What is American Culture?

[jamespowers]

Not much.

Monkeys are a no go.

Surrendering? :rage:

Not much cheese? lol There goes that stereotype.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Senator Jack]

"Hello Mr. Waiter, my name is Marc Chevalier. I'll be your diner tonight. And your specials are ...?"

That's too rich. lol lol lol


SJ

 

[John in Covina]

France

Friends of mine said that in France everyone complained about the Parisians, especially the French from other regions.

 

[Lauren]

It's a funny thing: whenever I've been in France, I've tried to be polite with the people there. I've even tried to use a phrase or two in French. When I went to Italy and Germany, I did the same thing. Guess what? The French, Italians and Germans were polite with me too. Gosh, I wonder why?




I have seen many rude American tourists in foreign countries. Even when they're not in a touristy resort/hotel/restaurant, ...


-- they expect that everyone be able to speak and understand English. This is especially comical when the tourists have strong regional American accents.

-- they believe that no one will understand their English when they complain to each other (loudly) about the food, the service, the sights, and/or the country itself. They believe that talking loudly everywhere is fine.

-- they believe that decent service merits a smaller tip percentage than it does in the U.S.A. (In other words, a person who gives 15% tips in Ohio becomes a tourist who gives 5% tips in Morocco.)


.

I wholeheartedly and have witnessed all of the above. You can spot an American tourist from miles away. It was pretty disgusting to see our "culture" (not our vintage culture, but mainstream American culture) in France. Here's four things I witnessed:

American girls snapping their gum and glancing about at the art in the Musee D'Orsay while complaining rather loudly and wearing mini skirts.

American girls drunken and yelling very loudly and hanging on any men available in the Paris Metro. I seriously had a headache by the time my stop came about.

American girl yelling at waiter "Do you guys have Sprite?"

American woman rudely yelling at my boyfriend at the time for not reading a tag correctly at a flea market.

And all this happened over a span of about three days. Imagine what it's like in Paris year round.

 

[LeFonque]

Don't know much about American Culture but here in Australia we spell Culture with a K. Perhap as Ghandi responded to the question what did he think of Western civilisation. " I think it would be a good idea".

 

[KAT]

I wholeheartedly and have witnessed all of the above. You can spot an American tourist from miles away. It was pretty disgusting to see our "culture" (not our vintage culture, but mainstream American culture) in France. Here's four things I witnessed:

American girls snapping their gum and glancing about at the art in the Musee D'Orsay while complaining rather loudly and wearing mini skirts.

American girls drunken and yelling very loudly and hanging on any men available in the Paris Metro. I seriously had a headache by the time my stop came about.

American girl yelling at waiter "Do you guys have Sprite?"

American woman rudely yelling at my boyfriend at the time for not reading a tag correctly at a flea market.

And all this happened over a span of about three days. Imagine what it's like in Paris year round.

that ia all true!!
the very first minute we left our airport shuttle bus in Paris, it was a very nice french man. He asked us if we need help! And he tried hard to speak in english, but we found our way!
And i had an american boyfriend back then...ooooooooh my...european and american culture together in Paris! You dont wanna know ....lol

 

[Jack Scorpion]

When you are in Europe and you look over at another table or across the street and you see a group of Americans talking very loudly in English, you think to yourself: am I that embarassing, too?

The cult of fame was USAborn. Charlie Chaplin wasn't American, but he was the first worldfamous face (famous, not just known or recognizable, but with a following fan base) in history because of Hollywood. The trend grew and developed until we got delightful things like Marilyn Monroe.

Russia is a mystery inside a riddle inside an enigma inside pelmeni, but America's culture is probably a tougher question, probably because it is so elusive. More than any other place in history, I'd say, we are the sum of what we are made of, not products of our nation. The nation is product of us.

John Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy captures America between 1900 and 1930 better than anything else and I recommend it doggedly.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Well, what has been described above is not solely an American trait. Brits will complain until they're blue about Americans doing these things on the underground trains (believe me, if there's an American on the train ... you KNOW about it. Loud is not the word). But then they head off to foreign climes and do exactly the same thing.

I was in Germany and encountered the kind of situation that Jack Scorpion describes (do i sound like that? Hope not). I was in a convenience store, and this dude in front of me went to the counter and said: Give me 20 fags. Naturally, the employee (even if she spoke english) didn't understand and said so. He kept repeating, steadily getting louder, Give me 20 fags. Becuase she didn't understand he started calling her a Nazi, and left the store.

