American Customs The Rest Of The World Thinks Are Weird by The Cracked Podcast published on 2016-05-01T21:58:11Z Though they often seem to be lacking in self-awareness, Americans are well-acquainted with their own stereotypes. Yes, we get it; we're loud, we're brash, we're fat, we love NASCAR and think everyone should speak gosh darn American. These stereotypes in a way are almost self-imposed. We see 'Team America' and we assume that sardonic parody of patriotism is how the rest of the world views us, but that's not always the case. There are tons of stereotypes about Americans we have no idea about because they're things that are so normal to us we don't even notice them. Take cheese, for example. We LOVE cheese, and sure, other countries love it too, but to an Easterner, cheese is a gross, spongy, smelly alien substance. We know our political system is definitely on the wacky side of things, but do we even comprehend how our election looks to the rest of the world, nervously praying Donald Trump doesn't get the nuclear codes? On this episode, we're joined by a few foreigners to talk about all the weird things we do as Americans, but have no idea about. Cracked editor-in-chief Jack O'Brien is joined by Japanese comedian Aiko Tanaka and British comedian Katia Kvinge to talk about our weird food culture and our even weirder dating culture. Later, Jack is joined by Cracked editor and resident Canadian Mark Hill to talk about why American technology lags far behind along with our politics. Footnotes: 6 Ways US Elections Look Insane To Non-US Citizens: http://goo.gl/sBRH9L 18 Simple Ways Other Countries Are Just Better Than America: http://goo.gl/n8DdqW 19 Ways Americans Don't Realize Life In America Isn't Normal: http://goo.gl/LtRu9k Deep inside us all behind our political leanings, our moral codes and our private biases, there is a cause so colossally stupid, we surprise ourselves with how much we care. Whether it's toilet paper position, fedoras on men or Oxford commas, we each harbor a preference so powerful we can't help but proselytize to the world. Guest host Soren Bowie will be joined by Cody Johnston, Michael Swaim and comedian Annie Lederman to discuss the most trivial things we will argue about until the day we die. This next LIVE episode of The Cracked Podcast will be on Saturday, May 14th at 7pm at the UCB Sunset Theatre in Los Angeles. Tickets are $5 and on sale here: https://goo.gl/znDZRH Genre Comedy Comment by Patrick Richardson 7 @jakobvirgil: Low-Fat milk makes a pretty tasteless cheese. 2016/05/26 02:37:34 +0000 Comment by Jason thanks for the wabi sabi tip! 2016/05/23 17:36:57 +0000 Comment by JakobVirgil @rashe-gifford: cheese is not made of milk-fat that is called butter. 2016/05/21 12:57:04 +0000 Comment by Tara M @james-black-68: There are natural tomboys, sure. Others aren't necessarily tomboys but still get rejected by the other girls for whatever reason. They adopt a more boyish identity and try to fit in with guys to not be the one person with no friends. 2016/05/16 15:34:26 +0000 Comment by Darkwolfdemon be swift as a great typhoon! 2016/05/14 21:40:36 +0000 Comment by Rashe Gifford The reason why men walk on that side of the road is because if the man is presenting them to the street, it says you're a pimp and you're selling her. 2016/05/11 04:15:34 +0000 Comment by Rashe Gifford In 1977, milk fat was introduced in federally regulated fat gradients. Fat in food had just been linked to obesity, so the government started promoting low fat milk. HOWEVER, the fat from the milk didn't just disappear. Suddenly farms everywhere had more cheese than they knew what to deal with. And so, to keep Americans healthier, they started subsidizing and supporting the crap out of cheese. So that's why we like cheese. 2016/05/11 03:17:50 +0000 Comment by eliza washington hippie quote of the day : out west you can feel the history in the trees and landscapes. it's a history far older than we are. 2016/05/10 18:21:47 +0000 Comment by eliza washington back in the 1910's in nyc, coroner was just a cush job for a friend of the mayor. then in the 1920's Norris and gettler got in there with some fucking SCIENCE and pioneered forensic technology during prohibition. there were really anti prohibition cause they received a HUGE increase in corpses to examine... 