The European View on all things American

[AboveUp]

The only thing I really have to say about Americans is that they're pretty cool people, that is, if only they'd shut up about how great and AMERICAN - American usually used as a synonym for "great" - their country is.

 

[Chimpa]

Also Frats are pointless; You have to pay a considerable sum, then you get hazed, and then your liver gets destroyed throughout the year.

I totally agree, schools in the UK are way more refined. You show up, pay a large enough sum of money for your tuition; and an even more ridiculous amount for housing. Then you spend the rest of the year drinking your way into oblivion, convincing yourself that the only method to write a half decent paper is to get stoned out of your tree first. Lovely........oh no wait.

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

?You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.? ~Winston Churchill.

Any hint of truth in this?

 

[Helnurath]

?You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.? ~Winston Churchill.

Any hint of truth in this?

Yes. See Iraq for a good example. We have been plagued with bad leadership over the past decade so we got a lot of rebuilding to do.

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

Well as orifice said. When I look at America I often find myself wondering "What the f*ck are they doing"

Hey I am an American myself and find myself asking that question sometimes.

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

I live in england and cricket doesn't make any sense to me. nor does rugby. the only thing that makes sense is Mario games. you jump on stuff. that's all I know.

 

[tomdavi]

We had a bit of a problem with childhood alcoholism and adults losing their jobs from lack of moderation....which led to prohibition, which generally failed, but we got some good laws out of it. That's what we do in the US: try a blanket law, then work it into a functional system. Not like some other countries, who just let people do whatever the hell they want, then end up with a population of working-class aristocrat wannabes.

Working class aristocrat wannabes? I would love to see one of those. But seriously, I've been to America few times and mostly like you, but there is a tendency to assume that the American method of government is best, you have the best justice etc etc. Every country has things it gets a bit arrogant or pissy about, and I realise I'm not talking about everyone here, but it just seems to me to be a strange thing to be proud about, when in fact many countries are more democratic, and have better justice systems and so on. Sorry, if it sounded a bit ranty, or indeed incoherent, but it's always puzzled me.

 

[iseko]

America
Pro: Can drive a car when you're 16
Pro: The weather can't be worse
Pro: has las vegas
Con: Drinking age is absurd.
Con: the guns man *terrible hippy impression*
Con: Bush (I know he isn't president anymore but still... It's like not being a drug addict anymore. Still means you're weird)

Belgium
Pro: Beer!!!!!!! Drinking age is sixteen but as said before nobody cares how old you are.
Pro: The chocolate
Pro: school system is very good.
Con: The weather
Con: Our political system has just been shot in the knee-caps
Con: Them damn 'walen'. Belgium is pretty much split up into two parts. The dutch speaking side and the french speaking side. I hate those damn frenchies (the french belgium people i mean. The french from france are nice people).

 

[shufflemonkey16]

I also heard Americans are troubled with the concept of irony also.

Ever heard of O. Henry?

Edit: This also goes to the other guy who said something about American's not getting irony.

 

[skraeling]

Apparently Americans don't get sarcasm and irony I'm told, I'll take British television over American television any day. (Although I do enjoy desperate housewives and scrubs)

I'm quite the fan of British humor in general... /shrug.

Saying we don't get sarcasm is like saying everyone there has bad teeth. Unless that entire sentence was meant as sarcasm to which I say "sod off" its hard to read sarcasm.

Also <3 blackadder and topgear.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

Apparently Americans don't get sarcasm and irony I'm told, I'll take British television over American television any day. (Although I do enjoy desperate housewives and scrubs)

If sarcasm is passive agressively lying with a slight smirk on your face while placing your hand in front of your neck... then no, we don't get sarcasm.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

-dummy: a pacifer does pacify, dummy just means fake. Fake what?

Um, it's a fake nipple/teat, for suckling.

ahhh...thanks for clearing that up!

 

[Kage Me]

Also Brits have softcore pornography that comes on late at night on network TV.

French have hardcore pornography after midnight. The Netherlands receive it too (frequency 0.00) ^_^

 

[goater24]

Also are frat parties like the films?

Yes, but with less censoring.

I've always thought Europeans had better candy than us. The Brits don't nance about when it comes to chocolate bars and the Germans have dedicated 44 years of quantum physics research to perfecting the gummy bear. We've still got you beat on Jelly Beans though.

thats because some of the ingredients needed for good chocolate doesn't grow in the US, it needs to be imported, odd thing is Cocoa plants dont grow in Europe though!

