Americans! (Probably best not to read if you are American!)

the fnj

As many of you may know I work in an Internet café. Unfortunately for me it’s located close to a hostel and a hotel, which specialises in taking American tourists. As a result I have to deal with hundreds of Americans every week. Now on the face of things you would think that they are great customers they always pay and some of them even tip well.

My problem is the vast majority of them to enter my café are idiots. Absolute and utter bone heads. A lot of them are incredibly ignorant and have a whole America is superior to everywhere else attitude. I swear I’m going to scream if I hear that American drawl telling me “well in America we don’t do it like that we have a better system and it works like this”. Great, good for America I don’t give two hoots.

Now I’m a reasonable guy. Anybody who knows me will tell you just how laid back I am and how hard it is to infuriate me. These people manage to do it with out trying. I can’t insult them when I’m working. Which really sucks because at times I’ve literally just wanted to give them a good slapping and shout “Listen here you dumb smuck, I don’t care how you do it in America, your in Ireland now you will use my system of doing things and you will like it”.

I have a list of stories as long as my arm (I have long arms) but I’m only going to bother typing two of the best ones.

I was working one sunny day when an American couple came in. The husband asked could he use a phone the wife cut in and said “I want one too” the husband who actually seemed reasonable enough said “you can make your calls from my phone box” but she was adamant she wanted her own phone box to herself, and she got it. She made a brief call and came back to my counter to pay. As polite as possible I inform her that the price was sixty pence. She replies in shock “sixty pounds?” This being a common problem for Americans I reassure her saying “no pence”. I still can’t believe her response but she was quick to respond with “pounds, pence what’s the difference? In America we use dollars and cents”.

Maybe I should have looked at this differently but that really annoyed me. So much so that I really had to struggle to hold my tongue. This American had basically told me that my currency sucked because it was different to hers. I really wanted to tell her to go back to America where she could use dollars and cents and vote Bush’s into the White House all they wanted until those dollars and cents bought so many nuclear weapons that one of the Bush’s decided to launch on America and kill them all.

Great

One other tale of the amazing intellects of the American really highlights that they are all desperately seeking and identity and their two hundred years of American history is not enough. So they claim to be Irish. Now some clever people have noticed this and have set up trace your Irish heritage companies over there. Basically any American can walk in and be billed through the roof while they make up a heritage for them. The also tell their customers that they are the grandchildren of really famous people so they go and tell their friends and their friends will try outdo them with a better heritage. This makes the companies an awful lot of dollars but they really do sell some whoppers to the gullible yanks.

I was standing at the bus stop on the way into work and an American couple asked me which bus would be the best to get to Trinity College. Being the nice guy that I am I told them that the 15 or 15B would drop them right outside. I then made some small talk with them and asked if they where going to see the book of Kells. The guy told they where then asked me did I want to know something about that book? I thought to myself that I just spent the past year studying it for the leaving cert and this American probably did not have any great info on it but to be polite I said sure. He then told me that his great great and keep going like that grand pappy wrote that book. This time I did laugh in their faces. They seemed slightly offended by this and told me it was true they had it checked out. I recomposed myself and said, “So your great great great and so on grand dad was a monk?” “Yes sir” was the reply I got. I them proceeded to explain to him what a monk was and the whole celibacy thing. This led to an awkward silence and I could tell by the guy he was slowly starting to work out he had been had somewhere along the line. The silence was luckily broken by the arrival of the bus.

Now I know people will tell me that this is just a generalisation but I’d put the average level of intelligence of an Irish person far ahead of an average American. At this point in the conversation every body mentions Bill Gates. Fine out of Millions of people they will have the clever few who make the millions. I still feel on average they a dumber.

The thing is that I was planning on spending the summer in America next year but I honestly feel that I could not cope if I was dumped in the middle of all these morons.

Am I being unfair or do you agree?

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

Strangely enough, even being American, I'm not offended. Simply because there is the ring of truth to how American tourists behave. To be quite frank, tourists the world over are gullible to some extent, and some patronizing too. However, I would say that the vast majority of my fellow citizens who have received a decent education aren't stupid. The average school-child in Ireland or indeed, anywhere in Europe is vaaaaastly more intelligent than those back home.

