celebrating cultural differences
Jul 18th, 2004 | 12:53 PM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 250
Likes: 0
celebrating cultural differences
I have noticed among some other cultural differences that the Europeans tend to eat "continental" style, whereas in America we eat one piece of silverware at a time (on the norm). What other differences are there (especially involving dining customs in Europe)?
Also, how do dining and other customs vary in Italy from say France (as I have been here)? Any customs you would like to share that are specifically Italian?
Any other differences in customs that you would like to share?
Thanks!
Patricia
Also, how do dining and other customs vary in Italy from say France (as I have been here)? Any customs you would like to share that are specifically Italian?
Any other differences in customs that you would like to share?
Thanks!
Patricia
Jul 18th, 2004 | 12:56 PM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 49,560
Likes: 0
<<Europeans tend to eat "continental" style, whereas in America we eat one piece of silverware at a time (on the norm).>>
Sorry, I don't understand this. Are you referring to the fact that at a fancy dinner one tends to use the various forks//knives/spoons from the outside to the inside (as in salad fork first, then regular fork for the main part of the meal)? Or do you mean that Europeans don't keep switching the silverware back and forth fromhand to hand while they eat, while Americans do?
Sorry, I don't understand this. Are you referring to the fact that at a fancy dinner one tends to use the various forks//knives/spoons from the outside to the inside (as in salad fork first, then regular fork for the main part of the meal)? Or do you mean that Europeans don't keep switching the silverware back and forth fromhand to hand while they eat, while Americans do?
Jul 18th, 2004 | 01:02 PM
#3
Original Poster
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 250
Likes: 0
I was referring to the latter (and of course I am not stating that one is better than the other).
I have just made this observance. Also, I'm sure not everyone in Europe eats continental style....as not everyone in America switches back and forth from fork to knife. It's just a general observation.
Patricia
I have just made this observance. Also, I'm sure not everyone in Europe eats continental style....as not everyone in America switches back and forth from fork to knife. It's just a general observation.
Patricia
Jul 18th, 2004 | 01:13 PM
#4
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,717
Likes: 0
Most Europeans eat "continental" style, as you put it.
In Italy, one presses a fork with a few strands of long pasta around it(spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle, etc.) against a clear part of the plate and twirls the fork until it holds a small and manageable spiral (or coil or bundle) of pasta that one can easily put into one's mouth. One does not twirl long pasta against a spoon held in the left hand nor does one, God forbid, cut it.
In Italy, one presses a fork with a few strands of long pasta around it(spaghetti, linguine, tagliatelle, etc.) against a clear part of the plate and twirls the fork until it holds a small and manageable spiral (or coil or bundle) of pasta that one can easily put into one's mouth. One does not twirl long pasta against a spoon held in the left hand nor does one, God forbid, cut it.
Jul 19th, 2004 | 03:47 AM
#5
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,705
Likes: 0
"Also, I'm sure not everyone in Europe eats continental style."
Well, actually everyone does.
Dining-differencies in Europe? Unfortunately in northern parts people don't have these hours long eating and talking sessions the southern countries have.
Well, actually everyone does.
Dining-differencies in Europe? Unfortunately in northern parts people don't have these hours long eating and talking sessions the southern countries have.
Jul 19th, 2004 | 06:58 AM
#6
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 338
Likes: 0
Here's a big one:
Went to a French/American wedding in the Beaujolais. Guests were from all over the world -- really great week-long fest.
We did a day's wine touring, and 50 of us had a lovely lunch at a vinyard bistro. I was sitting with a Mexican couple, and we noticed after the main course that the Americans were literally inhaling their food (yes, I'm American, but lived in the EU for over a decade). We were half done with our gorgeous grilled meat, and everyone else had pushed their plates back (rude!)
Europeans eat slower, and talk more. This is better for the digestion , ) But really, it was like everyone else didn't realize there was going to be a cheese course, and then dessert. It's not a race -- we looked around, and yep, all the euroguests were still all happily eating away.
IMO pp won't notice if you're doing the American knife/fork switch -- but they *will* notice you polishing off your plate in record time. Americans are also renowned for drinking their coffee too fast. I mean, if you've paid 3e50 for a lovely small cup of coffee on the perfect cafe terrace, *make it last!!*
Take your time, let your meals be really relaxing, and ask for the bill when you're ready. I really hate how US waitstaff throw it under your face as early as poss.
