有哪些美国人觉得没什么,但其实特别美国的东西?
What's an incredibly american thing americans don''t realize is american?
译文简介
一些美国的独特文化。
正文翻译

What's an incredibly american thing americans don't realize is american?
有哪些美国人觉得没什么,但其实特别美国的东西?
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Universities in Europe are simply institutions of higher learning, nothing more.
欧洲的大学只是高等教育机构而已,没别的了。
美国人在大学教育方面会因为文化上的巨大区别而感到惊讶。欧洲的大学里没有运动队,没有兄弟会和姐妹会,也没有30英尺高的攀岩墙。你来大学里就是学习的,今天的课程结束之后你就走了。如果你想要学习,你可以去图书馆,但是除了学术之外,一所大学能够提供的东西非常少。
"Where are you from?"
“你是哪里人?”
澳大利亚人:澳大利亚 日本人:日本 印度人:印度 美国人:得克萨斯
I used to work in a call Center that took calls from Americans and Canadians. I’d ask “Where are you from, Canada or the US?” Canadians would say “Canada” and American would say “Texas” or “New York” etc. Never ever would they reply with their country name.
我曾经在一个呼叫中心打电话,那里接待的都是美国人和加拿大人的电话。我会问,“你来自哪里,加拿大还是美国?”加拿大人会说“加拿大”,但美国人会说“德克萨斯”或“纽约”之类的。从来没有人会回答自己国家的名字。
Might just be me, but I do notice when you ask Americans on the internet where they're from, they reply with either a state or a city instead of their country.
或许只有我一个人这么想,但是我确实发现当你在网上问美国人他们来自哪里的时候,他们要么回复的是州的名字,要么回复的是城市的名字,而不是自己的国家。
而且重点在于这不会导致任何的困惑,因为绝大多数人都知道美国的绝大多数州叫什么,以及至少那些主要城市叫什么。
但举个例子,你不会经常看见一个印尼人说他来自西爪哇。他只会说他来自印尼。
I also find that Americans oft include where they were born. For example "I'm from Philly but originally from Jersey.
我还发现美国人经常会加上自己是哪里出生的。比如说,“我来自费城,但我是新泽西出生的。”
编辑:我知道美国是个大国,有很多不同的地区,我是个加拿大人,但我发现加拿大人通常都不会这么回答,尽管加拿大也很大。
100%. Small nuance: I don't think it's where you're born, rather where you were raised.
太准确了。小的修改:我觉得那个不是你出生的地方,而是你长大的地方。
其实也挺说得通的。我在迈阿密长大,但是已经在纽约市住了好几年了。如果我现在去得州,遇到人问我是哪里的人,我觉得说自己是迈阿密人并不对,因为我已经七年没去过迈阿密了,并且它的变化已经很大了……但是与此同时,我也不好说我是个纽约人,因为我不是土生土长的纽约人,但是说我来自纽约的话差不多就意味着我是在纽约长大的。所以两个都说清楚是说得通的。
I’ve lived in 7 states, but only just moved to the latest one, but I haven’t lived in my “childhood” state in 20 years, so when someone asked where I’m from, I’m never really sure what to say.
我在七个州生活过,但最近才搬到第七个州,而且我也有二十年没有在“童年时代”的州生活过了,所以有人问我来自哪里的时候,我真的不太确定自己该说什么。
On a similar note, Americans seem to use England, Britain and the UK completely interchangeably. Likewise, I've had an Irish colleague of mine tell a story abkut how he spent 5 minutes having to explain the difference between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and that just because he's from Ireland doesn't mean he's from the United Kingdom.
类似的,美国人似乎觉得英格兰,不列颠和联合王国这三个词用起来完全没有区别。我有个爱尔兰的同学跟我讲过,他花了五分钟的时间向一个而美国人解释北爱尔兰和爱尔兰共和国的区别,以及他来自爱尔兰不代表他来自联合王国。
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I'm an American who moved to Germany and people always say this like it's some weird thing we do, but whenever I get asked where I'm from and just say "the US", the next question is ALWAYS which state/city. Without fail.
我是个在德国住的美国人,人们总是说起这一点,就好像是我们的怪癖一样,但是每次我被别人问我是哪里人,然后我回答“美国”的时候,下一个问题永远是哪个城市或者哪个州。
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I think that the common expectation about this dialog in European brain is like - ask where they are from, get a country. If country is big/known to you, then ask where exactly. If the country is small or you have no knowledge of it, then you say ok, cool. At least I heard it multiple times, when someone says they are from Italy, then they are often asked if from Rome/Sicily/Florence etc. if they say they are from Bosnia, Malta or Andorra (no insult) then the conversation pretty much stops there.
