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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.

#71

Post by arethuza »

adrianhoward wrote: post #65

One thing I remember from a long road trip I took in the nineties across the US was, on multiple occasions, being told that I was "brave" or "courageous" when it came up in conversation that I was an atheist (okay - technical agnostic, working atheist if you want to be picky :-) Everybody was nice. Nobody was mean about it (I got a lot of hassle over being a vegetarian though) but it was felt odd for two reasons. Fir…

Actually, I suspect there is a chance that those people were concerned for your immortal soul and therefore regarded your position in the face of impending endless torment as "brave".

But I'm also an atheist and British... and despite growing up in an oppresively religious community I don't really understand these things.

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

#72

Post by Cieplak »

adrianhoward wrote: post #65

One thing I remember from a long road trip I took in the nineties across the US was, on multiple occasions, being told that I was "brave" or "courageous" when it came up in conversation that I was an atheist (okay - technical agnostic, working atheist if you want to be picky :-) Everybody was nice. Nobody was mean about it (I got a lot of hassle over being a vegetarian though) but it was felt odd for two reasons. Fir…

This reminds me of the episode of top gear where they paint offensive remarks on each others cars and drive across the southern US.

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

#73

Post by wazoox »

adrianhoward wrote: post #59
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.

It also depends on what food you're used to. I'm from the UK and did the whole cross-country US road trip thang when I was in my twenties. I remember it was the little odd differences in supermarkets and restaurants that freaked me out. For example - at the time (early nineties) almost no Indian food anywhere. In the UK even small villages often have an Indian take out. On the flip side - in the US you have texmex ev…

> And the portion sizes... wow...

Yes, Umberto Eco wrote an interesting article on the cultural significance of "more" to Americans. This is quite obvious in restaurant portion sizes among other.

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

#74

Post by wazoox »

liotier wrote: post #70
ericb wrote: post #6

No mention of our odd restaurant tipping practices? I thought they are unusual compared to the rest of the world...

French tipping practices : you tip only if the service is exceptionally good or if you are a regular and want to ingratiate the staff to yourself. Staff members get a salary and don't have to depend on alms.

By the way, tips all go into a common tip jar and get shared among the whole staff at the end of the day or week (depending upon the place).

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

#75

Post by jlgreco »

gnaritas wrote: post #21
martythemaniak wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Liberal isn't a dirty word, it's not something you're branded with.

It is to the sort of people who might perform such branding.

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

#76

Post by wazoox »

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"?

Gets annoying at time: in French, some people drop "tu vois" (you see), "j'veux dire" (I mean), "et tout" (and all that) everywhere. For some people it gets close to an actual speech disorder :)

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

#77

Post by _pferreir_ »

I don't mean to generalize, but this is my own experience.

Sincerely, I don't know how the US manages to be the second most touristic country in the world. Travelling to the US can be a nightmare - customs, TSA, metal detectors, body scanners, etc. As a tourist, I've never felt as unwelcomed as when travelling there.

Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but I seriously got the feeling that people who work at airports, subway, or any other place that is by definition essential to tourists are unable to communicate without shouting. The fact that in spite of working at such a place most of them don't even speak a second language may contribute to that - it's like people will understand better what you say if you just say it louder. Not to mention that you are expected to know exactly how everything works, from the local language (which sometimes becomes Spanish) to how much you have to tip, otherwise people will look at you with that "oh, you must be new here" look.

Strangely enough, the common american that you find in the street tends to be relaxed, friendly and always willing to help. People will sometimes start talking to you in a pretty natural and informal way (this wouldn't happen in Europe).

So, tl;dr: services suck but once you are through the trial of idiocy that is getting into the country, you'll most likely have a good time.

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

#78

Post by thatjoshguy »

Hemospectrum wrote: post #25
ericras wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"?

Absolutely. In Japanese, for example, you'll sometimes hear conversations littered with なんか (nanka) and かしら (kashira).

When I did exchange I had one teacher who would say ええと (eeto) every second word.

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

#79

Post by StavrosK »

simonsarris wrote: post #22
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.

Yes, but visitors that buy guidebooks do not go to your mono-cultural hometown. They go to New York! Even in my (relatively) small-medium town in New Hampshire[1] there's an amazing variety of high quality restaurants. A lot of people abroad in their own similiar-sized towns don't get to ever try authentic Mexican, or Cajun, or American comfort, or sushi, or Greek, etc, all of which are available here. For most touri…

An aside: As a Greek, I tend to stay away from "Greek" restaurants abroad, because it's almost never Greek food. For example, people here generally eat lamb only once or twice a year, and I didn't know what hummus is until I had it in London (in one such "Greek" restaurant, no less).

I think it's more about the stereotype that is expected of the restaurant rather than actually being authentic. For example, Greek gyros is almost always pork, never lamb. If you get lamb gyros, it's middle-eastern.

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

#80

Post by StavrosK »

_pferreir_ wrote: post #77

I don't mean to generalize, but this is my own experience. Sincerely, I don't know how the US manages to be the second most touristic country in the world. Travelling to the US can be a nightmare - customs, TSA, metal detectors, body scanners, etc. As a tourist, I've never felt as unwelcomed as when travelling there. Maybe it's just a cultural thing, but I seriously got the feeling that people who work at airports, s…

This echoes my own experience too, down to the letter. Screw air travel in the US, but people are very friendly, at least in cities I've been.

Hell, the TSA even gave me a free massage!

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