a bit of generalisation going on here, Europe is very diverse with many different cultures. you can't really say 'Europe' and that covers everything.Lil devils x said:One of the biggest culture shocks to many Europeans coming to the US is how everyone talks to each other when they are complete strangers in the US. It doesn't matter if you know someone here or not, most people just casually talk to those standing near them here when out in public. So why is it most Europeans do not do the same? You would think with how much closer the communities are in Europe, the people would be just as close and friendly when near each other, but they are not. They often do not even apologize for bumping each other, where if you did that here that might start a fight for being so rude.
In the US, it is rude not to talk to people and acknowledge them around you and ignore them and keep to yourself. It is frequently taken as thinking you are "too good" or "stuck up" or " snobbish" if you fail to acknowledge those around you and treat them as family, where in much of Europe, if you treat strangers as family they look at you like you are an alien. Why is it so weird to talk to each other in much of Europe?
anyhow...
citizen of the 'kingdom that is united' here, currently living in California.
Americans may seem very friendly and outgoing in the street but that is all it is. friendly small talk, it never leads to anything, phone numbers are never exchanged and 'hey lets be friends' never happens. I like how friendly people are here but I never kid myself, it's just small talk.
from my experience if I was back home and someone super happy came up to me and was all 'hey how's it going?' my first thought would be 'what are you after? I don't know you'
"They often do not even apologize for bumping each other"
completely untrue by the way.