Cultural Sensitivity

[Starlord]

Cultural Sensitivity

As far as more Americans travelling because they are so rich. Many, many Americans are not rich, but would love to travel, because picture books just don't quite provide the same level of information impact. Also, how does that statement equate to Anne Robinson's scorching evaluation of Americans as stupid, mainly because so few of them even have passports or travel. Sorry, I would never consider asking Anne Robinson for a date, as I have seen much more attractive British women by far. To tell you a story on myself, there is a men's store that advertises on television here in Arizona. I made a bet with a friend aobut where the store's spokesman was from. I called the store and asked if he was British or Australian, as I could not narrow down his accent. they said he was from South Africa. Oh,well. I apologize to anyone who has had an encounter with 'an Ugly American.' I have been a police officer and a cab driver, and have met a number of people from around the world, and I assure you that Americans do not have a lock on rude behavior. One of the funniest (to me) events that happened to me was in a chat room one night. I was chatting with a friend, and said something about writing a check for a purchase. Someone who is a Canadian and always takes an opportunity to badmouth Americans for being ignorant about the Canadian PrimeMinister, etc piped up, and informed me that the CORRECT spelling was checque (caps was their use.) I informed this person that may be true in Canada or the UK, but in the US, both uses were acceptable, with check being the most widely used. I told them that was why GB Shaw had once said that the US and UK were two countries separated by a common language.

[Sofar]

Anyway, a bit of cultural info: the Japanese think it's very rude to brag...:

I rather think we find it pretty rude as well . . . ,

[tollbaby]

heh, I was a sucky tourist this weekend.... Drove 18 hours from Ottawa, Ontario to Wisconsin Dells. Arrived at 3am, and tried phoning my best friend, who we were going to visit. Couldn't get the payphone to accept my calling card no matter what I did, and when I finally scraped up enough change to phone him, the payphone said my call couldn't be completed as dialed and kept my money. I was exhausted, I was hungry, I was LIVID with this cell phone, and pretty damn upset with my friend for not being where he'd asked us to meet him.

We finally found him around 4am (don't ask, the story would be too long) and when my boyfriend managed to wake me (I'd fallen asleep in the driver's seat, parked at the railroad bunkhouse while he went to look for them), the first words out of my mouth were "The payphones in this country SUCK, the fact that everything closes at 5pm SUCKS and trying to dig around the Wisconsin countryside to find you at 4am SUCKS." LOL Now, fortunately, he's known me long enough and intimately enough to know that I'm a real cow when overtired, and while his girlfriend was a tad insulted (he's my ex, and she was a bit leery of meeting me to begin with), he took it in stride, and I apologized profusely the next morning after we all got a bit of sleep.

I'm normally a very laid back traveller, but 1- the trip took nearly four hours longer than anticipated, 2- I'd been driving through thunderstorms and TORNADOS in Deliverance-type country for many hours, 3- my boyfriend, who gets car sick and is a very nervous driver, only drove for TWO hours out of the total eighteen, and those were early in the morning when we'd just left home, and 4- my daughter had kept us up most of the night before hacking up her lungs and puking up mucous every so often so I drove 18 hours on next to no sleep.... I was MOST DEFINITELY not at my best when I arrived.

Fortunately, the four of us got on famously, and we're planning to vacation together next summer

[Cia]

Kids in the Hall sketch:

Guy 1-"Ah, you American?
Guy 2-"No, Canadian. We're pretty much the same, but we have fewer guns.")

That sketch is my DH's and my favorite one of all time. We laughed our asses off and proclaimed it to be totally true.

[Sofar]

We finally found him around 4am (don't ask, the story would be too long) and when my boyfriend managed to wake me (I'd fallen asleep in the driver's seat, parked at the railroad bunkhouse while he went to look for them), the first words out of my mouth were "The payphones in this country SUCK, the fact that everything closes at 5pm SUCKS and trying to dig around the Wisconsin countryside to find you at 4am SUCKS."

I generally advise tourists to stick to the coasts, or the southwest. Come visit Seattle. We're a lot like Victoria.

