jimnyc
07-04-2020, 09:02 AM
Seems maybe written by an American! Or perhaps some foreigners are naive and see every American like this.
Then again, there is a lot of positive and we often lose sight of these things.
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1. My partner’s American and whenever we travel to the States I’m always struck by how ridiculously friendly everyone is. I’ve had long conversations with people I’ve only just met who are just genuinely interested in what life is like in other countries/how I’m finding America etc. And people tend to be very giving of themselves as well. In Britain the standard response to ‘How are you?’ is ‘Fine/great’ whatever, whereas American’s can give you a complete breakdown of their life at the momen. It’s nice though.
A couple of years ago I was flying in to meet my b/f, a blizzard hit and I got stranded in Newark. The airline was NO help (‘act of God’) and I ended up spending 6 hours in a blizzard trying to catch various trains to Philadelphia. Everyone I met along the way was so helpful. When I finally got to the Philly suburb where my bf was he insisted on taking me to his cousin’s party at a bar before we went home. I was tired, soaking wet and pissed off, but as soon as I walked through the door a barful of people I hadn’t seen in a year all yelled my name, ran up and treated me like a long lost sister. I cried 🙂
That’s what I like about Americans.
2. Americans think “in trial balloons”. They always explore new ideas, ways of doing things. A lot of times, silly and mediocre stuff comes out of it, but when a balloon flies, boy, does it go a long way.
Educated Americans can leave you in the dust. It’s true, a lot of Americans may be uneducated, or under-educated. But if you meet a person who has studied hard, you better know your stuff, because they are goooood. And since they are used to think in “trial balloons” (see above), chances are, they have thought about the topic in question in ways that you have never even considered.
3. Americans (still) dare to dream. This goes with what some other people said: If you fall, you get up and go on. There is not such a great social stigma associated with failure and the notion that it’s a learning experience is much more pronounced. In Germany, failure is not an option, and ever since I moved to the US, I breathe easier because of this.
4. The thing that stands out to me from times that I’ve visited to US is the phrase ‘Have a nice day’ and the sincerity with which Americans will say it and appear to mean it.
5. The music. Americans gave Blues and Jazz to the world, which in turn gave us rock and roll, pop, so much music owes its life to blues and jazz.
6. Has to be customer service in restaurants. Sure a lot of the enthusiasm and peppiness is to garner more tips, but have you experienced customer service in other countries? The staff act like they were doing you a favour by allowing you to pay to eat there.
7. How accommodating many places are to disabled people, especially for people in wheelchairs. There are often ramps and large disabled parking spaces not to mention that there is an entire amusement park for people in wheelchairs in San Antonio!
8. Optimism. TBH I hate seeing american optimism in the works, I come from a culture that complains a lot and is quite cynical. When I first started studying in the US it was always oft-putting (and fake) that people were so positive about so many things. But hey, it works. When me and my american friend crashed out of about 20-30 job interviews, I was the one crippled by depression and self-doubt while he simply looked ahead, said there are tons of other good things out there anyway. I simply gave up, while he continued applying and planning. I think americans have a very good attitude towards failure.
9. The country has everything! You want mountains, you got it! You want forest, you got it! You want beaches, you got it! You want huge cities, you got it!In Europe, you have to go from country to country to achieve this.Also the food portions are HUGE!
What do I admire most about Americans? They work hard. I know there’s the stereotype of laziness, but I think that this is inaccurate. Most Americans work their asses off, and many never complain.
Also, Americans love innovation. It’s a great place to take a novel idea an run with it.
10. You speak really clearly, unless you’re from the South or East. Midwestern American is one of the few accents I can’t pick up because I have to pronounce each word in its entirety.
11. Your contributions towards the ongoing development of the internet, for without it, I would have to talk to real people.
12. I like Americans more than I like most other nationalities of people – even more than I like the Scottish, my own race. The main reasons are that they are boisterous, loyal, effusive, broad-minded, friendly, trusting, industrious, generous, forgiving and companionable. I’ve never been to a single party yet that had a miserable-looking group of Americans skulking in the corner not talking to anyone.
13. Your drive. As an Australian whose duties extend to leaving the hammock once a fortnight to grab more beer, I’m always amazed at how driven Americans are to do things. I sometimes wish I had that sort of passion for achievement.
