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(http://img.chan4chan.com/img/2010-01-06/1262791275484.jpg)

I've lived in America my entire life and I've never really been anywhere else, so I can't really criticize other countries for how they do things but I find it interesting that America does a lot of things differently than the rest of the world, hence: this thread.

Of course I'm not really willing to adapt to the metric system or driving on the opposite side of the road at this point, but it's interesting that America didn't adhere to these standards to begin with (especially the Metric system since it seems so simple)

Anyways, discuss differences, pros, and cons (and more of those USA VS Europe images for laughs)... Try to keep it civil :)

Not all of Europe drives on the left side. Actually, the majority of Europe drives on the right side of the road.

Metric system is awesome <3

Also, being able to visit other countries in relatively short time and without too much passport hassle if you're going by car or train is amazing. Sharing the same currency is also great.

Fuck yeah, Europe!

The metric system works a lot better than that stupid roller coaster they call the imperial system. Because of that, I still don't even know how many feet are in a mile!

Short travel times are nice as well, along with TRAINS! It might be because we rarely even have trains for transportation besides the ocassional around-the-city railway. I heard that there will be a maglev between the Hartsfield-Jackson (GA, US) and the Chattanooga (TN, US) airports to reduce the crowdedness. That would also make some trips a lot quicker.

Latin American beats those two - Its got the hot chicks with big asses.

man.. imperial system is kool
no one complains about estimating measures with fuckin bottles its basically the same thing
i think of a mile as 5 blocks or watever, i think of 100 pounds as da weight for 10 year olds..  i estimat inches with my finger..

but of course we need to measure everything in our daily lives to pin point decimal accuracy and be able to convert everything by 10s lol

I don't think I've ever known... it makes no sense!

Strangely, a person's height is usually measured in feet and inches the UK...despite everything else being metres/centimetres.

And road signs are miles... and actually many people still use imperial. Measurements are always like "1 metre (3.28 feet)" because people CAN'T FUCKING MAKE UP THEIR MINDS.

true... milk and beer come in pints, too..

Ive often wondered how using metric vs imperial affects peoples minds.  I live in the US, and although I can see the benefits of the metric system, I still like the imperial better, because I base all my measurement on the size of my shoe (or something about that size).  The metric system's base is 3-4x as big as the imperials, so everyone either has to estimate things in decameters, which I dont think they do, or have a significantly different idea of how far stuff is.  Seems like it would be cool to do a psychology experiment to see if this affects other parts of the subconscious...

Yeah no one does that here. As far as I'm concerned I find it very very difficult to estimate walking distances. I can hardly tell the difference between 100m and 200m even though I've been using the metric system since I was born. Perhaps I should go out more often too.

Funny thing is that in France we do have the metric system for EVERYTHING except beers =)

fun fact!
decametre/ter = 10 meters
decimetre/ter = 10 centimetres/ters

The UK is a strange hybrid. Some things we use metric for, others we use imperial.

We are a bit different from the rest of the EU.
For example in the UK we use MPH for speed, whereas (as far as im aware) the rest of the EU uses KPH.

We also measure distance in miles (signs, maps etc.).

We have trains.  Our nation was made with trains.  People use trains.  It's just that the metropolitan areas are much more spread out (except maybe in the northeast?) so planes become more cost-effective.  Even so, I've taken trains places as well.

So far this thread seems very pro-European... lol, I guess that's what I get for posting this in the middle of the night over here :P

I will say what I mentioned in the other thread:

Doing a shit > Taking a shit (makes more sense)

British sitcoms (Peep Show, etc) > American sitcoms (Seinfeld, ugh)

British Office > American Office

If I can think of any more I'll let you know but honestly Europe was one of the least exciting countries I've ever been to.

You must be joking...

What's interesting is that in Canada we use an equal mix of both systems even though we are techinically metric. I've always found that Canada is like America but with more prominent influences from Northwestern Europe.

We describe peoples' weight and height using pounds and inches (I am 195 lbs and 5' 9"). Most of Europe seems to use kilos and centimetres.

We use kilometres for distance, and if you talk in miles I won't have a clear idea of what you mean.

