Know what a country code top level domain is?

Ever notice anything about American URLs compared to URLs from other countries?

I tried to change pounds to dollars in Florida in the 1990s. The lady read the conversion details backwards (it was probably 1.25 dollars to the pound at the time) and gave me the opposite ratio (works out at 0.80).

When I pointed out the error, she said "The US dollar is the strongest currency in the world, sir! It's always point-something" and refused to believe me.

This was at a bank. The manager had to be called. Neither of them were happy to discover the truth and both resented having to eventually give me the correct exchange!

i'm not from the US and i feel it all the time here on the threadiverse. in most cases i don't feel there is any malicious intent so i don't nitpick(?) about it though

The only weird thing I sometimes witnessed was that, when I waited tables, Americans paid in Euro or via credit card and then proceeded to leave me a tip in US Dollar. Surely this poor European must crave the strong currency of the US over his weird colorful banknotes.

Oh, and in northern European countries they stick out enormously on account of their loudness when just speaking amongst themselves.

It's a real phenomenon I've only observed online, luckily not in person as usually people who travel here care about learning about the world. It's not a top 10 tourist spot.

Online examples I've seen plenty of:

• Assuming someone is from the same jurisdiction, especially in legal matters, or asking "which state are you in"?
• Going into a non-US national instance and making one-sentence replies about Democrats and Republicans on irrelevant political matters (most countries like their self-identified republicans)
• Going into a non-US national site and assuming a company name is an American company with a similar name (reasonable, but still an example). For example, we have an NBC, and it's very different.

I think the "Speak English!" example isn't defaultism as much as it's chauvinism. Defaultism seems more like telling them to leave if they don't speak English.

Someone from the states told me that canada needs its own banking system urgently because of trump tarrifs. Comrade, we were able to pay at stores directly from our bank accounts decades before you could (i.e., it was instant, no pending debit transactions).

I notice this often in comments of political topics. Even if not involving the US, positions are often labeled very bipolar, e.g. as “liberal” or “conservative”. But they don’t seem to realize that those terms describe totally different political standpoints in different countries. Not sure tho if this bipolar thinking can be considered US-centric or if it’s just how they are raised to think.

I see it all the time even here on Lemmy. Americans love to wade into international communities and act like the US perspective always applies.

A recent example would be a discussion in a UK community about upgrading ANPR cameras to catch ghost plates, but a couple of yanks decided to pop in and get angry about Flock cameras, despite the fact that ANPR tech has been around without controversy for decades here.

It’s not ALL Americans, obviously, but it’s enough of them that it’s a known issue.

I’ve always felt like as long as you’re in English speaking places in the web, you’ll get mostly Americans anyway as they have the largest English speaking population.

Like when I see family members or friends with a different native language online, they are always usually following people and pages in their own language.

Nobody defaults to Americanism in Arabic spaces for example.

So there will always be a majority of Americans on English language websites, and that’s why it always be American centric.

Oh its real. In communities where there is an explicit rule about only being for local things will always have a post somewhere about the numpties and the poster always says something along the lines of "This non us place is mentioned in the US article so its OK to post."

Look at any help community, the numpties will post about a hyper specific problem but not where they are, or just an abbreviation expecting everyone to know what MS or OK is.

A combination of defaultism and exceptionalism happens very often. An American I knew got surprised we weren’t celebrating Thanksgiving… he had to think it through to figure it out. Another asked me if in Europe there is AC. Many are surprised that not everyone knows fluent English. Here on Lemmy many times statements are made assuming that everyone lives like in US… I sometimes get annoyed at that - my bad.

The US invented the internet (and the UK invented the world wide web), so English is the lingua franca of the internet for better or worse. Most people on the internet who speak English as a first language are from the US, and with the algorithmic nature of most of our online interactions being borderless, people in the US get fed non-US content all the time. If there's not anything obvious signifying that they are seeing content from another country, confirmation bias will lead them to think it is US-relevant content.

