Quick reminder that "Europe" is a mosaic of countries, and that there is a huge difference between let's say, Portugal, Austria and Latvia.
I don't really think there is a country which would be so liberal regarding marriage that you could get married by Elvis or a Machine on short notice amd drunk just to get laid (on the other hand, most European cultures stopped caring about marriage, and donxt need it to get laid or have kids)
Yeah, the region in question was meant to be broad since this is a pretty specific and peculiar subject.
Kinda like when people lump California and Alabama together when talking about Americans. Annoying, isn't it?
The differences between California and Alabama are still an order of magnitude or more smaller than between e.g. Portugal and Latvia.
I live in California. I've been to Alabama, Portugal, and Latvia (just this year for the Baltics, great places). I disagree.
Parts of the deep south are just fucking alien in a way I've never felt anywhere else.
Different places in Europe are, of course, different. But different in a way you can wrap your head around with an undercurrent of commonality. The same things being done in interestingly different ways by normal people.
The sense of dislocation and strangeness I feel in certain (not all) places in the deep south is far beyond anything I've experienced, not just in Europe, but also Asia, South America, and North Africa.
I was born and raised in California and came to Texas twenty years ago. You would think I'd be completely desensitized to the whole living in a Confederate state thing. On the rare occasion that I find myself in the interior of Mississippi, I really do not feel like I'm on the same planet let alone the same country. That place is its own existence.
It isn't bullshit. I don't what else to tell you. 50 states, each with their own cultures and dialects. If you don't want to believe it, that's your business, but that's the way it is.
Not really, that would be more like lumping the states Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein together when talking about Germans.
Naw, that's more like LA vs SF when talking about Californians. Different beliefs, social behavior, dialects, history, architecture, etc.
You guys really need to get away from lumping Americans in the same bin in conversation. The US is huge and covers more diverse cultures in a single state than most people understand. We're friends with Europeans, regardless of what country you're from. We love you guys! Stop falling victim to propaganda and remember that we are allies.
As a Virginian living in Sweden, I think it's actually true that that the US is more culturally homogeneous than Europe. Someone from the East Coast and the West Coast still watches the same TV shows, goes to the same restaurants, and votes for the same president. It's hard to tell the differences in accent between the West Coast and the East Coast.
There's probably a bigger cultural difference between Richmond, VA and Lynchburg, VA (home of Liberty University), than there is between Richmond and Seattle.
In Europe, you can go 100 miles and find people who watch different shows, have different political parties, and speak an entirely different language.
The US was founded all roughly at the same time under the same government, with minor differences based on immigration and former colonial history. In contrast, Europe is dozens of different countries with widely different histories and language groups.
Other countries, like Russia and China probably have more cultural diversity than the US due to their languages and histories, but not as much as the EU.
One of the goals of the EU is to bridge these gaps between countries so that business can be conducted across political and language barriers, to make Europe have as much unified strength as the US. The EU has a larger population than the US, and nearly as much GDP, but you couldn't tell on the global stage, because it's not a unified force.
Dang...6 day old response and I just got the notification. Sorry!
They are not tiny by comparison, which is what I'm trying to convey. For one, we have every culture in the world fully represented here across multiple regions. If that isn't enough to convince you, take a trip that includes maybe LA, Seattle, Idaho, Minnesota or anything adjacent, NYC, south Florida, Alabama or Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. I doubt this will convince you, but I have to at least try. It really bothers me when people say shit like "Americans are x," completely discounting the fact that we are a federation of 50 different countries, each with it's own unique laws and cultures.
/rant
It's beyond bizarre to me that you'd think the differences between states in the US would be comparable to that of countries in Europe. Think of the language alone.
Yes, and not even that stands. Every language you have, we have here as well. Just because English is our primary language doesn't mean everyone here speaks it, either. Is it so hard to believe a nation of immigrants from around the globe is somehow more culturally diverse than Europe? Tell me where you're from and I'll take you to a community here that has everything you have there down to the floor tiles.
The US is a huge mosaic of states, and there’s a huge difference between say California and the Deep South.
