r/comics • u/tinyviewcomics tinyviewcomics • Aug 11 '26
OC "Americentricity" by Itchy Feet
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u/Gentle_Snail Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Just a heads up for tourists in the UK, if you ask for ‘tap water’ in Britain its completely free. If they offer you mineral water say no you want tap.
Tap water is completely clean in the UK and recommended even for tourists.
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u/Training_Watch8159 Aug 11 '26
This is also the case in France.
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u/Wambelly Aug 11 '26
And Germany.
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u/Not_ur_gilf Aug 11 '26
And Spain
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u/Admirable_Scene_5066 Aug 11 '26
Don't expect it in Belgium however. Outside of the food, our restaurants generally suck.
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u/moDz_dun_care Aug 11 '26
When I was in Belgium, they kept trotting out the line "tap water is not good for you"
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u/Admirable_Scene_5066 Aug 11 '26
What they meant to say is we take a generous share of profit on a bottle of water and there is no way we will just give away tap water.
That is their excuse any time it is brought up, they'd all go bankrupt if they have to give away tapwater.
Nevermind that they are already the most expensive restaurants in Western Europe.
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u/123iambill Aug 12 '26
When I was in Bruges the waiter just gave us a very stern, matter of fact "No." No follow up or explanation just "We'll just have tap water." "No."
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u/FirstDukeofAnkh Aug 12 '26
I love Belgium. I love the food. I love the people. Your restaurants do suck.
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u/MrBagooo Aug 11 '26
Not at all. It's completely different from France. In France you get tap water naturally with your food. In Germany you would have to specify that you want tap water and you will get looked at weirdly. Not common at all.
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u/Visible_Pair3017 Aug 12 '26
I can imagine tourist traps trying to screw foreigners over by trying to give them bottled water by default, even in France. Might as well explicitly specify what you want.
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u/Largewhitebutt Aug 11 '26
It Varies place to place in Germany. When I visited I ate at a thai spot in the Bavarian region and paid more for water than my meal. Cold still water, no ice, nothing fancy. Curry was €23 water was €30 at €3 per “Glass” that is 8 fl oz. Beer was €2 for a pint. I asked them to just bring a pitcher of both for the table so we could refill ourselves. As a table of 2 that had been hiking and biking all day water was our most pricey expense.
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u/SoleilResplandissant Aug 12 '26
30 euros for water ????? Is the water imported from the north pole ?
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u/arueos Aug 12 '26
My wife is from Germany and she says this really isn't the case. However, I did it while visiting but got weird looks, so maybe it's case by case.
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u/dankristy Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Yes but also (based on my most recent trip through France, Germany, Prague and Netherlands)- they will specify STILL (bottled regular) water or Sparkling (bottled carbonated) water - both cost. Tap may be an option, but we didn't know to to ask for Tap water...
ETA - Bonus realization came when we figured out that it was more expensive in Germany and Prague - to drink water vs BEER! The beer was literally cheaper than the bottled water.
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u/Flodartt Aug 11 '26
When you're a French person in a French restaurant, when you ask for water, the option by default is tap water. But a lot of restaurants, especially in Paris, take advantage of tourists and will give mineral water to make the people pay more. Every restaurant in France must give water and bread to their client for free, that's the law.
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u/KalamariNights Aug 11 '26
Oh wow and bread? I never knew that.
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u/Flodartt Aug 11 '26
Yes, bread too. Usually you don't even need to ask for it they will bring it with what you ordered. But you can always ask for more, they'll bring you as much as you want.
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u/Jhud6669 Aug 11 '26
My UK friend asked for tap water at a restaurant while visiting me in Poland and I had to break it to them that we don’t do this in Poland (aside from a few restaurants)
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u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat Aug 11 '26
Why not?
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u/SavvySphynx Aug 11 '26
When I was in Poland a decade ago, I was told it would make me sick, as I was not used to what was in the water. Maybe the bacteria?
Apparently it doesn’t bother the locals.
My grandparents well water (US) was similar, but it was more high iron content. It didn’t bother them, or me when I was younger when I stayed with them a lot. Coming back as an adult, it was pretty noticeable in taste.
