Something I realised about America this Holiday

[Mr Smith]

...Britain who are the kings of over charging for stingy portions.

As an Australian, I take offence to this. I think u would find that it in fact us who are Kings - nay Gods - when it comes to charging obscene amounts for miniscule servings of food. So much so that we have extended the practice to all manner of products and services.

But back on topic; I have been over to America twice. I admit I am often quick to criticise them based on propular media perception, but in actual fact most whom I've met have been genuinely friendly, charming people with a sincere curiosity about the world beyond the USA bubble. There are those who are every but as bad as the stereotype, but in all fairness those people exist in every country.

 

[Matthew Dunn]

I went to Britain this past summer, and I don't recall the whole country stopping for any kind of tea time in the afternoon.

But never have I felt so stupid for not being able to understand someone who was speaking the same damn language as me. I felt so bad and kept apologizing, but I could not understand that a woman making me a sandwich in a shop was asking if I wanted "butter" on it.

Haha, what would you call butter then? Spread or something? And which part of the country were you visiting? Must have been one of those heathen parts that don't stop for afternoon tea, damn godless creatures...

No, we call it butter, too, but I couldn't understand the way she was saying it. It sounded like "bu'a" to me, and I couldn't figure out what she meant. I went to Manchester for Escapism UK, so look at the Brits on here if you're looking for them godless creatures.

Ah the wonderful cockney accent.

Guv'na.

I don't really think Mancunians(people who come from manchester) speak with a cockney accent. Cockney's come from London, or more specifically the East end of London. I've been to Manchester a bunch of times, they don't speak with a cockney accent. It's more of a northern accent, which ain't cockney.

Agreed
Go further north for a stronger accent
Hell.. go for a parmo while your at it... mmmm paaarrrmoooos

 

[Woodsey]

Well, whilst stereotyping shouldn't go on, the impressions of Americans you listed aren't born of the more moderate and liberal Northeast (i.e. New York).

Case in point:

I was born in New Jersey, raised in New York. Gotta say, I absolutely love it there. I'm really glad you enjoyed your stay. I miss it there so much. If you want to see an ass-crack state come to South Carolina (Where I currently stay). It's terrible here. The minute I tell near anyone that I'm not a Christian they look at me like I just grew a third eye. And the racism down here is rampant.

Example: I got in trouble for kicking someone out of the store I work at for blatantly using the "N" word in the most derogatory manner.

Goodness I want to go back to New York. :/ I miss my family.

 

[Awexsome]

Thing is America is very different depending on where you visit in the country. Heck, where you visit in which particular state you're in.

I know here in Iowa it's scattered all over the place. Currently in a nice college town with your more college style attitude what with stereotype liberal being the wide majority. However my old high school was a smaller town with a sizeable amount of those conservative stereotypes. There was this one guy in our school who was an amazing singer. However he didn't try out for our musical and his family issued formal complaints to our school because it we preformed a show that involved a witch and witchcraft. They were the far right, fundamentalist, pro-life, abstinence only, gay marriage hating stereotype people would think of.

So yeah. Just matters where you look.

 

[ThatDarnCoyote]

OP: Glad you enjoyed your visit! I'm a cop in a downtown area, so I get asked for directions a lot from foreign tourists. They generally gush about how nice the city and the people are, and the tone of mild surprise in their voices always makes me smile. The USA is definitely ill-served by the image our cultural establishment sees fit to export.

Hey....I live in South Carolina. But I'm in Charleston. I love it here. Beaches, good music, good career opportunities (at least for my goals), pretty women, lovely weather, and lots of pirate stuff. Though I swear to God half the people I meet are from Ohio.

Ah, yes, hence the oft-seen bumper sticker around here, "Go Back to Ohio".

While stereotypes about the American South have some basis in fact, when I moved here I learned that they are also largely vicious lies spread by Southerners, who are afraid that if people outside the South learn how nice it is here, they'll move in and ruin it.