I don't think it's fair to generalize that the average person is more stupid. And even if it's true(I wouldn't be surprised tbh), the fact of the matter is that there are more and better opportunities in the US, and most Americans are proud of the fact. The patronizing arrogance you experienced there shouldn't have gone unanswered. I've done summer jobs in high school and had posh British couples coming in waffling "How quaint", and "Oh dearie, isn't this little country cute". Harmless banter at first, but it gets on your nerves when they start going on about how America isn't as socially acceptable as Britain, the lost glories of the Empire, blah, blah, blah. It's quite frustrating.

It's easy to generalize after you've had a string of bad experiences...I've chosen not to. Case in point- I had an incredibly unpleasant train journey to Galway when I was last in Eire- an entire dynasty of an extended family, all intoxicated beyond belief were singing loud out of tune slurred movie soundtracks for the whole 3 hours. At the next station, another similar clan arrived. I could be very nasty and generalize about that experience, extrapolating that microcosm to the whole of the Irish people.

Why didn't I? Because I'd argue for tolerance and understanding. By generalizing and taking a negative attitude in return, you're no better than they are. Arrogance doesn't deserve arrogance...more like pity, something my fellow Americans(particularly the uneducated variety) have in abundance. If they err out of ignorance, then that's fine- if they do it out of arrogance, you can feel justifiably aggrieved.

I have no doubt I'm going to get flamed by several folks over this post- but then again FANJ, your thread has "flame-bait" written all over it

Bob the Unlucky Octopus
=Vade Retro=

JustHalf

I do have to say though, "pounds and pence, what's the difference?" smacks of idiocy; considering how stupid a similar "dollars and cents, what's the difference?" would sound.

I personally believe there is an secret organisation in America that many people join to learn how to **** people off when they go to a different country.

Lesson 1: Insist on using US dollars abroad. Claim the local currency is "inferior" and that you do not want to soil your hands with "local germs".

Lesson 2: When in Germany, chant "We won the war, so shove that Wurst where the sun don't shine". If anyone says "but we're not Nazi's" reply with "You're all the same, you Germans!"

Lesson 3: When in Britain, grin a lot. Rub the hats of those guards outside the palace. Claim to be related to the king.

Lesson 4: Wear a dumb hat.

Lesson 5: If you ever visit Japan or China, shout "woo!" and pretend to know karate. Insist that it is the only martial art, besides Tae-Bo.

Hobbes

It's tourists rather then Americans themselves. Most tourists that far away tend to have more money as well and have a somewhat jaded sense of the world. In fact most of them have complete blind spots when it comes to certain countries of the world.

- Like the guy telling me in Hawaii he can't wait to get back to the US.
- Hearing a woman in Hawaii saying "I don't know how we got Hawaii but it's great we did" (the US kidnapped the Queen and held her to ransom until the island was signed over).
- Someone telling me in Greece that Greeks don't like Americans because they are commies.
- Someone asking me if I know personally Micheal Collins.
- Belguim is apprantly the capital of Ireland.

MiCr0

while in san francisco, being asked how i was going to get to hawaii (drive??) and was i stopping off there on the way back to ireland (where did we put ireland again?)


hobbes will u do a quick survey in work and find out what population and size americans think ireland is?

LegacyUser

Well Fanj I think u are been a bit over the top. Most American people are preety ok it tends to be the old people that are over the top , Most of the younger people that u would deal with I would say tend to be a bit more nice and down to earth then the older people. You may class them stupid but look at what way they class us silly Irish people that spend most there time in a pub and drink. Which if u look at it is true so as far as I would think u are been over the top.

yankinlk

Well put Bob, very nicely handled...no flaming necessary. Im originally from the states but have upteen relatives here. I know what I was like as a "tourist" coming to visit when I was younger, and it pains me to have my American friends visit me now.