If I'm describing a distance between two objects, like if I'm recounting a story for example, if it's fairly close I will use feet, but if it's farther than maybe 20 ft I'll use metres.

We also use inches for describing TV's and monitors and that kind of thing, anything small really.

We use grams and litres for food and water, for example all of our gas prices are listed per litre, and on drink cans the volume is written in millilitres (mL).

But we use ounces for weed  :laughter:


One thing I actually like about the imperial system, despite the metric system making more sense mathematically, is that all of the measurements are much easier to gauge as a human, if you know what I mean. An inch is the tip of your thumb, and a foot is well, your foot. It's really quite useful for just using colloquially to describe things. Centimetres and metres just seem to be a teeny bit unintuitive - centimetres just seem a bit too small, and metres a bit too big. As far as ounces and gallons and miles go though, I prefer the metric equivalents.

I'm pretty sure that even in America they use metric for scientific stuff though.


Yes I'm pretty sure he is :lol:

Nope, and I hope I'm not being offensive, but I just felt bored most of the time I was there. The city of England was cool and Sweden is a pretty cool town, but other than that the rest of the country sucked...  :concerned:

Your signs are backwards.

Stupid Americans call Cold-on-the-cobs "ice blocks"

I have to agree on the metric system. It's much easier to use for calculations and measurements, and most scientists insist on using it. The U.S. could probably benefit by switching over. I'll also agree that the E.U.'s transportation options are quite convenient and pleasant. I like riding on trains. Being able to visit such a broad spectrum of cultures so quickly must be magnificent. That's what comes of having so much history.

One of the advantages that the U.S. has is materials. The quality of food in the E.U. is quite good. But when it comes to quantity, the U.S. is always going to be king. You like beef? We've got more beef than you can ever eat. We also have the advantage of our native crop, corn. And we have enough wide-open spaces to grow and raise a lot of both. Nothing reminds me more of the U.S. than a big, juicy cheeseburger or a Philly cheese steak. Pulled pork and barbecue brisket.

Also, having such low prices for video games is awesome.

Harr harr harr...

Because having a lot of something is better than having something good, right? :P


All of the shows you mentioned there are pretty bad..

Oh, one of the best things about Europe is that we don't freak the fuck out when there's an exposed nipple on tv.

Wouldn't the most sense be "giving a shit"? Or perhaps "dropping a shit."

Britain has the best TV in the world and the worst cinema in the world

What about european music? Basically the whole of classical music before about 1900, plus the beatles, britpop, rock, and quite a lot of indie (in london at least).

Metric makes so much more sense than imperial, for a start it's in base 10, which makes calculations 100% eaiser, given how we do more or less everything else in base 10 (our counting system, money, everything else).

It's time that britian and the us switched to metric, if only to avoid more space rocket disasters.

EDIT:
also, europeans invented computers, plus the zx spectrum was British.

Oh, and we do have the best comedy, plus the BBC and Dr Who, and more and more and more...

When it comes to food, it can be a distinct advantage. Most notably, it is evident in the price. In Europe, the food is fantastic, but also remarkably expensive. In the U.S. food is cheap. Really, really cheap. And the reason why it is so inexpensive is because there is so much of it. You can eat better in the U.S. on a smaller budget than almost anywhere else in the world.

In fact, the "bigger, more quantity" model that the U.S. is known for works to its citizens advantage in numerous instances. I would again point to the cost of video games. Video games in the U.S. are both plentiful, cheap, and of high quality. Especially when compared to regions like the E.U., Australia, or Japan. The average consumer in the U.S. can afford to purchase many more games. A consumer like me, who has steady employment, is practically drowning in video games.

We might not have ritzy cafés on every corner, but there are certain advantages we enjoy.

This. Germany may be bad when it comes to censoring video games but if we're talking about TV, you can basically see nipples at 1PM on the TV and nobody freaks out.

Also, the metric system indeed makes more sense.

Also, Europe =/= European Union

Obligatory: Americans are fat

We call them Popsicles.

It's a result of:


Many Americans know very little about nutrients or how foods affect them...
Plus the fast food and processed food sweep didn't help... Cheap, addicting, and quick to get. Perfect? Oh yeah, they're shit for your health, even more when you're standing in place or sitting in a cubicle all day.

