American Traditions That Confuse The Rest of the World

Overusing Ice

Many foreign countries don't ice their drinks at all, but Americans will often ask for a glass just filled with ice along with their drink. Room temperature beverages are a cultural norm in places like France but an insult in the United States. There's a reason even hotels sell bags of ice here.

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The More You Know

  • A U.S. park ranger named Roy C. Sullivan held the record for being struck by lightning the most times, having been struck — and surviving — seven times between 1942 and 1977.
  • The first TV commercial didn't air until the 1940s.
  • Yosemite means "those who kill."
  • A Nepalese doctor has restored the sight of over 100,000 often poverty-stricken people in the last thirty years across Asia and Africa using a 5 minute procedure and an inexpensive artificial lens.
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