Bilbo Baggins

That’s the thing. Being just as fair doesn’t necessarily imply it’s equally travelled. Even being worn the same doesn’t necessarily mean equally traveled, although it strongly implies it. I think the final line is so certain that it overrides the earlier lines and implies to the unwary reader that these similar paths actually were differently travelled.

I don’t expect self contradiction in a story / poem. So that certainty of there being a difference overrides all.

It’s only after reading the author’s intentions that I know for sure that the contradiction was intended and that was actually the point of the poem.

As I said before, this makes me like the poem even more now.

Even after rereading the poem I had to read the Wikipedia analysis section to be convinced you are right. It’s a very subtle poem, which, honestly, just makes it better.

Everything in this thread so far is normal stuff I could have guessed. Guns, metric, tipping, etc. Most of it has large groups of people in the country that agree, or at least know.

What are some non-obvious things? Culture shock isn’t about major political issues. It’s about universal things that turn out to not be universal.

For example, US people have a strong culture of how standing in line works. It’s basically a moral sin to butt in line unless you have someone holding your place. This is universal in the country. My understanding is that other countries differ. Is that true?

Where does this data come from? I keep expecting [email protected] to show up since it jumped from 50 users to 155 users in just a couple of weeks. I’m pretty proud of it, although I do wonder why some art gets lots of upvotes and other, quite amazing art, doesn’t. But, I’ll figure it out in time.

You’re right, although if you ever get the chance to browse a real physical encyclopedia, it’s a unique experience.

Not practical, but it’s a bit like playing a record or playing a game on a real NES. It’s a unique experience.

I have a full 2007 set of Encyclopedia Brittanica in the same room as my vintage computer collection. I browse it occasionally.