Americans know how foods affect them, they just tend to ignore it and eat whatever anyways. :P

Yeah, that might be more accurate.  :biglaff:

Ahahaha.

Speaking of the metric system, it's said that the Mars Climate Orbiter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter) failed because of a confusion between the metric and imperial systems - the software was written to use Newtons, but the crew was using pound-force. Gotta love the imperial system.

I'll admit, the metric system is probably best for most things - except cooking (and food / drink servings in general).  Cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc. all make so much sense when cooking, since they really are logical units for food / drink (e.g. a teaspoon is about how much sugar one might put in tea).  Why do you think they still use pints for beer in many countries?

I guess America currently has "better" pop culture, celebrities, etc. Not that I agree with the current pop trends, but overall we tend to have a cooler "image" or whatever. Example:

(http://www.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the-difference-between-america-vs-europe-700x501.jpg)

its funny cause hugh laurie is british

Yes. Totally. Love what you guys did to Life on Mars by the way.
Please do come back when you can use "Here come the drums" (oh bloody hell, I knew it had a different name: Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child) as the main theme for a villain without making him lose all creditability. On account of the image you posted, do look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwbB6B0cQs4
On a less sarcastic note, how much european pop culture do you actually know? Could you give a few examples what you consider superior to what?

Are we doing images?

lol, sure.

(http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5158/lolsqr.jpg)

(http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5489/indez.jpg)

Oh you're just sore 'cos the Ruskies beat you into space first.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SM-tUO5uqMQ/TQibSxdgUNI/AAAAAAAAA2o/0RxUPgeBS4Q/s1600/main_difference_beetween_europe_usa.jpg)

(http://www.arjenfun.com/kriebelfun/images15/080915Usa_Vs_Europe.jpg)

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zuYQ3f-34xI/Sql69wnUJeI/AAAAAAAAB7A/AqSpOhGD41w/s400/europe3.jpg)

Do you guys know what canv.as is? That's basically what you're doing here (I can send you an invite if you want. I don't use it much)

(http://i56.tinypic.com/2j3hedh.png)

ITT:

Europeans talking about how EU is #1 and USA sucks/americans don't know anything.
Americans talking about how USA is #1 and EU just doesn't get it.

Meanwhile:

Real difference between US and EU: 0.000001%

And I gotta say in terms of TV, we have Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which kicks every british show's ass

It's kind of annoying that Americans being fat has become a thing we're known for.

i hate fat people too

allen hates me because I'm fat.

EU is fucking exensive, US is dirt cheap.

Nobody can deny that the US throws its weight around.

When I visited California (I'm not going to say the US, because that's as stupid as saying the UK represents Europe), there where only three things I didn't like:

• guys dressing like Fred Durst (this was in the summer of 2001). Instant ragefuel. Nobody seemed to understand why at the time and I couldn't really explain it either, but I think I can now, thanks to the internet (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/scumbag-steve).
• the food. I gained ten kilos in three weeks. TEN, in THREE WEEKS! Seriously, why is everything so calorie-rich in your country?
• Related to that: the lack of physical activities in day to day life and over-reliance on cars. Driving to the grocery store around the corner was a serious WTF-moment for me, but not as much as only being able to reach it safely with a car. Seriously, get bicycle lanes (I'm Dutch, I cannot fathom life without bicycles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-AbPav5E5M)) and more sidewalks.
• related to the above: the amount of stuff you guys waste. Everyone does it, so I don't blame Americans for not noticing this, but seriously...

Mind you, I was mostly stuck in suburbia hell visiting distant relatives. Other than what I mentioned, the people were very nice and it was mostly just a surreal experience because so many things were like I saw then on TV. And I kind of associate everything on television with make-belief. I didn't expect that so many things I see there are actually how things are and people behave in California.

I'll do one too...

(http://home.swiftdsl.com.au/~mono/image/lj/2011/blech.jpg)

Americans are also known for being stupid. ;)

I'm guessing you were in Southern California? There's pretty big differences in just one state. In SoCal you're more likely to encounter the aforementioned Scumbag Steves, up here in Northern California it's just mostly hipsters... But hey, UK has chavs so you can't really judge an entire place on just a few idiots.

