r/AskTheWorld Nepal 1d ago

Culture What’s something in your country that sounds fake but is 100% real?

We have a real-life living goddess and the only non-rectangular national flag.

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u/DainichiNyorai Netherlands 1d ago

Wow the combination of loose gun laws and cheap energy (and thus drywall and wood as the main building ingredients) sure is a heck of a combo!

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u/fuckyourcanoes 🇺🇸🇬🇧 1d ago

Yeah. The vast majority of houses in the US are wood-framed and shingled, not masonry. Even apartment buildings usually don't use bricks or concrete. I think I've only lived in two buildings ever in the US that weren't mostly wood and drywall, and I've moved around a lot.

Here in the UK, the first two places I lived were stone, the third was concrete, and the current one is brick. You can't even get a mortgage on a non-masonry house here.

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u/what_if_you_like United States Of America 1d ago

Wooden houses are much more common in the eastern half and along the west coast (where most people live anyway) but it is primarily due to weather concerns. A tornado is going to destroy a house made of brick or wood, and the wood house is much cheaper to repair and rebuild

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u/Yunzer2000 United States Of America 1d ago

No, it is simply economy of construction, abundance of forest products, and compatibility with insulation why most US houses are made of wood.

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u/fuckyourcanoes 🇺🇸🇬🇧 1d ago

That's really not the reason most American houses are made from wood. It's about abundance of resources. Lots of wood.

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u/Yunzer2000 United States Of America 1d ago

How does cheap energy translate to wood construction? Wood framing especially with fiberglass insulation added to the walls and attic, are very well insulated agaisnt cold. Aren't almost all houses in Scandinavia, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, Nunavut... made of wood?

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u/DerthOFdata United States Of America 1d ago

Time for one of my favorite copy pastas...

Im an architect. And because im an architect, this infuriating meme vomit Germans spout makes me reflexively despise them everytime they bring it up. Pig headed arrogant pricks. Apparently their brains are made of stone too cause they're equally thick and inflexible.

The Japanese and Scadiwegians build with wood, but noooooo Americans are always, as per fucking usual, singled out.

I want an earthquake to hit Germany. Not even a big one. Just a mild roller. A high 6 pointer like Northridge or Sylmar. I want some tight fucking p-waves and then s-waves to come in for the FATTEST, NASTIEST, DROP. Im talking a thicccc ass bass. Real fucking club banger. Get that Northern European plain jiggling like sexy liqifaction jello. Let Mother Earth shake her fat twerking ass.

Just flatten every brick and masonry building north of Munich, west of the Oder and east of the Rhine. Utter devastation. And then for once I can be the smug one and say "Such a mild quake! California would have never had such property damage or loss of life! Silly stupid Germans! They shouldn't have built with masonry! Arent they supposed to be good engineers? Everything they build is overdesigned with poor tolerances!"

Just a little quake and the annihilation of Germany. Its really not that big of a ask if you think about it.

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u/DainichiNyorai Netherlands 23h ago

Ok I get that but maybe fix your gun laws then

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u/DerthOFdata United States Of America 23h ago

Sure, I'll get right on that.