14. Their micro-brews. American beer is seriously underrated.
15. I hear all the time about Americans being jerks or this guy did this horrible thing, or whatever. But you know what? It’s almost always an American who is bringing these things to light! The people most likely to criticize Americans are Americans themselves. There are no sacred cows or “well, that’s just the way things are” on a national scale.
16. There is a lot of personal freedom. People in America can live pretty much as they want, as long as they can afford it (many can) and respect other people’s rights.
17. Americans tend to be very pragmatic. I believe that an off-shot of that is American “how-tos” and manuals are the best in the world. This has been very helpful for me personally, as I have wanted to know “how to begin running without injury”, “how to properly teach a preschooler”, and many other practical matters, and I could find almost anything in American books sold in online stores.
18. I like the girls… the ones I’ve met. They are more free spirited, open, understanding and can be fun to converse/hang with when they are learned (all these in comparison to the ‘learned’ European girls – where I’m at).
19. Your meals, they are delicious and cheesy. You put cheese in everything which is AWESOME.
20. I like what Stephen Fry says: when someone in the the UK says “Only in Britain” it is a negative about queues or delays or bureaucracy when someone in the US says “Only in America” it is a positive about something dynamic and creative. Americans are intrinsically positive.
21. I think that by far the best thing about Americans is this: When someone wants to be successful and works to achieve it, Americans generally celebrate that, with an attitude of “Right on. I hope you get there, man.” A lot of other cultures approach such a person with the attitude of “You think you’re better than me? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
22. Your Passion. Sometimes it is misdirected, but it is a fire inside of every american I have met.
23. I’m Scottish and I love how much American girls dig my accent. It’s fuckin’ awesome. Bitches here don’t appreciate the awesomeness that spills from my mouth every day. I also love American Patriotism. Seriously, when I see how patriotic you crazy motherfuckers are it brings a tear to my eye. It saddens me to see you complain on reddit about certain things, because you fuckers have an awesome (beautiful) country and you can literally do anything.
24. Any Americans I’ve met have always been very open-minded. It’s probably because of the Civil Rights movement and your very diverse population. It’s only really after catching on with the rest of the world in the last few years. Ten years ago in Ireland it was very rare to see someone who was black and being friends with someone who looked so different was frowned upon. And you can forget about coming out as homosexual… but thats changed since american t.v. has become so popular and the american culture has spread around the world.
Then again, there is a lot of positive and we often lose sight of these things.
--
1. My partner’s American and whenever we travel to the States I’m always struck by how ridiculously friendly everyone is. I’ve had long conversations with people I’ve only just met who are just genuinely interested in what life is like in other countries/how I’m finding America etc. And people tend to be very giving of themselves as well. In Britain the standard response to ‘How are you?’ is ‘Fine/great’ whatever, whereas American’s can give you a complete breakdown of their life at the momen. It’s nice though.
A couple of years ago I was flying in to meet my b/f, a blizzard hit and I got stranded in Newark. The airline was NO help (‘act of God’) and I ended up spending 6 hours in a blizzard trying to catch various trains to Philadelphia. Everyone I met along the way was so helpful. When I finally got to the Philly suburb where my bf was he insisted on taking me to his cousin’s party at a bar before we went home. I was tired, soaking wet and pissed off, but as soon as I walked through the door a barful of people I hadn’t seen in a year all yelled my name, ran up and treated me like a long lost sister. I cried 🙂
That’s what I like about Americans.
2. Americans think “in trial balloons”. They always explore new ideas, ways of doing things. A lot of times, silly and mediocre stuff comes out of it, but when a balloon flies, boy, does it go a long way.
Educated Americans can leave you in the dust. It’s true, a lot of Americans may be uneducated, or under-educated. But if you meet a person who has studied hard, you better know your stuff, because they are goooood. And since they are used to think in “trial balloons” (see above), chances are, they have thought about the topic in question in ways that you have never even considered.
3. Americans (still) dare to dream. This goes with what some other people said: If you fall, you get up and go on. There is not such a great social stigma associated with failure and the notion that it’s a learning experience is much more pronounced. In Germany, failure is not an option, and ever since I moved to the US, I breathe easier because of this.
4. The thing that stands out to me from times that I’ve visited to US is the phrase ‘Have a nice day’ and the sincerity with which Americans will say it and appear to mean it.
5. The music. Americans gave Blues and Jazz to the world, which in turn gave us rock and roll, pop, so much music owes its life to blues and jazz.