 

[silent-treatment]

Basically. That was actually supposed to be singular. My phone does weird things to my spelling. Maybe a joke or two about whatever it is surfers talk like as well. I really hate the use of the word "like" as punctuation.

Ahh okay. I actually have not ever met anyone who talks valley girl in real life, nor the surfer thing ( I actually make that voice for comedic effect) but the "like" thing is very true. I try not to use it but I am unable to do so.

Edit:

Ugh, California. Yes. Even in the Fallout games it's a messed up place.

Maybe I'm too brash, but I've never seemed to get along with them.

I am sorry, some of us can be real jerks. Have you been here? Not like (see i'm powerless) LA, I mean California. It is really split down into three differing sections Northern, Central, and Southern. I am from Southern Cali
about an hour outside of LA and I have never had issues with people from other parts of the country.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

If I had a nickel for every time someone told me, "Hey, you're a nice Christian, I didn't know those existed" or something of the like, I'd be pretty rich right now. I'm glad you're another that has realized we don't all suck, but on the other hand, the fact that this is worthy of celebration (due to people actually needing this realization) is really, really, really sad on everyone's part.

I would like to root for the Deep South, because despite its conservative panicking, the people are extremely nice on an individual basis and no one honks their horn at you and everyone knows everyone and it's not an urban hellhole unless you're in Atlanta. And no, we are not inbred hicks. Come hang out with us sometime.

Country folk go!

 

[Lunar Templar]

You should try the West Coast, its much different out here. You could say its a polar opposite of what the East Coast is.

I assume your talking about California, cause i don't hear now of that about Washington or Oregon

snipped with super space saving technology!

glad to hear you had a good trip, and congrats, you found out how most of us are

that said :/ yeah, there are people like that, stereotypes don't exist for no reason after all, they, thankfully are the minority, not majority

 

[Blind Sight]

Meh, every nation has its idiots and decent people. I love the common conception of Canadians all being very nice, non-prejudiced, and polite. Being raised in Eastern Ontario's countryside I kind of find that funny, I knew plenty of people who thought that 'non-whites' weren't really Canadian and the one gay guy at my high school was almost beaten to death/run over in separate situations. I prefer looking at people on an individual basis rather then drawing my conclusions from national or cultural stereotypes.

 

[Genixma]

I haven't actually been to any other country but I did have a Russian foreign exchange student who debunked all stereotypes and she took the Soviet Russia, Vodka, Communist jokes in good stride whenever she was around us. She also had a killer accent that was absolutely wonderful. So though I haven't actually been to a country, I've met someone directly from it who debunked it and was still a good sport about the less tasteful jokes we've produced over the years.

 

[Elivercury]

I must say, aside from all else the OP wrote, I'm amazed at how impressed they were with Americans cuisine. Perhaps they were mostly experiencing home-cooking, but I've found every time/place I've been in America and eating out at restaurants, I'm so desperate for some vegetables with my food I start eyeing up the lawn outside. Perhaps I just picked the wrong places.

I also never found any real difference in portion size between the US and the UK despite people constantly harping on about it.

 

[Griffolion]

New York

"There's your problem."

People from the coasts of the United States, that is the west and north east coasts, live in a completely different culture than people in the central and southern states. I come from California, and the few central states I've visited made me realize we're how sharp the difference is.

I feel like much of the American stereotype was strengthened by the recent actions of the US. The culture that raised people like Bush is pretty much the opposite of the one you found in New York.

Without trying to offend everyone, I sometimes feel like they're still living in the 50's out there.

New York State, actually.

Where I was situated was about 6/7 hours drive from New York City. It was a pretty small town that was mostly conservative. But still, they were nice people who's ethos' weren't too dissimilar to mine regarding politics etc (since I tend to favour a lot of Cameron's austerity after Brown's criminally catastrophic financial mis-management).

