Roughly 80 million tourists visit the United States annually.
Not a surprise, considering all there is to see.
And, generally speaking, America is a safe and welcoming place to live, where tourists will hopefully be welcomed with open arms, be it in San Francisco or New York City.
But, as is the case with anywhere, there are a few things which visitors to the United States might want to avoid doing.
Be it for their own personal safety, or just so they don't stand out too much as a tourist.
Redditor, sarra-sagesse was curious to hear everyone's the tips and pointers on what to avoid while visiting the United States, leading them to ask:
"If visiting America what is something that person should NEVER do?"
What are you looking at?
"If you’re in a New York City subway, try not to make too much eye contact or look too long at people around you."
"Just ignore the smell."
"Woman near you screaming at the top of her lungs at her silent child?"
"Keep listening to your music."
"Someone digging through their bag, muttering to themselves, and throwing rose petals on the floor like they’re preparing for a seance?"
"Just keep staring blankly at your phone."
"Trust me."- Jroks2
They're not as cute and cuddly as they seem
"Raccoons are cute… but from a distance."- Legoboy514
racoon GIFGiphyThat's not how we do things here.
"Don't think the laws are the same everywhere."
"You can walk with an open alcohol container in Vegas but not many other places."
"Alcohol laws, pot laws, firearms laws, smoking - lots of very different laws depending on the state and city where you are."- Babstana
Be very careful around the police.
"If pulled over by the cops, do not exit the vehicle unless they ask you to."
"The cops might sit in their vehicle for a while, & then they will approach the window & expect you to talk to them while sitting in the car."- yahdinguus
Don't go in the water.
"If you find yourself in Florida, absolutely do not swim in the lakes, ditches, or channels."
"Any standing body of water can and does have alligators in it."
"Also possibly water moccasins."
"And maybe even diseases."- Dobbys_Other_Sock
Laugh Alligator GIF by VISIT FLORIDAGiphy"I live in an area around 4 major rivers and my town has a booming river industry."
"It never fails someone drowns at least once a month."
"The current is so strong as soon as your feet hit the water you’re most likely gone."
"Look at the river, take pictures, stop and look at our murals along our flood walls, but do not go near the river!"- Cuesey123
Don't believe everything you see
"Don’t assume that the price shown on an item for sale is your price for said item."
"There are almost always taxes that are added to the price when you go to pay."- Red_Queen592
Take one more look at a map before you take off
"Underestimate distances."
"When I was a tour guide, far too many customers asked how many HOURS the train to New York was [in seattle] and I had to put their jaw back in when I said 5 days."- a9249
Tonight Show Travel GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonGiphy"Just walk on by..."
"Don't take pictures with the people dressed up in costumes in LA/ NYC."- 541mya
Take pictures, leave everything else.
"To not take anything from national parks."- Objective-Dingo6603
Maybe just avoid discussing politics altogether?
"Don’t think that politics from wherever you’re from, specifically Europe and Australia/New Zealand."
"Also don’t try and talk about American politics when you don’t know anything about it."- Saschajoon
"Better not to talk about guns, and abortion especially in the south."- chaseanimates
They earn every penny!
"No matter how your country feels about tipping, ya gotta tip your waiters here."
"It's how they earn their living."
"But don't let people take advantage of you."
"18-20% is standard, feel free to tip more if you had extra good service."
'And look at your check."
"Some restaurants add the tip for you, not cool, but they do, mostly if you are part of a big party, but I've had it happen when I was eating alone."
'My two favorite places in the US are NYC and Texas, and yes, we are extremely nice in Texas."
' However, I lived in New York for 17 years and they are very nice there, as well, it's just different."
"New Yorkers are no nonsense, and as much as everyone enjoys bashing the Texas, we are really, really nice, and Houston has some of the greatest food o the country."
"Just be aware of your surroundings and don't look like a tourist wherever you visit."- Winter_Opening_7715·
"Not tip your waitress or server at restaurants."