我觉得欧洲人脑子里关于这种对话的一般期待就是:问你是哪里人,问到一个国家。如果这个国家挺大,或者你了解,那就接着问具体是哪。如果这个国家挺小,或者你不了解,那你就说好,可以。至少我听过好几次,如果有人说他来自意大利,别人就会继续问他是来自罗马,西西里还是佛罗伦萨。如果有人说他来自波斯尼亚,马耳他或者安道尔(没有贬低的意思),那这段对话基本上就不会继续了。
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Americans do the same with Americans if they're familiar with the state/area someone says they're from. Basically keep narrowing things down until things become unfamiliar
美国人跟美国人聊起天也会这样,如果对于对方的州或者地区感觉熟悉的话。基本上都会继续把话题继续细化下去,直到不熟悉为止。
“你哪儿的?”“印第安纳。”(如果不熟悉印第安纳的话,那话题就结束了,但如果熟悉的话……)“噢,具体哪里?”“拉法叶北边。”“噢,布鲁克斯顿那边?”“差不多,雷诺。”“酷,我从蒙诺市的工厂拉挂车的时候路过过几次。”
Not having to ask for the bill.
不用叫人过来结账。
This was me today at a restaurant in Oslo. It felt rude to call the waitress over to ask for the bill. Am American.
我今天在奥斯陆的一家餐厅就遇到这件事了。感觉把服务生叫过来让他结账挺没礼貌的。我是美国人。
It's curious, I'm European and if someone gave me the bill without asking I would think it's rude because it feels like they're rushing me to leave
这真有趣,我就是个欧洲人,如果有人不问我就过来给我结账的话,我会觉得很粗鲁,因为感觉就像他们在催我走一样。
Lol- I’m american and I asked for the bill at a restaurant in France before we were finished eating because I’m aware of the need to ask for it and we wanted to be able to get up and leave whenever we wanted and not have to flag him down later (the restaurant was getting rather busy and didn’t want to bother him if he was preoccupied later).
哈哈哈——我是个美国人,我在法国的一家餐厅吃饭的时候,在吃完之前我们就叫服务生过来结账了,因为我知道我在这边得叫他们过来,并且我们也希望吃完了想走的时候就可以走,而不用一会儿再叫他一次(那家餐厅正在变得越来越忙,并且如果他之后忙起来的话我也不想打扰他)。
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他当时非常恼火,跟我们说我们不需要急着走。然后他也没有把账单拿过来,而是给我们又续了点水,想让我们再待一会儿。真不好意思这位服务员,我不是有意冒犯你的。
Ranch
牧场沙拉酱
Back when I worked in Panera Bread, a customer asked for ranch; we didn't carry it back then and when we informed him, he said:
我在Panera面包房工作的时候,有个顾客想要牧场沙拉酱。我们当时还没有,然后我们通知他的时候,他说:
“你们都是com...sts吗?!”
currently working at panera and this is a frequent occurrence
我现在就在Panera工作,这种事情经常发生。
I was a manager for Panera in my early 20s. Lady came up and said her french onion soup wasn’t hot enough. No problem, I’ll just get you another cup. Give her a fresh one from the soup well right in front of me. She then proceeds to try it on the counter - mind you other guests’ meals were being plated on that very same counter - and tells me it’s not hot enough. So I proceed to apologize and check the temperature of the soup on the line. It’s definitely hot enough and I showed her. She said the thermometer is broken. I told her there’s nothing I can do but we have a microwave out front if you’d like to use it to heat it up. My boss walks by (I’m shift manager and he’s assistant) and she stops him to tell him that I spit in her soup…
我20多岁的时候在Panera当经理。有个女士过来说她的法式洋葱汤不够热。没问题,我再给你弄一杯。从我正对着的汤桶里给她又盛了一杯,然后她就直接在收银台上尝了一口——其他客人的食物可都在这个收银台上放着呢——然后跟我说不够热。于是我跟她道歉,然后检查了一下汤的温度。绝对足够热,而且我给她看了。她说温度计坏了。我跟她说我实在帮不上忙,但是我们在前面有个微波炉,如果你想用的话可以拿它来加热。这时候我老板走了过来(我是轮班经理,他来帮我),她叫住我老板,说我往她的汤里吐痰……
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幸运的是我的经理知道我是绝对不会对食物做手脚的。他笑了一声,说“这家伙在你的汤里吐痰?女士我很抱歉,但这事儿确实不太可能。”
我不记得最后是怎么回事了,但我记得她滚蛋了,我和Brian乐了好久。
I think you met my sister in law.