[Mark Healey]

To tell you a story on myself, there is a men's store that advertises on television here in Arizona. I made a bet with a friend aobut where the store's spokesman was from. I called the store and asked if he was British or Australian, as I could not narrow down his accent. they said he was from South Africa.

Are you talking about the Men's Fashion Depot guy? I didn't know he exanded into AZ. He's been in San Diego for all of the 20+ years I've been here with the same commercial. "We tear out a fifteen cent label to save you important dollars.".

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

You were at the Dells Tollbaby? Cool!

What did you see? Tommy Bartlett? Did you take a ride on the ducks?

[Gurndigarn]

Guy 1-"Ah, you American?
Guy 2-"No, Canadian. We're pretty much the same, but we have fewer guns.")

Q: What's the biggest difference between a Canadian and an American?
A: The response you get when you say that there's no difference.

[tollbaby]

You were at the Dells Tollbaby? Cool!

What did you see? Tommy Bartlett? Did you take a ride on the ducks?

Well, we were there to see the 15" guage railroad that's just up the hill from the Days Inn (down County Road A)... I can't remember exactly what it's called. My best friend is a member of their Board of Directors, as well as a very active volunteer... he goes on and on and on about the railroad, and my boyfriend is a train freak, so he invited us down to see it We also took a walk down the strip... didn't really do much, since we were only there for a day and a half. We had brunch at the Lumberjack restaurant though (which was AWESOME) and we've made lots of plans for our next visit. We didn't do the Ducks this time, cause Chris wasn't sure he could handle it, and our funds were severely limited, but we'd like to do them and the Lost Canyon next visit

We also visited the Milwaukee County Zoo to ride their 15" guage train as well (I'm telling you, these lads are train-mad!) and a friend of mine from Oshkosh joined us there as well

Since my best friend lives in Zion, Illinois and his obsession is in the Dells, I can't imagine it will be my last visit to the area (I'd been to see him in Illinois several times while we were dating, but we'd never trekked up to the Dells before this visit). It was incredible, and I can't wait to go back

[AFpheonix]

Q: What's the biggest difference between a Canadian and an American?
A: The response you get when you say that there's no difference.

I go to Alberta and Victoria quite a bit to visit family, and it seems the western provinces are pretty much indistinguishable from the western states.
However, I went and visited some uncle that I'd never met before over near Montreal, and geez, it was like going to another country

[justZu]

Here's an interesting take on rude tourists from the BBC website.
Apparently the rudest tourists in the world are the Germans, followed next by British. Tied for third was USA and France. Fourth place on their rude list were Italians.

Here's the link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3185291.stm

I guess SC is the true worldwide universal language.
We've all got'em!

[blas]

I may be ignorant, but I've never heard of a really rude British person.

The German thing hits close to home. I'm mostly German, and I can relate to finding fault with absolutely ANYTHING. I thought it was just me, but maybe it's just part of my nationality. I am very picky and will find fault with anything. Sadly, even when someone goes out of their way for me, I will still bitch and moan and complain. Go figure, right?

The Italian thing, which I am a little Italian........I sometimes fit the stereotypical Italian thing....burping farting acting like a buffoon....

The nationality that I am the least like is Native American, which I'm only 1/32 Native anyway. Natives respect the land and each other. I find that to be a very difficult thing to follow.

[uknz76]

I may be ignorant, but I've never heard of a really rude British person.

From experience the British are rude in a very subtle way. Where Americans will say: This Sucks! You Suck! Everything is shit! The British will say: Oh dear, thats not very good. You really could be trying harder. It's always like this [sigh]
It does mean that when the British complain to an American, quite often the American will not even understand that there is a complaint.
Not an absolute definition, but something to think about.
(There are some British who watch way too much American TV and will also say: Everything is shit! etc. but they just ruin my little theory, so I forget about them)

[blas]

I really am ignorant lol.....

[uknz76]

OT I only just noticed your signature blas, If you have a dingo I know a few kids that will fill it right up