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What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

theatlantic.com

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Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#11

Post by jerf »

derleth wrote: post #5

"Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air."

If you're talking about water just lying around, maybe so, but US water standards are if anything ridiculously stringent compared to much of the rest of the world [1]. Read that page carefully, and observe that while the US standards may appear at times to permit things somewhat higher than other standards, the US (along with Europe) strongly enforce them, so it's not that comparable.

As for the air, it is generally clean in the US. Sort this chart by "above or below world average": [2] Also note the line about the US being very well sampled, so if there's an error it's not there.

It isn't 1965 anymore.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water_quality_standard...

[2]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/datablog/2011/sep/26/g...

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#12

Post by ericras »

bufordtwain wrote: post #8

Before coming to the USA for the first time I read the following in a guide: "Americans often communicate via inflected grunts and groans, such as "uh-huh" for yes and "uh-uh" for no.

As an American who does this in pretty much every conversation I have, this is a difference I would never have thought of.

Semi-related: Do other countries have fragments of speech used as filler such as "like" and "you know"?

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#13

Post by [deleted] »

ericras wrote: post #12
bufordtwain wrote: post #8

Before coming to the USA for the first time I read the following in a guide: "Americans often communicate via inflected grunts and groans, such as "uh-huh" for yes and "uh-uh" for no.

As an American who does this in pretty much every conversation I have, this is a difference I would never have thought of. Semi-related: Do other countries have fragments of speech used as filler such as "like" and "you know"?

[deleted]

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#14

Post by nandemo »

a-priori wrote: post #4
joshAg wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it that's not the case in Canada?

It is normal here in Canada for a husband to accompany his wife to the hospital, and has been at least since I was born in the 80s. I think refurb's point is that it's strange to include that in something you give a Canadian moving to the US.

Well, in that case refurb's comment is as confusing as the statement in the guide book...

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#15

Post by jisaacstone »

"food, which they praise for its quality and variety (and portion size) in a tone of near-disbelief"

huh, really? Whenever I get back from traveling I feel the opposite.

Sure in places like NY you can get any kind of food. But in my mono-cultural hometown there is little besides hamburgers or pizza.

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#17

Post by noonespecial »

ktizo wrote: post #7
derleth wrote: post #5

"Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air."

And if you must put on sunglasses you found on the street, do not stare at the skull headed people, point at the signs saying 'breed', or shut down the big weird radio transmitter thingy.

I suspect you know what to do when you run out of bubblegum then?

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#18

Post by rsl7 »

jisaacstone wrote: post #15

"food, which they praise for its quality and variety (and portion size) in a tone of near-disbelief" huh, really? Whenever I get back from traveling I feel the opposite. Sure in places like NY you can get any kind of food. But in my mono-cultural hometown there is little besides hamburgers or pizza.

And "Chinese".

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#19

Post by Camillo »

jerf wrote: post #11
derleth wrote: post #5

"Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air."

If you're talking about water just lying around, maybe so, but US water standards are if anything ridiculously stringent compared to much of the rest of the world [1]. Read that page carefully, and observe that while the US standards may appear at times to permit things somewhat higher than other standards, the US (along with Europe) strongly enforce them, so it's not that comparable. As for the air, it is generally…

Well, it depends on where you're from. Your link shows that US water standards are lax compared to European standards. But more than water, I'd be concerned about the amount of hormones and antibiotics in meat.

Re: What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S.

#20

Post by nextstep »

martythemaniak wrote: post #16
guruparan18 wrote: post #10

The article mentions fact.check.org, however, it looks like the correct site is factcheck.org.

Article also fails to mention that using something like factcheck.org will typically get you branded a liberal.

Reality has a well-known liberal bias.
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