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u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat Aug 11 '26
I got bored waiting and Googled it, I can't find any mention of this from reddit threads a decade ago or official information. Decades ago, you were right. But obviously that sentiment has remained.
There's a public perception that tap water is bad for you, but especially in touristy cities the tap water is perfectly safe to drink. There is just a bad public image of it, asking for tap water in a restaurant is allowed but they want to make the money off selling you bottled water - which apparently is basically no different to tap water in Poland.
There was even a recent attempt to make allowing tap water mandatory, but restaurants lobbied the government to not allow it.
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u/CL0n3_pl Aug 11 '26
Government was actually just about to pass the law mandating them to like a couple days ago, but they decided to scrap it and "rework" it after consulting with interested businesses or something like that. Fancy way of saying the gastronomy lobbied them not to
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u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Yeah, got bored and Googled it. Basically Polish tap water is perfectly safe and meets EU standards (which are very high) but the restaurants want to make more money off customers. Shocker.
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Aug 11 '26 edited 2h ago
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u/talldrseuss Aug 11 '26
This is one of the positive stereotypes in NYC also. Our tap water is pretty damn good thanks to a centuries old water system bringing water from the aquifers and reservoirs located in the mountains in the middle/northern part of the state.
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u/Tankh Aug 11 '26
I went to a restaurant here in Sweden this very evening. We got a bottle of water at the table while we sat down by default. It did not cost anything.
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u/xRakuzan Aug 11 '26
Water is always free in Sweden and often something they put on the table without you even asking unless you ordered a drink. I’ve never had to specify tap water as we don’t even refer to carbonated water as water. It’s usually called “bubbel” instead.
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u/Specific-Rich5196 Aug 11 '26
Is it really called cool american?
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u/AnotherLexMan Aug 11 '26
Ranch Doritos are called Cool Original in the UK. It's a bit out of date as we have loads of Ranch dressing now. Still haven't changed the Doritos name though.
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u/VelvettedFox Aug 11 '26
I do just want to point out that the ranch dressing sold in UK stores is noticeably different from American ranch.
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u/Uncle_Slo_Mobius Aug 11 '26
Interesting. How would you describe the differences?
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u/VelvettedFox Aug 11 '26
American ranch is a buttermilk and mayo base with high notes of dill and other herbs. Very creamy and thick and herby. UK ranch is much more zippy and vinegar forward and sort of... less savory? Hard to put my finger on, haha. Are you in the UK? I would totally mail you a packet of the powder to make and do a comparison!
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u/dr_strange-love Aug 11 '26
Because they don't have dude ranches. Ranch Dressing was invented at the Hidden Valley dude ranch.
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u/Polibiux Aug 11 '26
Hidden valleys location is a secret. We can’t reveal our secret ranch dressing reserves.
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u/GuyPronouncedGee Aug 11 '26
It’s not called “Easy to find Valley”.
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u/SilverMedal4Life Aug 11 '26
"Thank you, outsider. With these recon reports on the other condiments, we can finally resume patrols. The Brotherhood of Hidden Valley Ranch thanks you."
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u/alphi10 Aug 11 '26
Do they..milk the dudes to get the ranch? Is there like a big grazing field with a bunch of dudes just standing around waiting to get milked for their ranch?
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u/ISketchDinosaurs Aug 11 '26
No, no, no, it's an aura farm, hence why it's called 'cool American' and not 'dude milk dressing'.
Basically we gather a bunch of stunt men who study to look as cool as possible while doing stunts. Machines then gather the atmospheric aura generated from the sheer coolness they radiate, and that is then turned into what Americans call ranch dressing.
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u/BlueCaracal Aug 11 '26
I think they are also called that in Denmark.
I have however seen Hellmann's ranch in normal grocery stores. I don't know how common that ranch dressing is for Americans.
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u/WORMBOY-3 Aug 11 '26
For number 3, I’m an Oregonian, so I actually didn’t know what sales tax was either for an embarrassingly long time
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u/Hugh_Mann84 Aug 11 '26
Europe has sales tax. It's just already a part of the stated price.
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u/CunningLinguist8198 Aug 11 '26
Which just makes more sense. Why have prices even listed if the amount you have to pay is only loosely related?
