Seeing the different ways people live their lives is a fascinating social study and can make one wonder why certain customs are so vastly from ours.
However, there are some customs that might be perceived as especially peculiar and unimaginable.
Curious to hear about different perspectives, Redditor dunjabgd asked strangers online:
"What is normal in your country but weird in the rest of the world?"
Unusual For Americans
These Redditors found they were definitely not in Kansas anymore.
Leave Me In Peace
"I have no idea if this is common anywhere else, but in Norway talking to anyone in the public (on buses, on streets, etc.) is avoided as much as possible, and we avoid strangers as much as we can."
"If we're on the bus, whenever a new passenger comes in, we pray to God that they don't sit next to us, because we enjoy our privacy. We want to sit alone and enjoy music / movie / staring out the window, knowing that the presence of another person is non-existent."
"So to speak, norwegians were always prepared for battling [the virus]."
The Signal
"We call a traffic light a robot. I really don't know why."
"South Africa, right?"
"Yes!"
Communal Whipping
"We sit fully naked in a wet, hot room with either friends, family or strangers and whip each other with bath brooms (basically birch branches tied together, called 'vihta's)."
"Simultaneously, we're often described as stereotypically socially awkward and reserved people."
Customs And Traditions
In Australia, Denmark, Venezuela, and Italy, respectively, there is nothing unusual about the following:
Stop By For Tools, Walk Out With Lunch
"Going to a hardware store and leaving with a sausage sizzle."
"Australia. Sausage sizzle!"
Marriage Deadline
"In Denmark, if you haven't gotten married before the age of 25, you'll get tied to a streetlight and get showered with cinnamon. It's common to see big orange spots on the ground around streetlights. It's a very old tradition and we don't actually expect people to get married before 25, but the tradition still goes on."
An Italian Greeting
"Kissing the cheeks as a way to salute between men. It's pretty common here, but when I've done it in America while visiting a friend of mine some other people asked us if we were gay."
"EDIT: they didn't came to our face saying 'Hey buddy you're gay?', they simply misunderstood and told this friend of my they didn't know he was not straight. It was nothing disrispectful."
Wild Enthusiasm
"We scream when we cut the birthday cake in Venezuela. It is expected to be a blood-curdling scream, and people laugh at you and ridicule you if it wasn't loud or scary enough. Also, our birthday song is like 2 minutes long."
How You Like It
"If you ever find yourself surrounded by three or more Spaniards and want to start a mini civil war, you only have to ask 'With or without onion?'. You don't need to specify what; they'll all know instantly what you're talking about. In the highly unlikely event that they all were in agreement, there is a follow-up question guaranteed to succeed where the former one failed: 'Raw egg, or fully cooked?' (although the degenerates who like their egg raw refer to it as being 'juicy' or 'Galician'). You'll have a massive argument going on in no time!"
"What can I say, we take potato omelette very seriously."
Cultural Dishes On Steroids
"We make over exaggerated versions of every international dish. Hot dogs? Put every sauce and French fry possible. Pizza? The sky is the limit and every topic is available even fish, even shrimp even Doritos. Sushi? Put cheese, mayo, and sometimes even guava in it!"
Appearances
People don't bat an eye when seeing the following while out in public.
Playground Backdrop
"children playing on a playground while artillery fires not even half a mile away from them. Ukraine."
Traveling With Rifles
"In Switzerland: Carrying your military rifle with you. You get the sig 550 when being conscripted in the army and you take it home, in your own property. Now, there 2 different cases: When you're going to or coming from the military base, you also have your whole gear with you and you're in uniform, so no one is suspicious."
"But, there's the 2. case: We have mandatory shooting here ('obligatorisches' aka 'schiesswesen ausser dienst'), so you go to the shooting range: Many young guys don't have a car, so it's legal to transport these guns just with the train etc. without wearing your uniform."
