Ampere

1. Divisions

You can get very specific with the divisions of America, so I’m going to list them on specificity

Yankees vs Dixie:

This dates back to the American Civil War, and while the term Dixie has largely gone out of use, the term Yankee has not. Outside of America, Yankees just refer to any American, but within the country’s borders, a Yankee is a northerner (typically a coastal northerner). Northerners are seen by Southerners as rich haughty bastards who hate their families and communities and think only about themselves. Meanwhile Northerners view Southerners as backwards bigots who exist in a culture of cruelty. Neither of these are necessarily true, and when Northerners and Southerners meet they typically treat each other kindly. The stereotypes do have a basis though. The Northern part of America is richer than the Southern part, and Northerners are generally less religious and more independent. Children up north are expected to fly the nest and fly far, and more emphasis is placed on chosen family than birth family. The South is poorer, more religious, and more community oriented as a result. It’s the more collectivist part of America through the lens of Jesus and serving god, and as such a lot of Southern folk adopt bigotries that Northerners do not.

East Coast vs West Coast:

While North vs South is basically war shit, West vs East is more a friendly rivalry. As coasts, both are very rich. East Coast America is seen as more classy, the first states, the oldest states, and some of the wealthiest states without huge Silicon Valley celebrities. The East Coast is more family oriented than the West Coast and generational wealth is huge over there. East Coasters are seen as intelligent and deep (though really, they’re just like anyone else). The West Coast is very new money. Cities like Seattle and LA propped up by super famous billionaires rather than mob crime. Huge drug problems, vapid culture, and an odd coldness, the West Coast is far more disliked than the East. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, the West Coast is the most beautiful stretch of land in the entire world, with vast rainforest, mountains and rivers and valleys, and areas of it that are evergreen. The east and west are a sibling rivalry, California is to Washington and Oregon what New York is to New England.

Then there’s the widely accepted regional divide:

New England/Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, West, Northwest

This regional divide does not accurately convey the cultural differences of each region, so I have edited it based on my experience:

New England (Navy), New York (Yellow), The Mid-Atlantic (Orange), Appalachia (Burnt Orange), the South (Red), the Deep South (Dark Red), the West (Gold), California (Pink), the Cascades region (Teal), the Mid-West (Green), and No-Man’s Land (Gray)

A brief summary of each would be:

New England: Rich, haughty, educated bastards. Incredibly mean to your face but will accept you as family once you form a connection with them. A friend from New England is a friend for life. Secular Catholic with heavy cultural influences from Irish and Italian immigrant groups.

New York: I’m gonna say it with my full New Englander chest: Basically just a more diverse Boston, at least in the city. Same rude culture, except they care less about you. Same prestige associated with the area. New Yorkers just act less rich and pretentious and care less. Upstate is practically abandoned.

Mid-Atlantic: All I really know is that they love crab and their history I’m so sorry

Appalachia: Due to a variety of circumstances, they serve as the poorest part of America. Drug addiction and poverty run rampant and the states themselves do not try to help their people much at all. There are also creatures that live there that possess mysterious properties or so I’ve heard.

South: Very friendly people but honestly not exactly the nicest at heart. There’s this kind of self absorbed mentality that mask itself as community oriented thought that only gets worse as you enter the poorer Deep South. Highly religious people but some of the best food and music in the country. I love the South even if I hate their leadership.

Deep South: in all honesty, the divide here until you reach Texas is class. The governments thrive on keeping folks poor and uneducated, and strong community bonds, good food, and Jesus can’t fix all of that. Plenty kind people, very armed people however. Also people from major Texas cities (especially Houston) are like… super conceited in my experience???

Mid-West: About as family oriented as the south but progressive as the north in large swaths of it. People from the Midwest are either farmers or scientists and in my experience there’s little in between. Harsh weather conditions make hardy people, they’re also very kind and Canadian as you get further north.

West: Cowboy land yee-haw. Some of the most beautiful things can be found in the West, but people can also be especially vapid. Be it judgemental Mormons in Utah, Plastic surgeons and plastic surgery addicts in Colorado, sinners from Vegas, or WASPs from anywhere else West, sometimes you can’t help but feel a bit judged for everything you do. This region is also almost all swing states so it’s a bit of a toss up how woke the people you’ll meet are.