Yeah, the food sucks... I mean, it's tasty but horrible. When cactus was staying here with me all he ate was bread with a very thin layer of cream cheese and hot sauce on it because he was afraid of getting fat... He remarked that all of the food portions were oversized and really greasy. It's even worse in some places in the midwest, like Chicago. It's clearly an Illuminati plan to make everyone fat, lazy, and powerless.

Yeah, the waste thing bothers me, too... If the rest of the world lived like the US, we'd need 8+ planets to sustain our consumption, or something. That's one of the most shameful things about this country and I agree.

I really didn't expect this to turn into a "let's bash the US" thread; I figured we'd all pat each other on the backs for the things we do right/better than each other, but apparently there's absolutely nothing good to say about the US, which is a shame. I don't know, there certainly are a lot of things worth hating the US over, but I've never seen anyone so snobbishly critical over a country as Europeans seem to be over Americans. What's that all about?

You do know that both actors are from the UK?

Requesting a comparision chart between US and EU indie games.  :gentleman:

With both of them being main characters in the amazing British sitcom Black Adder (http://"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder").

(http://www.apigeoncalledfrank.com/Full-Articles/10-Words-in-British-Comedy_files/blackadder.gif) (http://www.apigeoncalledfrank.com/Full-Articles/10-Words-in-British-Comedy_files/blackadder.gif)

(http://webspace.webring.com/people/lb/blackadderhomepage/blackadder3.jpg) (http://webspace.webring.com/people/lb/blackadderhomepage/blackadder3.jpg)

That reminded me of this:
(http://i485.photobucket.com/albums/rr218/colette_01/usa_vs_europe.jpg)

But yeah, I recall that a major difference between US and Europe is that in Europe, everything is relatively close and you don't have to commute as much as you have to in US, where commutes that take several hours aren't uncommon.

I'd like to live wherever you live in the US because here in Washington a meal at McDonald's will cost you the better part of $10, a few sexual favors, and your soul.

Anyways, I've never been to any European countries but I think the best highlighting of American stupidity versus European stupidity has to be XBOX Live. On the American side of things you have "noob" being uttered a few hundred times (by each individual) interspersed with a wide array of racist remarks and miscellaneous swear words. On the European side of things its always some dry, very unfunny attempts at sarcastic or snarky put-downs interspersed with "stupid Americans".

This is why I like playing games with the Japanese. Best time I had playing Resident Evil 5 was during a set of 'Versus' matches with a group of Japanese gamers, we were all on mic and had no idea the hell the other was saying so we just improvised through character gesturing and on-the-spot language lessons. It was a blast!

Another time I was playing Lead to Gold on the PSN Network and there was a weird mix of people playing who all had mics but spoke different languages. None of us had any idea what anyone was saying but for some reason everyone kept trying to talk to each other anyways. We ended up working it down to where one person on the team would say a certain word in their native tongue, for example "follow", and everyone else on the team would just use it for the rest of the matches.

On the other team there was this French guy who kept shouting "Hurt, me!" in a hilarious  manner (to me) every so often in English and at first I didn't understand what was going on, whether it was supposed to be some kind of challenge or what. Later when I was gunning him down I realized he was saying it every time he was getting tore up and he was meaning "I'm getting hurt!" This made it especially hilarious to me and for the rest of the matches we played I made it a goal to hunt him down specifically and you'd just hear over and over "Hurt, me!" followed by my team cracking up and mocking him over the mic. It was funny to hear us all shouting "Hurt, me!" in so many different accents. Ah, fun times!



Anyways, remember that in the end what divides America and Europe will not make one side better than the other rather it will serve to highlight the beauty of both sides as a whole and everything we as a global society truly appreciate.

(http://i54.tinypic.com/17vlds.jpg)

Oh, pffft, compared to Canadians, Europeans are pantywaists in this regard. For Europeans, it's just an observation. For us Canucks, it's a lifestyle.