"There were actually some alerts to the police, made by tourists, which thought there was a criminal or active shooter on the way, the military did made a response to the press later and said, that was legal (that was the case of a radio moderator which had his gun with him as he was going to work in morning and to the shooting range on afternoon, he was ride his bicycle and had his rifle on him)"
"Today, the soldiers don't carry ammo with them, but in my time, that was before 2007, we had the "taschenmunition" (emergency ammo), which was a sealed package with 50x 5.56mm NATO rounds."
"Maybe, this is not weird for US-redditors, but for many countries in the world with strict gun laws. Like in germany, a weapon have to be separated into parts, separated from ammo and always to be in a locked suitcase according to the law."
Lose The Shoes
"In New Zealand it is normal to be barefoot in public. In the mall, the supermarket, fast food places etc. It's even normal for kids to go to primary school barefoot. It's recognised this is unusual and has become a point of national pride for some people."
"Don't get me wrong, it's not like everyone is doing this, but it's a noticeable minority and would be seen on a daily basis, even in winter."
Oral Hygiene
"I found out that brushing my teeth in a public bathroom was strange outside of Brazil."
"Edit: It's nice to see all the other countries that also have this habit. We are the toothbrush international league now."
The chaotic rush hour of New York subways is hardly a surprising phenomena.
A train arrives, and commuters on crowded platforms ensure they get on the train by pushing past those trying to exit before the inevitable "stand clear of the closing doors" announcement.
What I thought was "weird" was that strap hangers in Tokyo all waited in lines at train stations – often without visible markings on the ground on platforms – so they could board the train in the order in which they arrived.
Civility on the subway? So weird.
One Reddit thread took a very focused approach to shared cultural norms, asking for the creepiest old legends that abound in each place.
Some common themes cropped up: animals are NOT to be tampered with, night time is extremely dangerous, especially if you're a child, and things shift their shape almost constantly.
In fact, as one reads the rapid-fire list of all these different legends, the convenient functional elements of such stories began to show clearer. Scary myths are apparently a heck of a way to encourage people to obey certain rules and expectations.
isuwiq asked, "What are some creepy stories from your culture?"
Mandatory Nap Time
"From Paraguay:"
J"asy Jatere: he's a blond, beautiful dwarf that goes around naked in the woods. He owns a golden stick that provides him with magical powers. He kidnaps the kids that don't sleep in the afternoon (around 2 PM to 4 PM here) and IF he returns them, they're often deaf or mute."
For Those Excited Christmas Eve Nights
"Maran: A woman born on Friday the 25th of December, she sneaks in to your room at night and kills you, but she has some OCD of sorts and you can fend her of if by leaving a pile of cow hair on your window sill, she'll have to count them all which hopefully leaves you with enough time to wake up."
"Näcken: A man that sits by a body of water (usually rivers) and plays his violin to lure children in to the water."
-- FelixRaberg
Frats: Listen Up!
"Don't look up trees when you are out walking at night. A virgin ghost that will suck the life out of you sits up there waiting for you to look up."
"When a person is asleep, their soul leaves their body. If you paint or draw on a sleeping person's face, their soul will not recognize them and be unable to jump back into the body."
A Mythological Solution to a Nuisance
"People in my town spoke of Deer Woman. Origin story differs but I was told a woman was killed and buried on top of a deer. She would chase people at night and was known to harass motorcycle riders, even going so far as to jump onto the back and ride along while laughing hysterically."
"There's an old bridge on the outside of town and she was especially known to haunt the area around it."
Search in Silence
"Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Some Caribbean folklore:"
"Douens- the souls of children who have died before they were baptized. They are doomed to roam the earth forever. They are seen playing in forests and near rivers and they have no faces and their feet are turned backwards."
"They may approach children and lead them astray in the forest until they are lost, or they may come near people's houses at night, crying and whimpering."
"To prevent the Douens from calling your children into the forest at dusk, never shout their names in open places, as the Douens will take their names, call them and lure them away."
-- supahsokah
Beware of Whale
"化鯨 (Bake-Kujira) - or "Ghost Whale" a huge ghost-like whale skeleton that is followed by a flock of birds or fish. They appear on rainy nights near the coastal whale villages. Scaring and placing a curse on anyone who sees it. The curse would bring Famine, Plague fire and all various kinds of disasters to the village that sees it.