HTH
Went to a French/American wedding in the Beaujolais. Guests were from all over the world -- really great week-long fest.
We did a day's wine touring, and 50 of us had a lovely lunch at a vinyard bistro. I was sitting with a Mexican couple, and we noticed after the main course that the Americans were literally inhaling their food (yes, I'm American, but lived in the EU for over a decade). We were half done with our gorgeous grilled meat, and everyone else had pushed their plates back (rude!)
Europeans eat slower, and talk more. This is better for the digestion , ) But really, it was like everyone else didn't realize there was going to be a cheese course, and then dessert. It's not a race -- we looked around, and yep, all the euroguests were still all happily eating away.
IMO pp won't notice if you're doing the American knife/fork switch -- but they *will* notice you polishing off your plate in record time. Americans are also renowned for drinking their coffee too fast. I mean, if you've paid 3e50 for a lovely small cup of coffee on the perfect cafe terrace, *make it last!!*
Take your time, let your meals be really relaxing, and ask for the bill when you're ready. I really hate how US waitstaff throw it under your face as early as poss.
HTH
Jul 19th, 2004 | 07:33 AM
#7
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,717
Likes: 0
A tiny footnote to the above: In Italy, they will NOT automatically bring your bill; they wait until you ask for it. It may come faster or slower, but the slowness is not -- or not only -- bad service; they do not want to seem as though they are pushing you out the door.
In very tourist-oriented restaurants, however, you may feel the same rushed attitude as in North America; the Italians in those restaurants have learned it from too many tourists who have complained about "bad service."
In very tourist-oriented restaurants, however, you may feel the same rushed attitude as in North America; the Italians in those restaurants have learned it from too many tourists who have complained about "bad service."
Trending Topics
Jul 19th, 2004 | 04:12 PM
#8
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,159
Likes: 0
I feel I was dared to post this.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING DUTCH
1. You can get arrested for growing plants, but not for smoking them.
2. You can make jokes about the Belgians and still drink their beer.
3 a. You can legally kill yourself
b. You can legally be killed
4. You're exactly like the Germans, except that nobody hates you.
5. You think you are a world power, but everyone else thinks
Copenhagen is your capital.....
6. You get to insult people and defend yourself by saying it's a
national tradition.
7. You can put your finger in a dyke and it will save your country
8. You live in the most densely populated country in Europe, and
still you've never seen your neighbours.
9. If the economy is bad, blame the Germans. If a war is started,
blame the Germans. If you lose your keys, blame the Germans.
10. Bikes are public property. Locks are a challenge.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING BELGIAN
1. You get to speak three languages, but none of them intelligibly.
2. If other countries want to fight a war, they will do it in your
country.
3. You can brew drinks out of fruit, and still call it beer.
4. You are either
a.like the Dutch, just less efficient
b.like the French, just less romantic
c.like the Germans
5. Decent fries. Real mayonnaise. Great chocolate. The best beer.
6. No one knows anything about you, except for the Dutch and
French and they make fun
of you.
7. More scandals in a week than any other country in a decade.
8. You can drive like a maniac on the road and nobody cares
9. All your famous countrymen are either imaginary, or
sex-offenders
10 Face it. It's not really a country, is it?
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING FRENCH:
1. When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay.
2. Experience the
joy of winning the World Cup for the first time
3. You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs.
4. If there's a war you can surrender
really early.
5. You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on
Channel 4.
6. You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries.
7. You can be ugly and still become a famous film star.
8. Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street
humiliating your sense of national pride.
9. You don't have to bother with toilets, just shit in the street.
10. People think you're a great lover even when you're not.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING AMERICAN :
1. You can have a woman president without electing her.
2. You can spell color wrong and get away with it.
3. You can call Budweiser beer.
4. You can be a crook and still be president.
5. If you've got enough money you can get elected to do anything.
6. If you can breathe you can get a gun.
7. You get to be really obese.
8. You can play golf in the most hideous clothes ever made and nobody
seems to care.
9. You get to call everyone you've never met "buddy".
10. You can think you're the greatest nation on earth.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING NORWEGIAN:
1. You get to pay the highest taxes in the world.
2. You can kill baby seals and eat Rudolf the Reindeer. 3. You live in
total freezing darkness half the year and get 24 hour ozone-hole
radiation the other half.