你可能是遇见我小姨子了。
对她来说,热的食物是永远也不够热的。
她不能在这坐着,太冷了。不,那边太热了。那边也不行,太吵了。这个离门太近了……
酒真难喝,而且贵得要死。
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她想要这道菜轻轻煎炒。这个根本就是煎火大了。拿回去,照她说的去重新做一遍。
我的天哪,这个地方没人知道怎么做饭吗!她想要上档次的酒。她是个吃过见过的人,她知道自己在说什么。而且她会把评论发布到整个互联网上。她在yelp,猫途鹰和booking.com上有几千个赞!她可不知道为什么要和你们这种人白费心思。
ADDENDUM: Ha ha, whenever I told my friends about SIL’s restaurant behavior they couldn’t believe it. But it’s all true. She’s my husband’s sister. I haven’t gone out with her and her…I think 4th…husband in years.
补充:哈哈,每次我跟朋友们讲我的小姨子在餐厅里的行为的时候,他们都不敢相信。但这就是真的。她是我丈夫的妹妹。我已经有好几年没有跟她和她的……应该是第四任……丈夫吧,一起出过门了。
最搞笑的事——我之前早就有好几年不跟她一起出门了。然后她嫁给了现在这个老公。之前他们带我岳母出去吃饭的时候,我丈夫跟她们一起去了几次。我丈夫是那种想要和所有人都成为好朋友的人。他跟我说起她的那个新老公,然后跟我说“他在餐厅把她训得服服帖帖的。她再也不会再做那种事了。他是不会容忍的。你应该认识认识他。我们去和他们一起出门吧。我发誓,她再也不像之前那样了。”
于是我同意见面了,约定在我们家和他们家之间的一座城吃晚饭,开车大概两小时。我还挺期待认识她老公的。我们一进来,女服务生带我们去餐桌。“我不想坐在这。我想坐在看得见窗户的地方。我需要光。”
然后她就把自己湿漉漉的雨衣和雨伞都扔到了后面那桌的座位上。
女服务生:嘿,别这么做!有人要坐在这的。
小姨子:别搞笑了。现在还不到六点。这地方都是空的,几个小时也坐不满。
这顿晚餐从头到尾都充满了她对餐厅,对服务员,对主厨的痛斥(主厨被从厨房里拉过来跟她对话,因为主厨跟经理说这个女人一个劲地把她的晚餐送回厨房要求重做,她他妈根本不知道这个女人在说什么)。我小姨子像一个在天主教学校里发现有人在厕所打飞机的修女一样对着她怒吼。
我已经不敢吃我的东西了,因为我害怕有人为了报复往里面放东西……如果他们真的这么做了我也不会责怪他们。经理走到了我们这桌,态度非常和善。我说,“我得去一趟洗手间”,然后我找到了服务生和经理。“不好意思”,我说,“别觉得你们做错了什么事。她一直都这样。别管她就行。她是个到处撒脾气的婊子。”
他们听见我,一个衣着得体,态度不错的中年女性把自己吃晚餐的同伴称作“婊子”,还有点震惊。这可是美国,“婊子”这个词可不是其他国家那种想用就用的讽刺性的昵称。它在这的意思是难缠的狗贱货,再乘个一百倍。
此后我就再也没见过她了。我丈夫说,“我真惊讶,我真的以为她老公已经把她训好了。”他然后给她老公发了一封邮件,询问在来餐厅之前是不是发生了什么不好的事情,导致了他妹妹这种无法令人接受的行为(他自己也不敢直接把这封邮件发给他那个婊子妹妹)。
她丈夫的回答是他不知道我丈夫所说的是什么行为。
Haha! You just reminded me of my Dad's ex wife. She took a few cooking classes in France while on vacation and, apparently, all she took away from the lessons was how to complain about how people don't know how to cook properly...
哈哈!你让我想起了我爸的前妻。她在法国度假的时候学了几节烹饪课,显然她从这些课程中唯一学到的就是怎么抱怨别人不会做菜……
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她和她女儿出去吃晚餐的时候,会把给她们上的菜贬低得一无是处。当然那些可怜的服务生和经理就会过来道歉,赔一碟甜品,但是最终这两个女的把自己的名声传遍了整座小城,于是不知为何,她们第二次给任何一家餐厅打电话订位置的时候,都已经没位置了。
我爸爸冷静但是坚定地对她们解释过“或许这些地方不是很认可你那些过度的批评”,然后她的回答,我一字不差地复述一遍:“我们是在给主厨帮个大忙,让他们知道怎么把饭做得更好吃!”真好,她是前妻……
We had a woman send back her bacon for being too crispy TWICE. Poor guy in the kitchen and even our FnB manager was like "we can't do it any less crispy without it not being legally to temperature".