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u/kelldricked Aug 11 '26
Because that way its harder for consumers to see how much they are actually spending on shit, especially if there are diffrent taxbracets for diffrent products.
The EU gets a lot of critique and loads of it is valid. But consumerprotection/consumerrights are often carried by the EU. And due to its size many producers cant ignore them. Loads car that get sold in the US have better safety standards due to european regulations. Its cheaper to make one standardize version and produce it a fuckload then to set up a whole diffrent product line only to change minor details.
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u/mr_doms_porn Aug 11 '26
It enables companies to advertise one price across many tax jurisdictions. You can run nationwide ads that display price. If you do it the european way you'd need to make different ads for each tax jurisdiction.
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u/Xtr0 Aug 12 '26
That doesn't stop stores from putting the final price on the shelf.
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u/MagicBlaster Aug 11 '26
I don't know why you would think that...
Stores don't even have the same prices for the same items in two locations in the same city let alone jurisdictions.
It's even more nonsense when you know that Safeway has digital tags so they could trivially update them even in different regions if that was the problem.
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u/Polibiux Aug 11 '26
Same here. It used to confuse me leaving Oregon and realizing the price tag wasn’t accurate with sales tax.
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u/drunkpunk138 Aug 11 '26
Yeah I've been in Oregon over 10 years and it's nice seeing the price tag be the price.
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u/Khan_Man Aug 11 '26
I dont know if it's different for international travel, but for domestic flights Americans dont have to take their shoes off at airport security anymore unless you are opting out of the Nude Scantron 5000 machine.
I will say that including sales tax in the marketed price was equal parts shocking and gratifying, as portrayed 😀
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u/PolitenessPolice Aug 11 '26
And in Europe we used to have to remove our shoes. Been phased out for a while, but ten years ago? The shoes came off. Still need to if your shoes have any metal in them.
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u/pkcommando Aug 11 '26
Due to various life stuff, I haven't flown since 2015. My starting airport was giving us grief for not knowing we no longer had to remove our shoes. Literally yelling down the security line and loudly grumbling about our ignorance. On the return flight, we still had to take off our shoes at that airport.
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u/BeMoreKnope Aug 11 '26
The lack of patience airport staff have for people not knowing the rules at that particular airport is honestly hilarious at this point.
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u/BlindMan404 Aug 11 '26
TSA made me put my cane through the machine and limp through the scanner, then stand on the other side of the checkpoint and wait for the agent to disassemble my cane just to confirm it had a fucking screw in it holding it together, then half-assed putting it back together and made me come get it partially disassembled.
This was only a couple months ago in Atlanta, GA. Honestly I now absolutely hate the TSA.
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u/afroblewmymind Aug 11 '26
Ooh, yeah... Heartfield is a TERRIBLE airport. Adjusting to it was one of the first adjustments of moving to GA. Terrible signage and not a single staff member has a sense of urgency for anything. Which is fine, ya know, it's not like people got places to be. Or a plane to catch.
I'm sorry you had to go through that, that's super frustrating.
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u/Tricky-Ad7897 Aug 11 '26
Tsa is notorious for having extremely low hiring standards. You might not even need a GED to join the TSA lol
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u/SlapTheBap Aug 11 '26
Because almost no one wants to work a job where everyone thinks you're an asshole, and you're at fault legally if you let a terrorist through.
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u/Collegenoob Aug 11 '26
When because the TSA constantly fails simulated checks
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u/Masquelinity Aug 11 '26
Which really shows just how airline terrorism is a complete non-problem. The only people trying to sneak stuff through TSA are the TSA-testers.
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u/TheTyger Aug 11 '26
I had a recent business trip and had 2 laptops and an e-reader in my backpack. At security, there was first a person saying electronics stay in bags, and then at the belt I was told they all had to come out. They don't even know the rules at the same checkpoint.
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u/gtne91 Aug 11 '26
Different lines have different rules even. I was at an airport last month where the guy in one line was saying "leave electronics in bag" and next line over guy was saying "take electronics out".
