this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2025
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Funny: Home of the Haha

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[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Not the weirdest, but I didn't realize this until it was pointed out.

The fascination with work, and how one's employment or career is tied to personal identity. It's a basic conversation starter, "What do you do for work?" Not "What do you enjoy doing?" or "Do you have any hobbies?" or "Where do you go to relax?" Nope.

What to you do for work.

It's a weird question that is tied up in judgement and classism. And it's so normal here

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Trevor Noah has a section about this in a recent standup. Something likei if you ask a European what they do they answer with hobbies, americans answer with their job title.

[–] Kira@lemmy.today 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Just my experience from germany but when people ask what you do, you usually say what Job you have and where the Company is.

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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Why are you typing comments when you should be earning money for your boss?

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[–] r0ertel@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I've found this only to be true in white collar professions. Hanging out with blue collar people, your job rarely comes up, but it's one of the first questions with white collar people.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

It's definitely true with blue collar workers in Alberta, or at least it was when I still socialized (guess when I stopped)

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[–] Zink@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Good god, yes. This is something I had to break myself from. It is so insidious and pervasive in our culture that I don’t think most of us realize it’s even a thing.

I’ve been to a lot of outdoor birthday parties this summer, and there are so many boring dads who I will hear strike up a conversation about what’s going on at work. I usually make sure to wander in the opposite direction.

And I like my job! But the “talk about work” is usually less about interesting projects or creations and more about what has been going on with that individual’s status. Like yeah Kevin I want you to do well at work and enjoy it, but if it’s all the same to you I’m going to go get chased by kids with squirt guns instead of pretending I care about how your manager is impressed by your team’s metrics.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

but if it’s all the same to you I’m going to go get chased by kids with squirt guns instead of pretending I care about how your manager is impressed by your team’s metrics.

kids sure know how to have fun. we have a lot to learn from them

[–] Zink@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago

More true than most realize.

After getting through a lot of shit over the past several years, and having a very good & healthy summer, I am convinced that so many of our ills (metal especially) are from this mistaken assumption that more virtual and more high tech and more consumption are positives for our health rather than negatives.

Like I said, I like my job. I have no problem explaining it to anybody who asks. But the funny thing is, nobody asks, lol. A lot times per year I get the “what do you do” question, but then they’re satisfied with that answer. Many people just volunteer their stories because they think they’re supposed (just learned behavior) to or they’re conditioned to brag about work to feel good & valid.

But despite my decent job (software for embedded linux systems — totally on brand for Lemmy!) the absolute best time I’ve spent this summer has been getting wet and muddy in the back yard. Literally.

By turning my hyperfocus and my time and some of my budget towards a big hobby project (upgrading my koi pond) I have set myself up with an activity that gives me:

  • Something good to look forward to
  • Results to enjoy
  • Fresh air
  • Physical exercise, a lot, including lots of lifting
  • Lots of meditative time, even though I physically look very busy
  • Exercising my instinct/desire/need to create things
  • Learning new interesting things that are relevant to the real world but outside my normal area of study/work. In high school I took a hard turn away from chemistry and towards physics. Now I am all about the nitrogen cycle, organic chemistry, oxidation/reduction potential, microorganisms, and so on, in my own way.
  • Opportunity to hang out with my kid and a bunch of our pets with room to run.
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[–] dellish@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The apparent obsession with money. Some people claim to be religious but it's clear the Almighty Dollar is their God. I know we make jokes about needing a "profit motive", but there is a grounding in reality. It's truly bizarre, from an outside perspective, just what lengths and depths people will sink to in order to increase profit. I'm not saying this is an American Only thing, but it's VERY apparent in the USA just how far people will go.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 8 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I stopped talking politics with my FIL when I realized money was his singular driving force. He really believes, and IDK where he got this, that capitalism is itself a perfect system, and that any regulation on it breaks the system. Basically laissez faire libertarianism, wrapped in a flag and wearing a cross. Considering it's a well understood concept, in the rest of the world (and US history) that capitalism requires regulation to work safely, it's maddening to argue anything when we can't agree on basics.

All people with money = inherently good. All brown people = inherently bad. This is the driving socioeconomic philosophy among conservatives.

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[–] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 15 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Flags. Americans are obsessed with the American flag.

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[–] Dr_Box@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (7 children)

Where I live almost everyone assumes you are a right wing Christian. They don't even take into consideration that you're not and if they figure out you aren't they stop talking to you in most cases. I've never had anyone straight up call me an idiot but I've had good friends freeze up when they found out and then start avoiding me afterwards. You get looked at like a lizard in human skin.

