahh, well that makes sense Thanks!

[whatruckus]

Okay, so ready? Ready?

In Massachusetts (or at least western Mass) we call them "grinders."

Yes!! This too! They call the little subs "grinders"! I remember I asked my boyfriend what the hell a grinder was, and he was like, "Wait...are you serious?" -_- We just call them all subs by me! Sandwiches are the ones with two slices of a loaf of bread. Lol!!!

[whatruckus]

I had no idea what a hoagie was when I first went to the USA, before subway, I don't even know what I would have called it, probably just a sandwhich :P

Lmao, I know. It's a little weird. Hahaha.

[Minxy]

British have an entire different interpretation of what pudding is. Everything he brought me and called pudding was never actual pudding! Not liking pb and j and eating salmon sandwiches :O and oh the football versus "handball" soccer versus football it's and never ending loving jab at one another. lol

[differentcountries]

I still laugh at the big packets of ...performance enchanters displayed at the drog stores. I think that is SO funny trying to imagine Viagra being promoted like that in my country. Yes, and lots of shops are like, we don't have Viagra, but we have NATURAL viagra. But hey, easy acess I guess

Yes, and everybody is so keen on honey here. Just found out, SO has tree packets of honey in our cuppord. And the reason why he bought soo much of it (besides that fact that he likes it) is typical, too; they sold it 2 for the price of one, one bigger and one smaller. I have never seen so many stuff sold as bargins, they are truely inventive with it. They are especially big on selling travel sizes together with the bigger item, and food stuff together with the thing you use to make or eat it (alcohol with brand glasses, food stuff together with spoons, plates, cups, mugs and so on). I am a sucker for stuff like that, I get exited even if I get just a spoon with something, but I try to brace myself and walk past things I don't actually need

[Berenice]

From France to US, a lot of things change
First thing first, english is not my native language, although i'm pretty good at it and can speak rather fluently. But sometimes though, the words just don't come out, so it happens a lot that i use another word, but like randomly. Wether it's an english word that sounds like the french one (but of course doesn't mean the same thing) or it's just an english word that pops to my mind (but doesn't mean what i'm trying to say), the situation often ends up with my SO weirdly looking at me in a awkward silence like "I REALLY REEEEALLY don't know what you're saying"
Other times, and this actually happens a lot, I get so excited other a subject that my brain just goes nuts. All the words mix up, and my whole point ends up by "chlebulpiloedbutpilo" which is a fine mix between french, english and what i'm actually trying to say.
I also struggle some time with pronounciation, like i say HHHHHour instad of "hour" and dum bass (yes, two words) instead of dumbass (Best laugh of my bf's life).
Luckily, and i'll be endlessy proud of my SO for that, i got him to understand a slightly bit of french, even if it's just things like "i'm hungry", "i'm cold" and "you have a sexy butt" (keeping it to the essentials as you see).
That's pretty much it for language, we laugh about this so much.
Next big difference i noticed between american and french culture is patriotism, his at least. He keeps proudly shouting USA, USA, USA out of nowhere (like when he's in the toilets or buying groceries). It creates some kind of weird feeling in me, half "he's so cuuuuute" and "OMG HOW ANNOYING IS HE"
But seriously, i think french ppl are just whatever about France, not really proud, instead of maybe a lot of Americans who are proud of their country, or the place they grew up/live. That's the feeling I get from most of the ones I met. And i feel like it's a really good thing. But there again, it brings a weird/ funny situation. Hanging with my SO made me realize both how much France can be bad and French ppl can be stupid and rude, but also, in a contradictory way, makes me more proud of my origins and my nationality (not that i'm proud of stupidity and rudeness of french ppl, but of its tradition, history, habits and heritage).
Hanging with someone from another culture is that great : you realize all the flaws in your culture, but you love it nonetheless.
As the stereotype goes, I also realize that french ppl MIGHT lack sense of self mockery. My SO often teases my about this ^^

[abna1]

A lot of things were very different at first, but I settled in quite quickly. This was before we met. I remember two moments with him though.
We were out having some dinner and I have to say I really like Ghanaian food. I eat pretty much anything, but that evening the meat in my soup looked different. My SO had to help me with it, because I just couldn't eat cow intestine.
The other thing, I still have problems with sometimes to be honest. Where my SO grew up, cousins (on the father's side) are "married". It starts when they're kids and it's just for fun really. My SO has A LOT of female cousins and they call him their husband and they are his wives. Before going to his village for the first time, he told me about it, so I wouldn't be confused. What I wasn't prepared for was a crowd of women shouting at me and saying they'll fight me for my SO. One lady was even pretending to want to physically fight and was held back by others.
It was all just part of the game of course, but they didn't stop. Adding that to the stress of meeting his family for the first time... I really had to pull myself together. It happens every time I see them and I just can't get used to it. It bothered me a lot last time I went, even more so than the first time, because they're family and I just want to talk to them normally. I'm afraid that won't happen for some time.