I will say, on the money thing, there are a lot of countries that use USD from an official (or unofficial) capacity. The US is also pretty cashless at this point, so it's possible that people have used their card overseas no problem, and not realized that their bank was doing an exchange in the background. Then they get to somewhere cash-only that doesnt also take USD, and suddenly experience their money is not good. Still stupid to be a dick about it when it's your own fault, but idiots all around the world respond poorly when subject the the consequences of their own mistakes.

Because VISA and Mastercard are the worldwide banking standards and the US empire has made itself the global reserve currency (eliminating anyone who didn't play along) you can pay virtually everywhere with dollars and it's kinda strange when you can't unless you're in a nation revolting against US oppression

Regarding travel, it isn't typical for US defaultism for Americans traveling abroad. However, not typical doesn't mean that it doesn't happen in some forms.

Regarding currency, a lot of countries and regions will take American currency. Some smaller Caribbean countries peg their dollars to the American dollar 1:1. Some touristy regions around the world will also take American currency, usually at inflated prices. Or, you may have a tourist who has run out of the local currency and only has American cash on hand. It isn't typical, but it likely happens and everyone remembers the few idiots who don't know that France uses Euros.

Regarding language, it can be stressful for some to be in an area where people are speaking in a language you don't understand, especially if you are used to people only speaking your language. Yelling "Speak English" could be someone having a panic attack or just expressing frustration that they can't interact with society like they could at home. Sure, there is likely some racism and ignorance wrapped up in that. However, I'm providing an explanation, not an excuse.

Its real. Just take a look on how many Google or apple features are only available in us and maybe uk.

In my opinion, Americans and Canadians have a very similar attitude when abroad. They are loud and opinionated which can be both good and bad and they sometimes feel a bit like elephants in a china shop. They have no idea that how they behave, which is perfectly polite and normal in their own countries, is considered extremely clumsy and borderline rude in ours.

Americans are showmen by nature. They can't help it (Canadians have a bit of a similar streak in that regard). It feels very fake in my culture even though I understand that you kinda have to be a showman in America in order to fit in. I consider myself pretty out going and loud by Danish standards, but next to an American or a Canadian, I become very mousy. They are just that extreme when put in the nordic context.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. I knew a couple of Americans who were really chill and didn't try to "sell" me anything. One of them was an extremely introverted, but deep thinking writer, who might as well have been scandinavian himself because he never wanted to take up space and he was very soft spoken. Another was technically a total showman, until you learned that he had raging ADHD and had to stand up and move around while he spoke. He was very down to earth and real when you looked past his yoga poses during his talks. He had hated the hectic world in the city and built a cabin in the woods for him and his family. The third, ironically, became obsessed with our food culture, which shocked the hell out of me because our food culture is notoriously repulsive to foreigners. This woman lived entirely of rye bread, pickled fish, salty licorice, potatoes and every other food group that we pickle. All the pickled food. She looked like a feral animal at lunch time and was like: Gotta get my fill while I'm here because once I'm back in the States, I'll never eat this good again.

We respected her immensely.

Most americans (and canadians) I have met irl have been good people, even with the showmanship. I have met a handful of truly ignorant and obnoxious assholes, but I have mostly forgotten about them while I remember the nice ones more.

Online americans are obnoxious af, though.

I'm Australian and I've been to only a few countries. But my experience with people from the US when I'm travelling overseas is that they're respectful and understanding that they are in another country.

Regarding your comment regarding the Internet, US defaultism generally happens as Americans are a plurality of English speaking people on several major platforms and a lot of news in non-English speaking countries is usually written in the local language and discussed in the local language. So, the assumption is generally that the person is American, especially if they are taking a point of view somewhat in line with American politics.

I've seen a lot of angry comments from too online leftists on Lemmy telling the person they are talking with that they hope the other person dies in a fire as America falls, with the response being "I'm not American".

A lot of people understand American politics because it is written in the language in which the Internet was developed and so much is written. Without other context clues, people may not see that someone within the boundaries of American politics may be from another country.

On the other hand if you say you prefer inches to centimeters you'll get piled on. I'm Canadian btw but inches suit my needs.

If only they'd have made a metre equal a yard...

-thanks for proving my point lemmy.