4. You can get capital punishment for smoking dope.
5. You can go skiing in your knickers.
6. You get to hate the Swedes and beat the Brazilians in football.
7. You have to be a woman to get anywhere.
8. You don't need to worry about land prices rocketing - its fairly
spacious.
9. When abroad you can impress people you meet with stories
about killing polar bears and shagging penguins - and they believe you.
10. You can actually get bored with blondes.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING ENGLISH :
1. Two World Wars and One World Cup.
2. Warm beer.
3. You get to confuse everyone with the rules of cricket.
4. You get to accept defeat graciously in major sporting events.
5. Union jack underpants.
6. Water shortages guaranteed every single summer.
7. You can live in the past and imagine you are still a world power.
8. Bathing once a week - whether you need to or not.
9. Ditto changing underwear.
10. Beats being Welsh.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING SCOTTISH :
1. You ain't English!
2. You ain't English!
3. You ain't English!
4. You ain't English!
5. You ain't English!
6. You ain't English!
7. You ain't English!
8. You ain't English!
9. You ain't English!
10. You ain't English!
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING ITALIAN :
1. In-depth knowledge of bizarre pasta shapes.
2. Unembarrassed to wear fur.
3. No need to worry about tax returns.
4. Glorious military history prior to 400BC.
5. Can wear sunglasses inside.
6. Political stability.
7. Flexible working hours.
8. Live near the Pope.
9. Can spend hours braiding girlfriend's armpit hair.
10. Country run by Sicilian murderers.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING SPANISH :
1. Glorious history of killing South American tribes.
2. The rest of Europe thinks Africa begins at the Pyrenees.
3. You get your beaches invaded by Germans, Danes, Brits, etc.
4. The rest of your country is already invaded by Moroccans.
5. Everybody else makes crap paella and claims it's the real thing.
6. Honesty.
7. Only sure way of bedding a woman is to dress up in stupid, tight
clothes and risk your life in front of bulls.
8. You get to eat bull's testicles.
9. Gibraltar.
10. Supported Argentina in Falklands War.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING GERMAN :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Give them a second chance
1. Oktoberfest.
2. Okotberfest-beer.
3. BMW.
4. VW.
5. Audi.
6. Mercedes.
7. On a highway you can travel at a speed that would bring you to jail
in any other country of the world.
8. You do not have to learn German as a foreign language.
9. You think Sauerkraut is delicious.
10.Contrary to common belief laughing is not forbidden by law (yet).
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING INDIAN :
1. Chicken Madras.
2. Lamb Passanda.
3. Onion Bhaji.
4. Bombay Potato.
5. Chicken Tikka Masala.
6. Rogan Josh.
7. Popadoms.
8. Chicken Dopiaza.
9. Kingfisher lager.
10. Aggravate everyone else by shaking your head when talking.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING WELSH:
1. You've got to be having a laugh, haven't you?
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING IRISH :
1. Guinness.
2. 18 children because you can't use contraceptives.
3. You can get into a fight just by marching down someone's road.
4. Pubs never close.
5. Can use Papal edicts on contraception passed in second Vatican
Council of 1968 to persuade your girlfriend that you can't have sex
with a condom on.
6. No one can ever remember the night before.
7. Kill people you don't agree with.
8. Stew.
9. More Guinness.
10. Eating stew and drinking Guinness in an Irish pub at 3 in the
morning after a bout of sectarian violence.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING CANADIAN :
1. It beats being an American.
2. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
3. You can play ice hockey 12 months a year, outdoors.
4. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
5. Where else can you travel 1000 miles over fresh water in a canoe?
6. A political leader can admit to smoking pot and his/her popularity
ratings will rise.
7. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
8. Kill Grizzly bears with huge shotguns and cover your house in
their
skins.
9. Own-an-Eskimo scheme.
10. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING AUSTRALIAN:
1. Know your great-grand-dad was a murdering bar steward that no
civilized nation on earth wanted.
2. Fosters Lager.
3. Dispossess Aborigines who have lived in your country for 40,000
years because you think it belongs to you.