"絡新婦 (Jorougumo) - in Japanese Folklore, this is a magical, 400 year old giant spider. That can change its appearance into a beautiful women. She will seduce young handsome men, wrap them up in her web and eats them!"
-- KichiEndo
More Forest Issues
"Spearfinger, would kill anyone who wondered into the forest alone, by stabbing them through the neck with her spear shaped finger (whodathunkit?) and then eat their livers. She would then shape-shift into her victim's likeness to gain access to the village and would then kill the family of her original victim, also eating their livers."
-- SmokyJett
Can't Tell if This One Keeps People Away or Draws Them In
"The drummer boy (Edinburgh). The story says one the government found a tunnel that was too small for a fully grown man to go down, so they sent a boy with drums and told him to walk down the tunnel and keep drumming. They followed the sound of the drums and at one point it stopped."
"The boy never returned. Some people say that if you stand in the right place you can still hear the drums."
"Crazy Long Arms"
"There is a Hmong ghost story about an old couple where the old woman thought that her husband was stroking her hair at night."
NOPE. It was a weird a** creature with CRAZY long arms that was reaching through their window at night. They never saw the whole creature, JUST the long ass arm reaching through the window and stretching waaaaaaay off into the forest."
"That's why you shouldn't put the head of your bed near the window."
A Ghastly Blob
"In Oxfordshire (UK) there's a fairly obscure creature of legend called the Boneless. It's purported to be a sort of protoplasmic blob that ambushes and suffocates travelers on lonely paths."
"Damn thing made me scared to walk to and from the bus stop (it was a rural area by British standards; I had to walk across a few fields and through a woodland to get there from home), for nigh on a decade of my childhood."
Ghost Train
"Small town in upstate NY. There used to be a train station there, back when people actually took passenger trains anywhere in rural areas. Fairly well-off guy, well-known in town, comes racing into the station, right before midnight."
"Seconds later, a huge, old-fashioned, jet-black train with nobody aboard - I mean nobody - rolls into the station. No schedule shows a train arriving for another hour, but there it is. Guy runs through the booth and jumps onto the train. Train rolls off into the night."
"Nobody ever saw him again."
Beware the Old Lady
"Soucouyant - a person (typically an old lady, also heard lots of stores about this growing up) who has made a pact with the devil to be able to change herself into all kinds of different forms."
"At night she sheds her human skin and changes into a ball of fire and quickly flies around, sitting on tree branches, burning singular trees in fields and leaving others untouched."
"She has to slip back into that skin before dawn breaks and the cock crows, otherwise she will not be able to get back into it."
"When people suspect that an old woman neighbour of theirs is a soucouyant, they go to her house at night and rub salt on her human skin so that it will shrink and she will not be able to get back into it and thus die."
-- supahsokah
THE TONGUE
"There is a mythical creature here in the Philippines called the "mananangal" which is said to be like a normal person during day and a terrifying creature with bat wings and a long tongue whose upper torso is split from its lower torso and is said to eat the fetus from a pregnant lady using said long tongue."
"The only way to kill it is to find its lower half that vanishes during the night."
-- Mac_Mac_07
A Different Kind of Hell
"The Jewish conception of hell isn't punishment based, it's more like a celestial car wash for your soul. You are purified until your soul is fresh and new, and then you go to heaven."
"But there are some people who are so evil, no amount of scraping will ever remove the black stuff. THEN there are those who are even denied the chance at hell."
"They get sent to earth in a spiritual form, chased and tormented by angels for all eternity. Unless they possess someone. This is what's known as a dybbuk."
-- UltraBeads
Choking Humidity
"The Choking Ghost. If you visit a graveyard or sacred site, you're liable to be followed home by a spirit. Maybe you were being disrespectful, or maybe you just crossed paths with a bad spirit. They follow you, stay with you, and wait for you to sleep."
"That night, they'll choke you in your sleep. You'll be awakened in the night, paralyzed and suffocating. But it's just a warning, they'll let you breath after you've gotten the message. You'll find red hand and finger marks on your throat where the ghost held you."
