What Guide Books Tell Foreign Visitors to the U.S. • Hacker News Board

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

#81

Post by adrianhoward » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:23 AM UTC

arethuza wrote: post #71

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.

Nah. It was definitely just being open about being non-religious. The reaction came from the religious and the non-religious. It also wasn't a north/south thing (I know you didn't mention that - but it's something that's come up when I've commented on this before).

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

#82

Post by dsrguru » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:25 AM UTC

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.

In addition to the wide variety of foreign cuisine available in many parts of the U.S., there are many different "native" cuisines in different regions of the country. I'm inevitably going to leave out a lot, especially from the places I haven't been to, but here are some exampes. New York has got its pizza (both the Neapolitan and Sicilian styles, neither of which is very similar to the pizza found in Naples or Siciliy), bagels, half sour pickles, and certain cold cuts. Chicago has Italian beef and deep dish pizza. Wisconsin has its cheeses and bratwurst ("brats"). Philadelphia has cheese steak and hot pretzels like no others. Lousisiana has the Creole and Cajun cuisines. There's Tex-Mex and other southwestern cuisine. Lots of places along the east coast have their own very distinct variety of clam chowder, etc. I never realized how much I would miss food from various American cuisines until I lived in China for five months.

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

#83

Post by StavrosK » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:26 AM UTC

loxs wrote: post #51

xelfer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Australian any kind of expected tip is odd.

As an Eastern European, I concur. Here (Bulgaria), it's common to round up (only to the degree of 1 leva (0.50 euro)) for taxis and restaurants. This is "normal". If you tip higher, for example if you round up from 47 leva to 50, it's mostly regarded as a "tip", which means the server will be delighted. Anything more than that, is mostly regarded as unwise and unnecessary. Most of Eastern Europe (with the exception o…

I disagree about Greece, people don't generally tip more than 2-3 euros in restaurants, and usually just round up to the euro for deliveries, if that.

Also: Hey neighbour!

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

#84

Post by StavrosK » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:33 AM UTC

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"?

I don't think we do this in Greek. Come to think of it, it's weird, when I talk in Greek I use no filler, but when I speak English I litter it with "like" and "you know" like a valley girl. At least I don't say "ohmigod"...

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

#85

Post by darklajid » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:36 AM UTC

AYBABTME wrote: post #30

ericb wrote: post #6

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

What are those odd tipping practices? I'm from Canada (Ontario/Quebec), and the standard is to leave 15% of the bill as tip. Less is considered being extremely rude. In other countries, the tip is included in the bill. In other countries, tipping is rare and made in very specific circumstances.

Here in Israel it's similar, although ten percent are considered okay.

After one year here it still annoys the hell out of me. In Germany you only give a tip if you consider it appropriate. Your service costs exactly what the bill lists, not more. Especially in crappy places a 'forced' tip feels bad and wasted.

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

#86

Post by darklajid » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:41 AM UTC

Udo wrote: post #69

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"?

I'm from Germany and it's absolutely the same here. There is no conversation without a lot of "uh"s, "yep"s, "nope"s, "nahh"s, "huh"s, and the ones that are actual German words but are really just fillers or shorthand for (dis)agreement such as "naja", "nun", "also", "aber", "klar", "schon" and so on. The equivalents of like (="irgendwie", "so", "halt") are used all the time and we have a few such constructs for you…

If you haven't read it, check Mark Twain's essay about the German language. You'll find that he agrees with you, especially with the 'also'.

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

#87

Post by dalke » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 9:49 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #40

a-priori wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That was my point exactly. Canada and the US share 90%+ of their culture, so it was interesting for two reasons: 1. Why send that kind of a book to a Canadian? 2. It's interesting to read what other cultures might find shocking about US culture.

I'm going to guess that was part of their standard "foreigner moving to the US" package?

One of the parts of that book I remember is that you do not talk to other people while at the urinal.

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

#88

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 10:29 AM UTC

refurb wrote: post #2

This article reminds me of when I landed a job in the US (at the time I was living in Canada). As a part of the relocation package I was sent a book "Culture Shock: USA". Quite an entertaining read. The most memorable quote was "In the US, it is usually typical for a husband to accompany his wife to the hospital when she gives birth".

Yes

I remember reading one of the guides created by an American University to their foreign student

It goes in such excruciating details to things like dating, etc

I suppose this is for the benefit of students from some forgotten city in southeast asia that may think of getting a goat to impress the ladies

Still, it sounds awfully patronizing sometimes.

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

#89

Post by bdunn » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 10:49 AM UTC

wazoox wrote: post #73

adrianhoward wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I love Eco's fiction but am now just getting into reading his essays. Which is the one you're referencing?

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

#90

Post by woodpanel » Sat, Jun 02, 2012, 11:05 AM UTC

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…

When I asked the guy running the local tourist/visitor-center in some small town in PA what to do out there, his second question (after 'where you from?') was: 'So how are you baptised?' It took me some time to think about an answer. This question was odd to me for a couple of reasons:

1) I have never been asked that question in my whole life.

2) I haven't been baptised.

3) I didn't want to offend him, so after some time I figured it would be more offensive if he caught me lying.

4) It still was uncomfortable because the german stereotype of the religeous american is one of a superficial radical. This stereotype would be tested the moment I'd answer him. Would he drop his friendlliness towards me? Would he treat me differently?

He was strucked by my atheism in third generation. His mood went down. He was honestly concerned for me. I think I ruined his day.

In conclusion: My impression of the religious american (the most religeous one that I've met so far) was a good one. He was open about his believe, believing it consequentially (from what i've saw) and not a bigot (he didn't drop his friendliness).