4. Cricket captain not afraid to cry live on TV.
5. Tact and sensitivity.
6. Bondi Beach.
7. Other beaches.
8. Liberated attitude to homosexuals.
9. Drinking cold lager on the beach.
10. Having a bit of a swim and then drink some cold lager on the
beach.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING GREEK
1.You get to shout about your culture although the only real culture
most Greeks have is what is growing between their toes. 2.The police are
even more corrupt than the criminals they are supposed to be chasing.
3.You can blow your nose in the street by pinching it between the thumb
and forefinger and trumpeting forth without everyone around wretching their
stomach contents up at the sight.
4.Old women can sport moustaches.
5.Young women can sport moustaches.
6.Men can be hairier than the average grizzly bear and not get put in a
zoo.
7.You get to call the bouzouki a musical instrument when the rest of
the world sees it as an instrument of torture.
8.You are the only nation to have lost its marbles and still wants to
let everyone else around the world know about it.
9.Ridiculous bureaucracy.
10.Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING DUTCH
1. You can get arrested for growing plants, but not for smoking them.
2. You can make jokes about the Belgians and still drink their beer.
3 a. You can legally kill yourself
b. You can legally be killed
4. You're exactly like the Germans, except that nobody hates you.
5. You think you are a world power, but everyone else thinks
Copenhagen is your capital.....
6. You get to insult people and defend yourself by saying it's a
national tradition.
7. You can put your finger in a dyke and it will save your country
8. You live in the most densely populated country in Europe, and
still you've never seen your neighbours.
9. If the economy is bad, blame the Germans. If a war is started,
blame the Germans. If you lose your keys, blame the Germans.
10. Bikes are public property. Locks are a challenge.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING BELGIAN
1. You get to speak three languages, but none of them intelligibly.
2. If other countries want to fight a war, they will do it in your
country.
3. You can brew drinks out of fruit, and still call it beer.
4. You are either
a.like the Dutch, just less efficient
b.like the French, just less romantic
c.like the Germans
5. Decent fries. Real mayonnaise. Great chocolate. The best beer.
6. No one knows anything about you, except for the Dutch and
French and they make fun
of you.
7. More scandals in a week than any other country in a decade.
8. You can drive like a maniac on the road and nobody cares
9. All your famous countrymen are either imaginary, or
sex-offenders
10 Face it. It's not really a country, is it?
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING FRENCH:
1. When speaking fast you can make yourself sound gay.
2. Experience the
joy of winning the World Cup for the first time
3. You get to eat insect food like snails and frog's legs.
4. If there's a war you can surrender
really early.
5. You don't have to read the subtitles on those late night films on
Channel 4.
6. You can test your own nuclear weapons in other people's countries.
7. You can be ugly and still become a famous film star.
8. Allow Germans to march up and down your most famous street
humiliating your sense of national pride.
9. You don't have to bother with toilets, just shit in the street.
10. People think you're a great lover even when you're not.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING AMERICAN :
1. You can have a woman president without electing her.
2. You can spell color wrong and get away with it.
3. You can call Budweiser beer.
4. You can be a crook and still be president.
5. If you've got enough money you can get elected to do anything.
6. If you can breathe you can get a gun.
7. You get to be really obese.
8. You can play golf in the most hideous clothes ever made and nobody
seems to care.
9. You get to call everyone you've never met "buddy".
10. You can think you're the greatest nation on earth.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING NORWEGIAN:
1. You get to pay the highest taxes in the world.
2. You can kill baby seals and eat Rudolf the Reindeer. 3. You live in
total freezing darkness half the year and get 24 hour ozone-hole
radiation the other half.
4. You can get capital punishment for smoking dope.
5. You can go skiing in your knickers.
6. You get to hate the Swedes and beat the Brazilians in football.
7. You have to be a woman to get anywhere.
8. You don't need to worry about land prices rocketing - its fairly
spacious.
9. When abroad you can impress people you meet with stories
about killing polar bears and shagging penguins - and they believe you.
