r/AskEurope • u/EriksonThorsen • 4d ago
Culture What’s something that’s completely normal in your country but would baffle a foreigner?
Pretty much what the title says. Could be a weird social habit, a food thing, bureaucratic nonsense, or just everyday life.
Don't forget to mention what country you're talking about!
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u/Useful_Region9179 Ireland 2d ago
Not being honest. I think we annoy our Continental Europeans with our lack of honesty. I think it's because we don't like to offend.
If your offered a cup of tea in someone's house you have to take it, even if it's the last thing you want.
inability to take compliments. If someone said I like your top, an Irish person would most likely play it down, they'd probably say something like, "this old thing? Oh I got in on sale in Penneys (Primark, cheap store)"
There's a saying about the Irish, "the Irish are friendly but hard to make friends with". I think a lot of migrants find it difficult to make friends with the Irish. We can be great for a surface level chat in a pub but we don't tend to go deeper or wouldnt initiate meeting up again.
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u/lkfjk Netherlands 1d ago
>If someone said I like your top, an Irish person would most likely play it down, they'd probably say something like, "this old thing? Oh I got in on sale in Penneys (Primark, cheap store)"
The Dutch do this too. For some reason it’s almost a point of pride for us to tell you how cheap we got it, and we’ll share it voluntarily and completely unprompted.
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u/slashcleverusername Canada 1d ago
Are the Dutch simply happy to spread the word of a good sale? Or are they trying to avoid judgement of being self-important for wearing nice clothes?
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u/SouthernCockroach37 United States of America 1d ago
We do this where I live and it can be both for us. Sometimes I will share I got it on sale because I was genuinely shocked at the price and am kinda spreading the word.
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u/Kujaichi Germany 1d ago
The Dutch do this too. For some reason it’s almost a point of pride for us to tell you how cheap we got it, and we’ll share it voluntarily and completely unprompted.
Germans do this as well.
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u/PurpleMuskogee 1d ago
As an immigrant to Ireland, I also find Irish people generally really nosy. Within half an hour of meeting new colleagues, they had casually asked if I owned my house or was renting, and my parents' age and if they were healthy... I am sure it isn't everyone in Ireland, but I found that generally they seem happy to ask questions that would be seen as very intrusive where I am from. My in-laws are like this - want to know every detail, where we are going, what plans we have, what food we ordered when out - it feels so minute and detailed that it goes beyond chit chat. I find that extremely uncomfortable, even if I can see there is no malice there and they mean well.
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u/Useful_Region9179 Ireland 1d ago
Oh yeah were very bad! Even as an Irish person I would be selective in what I would share with people
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u/Honey-Badger England 1d ago
Similar in the UK. UK subreddits are full with immigrants saying that their colleagues are nice to them, they've even been to the pub after work with them, but why can't they be friends? Years working together but not invited to a house or anything
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u/CaptainPoset Germany 2d ago
Our love for bureaucracy, permitting and the lack of love for funding it properly.
The "lesson from the Nazi era" to not have a single social security number and social welfare institutions in proper contact with one another, but instead, each service has their own number, their own data and they aren't really allowed to talk to each other and in some parts, not even within the same institution between different offices. This would all not be such a big deal, if it was accounted for and properly communicated. Instead, the citizen has to bear the consequences of this stupid system and is regularly expected to be clairvoyant. Germany does quite a bit of this by mail, too, has raised the maximum legal delivery time for the postal service from within two days to within a week and even this change in regulation isn't accounted for, so you are expected to have replied by mail within a week of writing the letter you have to reply to, while it only arrives after 1.5 weeks due to other factors like printing, enveloping and missing the pickup time for the postal service.
Given this blatant mismanagement of the bureaucracy, it would be very necessary to reverse the liability in the German bureaucracy, so that the citizen isn't liable for all costs and results of the office not replying for in many cases over a year, but instead, permits should be granted within a few weeks unless the government office refuses the permit within this time.