"I've personally never been visited, but I have several friends who have. Hawaii can get pretty humid, so the "ghost" is generally dismissed as a form of humidity-induced sleep paralysis. But the hand marks on their necks in the mirror are hard to explain."
-- blinkymach12
One Cultural, One Familial
"Not exactly a story but in many Asian cultures you are never allowed to put chopsticks in your tea because it looks like incense and symbolizes death. Also avoid the number 4 at all costs but that might just be my grandfather being weird..."
-- EastPangolin
Craving Windigos
"The Wendigo. Life for the First Nations was tough dealing with disease, European settlers, and much more but the winter is the toughest for them because they cant grow any food so families without any food would starve."
"That is when Wendigos make their moves possessing one of the starving people and making them satisfy its craving for human flesh but it is always hungry once a human has eaten another human they turn into Wendigos they are normal during the spring summer and fall but once winter arrives that's when the craving begins."
-- Dabombfan
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "
After the terror attacks against the United States, the experience of traveling changed around the world. More people were anxious about riding on air planes, but life wasn't going to stop because of the actions of evil men. Though the effectiveness of the TSA and other airport security is debatable, many countries around the world opted to have stricter guidelines at airports to at least make passengers feel safer.
Redditor u/omfghewontfkndie asked people who remembered traveling before 9/11 what it was like, and people discussed how it was overall more enjoyable to go on planes.
20. It was easy to ambush celebrities
"you could go through security without a ticket. my mom supported my teenybopping days, so 13 y/o me met a backstreet boy when he got to his gate. thanks AOL chat rooms for being the first reddit"
19. Flying was a big even
"My 90 year old dad is still shocked men don't get dressed up in suit and ties, and women in a church dress while flying.
I guess prior to the 80's it was so comparatively expensive that for personal trips it was like going to a formal.
I remember the cheapest price for flight from Houston to Philadelphia my dad could find in the mid 70's on a weeks notice was $650. I remember because that was huge amount of money and he decided to take a weeks vacation to drive there and back.
45 years later you can easily find such flights for less than $400."
18. Painless bag checks
Giphy"Put your carry-on on the conveyor. Walk through the metal detector. Take your bag. Off you go."
t0f0b0
17. Kids often flew alone
"Easy preezy. I travelled back and forth by myself to Washington from Phoenix every year since I was 7. I went through security with a pocket knife and had a really fun time on planes."
16. Gate agents really didn't care
"I once got into Canada using an expired 6 Flags Over Texas season pass as my I.D. in lieu of an actual passport."
15. It was good to be a child on a plane
"McDonald's Happy meals in flight, getting wings from the captain and seeing the cockpit."
14. Planes were BYOB
"I sat with four other passengers in first class and shared half a bottle of Captain Morgan from my backpack.
The flight crew brought us all the mixers we wanted."
13. A picture on a credit card? Wow.
"Travelled on a plane from Canada to USA with the picture on my American Express Credit Card because I don't drive."
12. No stressing over ounces
"Oh god, guess I'm an Adult© now.
It was way more relaxed. You didn't take your shoes off, didn't have to take electronics out, and there was no limits on liquids. Overall much better experience."
11. Only surrender real weapons, please
The ticket counter asked if we had any weapons. My dad and I pulled out our Swiss army knives. The lady just repeated, 'Any Weapons?' In an irritated tone."
10. "Security was a joke..."
"Easy. Security was a joke. You could bring small knives on the plane, and everyone could go to the gate.
I once had to turn my cell phone on to prove it was a real phone and I got really annoyed at that level of scrutiny."
9. No hassles...
"Back in the late 90s when I was traveling often for work, I'd wear steel-toe boots and bring a laptop bag stuffed with tools and never got hassled."
8. No ID checks
"I had a 30 minute drive to the airport but could leave the house 1 hour before departure. The bag checked 20 minutes before would still make the plane.
Half empty planes were pretty normal. I once had all 5 seats in a row on a 747 flight, so I laid down and slept. That started changing in the 1990s, more about $ than security.