"Most are severely underpaid and get most of their income from tips."
Tip Tipping GIF by DeRay DavisGiphyThey are convenient though
"Skip going to Wawa".- nilla_wafer__
A controversial opinion?
"If it's your first time, DO NOT GO TO LA or California in general."
"Not as nice as you think."- mincraft890
There are certainly areas for improvement.
"Do anything that requires medical attention."
"Insurance is a complete scam."- ChucksNorris243
season 8 episode 23 GIFGiphyBest in small incriments.
"Please do not plan to have a road trip from California to Texas to Florida to New York or anything along those lines."
"You will spend the majority of your vacation in a f*cking car paying a ridiculous amount of money for gas."
"People do not realize just how big the US is."- Vo_Lair
Is this so out of the ordinary?
"If you are visiting someone in America, take off your shoes when you enter their house."- certifiedzay
Needless to say, there is no handbook of rules of do's and don'ts when visiting the USA.
And more often than not, your own good judgment will often serve you well.
Though, when in doubt, follow any advice you're given.
- Americans Describe The Things They Don't Really Understand ... ›
- People Divulge The Things Easily Obtained In America That You ... ›
- Foreigners Break Down The Weirdest Thing An American Has Ever ... ›
- People Explain Which Places Everyone Should Avoid On Vacation - George Takei ›
- People Explain Which Things You Should Never Do In The U.S. - George Takei ›
Companies and products rebrand for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes they want to revitalize a dying brand.
Or stay fresh and modern.
Other times they're trying to put a negative public image in their rear view mirror.
And sometimes, someone somewhere in a company has low impulse control.
Anyway...
Reddit user PulakHasan asked:
"What's the Weirdest Rebranding of all time?"
Weight Watchers
"Weight Watchers abbreviated their name down to 'WW' and in doing so, increased the syllables needed to pronounce their new company name."
~ hambone10
"You burn more calories uttering the extra syllables."
~ jungl3j1m
waitr
"Waitr was an extremely successful delivery service here. They had full time employees and you could get food delivered in 30-45 minutes."
"Then, they made everybody an independent contractor and started calling themselves ASAP."
"'As slow as possible' caught on and they lost the majority market share within a month."
~ bravesgeek
GiphyHBO
"I still don’t understand HBO dropping probably the most prestigious name in cable tv/streaming."
~ stoneman9284
"Right?! Also it literally means Home Box Office - that’s the best name for a streaming service????"
~ oreos_in_milk
Nordic Choice Hotels
"Nordic Choice Hotels rebranded to 'Strawberry'."
"They have to mention their old name all the time, because Strawberry could be absolutely anything."
"If only it were 'Strawberry Hotels' but it's not. It's just Strawberry."
"They removed the part that explains what kind of business it is."
"Madness."
~ WoodSheepClayWheat
GiphyUSWest
"USWest-->Qwest-->CenturyLink-->Lumen I don’t care what your name is."
"Can I have more than 10mbps DSL at my address?"
~ Trickycoolj
"In Europe, and it's now Level3--> Centurylink--> Lumen--> Colt."
"I'm sure they rename in the hope people forget the incompetence."
~ ConsciousValence
"My mom has worked for them since 1977 when they were Northwestern Bell."
"She's been through a billion name changes."
~ CorporalBB
Circuit City IQ Crew
"Circuit City rebranding their PC technician division from IQ Crew (which predated Geek Squad, by the way) to..."
"Firedog."
"I worked at a Circuit City from 2005-2008 and we all thought it was a prank when we saw the announcement."
"'The intensity of fire with the loyalty of man's best friend'."
"I sh*t you not—that was the marketing."
~ Tiberius_Jim
GiphyBritish Petroleum
"When after a major oil spill, BP changed their branding to Beyond Petroleum for an ad campaign showing how they were investing in renewables."
"Logo change too."
~ RandomAmuserNew
"An oil spilled followed by a huge effort to cover it up, including dumping Corexit into the water to mix with the oil and make it sink."
