The grass can seem green on the other side of the pool . Americansoften covet the history , culture and food associated with Europe , whereas Europeans are wowed by the U.S. ’s affordable housing , accelerator pedal ( gas ) prices and mega - store . So fascinating are the difference of opinion that residents of both areas often crisscross the ocean for a perceptiveness of the other continent . In fact , 17 per centum of U.S. overseas travel was to Europe in 2016 , more than to any other destination by a long shot , with the Caribbean placing a upstage second [ source : International Trade Administration ] .
But along with the change of location , there are characteristic on each side of the sea that make visitors go " hmmm . " We ’ve put together a lean of 10 direction that Europeans and Americans differ . That ’s not to say that every single American or every single European is go to fall neatly into every one of these categories . We ’re sure that not all Americans are obsess with gather aprincesstitle and there are probably some Europeans out there who sleep together an ice - laden drinkable . But , for line of reasoning sake , here are a few key , but entertaining , differences .
10: Kings, Dukes and Princesses, Oh My
When American actressMeghan Markleweds Prince Harry of Wales in May 2018 , she ’ll fulfill a fantasy for many American young woman : marrying a prince and gain aroyal deed of conveyance . Outside of marriage , there ’s little chance of Americans find one . The U.S. simply does n’t have any aristocracy or monarchy in lieu to facilitate such a system . That suppose , a brace of illustrious American citizens have clear their title through marriage , including actress Grace Kelly , who married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956 and urban deviser Lisa Halaby who we d King Hussein of Jordan in 1978 and became Queen Noor [ seed : Courtney ] .
So what account for this American enchantment with form of address and the British purple family ? ( They ’re not so interested in other European purple families ) . Is it just princess fever good manners of Disney picture show or a love of import dramas like " Downton Abbey " ?
It ’s been suggested that the reason is Americans see the British royal family line as the equivalent of a long - execute soap opera house or realness show . But Boston University historiographer Arianne Chernock thinks it is about the special relationship between Britain and America . She toldThe New York Timesthat Anglophilia in the U.S. see back to just after the American Revolution ended British rule in the 13 colonies . " There is a desire to retain that strong cultural tie , and I conceive that die hard to this day , " she told the Times .
Meanwhile Britain persist adoring of their royals too . Despite some complaints about the amount of money it be to maintain them , the percentage of the universe that wants to do away with them has persist at18 to 19 percentfrom 1969 to 2011 .
Titles in Europe are still typically passed down from father to eldest son , with daughters unceremoniously hop over ( which mean the deed sometimes goes to a distant male cousin . ) Efforts have been made in late long time to interpolate this practice . This potential change to transmissible peerage , as it ’s known , is still tied up in disputation as of 2018 [ sources : Parliament UK , Shapiro ] . The constabulary was modify to give equal chronological succession to female person in the British royal family in 2011 .
9: Ice, Ice, Baby
Woe to the American who wants an ice - moth-eaten beverage while cover Europe . Ask for frosting in your soda and you might be handle to one or twocubes , a far cry from the occupy cup much of Americans are accustomed to . As with any cultural preference , there ’s probably not one simple reason why Europeans and Americans depart so wide on the subject of icing , but it ’s likely that the twentieth one C modernisation of America make for a purpose . While U.S. house became rapidly equipped with refrigerator / freezers that well dispensed frappe , Europe lagged behind . Instead , Europeans were shipped glass from North America and asked to pay laughably in high spirits Mary Leontyne Price for something they were n’t even accustomed to using . As a upshot , ice never really took off there , and is sometimes even see as a drunkenness diluter [ seed : Cutolo , Bramen ] .
The American enthrallment with ice could also be pertain to an early belief that it foreclose sickness - causing bacterium . In 1851 a doctor named John Gorrie obtained a patent of invention for an ice machine because he think that cool down aura ( accomplished by hang glass from the ceiling ) could make exam rooms less infective . Then in the fifties , Kemmons Wilson , who establish the Holiday Inn chain of mountains , became the first to installice machinesin his motels , thus ensuring free availableness of the product from coast to coast [ source : Julavits ] .
But the most likely understanding Americans sleep together deoxyephedrine might plainly be because many areas of the state get really really red-hot for a significant part of the twelvemonth ( unlike say , England , France or Scotland ) . Thus , a literally sparkler - frigid beverage bring much - take relief .
8: Vacation Time
certain , some American - based companies like biotech firm Amgen , Inc. and Google offer generous holiday computer software ( three to five weeks ) [ source : Glassdoor ] . But by and large , when it come to the amount of holiday time the average employee begin , the U.S. lags way behind many other flush land , particularly those in Europe . In fact , theU.S. Department of Labordoesn’t require employers to offeranypaid vacation time to employee . Most companies offer two weeks ' ( 10 days ' ) holiday per class , with that figure rising at some firms for longstanding workers . But 25 percent of American actor get no paid vacation at all [ source : shopping centre for Economic and Policy Research ] .
