If you’re still unsure (or need reminding) that the concept of normal is relative, there’s one online thread that should, once and for all, convince you.
It began when Reddit user SackOfPotatoSacks made a post on the platform, asking everyone to share what’s considered routine where they live but would probably be seen as something crazy everywhere else.
Immediately, people started describing the peculiarities of their local area that they’ve grown accustomed to, proving that culture seeps deeper into us than we often realize.
#1
My city is EXTREMELY bilingual, everyone speaks both English and French. You’ll hear people speak both languages in conversations quite often, sometimes in the same sentence. In stores, most of the time, people greet you with both languages and you reply in one of them, which tells them which language you prefer to talk in. They go “Bonjour, Hi!” And you say Bonjour back if you want to continue in French or Hi if you rather speak English. It’s kinda crazy.
I’m from Montréal, Canada.
Image credits: R-E-D-D-l-T
#2
I live in Dublin and when we tell people who live in America that we put crisps in sandwiches they laugh at us. Just try it mate. It’s so good
Image credits: anon
#3
Free Sundays (germany)
Everything, literally everything is closed on Sundays which is amazing cuz everyone (except from the most essential like doctors, firefighters and the police) have a free day which is awesome!!
Image credits: Rapperdonut
#4
In Australian rural towns we all had our back doors unlocked; and friends are allowed to go through the back door and make themselves a cup of tea/coffee while they wait for you to get back from whatever you were doing.
Image credits: Captain_Coco_Koala
#5
Experiencing 4 seasons every day. Jacket on, jacket off, it’s sunny but it’s raining, freezing and windy, then it’s hot again… I like to wear shorts and puffer jacket combos for both extremes. Tasmania.
Image credits: orceingiemsa
#6
In the Eifel, germany, on the night to 1st of may, people paint a long line from one house to another. The line means that someone in these households is having an affair. Every year several relationships break up because of this. I love it.
Image credits: definetly_not_a_duck
#7
Alligators. Just…everywhere. I live in a swampy area of Florida, and it’s pretty normal to come across alligators in small ponds, ditches, around pools, or just chilling in a parking lot. I’ve nearly tripped on alligators more times than i’d like to admit. Thankfully they’re pretty chill and won’t really bother you unless you mess with them or go near a nest. The police are even trained to deal with rogue alligator calls.
Image credits: SugoiBakaMatt
#8
Madagascar. Every now and then we dig up corpses of our loved ones, bring ’em through the village where they lived for a visit, change the tissues they where covered in (several layers) with new ones and put them back in the grave and all that while partying.
Image credits: Motuarsde
#9
I live in NJ and it’s illegal here for you to pump your own gas/fuel. All stations are full service by law. I believe Oregon is the only other state in the USA that has this law.
Image credits: joey_r00
#10
Starting college, meeting your class on week 1 and then having introductory sauna the next week, boys and girls all drunk & nekkid. Finland :3
Image credits: tasankovasara
#11
People who are 12-14 driving tractors on the roads in rural Ireland. The legal minimum age is 16, but most farmers don’t really care.
EDIT: I didn’t realise that this is a rural thing. Still comes as a shock to urban people though.
Image credits: computerfan0
#12
Driving over the mountains and shouting “mint sauce” out the window to the sheep….
Wales
( And fellow welshys… Don’t lie..you know you’ve done it)
Image credits: vad2004
#13
Brazil: Apparently being in a restaurant for hours and hours and only eating in 1% of the time. We talk for hours before and after eating here, so we don’t leave right after eating. Everyone I knew from other country found it strange
Image credits: GrumpySupport
#14
Drinking alcohol for the first time when you’re around 14 y/o. In Germany, it is legal to buy beer and wine when you’re 16. So the majority of parents don’t see it as a problem when the first drunk experience happens a few years earlier. Actually it is hard to find a teenager here that never tried alcohol before.
Image credits: myrjxm
#15
Calling an uber instead of an ambulance or going to work while sick during a pandemic.
Gotta love freedom
Image credits: BladesQueen
#16
Romania. Being a witch/medium is an official job, meaning you need a permit, your profit is monitored and you pay taxes.
When killing a pig, raw skin covered in salt is the first food consumed, as it is considered a delicacy.
We also fill the pig’s small intestine with a mixture of meat, rice and garlic and put it in the oven for about an hour. Yum!
Many people believe that if you look at a baby for too long, you can unknowingly put a curse on it, which will make it cry until you pour holy water on the child and pray to make the curse go away. Parents are an exception, they can not curse their own child.
Image credits: anon
#17
Many (but not all) Germans restricting themselves to exactly one hot meal per day. I’ve heard sentences such as:
“No I can’t, I already ate warm at lunch”
“I tried so hard to find a breakfast place that sells cold food”
“Let’s just eat bread, I’ve had hot lunch”
“You can’t eat two hot meals, that’s too much”
I still don’t get why it has to be no more and less than one hot meal? And why do breakfast pancakes not count as hot food?
Image credits: yanbochen
#18
Today (in Japan)over a hundred people lined up (staggered for social distancing) at 9:00 am on a Saturday. First one hundred get a ticket. At 10:30 we all line up again. One at a time we draw a number; 1 to 5. Then we go over to a big basin of the best quality of rice and take as many scoops as the number we drew. You are encourage to make each scoop heaping. This is not a food bank thing (I hope) just the promise of “good rice” draws a crowd.
It was at a roadside tourist shop/complex.
Image credits: son_of_volmer
#19
Welp, in Lithuania we have hill of crosses with over 200 k. crosses, we have a hotel where you live in a jail cell and ex KGB agents shout at you and dogs bark at you all the time.
Image credits: labadiena8
#20
Sweden: The government has monopoly on any alcohol above 3.5% and can only be bought at one store dedicated to it.
Image credits: industrialslave
#21
Putting a block of cheese in your hot chocolate. Colombia.
Image credits: NecroPaCo
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