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Stop Generalizing About Europe

jonasbentzen.com

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Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#291

Post by subsystem »

pelle wrote: post #139
_delirium wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ambivalent feelings toward entrepreneurs I haven't found this to be the case in the Nordic countries, at least. You can't walk around a corner without tripping over a startup incubator, and there's a lot of interest, among both techies and the public (and the government), about where the "next Nokia", "next Spotify", "next Rovio", etc. are going to come from. Germans also lionize their famed "Mittelstand", which is…

In Scandinavia there is a small vocal subculture talking "startup". It is however a very small subculture. The majority of employees you will encounter will not be very entrepreneurial.

That's because most Scandinavian startups are still created outside of the startup "scene".

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#292

Post by davedx »

white_devil wrote: post #274
nhebb wrote: post #54

I think a lot of us need to admit that the author is right. I, for one, do generalize about Europe. I think of social democracies with high taxes. I think of arcane rules and regulations to start and run a business. And most of all, I limit the term "Europe" to include about 20 of the 50 European countries. I will never think of Russia as a European country. If I entered a contest and won a vacation to "Europe" - and…

> I think of social democracies with high taxes. I think of arcane rules and regulations to start and run a business. .. Aaand you'd be right about France, Germany, Spain, England, The Netherlands, Denmark, Austria and Italy (and Norway, Sweden, Finland). In other words, you'd be right about "the countries that matter" (and some that don't).

"Arcane rules and regulations to start and run a business":

Please explain what you mean by this for the Netherlands? (I say this as an expat Brit with his own business in the NL)

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#293

Post by msh »

riffraff wrote: post #229
blablabla123 wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Americans talk about Europe, they talk about Europe, this is the problem. Someone who knows Europe geographically and politically often means with "Western Europe" the European countries with a strong economy. (Why would you exclude UK?) Others might use this term to refer to all countries west of Poland. What I am saying is: even the term "Western Europe" is really unprecise. And even if you only talk about Wes…

not arguing, but your post made me think. When europeans talk about americans, do they mean north, south, both, or USA citizens ?

In Denmark, a American is someone from the USA and America is the US. If you want to talk about continents you say north or South America.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#294

Post by eli_gottlieb »

VeejayRampay wrote: post #224
wolfgke wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We should also make English the official language, that would help us all move forward. We should better create an entirely new artificial official language so that nobody feels discriminated.

Nah. English is an easy language, taught in a vast majority of high schools in Europe, the Northerners already all speak it perfectly, it has Latin roots and Germanic roots, it's fairly neutral, used by the US and Canada and is so far the de facto language of business. We should invest in English. I've wanted English to be a mandatory second language after your native one in all of Europe for a while. Also creating l…

Please no. The world's languages are already being killed-off by English a little too quickly.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#295

Post by lucaspiller »

SheriffFatman wrote: post #189
antiterra wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that is true then "Germany," "China," "Russia," "Ireland," "Australia," et al. are all slang for their proper (sometimes anglicized) country names.

But there's a difference in that "America" or "the Americas" can include a much larger area than just the USA, while that's not true for the countries you list. China is agreed by both the PRC and the RoC to include Taiwan -- they just disagree over who is the legitimate government; "Germany" historically meant all German-speaking lands, but that usage is now, for understandable reasons, defunct; the Commonwealth of…

"to which the former until recently laid claim."

Now, now (Brit living in Ireland here)... In fact it is the other way around. We laid claim to the island in 1801 forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Around the turn of the 20th century, they weren't too happy with us though and wanted out, so in 1921 we agreed to let them have a chunk of it back (forming Ireland, Republic of and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). Now even today they still want the rest back, and half of the rest wants to go back (hence all the troubles in Northern Ireland), but we aren't letting them :D

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#296

Post by lucaspiller »

alexchamberlain wrote: post #276
aes256 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then again, I think a fair number of Brits would state Northern Ireland (the difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom) is part of Great Britain

You've also got the Channel Islands, and the Isles of Mann and Wight to contend with. Then there's the fact that one is a political union and one a union under the monarch... something like that anyway.

This video explains all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#297

Post by eli_gottlieb »

adventured wrote: post #98

The comedy to this is the extreme generalizing that goes on globally when talking about America / Americans. We're all cowboy surfer rednecks that love our guns and religion, are all broke with maxed out credit cards and overweight with a nasty case of diabetes.

Well, actually, 2/3 of Americans are overweight and 75% are indebted in some fashion (though that could be "good debt"). And Americans have one of the most disturbing attitudes towards religion I've ever seen. American seculars turn entirely away from God while fundamentalists also turn entirely away from God... in the other direction.

So you get a country where service employees working on Christmas is considered totally normal, but fundamentalists crow on and on about the disrespect done to Christianity by deigning to acknowledge Hanukah and Kwanzaa. Which is ironic, because prior to Kwanzaa being invented from whole cloth and Hanukah morphing into Jewsmas, it really was solely and only the Christmas season.

Damned capitalist pigs ;-) (yes, I'm originally American).

Oh, and there are more guns than people in America, but those are mostly concentrated in rural states where guns are easier to obtain legally. The population of America has only recently tipped over from being mostly rural/suburban to mostly urban/suburban.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#298

Post by klausjensen »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #294
VeejayRampay wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah. English is an easy language, taught in a vast majority of high schools in Europe, the Northerners already all speak it perfectly, it has Latin roots and Germanic roots, it's fairly neutral, used by the US and Canada and is so far the de facto language of business. We should invest in English. I've wanted English to be a mandatory second language after your native one in all of Europe for a while. Also creating l…

Please no. The world's languages are already being killed-off by English a little too quickly.

Good thing. Inability to communicate in a common language is a huge barrier for development, peace and understanding global issues.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#299

Post by arethuza »

mpweiher wrote: post #283
kamjam wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most Americans would break the European continent into "Europe" (aka continental W. Europe), the UK, East Europe, and Russia. I think you're over generalizing now in thinking that most Americans know any other nations exist outside of America! I don't think I have ever met anyone though that doesn't think of the UK as part of Europe. Note there is a very clear distinction between Europe and the European Union…

"I don't think I have ever met anyone though that doesn't think of the UK as part of Europe." Except Brits, of course ;-)

Except some Brits.

Re: Stop Generalizing About Europe

#300

Post by treenyc »

jonascopenhagen wrote: post #44
crazygringo wrote: post #34

This post feels awfully pedantic. While it may not be clear to non-Americans, when Americans talk about "Europe", they're generally talking about Western Europe, not Eastern, and are excluding the UK too. They almost certainly aren't including Russia. (Just like when Americans talk about Asia, they aren't usually thinking of India.) Of course, that's geographically inaccurate -- but it's what we usually mean. The Eur…

> When Americans talk about "Europe", they're generally talking about Western Europe, not Eastern, and are excluding the UK too. This doesn't hold true for any of the Americans I've met (and I've met a lot). Also, one of the countries Martin Varsavsky mentions in his examples is actually the UK. If it were true that the American definition of Europe doesn't include Eastern Europe, what part of the world do the many A…

hi, I'm in Denmark at the moment, would like talk to you about my impression of Denmark. How can I contact you?
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