California: New York has its own culture because it is halfway in between two regions, California has its own culture because it’s the fourth biggest economy in the world. Intensely vapid and capitalistic despite how many leftists inhabit the region. Consumer culture is huge. Everyone in the country who isn’t from California hates Californians.

Cascades: Prettiest ever. The people are really chill and there’s a huge drug problem but also a ton of people who just do drugs recreationally. A lot of people in these parts work in tech or alcohol, but there is also a large often ignored agrarian population. People in this region love hikes and smoking weed and eating salmon with every meal. (A bit hyperbolic but whenever I am in Washington, as someone who lived there half of my life, it’s non-stop salmon).

No-man’s land: Nobody lives here.

And then of course a lot of state culture is individual to each state. Food culture is largely based on availability and immigrant groups. Lobster is popular in Massachusetts but not Washington because of shipping, Salmon is popular in Washington but not Massachusetts for the same reason. People in the North are typically fitter and more active and healthy than people in the South because summers are better fitted for hikes in colder climates and we tend to fry our food in oil rather than butter just as a preference. Health culture is more of a thing up north as a result and we are marketed more products for “health and wellness” rather than surgeries to look hotter. Politics also play a large role in a state’s culture. Red states are more family oriented, blue states are more individualist, and swing states are a tossup. Put research into the state you’re writing!

Speech and linguistics also vary on these divides. Each region has its own accent, though there are subtle differences within each, and not so subtle differences in the west. Western American accents can sound something like a southern twang but actually, Western Americans, including those in the cascades region, just have slight variations on the standard American accent. As it stands though there are major accents like the Southern drawl, the Bostonian, the New York, the Minnesota, the Chicago, the Phillie, and the California accent (god I hate the California accent in all of its varieties). Look up the accent and dialects of whatever state you’re writing because different people from different states also have different way of talking. The Boston driver would say: “EYES ON THE ROAD FUCKWAD”, the Washingtonian “Use your eyes!”, the famous Coloradan “watch it, pronouns!” (Joke based on a post I saw a while ago). But these people all talk differently depending on the culture of their state. Folks also tend to, especially in a group of people from other states, play up their state identity for comedy. A friend of mine from Boston barely watches baseball but will get pissed if you bring up the Yankees. Another friend from Seattle jokes about marijuana all the time despite having never smoked it.

2. Religion

America is home to a wide array of religious groups and affiliations, how common they are depends on the area in which you live. I was raised in Catholic America, getting every Christian holiday off school, before moving to Secular America, where no holidays really got us the day off.

Business Insider marks these religions as the biggest in each state (as of 2010) other than Christianity:

People in America generally react well to meeting non-Christian’s, however ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, interactions with Muslim Americans have been strained in some communities. It is also important to note that many communities in America completely lack diversity. While most of America is incredibly diverse with large populations of a variety of ethnic and religious groups, some areas are just white Christians and lack perspective or understanding of other groups just because they have never met them before, as is the consequence of being such a large country with so much empty land. There’s also a generational divide with a large amount of young Americans rejecting religion entirely.

Then there’s Mormonism. The American religion. A long long time ago there was a man named Joseph Smith who did a ton of convoluted bullshit and started a cult. This cult spread like wildfire as Americans began believing in their own individualist perceptions of God and religion. This individualist perception of god is very present in the Mormon faith with Mormon Americans believing that you get your own kingdom when you die and that god was once a normal human being. The Mormons have their own state, one of the most beautiful in the entire country, Utah. But this does not mean they have not proliferated elsewhere. Mormons are everywhere, they tend incredibly successful because of their networking, much like a fraternity except it’s a whole religion. A lot of America operates on Mormon values without even realizing, in part because some of their values have universal appeal, but also because they work them into a lot of media. Did you Crumbl cookie is Mormon? I didn’t. But now I’m spreading the word.

Evangelism and Calvinism are also ingrained in the American mindset. “I am good and god loves me and I am predestined for good things so I should not give up.” This manifests in positive ways and negative ways and can probably be traced back to why large swaths of the country hate welfare.