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u/Sproeier Netherlands 2d ago edited 2d ago
We often remove the (laminate) floor when moving an take it with us. You might convince the previous tenant to leave it by making them a good offer.
We have two names for chips/fries and there is a hard border Friet in het south and Patat in the north.
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u/vivaaprimavera Portugal 2d ago
Why?!? Are houses so standardized that the floor from one house will fit another?!? You guys hit hard on weed before moving?!?
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u/BattlePrune Lithuania 2d ago
By floor you mean what, laminate floor planks, wood planks? What do you do with it? Like do you install it at a new place, recut everything to fit, loose a bunch of offcuts cause it doesn’t fit properly on the new place and your floor dwindles after move until you’re left with a single good plank?
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u/Sproeier Netherlands 2d ago
Yeah only the laminate flooring.
Basically yes. Or you just take it out out of spite because they didn't offer you something nice.
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u/SouthernCockroach37 United States of America 1d ago
Right like I am so confused about the logistics of this. I feel like every apartment I have ever had would not work with each others flooring. I think if we had this rule here I would have had to buy new flooring for every apartment I moved to.
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u/thanatica Netherlands 2d ago
I never heard about that. I would consider the flooring to be part of the house. Same as wallpaper, if any.
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u/Marschbacke Germany 2d ago
The laminate floor thing also happens in Germany lol
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u/JonnyvonDoe Germany 2d ago
Never heard of it. Kitchens on the other hand will be taken out.
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u/Marschbacke Germany 2d ago
I had it happen back in the early 2000s in NRW - moved into a small apartment, there was Laminatboden. Previous owner asked whether we want to buy it, we said no, they pulled it out (there was carpet underneath).
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u/JonnyvonDoe Germany 1d ago
Sound really german. Never had the experience myself. Moved around a bit in Nds und NRW.
That you have to take the kitchen with you is annoying af.
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u/Curatorious 1d ago
That might have been a misunderstanding. A tenant has to remove all their furniture and installations when they move out, unless the new tenant wants to keep it. Then it becomes their responsibility, so they have to remove it when they move out. It comes down to the owner having the right to get their apartment back in the same way the rented it out. So in your case it might not have been that much about them wanting to make money, but about handing over the responsibility for later removal.
(The legal situation is a bit more complicated than this and offers more options but I wanted to give you the gist)
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u/Marschbacke Germany 1d ago
It was not a misunderstanding. He asked us if we want the laminate, and if so, we'd have to pay for it. We didn't want to pay for it.
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u/Sproeier Netherlands 1d ago
I never heard of it in Germany. Germans I spoke to about it thought it was weird. Could be a regional thing, they are from NRW.
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u/YouWorried3628 2d ago
Is it true you also take the kitchen?
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u/Marschbacke Germany 2d ago
Yes, usually.
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u/Segen32X 1d ago
But why? Kitchens are fitted to the apartment, it's just gonna be lots of work to fit it into a new one? Like I get the appliances, oven, fridge, dishwasher etc. but the cabinets? Piping?
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u/Tomato_gardener 1d ago
Its a same in Austria. My son moved there, and he has to buy a kitchen from the previous tenant. And they took the light bulb. Idk why, but wasnt very funny moving in the dark saturday, of course every shop was closed.
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u/Marschbacke Germany 1d ago
We've always done it like that, that's why.
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u/Western_Gamification 1d ago
What happens if someone just doesn't want to takr their kitchen? Is it considered rude? Like leaving a bed or a closet?
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u/WonderfulTwist4936 2d ago
To stay at home on parental leave for 2-3 years. Its so normal here, that "daycares" under 6 months is illegal and under 12 months not illegal, but practically non existent.
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u/Useful_Region9179 Ireland 2d ago
Where is this?
I don't think in many eu countries a daycare would take a child under 6 months. Most countries have at least six months maternity leave.
