How does this happen? Chick-fil-A branded as anti-gay?

[regexcellent]

RIT sounds suspiciously like it's in Rochester, which is in America, no?

I'm shocked that foreigners there are not telling you Americans are rude to your face. Shocked, I tell you.

That stereotype is widely held world-wide. Trust me.

I don't trust you, because you are relentlessly anti-American in order to assist your Canadian nationalism. In order to enable your perception that Canada is a nation with a highly distinct culture from the United States, you have to attack American culture. Incidentally, you will find much more variation between, say, Newfoundland and Quebec or Massachusetts and Kentucky than between Ontario and New York. I can't tell the difference between Canadians and Americans most of the time, in a place where I am in frequent contact with both groups.

[Asher]

I don't trust you, because you are relentlessly anti-American in order to assist your Canadian nationalism.

Google it, beyotch.

http://www.time-travellers.org/Historian/UglyAmerican.html

[Al B. Sure!]

We're just not accustomed to discourtesy in public places, because all the discourteous people have been shot or driven indoors to troll internet message boards.

wut?


Meanwhile in the City of Brotherly Love...

[kentonio]

The foreign students I know at RIT say that Americans are really polite...

Americans in Europe have a bad habit of acting as if all the people around them are some strange foreign creatures who they can talk (loudly) about and magically not offend. They also tend to act as if cultures that may be several thousand of years old are dumb and that because things don't work just like in America they must be backwards. Americans who actually live in Europe can be awesome, but the tourists are frequently obnoxious.

Whenever I've been out of the country, nobody says things like "have a nice day" or "how are you today" or things like that at stores, or to strangers.

Why would you feel the need to tell a stranger to have a nice day? Do you actually care how they are that day? Funnily enough the Scandinavians are some of the nicest people in the world, yet they hardly ever use smalltalk.

Besides, the stereotype of the American tourist is to make a (usually pitiful) attempt to speak the local language, then fail to haggle, pay way above market prices, and give big tips. Rudeness doesn't factor.

That's the American stereotype of American tourists. The stereotype everywhere else is that American tourists are loud, boorish, rude about other cultures and ridiculously easily offended.

[Jon Miller]

I am suspicious that some of it is language.

If I say "do you have a toilet?" I mean "do you have a toilet I can use?" which was not rude, however I think that it was taken as rude about other cultures and that I had not expected them to have a toilet.

JM

[kentonio]

I am suspicious that some of it is language.

If I say "do you have a toilet?" I mean "do you have a toilet I can use?" which was not rude, however I think that it was taken as rude about other cultures and that I had not expected them to have a toilet.

JM

Occasional things like that are inevitable for everyone speaking to others with a second language though.

[Aeson]

I know when I go to the visa office here I make sure to yell at the girl behind the counter for making me wait in line, and then when they ask for exact change I threaten to "call up the consul". If I don't do that, they might deny my visa on suspicion that I'm not really American.

[Jon Miller]

I admit I make no effort what so ever to spend any time with other Americans when I am abroad, and might not even speak to another american for months at a time...

JM

[Kidlicious]

It's a difference in culture then. You see, in America it's extremely discourteous to be friendly with a stranger. When someone I don't know greets me with a smile and a handshake, I immediately look around for some weapon to defend myself. ****ing lunatics can't be trusted.

Or it's like, "what's your con, or what are you selling."

[Jon Miller]

My observation is that that is much much more likely to be true in Belgium/France than the US.

JM

[Ben Kenobi]

Wow, that's not my impression of Americans at all. Although I admit I have not spent any time in Yankeestan.

[Dr Strangelove]

We're just not accustomed to discourtesy in public places, because all the discourteous people have been shot or driven indoors to troll internet message boards.

Just think about all the fun we could have with this if the American cop had been carrying his hand gun and had used it!!!

I wonder if this guy routinely draws his weapon on anyone who stops him to ask a question?

[Guynemer]

Kalamazoo is a ****ing pit. The only thing it has going for it is Western Michigan University, was is pretty cool, and the fact that it is mentioned in a few old songs.

[giblets]

Google it, beyotch.

http://www.time-travellers.org/Histo...yAmerican.html

That guy is such a twit. Ooooh, Americans wear baseball caps, nothing screams "ugly American tourist" like a ****ing baseball cap. No wonder people hate American tourists.

God damn it, those ****ers dared to ask for decaf coffee and to not sit in a place full of toxic fumes! *******s. I HATE THEM!!!!

[kentonio]

The decaf coffee thing is a bit mental, nothing wrong with asking (although don't be surprised if they don't have it), but I think the smoking thing is more the reaction to smoking. No-ones going to care if you don't sit in a smoky place, but if you walk into a cafe with smokers* and then start complaining about the smoking then you're a little ***** who should piss off back to yank land.

*although most of Europe have smoking bans now anyway, so it's pretty irrelevant.