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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.
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.
But you do know the cultural differences there are TINY in comparison, right?
Sometimes thereβs 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?
What about mimes?
Tbf a LOT of modern Western culture comes from the US.
Royal weddings.
Bingo. Anything involving the royal family.
Is that the European Royal Family or The King of Engurlaaand?
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).
That makes total sense haha
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 werenβt 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 youβd associate with quick drunk weddings.
Do laws really outlaw it?
viktor orbΓ‘n
So the prompt is "here is some American silliness. What is some European silliness?" And you say Viktor fucking OrbΓ‘n? Lighten up.
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 just for us uninformed Kids out there, what did happen last night?
What happens in the alps, stays in the alps.
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.
i feel bad for the strippers thats so sad
Ridiculous holiday tattoos is the only thing air can think of
I'd have to imagine that there's something similar involving Afterskis or Finnish cruises.
Yes, cruiseboats in the Finland-Sweden route might be considered. But it's still far from Vegas.
Hard to answer. I guess there is none.
Getting married in Blackpool by a smashed scouser teenager in a track suit.
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.
Probably isnβt a 1:1 like that but Iβm sure thereβs something equally trashy culturally
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.
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.
The closest I can think of is going to Amsterdam in the red district for drugs and girls.
Getting a tattoo or getting baptised whilst hammered
Is getting drunk and getting baptized really a thing? Because if so, I think that might win.