"So it was no longer visible from aerial shots, but it did far, far more damage mixed with a dangerous chemical and sitting on the sea floor than slowly evaporating or being soaked up on the surface."
~ LurkerOrHydralisk
Amoco
"When BP purchased Amoco, they quickly rebranded all the stations to BP."
"Not sure if it is everywhere but Amoco had a lot of brand recognition in the Midwest and a lot of people just didn’t like BP."
"Eventually, they started rebranding some of their stations back to Amoco to cash in on nostalgia."
"I always thought it was dumb but never realized that so many people hated it until after I worked for BP (very briefly) and was told the story of how much pushback they got."
~ anitabelle
British Petroleum (BP Oil)/Paul Sableman
Overstock.com
"Overstock.com I think qualifies for weird rebrand."
"Bed Bath and Beyond went out of business and was bought out by Overstock and then Overstock just rebranded everything to Bed Bath and Beyond."
"If you go to overstock.com it’s just BBB."
~ WhatsABuckland
Snoop Dogg
"When Snoop Dogg (temporarily) changed his name to Snoop Lion to make a reggae album."
~ RomanOnARiver
"Snoop’s original name on Death Row was 'Snoop Doggy Dogg'. When he left Death Row and went to No Limit, he had to alter his name (which might have been his original name) to 'Snoop Dogg'."
~ GotMoFans
"Snoop’s mother used to call him Snoopy as a nickname which is the origin."
~ OpanaMan
"The Charles Schulz people would have had a field day."
~ GotMoFans
GiphyBooks-A-Million
"Books-A-Million to 'BAM'."
"I was in a parking lot with one and had no idea it was a bookstore, as I was a bit too far out to see more than 'BAM' from where I was parked."
~ lynnyfox
KIA
"Everytime I see the new KIA logo I assume its a NIN [Nine Inch Nails] fan."
~ vinyalwhl
"I thought it was KN for an embarrassingly long time."
~ VulfSki
"KIA changed their logo on their cars and Google showed an uptick in the searches for 'K N cars' because people liked the look of them but didn’t realise it was a KIA."
~ User_Deleted_Content
Mark Chan on Unsplash
Royal Mail
"Royal Mail deciding Consignia was the way to go forwards."
~ PonITdude
"They wanted to go international but they lost so much money that year they had to stay national and reversed the name back."
~ ShinyHead0
"Twitter to X."
~ sandiercy
"And then everyone still refers to it as Twitter."
~ Safety_Drance
"'A user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted…'.”
~ tommyk1210
"Rather like to see 'A user on Twitter, erroneously known as X, posted...'."
~ SagittaryX
"'A user on twitter, largely unknown as X, posted...'."
~ Pinksters
"A few days ago, I saw an article that said 'Twitter, which Elon Musk incorrectly thinks is called X for some reason...'."
"That was pretty funny."
~ temalyen
GiphyCity Landmarks
"In Chicago we still call it the Sears Tower [renamed Willis Tower in 2009]."
~ baccus83
"And in Pittsburgh, it’s still Heinz Field [renamed Acrisure Stadium in 2022]."
~ NoVaBurgher
"And in Toronto, it’s still the Skydome [renamed Rogers Centre in 2005]."
~ nonanarchist
"And in New York when you take 287 across the Hudson it's still the Tappan Zee Bridge [renamed Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in 2017]. "
~ keytarin
"A lot of LA people still call it Staples Center [renamed Crypto.com Arena in 2021]."
~ New_Simple_4531
"In Denver we will always say Mile High Stadium [renamed Empower Field at Mile High in 2019]."
~ SheBrokeHerCoccyx
Some rebrandings make perfect sense to the public.
Others are utterly baffling.
What would you add to this list?
Reddit user b-secret asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever Googled?"
How Much?
"what's the alcohol percentage in 70% rubbing alcohol?"
~ LightsJusticeZ
"55% alcohol, 15% rubbing"
~ FishOfFishyness
Who?