But I also know what it was like when my aunts and uncles and cousins came from Ireland to America to visit. Believe me they were just as awkward as visitors to my country as I was in theirs.

FANJ, I recon you should spend some time in the states as a "tourist" yourself, but you will be exactly that an awkward, pale, short wearing geek that complains to everyone at the bar (not pub) that "where i come from we dont set up tabs, we pay in rounds" etc...

MiCr0

i wonder how most irish ppl would cope with the choice of 150+ cerals in the supermarket? would most go "omg look how many cerals there are!" ?

ConUladh

I remember someone in work was asked if they were driving back to Ireland once as well

I don't think it's stupidity, I think it's inward-looking ignorance (that's not meant as an insult)

Wasn't that the kind of thing Bush was being accused of during election campaigning, perfect representative in that case

If you're like that you probably don't see it as a problem (or don't realise you are), for other people it's infuriating (and when you're in a foreign country it's going to be very evident)

This thread is surely flamebait though

DadaKopf

Yeah, that's pretty dumb alright but all I learned when in America recently is that you most certainly can't blanket all Americans with one view. There's a huge difference between you Maine American and your South Carolina American, Florida american with your California American and so on.

But yeah, hehehe, those ones were pretty dumb.

GreenHell

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by The FANJ:
I was standing at the bus stop on the way into work and an American couple asked me which bus would be the best to get to Trinity College. Being the nice guy that I am I told them that the 15 or 15B would drop them right outside. I then made some small talk with them and asked if they where going to see the book of Kells. The guy told they where then asked me did I want to know something about that book? I thought to myself that I just spent the past year studying it for the leaving cert and this American probably did not have any great info on it but to be polite I said sure. He then told me that his great great and keep going like that grand pappy wrote that book. This time I did laugh in their faces. They seemed slightly offended by this and told me it was true they had it checked out. I recomposed myself and said, “So your great great great and so on grand dad was a monk?” “Yes sir” was the reply I got. I them proceeded to explain to him what a monk was and the whole celibacy thing. This led to an awkward silence and I could tell by the guy he was slowly starting to work out he had been had somewhere along the line. The silence was luckily broken by the arrival of the bus.


</font>

Funniest thing I've read all day.

But honestly I've met a fair few American tourists down here in West Cork we're all supposed to be 3ft 2 and dress in green , I've met some Americans with this view generally the older generation but I've also met some highly intelligant Americans, hell I worked for a bunch of them of 6 weeks they signed my pay cheque so they were my gods , smart ppl too.

Doodee

The best way to keep the stupid americans out of Ireland is to imploy a Roscommon man in each town to talk to them, the main point being that Roscommn folk are the whittyest and Quickest thinkers (as in think fast) of all the other CountyMen of Ireland.....Examples

In the pub where I work we have 2 roscommon Barmen (even though the pubs in Galway) now on one occaision the elder of the 2 (once having owned his own business)was on duty and an american walked in.
The american tryin to look asif he new about alcohol (See ing that us Irish apparently drink alot)proceeded to ask about the "Bulmers", first question "ThaT there Bulmers is a Cider yes?"
the obvious reply "Yes"
2nd question "That there Cider is made from apples yes?"
If u know what cider is then the answer would be "Yes"
3rd Question "And where do they get those apples from?"
the Roscommon Blood kicked in and his answer was "We have these things called Trees"
The American then shut up with a red Face that stuck out like a sore thumb.

Next experience.......
A car full of Americans were driving through Roscommon and were quite lost so the decided to stop and ask some questions unfortunatly they ran into one of the most Whitty Painters you'd ever meet.
They asked a simple Question ,"Excuse me Sir, could ya Tells us how u get to Galway?"
And the painter Replies "I get a lift with me sister every Weekend"

Another occasion the same situation however diferent question, "Excuse me Sir, Could ya tell us if we are on the right road for Galway"
The Painter Replies "Your on the right road" and as the car pulls off he says in a lower tone "Only your facing the wrong direction"

The third one may not show the stupidity, I thought it was funny though, I've lots more stories but I must really get on wiv me werk.....


