40 Random Bits of United States Trivia That Get the Rest of the World Shaking Their Heads

Being the center of attention comes with some serious judgement, America!
40 Random Bits of United States Trivia That Get the Rest of the World Shaking Their Heads

You wanted this, America. Don’t be so surprised that all this global attention isn’t all gushing affection. You’ve done and still do some pretty insane things, and being in the limelight tends to unearth some of those not-so-flattering newsworthy nuggets. It’s like a celebrity with a rocky past. Sure, we want to know about their latest hit movie, but we’re also foaming at the mouth for the dirt. 

So look for your rave reviews elsewhere, because this list is all about that sweet, sweet dirt.

Bread

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

College Loans

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. GRACKED.COM

Just Two Political Parties

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. CRACKED.COM

Athleisure

CRACKED ATHLEISURE ISN'T COOL EVERYWHERE ELSE. 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.

The Obsession with Driving

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

A Lack of Sleep

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

Prohibition

THE GOVERNMENT POISONED ALCOHOL DURING PROHIBITION. UNFILTERE POISO And as many as 10,000 people died. The U.S. government wanted a way to discourage

Riding in the Back of Taxis

Riding in the back of a taxi is inherently American. WITH L DI In Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Scotland, taxi drivers will consider you rude if you don't sit in the front seat. CRAGKED.COM

In-Sink Garbage Disposals

CRACKED.COM Only the U.S. has widely adopted in-sink garbage disposals. insinkerzborg food waste dispose 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.

Prescription Drug Costs

GRAGKED.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.

Housing Vacancies

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

American Electric Power

CRACKED YOU BREAK IT, YOU BUY IT. CHESHIRE AMERICAN EED ELECTRIC KED CORPORATION LIMIT POWER AR In 2002, American Electric Power bought out the entire town of Cheshire, Ohio due to air pollution problems caused by its smokestacks and blue plume clouds containing sulphuric acid that blanketed the area.

Source

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

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

American Cheese

American Cheese CRACKEDCON American cheese is actually Swiss cheese. I mean... It was invented in Switzerland and was originally a Swiss product.

No Paid Maternity Leave

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

Operation Fantasia

The U.S. tried to fight Japan with radioactive foxes. WWII's Operation Fantasia involved catching foxes, painting them with paint that had radium so they glowed in the dark, and releasing them in Japanese villages. They'd look like mythical kitsune, which was suposed to terrify the Japanese. Mercifully, at one meeting, an official spoke up and convinced everyone they should call off the whole thing. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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Mass Incarceration

America incarcerates more of its citizens than Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Switzerland combined. x 2. The U.S. incarceration rate is 698 per 100,000 people. In Finland, it's 55 per 100,000. Sweden: 57 per 100,000. Denmark: 67 per 100,000. Norway: 75 per 100,000. Switzerland: 84 per 100,000. http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-fo-lowest/ CRACKED.COM prison_population_rate?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All

Healthcare Costs

37% of Americans skip going to the doctor or refilling prescriptions because of the cost. In Great Britain and Sweden, that number is 4-6%. $ A hip replacement costs $80,000 in the U.S. and less than $14,000 in Europe. Nexium costs $215 in the U.S. and $20-60 in Europe. http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/ CRACKED.COM 05/30/n0-the-us-doesnt-have-the-best-health-care-system-in-the-worid

The Electoral College

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

The Never-Ending Work Week

CRACKED THE U.S WORKS WAY TOO MUCH. INSURICARE A adidas | I SERVICE Americans work almost 25% more hours than Europeans, 137 more hours per year than the Japanese, and 499 more hours per year than the French. Americans retire later, and take fewer vacations than most other countries.

Four Years of College

CRACKED COM In the US, it's normal to go to college for four years. BIOLOGY HISTORY ENGLISH sociology POLITIC GEOMETR MATHEMATICS D ELIGION ECONOMY PHYSICS TUC ARTS OG EDUCATION MISTRY In Europe, it's usually just three years, as lots of the general education that US students take is taken care of in high school.

Enormous Military Spending

CRACKED FIVE U.S. ARMY PROJECTS The U.S. Army spent a whopping $30 billion on five weapons projects that didn't work out between 1989 and 2019. These included the Brilliant Anti-Tank Munition, the RAH-66 Comanche Stealth-Chopper, and the Crusader Self-Propelled Howitzer. $30 billion

NY Times 

The Texas City Disaster

A discarded cigarette caused one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever. GRAGKED.COM The Texas City disaster of 1947 is generally considered to be the worst industrial acci- dent in U.S. history and resulted in nearly 600 fatalities.

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The MM-DD-YY Date Format

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

You’re Not ‘American’

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.

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Donald Trump

On August 21, 2019, Trump tweeted that the dollar was the strongest it's been in history. That day, the U.S. Dollar Index the most common measure of t

Portion Sizes

American portion sizes are abnormally huge. Food servings are 40% to 80% larger in American cities than in European ones. When adopting a typical Amer

The Vietnam War

J.S.AIR FORCE The U.S dropped around 8 million tons of bombs during the Vietnam War (three million tons on Laos alone). As a comparison, the U.S dropp

Friday the 13th

In 1907, a stockbroker wrote a novel called Friday the Thirteenth. Friday 6 13 Frida, omae the Witlam thirteenth Lawton And now the U.S. economy loses

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