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u/whystudywhensleep Aug 11 '26
I ask every time about shoes, electronics, and liquids, and they look at me like I’m stupid every time. They also give me a different answer every time, even from the same airport. Shoes do seem to be permanently staying on now though, but taking out liquids and/or electronics still switches constantly lol
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u/AzenNinja Aug 11 '26
Don't forget about the belt. I've been yelled at for taking it off and for keeping it on at the same airport, days apart.
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u/Alternative_Salt_424 Aug 11 '26
Oh yeah, and they gotta yell, because that's super conducive to a calm and orderly process
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u/deucescarefully Aug 11 '26
Sometimes you’re going through one line and you’ll see the line directly across from you doing things totally differently. It’s a joke.
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u/Daredskull Aug 11 '26
It's at the TSA agents discretion, I asked an agent last time a flew.
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u/47peduncle Aug 11 '26
In NZ domestic flights with 3 year old wearing boots, they had to take off boots sometimes, not shoes.
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u/Familiar-Report-513 Aug 11 '26
I hope the casual friendliness isn't too offensive. Idk i just always treated traveling as if you are constantly a guest in someone's home so be nice to them. Is that weird?
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Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
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u/red286 Aug 11 '26
Cuba is almost weird in how friendly they are. I'm borderline antisocial, I don't go out of my way to talk to strangers. Both times I've been to Cuba though, you end up talking to so many people. Buy a drink and sit down somewhere and within 10 minutes someone will sit down and start chatting you up, acting like you're old friends, wants you to meet his grandparents because they've never met a Canadian before.
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u/ContributionSad4461 Aug 11 '26
Eh depends, if you’re doing outdoorsy stuff in Sweden (hiking, skiing, out on a boat etc) you’re pretty much expected to say hi and smile when you meet someone.
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u/DrkSpde Aug 11 '26
I loved reading people's reactions to the US during the world cup. I think the thing I read about the most was people being shocked at things like smiles/nods from eye contact and casual conversation with strangers.
That and confusion at how Americans generally view "How are you," as a statement and not an actual question.
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u/Ok_Page8920 Aug 11 '26
I was really thrown off by the english 'you alright?' when I first heard it, like yeah I'm fine why? Then I realized it is essentially the same thing
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u/Rappican Aug 11 '26
Nah man, I'm not alright. I'm at least half left.
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u/Kyokenshin Aug 11 '26
I’ve been right, I’ve been left, I’ve been wrong, I’ve been left…behind, I’ve been up, but mostly down.
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u/-SaC Aug 11 '26
Aye, in my Grandad's day it was "How do?", to which the correct response is "How do."
These days we have 'alright mate?' 'alright'.
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u/brucegibbons Aug 11 '26
Same! Coworkers kept asking and I was actually offended and asked "Why, do I not seem ok?" & they talked me off the ledge of embarrassment.
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u/thalasi_ Aug 11 '26
I did a road trip around the UK in 2019 and on several occasions in pubs random strangers would strike up a conversation with me at the bar. A guy in Manchester spent half an hour explaining rugby to me while we watched the home team get crushed in the premiership finals. A few days later an old man in Glasgow sat down at our table uninvited and was very interested in knowing if Americans loved or hated the queen(ambivalence was the wrong answer). They may be a bit more reserved at times but I feel like they had the same general interest in talking to people from elsewhere as we have in the US.
That said I think I threw many people for a loop when I greeted them with "howdy", which even though I haven't lived in the south for 20 years, I still can't stop saying.
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u/Holy_Smoke Aug 11 '26
Every once in awhile I like to hit 'em with "ahoy" and watch the hamster wheel spin furiously.
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u/xSPYXEx Aug 11 '26
I'm guessing that pub culture is where the brits enjoy all their socializing. You spend all day focused, isolated, and busy, then you hit the pub for some drinks with the lads and chat up whoever comes to town.
I know British pub culture does have its problems but it does sound like a very pleasant community spot.
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u/Agitated-Contest651 Aug 11 '26
I think this is just something americans tell themselves to preserve a sense of exceptionalism.
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u/Piotrek9t Aug 11 '26
Really depends, on the country side, casual friendliness is still a thing but once you are in any town of meaningful size people will likely think that there is something wrong with you
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u/Servo__ Aug 11 '26
Thinking friendliness only exists in rural America is a very rural American thing. I live in a big Midwest city and while there are always pricks to be found the vast majority of interactions with strangers are at the very least polite if not genuinely friendly. I’ve been to a lot of small towns too, some with very sweet people and some where the treat you like an asshole for ordering a burger at their restaurant where they serve burgers.