I live in Poland. Meal at McDonald's also costs around $10 here, only we earn 3x less than folks in the US. I've seen people on this board build gaming PCs for $500, while $500 here is just the CPU alone. I buy my DS games from the US, as I can get three for the price of one here. My laptop costed me $1900 here, had to take a loan to get it. It costs $1100 in the US. Friend from the US once called me a "high roller" when I told him that my t-shirt costs $30. It was the cheapest H&M t-shirt, the kind that costs $12 in the stars and stripes territory.

US is dirt cheap for us. Mainly because if something costs X dollars in the US, it costs X euros here.

$30 for a shirt is freaking expensive, too! I've seen them at $70USD!

I only wear shirts that cost $250+ to match my IQ. Looks like Europeans and Americans alike both pale in comparison to me. :giggle:

It's true, and it's funny when you consider that Canadians are actually more wasteful per capita than Americans.

I think it's mostly the perceived sense of superiority of people from the USA (how ironic), combined with the fact that we get to see the shit your government does in foreign countries a bit more often than you do.

Also, maybe you should have been a bit more clear when you were sarcastically poking fun at USA vs EU ;).

There's plenty of things I love about the US, or love about how the US used to be and hopefully will be again sometime in the future. You gave the world all good pop-music genres, for example. And sure, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, the Who, and so forth might come from the UK, but let's be honest: they were all basically USA fanboys. And the same can be said for lots of other things: art, movies, science.

And I think in general that when Europeans and Americans ways of thinking meet, they can bring out the best in each other. Like this little gem by Garth Ennis:
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1213671.html
(http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/1440/hm034149pe.jpg)
(http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5227/hm034157ks.jpg)

Now something like that can only be written by someone who, like Ennis, isn't from the USA. He understands what it is to be an American better than America does, in some ways. Also, if an American would write this, it would feel very pretentious for some reason.

Or take Paul Verhoeven for example. His made his best work when his films both satirized and showed his love for the American Way of life, in a way that's somehow sober and over-the-top at the same time. Starship Troopers is probably the best anti-fascist movie ever made, and it's a product of Dutch directness, Nazi propaganda techniques (it's blatantly Riefenstahl), and a combination of Hollywood glamour with B-movie esthetics.

I think Heinlein just rolled over in his grave.

Its because the american global policy is something along the lines of "Everyone, attention please. You may now bend over. And shut the fuck up too". One can afford doing that when they're still a super power, but times have changed. Nations have lost a lot of respect for (or better, fear of) America, so its only natural that the tone gets more cynical.

Just as planned.

Paul Verhoeven actually lived through the second world war, unlike us. Do you really think he'd let a story promoting fascist ideologies slide without satirizing them?

The original story of Starship Troopers actually has very little to do with politics. It is written from the perspective of a lone individual soldier, the character of Johnny Rico. The society depicted in the novel is a conservative one by modern standards, but this is actually discussed in the book itself. At no point is fascism promoted or glorified. It would be far more appropriate to condemn the fictional society portrayed in the novel as being overly militaristic. (demonstrated by the requirement of military service for full citizen status)

As such, many fans of the original novel don't "get" Paul Verhoeven's film. The satirical elements of the film, and the propaganda references are deserving of praise. As a "spoof" of military superpowers and the tactics they employ to "condition" their citizens it is quite effect, and makes a powerful political statement.

However, it was a mistake to leverage Heinlein's novel as the licence for this film. They could have just as easily re-skinned it as an original work, without upsetting anyone. The original novel is a very good read, and paints an interesting and often unexplored vision of the future. The film uses the premise of the book to openly mock fascism and the military, without addressing or even including any of the elements that made the book unique. It takes a deeply affecting personal drama and turns it into Dawson's Creek with guns, aliens, and political satire.

That's another way the US is different from the EU. The member states of the EU generally have less right wing governments than the US, probably because we know what happens when you get right wing governments.

I just realised I haven't read it, and only heard story saying it glorify fascism in certain ways. On the other hand, you write proper sentences and aren't calling me names, so that speaks in your favour ;).

Apologies about the jab at Heinlein, I'm not in any position to say whether or not it's good or bad that he's rolling in his grave, or if he even is.

@14113: I'm afraid we're starting to forget...

If you can find it at your local library, its worth a read. Heinlein is an excellent science fiction author. Given how focused on the military that the original novel is, it is entirely possible to read fascism into it. But that really isn't the thrust or point of the book.