Just walk around a large US city in summer. Play Spot the Limey. Great game. And embarrassing for us Limeys that ya wouldn't spot.

I am preparing something regarding American culture. It is taking a while to formulate, as with any culture ...

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Also, re. Neville Chamberlain. It should be noted that the vast majority of British people did not vote for him. He was elected by maybe 50,000 of his constituents - of whom probably 1/3 voted for someone else.

He was Prime Minister becaus he was leader of the party that won most seats in Parliament.

So, the British people cannot be blamed for his errors of judgement. We do not directly elect people to office. Only to Parliament. And it should be noted that other than in his dealings with Hitler, he was a fine politician and is remembered as such by those who choose to find out about him.

What the British people can be blamed for (along with most other people involved - French, German, American, etc) was believing in the Wilson-inspired ideal that by appeasment we could avoid another horrid war. Remember, the Churchill group was very small. very few people gave him the time of day (including in America). He was considered a crazy warmonger until what he said came to fruition.

Britain will never forget the debt she owes to America for her help in the wars. America just took a lot of convincing to get involved (both times).

bk

 

[Barry]

The stories about Americans acting rudely overseas reminds me of the time I was at Yad Vashem in Israel. For those of you who don't know Yad Vashem is the Israeli Holocaust museum. A solemn place to say the least.

I completed the tour/trip of the place and was walking straight ahead. All the sudden I hear behind me "OH MY GAWD!!" I turned around but kept walking few steps - I just about slammed into two actresses from that "90210" show. I don't remember which ones because this was years ago. One was blonde the other was really short with brown hair. All the sudden these women were surrounded by about 5 teenage girls who were snapping photos. I guess that could happen anywhere....but Yad Vashem?

Barry

 

[Senator Jack]

No one put it better than Noel Coward. From his 1961 show Sail Away

Travel they say improves the mind
An irritating platitude
And frankly entre nous
Is simply just not true

Personally I've yet to find how longitude and latitude
Can educate those scores
Of monumental bores

Who travel in groups and herds and troups
And various breeds and sexes
Till the whole world reels
To the shouts and squeals
And the clicking of Roll-e-flexes

Oh, Why do the wrong people travel, travel, travel
When the right people stay back home
What compulsion, compels them
And who the hell tells them
To drag their clans to Zanzibar
Instead of staying quietly in Omaha

The Taj Mahal
The Grand Canal
The sunny French Riviera
Would be less opressed
If the middle-west
Settled for someplace rather nearer

Now please don't think that I
Criticize or cavil
At a genuine urge to roam
But why oh why do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home
With all that money
When the right people stay back home

Oh, Why do the wrong people travel, travel, travel
When the right people stay back home
What is this mass mania
To leave Pennsylvania
And quack around like flocks of geese
Demanding dry martinis on the isles of Greece

On the smallest streets
Where the gourmets meet
They invariably fetch up
And it's hard to make
Them accept a steak
That isn't served rare and smeared with ketchup

Oh it would take years to unravel, ravel, ravel
Every impulse that makes them roam
But why oh why do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home

What inspires these processions
And peculiar obsessions
Of families from Houston, Tex
With all those cameras around their necks

They take a train
Or an aeroplane
For an hour on the Costa Brava
And visit Pompei on the only day
That it's up to its ears in molten lava

Thousands of tourists are churning up the gravel
As they gaze on Saint Peter's dome
But why oh why do the wrong people travel
When the right people stay back home
With all those Kennedys
When the right people stay back home

 

["Doc" Devereux]

Britain will never forget the debt she owes to America for her help in the wars. America just took a lot of convincing to get involved (both times).

Or as I once said to an American friend of mine*, "What is it with you chaps? Every time we throw a war you insist on being fashionably late!"

* A US Army Master Sergeant who'd done several tours with MAC-V SOG and had a salad bar that needed its own postal code. He laughed hard, and we had another beer. No offence was or is intended to anyone who wears a uniform to work.

 

[Absinthe_1900]

QUOTE=Marc Chevalier Monkeys are a no go.

How about those "Flying Monkeys"?

 

[Lauren]

Great poem, Senator Jack.

Yeah, I've witnessed the British being this way as well, but I'm had not quite as many experiences. I guess the poem about summed it up. If people would attempt to do research on the country they're going to and attempt to learn a few phrases in the language I think there would be much less hostility.

 

["Doc" Devereux]

No one put it better than Noel Coward. From his 1961 show Sail Away

Very few people have ever put things better than Noel Coward, and that's why we call him 'The Master'. Nicely done, Senator.

He's a bugger to sing, though.