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u/AthenaThundersnatch Aug 11 '26
This is completely not true, as a born and raised New Yorker. People might think you’re weird if you start smiling or talking at strangers out of nowhere, but if you’re polite because someone has interacted with you, we’ll generally be nice right back. And as long as you’re not bothering us while we’re busy, we’re happy to share directions.
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u/DennenTH Aug 11 '26
I came from a rural town in America. I have habits from growing up there in that specific time that can be seen as casual friendliness.
Is this why I get glared at for saying shit like 'Thank You'?! I feel floored by this idea. I always thought casual friendliness was the goal for what everyone wants to experience.
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u/dprkicbm Aug 11 '26
If you get glared at for saying thank you, my guess is either that you're annoyingly loud or they think you're being sarcastic.
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u/Nova225 Aug 11 '26
If someone glared at you for saying thank you, they probably thought you were being sarcastic.
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u/ElderberryHoliday814 Aug 11 '26
You should see some of the looks that a kind nod to anyone I make eye contact with looks like outside of the county. Sometimes a smile pops, sometimes a glare. (The smiles make it worth it)
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u/ElevatorSevere7651 Aug 11 '26
Depends. I live in a smaller town near a bigger city, and saying hello to someone you’re just walking by is totally normal and nice in the former, but weird in the latter
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u/MaJuV Aug 11 '26
We do head nods and small talk in minimalism (e.g. in French it's "ça va? - ça va!"). There's other language variants, but in general the shorter, the better.
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u/midgetcastle Aug 11 '26
I mean, I’ve lived in London all my life, and I still try to smile at people in the street. Mostly people just ignore me.
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u/Embarrassed_Fox5265 Aug 11 '26
The portion size one can vary from place to place. I was shocked the first time I ordered a small doner kebab takeaway and got enough food to feed me for a week. I went to the seaside today and ordered a "medium" haddock and chips - the fish took up half the plate and the other half was piled high with chips. I skipped my evening meal. Most Americans would be shocked by the size of a Sunday Roast dinner at a pub. Etc etc.
The general statement is, I think, true. I've never sat down and compared portion sizes but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that America in general has bigger portion sizes at restaurants. But I would still say the difference is less (at least in the UK) than you might expect. Your country may vary.
Source: I have lived in the US for 30 years followed by 10 in the UK.
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u/Different-Eagle-612 Aug 11 '26
yeah it genuinely does feel like something people read a lot online that got “confirmed” because they went to fancier places on their vacation than they go to at home in the us and then its just repeated ad infinitum. honestly whenever i traveled the portion sizes weren’t’t visible different at all
like i don’t doubt that it isn’t true to some degree generally but it is WAY over exaggerated
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u/RodinKnox Aug 11 '26
You can have that same experience right at home in America. A ton of fancier restaurants here have much smaller portion sizes. I don't eat at them a lot, but I have from time to time on business trips.
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u/BadKittydotexe Aug 11 '26
I think a lot of Europeans don’t realize you’re expected to have leftovers a lot of the time with big portion sizes. Taking the rest home and eating it later is very normal. We aren’t (all) just gorging ourselves at every meal.
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u/Content-Bid7922 Aug 11 '26
That is pretty normal in Spain, people often ask for a plastic container to take leftovers home
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u/Oxymoronically Aug 11 '26
This!!! Like the reason our portion sizes look like two meals is because that's what often happens.
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u/madadam211 Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Similarly I got a Croque Monsieur in Paris and it was absolutely gigantic. Enjoyed it with my free water.
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u/TrinityAlpsTraverse Aug 11 '26
Its also highly regional. Compared to San Francisco, most European portion sizes are a lot bigger.
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u/garlicknotcroissants Aug 11 '26
As an American, some of the absolute biggest portion sizes I've had served to me at a restaurant were in the UK.
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u/Yasimear Aug 11 '26
Casual friendliness is definitely a thing in Ireland!! I cannot count the amount of conversations I've had with random people waiting for the bus haha.