Verhoeven can certainly be praised for the execution of his objective in the film Starship Troopers. I'm watching the DVD with commentary track on right now. (I love film commentaries) He states that the the intended theme of the film is that "War makes fascists of us all." In that regard I think the film was quite successful.

Unfortunately, the film fails where the book succeeds. The novel shows us a very personal, introspective drama focused on a lone soldier in numerous interstellar conflicts. It is a coming-of-age story transposed into a futuristic military setting. But the character development in the book is intensely human and believable. It reads more like the diaries of actual soldiers than some polarizing propaganda piece.

The film is a farce, with every character and theme blown into sharp relief in service of the overriding message. By the end of the film the director has successful turned the entire cast into fascists. But in doing so he has also convinced the audience to hate them all. I was honestly rooting for the aliens before the credits rolled. Every character in the movie was 1-dimensional and thoroughly unlikeable. No one learned any lessons, or grew as people over the course of the film.

In the end, the film was effective as a political statement, but failed as popular entertainment. It was also a bit of a perversion of the literary work that it was based off of, and more than a little insensitive to people who actually work in the military.

I think this says enough (http://www.theonion.com/video/no-values-voters-looking-to-support-most-evil-cand,14250/).  8)

On that I sadly have to disagree. There's been a rather drastic increase in right wing popularity lately. I've only got my numbers in german, you can check it out here: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/hass-und-aengste-schueren/1787352.html in the first image. The numbers are: Country, which party and what percentage they got in the last election.
It sadly shows that racism is on the march again in Europe. Although I'm willing to bet its really an international phenomena and a direct reaction to the stock market crash.

I suspect farce-aspect of the film is impossible to avoid. Think of it this way: how many war-movies do you know that don't glorify war? I forgot who said it, but there's this quote that it's almost impossible to not make war look spectacular in a movie, or something to that regard. The only way to avoid that is not avoiding it and blowing it up to absurd proportions, like Verhoeven did. Did you notice how even their looks are one-dimensional? Much too young (although... actually not as young as the novel, I understand?) and perfect.

And I don't think anyone would make the mistake of confusing this movie with real military life. Except maybe the people who believe the way the military is portrayed in other movies is realistic too. If anything, the movie is mocking war movies, I think. But I don't know much about the real military, so I should say that with caution.

Ummmm... It's a didactic sci-fi tale, it devotes several chapters just to politics and social theory. Many people have commented on the political theory put forward in Starship Troopers in much more official and serious forums.

It is also, however, a coming-of-age story and everything else you said, too. :)

Yes, the majority of films do attempt to lionize war, rather than showing the far grimmer truth of the matter. And it is a crime that the entertainment industry doesn't get called out on nearly often enough. Of course, video games are guilty of the same behavior, possibly to an even more extreme degree. Verhoeven's work was an honest reprisal to a potentially destructive and disingenuous attitude that the entertainment industry, especially the United States entertainment industry, is guilty of adopting.


Oh yeah, I noticed. (whooof) The main character/protagonist Johnny Rico could have easily stepped out of a Nazi recruitment poster from the 1930s. Chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, light hair, the works. And the uniforms for the film's "intelligence" division were straight-up SS.

That's true. I honestly don't think most soldiers would take this film as directed at them personally. It's just far to exaggerated to take seriously. And I haven't really heard of any outcry from actual military personnel over it. Ultimately, my primary objection is the use of the Starship Trooper licence itself. They could have easily made a film with the same message based off of a more original story.

Empire of the Sun
The Diary of Anne Frank
Letters From Iwo Jima
Barefoot Gen
Grave of the Fireflies

It's been a while since I've seen most of those, but I remember coming away from them with the impression of how horrible war is.

(http://soomanythoughts.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/trollface.jpg)

Hey guys, according to some people in the other thread, the US Office is better than the UK one.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Antarctica all the penguins must be laughing at us.

Do you guys know what 4chan is? That's basically what you're doing here (I can send you an invite if you want. I don't use it much)

This whole US vs. EU spectacle is just to distract you from the ultimate war, the humans versus the reptile overlords.

 :(