10. You can actually get bored with blondes.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING ENGLISH :
1. Two World Wars and One World Cup.
2. Warm beer.
3. You get to confuse everyone with the rules of cricket.
4. You get to accept defeat graciously in major sporting events.
5. Union jack underpants.
6. Water shortages guaranteed every single summer.
7. You can live in the past and imagine you are still a world power.
8. Bathing once a week - whether you need to or not.
9. Ditto changing underwear.
10. Beats being Welsh.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING SCOTTISH :
1. You ain't English!
2. You ain't English!
3. You ain't English!
4. You ain't English!
5. You ain't English!
6. You ain't English!
7. You ain't English!
8. You ain't English!
9. You ain't English!
10. You ain't English!
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING ITALIAN :
1. In-depth knowledge of bizarre pasta shapes.
2. Unembarrassed to wear fur.
3. No need to worry about tax returns.
4. Glorious military history prior to 400BC.
5. Can wear sunglasses inside.
6. Political stability.
7. Flexible working hours.
8. Live near the Pope.
9. Can spend hours braiding girlfriend's armpit hair.
10. Country run by Sicilian murderers.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING SPANISH :
1. Glorious history of killing South American tribes.
2. The rest of Europe thinks Africa begins at the Pyrenees.
3. You get your beaches invaded by Germans, Danes, Brits, etc.
4. The rest of your country is already invaded by Moroccans.
5. Everybody else makes crap paella and claims it's the real thing.
6. Honesty.
7. Only sure way of bedding a woman is to dress up in stupid, tight
clothes and risk your life in front of bulls.
8. You get to eat bull's testicles.
9. Gibraltar.
10. Supported Argentina in Falklands War.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING GERMAN :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Give them a second chance
1. Oktoberfest.
2. Okotberfest-beer.
3. BMW.
4. VW.
5. Audi.
6. Mercedes.
7. On a highway you can travel at a speed that would bring you to jail
in any other country of the world.
8. You do not have to learn German as a foreign language.
9. You think Sauerkraut is delicious.
10.Contrary to common belief laughing is not forbidden by law (yet).
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING INDIAN :
1. Chicken Madras.
2. Lamb Passanda.
3. Onion Bhaji.
4. Bombay Potato.
5. Chicken Tikka Masala.
6. Rogan Josh.
7. Popadoms.
8. Chicken Dopiaza.
9. Kingfisher lager.
10. Aggravate everyone else by shaking your head when talking.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING WELSH:
1. You've got to be having a laugh, haven't you?
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING IRISH :
1. Guinness.
2. 18 children because you can't use contraceptives.
3. You can get into a fight just by marching down someone's road.
4. Pubs never close.
5. Can use Papal edicts on contraception passed in second Vatican
Council of 1968 to persuade your girlfriend that you can't have sex
with a condom on.
6. No one can ever remember the night before.
7. Kill people you don't agree with.
8. Stew.
9. More Guinness.
10. Eating stew and drinking Guinness in an Irish pub at 3 in the
morning after a bout of sectarian violence.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING CANADIAN :
1. It beats being an American.
2. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
3. You can play ice hockey 12 months a year, outdoors.
4. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
5. Where else can you travel 1000 miles over fresh water in a canoe?
6. A political leader can admit to smoking pot and his/her popularity
ratings will rise.
7. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
8. Kill Grizzly bears with huge shotguns and cover your house in
their
skins.
9. Own-an-Eskimo scheme.
10. Only country to successfully invade the US and burn its capital to
the ground.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING AUSTRALIAN:
1. Know your great-grand-dad was a murdering bar steward that no
civilized nation on earth wanted.
2. Fosters Lager.
3. Dispossess Aborigines who have lived in your country for 40,000
years because you think it belongs to you.
4. Cricket captain not afraid to cry live on TV.
5. Tact and sensitivity.
6. Bondi Beach.
7. Other beaches.
8. Liberated attitude to homosexuals.
9. Drinking cold lager on the beach.
10. Having a bit of a swim and then drink some cold lager on the
beach.
TOP 10 REASONS FOR BEING GREEK
1.You get to shout about your culture although the only real culture
most Greeks have is what is growing between their toes. 2.The police are
even more corrupt than the criminals they are supposed to be chasing.
3.You can blow your nose in the street by pinching it between the thumb
and forefinger and trumpeting forth without everyone around wretching their
stomach contents up at the sight.
4.Old women can sport moustaches.
5.Young women can sport moustaches.
6.Men can be hairier than the average grizzly bear and not get put in a
zoo.
7.You get to call the bouzouki a musical instrument when the rest of
the world sees it as an instrument of torture.
8.You are the only nation to have lost its marbles and still wants to
let everyone else around the world know about it.
9.Ridiculous bureaucracy.
10.Nana Mouskouri and Demis Roussos.
