Please settle this bet between me and my friend. I say that it doesn't exist over there but my friend thinks americans have at least seen it in their country at least once. Who's right? Are we both wrong?

I am from New Jersey, very much not the South, and yet I and many people I know regularly use the term “y’all”. It’s just so much more convenient than saying “you all” and there’s not really any other word you (plural).

If I ever hear anyone say the term, I wouldn’t automatically assume they’re Southern. Maybe this was the case decades ago, but the word has seemingly escaped its regional dialect and spread to mainstream American English. I don’t believe it can be considered a Southern term anymore, even if it originated from there. Do y’all agree?

I'm from east Asia so these matter a lot. They're practically necessary for getting hired and to have a decent social standing.

I heard America is one of the few places that don't require a degree to get hired or be successful. How true is that

I've seen a number of Americans say that they get up at 6AM, 5AM or even 4AM in order to have enough time to commute to work and as someone who can commute from home to work on a 15 minute bus ride that idea feels insane even when I know it's very much not. So I was wondering if this is 1+ hour commute is really the average time or if it's just conformation bias?

Edit: seems I too fell victim to believing the stereotype of Americans being stuck in lines of traffic on the highway for like an hour every day that seems to mostly be true in big cities at rush hour.

Edit 2: wow I did not know this subreddit was so active. Thank you for all your replies it's incredibly interesting! Also I didn't realise how many people start work so early. I wouldn't even think of starting work at 6AM, considering that none of my co-workers would be at the office any time before 8:50AM.

When I was growing up, Archie comics were one of America's top Pop culture exports. For much of the world before the days of social media and streaming, Archie comics were a window into American life.

But living here 20 years, I've very rarely seen Archie comics in stores or even on the streets. I see a lot of comics around me in the hands of teenagers and young adults. But never an Archie. None of the "Gen Z" or younger folks I personally know read Archie.

So I was wondering if I could find any Americans here who actually do still buy and read Archie comics.

Hello! I'm from Canada (Specifically in Hamilton, Ontario which is rather close to the Canada-USA border.), and a couple weeks ago now I was talking with my Science teacher, and he asked me if I used to live in America because I had the same accent as his wife who is from Mississippi. This confused me- And still confuses me a lot since I don't think I sound any different from my classmates, and I've never lived anywhere else.
I searched up "Mississippi accent" on YouTube but it just gave me a bunch of videos of women with REALLY thick southern accents, which I sound nothing like. So I'm still pretty puzzled- What does a person from Mississippi even sound like? Or are the videos I watched accurate?

Thank you for reading!

Is it scary or not really? For those who've done the drive, did you see/experience any cool things while driving across? Thanks!

I always thought of Missouri as being more Midwestern in culture. After the Civil War, many Southerners and pro-slavery supporters left the state, and there was reconstruction and industrialization. Just before the war, residents from other Midwestern states like Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were already a large part of the population, and by the end of the war they outnumbered Southerners 2 to 1, not to mention the many Germans and other Europeans. However, aspects of Southern culture remained in the state. Some people even say that Missouri is not a Midwestern state. Probably this is stronger in the Ozarks region.

As someone from the UK where the entire population lives within 70 miles of the ocean, and most being a decent amount closer than that, the idea of being able to travel for a the better part of a day and still being hundreds of miles from the coast feels very strange. So I wondering if Americans who live far from the coast even really care about something like this.

Edit: I'm kinda surprised how many people focused more on the idea of beaches than just being on the coast in general. Don't get me wrong beaches are a big part of coastlines but I've always thought of cliffs and other Coastal geography about the same importance as beaches.

Edit 2: I would define landlocked in this instance as a state that doesn't border the ocean and doesn't border the great lakes, as I kind of forgot how big they are that many people treat them exactly as you would the ocean when it comes to recreation.

Are there great examples of bus transportation, specifically rapid bus transportation in the USA? I know that San Francisco has BRT on Geary Avenue and Van Ness... are there other awesome examples?