To add to this, I've heard the talk that gets passed around before they found out that I wasnt. If you are a woman they will straught up call you a witch

[–] andros_rex@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’m a passing trans guy, and where I live is like this.

It’s just fucked walking around and know that if they knew, I would essentially lose all humanity to them. It happened with my divorce lawyer, it happens with doctors. I’m like an alien hiding in the place I was born.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I’m like an alien hiding in the place I was born.

That's so messed up. As a southerner: sorry. I would not, and I have a lot of family that wouldn't either, though TBH they left Mississippi...

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[–] Zetta@mander.xyz 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Christianity (and all religions imo) are a fucking stain on humanity, they bring so much more harm than good upon us.

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[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Mine is that every 20 years or so, America picks a country or region to decimate, colonize, pillage and take over. They treat the people in that country like refuse. Then 20 years later they move on to the next country. Throughout all this they moralize to you and police the world and try to tell other countries to stop their wars, while they enjoy the benefits of their own invasions.

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[–] GladiusB@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That we dont want to be trailer trash, but a good 95 percent of us are.

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Excuse you

I'm a double-wide recyclable

[–] 5paceThunder@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

I notice American's habitually cannot mind their own business.

[–] DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 109 points 3 days ago (7 children)

From my outside perspective, it's the pledge of allegiance.

Do you really have your kids stand up every morning and swear an oath to your flag? That's some real cult shit.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 30 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Nothing could be more American than that pledge: it was something that was first propagated by a flag company that was trying to sell more flags.

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[–] nthavoc@lemmy.today 17 points 2 days ago

World Champions in sports that only the US participates in. I am not a fan of football, both the "footy" version or the "NFL" but it's always been odd to me that winners of the Super Bowl, or equivalent event, are often declared "World Champions" of their own league in an event exclusively hosted in the US.

[–] radiofreebc@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

American exceptionalism, especially lately.

[–] rozodru@lemmy.world 26 points 3 days ago (3 children)

for me it's the whole "don't tread on me" and gun culture rhetoric. Americans seem to be "don't push me" but when they actually get pushed they're all "uWu please more daddy" it's odd.

[–] CalipherJones@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

I can explain this one. Growing up in America, you're constantly told that you're a patriot simply because you were born here—like just existing in the same country where Jefferson, Franklin, and Washington lived 250 years ago somehow makes you part of their legacy. It's pushed on you so early and so hard that you don't even question it. You just go to school, and the first thing you do is stand and pledge allegiance to the state—together, as a group. It’s ritualistic. It functions like a cult mechanism. That’s how it gets ingrained.

Most Americans do not have an understanding that they are being tread on.

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[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

And then get weirdly surprised and entitled about it when someone does do something about it.

[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 20 points 3 days ago (12 children)
  • Gun culture
  • Making houses out of wood. To me, someone from a country where houses are made of brick, this is like living in a shed. Also, the USA is the hotspot of tornadoes, so it makes even less sense
  • One of the richest countries in the world, and universal healthcare isn't a thing
[–] exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Making houses out of wood.

This is fine. Lumber was historically plentiful in North America, and lumber houses last just as long as stone or brick.

Lumber has several advantages over stone/concrete/brick:

  • Less CO2 impact from construction activities. Concrete production is a huge contributor to atmospheric CO2.
  • Greater sustainability in general. Concrete is approaching a global sand shortage, because most sand in the world doesn't have the right qualities to be included in concrete.
  • Better energy efficiency and insulation properties. Brick homes need double walls in order to compete with the insulation properties of a wood framed house that naturally has voids that can be filled with insulation.
  • Better resilience against seismic events and vibrations (including nearby construction). The west coast has frequent earthquakes, and complying with seismic building code with stone/masonry requires it to be reinforced with steel. The state of Utah, where trees and lumber are not as plentiful as most other parts of North America, and where seismic activity happens, has been replacing unreinforced masonry for 50+ years now.
  • Easier repair. If a concrete foundation cracks, that's easier to contain and mitigate in a wood-framed house than a building with load-bearing concrete or masonry.

Some Northern European and North American builders are developing large scale timber buildings, including timber skyscrapers. The structural engineers and safety engineers have mostly figured out how to engineer those buildings to be safe against fire and tornadoes.

It's not inherently better or worse. It's just different.

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[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Houses of woods aren't really bad or the problem, but houses of wood that are held together by osb and cardboard is odd.

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[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 78 points 4 days ago (12 children)

First thing that comes to mind for me is the huge number of people who are religious fanatics here, which is unusual for a Western country. This is also a big part of what led us to the fascist government we have today.

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[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Flag heilling

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