Jul 19th, 2004 | 04:40 PM
#9
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,602
Likes: 0
GREATLY amusing, Sheila, thanks! (partic. the bit about the French and Belgians-the Canuck stuff is old-heard that 1,000 times when I worked in Ottawa!) I do know quite a few people who would appreciate this enormously, so I'm going to take the liberty of cutting and pasting to pass on the amusement!
Jul 19th, 2004 | 04:52 PM
#10
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 259
Likes: 0
_Things That Are Different in Sweden_
Completely in the spirit of fun, tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating humor, here is a list of things that are different in Sweden from what we provincial Americans might expect.
1. Be careful. The next door in the uppgång (walk-up) is the backdoor of the last guy who is still not interested.
2. Beer in pop machines.
3. If you guzzle a glass of water on hot day, you are being rude and demanding more NOW!
4. They have an island called "Island land" (Öland).
5. Dog Toilets.
6. Fireworks at christmas, easter and just about every occasion (at least when there's darkness).
7. Traffic lights click or beep so blind pedestrians can tell whether the light is red or green.
8. You can take off the showerhead and rinse the conditioner in 30 seconds instead of five minutes. Also you can wash your hair without washing your body if you're in a hurry.
9. If you're not careful, you will still be knocking on doors in summer at 11:00 pm...and the sun is still out.
10. You turn on bike headlights in the winter at 3:00 pm.
11. Old Swedes go on walks with cats and rodents and use a leash to drag the helpless animal behind.
12. A can of Coke costs USD 2.00 (SEK 15) at a cafe.
13. Everybody has super deluxe baby carriages with heavy duty wheels.
14. No matter how little snow there is, everyone uses studded tires all winter.
15. No salad is complete without grated carrots.
16. Swedish kids learn to cook in elementary school.
17. Girls dress up as witches for Easter and boys dress up as hobos.
18. Kids sell Bingo/Lotto tickets at the grocery store for fund raising projects.
19. What you think is a Ku Klux Klan rally in December is really a Santa Lucia procession.
20. All furniture made of light beechwood or pine.
21. Unedited R-rated movies on regular (non-cable) TV.
22. Windows with Venetian blinds in-between two panes of glass.
23. You can camp, hunt, & pick berries on private property.
24. You attach your phone cord to the wall with something that looks like a 220-V plug.
25. Everybody owns a cellular phone.
26. Red boxes around town you put your used batteries in.
27. Everyone takes the rainiest month off in summer for vacation.
28. Front doors on the back of houses shaped like barns.
29. They claim that wall-to-wall carpeting is why americans get sick, but almost everyone in Sweden has a cold.
30. Americans like fluffy towels, while Swedes like to smash them in a mangler.
31. Pear ice cream.
32. Popular pizza toppings include bananas and curry, or artichoke hearts and roast beef.
33. "Swedish pizza" to missionaries means "thin, flimsy crust made by a middle-eastern person".
34. If you're patriotic, you're probably a racist.
35. Köttfärs is not hamburger as we know it.
36. You can practically step outside your back door and be in a forest, and pick berries that are in season.
37. You've got to squeegee the whole bathroom floor after taking a shower.
38. Cab drivers drive Mercedes Benz.
39. It takes a crew of six Swedes a week to rip up a cobblestone sidewalk, scrape the dirt off the back, and put it back in. (Not counting bad weather, holidays, fikas.)
40. Cops drive Volvos and Saabs.
41. Half naked women answer the door.
42. Swedes don't know what a 'date' is. They always go to dances and parties in a group.
43. The amount of daylight you get at different times of year, light in the summer, dark in the winter.
44. You don't have to lock your bicycle to a lamp post. Just lock the wheel so it doesn't turn, and nobody will take it.
45. You can't buy greeting cards, aspirin, deli sandwiches, develop film, rent videos or bank at the grocery store, but you have to do all that at separate stores.
46. When you order spaghetti, don't forget to ask for sauce and meatballs, or all you'll get is the noodles.
47. Pear-flavored and blood-orange-flavored pop.
48. While Snapple claims to be made from the best stuff on earth, Bob saft is the best stuff on earth.
49. Pregnant women bicycle.
50. More store owners honor the Sabbath day.
51. Plastic grocery bags made to last more than five minutes.
52. You can't tell by looking at what kind of handle a door has whether you should push or pull.
53. "Valentine's Day" decorations at Christmas time.