 

[BrionJames]

tl;dr at the start - This is unequivocally NOT an America bashing thread. Do read my post to the end.

So I spent my Christmas and New Year away from home (to the tune of a few thousand miles) over with friends in New York State, America. Having never spent any significant amount of time in the US (save for a few days last summer during my holiday predominantly in Canada), all I really had to go off American culture was what I see on the media and more "real" outlets like YouTube (by "real" I mean, less gloss and acting in a professional show, more actual people talking about stuff).

I must confess to doing what many people do and jump on the bandwagon of bashing the US because of it's seeming "world police" reputation, "Christian" fanatic influenced polity making and it's apparent "herp derp I only know stuff about America" population. I guess I was more prone to this than most being a Brit, as we tend to have this completely unjustified and mis-informed "well we conquered everyone in the past and thus have a right to say what we want on anything and have it taken as God's Word" attitude. Trust me, I've seen it, and you have too.

So anyway, my time in America led me to a very weird conclusion based on what I saw, who I met and what I generally did over there.

1. Most of the people I met (just average citizens) hate the fact that their country is seen (and hated for because of) as the "world police". They disliked what their leaders are doing/have done in the past, and literally just want to live in a fair society.

2. I met a lot of Christian people over there. Not the "go to church once a month and i'm good" types (despite the fact that they are prevalent over there), actual Christian people who turned out to be probably the loveliest people I've met in my life. I always thought all Christians over there were the stereotypical judgmental, 2.4 kids, conservative republican, "modern society is waging a war on us" "Christian" types. Instead the people I met with were actually very normal. I'm not saying those I described previously don't exist, it's just an observation based on what I saw.

3. American people are (much like I said in point 2, but this time in general) probably the friendliest and most welcoming people ever. Every family and household I met with my friends I was staying with welcomed me and treat me as if I was one of their own. I'm usually uncomfortable when meeting new people, but this was a different experience altogether. Not only this, but they are all incredibly intelligent on world affairs (again, based on who I met).

So anyway, my conclusion was that, for all it's caveats, I would much sooner live in America than I would in Britain, if not solely due to it's far stronger community sense than you typically get in Britain. Also, the food over there is fantastic, I mean the world needs to take a leaf out of America's book as far as dining out is concerned, especially Britain who are the kings of over charging for stingy portions.

Please don't flame me, it's just my opinions based on what I saw over there. I can safely say I came back with a very different view on US society than I went there with and if I felt it would matter in any way I'd write a letter of apology to the nation for being so ignorant about you all.

Discussion value: Have you ever been to another country where the reality of it was so far removed from the stereotype that it took you aback a little? (I know that almost all stereotypes fall into that bracket, my point is made on the basis of how much the stereotype is untrue).

Thanks for reading!

Good to know, that someone found out we aren't all gun-toting,bible thumping, morons out to bend the rest of the world to our whims.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

New York State, actually.

Where I was situated was about 6/7 hours drive from New York City. It was a pretty small town that was mostly conservative. But still, they were nice people who's ethos' weren't too dissimilar to mine regarding politics etc (since I tend to favour a lot of Cameron's austerity after Brown's criminally catastrophic financial mis-management).

Well, I'm glad you found a corner of the country that suits you! As many have said already, like any country, America is incredibly varied. I just was trying to point out that the stereotypical American certainly exists as well.
Again, I'm happy that the US left a good impression on you. Feel free to correct anyone stating we're *all* like the stereotype!

 

[Saltyk]

So... California is pretty much screwed, eh?

Ugh, California. Yes. Even in the Fallout games it's a messed up place.

Maybe I'm too brash, but I've never seemed to get along with them.

Hey, I live in the "Bible Belt". Georgia to be exact. Everyone I know would fit the bill the OP just described. You're basing your opinion on people in the so called Bible Belt on a vocal minority. Most people are pretty decent. Even if they do have some opinions you might not agree with.