3. Racism

Often I hear the question: “Why do you Americans make everything about race?” And the answer is that in America everything is about race. Often this isn’t even in a racist way, America is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world, and as such, a large amount of our discourse circles back around to race, privilege, and how we uplift those who have been historically oppressed by racism. America is no more racist than any other country in the world, contrary to popular belief. Before the 2024 election I would even argue that America had done more to address her past misgivings, bigotries, and prejudices. Imperialism is another issue and not what I’m addressing when making this statement. Genuinely I believe that people of color in America are treated better, on an individual basis, than they would be in say, China or Italy. Americans talk a lot about race because it is the most important issue of our time, moreso than even class. That is why Americans make everything about race.

4. Politics

All Americans, whether they’d like to admit it or not, are libertarian. At least… moreso than most Europeans. Government overreach is something that, honestly, everyone fears to a degree, even self proclaimed American authoritarians. It’s just part of how this country works, nobody trusts the government. It’s almost a core tenet that has historically strengthened our democracy, but at the same time it seems it has gradually weakened it. The party lines used to be clearly defined:

Dems want more government overreach and taxes. They want to fund welfare programs and provide enough to the lowest common denominator so that the most Americans possible can lead happy and fulfilling lives.

Republicans want everything up to the state out of fear that a federal government cannot adequately respond to state specific issues and to keep taxes lower. If people are struggling in a state the state has to find solutions, sure they can ask the fed for help but not everything should be up to the fed.

In the modern day American politics looks like Hitler II vs Everyone else (I’m a dem, I’m biased). The American Democratic Party has candidates ranging from democratic socialists to classical republicans. The party divide right now is quite literally just: do you like killing immigrants and living under an egotistical maniac? No? Join the Dems!

But really, really it wasn’t always like that. And if you are writing about American characters, you can capture the nuances of both the democrats and the republicans.

America has no organized socialist party because a majority of Americans hate socialism. Libertarianism is common but never wins from lack of funding (most libertarians vote right but that has seemed to shift recently). And then the Greens in America are literally a Russian psyop. The only true Green Party is the Democrat party. Politics make up a big part of American life and discussion, but it’s generally frowned upon to talk about with strangers unless something really big just happened like 9/11 or the Big Beautiful Bill or if you’re in a room full of scientists you can bring up the science cuts and see who cries.

5. School and Education

American schooling is about as diverse as the nation itself and largely depends on the funding of a particular area. Wealthy areas have better schools than poor areas. American schools are divided in four parts, only three are mandatory. American students are afforded a great deal of freedom in day to day life, short school hours (about 6 a day), abundant extracurricular opportunities (in a lot of areas), no uniforms (at public schools) and the ability to hold jobs while in school, American students often do not have school as their whole world during their schooling years.

Elementary school, ages 5-9/10/11 - Elementary school provides basic understanding of math, reading, writing, penmanship, and science. The depth of this knowledge varies drastically state to state but typically students get up to a 925-1185 reading level and achieve mastery of the four functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). Cursive and spelling are also taught in this time and many schools offer a library period for students to explore literature. Students are also taught teamwork and collaboration, as well as communication and presentation skills from an early age. Elementary schools also provide a rudimentary curriculum in art and music. Elementary schools provide the least specialized education of American schools. Elementary schools also provide the most diverse historical curriculum throughout the United States as they typically stick to state specific issues. Students in liberal Boston schools will learn about the American Revolution and Native American genocide (as well as peace treaties), students in liberal Washington schools will learn about native tribes that existed before colonization, Students at schools in Texas will learn about the Alamo and the war that made Texas America, it depends on how liberal the school is and what state it is located in. American elementary school grades are broken up as follows: Kindergarten (5-6), First Grade (6-7), Second Grade (7-8), Third Grade (8-9), Fourth Grade (9-10), often Fifth Grade (10-11), and potentially Sixth Grade (11-12).

Middle school (9/10/11-14): Middle school is not much more specialized than Elementary, however students get more freedom to make choices on things like the level of courses they’re taking (often this is when the honors/accelerated system is introduced as an option) and the electives they take, allowing them to explore a variety of subjects based on interests they developed up to this point. Middle school students learn basic reading comprehension skills and literary techniques, pre-algebra, and pre-geometry. Students also get a rudimentary introduction in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology, and Astronomy and learn varying historical curriculums, though most often, ancient civilizations, specific state history, and the American Revolution. Middle school goes further in depth on all concepts that were taught in Elementary school except penmanship. Students also often have more arts options such as fine arts, band, choir, orchestra, and shop (woodworking and soldering and such). Middle school can have Fifth Grade (10-11), often Sixth Grade (11-12), Seventh Grade (12-13), and Eighth Grade (13-14).