我们遇到过一个女的,两次因为“太脆了”把培根送回来重做。厨房那个可怜的家伙,甚至我们的餐厅经理,都说“我们真的不能在合法的温度下做得再软了。”
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最终我们从备用办公室里叫出另外一个队伍的领班给她做了,似乎让她满意了。但最后给她做的那份几乎都他妈是生的。
哦,而且这还是在一个游戏厅里。谁他妈在乎游戏厅里的东西好不好吃啊?反正都跟屎一样。
Prescxtion drug commercials.
处方药的广告。
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Happy dancing while side effects are being listed
快乐地跳着舞,然后旁边是副作用
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Most of the time, the side effects sound much worse than the disease the drug treats.
绝大多数情况下,那些副作用听起来都比药物治疗的病症本身还可怕。
“头疼了?吃一片头疼灵吧。保证4-6小时缓解疼痛。副作用可能包括感觉迟钝,视觉暂时消失,自杀倾向,肛门出血,以及心力衰竭。请咨询医生头疼灵是否适合你。”
In Canada, drug companies are only allowed to advertise if they never say the name of the drug, OR if they never say what the drug does. They can't do both.
在加拿大,药物企业打广告的时候要么不能在广告里说药物的名字,要么不能说药物的疗效。不能两者一起说。
所以如果你最近看了多伦多蓝鸟队的比赛的话,你就会看见广告上写着“布洛华欣——请 咨 询 医 生”,然后你就会想“布洛华欣他妈是个什么玩意儿”(译注:没有这种药哦,也没有上面的那个“头疼灵”)
或者有时候你们会看见广告里说“你也有高血压吗?有办法治疗!请咨询医生。”但是不会提任何具体的药物名称。
This was the one I noticed the most on my first trip to England. I was watching rhe winter Olympics and couldn't figure out what was weird, then it finally hit me that there were no medical ads. And my family was just like, "yeah, they're illegal here". Which, I think is the right model.
我第一次去英格兰的时候,印象最深的就是这个。当时我在看冬奥会,觉得有哪里怪怪的又说不出来。最后我才想起来,那里没有医药广告。我的家人说,“对,在这边违法。”我觉得这样才是正确的。
It used to be illegal to plainly state what a drug treated, so ads had to just vaguely allude to their indications. Once those restrictions were removed drug ads exploded.
以前直接说药物能治疗什么病是违法的,所以广告只能暗示这个药物的用途。等到这种限制没有了,药物广告就井喷了。
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还要注意到,我们也得给自己的医保花钱,所以药物和其他东西一样,也是一个非常竞争性的商业化行业。
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so ads had to just vaguely allude to their indications.
引用:“所以广告只能暗示这个药物的用途。”
广告开头是一个软趴趴的肉色的长气球,吹不起来。
有个男的吃了一把蓝色小药片。然后开始吹那个气球,气球变得又长又硬。不知道为什么,血管从气球的表面爆了出来。女人开始露出羞涩的神色。
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“今天就去向你的医生咨询伟哥。”
Me and my husband love watching the American feed of NFL. We quite like the drug ads, as they have to list all the side effects and it sound like every drug will kill you. We love laughing at the ads
我和我老公就特别喜欢看美国那边推流的NFL。我们特别喜欢药物广告,因为他们得把所有副作用都列出来,就好像每一种药物都会杀了你一样。我们最喜欢拿这些广告当笑话看了。
Meanwhile that's our idea of healthcare.
而这却是我们医保的核心理念。
Handing your credit card to a stranger, having them walk away, swipe it, then bring it back to like they didn’t just put a down payment on a new house with it…
把你的信用卡交到一个陌生人手里,让他拿着卡走开,刷卡,然后再带回来,丝毫不担心他可能拿这张卡买了一栋新房子……
When I first started working in hospitality, I had an American customer who just gave me their card. I took it to the register, paid the order with a swipe and gave it back. I was told by my manager to never do that again lol.
我刚开始在服务行业工作的时候,有个美国顾客直接把他的信用卡交给了我,我把信用卡带到收银台,刷了一下卡付了款就交回去了。经理跟我说以后再也不要这么做了哈哈哈。
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That wouldn't have been even slightly unusual here in the US. Sometimes you'll even hand a waiter or bartender your card without receiving the check, if you're in a hurry.
这种事放在美国真的一点也不奇怪。有时候你甚至可以在拿到账单之前就把信用卡交到服务生或者酒保手里,如果你着急的话。
When you open a tab at some bars they just keep your card until you ask for the check.
在某些酒吧,如果你开酒单喝酒,他们就会把你的卡留着,直到你结账。(译注:"open a tab"的意思就是你点一杯,酒保往单子上记一杯,最后一起结账,相对的是"pay as you go",喝一杯结一杯的钱)
I'm a bartender and if you open a tab at my bar we hold your card all night until you close out. The stack of cards we have that have been left behind and never picked up is massive
我就是个酒保,如果你在我们酒吧开酒单的话,我们就会把你的信用卡扣一整晚,直到你买单结账。于是我们这边被客人落下没人认领的信用卡多得吓人。
Bold of you to assume we have enough money for that to be a concern.
你还真敢以为我们有够买房的钱,需要担心这种事情。
Mixing three different canned foods together and calling it a casserole.
把三种不同的罐装食品混到一起,然后说这是一道炖菜。
Don't forget to add cheese!
别忘了加点奶酪!
And breadcrumbs on top
顶上再撒点面包碎。
Cream of mushroom, cream of chicken, mushrooms on rice, actual chicken optional. Mom's was awesome lol
蘑菇酱,鸡蓉,还有蘑菇烩米饭,鸡肉可加可不加。我妈可太会做饭了哈哈哈
Free refills at restaurants
饭店免费续杯
and with ice
还带冰块
Many, many years ago I was visiting the south of France with a friend. It was a hot summer day, we stopped at a little bistro and in broken French we asked for water--with ice. The waiter replied in English: "Ah, American Champagne."
很多很多年前我在法国南方和朋友旅游。是夏天,那天非常热,我们走到一家小餐馆,用支离破碎的法语要加冰的水。服务员用英语回答:“啊,美国香槟。”
I was in France and tried to pronounce water. Apparently, my pronunciation was so bad that they just brought out the English menu on an iPad. But…I tried.
我当时在法国,想要说“水”这个词。显然我的发音烂到他们直接把iPad上的英语菜单给我调了出来。我……尽力了。
First time I bought a Coke in Germany it came with no ice so I asked for ice. It came back with one ice cube. I asked for more ice and it came back with two ice cubes. Then I asked for a lot of ice and the waitress said "Oh, you mean like McDonalds?".
我第一次在德国买可乐的时候,里面一个冰块也没有。于是我就让他们加冰。拿回来一看,多了一粒冰块。我又让他们加冰,现在里面是两粒冰块。于是我让他们加很多的冰,女服务员说,“哦,就像麦当劳那种呗?”
In Germany, we were eating at a bit more expensive steak house next to a hotel. Service was just like expected in Germany. At another table I noticed a group of Americans (as far as I could tell by the accent and being next to a hotel I assumed) and I distinctively remember that they were asked if they wanted drinks with ice. We were never asked. Thought it’s interesting that this restaurant seems to train their staff to do their service differently depending on who their guests are.
在德国,我们正在酒店旁边的一家比较贵的牛排店吃饭。提供的服务就是德国很普通的那种。在另一桌,我注意到了一群美国人(我从他们的口音听出来的,而且既然是在一个酒店旁边,所以我是这么假设的),我记得非常清楚服务员特地问了他们饮料要不要加冰。没人问我们。我觉得挺有趣的,因为这家餐厅似乎让自己的服务员依照客人来自哪里去提供服务。
That's wild. The cost of the actual drink is usually a few pennies at most
不会吧。饮料真正的成本也就几美分。
Drinks is how restaurants make a lot of profit in other countries.
在其他国家,饮料才是很多餐厅赚取大量利润的地方。
食物本身的利润空间并不大,因为材料的成本加上烹饪的成本(工资,电费,天然气等等)比起消费者真正付的钱并不会低到拿去。但是如你所说,饮料进货的时候便宜的一比,但卖的时候却很贵。利润空间非常大。
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但我很好奇的是,续杯是只有软饮料才有,对吧?比如红酒或者啤酒就不能免费续杯吧?
Yes, no such thing as free refill on alcohol or anything more complex like coffee drinks. Free refills are mostly a thing because of soda machines where people can quickly dispense their own drinks and it's dirt cheap.
没错,不论是酒精饮料还是比咖啡更复杂的饮料都不会有免费续杯。免费续杯基本上是因为汽水机让人们可以自己给自己打饮料喝,而且非常便宜。
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