I didn't say anything on here about American bashing, that is the other post. Although I do think that you can't apply something to the entire country when things are definitely different in different cities.
I think you are right that you cannot put a whole country in a box.But I do not think the ladies on here are trying to bash anyone,they are just exchanging perspectives.
Post by Cioccolato on Jan 10, 2013 14:37:40 GMT -5
There are differences, a lot have to do with food/clothing. I drove past a few restaurants at 6 on my way home tonight, all were empty. I remember restaurants, last weekend, in the US full at 5:30 or 6.
Here are some other things that I think are completely different in the US, compared to other countries where I've lived:
- Almost no one spits on the floor inside buildings, and I've never seen someone spit on the carpet and rub it in with their shoe.
- I've never seen cows wandering the streets in urban areas.
- None of the churches bother to ask to see your passport at the door.
I won't stereotype and suggest that the whole country is a particular way, but of the places I've lived and visited, I felt that these things were different in the US.
I was more just wondering what people found different or shocking where they are from in a regional sense than the 'lets generalize about all americans' thing, frlbc. What I saw in Dallas was surprising to me because I never noticed it that much before. I was also surprised at how overprocessed the hair was, and how big the boobs got. But then again, boob jobs are really popular in Dallas
In this spirit, I will say that I notice regional accents a lot more since I started moving around the U.S. and the world. When I hear friends I grew up with speak, I am surprised by how strong their accents are. I do not feel like I have a strong regional accent but Myblue, you can tell me if I am delusional.
I was more just wondering what people found different or shocking where they are from in a regional sense than the 'lets generalize about all americans' thing, frlbc. What I saw in Dallas was surprising to me because I never noticed it that much before. I was also surprised at how overprocessed the hair was, and how big the boobs got. But then again, boob jobs are really popular in Dallas
In this spirit, I will say that I notice regional accents a lot more since I started moving around the U.S. and the world. When I hear friends I grew up with speak, I am surprised by how strong their accents are. I do not feel like I have a strong regional accent but Myblue, you can tell me if I am delusional.
lol I do not recall you having a strong regional accent, but most definitely an american accent (which is normal, eh?).
Yeah, when I say I'm surprised at how fat and sloppy Americans are when I go back to the States, I'm talking about my medium-sized town in Wisconsin. The kind of place where DH walks in and they all think he's a terrorist because he has a beard and an accent. When I'm in Chicago, it's a different story...there I'm shocked at how young everyone is (everyone is a late 20s-30 something) and how much Northface people wear.
Every city is different. And, judging from my college friend from Atlanta and other southerners I've known, I think people make more of an effort in those cities. My friend never left her bedroom without make up on. And isn't there a college where the girls all go to football games in dresses and pearls?
I didn't say anything on here about American bashing, that is the other post. Although I do think that you can't apply something to the entire country when things are definitely different in different cities.
No, but we can assume that people are referring to the areas where they are from and not that they know how everyone in the entire country behaves. It goes with out saying....unless of course the comment comes from Knitty and then we can assume she is referring to the entire population because she knows everything
I didn't say anything on here about American bashing, that is the other post. Although I do think that you can't apply something to the entire country when things are definitely different in different cities.
No, but we can assume that people are referring to the areas where they are from and not that they know how everyone in the entire country behaves. It goes with out saying....unless of course the comment comes from Knitty and then we can assume she is referring to the entire population because she knows everything
When I'm in Chicago, it's a different story...there I'm shocked at how young everyone is (everyone is a late 20s-30 something) and how much Northface people wear.
We went to Trader Joes today on the north side. Everyone was young and the clothing I saw was hipster. I mean really that was the best way to describe it. Haha. I don't know many men in there mid-twenties wearing tan trench coats.
Trader Joes in Milwaukee an hour and a half north is typical moms doing there grocery shopping. Just that short distance is night and day.
I notice loads. People are much larger, jeans, sneakers and hoodies are perfectly acceptable (which we love!), the portion sizes are fucking massive, everybody eats instant or processed food (frozen mashed potato cubes anyone?), everyone is sucking on pop, every main road is stacked with drive throughs- even banks! Nobody walks anywhere and just goes from their house to car to place to car to home.
Weekends are spent going shopping or to "the mall", everyone watches an insane amount of TV and they are very knowledgeable about celebrity lives. I find the accents to be shockingly strong, supermarkets have two main varieties if cheese and hummus is exotic and strange. Every meal is centered on a gigantic slab of meat, nobody really knows or has an interest in world topics, "people in hijabs" are ruining the country, everyone is obsessed with losing weight but they all eat crap, people dress like slobs and think that our accents haven't really changed /softened- we do it deliberately to be pretentious snobs because we're better than everyone else for living "abroad", they are all drowning in consumer debt for tv!s, pool tables, home renos, skidoos, trucks, RV's and Mexican all inclusive vacations.