I know in Ireland your child has to be at least a year old to go to daycare
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u/Material_Rush3143 9h ago
In Ireland a crèche can take children from 6 months, it's just that most choose not to/don't need to as demand is so high for places. Ive 2 under 5 and both were in crèche well before they were a year old, unfortunately.
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u/MobileSituation2718 Belgium 2d ago
No, in belgium there are no age restrictions. You get 15 weeks maternity leave. With at least one or two weeks after birth. Some parents that had complications during the pregnancy and had to stop working, have had to put their two week old in daycare. Though its pretty rare, the majority starts at 3 months
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u/BorisLordofCats 1d ago
You get at least 60 days of maternity leave after giving birth, even if you're home from week 6 of the pregnancy.
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u/Tytoalba2 1d ago edited 1d ago
There are q eastern EU countries where ~2 years maternity leave is/was the norm. Legacy from the USSR (partly due to Alexandra Kollontaï's influence if remember right).
But it's rarely full pay for 2 years, usually only the first few month are full pay, then it decreases or can be unpaid leave.
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u/dankemath 1d ago
In Romania it is 2 years (3 if the child has disabilities) for 85% salary I think but caped.
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u/heyskeeter 1d ago
Sweden. Everyone’s info being publicly accessible. Your home address, your phone number, your school grades, your university entrance exam scores, your income. This is absolutely unthinkable in most counties and it’s really weird that it’s still going on despite identity theft risks in the digital age.
Apple had to cripple AirTag because pervs in the US used it to stalk women. I remember reading about a case where a perv attached an AirTag to a woman’s car in a supermarket parking lot in order to find her house. In Sweden all he would have to do is enter her license plate number on a website and he could find out who owns the car and where they live. EU please gdpr us so hard we have to change this system.
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u/kaurapuuroako-miulle 10h ago
Finland here!
Queueing for free buckets. When a new store opens or there's a special promotion etc. the store will give you a free bucket with your purchase. Sometimes this makes people wait outside for hours before the opening. No, the bucket's not special in any way, just your regular plastic buckets with maybe the store's logo on it. Why do we like free buckets? Well...
Everyman's rights. Basically you can pick berries and mushrooms in the forests of Finland as long as you're not right next to someone's house. The bucket's also the right size to make ice lanterns during winter.
(fellow Finns, I know this is considered a bit of a joke among us but surely this is not a thing in other countries?)
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u/iamnogoodatthis 1d ago
Switzerland: young kids just getting public transport to school by themselves. I feel like this is increasingly rare elsewhere
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u/flarp1 Switzerland 1d ago
Sadly, some schools still had to enact policies against parking or stopping cars for drop-off because it would cause chaos and traffic jams. Helicopter parents with huge-ass SUVs have somehow become a thing here. Not as much of a problem as elsewhere, but an issue nonetheless.
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u/kanina2- 17h ago
In Iceland we have to shower naked in a communal locker room(seperated by gender) before entering pools. So maybe you'll see your boss, coworkers, parents of your friends naked and it's no big deal to us. Maybe for Europeans it's not that big of a deal, but Americans are always shocked to hear that.
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u/Throwway84237 Hungary 2d ago edited 2d ago
Hungary:
-Telling a stranger about your medical issues (including things about peeing, pooping, and sex) after only knowing them for 5 minutes
-There is a news article about a war in another country. The Hungarian, instead of feeling sorry for them or thinking about ways to help them leans back with a satisfied sigh: "Well at least in our country, there is no war!"
-Hungarian parents casually telling their kids to trust no one and that 90% of the global human population should be exterminated because they are too stupid and useless to leave alive
-Hardcore nationalists being both Christians and Pagans, saying that more churches should be built and people should be forced to attend Sunday Mass, but also that Jesus wasn't a Jew, but a Parthian prince from Central Asia, that God is the Sun, and that the Pilis mountain is the heart chakra of the Earth
-Insisting that Hungarians are genetically the most intelligent people on Earth and might even have alien DNA, then saying some dumb, illogical thing