Anecdotal evidence really isn't evidence. You seem to be in a statistical minority, and believe me, it has nothing to do with the "opinions you might not agree with" strawman.

No offense, but you are wrong. Have you ever been to the South? Or are you basing this knowledge on television and movies? I am not the minority. I'm the majority. The stereotypes you are clinging to are the minority. To the point, that I've only ever met one person with that distinctive Southern drawl in my entire two decades plus of life and thought she was faking it at first. Are they out there? Sure. But they aren't common. To the point, that even we Southern people find them surprising.

For the record, I see you posting a lot on these forums and I generally like/agree with you, if my memory serves. At the very least, I have a positive opinion of you. But, all the same, I disagree with your statement.

I lived near Chattanooga, Georgia (more in Alabama, though). The Bible Belt forced me to lose my "Yankee" accent, because I was so often teased for it. And not "haha she says Yankee words! Cute!" but more like, "why dun't you's talk correctly, guurl? You think ya'll up there are so much better.." blah blah (no, not all talk like that, but it's what I hear when I think the south). So forgive me if I think you're wrong.

Do you live in a city/near a city? That's probably why you don't hear the accent a lot, and people tend to be a bit more civilized.

I lived in the boonies for a time.

Oohhhh, the boonies...*sobs*

What's funny is that I have lived in the South my entire life and been accused of having a Northern accent. I was just thinking about this today and I think I know why people might think this. I had a pretty bad speech impediment when I was younger (a result of some bad ear infections and the treatment used I think) that cause me to take speech therapy classes at least once a week in elementary school. Probably more actually, but it was so long ago, I barely remember the details. So I think I unlearned any southern I might have had due to the focus on learning to speak properly.

And yes, it was a bad one. So bad, that apparently, I don't remember this mind you, there were occasions that my teachers sent for my older sister to "translate" what I was saying.

Anyway, I have pretty much lived in the suburbs of Atlanta, or just outside them, my whole life. So there is probably some truth to that. Not that I don't know redneck people. I have friends that will admit that they are rednecks, and they are. I've talked to plenty of people from the more rural areas, too. I still don't think they are as bad as some people seem to claim.

More importantly, the OP here seems to be talking about how he had some preconceptions about Americans that he found to be wrong when he personally met some. He found that the stereotypes he believed were wrong. I find it kinda sad that people are so attached to some stereotypes that they completely miss this point. If nothing else, I disprove the stereotype. And I even laugh at the portrayal of Southerns in some movies. Because they are so wrong that I see them as mere jokes. Those portrayals aren't even accurate of the people that do fit the stereotype. Merely exaggerations. But people seem to believe that is accurate.

 

[guitarsniper]

I'm from Oakland CA, which just made #5 on the New York Times' list of places to visit in 2012 (curse you panama, helsinki, myanmar, and london!), and i'd definitely recommend coming out to the bay area for a bit. it's a pretty awesome place to be, and i definitely hope that the 2013 America's Cup will bring more love from tourists for the region. That being said, I'd like to agree with the general sentiment that all kinds of people live in all kinds of places. Also, to the OP, I would note that people will often behave differently with company around then they do normally.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'm a Canady, I've made it to Maine a handful of times and to Washington State once; I've got a friend in Kentucky, one in Texas and two in Illinois. Granted, that only makes for six people across a country that houses millions - but they're all swell people.

The only ground rule we have is not to talk about politics or religion. We all agree on political and religious subjects, but we make it a habit of avoiding these topics, seeing as I've mostly been talking to them through another discussion forum. Been doing so for upwards of fifteen years.

Everything's fine, up until the occasional zealot comes alone, once in a great while. Seeing as we run a roleplay forum and our universe cribs from several mythologies and cultures alike, we've pissed off a handful of vocal conservatives, online.

I mostly shrug it off. There's obviously no way one person who launches into an ALLCAPS rant about my needing to save my soul and abandon my quote-unquote deviltry (i.e. having demons as playable characters) represents the 99.99% of the remainder of the American populace.