Also, I've been to america as a tourist, the only way I could be told appart was on the first day when I had me head pointed towards the sky looking at the hight os the sky scraipers.


^DooDee^

Belisarius

Its amazing but true Americans abroad have the most uncanny knack of being just downright dumb , I mean we all have Yank stories , everyone . Its a Clíche ,Its a hundred hammy stories weve all heard before but its also a Trueism in Life : Yanks are stupid

---

The Man From Delmonte , He Say "Yes"

BlitzKrieg

Ok I find... Now you might say i'm BS or that it has no truth but...


I see that on TV/movies they are mostly based in america (because most r made from america) there r the australian and british shows bu they rarely get shown in america BUT the fact is we see these shows so much we know their steriotypical lifestyle and even their not steriotypical lifestyle and we seee so many variations of it that we have a general idea of how things work in america. Yet i can think of very few fims or videos which really look into Irish or other european lifestyles (they may be based in ireland yet u see nothing irish) So americans dont see as much of our culture that we would take fo granted. The most common look they will probably see would be

-pubs
-IRA wrecked towns
-Irish history of us goin to america or suffering from being in ireland

The fact remains everything they see on tv is american aimed unlike here where its aimed at american yet we know thats american it doesnt apply to us.

Well here my 2 american stories

I know american who i got stuck beside flying to Ireland the movie on the plane was Ronin. Half way through the flick he turns to me and asks " I've been all over the grand US and i've never seen anywhere like tha old town Nice"
My reply "Its in France" His "Now why would they have a movie in france for?" I then proceeded to go to sleep.


Also I live in Thurles and our square is called liberty square and this one group of americans who were going to limreck had stopped to look around come to me saying "thiss aint like our liberty square ours is better" My reply "Now wha makes yours better?" His "Well firstly yours is a rectangle Secondly ours is more important and isint in a little village. I got quiet annoyed "So i said firstly it aint a village and secondly u will have to drive 20 miles back that way (roughly) to get to limreck without this square so **** off" (i had gotteen quite annoyed tha day and i still dont regret it.

Well tha my 2 cents on americans not tha bad a place but i'll never forgive them for making films about how great they are Independance day)

---

People of the Boards

I have a cunning plan

and before u ask how cunning

just trust me its cunning

oooo thats cunning

_CreeD_

It's easy to remember to the loud and the bad, how many normal americans do you pass each day? You havent' a clue, because they aren't being stupid to your face. Count the amount of 'Stupid' americans you met in the last year vs. 'Stupid' irish people.

Part of the american culture is to be loud and bigger than life. It can seem very false and foolish at first but it's just another way of carrying on (in the same way that americans at first tend to get ****ed off with irish sarcastic humour).
The people aren't any more gullible, they just advertise the natural ignorance they do have a lot louder than we do.
Just remember that the USA us the size of a continent, not just a country. It's easier for an Irishman to know all about Europe, or more about the world, since there's a hell of a lot less for us to know about our own little island.
And as was pointed out the people from different states have their own traits. Also they do tend to get force fed stereotypes about other countries by Hollywood.
I work with a lot of americans and their general lack of knowledge of the world, and attitude that the world basically IS the US annoys me sometimes, but you just have to put it in social context.

And thinking that we don't stand out on the states is a bit silly. Do you really think those tourists thought they didn't fit in (Bermuda shorts and acapulco T-Shirts aside)?

[This message has been edited by _CreeD_ (edited 05-07-2001).]

Bluehair

Sorry to those concerned but American way is life is *so* insular and their education system so lacking that this is the result.

The incredible thing is only a tiny percentage of them actually hold passports (5-10%?) so what we see here is the cream of the crop!!

My story; Myself and my girlfriend were enjoying a few days break in Prague last summer and while having lunch at an outdoor restaurant in the square the generic t-shirted and capped USA couple sat at the table next to us.

Maybe it was because we were speaking english i dunno but we were shortly treated to the "HI, WE'RE FROM THE US OF A!" from the other table. Wonderful, like the cap didn't give it away eh?

