Fireworks. I could do without experiencing another 4th of July or otherwise light show.
Flag or other patriotic tshirts. (I like the flag! I fly it at our house! Don’t need to wear it!)
The over the top Christmas holiday experience. Enjoy a small celebration but really breathe a sign of relieve when it’s January 8 and the wacko shopping/prepping/celebrating slows down.
Hey, don’t pick on me - others have also noted part of being American is the diversity. I’m certainly not offended.
It’s interesting that people associate nationality with interest in various sports. In my personal experience, men are typically interested in all sports but women more specific - certain kinds of sports or favorite teams, for example.
Is a liking for certain foods typically American? I like hot dogs (but only all beef), hamburgers, and corn on the cob, but not a fan of apple pie. And I don’t care for beer.
US flags are not supposed to be used as wearing apparel anyway.
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title4/chapter1&edition=prelim (§8(d))
When I was twenty (long time ago) I traveled in Europe with my parents (not our first trip). In one city (maybe Copenhagen?) I stayed at a youth hostel just to meet people, while my parents stayed at a hotel. I joined a random group of friendly people of various origins setting out for the evening from the hostel.
People were speaking different languages and, typical of Europe, it seemed most everyone knew a second or third. People were translating for others back and forth among the group in German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, etc. No one was speaking English. I had studied Spanish in school and done summer exchanges In Spain and Denmark as a teen, so spoke Spanish within the group and understood little smatterings of other languages. At one point everyone asked where everyone was from. When they got around to me, I made them guess (pretty obvious that Spanish was not my first language). People kept naming countries, but no one guessed correctly. When I told them I was from the US, the main reaction was surprise.
My appearance is pretty milquetoast Caucasian-American. It’s not that I was ashamed to be from the US, exactly, but there WERE a lot of obnoxious and clueless American tourists around and I always wanted to be a person of the world. I can’t tell you how happy I felt at that moment.
@inthegarden Your story reminded me of our experience in Jordan. We were visiting our youngest who was there for the semester studying abroad and we stayed with his host family in a guest room. We took local cabs around Amman. Every single cab driver couldn’t believe we were native American because our youngest spoke Arabic at least well enough for them to understand and “Americans don’t speak Arabic.” Add to that, “Americans don’t take local cabs. They come on tours or hire private drivers and they stay in fancy hotels.”
It’s fun breaking stereotypes. We had one share fresh na’an with us and another share tea. Each one welcomed us to their country and hoped we had a great time. We did.
Here at home 99% of the people we came in contact with thought we were crazy to go to the Middle East. “It’s way too dangerous!” and “They don’t like us over there!” Even my dad flat out told me, “I thought you were the smart one.” My sister told me he kept telling everyone we were going to die.
I wish many stereotypes could get broken, but H and I did fit into one in that we don’t speak Arabic. He’s decent in Spanish and I’m decent in French so we do ok in most places. In Jordan I’m glad we had my son to help translate so we could delve into more local things.
yes, or the inevitable BDubs, which i despise with a passion. Years ago i started bringing authentic Sichuan Green beans, Egg tarts, Dan Dan noodles, and Orange Duck(real oranges, not the pablum like sauce) to team get togethers. Got some weird looks, then one kid dug in, got an odd look on his face, then had some more, then we were cleaned out.
After that, the kids started demanding it.
I don’t think you have to dig very far below the surface to find that there are many weird and wonderful varieties of “normal” Americans. I sometimes think it is merely a lazy narrative to present people as typical, or homogenous, when often they are anything but.
Define typical.
Def. of typical = being a true example of its kind;
standard; normal; usual; average; conventional; orthodox; representative;
I grew up as odd American, and continue to be so to a diminished extent. Born in Canada, I was brought up with the Scottish values of my dad, who essentially said most things American were inferior to British, but he was here for the job opportunities, and enjoyed the crazy initiative of some of his co workers in Arizona as well as loved the geography of the southwest. Sports as well as most organized religion was ridiculed in my house. I was naturalized at a point to get a passport. My mom is American and I could be a member of DAR on her side.
Here in the upper midwest, sports is king and I still don’t care a whit. I’ve learned to respect organized religion, though don’t partipate. My accent is mistaken for Canadian because I pronounce my Rs. I am careful to wear black shoes and socks in Europe to fit in. I no longer eat chocolate biscuits, because they make me fat, though I love them. I have a passing familiarity with many world languages and travel functionality in about 5, if rusty. I prioritize travel over real estate and cars. I have never eaten a fast food hamburger.
There are American commonalities, but also regional commonalities. I find it helpful to understand these tendencies, as one accepts the individual for the various influences in their makeup.
Creekland, my son spent 24 hours in Jordan at a point. At 6’4 he is tall and strongly built and fits in nowhere. People were coming to him in the street asking for directions as they thought he was Jordanian. He loved feeling that he fit in somewhere.
H and I were in Germany years ago, drinking in a bierstube, just meeting another couple who were German. They said to my husband, “I see you have an American wife!” So I must look or dress ‘typically American’ but husband does not? He’s American also.
I don’t know about “American,” but there are a few things that our friends and neighbors have found odd or atypical about us over the years:
I don’t care for beer, baseball, or fireworks either as others upthread have mentioned, and the list of common foods I won’t eat has often evoked “That’s un-American!”
@creekland, people in Lebanon are shocked when our middle son speaks Arabic fluently with them. It was so fun visiting him and seeing him converse with all the locals. People were so pleased that we had taken the time to visit their country. We were considered unusual because not many Americans take the time to go. I’m so glad we got to go while it was safe.
Our son has been accused of being a spy more than once - why would an American study English in Beirut, ha?
Along the same line of experience, I was questioned by the KGB in Moscow, Russia in the 1970s.
As a side note: I have never met anyone who speaks English as well as that very distinguished, senior KGB agent.
@“great lakes mom” Surprised to hear you say your 6’4" son " fits in nowhere. " That seems sad. H and both sons are taller than that and don’t seem to feel that way. Sons are tall, thin,blonde or light brown haired , blue eyed. In Iceland, people started talking to younger son in their language, thinking he was a local. Older son was in Norway on business a few years ago and same thing. Funny thing though, their ancestors are not from those countries. Scotland, Sweden, England, Netherlands, Germany but no Iceland, no Norway!
I don’t have Amazon Prime. Actually I seldom order from Amazon and am not sure of my password
Well, almost all of my “nontypical” things have already been taken. Does not wearing makeup count?
@stradmom I don’t wear makeup and have never dyed my hair. Pays to be naturally beautiful! 
I also don’t wear makeup and have never dyed my hair, despite starting to go gray in my 20s!
As mentioned by others here, I don’t like baseball or apple pie.
“Are there things someone could say about you that would knock you out of “typical” for your nationality?”
It is probably very typical for a recent university graduate to work an extra odd job to help make ends meet.
What might be a bit odd is that a daughter got an extra job looking after a horse that was injured a few weeks back. I regularly get a text with a photo of a horse’s butt. The most recent was two days ago.
The horse’s butt is recovering well.
sevmom, thanks for your concern! My S has lived in China as well as Latin America, where he does stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. His European travel has mostly been in the south, Spain and Italy. He is ok, but found Jordan remarkable!