Traditions vary widely around the world, and the ways of one society often seem downright wacky to others. American culture and traditions, thanks to the hard work of Hollywood and other arms of the nation's media multiplex, have become well-known in most corners of the map. But that doesn't always mean people in other countries find some of these customs less bizarre than Americans consider theirs.
10. Throwing Tailgate Parties
When Americans attend sporting events -- and football games
in particular -- it's often not enough to simply show up and take their
seats. They need to arrive hours in advance to properly prepare for the
experience of seeing the game live and in person. Emblazoned in team
colors, tailgaters will crowd the stadium's parking lot, grilling food,
sipping cold adult beverages, playing lawn games and tossing around
footballs.Many tailgaters take their setup very seriously, and will even haul along stereos, TVs and satellite dishes to enhance the event. When it comes to how early fans arrive to start tailgating, the sky's the limit. Some are out there at the crack of dawn to begin the festivities -- or even the night before to claim a spot!
9. Watching Super Bowl Commercials
Television commercials are typically a trial to be borne, but when it comes to Super Bowl
commercials, that's not even close to the case. The vast majority of
Super Bowl spectators are Americans, and they eagerly await breaks in
the big game to see which commercials wow them the most.
In the days that follow, those ads are debated and hashed over, rated
and discussed, with gusto and ad nauseam, maybe even more than the
sometimes lackluster game.
Which commercials cost the most to make? Which ones were surprisingly cheap? How much were the commercial slots sold for? The potential questions are endless. As for answers, in 2011, one of the most popular commercials was a Doritos ad that cost only about $500 to make. Altogether, around 60 commercials aired throughout the game, with prices up to $3 million for 30-second slots. At $100,000 a second, advertisers are happy to fuel this particular American tradition of advertisement scrutiny.
8. Celebrating the American Dream
Although the definition of the American Dream
isn't set in stone and has been recalibrated over the years, there's
little denying that Americans in general still teach their kids that
this dream is one they, too, can enjoy. Whether or not that's a reality
is another matter, but that's a question for different day.
At an emotional level, the American Dream evokes feelings of freedom to avenues of opportunity and equal access to paths of prosperity for anyone willing to work hard to achieve it. At a more practical level, many argue that achieving the American Dream has become equated with consumerism and ownership instead of the more purist notions at its core. Regardless of where the truth lies, it's still a national tradition to pass down the idea that the American Dream is achievable in each generation.
7. Holding "Trials of the Century"
Which commercials cost the most to make? Which ones were surprisingly cheap? How much were the commercial slots sold for? The potential questions are endless. As for answers, in 2011, one of the most popular commercials was a Doritos ad that cost only about $500 to make. Altogether, around 60 commercials aired throughout the game, with prices up to $3 million for 30-second slots. At $100,000 a second, advertisers are happy to fuel this particular American tradition of advertisement scrutiny.
8. Celebrating the American Dream
Although the definition of the American Dream
isn't set in stone and has been recalibrated over the years, there's
little denying that Americans in general still teach their kids that
this dream is one they, too, can enjoy. Whether or not that's a reality
is another matter, but that's a question for different day.At an emotional level, the American Dream evokes feelings of freedom to avenues of opportunity and equal access to paths of prosperity for anyone willing to work hard to achieve it. At a more practical level, many argue that achieving the American Dream has become equated with consumerism and ownership instead of the more purist notions at its core. Regardless of where the truth lies, it's still a national tradition to pass down the idea that the American Dream is achievable in each generation.
7. Holding "Trials of the Century"
Americans love sensationalism, and their media is happy to give it to
them, couched in familiar and impossibly exaggerated language. That's
why, for example, every couple of years a new "Trial of the Century"
takes place in America. All past "Trial of the Century" court cases are
collectively forgotten, as the new one proves to be so much more
distasteful, repugnant, abominable (insert appropriate adjective!) than
the last.
