The Things Non-Americans Expect To See In U.S. Homes

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One of my guilty pleasures when traveling is walking around grocery stores and, even better, supermarkets. It doesn’t matter if it’s an H.E.B. in New Braunfels, TX, a Lawson’s in Tokyo, Japan or a Waitrose in Sheffield, England. I just love to see what regular people can buy in everyday stores that aren’t geared toward tourists.

Sometimes it’s exactly the same as what we have. But other times, there will be store-specific brands and flavors (y’all haven’t lived until you’ve had H.E.B. Cowboy Cookies), or things we in the U.S. can only find, if we’re lucky, in international stores (Cadbury Crunchie bars, Arnott’s Tim Tams, Nanaimo bars). Even department stores have foreign treasures, like German house shoes, and the vast variety of Toto Washlets in Japan).

Of course, things are exactly the same for non-Americans who visit the United States. Our distinct lack of kettles in hotel rooms can be alarming (“But what if you want a cuppa?”), and a friend has often marveled at how many different flavors of vodka and salad dressing we sell here in the U.S.

To that end, a question about what Americans own recently came up on Reddit:

Non-Americans, what do you think every American person has in their house?

There were over 44,000 replies and the answers were, not surprisingly, very varied. Take a look (replies only edited for adult language and brevity):

• A switch that when you flick it turns your sink into a blender. — Kingdom-Kome
• A coffee machine with large glass jug full of black coffee being kept warm. The UK mostly has electric kettles for making hot drinks individually. — UnfinishedUntidy
• BBQ sauce — ThewawayXxxX
• Popcorn setting on their microwave! — someone_somewear
• Apparently americans are rather fond of Pickles and Peanut Butter. Is that a fair assumption to make?
  Edit: I meant either or not both at the same time. ☠️ — tree_of_lies
• One of those giant containers of orange ball food. — acid_nz
• Oh oh, the washing machines where you put everything in the top! This fascinated me when we visited the states. They’re huge! — Tired3520
• Ranch dressing — DMC_addict
• A plastic bag filled with plastic bags — bird-137
• Drywall…lots of drywall — JoeTisso
• Large quantities of over-the-counter drugs in huge bottles. — Wombattalioin
• Cordless drill — stud97
• An attic, a basement, a garage, and a driveway. — yodelingllama
• Laundry dryer. In my country almost everyone dries their laundry on a wire outside, so the concept of a dryer is baffling to me. I only see them in American Movies & shows. — Evening_Eagle
• Mac and cheese — getablkdog
• Every American household have a drawer full with random s**t (died batteries, screws, shoelace etc) — Firm_Ideal_5256
• Fridge with ice dispenser built in — Fun_Accountant7632
• Multiple different types of weird sauces — c_byum
• Jeans — mongar82
• That ominously white sliced bread — BioAnthGal
• A dishwasher — SakuraUnicorn
• Individual cans or bottles of soft drinks — LL112
• I’m convinced almost every american has a mountain of pillows on their bed — NoImnotadumbass
• A gallon of milk in the refrigerator — bawalsakape
• Something that is individually wrapped that doesn’t need to be individually wrapped — kubrickie
• Air conditioning — pinzi_peisvogel
• Pop tarts. Whatever those are. They always talk about pop tarts . — timontyres
• A garage fridge. Filled with beer and frozen boxes of crap from Costco. — Shantomette
• Crock pots — pedroesque
• A fridge that’s bigger than a single bed — Crackracket
• Eggs in the fridge — lordaffing
• A random baseball bat — Sad_Noises_Sequel
• Danish cookie tin with sewing supplies in. — pbzeppelin1977
• An outside porch. Basketball net. Walk in closet. Top loader washing machine . Triangular college flag. Outside post box. Bedroom window that teenagers come and go by at night. Front doors which aren’t locked. — dungloegirl
• Those red disposable beer cups — Marginal_Beverage
• A wall full of toilet paper — SuvenPan
• Old bay seasoning — Sydadeath
• bbq grill — Neither-Brilliant867
• Like 5 sticks of butter minimum — deleted
• A dusty jar filled with coins (mostly 1¢ “pennies”)… and ask them why, because the replies are always humorous. — YaBasically
• A body in the ‘crawlspace’…whatever that is — McRazz
• A box of wires to devices they haven’t used in 10 years, not sure what they go to and are too afraid that they might need one to throw them away — TigerDLX
• A sofa in the middle of the room, not touching any walls. — Mollusc_Memes
• A mounted bass that sings. — hidsnfrgr
• A leaf blower. IDK if that is the name but i have never seen one in real life, only movies — Anxious_Dimensions5
• An air purifier — joetsagar
• Cheetos — iwanttobeacavediver
• A stack of letters from medical billing collections… — uberboogerhead
• At least a cabinet dedicated to Halloween decorations — DarkLayeredMetal13
• A “toaster oven”.
  I have no idea what it is or what it does (Toasts? Bakes? Why would a toaster and an oven need to be combined?) — jsteveho
• Weights — nomorethanlifeitself
• Multiple packets of sliced cheese in the fridge — Lazy—
• Trays with legs that you can spread in living room and eat on the sofa while watching tv — ThatLocalHobo
• They don’t have electric kettles, which is WILD! — LemonRoll_Rabbit
• Miracle Whip — Queasy-ad-6741
• If in a house, a tool room at least. Probably a workshop. — ERavenna
• Ghosts! Seriously. All the scary tv stuff I watch is set in America, and I now picture it be incredibly haunted. — banshee-of-reddit
• An American flag — Window_Watcher
• A bottle of ketchup — De_Boesjees
• Did not find this when scrolling down: ceiling fan! Every single American home has it. Not a single European home I’ve been to in multiple countries ever had it. — ktv13
• Left over pizza — Ludy2008
• Paper plates. The amount of times you see people having a standard Dinner time on those reality type shows where people just eat off paper plates instead of proper plates and washing them up. — bellabookgirl
• Cheese Whiz — QuttiDeBachi
• More than one bathroom with a shower and/or tub — ingridatwww
• Came here expecting gun comments only to discover instead that everyone has apparently walked through my house — Scape—Goat

For better or for worse, a lot of their responses are 100% spot on. Anyway, here’s the thread, if you want to take a look. Heads up that some replies include adult language.

Feature Photo: Amazon

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary