this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 months ago (7 children)

British.

I found a lot of things weird, but I did go to Florida like 8 times so it’s to be expected and maybe some of these are exclusive to that state.

  • I found it weird that alcohol seemed to be sold only in liquor stores. But you can buy a machine gun in Walmart.
  • The food. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice and all but the quantity. Take sizzlers, you go in order your main meal then get an endless buffet for free. Like I couldn’t eat my steak when it arrived as I was full from the buffet.
  • syrup all over breakfast items and people bigger than id ever seen were gorging and then taking a box home too.
  • enthusiasm: grown ass adults whooping and hollering as we were queuing for rides. I’m a man child myself but it was startling.
  • Jaywalking. Wtf

To throw out some positives. Everyone I met was lovely and nothing like the nut jobs we get to see online. People were polite, friendly and accommodating.

Beautiful nature and national parks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Alcohol sales vary hugely between states. In some states, you can get hard liquor at Wal-Mart while in others you can only get it at state run stores.

The rules about licensing mean some areas gas stations usually don't even sell beer, while in other places they have giant walk in beer freezers.

Some states or counties have dry laws where they don't sell alcohol on Sundays, or maybe no hard alcohol, or maybe you have to wait until noon to be able to buy it.

It's all over the place.

As for the Wal-Mart machineguns, I think you've gotten enough replies on that detail, but again gun sales are something with huge variety. Some states have put restrictions in place where a Wal-Mart theoretically could still sell guns but doesn't because of the hassle, and gun stores end up being few and far between, while other places basically just have the Federal minimum in place.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Beautiful nature and national parks.

as an american, this is one of the things i'm most proud of, the sheer amount of geographical variety we have in this country is incredible. I dont think there is anything quite like this country anywhere else in the world.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago

The alcohol thing is really just an east coast thing, and Utah.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Most of these vary by state, save for enthusiasm, jaywalking, and the national parks, which are universal, haha. My Canadian bf is amused by how excited I get to go biking/skiing/other outdoor activities :)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You definitely cannot buy a machine gun in Walmart...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I definitely saw guns. Maybe shot gun?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

There are plenty of guns sold, machine guns haven't been sold as new since 1986 and have had a special process for purchase since the 1930s.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I guess when I say machine gun I’m meaning (incorrectly) a rifle like an AR-15. Whether it be single shot (is that semi-auto) or automatic. Although I believe you can’t get autos as that’s why people use bump stocks; I again guess.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Bump sticks are ineffective as a way to increase fire rate and are a gimmick. They are notoriously unreliable. If you want to be scared, look up binaries triggers(or don’t) but they aren’t really used in crime. Other than a case here in my state, and I believe one other. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the scary looking guns that kill most people. The majority of gun reported shootings, are suicides, or, inner city crime. Neither of which I condone by any means, however, people are not walking around with bump stocks.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

There are plenty of guns sold, machine guns haven't been sold as new since 1986 and have had a special process for purchase since the 1930s.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act

See the section on "Ban on new automatic firearms"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Most grocery stores sell alcohol in Florida, but only the beer and while variety. Hard liquor is only available in liquor stores. FL is actually a lot less restricted on that than many other states.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah. In Maryland all alcoholic beverages are in a liquor store. Walmart legally does not sell beer or wine there. Not gas stations. Nor anywhere other than the "packy store".

Its hella inconvenient.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I found it weird that alcohol seemed to be sold only in liquor stores. But you can buy a machine gun in Walmart.

That might be a Florida thing(?) Definitely not an Ohio thing.

The food. Don’t get me wrong it’s nice and all but the quantity. Take sizzlers, you go in order your main meal then get an endless buffet for free. Like I couldn’t eat my steak when it arrived as I was full from the buffet.

Yeah buffets aren't all that common... But they're probably more common here (especially in touristy spots) than other countries.

  • syrup all over breakfast items and people bigger than id ever seen were gorging and then taking a box home too.
  • enthusiasm: grown ass adults whooping and hollering as we were queuing for rides. I’m a man child myself but it was startling.

Fair.

  • Jaywalking. Wtf

Yeah... Especially in touristy spots and very urban spots some people don't care. I'm assuming you've witnessed Florida man that cuts across 6 lanes of busy traffic.

I think the average American normally only jaywalks if the street is pretty much empty and they don't feel like waiting 3 minutes for the light to change.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I think there may be a misunderstanding. The concept of jaywalking is nuts to me, and many Europeans. The USA has made it illegal to… walk? In the Netherlands, we don’t even have a word for this. It’s just walking. Traffic participation while not in a car.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Surely there's some sort of "you can't just jump out in the middle of traffic" law though? That's basically what our jaywalking laws "do" (in the limited cases where they're enforced).

There are of course the exceptions where someone gets a bit power trippy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There’s just a general “don’t do absurdly dangerous traffic things” law that regulates that you can’t skateboard on the highway and such. Do people need a law to tell them that they can’t throw themselves into traffic? And does it work?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

I mean, it's also illegal to try and kill yourself, or do various other dangerous stuff. So... Maybe?

Plus, it's not so much about the pedestrian safety as it is keeping traffic moving by stopping pedestrians from just walking out in front of cars wherever they please. I'm not sure how that precedent is set, since I assume most other countries also give pedestrians the right of way (in the places they're supposed to cross).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

It depends on the place and the cop that is present, but jaywalking isn't often enforced. It's a law to try to protect people from crossing the street and getting injured by cars that may not see them crossing. Instead of crossing anywhere, they are supposed to cross at a specific area where cars already are supposed to stop. Since jaywalking is against the law (even if it isn't enforced well), it will stop some people from crossing the street in the middle of a road, and it may save a few lives. It's kinda dumb, but if it helps a few people, I have no problem with it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a documentary. Ignore the cartoons. Oil companies bought up and paved over our trolleys in the 1920s and invented jaywalking to prioritize cars. It was a way to punish and imprison poor people, and likely, considering the rest of the history of this country, was predominantly enforced on people of color

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Absolutely, oil and car companies. And they were behind the push for highway bypasses (conveniently running through immigrant and PoC neighborhoods) and suburbs (many of them redlined and outright racial exclusionary.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I'm an american who has been to a lot of different american cities. It very much depends on the city for jaywalking. Its hard to predict too. Somewhere like manhattan idk why they even bother putting lights up tbh. But other places if you jaywalk people will look at you like ur crazy.