54. Illuminated red buttons to turn the hallway lights on for two minutes.
55. Root beer is not popular. The natives think it tastes like toothpaste.
56. Corn on the cob is not for human consumption.
57. Chocolate soda pop.
58. You can ride a bicycle without getting killed.
59. "Kaviar" (actually smoked cod roe) is a snack food in toothpaste tubes.
60. If an elevator is on the third floor and you are on the first and want to go up, you have to tell the elevator to come down.
61. Elevators with no doors on the cab, just the stationary ones at each floor. You could touch the wall moving past as the elevator moves.
62. Continuously running elevators that you jump on and off of like a ski lift (paternoster?).
63. Licorice can be salty. You'll burn your mouth if you're not careful.
64. Rotten fish in a bulging can is a delicacy (surströmming).
65. Riding a bicycles on a cobblestone street.
66. Shaving not as popular with girls.
67. Rose hip tea (nypon soppa).
68. "Hockey" with curved clubs and a very small ball (bandy).
69. Traffic lights turn yellow on both stop and go.
70. Doorknobs on toilets and toilet handles on doors.
71. Asking for "peanut butter and jelly" is like asking for "rock candy and frosting."
72. You can get by on SEK 5,- in food budget per week. Everybody wants you to come in and "fika."
73. It's not surprising to see a movie theater or a bicycle repair shop closed for a month in the middle of the summer.
74. You go to a health food store to buy maple syrup.
75. If you order a pizza with olives you get a whole unpitted olive rolling around on top of your pizza.
76. A clothes dryer is a luxury (but a drying room isn't).
77. The spin cycle is handled by a different machine than the wash and rinse cycles.
78. If you think a Swede is suffocating she may just be saying yes.
79. You can serve ice cream with a knife.
80. Mayonnaise comes in toothpaste tubes.
81. If it weren't for the engine running you might be able to hear a pin drop on a bus with 75 people on it.
82. When a Swede talks about "the system", he's not talking about beating the establishment; he's talking about buying liquor.
83. A person who speaks only one language is rarer in Sweden than a polyglot is in the USA.
source (i.e. lifted from):
www.swedishmission.com/misc/differences.asp
Completely in the spirit of fun, tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating humor, here is a list of things that are different in Sweden from what we provincial Americans might expect.
1. Be careful. The next door in the uppgång (walk-up) is the backdoor of the last guy who is still not interested.
2. Beer in pop machines.
3. If you guzzle a glass of water on hot day, you are being rude and demanding more NOW!
4. They have an island called "Island land" (Öland).
5. Dog Toilets.
6. Fireworks at christmas, easter and just about every occasion (at least when there's darkness).
7. Traffic lights click or beep so blind pedestrians can tell whether the light is red or green.
8. You can take off the showerhead and rinse the conditioner in 30 seconds instead of five minutes. Also you can wash your hair without washing your body if you're in a hurry.
9. If you're not careful, you will still be knocking on doors in summer at 11:00 pm...and the sun is still out.
10. You turn on bike headlights in the winter at 3:00 pm.
11. Old Swedes go on walks with cats and rodents and use a leash to drag the helpless animal behind.
12. A can of Coke costs USD 2.00 (SEK 15) at a cafe.
13. Everybody has super deluxe baby carriages with heavy duty wheels.
14. No matter how little snow there is, everyone uses studded tires all winter.
15. No salad is complete without grated carrots.
16. Swedish kids learn to cook in elementary school.
17. Girls dress up as witches for Easter and boys dress up as hobos.
18. Kids sell Bingo/Lotto tickets at the grocery store for fund raising projects.
19. What you think is a Ku Klux Klan rally in December is really a Santa Lucia procession.
20. All furniture made of light beechwood or pine.
21. Unedited R-rated movies on regular (non-cable) TV.
22. Windows with Venetian blinds in-between two panes of glass.
23. You can camp, hunt, & pick berries on private property.
24. You attach your phone cord to the wall with something that looks like a 220-V plug.
25. Everybody owns a cellular phone.
26. Red boxes around town you put your used batteries in.
27. Everyone takes the rainiest month off in summer for vacation.
28. Front doors on the back of houses shaped like barns.
29. They claim that wall-to-wall carpeting is why americans get sick, but almost everyone in Sweden has a cold.
30. Americans like fluffy towels, while Swedes like to smash them in a mangler.
31. Pear ice cream.
32. Popular pizza toppings include bananas and curry, or artichoke hearts and roast beef.
33. "Swedish pizza" to missionaries means "thin, flimsy crust made by a middle-eastern person".