That being said, their question still stands as they were just curious about possibilities in a region. The US is just as large and diverse, so it’s possible something like that exists in Europe, and if so, what.
Lmao Americans thinking calling it soda or pop is equivalent to what Europe has for cultural differences.
the US is just as large and diverse
LMAO peak Yank
Now I haven't been to the states but I doubt places where people speak the same language are as different as countries where people do not speak the same language.
And to expand on that, Latvia Germany and portugal have different TV channels with different programs. Different pop starts and cultural references. Different restaurant chains (besides the 2-3 American fast food ones that are everywhere). Literally they are different countries like USA and Bolivia are.
What a weird take. You know that there are dialects in other languages too, right, just like there are for englishh in the uk or the usa. Just because people may speak a second language doesn't make norway and india the same.
Sometimes there’s no European equivalent to American depravity.
In the mid-20th century, America was considered so culturally bankrupt that the CIA thought it should create some.
BBC: Was modern art a weapon of the CIA?
Getting married by a fake pope across the tracks in the seedy outskirts of East Vatican City.
Would the Vatican tolerate papal imposters?
...That feels like suicide by Catholicism, somehow
I don't think getting married when drunk is very common at all outside of Vegas.
Are there other places in America that allow it?
I think Reno, Nevada does some similar antics. And possibly Atlantic City, NJ. All of them have local economies based on casinos (and historically, organized crime).
You can get married drunk anywhere in the US. The marriage ceremony takes place on your own time, without involvement from the government. The only thing the government needs is the signed marriage contract between the two spouses, the officiant, and the witness(es).
Depending on the state and exactly how drunk you were, you may be able to get the marriage annulled if you weren’t in the right mind to enter into a contract because of your drunkenness.
I got married drunk. Mind you I was sober when I applied for my marriage license. I just got married at the bar my wife and I had our first date at and got us a few drinks to celebrate. And, this was in the Midwest, so very far from anywhere you’d associate with quick drunk weddings.
Having no memories of last night's after-ski shenanigans but today your mouth tastes like sugary cotton balls of death and everybody in the ski lift is looking at you funny?
So the prompt is "here is some American silliness. What is some European silliness?" And you say Viktor fucking Orbán? Lighten up.
No the prompt would be what is the European equivalent to an American clown show that is a joke to the rest of the world
There was polish documentary showing some trashy village in the middle of nowhere. Everyone just waited for Saturday because that's when local disco had party with strippers. Guys would fingerbang strippers right on the stage. But I think that's more trashy than drunk Elvis wedding. Equivalent is probably getting drunk on vodka and banging an ugly chick in the bathroom of that disco.
Edit: Just remembered, there's another documentary about polish women going on holidays to Egypt. Apparently it's quite common for European women to fall in love with local guys and get married. Next they go back to Europe and send money to their husband while he quickly gets a divorce and marries another tourist. I would say marrying a windsurfing instructor while on holiday in Egypt is the exact equivalent of getting married by Elvis in Las Vegas.
Yes, cruiseboats in the Finland-Sweden route might be considered. But it's still far from Vegas.
There's the whole "getting wasted on a Greek island". Or on the Spanish coast.
But it's more of an equivalent of going to Cancun for Americans.
A Johnny Halliday impersonator.
Johnny Halliday was the french version of Elvis Presley, except he lived long enough to release too many albums and become unbearable.
What's impressive is that he became one of the best selling artists of all times while selling records almost exclusively in France. I don't think he ever left the mainstream since the 60's.
In Finland, the closest equivalent to this is some D list celebrity (so like someone who was in Big Brother or something) performing the ceremony on a cruise to Sweden. There is no direct equivalent however.
Probably Morris Dancers or something, with the full drunken Mummers play and everything.
A smelly Frenchman smoking a cigarette carrying baguettes on a bicycle getting pissed at tourists.
An Englishman with bad teeth wearing a derby cap eating an eel pie with an odd laugh.
Having a monarch and pretending it’s exciting or cool.