6. Has to be customer service in restaurants. Sure a lot of the enthusiasm and peppiness is to garner more tips, but have you experienced customer service in other countries? The staff act like they were doing you a favour by allowing you to pay to eat there.
7. How accommodating many places are to disabled people, especially for people in wheelchairs. There are often ramps and large disabled parking spaces not to mention that there is an entire amusement park for people in wheelchairs in San Antonio!
8. Optimism. TBH I hate seeing american optimism in the works, I come from a culture that complains a lot and is quite cynical. When I first started studying in the US it was always oft-putting (and fake) that people were so positive about so many things. But hey, it works. When me and my american friend crashed out of about 20-30 job interviews, I was the one crippled by depression and self-doubt while he simply looked ahead, said there are tons of other good things out there anyway. I simply gave up, while he continued applying and planning. I think americans have a very good attitude towards failure.
9. The country has everything! You want mountains, you got it! You want forest, you got it! You want beaches, you got it! You want huge cities, you got it!In Europe, you have to go from country to country to achieve this.Also the food portions are HUGE!
What do I admire most about Americans? They work hard. I know there’s the stereotype of laziness, but I think that this is inaccurate. Most Americans work their asses off, and many never complain.
Also, Americans love innovation. It’s a great place to take a novel idea an run with it.
10. You speak really clearly, unless you’re from the South or East. Midwestern American is one of the few accents I can’t pick up because I have to pronounce each word in its entirety.
11. Your contributions towards the ongoing development of the internet, for without it, I would have to talk to real people.
12. I like Americans more than I like most other nationalities of people – even more than I like the Scottish, my own race. The main reasons are that they are boisterous, loyal, effusive, broad-minded, friendly, trusting, industrious, generous, forgiving and companionable. I’ve never been to a single party yet that had a miserable-looking group of Americans skulking in the corner not talking to anyone.
13. Your drive. As an Australian whose duties extend to leaving the hammock once a fortnight to grab more beer, I’m always amazed at how driven Americans are to do things. I sometimes wish I had that sort of passion for achievement.
14. Their micro-brews. American beer is seriously underrated.
15. I hear all the time about Americans being jerks or this guy did this horrible thing, or whatever. But you know what? It’s almost always an American who is bringing these things to light! The people most likely to criticize Americans are Americans themselves. There are no sacred cows or “well, that’s just the way things are” on a national scale.
16. There is a lot of personal freedom. People in America can live pretty much as they want, as long as they can afford it (many can) and respect other people’s rights.
17. Americans tend to be very pragmatic. I believe that an off-shot of that is American “how-tos” and manuals are the best in the world. This has been very helpful for me personally, as I have wanted to know “how to begin running without injury”, “how to properly teach a preschooler”, and many other practical matters, and I could find almost anything in American books sold in online stores.
18. I like the girls… the ones I’ve met. They are more free spirited, open, understanding and can be fun to converse/hang with when they are learned (all these in comparison to the ‘learned’ European girls – where I’m at).
19. Your meals, they are delicious and cheesy. You put cheese in everything which is AWESOME.
20. I like what Stephen Fry says: when someone in the the UK says “Only in Britain” it is a negative about queues or delays or bureaucracy when someone in the US says “Only in America” it is a positive about something dynamic and creative. Americans are intrinsically positive.
21. I think that by far the best thing about Americans is this: When someone wants to be successful and works to achieve it, Americans generally celebrate that, with an attitude of “Right on. I hope you get there, man.” A lot of other cultures approach such a person with the attitude of “You think you’re better than me? Who the fuck do you think you are?”
22. Your Passion. Sometimes it is misdirected, but it is a fire inside of every american I have met.
23. I’m Scottish and I love how much American girls dig my accent. It’s fuckin’ awesome. Bitches here don’t appreciate the awesomeness that spills from my mouth every day. I also love American Patriotism. Seriously, when I see how patriotic you crazy motherfuckers are it brings a tear to my eye. It saddens me to see you complain on reddit about certain things, because you fuckers have an awesome (beautiful) country and you can literally do anything.
24. Any Americans I’ve met have always been very open-minded. It’s probably because of the Civil Rights movement and your very diverse population. It’s only really after catching on with the rest of the world in the last few years. Ten years ago in Ireland it was very rare to see someone who was black and being friends with someone who looked so different was frowned upon. And you can forget about coming out as homosexual… but thats changed since american t.v. has become so popular and the american culture has spread around the world.