What is American Culture?

[Lincsong]

HAHAH cause even Eisenhower got some german heritage

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) is one of only two American presidents of German extraction. (The other was Herbert Hoover.) On Oct. 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas, Dwight David Eisenhower was born into a German-American family that goes back to Johann Nicolaus Eisenhauer (ca. 1691-ca. 1760) who came to America with his son Johann Peter in 1741 and settled in Pennsylvania.

Hoover was German? I thought the Dutch had the double vowel names? I also think that Richard MILHOUS Nixon had some German ancestors on his mother's side, his mother was a Quaker. Both Frank and Hannah Nixon were "black" Irish.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

...they offer fast food, comfort food, but always GOOD food at a decent price. (There's a place in LA near Skid Row that purports to have created the French Dip sandwich, and they still sell their coffee for a nickle a cup).

Hmmm ... my dad grew up in the East Coast in the '50s, and he remembers the diners as greasy spoons. Says the food was awful by today's standards.

As for "Philippe's", the place you mentioned, its coffee is indeed incredibly cheap -- but the French Dip sandwiches are incredibly expensive, too.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Nor have I had a conversation with a Blond bimbo valley girl that excessively used the term "like totally".

Oh, I have. Believe me, I have.

 

[Benny Holiday]

From an Australian point of view

To me, as an oustider coming from a country that is an old 20th and 21st Century ally of the U.S.A, I see two different kinds of American culture:

Firstly, there is the great underlying culture that makes the American people, and their institutions, who and what they are today. To the world, America stands for freedom of religion; the spirit of free enterprise and capitalism; Americans are seen as a people of great patriotism and national pride; a nation that values fairness, justice and equity for all; and its culture is a pioneering one, from the Old West to the next frontier of space.

America's culture is like a modern Greece. America is the upholder of democracy, and, though many may argue there are plenty of other nations in the world that are democractic, who has ever defended the ideal of democracy like the United States has?

Secondly, there is American popular culture, that has entranced the whole Western world and many other parts of the globe too. Jazz in all its forms, rock'n'roll, pop art, Disneyland, diners, automotive culture, and all the other pop culture elements so many others have already named in this thread.

That's how it looks to me, anyway. The world of the last 150 years would be a vastly different place without American culture, that's for sure.

 

[Doh!]

This doesn't really answer the question, but some of the world's most beloved characters were birthed in America:

Superman
Mickey Mouse
Bugs Bunny
Popeye

...and the cowboy-est of cowboys: John Wayne

 

[Lincsong]

Hmmm ... my dad grew up in the East Coast in the '50s, and he remembers the diners as greasy spoons. Says the food was awful by today's standards.

As for "Philippe's", the place you mentioned, its coffee is indeed incredibly cheap -- but the French Dip sandwiches are incredibly expensive, too.

Well, coffee is usually the money maker in the restaurant. A 7 ounce cup costs the owner about 8 cents to make. 11 cents for French Roast or Italian Roast. So he reversed his business model; sell coffee at cost and make it up an the entree.

 

[Quigley Brown]

Anybody say ice cream cones?

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Cherman culture

I realise you're kidding, KAT, but still :

- I somehow doubt the method of saying American inventor/president/whatever X actually is German because his ancestors came from Germany a couple of hundreds of years ago. This idea leaves us with only First Nation American presidents etc. (How many of them were there again?) Apart from that, this regards the male line exclusively.

- The "German Hollywood" site is nonsense in a way. It's correct in pointing out the contribution of German speaking actors, directors and so on, but fails to mention that German movies suck today (as you stated somewhere, IIRC) because the Germans killed and threw out the best of them, whether Jewish or simply not pro-Nazi. Many went to Hollywood, and some actually made it, though most were confined to playing Nazis (of all r?¥les...). The mediocre people saw their luck and stayed. (So why, one asks, are today's actors still worse than your average American high school theatre group? I think, part of it is the tradition of pathos vs. a more natural approach in the U.S., but another aspect is that the teachers were killed or thrown out as well and replaced by willing third-class people with the right party alignment.)

- YES! You're right, Reis invented the 'phone.

 

[KAT]

I realise you're kidding, KAT, but still :

- I somehow doubt the method of saying American inventor/president/whatever X actually is German because his ancestors came from Germany a couple of hundreds of years ago. This idea leaves us with only First Nation American presidents etc. (How many of them were there again?) Apart from that, this regards the male line exclusively.

- The "German Hollywood" site is nonsense in a way. It's correct in pointing out the contribution of German speaking actors, directors and so on, but fails to mention that German movies suck today (as you stated somewhere, IIRC) because the Germans killed and threw out the best of them, whether Jewish or simply not pro-Nazi. Many went to Hollywood, and some actually made it, though most were confined to playing Nazis (of all r?¥les...). The mediocre people saw their luck and stayed. (So why, one asks, are today's actors still worse than your average American high school theatre group? I think, part of it is the tradition of pathos vs. a more natural approach in the U.S., but another aspect is that the teachers were killed or thrown out as well and replaced by willing third-class people with the right party alignment.)

- YES! You're right, Reis invented the 'phone.

