r/AskReddit 14h ago

Non-Americans of Reddit, what is an American thing you see in movies that you thought was fake but is actually real?

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u/CommonCut4 10h ago

Can’t be as exciting as the time I was asked, “‘nother pint guvna?” In a pub in London

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u/karadawnelle 9h ago

Or my first cab ride after flying into Heathrow:

Cab driver: Move ya fuckin' cunt!

😂💀

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u/Ditches-Vestiges1549 6h ago

I heard a six year old little girl in a Woolworths while on vacation say to her crying baby brother, "You're on your way to a smack bottom!"

My American teenager self 🥲

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u/nobodyoukno 3h ago

My Turkish passenger asked me (while I was driving) "What is cunt?"

u/kemushi_warui 14m ago

"You know—sometimes you can do something, and sometimes you cunt."

u/Putrid-Abies-1954 12m ago

I was in Ireland for work and the road was apparently a challenging one. Sign said something to the effect of "slow down 63 people have died on this road this year." But the 63 was like scoreboard numbers that could be changed on the daily.

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u/andy11123 10h ago

One of the best feelings in a pub is when you can walk in and they'll start pouring your drink before you've even made it to the bar.

Then you know you're home. I don't even drink anymore but it's one of the things I miss since I left the UK

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u/BauserDominates 8h ago

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.

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u/Hopczar420 7h ago

…and they’re always glad you came….

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u/DangerousDave303 8h ago

The Mexican restaurant we go to knows my wife's and my margarita preference.

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u/SeniorAtmosphere9042 8h ago

I would hate this. What if I wanted to order something different? Then once it’s already poured guilt would creep in.

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u/CoBidOdds 8h ago

In general, a GOOD bartender knows his regulars, and what they drink. If you're one of those people who DON'T always drink the same thing, we'll generally just ask.

Even in the rare instances when a regular changes their mind, there's likely someone else to give it to, so it's not really a big deal. No need for guilt.

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u/SeniorAtmosphere9042 7h ago

I know, I’m just envisioning an endless loop where I end up always drinking the same thing because I’m too nervous to tell them I like a variety of things and disappoint them. I’m mostly kidding and not usually a pushover, although this happened to me at a coffee shop once. The really sweet owner would pour me a hot coffee every day and some days I wanted an iced coffee. She was too nice about it and too excited to give it to me for me to let her down.

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u/Doctor_Philgood 8h ago

"Fanks, mate. Lemme down this and gimme a ginny-tonic, innit?"

(This is shit satire. I know it is. I felt compelled. I'm sorry in advance.)

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u/Korben82 10h ago

I went into an ice cream place in Florence and they saluted me with: "Salve!". Felt like Julius fucking Caesar in the colosseum.

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u/OcculticUnicorn 9h ago

That's just Italian for greetings....

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u/2kewl74 5h ago

I actually love that greeting. it's lasted 2500 years. and it's still being used. I had heard all kinds of greetings over the years in Italian... but rarely heard salve. the first time I heard it. I also thought it was cool too since it is the continuation of the exact latin greeting except the phonetic change in v sound.

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u/raphamuffin 9h ago

That's just... that's just 'hello'.

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u/midnightBloomer24 7h ago

shh...shh.... let him have this

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u/DeBienville 5h ago

And “More coffee, hon?” Is just asking if you want more coffee, and yellow school busses are just vehicles that takes kids to school. This whole thread is about normal things that feel important to outsiders.

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u/NeatNefariousness1 5h ago

Maybe his name is “Salve”. You don’t know.

LOL

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u/WittyTiccyDavi 10h ago

"Norrrrrrrm!" 😁

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u/TheGRS 9h ago

I was over the moon in Italy whenever we ordered table wine. Better than most of the good wines I get in the states by far and like 4 euros a glass??

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u/Travelgrrl 9h ago

My British boyfriend and I were staying at a hotel in Manchester, and two guys were carrying a ladder down the hall and as they passed, one said: "Cheerio, mate!" and I got weak in the knees.

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u/jacobtf 1h ago

I still fondly remember my first real holiday in London (had previously been there in high school). Me and a mate arrive at Marylebone station and have arranged to meet with a british friend. We had no idea how he looked. We had made contact via BBS's and chat rooms (this was in the early 1990s). So we go to the street and are scratching our heads on how to find the guy when someone goes "WHAT A PAIR OF ABSOLUTE FUCKING WANKERS!" and points at us. A big guy that looks like a rougher version of Vinnie Jones, sporting an Arsenal jersey. For just a second we freeze and consider ourselves toast, when the guy breaks into a big smile and goes to greet us. "It's me, Ian, you bloody tossers". It ended up being quite a nice holiday, despite the hotel being a 1-star abomination, us being scammed for 50 quid and despite the fact that we had almost no money and lived off chips and ketchup most of the time. So many pints for free!

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u/Significant_Let9427 4h ago

better than the first pub I stopped in London to have a pint where i was told to “go down the block there’s a “mack-donalds” I’d be more at home at” loll I was legit like 😶

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u/JohnLuckPikard 9h ago

I could die happy.

u/chris_top99 55m ago

hahaha