If I meet someone who's that determined, I usually point them over to the Landover Baptist Community's site - which is a fake portal representing an equally fake extremist Baptist congregation. The site's actually run by atheists to parody some Christians' willingness to "Jesus-brand" nearly anything and everything and to misinterpret Pop culture items as being offensive to God. One of their articles claim that "The Two Towers" is Hobbit slang for erect halfling penises, for instance.

What's really fun is that one of them thanked me for linking her to the site, seeing as she honestly believed she'd run into kindred spirits. ^^

"Oh, hey! You're a godless abomination for daring to use superheroes and angels and demons and for besmirching the Lord's good name, but thanks for linking me to that fake pool of foetid hatred! I feel so loved!"

Or, well, that's what her response was, once you'd surgically removed the stupid from it.

 

[Karlaxx]

I was born in New Jersey, raised in New York. Gotta say, I absolutely love it there. I'm really glad you enjoyed your stay. I miss it there so much. If you want to see an ass-crack state come to South Carolina (Where I currently stay). It's terrible here. The minute I tell near anyone that I'm not a Christian they look at me like I just grew a third eye. And the racism down here is rampant.

Example: I got in trouble for kicking someone out of the store I work at for blatantly using the "N" word in the most derogatory manner.

Goodness I want to go back to New York. :/ I miss my family.

Hey....I live in South Carolina. But I'm in Charleston. I love it here. Beaches, good music, good career opportunities (at least for my goals), pretty women, lovely weather, and lots of pirate stuff. Though I swear to God half the people I meet are from Ohio.

We have a saying here... Ohio is a place one is from, not a place one goes to.

 

[DustyDrB]

I was born in New Jersey, raised in New York. Gotta say, I absolutely love it there. I'm really glad you enjoyed your stay. I miss it there so much. If you want to see an ass-crack state come to South Carolina (Where I currently stay). It's terrible here. The minute I tell near anyone that I'm not a Christian they look at me like I just grew a third eye. And the racism down here is rampant.

Example: I got in trouble for kicking someone out of the store I work at for blatantly using the "N" word in the most derogatory manner.

Goodness I want to go back to New York. :/ I miss my family.

Hey....I live in South Carolina. But I'm in Charleston. I love it here. Beaches, good music, good career opportunities (at least for my goals), pretty women, lovely weather, and lots of pirate stuff. Though I swear to God half the people I meet are from Ohio.

We have a saying here... Ohio is a place one is from, not a place one goes to.

Lol. It seems that way. "Go back to Ohio" is sort of a meme around Charleston. Our minor league baseball team, the Riverdogs (owned in part by the incredible Mr. Bill Murray, who I've had the pleasure of meeting) once had a "Go back to Ohio" theme night.

OP: Glad you enjoyed your visit! I'm a cop in a downtown area, so I get asked for directions a lot from foreign tourists. They generally gush about how nice the city and the people are, and the tone of mild surprise in their voices always makes me smile. The USA is definitely ill-served by the image our cultural establishment sees fit to export.

Hey....I live in South Carolina. But I'm in Charleston. I love it here. Beaches, good music, good career opportunities (at least for my goals), pretty women, lovely weather, and lots of pirate stuff. Though I swear to God half the people I meet are from Ohio.

Ah, yes, hence the oft-seen bumper sticker around here, "Go Back to Ohio".

While stereotypes about the American South have some basis in fact, when I moved here I learned that they are also largely vicious lies spread by Southerners, who are afraid that if people outside the South learn how nice it is here, they'll move in and ruin it.

Ha! Speaking of "Go Back to Ohio".

Oh, if you're an officer downtown...I have some parking tickets. I always feel bad for the officers around Market Sreet on the weekend nights. They look sooooo annoyed. I know, or at least knew, a few guys who were police officers downtown.