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u/pm_me_fibonaccis Aug 11 '26
I met tons of friendly people in Ireland while on vacation there. And people in Galway were so pleasant I couldn't believe it. I never even considered the city to be significant until I went there now every day I want to go back.
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Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
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u/rentiertrashpanda Aug 11 '26
Yeah, most Europeans live closer to a national border than a lot of Americans live to a state border.
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u/i_miss_arrow Aug 11 '26
I wouldn't even call it 'cutting Americans slack' as opposed to 'pointing out that its easy to travel to other countries when you live in a small country'.
I've been to exactly two countries, over a geographic area that would cover over a dozen countries in Europe.
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u/rentiertrashpanda Aug 11 '26
I've been to Europe, and not only is it fantastically expensive, you're looking at appx 18 hours of travel door-to-door, so it's not like you can nip over for a long weekend (as a point of reference, London and Paris are significantly closer together than LA and San Francisco)
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u/Unboxious Aug 11 '26
Also, even if you travel to Canada it's not all that different. I remember going there for the first time when I was 11 and I was like, "Wait a second, this is just like my home in Oregon but colder and the money is different!"
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u/Own_Reaction9442 Aug 11 '26
A lot of European countries are also getting fed up with "over tourism " and actively telling people to stay away.
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u/kitsunewarlock Aug 11 '26
To be fair every local in every place I've lived in America hates tourists too. The difference is those tourists are just Americans from different states.
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u/Own_Reaction9442 Aug 11 '26
Oh sure, it was just funny to watch Europeans pivot from "you Americans are so ignorant, you need to leave your country now and then" to "stop coming to our continent" with barely a pause in between.
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u/1738_bestgirl Aug 11 '26
Or if you actually compared apples to apples. Like how many times has the average European citizen left the EU?
Because going state to state is the same amount of legwork of inter EU travel and different states have way different vibes no different than EU countries.
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u/GamingInTheAM Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
I'd be willing to wager that Americans, on average, spend more time on the road (whether it be in a car or other forms of travel) than the average UK-er. It's just that America happens to be a really fucking big place. I could travel 70mph in one direction for three hours before crossing a single state line, and I live in the lower-third of my state.
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u/VengeanceKnight Aug 11 '26
Also, America is a big-ass country with many different cultures and regions. You can be surprisingly well-traveled without even stepping outside of America.
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u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 Aug 11 '26
Okay but I can't even count the number of times I had to take off my shoes in Egypt for Airport security. It's not just American.
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u/bacharama Aug 12 '26
Europeans say Americans are "Americentric", but they are often just as guilty of Eurocentricity, assuming European norms = international norms.
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u/Kamikazeguy7 Aug 11 '26
Ok, am I the weird American for not assuming every sink has a garbage disposal?
I have never had one in any house I've lived in, yet every person I've ever had over for a meal has just defaulted to throwing their scraps in my sink. And when I ask them not to they look at me like I have 3 heads and say "oh, do you not have a disposal?"
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Aug 11 '26
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u/koriwi Aug 11 '26
But what would cheap american horror movies be without garbage disposals?
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u/Furdinand Aug 11 '26
I'm used to being able to tell if a sink has a disposal: if it has the rubber teeth in the drain, then it has a disposal. If it has a strainer covering the drain, then it doesn't.
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u/dankristy Aug 11 '26
There are lots of times I have been in houses which had removable strainers covering the disposal teeth - sometimes you have to lift that up to look.
Also for those who aren't sure please ask before dumping food into the sink (not directed at you - just in general). We actually have to put a sign above our sink when we have parties or guests because we have a farm on septic and so a disposal is not something we have, yet multiple times guests have assumed we did (or that is the default behavior where they came from)
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u/Ill_Morning_4282 Aug 11 '26
It is one of those things that people who say Americans are so clueless about other cultures get wrong with stereotyping. I haven't had one in a while.
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Aug 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Ao_Kiseki Aug 11 '26
Maybe it's like this in Europe too, but people would just k ow you're not from New York. I moves from the rural midwest to Seattle and I can basically instinctively spot a Midwesterner based on eye contact.