Often these trials involve celebrities themselves -- this is true from Fatty Arbuckle to O.J. Simpson to former President Bill Clinton -- but oftentimes the trials make celebrities (however willing or unwilling) out of ordinary citizens. Casey Anthony's court case is a good example of a recent "Trial of the Century" that launched a regular person into the intense glare of the media spotlight. Her fame brought her mostly public shaming, but the American public also went out of their way to roast her on social media sites. Chances are, though, that a few years from now, the stage will just be set for the next "Trial of the Century" to commence.
6. Punkin Chunkin
Each year, as corn stalks tower toward the sky and leaves turn
yellow, orange and red, folks in the United States often flock to farms
in order to attend fall festivals. Most of the goings on at these
festivals are pretty tame if a little odd-sounding from an outside
perspective. Families often participate in activities like going on
hayrides, picking out pumpkins, walking through corn mazes, sampling
cider, petting barnyard animals, that sort of thing.
But what really singles out some of these fall celebrations is the desire harbored by the visitors to witness pumpkins -- harmless lumpy gourds -- blasted into the air and launched great distances across acres of sprawling farmland. There are several ways this can be accomplished to satisfy a crowd, whether it's through the use of air cannons, catapults, trebuchets or machines using torsion and centrifugal force. Pretty much the only one who doesn't end up having a good time is the pumpkin.
5. Trick-or-Treating
Often these trials involve celebrities themselves -- this is true from Fatty Arbuckle to O.J. Simpson to former President Bill Clinton -- but oftentimes the trials make celebrities (however willing or unwilling) out of ordinary citizens. Casey Anthony's court case is a good example of a recent "Trial of the Century" that launched a regular person into the intense glare of the media spotlight. Her fame brought her mostly public shaming, but the American public also went out of their way to roast her on social media sites. Chances are, though, that a few years from now, the stage will just be set for the next "Trial of the Century" to commence.
6. Punkin Chunkin
But what really singles out some of these fall celebrations is the desire harbored by the visitors to witness pumpkins -- harmless lumpy gourds -- blasted into the air and launched great distances across acres of sprawling farmland. There are several ways this can be accomplished to satisfy a crowd, whether it's through the use of air cannons, catapults, trebuchets or machines using torsion and centrifugal force. Pretty much the only one who doesn't end up having a good time is the pumpkin.
5. Trick-or-Treating
Many cultures have strong historic traditions relating to dressing up around the time of Halloween
and exchanging various forms of food, but few of these traditions
involve children going door-to-door asking for candy with the words:
"Trick or treat!" That strange practice is believed to be American in
origin, but funny enough, perhaps the people who find this the practice
most baffling are the pintsized rookies being paraded around the
neighborhood. While at any other time of year their parents forbid them
from talking to strangers, begging for candy and roaming the streets at
night, all of a sudden they change their tune and support such
shenanigans on one magical evening each fall.
But here's the catch: They only receive these precious goodies by parroting out the magic words "Trick or treat." And heaven forbid the giver of candy requests a "Trick" of these poor confused newbies. But after a few years, they catch on, and trick-or-treating becomes a tradition they couldn't imagine October without.
4. Presidential Turkey Pardons
Thanksgiving
in general seems to mystify those not steeped in American traditions,
but perhaps no part of that quirky turkey fest seems more bizarre than
the annual ceremony during which modern presidents
grant an official pardon to a live turkey presented to them by the
National Turkey Federation (NTF). Interestingly, there's also been a
great deal of confusion among Americans concerning the actual origins of
this strange tradition.
But here's the catch: They only receive these precious goodies by parroting out the magic words "Trick or treat." And heaven forbid the giver of candy requests a "Trick" of these poor confused newbies. But after a few years, they catch on, and trick-or-treating becomes a tradition they couldn't imagine October without.
4. Presidential Turkey Pardons
Thanksgiving
in general seems to mystify those not steeped in American traditions,
but perhaps no part of that quirky turkey fest seems more bizarre than
the annual ceremony during which modern presidents
grant an official pardon to a live turkey presented to them by the
National Turkey Federation (NTF). Interestingly, there's also been a
great deal of confusion among Americans concerning the actual origins of
this strange tradition.