But we're a friendly couple so we returned the greating only to get the reply "Spot any leprauchauns here yet then?? hahaha" and the wife lauched in with "Shouldn't you be having a Guiness with your dinner? hahaha" (we were drinking wine...)

This level of pure arrogance *really* ****es me off but i bit my tounge and asked where in the US they where from.

"We're from Washington D.C.!" they said. "oh that's interesting" we replied. "The White House is there!" they said. My girlfriend and i *really* think alike in situations like this and both shot back with "the what?"

The dozy americans then proceeded to explain that "The president of America" lives there. "the who?" we came back with...

The conversation then proceed along the grounds of us asking them if they knew such and such from Disneyland, had they ever been shot at, had she had her breasts enlarged (didn't everyone in the US do that? oh just Hollywood i see!...), what was it like to live in vegas (we don't live in vegas.... oh but isn't that where the president lives?)

It took them 20 minutes (I swear) to gradually realise that we were taking the **** by which time we were heading off anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't dislike *all* Americans and have quite a few friends over there and indeed visit quite frequently. I do however take great exception to the mentality that The FANJ encounted which unfortnately seems to be the overwhelming amount of time.

---

When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask is if they ever press charges.

[This message has been edited by Bluehair (edited 05-07-2001).]

ThrAx

Hehe, there was a bunch of dumb americans on the bus this mornin, talkin about training dogs or sumthin. They were with a group and they had an irish guide and he sat all they way up at the front of the bus and they sat way down the back. there was about 10 of them and they were so loud you couldnt hear anybody else talk so everybody exept the americans shut up. Its not really funny, but they got off in the middle of this really delapidated housing estate where u could see "Talla garda and murderers" and "Brosnan is a rapist" written on the walls. I wonder will i ever see them again. I wonder why the y got out there.

---

This device complies with part 15 of the PCC rules. Ooperation is subject to the following two conditions:
(1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and
(2) This device must accept any interference recieved, including muppetry from muppets which may cause undesired operation.

bonkey

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Bluehair:
The incredible thing is only a tiny percentage of them actually hold passports (5-10%?) so what we see here is the cream of the crop!! </font>

Huh? How do you figure that the 10% (say) that have passports are the cream of the crop? You have to pass a "Cop On" or IQ test in the US to get a passport? Cool.

On a more serious note, I tend to find that my encounters with Americans fall into 2 categories. One is the group who believe that American truly is the greatest nation on earth, and swallow the whole shebang about how they are so great and no-one else is, and blah blah blah. I term these people Yanks, and tend to find them being loud, brash, abrasive, and horribly naieve in many areas.

The other type tend to be the more clued in type. They recognise that they may be a large successful nation, but that does not mean other nations are without merit. They tend to be less "rah rah", and as a result come across as more intelligent. I call these people Americans.

Funnily enough, we had an American tourist turn up once in college - he was the friend of someone who a mate of mine knew via e-mail. He turned up looking for somewhere to crash. No problems.

We explained the Yank vs American theory to him, which he agreed with. By the end of his stay with us, he was cursing "fscking yanks" and telling his own horror stories about meeting them, and how embarrassed they made him feel about his country.

jc

Hobbes

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by MiCr0:
hobbes will u do a quick survey in work and find out what population and size americans think ireland is?</font>

erm, most of the people I work with would know where Ireland is, actually a lot of them aren't even American.

TacT

Unfortunately I must say, they have yet to impress me

Being a person who likes to travel and ride a skateboard, I have met countless numbers of American's, I have found that too many of them come across as arrogant/self-centred.

I visited a couple of competitions where the "top" american skateboarding professionals compete against each other and other countries.

I had a few drinks with many of them and enjoyed my time, but it wasn't worth it because of the muppetry you would have to endure from the less cerebrally endowed members of their race, who seem to have no understanding of common courtesy or anything of the sorts.

Of course this is common among any nation of people as a whole, I always give any individual the benefit of the doubt, pity that 1st impressions last eh .