You could buy a stranger's return ticket because no one checked IDs."
7. Planes actually had a smoking section
Giphy"Let me do you one better: in the late 80s you could smoke on them mother******s"
6. "It was so lonely at the gate..."
"The biggest difference I remember is that my grandparents used to greet us at the gate as we got off the plane, and come to the gate with us while we waited for our flight back home. Obviously you couldn't get on the plane without a boarding pass, but you could get through security without a boarding pass.
It was so lonely at the gate after 9/11."
5. I have vague memories of this happening to me
Giphy"I remember being taken up to see the pilot in the late 90s when i was a kid - later on I assumed i must have imagined it, but my parents assured me that they would genuinely take people onto the flight deck for a look around."
4. Forty-five minutes
"Remember when the McAllister family from 'Home Alone' made it from the suburbs to O'Hare for an international flight in 45 minutes? That Easy."
3. Less racism and prejudice
"There were still people who had flying anxiety but seems like a ton more now. Also you didn't have to show up hours ahead of time and worry that you're still too late. People who looked the slightest bit middle eastern weren't stared at"
2. Everything is checked
"I only traveled by plane a handful of times before 9/11 and I was young (6-8 years old) but the difference was huge from what I can remember, it was just so much more hassle free, and people could wait for you when you got off the plane right where you were getting off! Now you gotta take off your shoes and get EVERYTHING checked, they go through your stuff, it takes so much longer now."
1. It was better overall
"Aside from the security and the process of getting to the plane, the overall flight experience was way better. There was def more leg room which was awesome. Longer domestic flights 2+ hours even had economy meal service if you were flying during a mealtime. Drinks were provided as a full can without having to ask. Flights were actually a bit faster because gas prices weren't an issue. This all started to disappear throughout the 90s and early 00s. Meal service was first to go."
Diet Thoughts....
GiphyPeople think it is okay to comment on how skinny I am and suggest that I eat more, but if I even try and provide helpful advice to a fatter person I will get called out on it. CoolFantasyGM
Babytime....
The way workplaces see maternity and paternity leave. 3amWednesday
So true. If we want to encourage men to be dad's and take their share of familial responsibility, it's only fair they get the leave too. AlternativeQueen
Otherwise it never lasts on your face.
That women can wear skirts and be business professional but when I show up in my cargo shorts I have to have a meeting with Francis in HR. TableTheBill
Business professional for both sexes suck.
- Men: locked into three layers of clothing. Undergarments, a shirt, a jacket and a tie. Plus matching pants. You either overheat OR you sweat into your shirt/jacket. Your arms are pretty much uncomfortable and not to mention spilling stuff on yourself - you'd have to deal with the three layers.
Women: A reasonably lengthy skirt, a blouse, pantyhose and a face full of makeup. You either freeze to death (there is no amount of clothing that is comfortable like that) or you have to sit uncomfortably for the rest of the day, your pantyhose can run (you can accidentally rip it or worse), and the shoes pinch and you can never have comfortable feet. And you can either sweat off your makeup OR constantly try to reapply your makeup. Not to mention that "good" makeup costs $$$$$$. Otherwise it never lasts on your face. astrangeone88
Society Says....
Women: "I don't want kids, I'm not cut out for it."
Society: "Oh, you'll change your mind when you meet the right man! You're just being silly/stubborn."
Men: "I don't want kids, I'm not cut out for it."
Society: "Oh, that's completely understandable. Not everyone has the patience for kids, so it's very responsible of you to make that decision now for yourself." SheWhoLovesToDraw
Dressing in Public...
When women dress in men's cloths in public it's seen as cute and attractive. When men dress in women's cloths in public it's seen as "creepy/disgusting/weird" They're much more likely to be harassed while doing it too. People are horrible. InarticulateToast
With my Hands....
GiphyI have built this bar with my hands. I have cut the wood, treated it. Nailed and screwed it there, where it stands now. I made the seats by myself, tanning the leather and all. The leather comes from cows that I have fed by myself. Do you think people care about that ? No, they don't. They never say, "look at that dude, he made all this only by himself". No, they never say that. They don't care about the thousand hours I have passed here, building this bar. Yoda-is-a-gremlin
Just Talking.