34. If you're patriotic, you're probably a racist.
35. Köttfärs is not hamburger as we know it.
36. You can practically step outside your back door and be in a forest, and pick berries that are in season.
37. You've got to squeegee the whole bathroom floor after taking a shower.
38. Cab drivers drive Mercedes Benz.
39. It takes a crew of six Swedes a week to rip up a cobblestone sidewalk, scrape the dirt off the back, and put it back in. (Not counting bad weather, holidays, fikas.)
40. Cops drive Volvos and Saabs.
41. Half naked women answer the door.
42. Swedes don't know what a 'date' is. They always go to dances and parties in a group.
43. The amount of daylight you get at different times of year, light in the summer, dark in the winter.
44. You don't have to lock your bicycle to a lamp post. Just lock the wheel so it doesn't turn, and nobody will take it.
45. You can't buy greeting cards, aspirin, deli sandwiches, develop film, rent videos or bank at the grocery store, but you have to do all that at separate stores.
46. When you order spaghetti, don't forget to ask for sauce and meatballs, or all you'll get is the noodles.
47. Pear-flavored and blood-orange-flavored pop.
48. While Snapple claims to be made from the best stuff on earth, Bob saft is the best stuff on earth.
49. Pregnant women bicycle.
50. More store owners honor the Sabbath day.
51. Plastic grocery bags made to last more than five minutes.
52. You can't tell by looking at what kind of handle a door has whether you should push or pull.
53. "Valentine's Day" decorations at Christmas time.
54. Illuminated red buttons to turn the hallway lights on for two minutes.
55. Root beer is not popular. The natives think it tastes like toothpaste.
56. Corn on the cob is not for human consumption.
57. Chocolate soda pop.
58. You can ride a bicycle without getting killed.
59. "Kaviar" (actually smoked cod roe) is a snack food in toothpaste tubes.
60. If an elevator is on the third floor and you are on the first and want to go up, you have to tell the elevator to come down.
61. Elevators with no doors on the cab, just the stationary ones at each floor. You could touch the wall moving past as the elevator moves.
62. Continuously running elevators that you jump on and off of like a ski lift (paternoster?).
63. Licorice can be salty. You'll burn your mouth if you're not careful.
64. Rotten fish in a bulging can is a delicacy (surströmming).
65. Riding a bicycles on a cobblestone street.
66. Shaving not as popular with girls.
67. Rose hip tea (nypon soppa).
68. "Hockey" with curved clubs and a very small ball (bandy).
69. Traffic lights turn yellow on both stop and go.
70. Doorknobs on toilets and toilet handles on doors.
71. Asking for "peanut butter and jelly" is like asking for "rock candy and frosting."
72. You can get by on SEK 5,- in food budget per week. Everybody wants you to come in and "fika."
73. It's not surprising to see a movie theater or a bicycle repair shop closed for a month in the middle of the summer.
74. You go to a health food store to buy maple syrup.
75. If you order a pizza with olives you get a whole unpitted olive rolling around on top of your pizza.
76. A clothes dryer is a luxury (but a drying room isn't).
77. The spin cycle is handled by a different machine than the wash and rinse cycles.
78. If you think a Swede is suffocating she may just be saying yes.
79. You can serve ice cream with a knife.
80. Mayonnaise comes in toothpaste tubes.
81. If it weren't for the engine running you might be able to hear a pin drop on a bus with 75 people on it.
82. When a Swede talks about "the system", he's not talking about beating the establishment; he's talking about buying liquor.
83. A person who speaks only one language is rarer in Sweden than a polyglot is in the USA.
source (i.e. lifted from):
www.swedishmission.com/misc/differences.asp
Jul 19th, 2004 | 06:14 PM
#14
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4,651
Likes: 3
I didn't notice this in France, but I did notice it in Italy: they share meals. In the U.S., and when we dine abroad, we tend to each order something individually to eat. I always wondered why the Italian meals were so hearty -- why there was a "prima" course of pasta and a "secondi" course of fish or meat. Now I know: they share the pasta and share the meat courses! Kind of like going to a Chinese restaurant.
