What this means?

Guest   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:12 pm GMT
I like Americans but they assume they can just do their jolly thing as Americans in other countries. It's like if they think of other countries as another American state.
Guest   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:17 pm GMT
The most common error to my mind is American people who speak too gosh darn loud.

There is no need to shout. Whether talking with your English-speaking companion(s) or to waiters or shopkeeps, please, keep your voice down
Guest   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:18 pm GMT
I just got back from 2 weeks in Europe on business. Two constant themes in hotels were Americans asking whether they could pay their bills in US dollars, or "How much is this in American dollars?"

At all times, the hotel clerk was courteous, but I heard one clerk in Amsterdam complain, when the Americans left, that "when I'm in America, I don't ask how much the hotel costs in Guilders."

Another all-too-common example of the UA is the American referring to the local currency as "funny money." This I have often heard in restaurants, and unfortunately well within earshot of the hosts.
Quentin   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:21 pm GMT
I hate it when Americans in Europe want to talk to every other American they came across about idiotic things "back in the States."

I didn't go to Europe to listen to someone gab on and on about the Pittsburgh Steelers or the problem Buffy is having with her cheerleading chores in Iowa.

Anytime I am speaking English in public with my wife and an American marches up and says, "How nice it is to hear English again..where are you from? I'm from Ohio..." I want to run, screaming. Who knows when I get home I'll run to Canada.
Tourist drama   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:25 pm GMT
Boy, we have a lot of Ugly American sightings in Rome.

I have one too: I was absolutely mortified when a woman (from my hometown in Chicago, actually) was yelling at a waiter in a restaurant in Rome. The waiter spoke a scant amount of English; she spoke no Italian. She was, literally, yelling at him, "Can't you put some cheese on this pizza?!"

And then with her pasta order, "Don't you have alfredo sauce, AL-FRAY-DOH sauce, you know, like in the United States?!" The waiter just kept saying, "Ah, no comprende." That just made her louder. We wanted to absolutely lay down and die, we were so embarassed.
Guest   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:27 pm GMT
I agree with the assessment: an A**hole is an A**hole. I lived in Spain for three years and on several occasions had the unfortunate opportunity to see my fellow Americans act like a jackasses.

Treat people with respect. Learn a little of the language (you would be surpised how effective this is...showing an effort to speak the local tongue is appreciated). You're a visitor in THEIR country. Conduct yourself accordingly. Use the word PLEASE and THANK YOU. The Golden Rule is universal. Treat others like you want to be treated.
Clean Freak   Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:33 pm GMT
My wife and I have recently moved from the Mid-West to the UK. Her brother and sister-in-law came over with the Rick Steves guidebook in hand. We ended up at Westminster Abbey on a Saturday morning and signed up for one of the guided tours. Looking around, I noticed that of the 30 other people almost all were American. It was like a reunion! The tour started with a brief overview of the history of the abbey. During the overview, an Ugly American raised her hand and asked, "Is it true that you people bury people in this place?" The cleric patiently answered that yes this was a very important site for burials. Then she asked, "Where do you put the bodies...In the walls?" It was at that time I wanted to become a citizen of any country but America! But, she was not done yet! We were sitting in the beautiful quire and she spoke up, "How do you people clean this place... I can barely clean my house!"

Anyone want to join me in becoming a citizen of Mexico?
Henny J   Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:31 am GMT
A funny, rather than actually ugly, situation ocurred when my sister was in Scotland. She didn't realize the name Scotch Tape is an American brand name and means nothing to the Scottish. They kept trying to sell her "cello" tape and she kept insisting on Scotch tape. She finally gave up and accepted the cello tape. Of course, it was the same as "Scotch tape".
Henny J   Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:35 am GMT
OMG the shame of a small minority of fellow Americans and their narrowminded view on other cultures.

LOL no wonder many Americans buy Canadian flags at those border stores on our Northern Border before flying out. Guess what I used to work at one of them and people used to joke if was for their 'family and friends' living outside the Americas.
Boy   Wed Nov 16, 2005 4:52 am GMT
One incident happened to my friend. He went to see his ill sister who was living in Ohio. He went to one of those departments where you renewed your driving lincense. There were three American cops handling all of this stuff and one of them came to him and said to him that your native lincense was a fake one and when my friend tried to explain him that driving lincenses were made like this in Pakistan. It was an original one. That cope went back to room and another superior rank cop had appeared from backside of the room and threw his driving licence right infront of his face and told him to go back to his stone age country. My friend had literally tears in his eyes but he told that cop as a reply your behaviour was so sick towards my country. Since then it has been two years but he never went back to America again.

When he was telling me this story - i could see his eyes brimming with tears. It seemed to me like that incident had lasted a bad impression of Americans overall on his mind. I think one dirty fish completely spoils the whole pond for other fishes. I still believe majortiy of Americans are good but these minority ones create a bad name for their country.


Thanks.
Guest   Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:15 am GMT
To the jerk at ZaZa's in Florence on Sept.9th , who claimed I "ruined his vacation" by pointing out his loud rudeness:

1) You were repeatedly banging your fist on the table, chanting"no" in a loud voice;

2) You were belching loud enough to turn heads;

3) I had to listen to your entire conversation (including that charming aside about how your Granddad "couldn't pee after his operation"); 4) When I couldn't take it anymore, I turned to you and & said so.You informed me (loudly) that I had "no idea who I was talking to" and "how DARE" I "ruin your entire vacation" by being "the rudest person you'd ever met."

5) You then proceeded to glare at my husband.

6)But you're right, too--I was rude. Compared to everyone else in the restaurant who obviously wished you'd go away but politely endured you, I was probably quite abrasive.
Guest   Wed Nov 16, 2005 6:16 am GMT
When we were at Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards, there were some college kids talking loudly of drinking beer day and night, and how they couldn't stand the heat, and on and on about wishing they were somewhere else. I'm around the same age they were and it was very disturbing to learn firsthand why people think of Americans overseas the way they do.

I also saw an American family in a small shop in Venice ask the elderly shopkeeper how much everything was "in American" and do they take credit cards because that was the only thing they had--not attempting to speak Italian at all. I'd read in Rrick Steves it is rude for Americans to use the word "ciao" because it is used between close and personal friends, but the American woman was even saying to her baby, "Come on, say 'ciao,' say 'ciao,'" and she and her husband kept saying it, I guess being the only word they knew in italian.