High School is the most familiar to those outside of the United States and services students 14-18. Students get the most freedom to explore what they want in high school, getting to create their own schedules so long as they follow certain state guidelines. High Schools also have the most variety in educational programs and models, this is largely dependent on where a student lives, though many schools allow students zoned to neighboring schools if they wish to take a specific program only offered by that school. AP is the most common honors program in the United States and provides students with approximately one year of college credits. Most students only take a handful of AP classes due to their rigor. IB is an international program many American students take, it started in the UK. IB students take a full diploma, typically, but there are options for students to only take one or two IB classes. The IB diploma can also often transfer as one year of college credits and the program’s rigor extends beyond the classroom to community service and personal projects. Many schools offer Dual Enrollment programs, in which a student can take courses at a local community college, and five states (Washington, Hawaii, Illinois, Montana, and New Hampshire) have adopted full time dual enrollment programs known as Running Start, in which the state covers the majority of a student’s college tuition to get them around 90 college credits by the time of graduation. Sports are also big in American high schools, as well as extracurriculars and things such as Football, Baseball, Soccer, DECA (Business Competition), HOSA (Medical competition), FIRST Robotics, MUN (Model United Nations), Mock Trial, and other sport and academic organizations often provide students scholarships to attend university or improve a student’s chances of getting into college. American colleges value what a student has done outside of school sometimes more than what they have done in it. Also yes, pep rallies are real, yellow buses are real, lockers are real but are being phased out, school shootings are real but incredibly rare, some high schoolers love to party and get drunk, it is not the majority. High school is broken into Ninth Grade or Freshman Year (14-15), Tenth Grade or Sophomore Year (15-16), Eleventh Grade or Junior Year (16-17), and Twelfth Grade or Senior Year (17-18). Junior year is one of the most intense years for students as it is when programs such as AP, IB, and Dual Enrollment become available, and it is also when students make the decision on whether they wish to attend college, and what they wish to pursue there.

Higher Education, College, University: about 62% of American students go to University after Highschool, only about 40% make it out with a Bachelor’s degree. Colleges and Universities are the most specialized schools in America, and still often fall behind European contemporaries in that respect, which ironically makes them some of the best academic institutions in the world. American schools typically focus on not only teaching a student their niche, but also a million other skills and ideas. STEM students have to take reading, writing, literature, and history courses. Humanities and Arts students have to take natural sciences. Presentation, marketing, business, and all the skills necessary to thrive in industry are drilled into every curriculum, it is not uncommon for a student’s final to be a presentation or an essay or a capstone project rather than a traditional exam. American professors are allowed a great deal of freedom in how they teach and it leads to everyone having a different college experience. I adore the American University model, as it often focuses more on making well balanced students over efficient machines. Students and professors are encouraged to form relationships and connections, college and university in America is basically a networking gala. Research for Undergraduates is a large concern for many large scale universities and academic advisors (good ones) help students find ways to acquire internships and make necessary connections. American higher education is just unfortunately expensive and many families have to go into major debt or send their children to the military so that they can afford them.

Then there’s the issue of private schooling, a whole beast of its own. Wealthy parents can opt to send their students off to prestige academies. Are they actually better than public schools? Depends! Are they stricter than public schools? Depends! If you wish to write a character in private schooling you are on your own.

6. Common Cultural Misconceptions

1. Americans don’t have culture

WRONG! Our immigrant culture is what makes us strong and beautiful and diverse. The Melting Pot was originally a play by a Slavic Ashkenazi Jew describing America’s cultural melting pot as stripping immigrants of their identity, but being combined into the mixture of America has made us some fondue more incredible than anyone could imagine. America is a place where cultures can coexist, perhaps not always peacefully, but the beauty of American culture is that it cannot be distilled, it has proliferated to the furthest corners of the earth and been shaped by Black Americans, Latino Americans, White Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Arab Americans, Polynesian Americans, whatever you want Americans to create a culture with universal appeal. From our diverse cinema in Hollywood, to our incredible shows on Broadway, to our music in LA, Seattle, New York, Nashville, Houston, and New Orleans, to the art made by incredible artists of a variety of backgrounds every year, America is a beautiful country responsible for many of the cultural commodities you enjoy today.