It's the food thing that us really killing me now, and I've got my own pretty serious weight issues- but it's made me look at my home culture and how it contributed to my becoming overweight, how I and the majority if Albertans think about food, how my parents taught us about food and even seeing what they eat now and how- it's hard not to shake your head at it.
Every city is different. And, judging from my college friend from Atlanta and other southerners I've known, I think people make more of an effort in those cities. My friend never left her bedroom without make up on. And isn't there a college where the girls all go to football games in dresses and pearls?
Wofford!
I went to an all women's college where we did attend classes in our pjs a lot. (Hey, we're all female, who cares?... that being said, I doubt any alumna wear pjs around normally, it was a college thing). Wofford was about a mile away and we had an agreement with them where we could take classes not offered by our own college there, and we could attend football games free.
Those crazy Wofford girls wore sundresses to football games, and looked down their nose at any female who didn't. Weird.
supermarkets have two main varieties if cheese and hummus is exotic and strange.
I noticed the cheese problem as well, but what really got me is the limited variety of yoghurt! I suddenly realized that I have picked up on French eating habits and was appalled that the only yoghurt available was mostly lite yoghurt. in France the yoghurt takes up practically an aisle by itself. crazy.
supermarkets have two main varieties if cheese and hummus is exotic and strange.
I noticed the cheese problem as well, but what really got me is the limited variety of yoghurt! I suddenly realized that I have picked up on French eating habits and was appalled that the only yoghurt available was mostly lite yoghurt. in France the yoghurt takes up practically an aisle by itself. crazy.
American yogurt is so sad after having French yogurt :-(.
I've only ever visited the US, never lived there, but I find the meal portions are huge when I've eaten at a restaurant. It's intimidating.
I like to think of it as a 2-for-1 deal. Buy one meal, get 2 out of it. That's the great thing about doggy bags being so normal in the US. I have serious problems in Germany when the portion size is too big because taking home leftovers is not normal and yet you're expected to clean your plate (especially since when we go out it's often because someone has invited us and they're paying, so I feel bad not eating everything).
BFP1: DD born April 2011 at 34w1d via unplanned c/s due to HELLP, DVT 1 week PP
BFP2: 3/18/12, blighted ovum, natural m/c @ 7w4d
BFP3: DD2 born Feb 2013 at 38w3d via unplanned RCS due to uterine dehiscence
You clearly don't have Stonyfield in your home region.
We do have Stonyfield back home. We even have some nice small-farm-made yogurts brought down to NYC's farmers' markets from up the Hudson. Nonetheless, I am still on board with the sentiment that American yogurt is sad compared to French yogurt. It just is.
I've only ever visited the US, never lived there, but I find the meal portions are huge when I've eaten at a restaurant. It's intimidating.
I like to think of it as a 2-for-1 deal. Buy one meal, get 2 out of it. That's the great thing about doggy bags being so normal in the US. I have serious problems in Germany when the portion size is too big because taking home leftovers is not normal and yet you're expected to clean your plate (especially since when we go out it's often because someone has invited us and they're paying, so I feel bad not eating everything).
I don't think I have ever asked for a doggy bag at a restaurant, it's definitely not done here at all. At least not in the bit where I live.
I like to think of it as a 2-for-1 deal. Buy one meal, get 2 out of it. That's the great thing about doggy bags being so normal in the US. I have serious problems in Germany when the portion size is too big because taking home leftovers is not normal and yet you're expected to clean your plate (especially since when we go out it's often because someone has invited us and they're paying, so I feel bad not eating everything).
I don't think I have ever asked for a doggy bag at a restaurant, it's definitely not done here at all. At least not in the bit where I live.
If you're only in the States for visiting, then it would depend on whether you have access to a fridge. If you're in a hotel room without a fridge, then yeah, the portions are waaay too big. Since we always stay with my parents, though, we just take the leftovers home and eat them for lunch the next day.
I've asked for a doggy bag here in Germany once (and then also once for my parents). It was at an American-themed restaurant, though, and DH actually asked for me since I was too chicken. He prefaced by saying, "So you're an American restaurant, does that mean that you have take-home containers, too?" And they did!
BFP1: DD born April 2011 at 34w1d via unplanned c/s due to HELLP, DVT 1 week PP
BFP2: 3/18/12, blighted ovum, natural m/c @ 7w4d
BFP3: DD2 born Feb 2013 at 38w3d via unplanned RCS due to uterine dehiscence