You can keep you jelly beans and jolly ranchers Jack, if that all you got on us apart from grits waffles and taco bell then I know I'm onto a winner. You also can't brew beer and the fact that you don't get 'ale' illustrates that point.

I'm pretty proud to say that there are some really good American beers, but they're almost all microbreweries. Also, I'm American and I prefer ales. If you ever get the chance, try Yuengling (it's a lager, but a good one). Anyways, I tend to only drink Guinness and such. But Chimay is a personal favorite.

EDIT: For the record, there are frat parties just like the ones in movies, but everyone who isn't a complete dumbass doesn't care about them anyways. Frats/Sororities in most parts of the country suck ass and make Americans (or just American college students) look bad.

Thats cool et all but none of the largers you listed are ales. If you like chimmay you'll love duval!

 

[JakubK666]

Glad we got that outta the way

 

[joystickjunki3]

Also are frat parties like the films?

Yes, but with less censoring.

I've always thought Europeans had better candy than us. The Brits don't nance about when it comes to chocolate bars and the Germans have dedicated 44 years of quantum physics research to perfecting the gummy bear. We've still got you beat on Jelly Beans though.

thats because some of the ingredients needed for good chocolate doesn't grow in the US, it needs to be imported, odd thing is Cocoa plants dont grow in Europe though!

You can keep you jelly beans and jolly ranchers Jack, if that all you got on us apart from grits waffles and taco bell then I know I'm onto a winner. You also can't brew beer and the fact that you don't get 'ale' illustrates that point.

I'm pretty proud to say that there are some really good American beers, but they're almost all microbreweries. Also, I'm American and I prefer ales. If you ever get the chance, try Yuengling (it's a lager, but a good one). Anyways, I tend to only drink Guinness and such. But Chimay is a personal favorite.

EDIT: For the record, there are frat parties just like the ones in movies, but everyone who isn't a complete dumbass doesn't care about them anyways. Frats/Sororities in most parts of the country suck ass and make Americans (or just American college students) look bad.

Thats cool et all but none of the largers you listed are ales. If you like chimmay you'll love duval!

I thought that both Guinness (a stout) and Chimay (trappist) were ales. I realize Yuengling isn't, but I said that in my post. Am I wrong in saying that stouts are a kinda of ale?

I'll try to hunt that Duval stuff down and give it a try.

While I'm thinking about it, Kilkenny is fucking awesome as well.

 

[Archaon6044]

i'm very much british, and i'm afraid i do fall into the steriotypical view in most cases (American footbal isn't real footbal, and it isn't as good as rugby, american "Beer" is pisswater), but i had to live over their for a 3 years during my childhood, because dad was in the MoD, and was posted there.

i have a good memory of the place, but sadly, most of the stereotypes did turn out to be true from my recolection.
The Yanks have no real sense of humour, unless you can instill one relativly early on, they enjoy that watered down lager they call beer, and they really do think they're Gods gift, rather unfortunatly. however, you can meet some absolutly crackin' people. we still have contact with the woman who used to nanny for us when my parents were at work out there, in fact we had her over for christmas

 

[Berethond]

America
Pro: Can drive a car when you're 16
Pro: The weather can't be worse
Pro: has las vegas
Con: Drinking age is absurd.
Con: the guns man *terrible hippy impression*
Con: Bush (I know he isn't president anymore but still... It's like not being a drug addict anymore. Still means you're weird)
.

Yeah, but in CA you can't drive other people in your car for a year after you get your license.

My weather rocks.

And I love guns. Guns don't kill people, psychotic criminals kill people.
And Bush is still president for three more days, people!

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

I've tried to compare English and American-English words and it's a fairly even split between which make more sense.

American words that make less sense:
-flashlight: they don't flash
-french fries: they're not French
-hobo: wouldn't you abbreviate homeless to 'homo'?
-math: it's mathmatics

English words that make less sense:
-car boot: huh?
-ladybird: it's neither
-dummy: a pacifer does pacify, dummy just means fake. Fake what?

Both make sense:
-cell phone/mobile phone: cell=battery and they are mobile
-airplane/aeroplane
-sidewalk/pavement
-sneaker/trainer: used for sneaking and training
-trash can/dust bin

Draw in ridiculousness:
-nappy/diaper: they just sound stupid

Actually it's mathematics