My younger sister turned 13 and is starting to talk to boys. My mom is allowed to call 13 year old boys cute. I know if my dad did that it would be weird and he would honestly probably literally be kicked out. pikfin
We're ALL paying....
GiphyThat Americans go bankrupt with healthcare but are pleased that they're not paying for other people's healthcare...
Then, people in countries with free healthcare complain that the wait times are too long and you need to pay for parking. Radioactivocalypse
That Americans go bankrupt with healthcare but are pleased that they're not paying for other people's healthcare...
The irony is that they are paying for other people's healthcare and just haven't taken 10 seconds to think about it. That's literally what health insurance is, by definition. And even if you take that out of the equation, hospital prices go up when people skip out on the ER bill so they're paying for it there as well. Keinichn
Throwing Punches.
A woman can hit a man as many times as she wants and suffer no repercussions but if a man hits a woman just once (even if it's self defense) he's seen as a woman-beater and promptly arrested. CosmicBanana616
D-I-V-O-R-C-E
If your wife takes your kids a bunch of your stuff and leaves you without warning... everything is cool and you owe her all your money.
If you take your kids a bunch of her stuff and leave without warning it's abandonment and she get's all your money. eightvo
Victims.
Zero tolerance policies at school. It's important to protect the victim. Unless the victim tries to defend himself/herself. In that case, the victim is just as bad as the attacker. Reddit
The rule isn't there to protect the victim from bullying; the rule is there to protect the school from lawsuits. pjabrony
My middle school had a stupid rule that if you even watched a fight go down, you would be punished just as bad as the two fighting. Issue (and good thing) for me was the fights always happened at the end of my street for whatever reason. I would get called into the office every single time but had a legit reason for being there. CoolFantasyGM
Right?!?!
2 girls kissing - "They're just messing around, girls do it all the time"
2 guys kissing - "That's gay!" T-Money8741
Having Kids.
Mom out with her kid = She's being a parent.
Dad out with his his = He's babysitting. ladies-pmme-nudespls
Yes! I came here to say exactly this. And to elaborate - if a woman refused to tend to her baby all night, leaving her partner so exhausted he can barely even manage a shower or a meal for himself the next day while she continued with life as normal, people would call her abusive. Yet when men do this to the mothers of their children, it's normalized and seen as par for the course of having a new baby. Scroll_Queeen
Get Help.
GiphyDon't let the stigma of mental illness stop you from getting the help you need! But, ohhhh just don't let it impact Your job in any discernible way. Ladyughsalot1
That doesn't make it OK.
I'm a male massage therapist. It's legitimately disturbing when some creepy old lady whips her breasts out and leers at me like she's doing me a favor, but most of the time I mention it in passing people treat me like I'm a little fool for complaining. I get it, guys are usually more physically intimidating. It's got to be worse having it happen when the gender roles are reversed. That doesn't make it OK. thisplacemakesmeangr
Justice.
Sentencing disparity - Differences between races but also genders. The fact you can commit a crime but depending on your race and gender means your sentence can be radically different. vkbuffet
18n & Up....
18 is old enough to go off to war, but too young to buy cigarettes. Scrappy_Larue
Yeah, don't mind the literal ton of almost odorless vehicle exhaust and greenhouse gasses all around you, only cigarette smoke affects health. not_better
Loud Voices....
Just had an argument with my mom. She thinks it's ok to scream at someone's face but it isn't ok for a man to do it back. Now we has no fam. BadCat115
My parents liked to do something similar. Even if you didn't raise your voice, if they just perceived something rude about what you said or didn't like the tone you spoke in they would scream for 15 minutes minimum and be mad for the rest of the week.
Now they can't seem to understand why 2/3's of their children won't even speak to them. thotwater91
$$$ Talks....
GiphyOne word: Affluenza
If you're rich you can pretty much do whatever you want. The richer you are the more evil crap you can get away with. PunchBeard