They can't help it maybe.... Try harder...
I'm hell bent on learning french and because I try to speak french sincerely, I have made many new friends swiss, french, and others that are trying to learn.... Did I mention how much more easily I can get around now...
Its not just Americans, I know a few foreigners here that have not picked up the language as fast as they could have and life is very limiting to them.....
For example, the watch industry still measures the size of a calibre in lignes. This is neither metric nor imperial. Air traffic controllers for a long time found it useful to measure horizontal distance in km and vertical distance in feet.
Theoretical physicists often use units in which the Planck and Boltzmann constants, and the speed of light, are set to 1. Everything else is then measured in units of the Plank mass.
And you need to measure out a cricket pitch in chains (one of the lovely imperial measures).
And now I'm declaring myself officially out of bounds, even with regard to normal levels of thread drift.
a) the director (Swiss German,office next to mine...sometimes hard to work when he's here)
b) all the Swiss-Italian system engineers (yelling back and forth down the halls)
c) everyone else
That would pretty much be my ordering in town as well. There are plenty of Americans floating around, you just hardly notice them.
It's like being back in college !!
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Back on topic..
We Americans (may I speak up as a US-European hybrid?) tend to irritate others when we pretend that we're going to "teach" Europeans.
- what works in the States does not necessarily work in Europe
- we need to get past history.. the Marshall Plan was 65 years ago
- we're totally dependent on each other (history has proved after 1918, that it's impossible for either to be on their own).
And before another patriotic dude starts critisizing, I love all my countries.
There are just as many loud New Yorkers as there are in any of
the States.
When I am in Italy or the South of France, I beg to find a McDonald's because the restrooms are clean and usable.
Ma was placing the order and hollered out to papaw, "Hey Daddy, do you want a hamburger or a hot dog???" I should add that, neither hamburgers nor hot dogs were on the menu.
My host father smirked and leaned to me across the table, "That's your countrymen. Aren't you proud?" That's when I learned to be ashamed of my fellow Americans should I ever be associated with their bad or embarassing behaviors. As a result, until a few years ago you never would have found me on an organized tour or cruise with them. George Bush didn't help this at all, and I too have claimed Canadian citizenship when asked where my funny accent was from while traveling abroad.
That said though, I have been in packs of Aussies with stubby coolers. I have gone galavanting with gaggles of Brits. I have even had the pleasure of touring with Germans wearing socks and sandles. And all I can say is that, there is no nationality on this planet that can claim perfection or exemption from being irksomeless when it comes to traveling the world or being displaced into a culture that is not their own.
So, chins up, my fellow Americans. Own your heritage, and be proud of who you are. We have nothing to be ashamed of. Talk like a Yank and go out there and irk the fondue out of some Swiss.
It is fashionable to hate them, isn't it?
- How are you today?
- I am good thank you, I hate americans!
- Me too!
The US is so freaking big and has people from all over the world living there. So I don't know for you, but an american is certainly not that typical that all are the same.
I love americans!
How right you are! You can't believe what Muppets some of my fellow Brits can be when abroad. Fortunately few go to Switzerland - preferring to get tanked up on cheap beer and mind numbingly dreadful fast food in Spain.
Good stuff. The fact is, there are national stereotypes, and too many people from each nation seem to follow them. BUT there is absolutely no certainty that any one individual will be bound by them. So we have Americans who do not talk loudly, Germans who don't wear sandals, and Aussies who don't drink beer.
And as a matter of anecdotal interest, two of my daughters have triple nationality. They have no idea whom they should cheer for when there's rugby on.
In deep space, no one can hear you scream - because you're frozen solid.
Them: "We hate Americans"
Me: "But I'm American"
Them: "No, no. We don't hate you!"
Me:
I guess the probably want to say they hate American foreign policy/actions, American stereo type, something else and not really "Americans".
people sure do spend a lot of time and energy hating generalities and missing out on actualities, i think.
Should I start a new thread now? Or maybe even a new forum?