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u/Mueryk Aug 11 '26
Criminally insane? Well sure, but it isn’t the smile that gives it away in this case
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u/Semper_5olus Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Okay, but the free water and garbage disposals are awesome
EDIT: my opinion has successfully been changed about garbage disposals
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u/CrossP Aug 11 '26
In Canada they call them garburators which is even cooler.
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u/SlapTheBap Aug 11 '26
In America one of the most common brands is the in-sink-erator. It's sick as hell.
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u/JMoc1 Aug 11 '26
I sold those. The models are called Badger 1-6.
Absolutely kickass name for an in-sink-aerator.
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u/IT_scrub Aug 11 '26
Which is the only correct word for them. They garburate your food scraps.
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u/Gentle_Snail Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Many European countries do have free water such as the UK, the annoying trick is trying to remember which ones.
Britain, Spain, Sweden, and Portugal all have laws requiring it in most circumstances - though you normally need to specify ‘tap’ water like it's the magic word. If you ask for a carafe of water in France its also free, but I can’t remember if thats legal or cultural.
In Britain and France specifically its a very strong historic practice.
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u/Mogura-De-Gifdu Aug 11 '26
In France, water and bread must be provided for free by law if you're ordering a meal at a restaurant. At a bar or coffee shop, only water is supposed to be provided for free, but not if you only ordered beverages (most will still provide it for free).
But yeah, you have to specify you want the free water. Ways to ask are "une carafe d'eau" or "de l'eau du robinet" (not classy but very explicit), "Château-La-Pompe" (supposed to be funny but isn't). Depending on regions, the word for "carafe" varies. "Pichet d'eau", "broc d'eau", "pot à eau" or "pot d'eau" are the other usual ways to ask, so it might be tricky if you're trying to speak French and say no to a "broc" because you want a "carafe".
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u/caribou_powa Aug 11 '26
For France : tap water is free in restaurant by the law.
An tap water in France is perfectly sanitary.
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u/Winjin Comic Crossover Aug 11 '26
I tried at a couple places in Portugal and they really don't want to, claiming they don't do it. I feel like buffet style places make most of their sales on drinks that accompany the all-you-can-eat so I didn't pressure it further anyways
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u/Polibiux Aug 11 '26
That’s one thing I give us since garbage disposals make cleaning dishes easier.
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u/JustLookingForMayhem Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
Government subsidized water is one of the few things the US has done right. By making water cheap and making it so that in most states companies can't profit off tap water (I have a special hatred for bottled water that has tap water as an 'ingredient' allowing them to be sold for a profit), most places have free tap water. This in turn has reduced water borne illnesses significantly in the US.
Garbage disposals are not good and causes a lot of damage to sewer systems.
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u/SlapTheBap Aug 11 '26
Keeping those sewer systems maintained, though costly, is pretty amazing. Getting to have excuses to get funding to upgrade your sewers improves flooding in ways that can be very helpful with changing weather patterns.
Silver lining at least
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u/Cyberhaggis Aug 11 '26
Listen, Scottish people are some of the most casually friendly people you'll ever meet, and I'll fight any cunt that says otherwise
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u/mitchellk96gmail Aug 11 '26
I lived in Ireland for a while and while you dont generally nod or smile to people on the street, its perfectly normal to talk to strangers at bars, work, inns, storeowners...etc.
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u/BaronMerc Aug 11 '26
I went America for the world cup and gave a waitress a dirty look when she refilled my drink until my mate explained it was free
Also the manager coming out because of something minor which was sorted very easily and being way too friendly that I thought we got someone fired, no apparently that's just normal
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u/pmmemilftiddiez Aug 11 '26
I went to Buffalo wild wings in North Dakota and the waitress got me a tall beer. I start drinking it and then she gives me another one and says that the first one is free because she poured the wrong one. I am from America but it was surprising
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u/throwawayayaycaramba Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 11 '26
I know this comic is specifically comparing the US to Europe, but my pedantry compels me to point out: at the very least the huge portions, free refills, and casual friendliness (as well as the never going abroad bit, I guess) aren't at all exclusively American; from personal experience, they're just as prevalent in Brazil.
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u/SunlessSage Aug 11 '26
Certain European countries will also serve very large portions.