This is a far cry from Europe , where the European Union take countries to supply a lower limit of 20 vacation days every twelvemonth for full - time employees , with some companies going above and beyond that offering as many as 25 to 30 days off . The paid vacation situation is just as disparate , with most industrialized countries guaranteeing between five and 13 paid holiday every year , while the U.S. does n’t assure any . Sadly , the Americans who are most pretend by lack of adequate holiday days are low - salary or part - time employee , as well as those who work for small business [ source : Ray , Mohn ] .
Several pieces of U.S. legislating have been enclose in Congress to mandate some type of paid vacation clock time for American worker , but all have died in mental process so far [ origin : Govtrack , Congress.gov ] .
7: Lots of Languages
U.S. travelers to European cities are relieved to get it on they can put away their foreign - linguistic communication phrasebook or app . Many Europeans talk facile English , in addition to their native knife , and often another language as well . The absolute majority get word these at their respective educational systems , which almost always require student to study their first foreign linguistic process between the age of 6 and 9 .
In 2010 , 73 percent of European children in primary school and 90 percent of secondary pupil were learning English . to boot , more than 20 European countries required students to blame up a second additional words later on [ source : Devlin ] .
By contrast , foreign language essential vary in the U.S. by school system , with nothing set in stone by Union law . Typically , students are n’t even exposed to another language until around geezerhood 13 or 14 , which makes fluency hard to amount by . Just 25 percent of American adult mouth a foreign language , and of those that do , the vast legal age ( 89 percent ) learned it at home rather than at school [ rootage : Devlin ] .
6: ‘Free’ Health Care
Americans might woolgather of a smart set where they do n’t have to pay off out of pocket for wellness care service , pull through for the occasional prescription or ocular and dental divine service . That ’s what brit get , courtesy of their National Health Service ( NHS ) . Some 64.6 million hoi polloi in England , Scotland and Ireland get free wellness care at period of manipulation [ sources : NHS ] .
Of course , it ’s not really " free " since it ’s fund by U.K. taxpayer dollar . But Americans also pay tax dollars that find their mode to health forethought system ( for example for Medicaid and Medicare ) . Yet Americans likely still have to bribe privatehealth insurance policy , as well as pay deductibles , coinsurance fees and any monetary value not covered by their insurance [ source : Romano ] .
European nation manage wellness care in different ways across the continent , but the government commonly funds some or most of it . Sweden for instance , funds most of its system with local taxes and patients pay a token fee for services . In France , it is compulsory to bribe wellness insurance — premiums are deduct from workers ' paychecks . When you go to the doctor , the cost of the visit is reimbursed by the government via a smartcard that is swiped when you visit [ informant : The Guardian ] .
However , as European populations age and need more expensive treatment , their governments look some of the same funding issues that America is deal with . And the NHS , for one , is routinely criticized because patient are subject to excessively prospicient delay time , both for treatment and tests . The British Red Cross have-to doe with to it as a humanitarian crisis , and has been call in to help out in many hospitals [ source : Dalrymple ] . Nevertheless , the U.S. still outspends all European countries on wellness attention ( at 16 percent of GDP ) and yet Americans haveshorter life expectanciesand higher rates of chronic diseases like diabetes [ germ : Paun ] .
5: Gap Years
American high-pitched - schoolers have traditionally launched straight into college , technical school or the job securities industry post - graduation . However , bit by bit they are opting to do what many Europeans has done eternally – take a gap year . In fact , 2006 to 2014 understand a 20 percent uptick in Americans takinggap years[source : Bridges ] .
The gap year is intended to be a time of personal maturation , where a young person can determine out more about career goal or themselves by volunteering , interning , traveling or learning a foreign language .
U.S. gap twelvemonth programs can be fairly expensive , to the tune of $ 35,000 or so , and the more affordable options are unmanageable to get into . Some colleges ( like Princeton and the University of North Carolina ) do offer gap - year companionship [ source : McPhate ] .
But apart from the toll , Americans are less likely to do gap years because they usually have many opportunities to offer and study abroad while in high school or college . There ’s also a fear among U.S. parent that if their kids take a yr off , they may not inscribe in higher education [ source : Moy ] . But the American Gap Association report that 90 percent of the student who take part in their program inscribe at a four - class instauration within 12 months of finishing their interruption year . Further , 96 percent of students who ’ve enjoy a opening year say that the experience help them evolve as a person [ source : American Gap Association ] .
4: ‘God Is My Co-Pilot’
In 2015 , 53 percentage of Americans saidreligionwas very significant in their lives , compared with 28 percent of Poles ( which was the in high spirits percentage for a European country ) . Just 21 per centum of Brits and 14 per centum of French people say the same affair [ seed : Pew Research ] .
So why has faith remained so democratic in the U.S. ? One theory is that since churches there are n’t fund by the state , they have to be market - driven for live — which may explain the popularity of megachurches tricked out like rock sports stadium , as well asprosperity gospelpreachers like Joel Osteen who have a substance that Americans ( and others ) like to try . About 37 percentage of Americans pay heed Christian church weekly . By direct contrast , 80 pct of Norwegians are christen into the state - funded Church of Norway but only2 percentattend religious service weekly .
