Americans Are Sharing Things That They Immediately Identify As European, And Maybe You Agree With A Few Of These

Plenty of Americans have a go-to thing — a cultural custom, a piece of iconography, whatever — when they think about Europe.

  Jacques Julien / Getty Images
Jacques Julien / Getty Images

U/aBoredPigeon recently asked the people of Reddit, "Americans, what is the most European thing?" The answers are fascinating, and maybe the Europeans out there might have a few responses of their own:

1."The sirens that go BEEE booo BEEE booo BEEE booo BEEE booo."

—u/TrueReplayJay

  Frank Herrmann / Getty Images
Frank Herrmann / Getty Images

2."Men wearing speedos at the beach or in a pool. The ones you do see in the U.S. are usually Europeans on vacation."

—u/Ro7ard

  Eric Mcnatt / Getty Images
Eric Mcnatt / Getty Images

3."Walkable towns."

—u/Mustang46L

4."Flying into Florida and thinking you can drive to Los Angeles, NYC, and Chicago easily."

—u/lazyhazyeye

5."Sitting at a restaurant for hours talking. Half an hour of conversation with anybody and I am done. For the month."

—u/svladcjelli2001

  10'000 Hours / Getty Images
10'000 Hours / Getty Images

6."Good bread."

—u/thegreatgats870

  Burcu Atalay Tankut / Getty Images
Burcu Atalay Tankut / Getty Images

7."Their attitude towards work. The vibe I get when visiting most European countries is most people seem to work only to live. In the States, it feels we live to work. The most common thing out of an American’s mouth when meeting someone new is 'What do you do?' I did not find this to be the case in Europe, and I am super jealous."

—u/hurtmore

8."Complaining about Americans."

—u/EatLard

9."Restaurants paying employees a fair wage and not expecting the customer to make up for low wages."

—u/deadevilmonkey

10."Maternity leave."

—u/urallclapped

  Maskot Bildbyrå / Getty Images/Maskot
Maskot Bildbyrå / Getty Images/Maskot

11."Drinking cappuccino on a cobblestone street outside of a cafe, which is hundreds of years old."

—u/vetheros37

12."Vespas."

—u/CaptStegs

  Alina Rudya / Getty Images
Alina Rudya / Getty Images

13."Thinking 100 miles is a long distance. I talked to a Brit once who said they hadn't seen their parents in two years because its a far trip...it was two hours away..."

—u/hellotrrespie

14."Getting sick without going bankrupt."

—u/CancerBee69

15."Bidets."

—u/huiscloslaqueue

  Chingyunsong / Getty Images/iStockphoto
Chingyunsong / Getty Images/iStockphoto

16."Roundabouts."

—u/lordmarksman

17."Extra tight Armani Exchange (or similarly branded) clothing."

—u/nunyabizz0000

18."Castles."

—u/Money-Bear7166

  Buena Vista Images / Getty Images
Buena Vista Images / Getty Images

19."Calling Arkansas 'Ar-KANSAS.'"

—u/Similar-Sector-5801

20."No ice in your drinks."

—u/BushwoodCountry-Club

  Jonathan Knowles / Getty Images
Jonathan Knowles / Getty Images

Agree? Disagree? Have your own additions? See you in the comments!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.