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Land of the free. Home of the brave. Site of the blunder

26 Times the United States Absolutely Biffed It

May 10, 2024

Before you staunch patriots get your star-spangled undies in a bunch, try to find one or two things about the U.S that rub you the wrong way. It’s okay to do that from time to time. You can still love her, faults and all. And hey, part of this whole freedom of speech thing involves the freedom to outwardly gripe about the Land of Liberty. These missteps could definitely get you started.

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26

BREAD To visitors from other countries, American bread tastes like cake. That's because manufacturers add a ton of high-fructose corn syrup-the stuff is so cheap there, thanks to corn subsidies. Some people think American bread tastes better. Others think the sweetness makes it incompatible with any kind of topping. GRACKED.COM — Source

25

COLLEGE LOANS xx STOP R.I.P. T. the Price OUR of our DR FUTURE Even keeping to where student loans are necessary, there's a big difference in how the U.S. and other countries handle them. In America, you'll be hounded to pay back loans even after declaring bankruptcy. In the UK, your student debt is completely written off if you have not repaid it in 25-35 years. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

TWO PARTIES There are ten political parties represented in Israel's parliament, the Knesset. The Bundestag in Germany has six. Eleven in the Oireachtas in Ireland. Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has 28. New Zealand? Seven parties. South Africa's Parliament? Thirteen. GRACKED.COM — Source

23

GRACKED WORLDWIDE DRINKING AGES. 64% of the world's drinking age is 18 or under. Canada is split between 18 and 19, but America's age of 21 is only behind the Eastern African nation of Eritrea (25 years old) and, of course, the 11 countries where alcohol is banned altogether. — Source

22

CRACKED YOU'RE FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Travelers saying they're American implies that only the U.S. should be considered America. From North to South, there are 38 American countries. — Source

21

CRACKED ATHLEISURE ISN'T COOL EVERYWHERE ELSE. TRANSBIDRED Sure, stylish sportswear outside of the gym is trendy, but in Japan, most of Europe, and elsewhere, wearing sweatpants, leggings, flip flops, and even baseball caps in public is disrespectful. — Source

20

CRACKED ASKING WHAT DO YOU DO? Asking about someone's profession is a common American icebreaker, but is considered insulting or possibly classist in countries like The Netherlands. If the dinner party guest says lawyer or janitor are you going to treat them differently? — Source

19

Riding in the back of a taxi is inherently American. WT L US 100 A In Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Scotland, taxi drivers will consider you rude if you don't sit in the front seat. GRACKED.COM — Source

18

dd-mm-yyyy dd-mm-yyyy and yyyy-mm-dd dd-mm-yyyy. mm-dd-yyyy. and yyyy-mm-dd yyyy-mm-dd mm-dd-yyyy mm-dd-yyyy and dd-mm-yyyy America is the only country in the world that relies solely on the MM-DD-YY date format, and only a few others consider it to be an option. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Less than half of Americans cremate their dead. In highly populated countries like India and Japan, the cremation rate is almost 100%. This leaves more land open. CRACKED COM — Source

16

American Sleep Schedules

On workdays, 53% of Americans get fewer than seven hours of sleep. Those numbers are considerably lower in other Western countries - 39% in the UK, 36% in Germany, 30% in Canada, and 29% in Mexico. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

AMERICANS ARE MOSTLY MONOLINGUAL. Only 20% of students in the USA study a foreign language as compared to 90% of European students. Gemon Langen- German scheidt Spa scheidt Langen- CRACKED.COM TRA ITALIAN — Source

14

Almost 80% of American boys are circumcised. In Europe and South America, however, this number averages below 20%. GRACKED.COM — Source

13

FOR TRIPS OF LESS THAN ONE MILE... 70% OF AMERICANS WILL DRIVE. 70% OF EUROPEANS WILL WALK, BIKE, OR USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

CRACKED.COM American portion sizes are abnormally huge. Food servings are 40% to 80% larger in American cities than in European ones. op When adopting 96 are a typical American diet or moving to America, people from other cultures gain significant amounts of weight. — Source

11

The United States is the only modern democracy to elect its president via Electoral College CRACKED COM — Source

10

Most of the world uses the A series of paper sizes; doubling in size but maintaining the same aspect ratio throughout. Neat. 841 541 A1 594 594 x 841 AO cometime AZ 1189 841x1189 A3 297 - 420 A2 420 x 594 A5 - A4 207 -210 AT AL Meanwhile, the US only uses two sizes of paper: Letter, and Legal, which is slightly longer than letter-sized. GRACKED.COM — Source

9

The U.S. is 1 of only 4 countries in the world that does not require paid maternity leave. The U.S. ranks last among developed countries when it comes to paid parental leave. While many U.S. companies offer paid parental leave, the United States is the only advanced country without a federal law mandating it. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

Unlike many other countries around the world, America doesn't officially embrace the tradition of napping. It's a cultural expectation in places like Italy, Spain, Greece, the Philippines, Nigeria & others, but viewed as slacking here. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

CRACKED COM There are currently three countries that do not use the metric system-Burma, Liberia, and the United States. 81 LI 10FEET 3m 4 3 Many U.S. industries have been slow to adopt the metric system, but it is becoming standard in certain areas of science, medicine, and government. — Source

6

The United States is the only nation that hasn't ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which means that American children may be treated by the criminal justice system as adults, including being arrested and serving life sentences. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Vacant Houses

In the US, the number of vacant houses are six times greater than the number of homeless people. USA Europe Homeless 3.5 million 4.1 million people Vacant 18.5 million 11 million houses The ratio in Europe is less than half that. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

CRACKED.COM Drugs are more expensive in the US than other nations. A month's supply of diabetes medication Januvia costs $168.61 after discounts in the US. Canada pays the next highest price ($68.10), which is not discounted and still $100 less. — Source

3

There are almost as many cars in the U.S. as there are people. The average for all 50 states is 910 cars per 1,000 citizens. The numbers for the European Union countries are much lower-587 cars per 1,000 citizens. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

BUTTER 1 FIRST QUALITY 1 NET WT. 4OZ. (113g) BUTTER START MEASURE HERE 1/4 CUP _ 1/3 CUP 1/2 CUP _ TABLESPOON MEASURE: 1 2 з 7 4 5 6 8 THIS UNIT NOT LABEL ED FOR RETAIL SALE THIS ISN'T NORMAL MOST COUNTRIES MEASURE BUTTER BY GRACKED.COM WEIGHT — Source

1

CRACKED.COM Only the U.S. has widely adopted in-sink garbage disposals. insinkersborg food waste disposes Because of how much water they use and the burden they put on sewage systems, in-sink garbage disposals are really unpopular outside the U.S. For example, nearly half of U.S. households have in-sink garbage disposals, but only 5% of U.K. ones do. They used to be banned in Japan and Australia, and still are in Austria, Portugal, and the Netherlands. — Source

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