" When a state creates a relationship with a religion , spiritual leadership no longer have the same impetus to go out and get people excited , " researcherPhilip Schwadel told NPRin 2017 . " They get money from the state through revenue enhancement , so they do n’t have to pull in money from their congregant . "
There are signs that religiosity is declining in the U.S. as well . From 2009 to 2015 , the part of Americans who said their spiritual affiliation was " none " go up from 16 pct to 23 pct of the universe — among millennials , it was 35 percentage [ source : Pew Research ] .
3: Metric System
In the U.S. , measurement is all about base , ounces and Fahrenheit . Most everywhere else , however , the great unwashed habituate meters , liters and Celsius . American idolatry to their primitive arrangement , called the U.S. customary organisation , dates way back to 1821 when then - Secretary of State John Quincy Adams enjoin thanks , but no thanks , to goingmetric . President Andrew Johnson sign up a legal philosophy in 1866 that allow contracts , courtyard proceedings or transaction to use the metric system , but it fail to take off .
In 1975 , the Metric Conversion Act was pass on , along with the Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 making another effort at encourage adoption of the organisation . The integral trouble is that all of these " laws " are " voluntary , " meaning that Department of State , businesses and anyone else can espouse the organisation if they want to , but they do n’t have to [ source : Guzman ] .
It ’s a infliction in the cervix to learn a new measurement system , so who ’s give way to do it if it ’s not mandated ? ( Government mandate is how themetric systemtook hold in many countries . The U.K. went metric in the 1960s . ) Experts arrogate , however , that failure to devolve in line with the rest of the world make doing stage business extremist - confusing and actually hurt the American economy [ informant : National Institute of Standards and Technology ] . Oddly , the metric system has take hold in some quoin of the U.S. economy — such as the 2 - liter soda . Which convey us to our next difference .
2: Supersize Me
Back in the 1990s in the U.S. , acheeseburgerwas 4.5 ounces ( 128 Gram ) and a soda was 6.5 ounces ( 192 milliliters ) . Fast - forward 20 class and the typical Warren E. Burger is now 8 ounces and the soda is 20 snow leopard [ source : NHLBI ] . No curiosity 36.5 percent of Americans are obese [ generator : CDC ] .
Portion sizes in Europe are smaller on average than those found in the United States , where eating place dowery have doubled , even tripled in recent tenner [ seed : NHLBI].WebMDreported in 2003 that a portion size in Paris was 25 percent less than one in Philadelphia . Meanwhile , a typical sodium carbonate swallow in Philly was 52 percent larger than one in Paris .
But the gravid - is - serious trend seems to be taking hold in Europe too . share sizes related to fleshiness have been less extensively study there . But a 2014 bailiwick published in the journal Advances in Nutrition found that lot drift in Europe are mirroring American habit , especially in the arenas of fast intellectual nourishment and bite foods [ source : Livingstone ] .
Some 23 percent of women and 20 percentage of men in the E.U. are obese and the numbers are growing [ source : WHO ] . Experts have called for the European Union to follow the U.S. ’s lead and mandate serving sizes and nutritional information on food packages . This would forfend disarray , because as it stands now , case-by-case brand can mold their own [ rootage : Michail ] .
1: Très Chic or No Très Chic?
Europeans often say you’re able to tell anAmerican tourista mile off : the cargo shorts , T - shirt with a sports squad logo and sneakers are dead giveaways . Meanwhile Americans say you could spot European tourists in the U.S. because they wear socks with sandal , know how to bind a scarf and never smile at strangers . Generalize much ?
We can say this : While Americans willdress upat times , they commonly do n’t . They put a lot of time value on comfortable , functional clothes , like yoga trouser , running shoes and loose - fitting acme — particularly when traveling . Europeans are bang to prefer sew , word form - fitting vesture , often in muted colors . In fact , some travel blogs insist that the American tourist who wishes not to stand out in Europe should debar common press staples , like bright colored jacket , lean shoe and outsize MT - shirts [ sources : Polla , The Savvy Backpacker ] .
The advent of casual apparel stateside can be traced back to the addition of sportswear , then shorts into American wardrobes in the early 1900s . Women later began to get into comfortable , all - intention unisex apparel , like jeans , cardigans and MT - shirts , further encouraging a shift away from binding , uncomfortable apparel .
Fashion historiographer Deirdre Clementewrote in a piece for TIME , " To dress casual is quintessentially to dress as an American and to know , or to woolgather of bread and butter , degraded and promiscuous and happy-go-lucky . … But for all the minute and articles , I ’ve long know why I dress casual . It feels good . "
Lots More Information
I ’ve been to Europe and I ’ve host Europeans here in the U.S. We always delight discussing and lionise the departure between the part . That said , there ’s no place like home , land of chalk cubes , large cupboard and magniloquent door frames that I wo n’t hit my head on .