Although the NTF has been gifting
presidents with turkeys annually since 1947, the whole idea of
"pardoning" them by sparing them from the stove didn't occur until years
later, and even then, when it did occasionally happen, it certainly
wasn't with anything as grandiose as a declaration of an official presidential pardon.
The first bird to receive a formal stay of execution in the mode of an
expressly stated "presidential pardon" wasn't delivered to the Rose
Garden until 1989, when then-President George H. W. Bush started this
act of official benevolence that's now become an annual American
tradition.
3. Black Friday Shopping Sprees
3. Black Friday Shopping Sprees
Just
hours after millions of unpardoned turkeys are devoured in the United
States on Thanksgiving each year, armies of shoppers head out to get a
start on their annual Christmas gift list. Black Friday
sales traditionally launch this national weekend shopping bonanza,
which wraps up on Cyber Monday, a more recently minted tradition that's
grown in popularity with the rise of online shopping.
In 2010, the National Retail Federation conducted a survey, and estimated that more than 200 million shoppers went online and to stores around the nation during the weekend after Thanksgiving, with 106 million Americans planning to make purchases online come the following Monday.
Most of those shopping on Black Friday arrive at a civilized time, but many diehards take the tradition a step further and start the day at a gruelingly early hour. In rare cases, riots or deadly stampedes have even broken out among shoppers slavering to get a certain deal or a particular product.
2. Groundhog Day Prognosticating
Leave it to Americans to make their warm weather
travel plans based on the machinations of a reticent rodent. Each year,
groundhogs around the country -- but most notably Punxsutawney Phil of
Punxsutawney, Penn. -- are paraded out to predict how many more weeks
will transpire before spring is on the way.
In 2010, the National Retail Federation conducted a survey, and estimated that more than 200 million shoppers went online and to stores around the nation during the weekend after Thanksgiving, with 106 million Americans planning to make purchases online come the following Monday.
Most of those shopping on Black Friday arrive at a civilized time, but many diehards take the tradition a step further and start the day at a gruelingly early hour. In rare cases, riots or deadly stampedes have even broken out among shoppers slavering to get a certain deal or a particular product.
2. Groundhog Day Prognosticating
Leave it to Americans to make their warm weather
travel plans based on the machinations of a reticent rodent. Each year,
groundhogs around the country -- but most notably Punxsutawney Phil of
Punxsutawney, Penn. -- are paraded out to predict how many more weeks
will transpire before spring is on the way.
It's either six more
weeks of winter, or an early spring, depending upon whether the little
critter in question sees his shadow or not. This tradition has been
going on since the 1800s, despite (ahem) modest advances in weather
prediction since that time. And speaking of measuring stuff by strange
means, we've got one last weird American tradition for you on the last
page.
1. Inches, Teaspoons and a Ton of Bricks
It's perfectly acceptable to use the metric system in the United States -- Congress originally authorized it in 1866 and has repeated those sentiments in the years since -- but tradition tells a whole other tale. Although the government now requires metric use in some public sectors and strongly encourages it in many private industries, the American public never really took to the system and largely dismissed it, making the United States the only industrialized nation where that's the case.
In an effort to move the matter along, Congress even passed a Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and set up a U.S. Metric Board to take care of all the planning for the desired transition, but they apparently didn't empower the board with enough authority, and the American people essentially said, "meh" to adopting metric and continued on with their miles, pounds, ounces and all the rest. Similarly lackluster efforts since then have done little to get Americans to change their ways.
1. Inches, Teaspoons and a Ton of Bricks
It's perfectly acceptable to use the metric system in the United States -- Congress originally authorized it in 1866 and has repeated those sentiments in the years since -- but tradition tells a whole other tale. Although the government now requires metric use in some public sectors and strongly encourages it in many private industries, the American public never really took to the system and largely dismissed it, making the United States the only industrialized nation where that's the case.
In an effort to move the matter along, Congress even passed a Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and set up a U.S. Metric Board to take care of all the planning for the desired transition, but they apparently didn't empower the board with enough authority, and the American people essentially said, "meh" to adopting metric and continued on with their miles, pounds, ounces and all the rest. Similarly lackluster efforts since then have done little to get Americans to change their ways.
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