2016/05/10 18:20:02 +0000 Comment by eliza washington in a highschool science class we were given swabs so we could sample the most disgusting things we could find on campus for a bacterial growth experiment. toilet seats, door knobs, used gum on the sidewalk. we transferred our samples from the swabs to agar dishes, labeled them and put them in the incubator for the weekend. on monday, most dishes were at most, half covered in bacterial growth. the sample taken from the dollar bill? fully covered in healthy bacteria. the dollar bill was more filthy than any toilet seat we could find. 2016/05/10 18:13:44 +0000 Comment by eliza washington when i was a teen I was at a huge protest in France with some french teens. it was a hot day and at the end of a long march, one of my French friends handed me a wine bottle. I thought for sure it would be water. nope. warm chardonnay. just passin around a bottle of warm chardonnay in the middle of the day, in the middle of the street. 2016/05/10 18:06:20 +0000 Comment by eliza washington It's weird encountering founding father culture when you wonder if you get your last name from slave ancestors owned by the first president. 2016/05/10 18:01:52 +0000 Comment by eliza washington my friendship was rejected by every girl clique at my school before I hacked my way into the nerdy guy group at the bottom of the totem pole... 2016/05/10 17:31:33 +0000 Comment by R.E.D.Virus El Tiro jajajajajajajaja the dog stays outside jajajaja 2016/05/10 15:48:10 +0000 Comment by James Black @eliza-washington-2: Are you pretending to be someone you're not? I feel a tomboy wouldn't have a hard time cause it just comes naturally to her. 2016/05/10 06:27:24 +0000 Comment by MathOnNapkins Try Honey Dew melon, it's the gateway to Cantaloupe. I used to really hate it too. 2016/05/09 20:25:03 +0000 Comment by eliza washington as a female you have to work really hard and almost sacrifice your female identity to "hang with the guys." it becomes very valuable social currency. 2016/05/09 19:53:10 +0000 Comment by BASSILISK Hahahahahahaha that's was great!! 2016/05/09 18:34:35 +0000 Comment by Shannon Wiggins 5 I just want to point out that it's weird to say people on the coast are elitist towards Florida when Florida is mostly coast. 2016/05/09 17:45:30 +0000 Comment by Chadley Muller The comments express the answers a person usually gives after someone criticizes them. 2016/05/09 09:49:30 +0000 Comment by notarealman New Zealand Police don't carry guns either 2016/05/09 02:13:13 +0000 Comment by No Limitz Calgary's C-Train/Public Transit is pretty bad, Toronto and Vancouver has the right idea 2016/05/06 21:45:59 +0000 Comment by No Limitz Canada also has a telecom Oligopoly , i think our internet is as slow and expensive as american internet. 2016/05/06 21:14:45 +0000 Comment by Cucurbita Moschata Cantaloupe is fickle. When it's not good, it's bad, but when it's good it's great! The chunks they serve in fruit salads at restaurants is crap. Secondly, as an American, I've had many disappointments and feels trying to make friends with guys. It's heartening to hear it's not univeral. It's disheartening to hear that it's a real phenomenon. 2016/05/06 20:59:18 +0000 Comment by hombreTito I mean actual depression exists. Medications aren't evil. 2016/05/05 20:14:49 +0000 Comment by Tim Hess I bet even crazier stuff happens in California. L.A. is full of nutters. 2016/05/05 00:14:59 +0000 Comment by Tara M A group of Americans pulled this shit last time I was in the Dominican Republic and I heard someone say: "I hate Americans. I really love them but I also fucking hate them." Seems like that pretty much summarizes the rest of the world's feelings about us. 2016/05/04 16:08:01 +0000 Comment by Tara M @charlie-sanchez: American cheddar is pretty weird and plasticy. And I don't understand the impulse to add it to everything while also melting it into oblivion so you can't even really taste it. 2016/05/04 14:28:57 +0000 Comment by user558216243 The Japanese girl sounds super-ditzy and brainwashed 2016/05/04 12:23:50 +0000 Comment by Al Fair It strikes me as super weird to only be friends with people of your own gender. like, I would never go out with a man who didn't have female friends. I don't think I could have a healthy relationship with someone who couldn't be friends with women. 2016/05/04 01:37:17 +0000