Berry’s Blog

  About a year ago I was on vacation with my family in Florida and we were at a restaurant. When we went to order I said to the waiter, “can please have this”?  After this my dad gave me a funny look and something along the lines of “why do you not just tell the waiter what you actual” after this we went down the rabbit hole about differences between Midwest verse northeast mannerisms. The Midwest tends to have the stereotype that everyone is very nice to each other with constant apologizing and small talk. However, in the northeast the stereotype is that they tend to be blunter with less care for how other people view them. The reason that many midwesterners tend to have the mannerisms that they have is due to their roots. Many people in this region are from German and Scandinavian ancestry who were fleeing political turmoil and were driven by the promise of cheap land. Many of these immigrants depended heavily on each other which formed a strong sense of community in these p...

  There exists a common stereotype that French people are rude. This stereotype can be seen in Sedaris’s piece “Me Talk Pretty One Day”. However much of this steams from differences in the cultures of many places. In the United States, especially in the restaurant industry, people will often act kind for no apparent reason. However, this is likely due to the risk of losing a big tip if a waiter acts rude or mean. However, in France this is not the case. Tipping culture is not even close to as big of a thing so there is less pressure for people to act kind for no apparent reason. There could also be a social media aspect to this as well. American tend to use social media more than their French counterparts. This means that Americans have a greater risk of becoming famous for all the wrong reasons if they are caught being rude or ungrateful. While this is undoubtably a newer phenomenon, it could explain part of the reason that American view the French like this.  Another big par...

  To be able to rent a car in the United a person generally has to be twenty-five years of age or be over twenty-one years of age and pay a “young driver”. The only notable exceptions are the states of Michigan and New York where eighteen-year-olds are able to rent a car, which stand as the only places in the United States where people of this age actually have freedom. For a lot of kids when they turn eighteen and graduate high school they are shipped away from their homes to a university in an attempt to get them grow up under the guise of “education”. Eighteen-year-olds are also able to go join the armed forces and fight in wars. They are also able to vote in elections for who the leaders of this country will be. Here are some other random things that can be done by an eighteen-year-old, buy a pet, buy fireworks, skydive, buy spray paint, adopt a child, get tattoos, file a lawsuit. While all of these things can be done, RENTING the most common type of transportation cannot be do...