"I Googled my work because I couldn’t remember my boss’ name after working there for 8 months."
"I just blanked and couldn’t think of it."
~ HCxTC
Spellcheck
"I Google how to spell restaurant all the time."
~ ParkOk6450
"I'm like that but with Febuary."
"EDIT: February"
~ NeoNero_x
"I go into incognito mode to check spellings of words I should know how to spell."
~ LordCaptain
GiphyUm, No.
"I was trying to find the name of those signs where a word is written down the side and each letter is used for a descriptive word."
"Confusing I know."
"So here’s an example: False Evidence Appearing Real"
"I know it has to have a name. So I googled 'Sign where every word starts with a letter' and Goggle responded with 'Did you mean a sentence?'.”
~ Team_Lift
Looks Like...
"Googled green beans once, was super high and forgot what they looked like."
~ testies2345
"I did the same thing with beets."
~ Jjetsk1_blows
Gaby Yerden on Unsplash
That Movie, With the Guy and the Stuff...
"I'll forget the name of a movie and just type in random sh*t I think I remember. Usually it works."
"Like 'that movie where the kid sleeps and has weird dreams and flies on a bed'."
"Works like a charm."
~ fohsupreme
Did They Have Blue Feet?
"big boobies"
"I was only 10."
"I was surprised to find some."
~ PoopPower99
"I’m 39 and I Google this every day."
~ dekkact
"They're nice birds but are they really worth Googling everyday?"
~ redwolf1219
Blue-Footed Boobies
GiphyPredictive Text
"I used to search something like 'no clothes' or 'without clothes' or something like that when I was a kid."
"Then I learnt the word NAKED because of the TV show Naked and Afraid."
"Then searched it so many times that my autocorrect started to show that word first when I wanted to type something."
~ sniper8207
NSF...S?
"My favorite band growing up was 'The Barenaked Ladies'."
"When I was at school, I once Googled them and clicked on a link that said 'free shows!'."
~ BW_Bird
Good Description
"I forgot what a 'gondola' was called so I typed in 'Thing that carries you through the mountains in a basket'."
~ TheGreatJaceyGee
"I once forgot the word for 'door' so my brain reached for adjacent concepts, smashed them together and threw them out my mouth: 'house portal'."
~ Tail_Nom
GiphyIt Just Doesn't Translate
"I have to search a random word 'auf Englisch' or a random word 'auf Deutsch'."
"Every damn day."
"It took me a minute to realize that there was no way to translate Schadenfreude into English."
~ grammar_fixer_2
Ah, Memories...
"I found out that as long as you're logged into Google, all your searches are saved to your Google account (I'm not talking about browser history)."
"So I looked back, and the 1st thing I ever googled after getting a Google account was 'Can ducks fly'."
"I've no idea why I googled this. I know ducks can fly."
~ caca__milis
GiphyYou Ate What‽‽
"Once I was with some friends and I was telling them about how when I was a kid we only got to eat nuts as a special treat around Christmas."
"Then I mentioned how much I liked squirrel nuts and no one knew what they were. So I Googled 'squirrel nuts' with image search."
"Not at all what we ate at Christmas time."
"Finally found out what my family called 'squirrel nuts' were actually called hazelnuts."
~ 123fofisix
100% NSFW
"A few years ago my coworker and I were looking at the calendar at work. It had pictures of birds and we were trying to figure out what kind of bird was pictured for that month."
"I can’t remember what she thought it was, but I darned sure it was a Great Tit."
"We have a great relationship and have been working together for a long time but we tend to argue like an old married couple. So we went to Mr Google for the answer."
"Let me tell you that Googling Great Tit at work isn’t something I will ever do again."
"For the record, I was right. The bird was a Great Tit."
~ pi11bott
Great Tit holds an insect in its beak
A Perry on Unsplash
Hope some of these folks remembered to clear their browser and search histories.
So, what's your hilarious—or embarrassing—little Google secret search?