r/AskAmericans

The United States has an abundant domestic supply of propane, which could potentially be cheaper than gasoline. As an automotive fuel, it also offers certain environmental advantages, generally producing fewer CO₂ emissions, particulates, and other pollutants than conventional fuels.

Yet propane autogas in the US seems to be used almost exclusively for school buses and commercial fleets. Privately owned propane-powered cars are rare, as are public refueling stations. In several European countries, by contrast, gasoline-LPG vehicles are fairly common.

Why is there such a significant difference? Is it due to America’s historically lower gasoline prices, the limited refueling infrastructure, regulations governing vehicle conversions, automakers’ strategies, or a lack of incentives?

Considering the domestic availability of propane and its potential economic and environmental benefits, why hasn’t a substantial market for propane-powered private cars developed in the United States?

From a POV of an Asian, I am just curious if there are still Americans who were supported by their parents in their college life. Most of the Americans that I have heard of usually work jobs to send themselves to study.

I’m aware that “Yank” comes from “Yankee” which is what the British called ppl in old New England. I also know that’s what the Confederates called the Union, I always assumed “Yank” meant someone from the north east like where I am. Always been confused on how “yank” can apply to Americans in the south, considering they used it as an insult during the civil war. They’ve never been Yankees lol. Nobody in the north sees them as Yankees either (to my understanding).

Anyway, I’m just wondering how that stuck internationally? I’m not expecting everyone to know the history behind the word obviously, and I’m an American in the north east so this is something like common knowledge to me.
What does “Yank” mean to you guys?

A poll made by civicscience shows that approximatly 7% of americans think we are almodt certainly and 15% think its somewhat probable, whats your thoughs on this

Hi, so it’s very evident that America and the UK have a lot of competition. Whether it’s food, multiculturalism or anything for that matter.

We seem to be in a loop of ‘I’m better than you’, and let’s face it, both countries are unique and good in their own ways. We would learn a lot if we stopped criticising each other.

However, one thing I’ve never seemed to understand is that when these arguments appear, Americans often mock the UK for colonisation. - and I get it, colonisation is terrible, the UK did a lot of bad to the world… but what I don’t understand is why some Americans use this argument… if it weren’t for colonisation, America as it is today, would not exist (for better or worse).

Our history is your history, I may be missing something here but it doesn’t make sense to me for America to critique the UK for colonisation. Especially, when America has independently colonised too.

(Unless of course, you’re Native American).

Would love to hear your takes on this!

I know it's seems like a strange question, but I need a zoo that I can study for a story I'm writing.

I'm not american and it's really hard to learn about really small and unpopular places, so I'm asking americans to show me a zoo that qualifies as a mundane/unpopular small zoo that most people don't know and tell me why you chose that one.

To be clear : I'm not searching the worst zoo in america.
And also I am not making this in order to bully or advertise these places, I just need a name and place. And no this post is not an advertisement for my story, matter of fact I won't answer any question about it.

Edit:

I'm not a regular on the sub and as many of yall have pointed out, this is an opinion often expressed by Europeans on this sub. So clearly it's just that my personal exposure to this attitude happens to have been Americans.

End edit.

To be clear, I am not painting with a wide brush and saying this is a common American attitude. It is, however, an attitude I have only encountered from Americans.

When you inform them of a huge move, either across the country or immigrating to a new country, some Americans ​seem almost confused by why you'd even consider that. Even when you have obvious reasons, like a good paying job or a romantic connection, they still seem confused how that could be better than just staying put where you already live.

I've never encountered this with any other nationality, even the folks that have no interest in leaving their hometown still realize this is a thing a lot of people do and they understand what the appeal is, even if it's not their bag.

And I guess it's particularly confusing to me because like, aside from being a nation of immigrants, USA is huge, so many people move several states away cuz of a job or opportunity or the weather is better - so I'd expect Americans to be even more understanding that moving somewhere new has a strong sense of appeal or a lot of motivating factors for many many people.

Like almost everyone else, I'm struggling with the high cost of living lately. I'm very good with my money and get the cheapest and healthiest food i can, but meat and fish have become a once a month kind of thing. I can deal with this, and i compensate with lots and lots of beans for protein, but I'm now deficient in heme iron and B12, and the cost for those supplements is about 75 per month! Like, i might as well just spend that money on meat and fish. Any budget friendly recs besides the costco rotisserie?

Hey, i'm a german from north-hessen 37 years old

i watch youtube all day, and every other video i get bombarded with these adds from america...

it's usually two young good looking girls, who invite you to join them or whatever. they have like a basketball player looking dude cheesing at you and inviting you to the book of mormon and the church of modern day whatever....

do you know who i'm referring too?

i get that add 50x a day, in my sleep, etc. for what seems like a year

my basic understanding is, that it's like a sect or something. like jehovas wittnesseses

but why are they pushing so hard right now, what is their agenda, who finances it, is there something political, behind that, a certain world view, what happens to the people that get charmed by these pretty cheap videos and sign up with the mormons or run with the mormons

and sorry if i used words like cheap/etc i am not judgemental i'm just uninformed. maybe i run with the mormons, who knows?

but what is this thing, what happens when you sign up for it? what's this mormon movement in 2026 all about

I have been watching American bodycam videos, and when people get arrested, sometimes they say something like "I need to speak to my attorney."

This really confused me. It means they must already have an attorney before they even got pulled over.

Do Americans have attorneys in the same way they have a family doctor, dentist, optician etc? They hire attorneys in advanced in case one day they are arrested? How normal is it to already have one?

Edit: this can be marked as answered. Just to clarify, I understood Americans are entitled to a free attorney. But i had misunderstood that people already seemed to have "my attorney" as in one they already pay for. But turns out "my attorney" is just asking for the one they're entitled to. Simple phrasing misunderstanding. Thank you!

For anyone who has worked in retail, restaurants, hotels or other service roles, what was your experience like serving British tourists? Did you find them generally friendly, polite or reserved compared to domestic or other international guests? I'd be interested to hear any standout stories, cultural mix ups, vocabulary differences or tipping experiences. Also, whether you've ever had to handle a rowdy or drunk group (since we do have a bit of a reputation for that unfortunately!)

10% of company yearly profits to be split between all employees for companies that 10 or more employees.

This makes no sense to me.

Coming from a European, wages are always counted per month here. It makes more sense because most expenses like rent, utilities etc are paid monthly. Besides, most places pay monthly (not sure if this is the case in the US).

I was watching the frozen 3 trailer on YouTube, and the people in the cinema made reaction sounds to it. I have never seen people do that before when I went to cinemas in UK and HK.

I told one of my colleague that I'm traveling to Singapore and the response was: "isn't that dangerous?" I'm so baffled, how is Singapore dangerous?

Why are US americans so against universal healthcare? Especially the european version is the proof that it works without quallity loss in healthcare.

Don't you guys wish to have at least 24 days of paid leave, paid sick leave where you can't get fired, getting a labour ban if you are pregnant (the last 3 months) and still get paid just like after the birth a paid mandatory maternity/ paternity leave?

That ain't benefits, those are basic human rights.

So please explain to me why you guys don't want that, it doesn't make sense to me

Apparently chronic wasting disease has been widespread within deer populations across the country. The disease can persist in deer for years before they show symptoms and they would have been spreading it the entire time. Nearly all U.S states have reported the disease in deer populations now and its highly advised to not eat infected meat. So has this disease ruined the deer meat market? Do hunters now abstain from hunting deer for meat? Or is this whole thing blown out of proportion?

Why do Americans people eat so many chicken wings for lunch or even on game day ?