AT LEAST SOMEONE IS TALKING TO ME

even though the good ones went- had to go- to the US back then doesnt mean german movies suck ?! when was the last time you ve seen a german movie ? filmed in lets say 2006?
or talk about the nominated movies from this years academy awards "sophie Scholl",
and one of the Producers of "capote" was Michael Ohoven, a german from D?ºsseldorf. and yeah....dont tell me you didnt like "the downfall" , "stalingrad".... (evil germans again)
but i got ya i think we all know that both countries have positive and negative parts , different cultures and inventions, different way of life.....i live in CA...so it cant be that bad

 

["Doc" Devereux]

fftopic:

AT LEAST SOMEONE IS TALKING TO ME

even though the good ones went- had to go- to the US back then doesnt mean german movies suck ?! when was the last time you ve seen a german movie ? filmed in lets say 2006?
or talk about the nominated movies from this years academy awards "sophie Scholl",
and one of the Producers of "capote" was Michael Ohoven, a german from D?ºsseldorf. and yeah....dont tell me you didnt like "the downfall" , "stalingrad".... (evil germans again)
but i got ya i think we all know that both countries have positive and negative parts , different cultures and inventions, different way of life.....i live in CA...so it cant be that bad

I'm inclined to agree. I thought Downfall was an excellent picture, and took a brave cast & crew to make. I also enjoyed Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt), which shows that good German film-making isn't a brand new phenomenon.

Now back to American cultural contributions: Barnstorming, perhaps?

 

[geo]

[QUOTEReis had difficulty in interesting people in Germany in his invention despite demonstrating it to (among others) Wilhelm von Legat, Inspector of the Royal Prussian Telegraph Corps in 1862 (Legat, 1862). It aroused more interest in the United States In 1872, Prof Vanderwyde demonstrated Reis's device in New York where it was seen by Thomas Edison, and possibly officials of Western Union and Alexander Graham Bell. Both Bell and Edison drew on Reis's device to produce and patent components of the telephone.
__________________
][/QUOTE]

That's good to know. Canadians think that Bell (a Canadian) invented the telephone.

Like mentioned before, America took a lot from Europe and elsewhere, and perfected it, or brought it up to new levels. I'm thinking of Hollywood. Americans may not have invented the telephone, etc., but they took inovations and turned them into marketable goods available to a great number of people through mass production. I'm thinking about cars, supermarkets, etc.

The only original American art form is Jazz, and that by itself is a great contribution to the arts in general.

Oh, and there's Wall Street, segregation and the civil rights movement, hot dogs + baseball (hot dogs-Germany, baseball-invented by a Canadian, but hot dogs+baseball=USA)

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That's good to know. Canadians think that Bell (a Canadian) invented the telephone.

fftopic: Ahem ... Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He's ours.

Baseball is just trumped up rounders anyway (a British girl's game! ).

bkfftopic:

 

["Doc" Devereux]

America's culture is like a modern Greece. America is the upholder of democracy, and, though many may argue there are plenty of other nations in the world that are democractic, who has ever defended the ideal of democracy like the United States has?

Don't play down Australia's role in that, Benny! ANZAC, the RAN and the RAAF have certainly done their part through both World Wars, Malaya, Korea and Vietnam. Darned fine men, the lot of them.

Ah. I'm off-topic again.

I think I'd have to mention Cartoons as part of America's culture. When Tex Avery walked into Leon Schlesinger's studio in 1936, animation changed forever.

 

[KAT]

[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]Don't play down Australia's role in that, Benny! ANZAC, the RAN and the RAAF have certainly done their part through both World Wars, Malaya, Korea and Vietnam. Darned fine men, the lot of them.

Ah. I'm off-topic again.

I think I'd have to mention Cartoons as part of America's culture. When Tex Avery walked into Leon Schlesinger's studio in 1936, animation changed forever.[/QUOTE]

yupbut dont forget that Betty Boop was created by an austrian lol im sorry[huh]

 

[BellyTank]

I believe...

I believe that "American Culture" is more to do with The American People's love for America.

I'm originally from New Zealand and have often wondered what
"New Zealand Culture" is.
It's tough to nail when a country is only a few hundred years old.

The Wright Brothers... hmmm... there was a New Zealander who did it 8 months earlier.

B
T

 

["Doc" Devereux]

yupbut dont forget that Betty Boop was created by an austrian lol im sorry[huh]

I'll see your Betty Boop, and raise you Bugs Bunny, Screwball Squirrel, Yosemite Sam, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and the Tasmanian Devil.

 

[BellyTank]

[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]I'll see your Betty Boop...[/QUOTE]

I doubt you ever will see it...

B
T

 

[KAT]

I doubt you ever will see it...

B
T

theres not a lot to see lol :eusa_doh:

 

[geo]

Alexander Graham Bell was born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He's ours.

That's good to know too, because Canadians think that Bell was Canadian, maybe because of this: (until now, I didn't question the veracity of this either)

"In 1870, at the age of 23, he emigrated with his family to Canada where they settled at Brantford"-Wikipedia

There goes another myth.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The Wright Brothers... hmmm... there was a New Zealander who did it 8 months earlier.

If that turns out to be true, it wouldn't make me feel that New Zealanders are any better than I now think them to be. There's no reason for Americans to feel proud that the Wright Brothers were American. We should simply be proud for the Wright Brothers themselves ... and if you're a New Zealander, you should be proud for that inventor of yours. It would be silly for New Zealand and its people to feel they can share in the credit.

I say this in a friendly spirit. I would love to visit your incredibly beautiful country one day.