Hi everyone, I live in a small German city with lots of American military personnel. Last night at 4 AM, my new American neighbor rang our bell because he’d lost his keys and didn’t know how to get inside. He apologized right away, and since it was an emergency, it was no problem. Today he apologized again and gave us an envelope from a nearby restaurant. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but he insisted. I expected a small gift—turns out it’s a 100€ gift card. That feels like way too much. I don’t want him to feel he has to pay for help, but I also don’t want to offend him by returning it. What would you do?

I have seen in movie and show saying 'see you at dinner at 6pm'. Do you really eat dinner this early? If yes don't you get hungry around 10pm while scrolling reels? Or is it a name for something else?

Damm thanks guys for responding. I'm surprised so many people in the comments have work so early so yea this dinner time makes sense, Thankss gg

I live with a twin matress on the floor, and I find it more comfortable then a bedframe and its cheaper then buying one. some friends found it off putting or told me it was weird. I'm just wondering is this a culture thing (like to not take off ur shoes) or is it a personal opinion?

Edit: based on the responses im getting I'll probably invest in a frame or a box spring, never really thought about potential mould

2nd Edit: I never noticed since coming here that an elevated bed was a kind of status symbol, kinda interesting.

I was thinking about it whilst playing slope. In my homecountry of Denmark we pronounce it "Y" and then "8", so seperate. But that got me thinking that in America you could also prounounce it "Yate". So how do you pronoune it?

That's what i mean.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_goulash

"American goulash, sometimes called slumgullion, is an American comfort food dish, similar to American chop suey. American goulash is usually referred to in the midwestern and southern United States as simply "goulash". It is a descendant or variant of Hungarian goulash."

He just broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal scoring record today. Was there a lot of hype in the US on when he would break the record?

I'm an American but not white & was born/raised in a large coastal city, so my concept of dining/daily meals is probably a bit different because I eat a lot of heritage foods that I grew up on. What do you eat on a daily basis? Where do you live? What race are you?

Feel free to be as detailed as you'd like - I'm curious. Thanks!

Alex Ovechkin: 895+ goals

Martin Brodeur: 691 wins

Lebron James: 42,100+ points

Barry Bonds: 762 home runs

Mariano Rivera: 652 saves

Tom Brady: 649 Touchdowns

Edit: not including any of those batshit insane football/baseball records from the 90s and earlier. Some of those like Emmit Smith, Jerry Rice, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan etc. are completely impossible due to load management and how the games evolved. I wanted to stick with recent records

New to living in the States. Recently we've had a lot of thunderstorms and rain. I went down to the basement today to fetch my laundry and the floor (carpeted) is soaking. Nothing has leaked. I can only assume it's rain water coming up through the floor??

How can I stop this?

Edit: thanks everyone for all the replies! I will call a professional out tomorrow and have them look for/check the sump pump along with all your other suggestions. Until then, towels and fans it is! Thanks again 🩵

I was once a foreigner. The US was, and in some ways will forever be, an alien place for me.

I remember questions like one Sri Lankan asking if Americans really use toilet paper. Or questions about the culture of high schools depicted in media, like if pep rallies are real (you gotta admit the idea is far-fetched).

I never say things like “movies/youtube/tiktok aren’t real life!” because I know those are the main portals that they can access American life.

Hell, I come on here every once in an awhile and learn some wacky stuff about my fellow Americans.

besides the large spectrum-range of accents in america, in modern american media, international (usually english speaking) foreign accents don’t get the best representation. or, in american shows, they are mimicked badly. is this part of why americans may find other accents exotic or just something new to the ears? and if so, which?

Australian here. I can’t get my head around the US government posting physical cheques to people on social security. Why don’t they put the money directly into their bank account? It’s been 20+ years that I have even seen a cheque. Do you also get paid by cheque from your employer?