zlacker

>>helsin+(OP)
I have spent < an year in US (mostly in California) and found the America behaviour to be very polite in speech but indifferent/mean in actions. The passive aggressive behavior seemed quite common.

As an outsider sometimes you are not aware of cultural norms, but I always felt the margin for error for what Americans considered "acceptable" was too narrow. There was no benefit of doubt, and sometimes an explicit dislike for someone who did not immediately fit in.

>>jatins+a3
From the other side, I'm American who spent time in Europe and I felt similar.I don't want to use the term “uptight” but I can't think of a better word.

No, I’m not trying to be disrespectful and I’m doing my best to be respectful. But it was culture shock and I wasn't used to the array of “we don’t do that here” and “you can’t dress like that there” etc. I was kind of on eggshells in many interactions over things that noone would give a second thought to in the US.

(For context, I visited The Netherlands, Belgium, and France)

>>ajdude+ia
Could you give examples of what kind of behaviours generated a "we don't do that here" or "you can't dress like that there"? Dutch/Belgian and French culture are quite different, even between Dutch and Belgian there are enough differences to create some friction, and I'm asking for examples because I would never expect a "you can't dress like that there" from Dutch people, for example.

Uptight, surely, there are plenty of pockets of uptight cultures in Europe, even more in their largest cities. I consider Stockholm uptight as fuck but on the other hand I'd say that Malmö is pretty relaxed.

Using Europe as a single, homogeneous thing is the same mistake as calling the USA a homogeneous culture. There are traces of culture in both places that are quite orthogonal across many regions but there's so many regional differences that it becomes irrelevant.