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u/DrkSpde Aug 11 '26
I find it amusing that Europeans are considered so well traveled, but they often sound shocked that Americans will drive an hour just to get lunch.
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u/PensandSwords3 Aug 11 '26
I’ll never forget when a tour driver in Ireland went “you tell anyone the drive is going to be 15 min or more. It ruins their day.”
And we were like “to get from campus to our home town in a neighboring state. It’s like 2 hours there and two back.
And from that suburb to the nearest large city it’s 45 minutes at least.”
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u/DrkSpde Aug 11 '26
My drive to work is 25 minutes if someone else has already triggered the speed traps.
Drive home is 45 minutes if I'm lucky.
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u/Jack-of-Hearts-7 Aug 11 '26
They're well-traveled in Europe
There are plenty of shitty Euro tourists around the world and I'm tired of pretending it's an American thing.
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u/iammoney45 Aug 11 '26
I feel like the "never going abroad" can be explained by the size of USA and relative population density. Unless you live near the Canada or Mexico borders, it's pretty expensive to reach another country from USA. There's a lot more country borders in closer proximity in Europe than North America.
23 countries in ~25million KM² vs 44 countries in ~10million KM², and that's before you even consider that most of that land in NA is 3 countries.
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u/TwiggyPeas Aug 11 '26
It takes 13 hours to drive across my state, and there are 50 states. America is stupid big
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u/MartyrOfDespair Aug 11 '26
Also we don’t have like, guaranteed vacation time or money.
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u/warukeru Aug 11 '26
I know ar this point is annoying to say but Europe is not a country but a continent.
The difference between Italy, England, Turkey or Letonia are bigger than the differences between any state from the US.
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u/Otherwise-Video7487 Aug 11 '26
Ah yes the famous country of Europe where everything is the same, and same cultures and customs.
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u/pleasejustbeaperson Aug 12 '26
I like to imagine alternative clickbait titled, “Things Germans don’t realize are German until they visit a Sicilian village.”
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u/Arbyssandwich1014 Aug 11 '26
I feel like the "We're so well traveled thing" is slightly unfair because I can't just take a train to the next country over. Some Europeans don't understand how giant the US is. I live in Georgia. I can drive 6 hours and still be in Georgia. Whereas you can drive 6 hours or less and be in France. Or you can just hop on a train. Depending on your location, that time can go up or down. And if I wanted to go to California, that's a multi-day trip from one coast to another. Yeah, I'd love to buy an expensive plane ticket and travel the world but it's not easy with a low income unless you accept the worst flights with 1000 layovers.
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u/Argon847 Aug 11 '26
Regular ass water.
Dear GOD, do I miss still spring water with NO ADDED MINERALS AND NO FRIZZINESS.
WHERE IS THE WATER. I'M DYING IN THIS HEAT WAVE. WHY DO NO RESTAURANTS SERVE FREE WATER. I EVEN PAY FOR TAP WATER NOW.
SEND HELP. BUT MOSTLY SEND WATER.
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u/tough_titanium_tits Aug 11 '26
You're not fully expected to eat your entire meal, you're supposed to take what you don't eat back home for later.
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u/Slapmaster928 Aug 11 '26
On the never going abroad thing, it kinda misses the mark that the united states is HUGE. The cultural differences from California to Texas to New York to Hawaii to South Carolina are not insignificant. Hell theres only 10 countries in North America not counting island nations, and by far the majority of the land is concentrated in 3.
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u/Sevycat Aug 11 '26
As a European we do have to take our shoes off depending on which shoes we have on. Sports shoes usually are ok to keep on, whereas combat boots probably have to be taken off
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u/Skittleavix Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
I love the Jim Jefferies bit about going back to Australia and airport security absolutely trolling him about taking off his shoes and taking out his laptop.
"That's a nice computer, mate. Whatcha bringing it out for?"
"Because it might be a bomb"
"Whatcha taking your shoes off for?"
"Because it also might be a bomb"
"Aw, c'mon, mate - you wouldn't pack two bombs"
Edit: to everyone in the “um, ackshually” crowd - it was a joke made by a professional comedian. Please stop commenting about how you have to take your shoes off and your laptops out because they may be bombs.