2. Americans only speak English

In many states, a second language is mandatory, and Hispanic Americans have effectively made Spanish America’s second language.

3. America is uneducated

Large swaths of it are, and it is largely a funding issue. Americans are also out of touch because of general affluence, this is true. But some of the greatest minds in the world have been American and America just allows a greater degree of freedom in its curriculum than Europe. It is also important to note that America emphasizes communication and charisma over memorization and efficiency, so perhaps those “dumb Americans” are just marketing experts or entrepreneurs or business managers or any job not traditionally associated with what we shallowly consider intelligence.

4. Americans are racist

Take a Black friend to Italy and get back to me on that.

5. Americans love guns

This is actually completely true I love my second amendment rights can someone please get me a stupid dumb fucking Mauser pistol to hang on my wall, C96 Broomstick. Please please please please (in actuality, many Americans oppose the second amendment and even more think it should exist but urge for stronger restrictions on guns and gun ownership.

6. There is nothing that truly makes an American

WRONG. The one thing that unites us all under the Stars and Stripes, be you a basement dwelling revolutionary from Portland Oregon, a farmer from Texas, or an Immigrant who just moved to Chicago trying to find your place in this country, we are all united in the belief in a better future and a love, perhaps a perverse love, perhaps a love that inspires a desire for change, or perhaps one that is blinding, a love for some aspect of America that keeps us here.

I’ll add more as I come across them.

6. Q&A

Please leave your questions in the comments or in my asks and I will answer both under the post, and put them in this section of the post, thank y’all, lots of love ❤️

Q: What is considered a long drive in America?

“Dieter is dead, Erich is dead, my father is dead. I have gone AWOL and today will go down in history as the capitulation of Germany. I, Albert Edelstein, retreated from my post on May first. Only a week ago. I am barely even a traitor to my nation and that makes me almost sick. I’ve been sick. I’ve been sick and I’ll be sick a while. I arrived at the Ziegelbauer residence six days ago. Munich was in ruins when I arrived. The Führer’s brain was full of lead when a Soviet shell almost pierced my own skull. Faced with bullet fire as a last stand for Berlin, I found for the first time in a four year military career, I ran. I ran and I didn’t stop until somehow I had found my way back home. I would hardly call this home anymore. I barely recognize it, not only because of the bombings. Through my time in the military the city has become disfigured until it was entirely unfamiliar to me. Streets I once navigated with ease I am no longer able to trace. How I found Ziegelbauer’s home perplexes me, but when Frieda saw me at the doorway she let me in without question. She recognized instantly her family friend who hardly looked like a man anymore. Who was broken and bent and foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. She recognized instantly a man who I would never have been able to identify as Albert Edelstein. The first thing my sister did when Frieda called her down was take from me anything I could use to kill myself. The pistol I’d put in my mouth, the knife I’d held to my wrist, the rope I’d used to take measurements of my neck, the lighter that has already stolen years of my life. The second thing she did was hug me. Subconsciously I leaned on her, I put all my weight on her, and she held me like it was nothing, if that tells you anything about the dire state of our supply lines. She untied for me my boots, she undid the layers of uniform that my frozen stiff fingers could never hope to work their way through. She ran me a bath. How long had it been since I last had a warm bath? Long enough that my muscles had gone stiff like that of an old man’s. Long enough that I let my body relax in the hot water until it went cold. Ernst saw me after I was dressed, he also gave me a hug, one as tight as his arms—plagued with atrophy as insulin had presumably become harder to come by in recent years—could muster. He took me to the kitchen and told me to eat. He said I looked as sickly as him. I complied. That’s all I’m good for. Following orders.

I couldn’t keep it down.

Ernst said he’d give me advice on nausea management in the morning. I asked him to light me a cigarette. It could stave off the hunger for the next 8 hours. The greatest proof I have that he loves me, or is, at least, still subservient to me, is that even after all of these years, he took a draw from the cigarette before putting it in my mouth. Just as I had asked him to do the first time. Ernst Ziegelbauer doesn’t smoke unless I tell him to.

I slept over 14 hours that night. I wish I could say it was just last night that that happened. Yesterday I slept the whole day away. Ten hours straight, wake up, use the restroom, get water, snack on something light enough not to make me nauseous, smoke, go back to bed until god next woke me. I’m sick with something.