Problem is I now refer to anyone who has this kind of simple stupid outlook on life as a "plastic person". Too fake. enuff said, i could go on all day and recount numerous stories of american act's of stupidity. Fact of the matter is, I'm starting to see more and more plastic people around Dublin these days and it does sadden me

I don't think you can refer to any nation and call them stupid and justify it.

Best thing you can do imho is write a funny story/book/skit/webby that makes people laugh about it all.

--Laughter, the shock absorber for life--

Hobbes

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by tactical anni:
I have found that too many of them come across as arrogant/self-centred.</font>

Maybe it's just your inability to adjust to them?

Yes Americans are arrogant, self-centered, opinionated but it's more a culture thing then anything else.

People tend to see thier culture as "the norm" which is why we tend to only see the things we consider stupid or rude in others.

A good example I tell people.

In Irish custom if I say "If you don't mind can you help me with this?" this translates to "Help me with this". In America that translates to "You have a choice to help me or not".

So when the American says "No" we think they are being rude, when in fact they are just being American.

It's like "Do you mind if I smoke", in Ireland most people don't expect you to say "Yes I do mind".

the fnj

OK I agree that I came across looking like I was making vast generalisations.

I have met very intelligent Americans and I would agree with the Yank theory. I have also met anti- American Americans (that’s a mouthful) they are generally students and have a bleak view on things.

My concern is going to the states and running into these people continually. I really could not handle it every day. I have been told in New York and bigger cities it’s generally better but LA is meant to be bad. Bill Hicks was right.

I am sure I am being unfair but constantly dealing with these people really takes its toll. Every second American walking in the door proclaiming “WOW I did not know you could get the Internet in Ireland”. OK every second is unfair but it happens once or twice a week.

Before I go to any country I do a bit of research to find out about it. It’s not that hard to do and it generally leads to a better holiday.

entropi

For some reason, i seem to have INTELLIGENT Americans for family. They are my cousins and are very smart..one is a 2secretary" but smart,one is training to be a stenographer and their mother is a teacher in a big school. I have been there a few times and they really are thick as a wall but there is a funny side to it all, so let them be dumb and give us all a lol. .

---

"that island has freedom written all over it, sir, that's cuba"

Hobbes

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Death Sentence:
For some reason, i seem to have INTELLIGENT Americans for family. </font>

Luckly for you! I had one of my American Aunts asking me about the historical accuracy of "The knights of Tir na Nog" TV show (it's like Powerrangers set in Celtic times).

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by GREENHELL:
Funniest thing I've read all day.

But honestly I've met a fair few American tourists down here in West Cork we're all supposed to be 3ft 2 and dress in green , I've met some Americans with this view generally the older generation
</font>

Aint that the way all you people down in Kark dress anway

GreenHell

well I'm going to start a thread about the attitude of Dubliners to the rest of the country

Puck

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by GREENHELL:
well I'm going to start a thread about the attitude of Dubliners to the rest of the country </font>

Very good point!

---

John (yes THE John!)
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."

LegacyUser

Humm that sounds to me like u are tryin to make a sly poke at are attitude's any way

Ri-ra

I have to say that some of the smartest people I've ever met are from North America. I also think that the Irish arrogance regarding "intelligence" is completely unfounded.

And I'm Irish. Just my $0.02.

Victor

I posted this on Films / Video recently regarding "Pearl Harbour":

http://www.boards.ie/bulletin/Forum12/HTML/000827.html

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I saw it during the week - not too bad. It did focus on a lot of things that generally are not touched on in such films (e.g. the RAF was fighting for survival while Americans were still making refrigerators and drinking Champagne).
I think there was quiet a few errors - aircraft carriers with catapults and angled flight decks (not introduced until 1946) - it isn't as if through deck carrier aren't available for filming anymore. Aerial footage of post-war ships.

I took a look at two of the books issued (one a novel (Easons) the other a 'picture book' (Virgin Megastore)). I was appalled at the description of one of the Japanese pilots as a 'bomber', in the tone of voice (writing) of an 'IRA bomber' or the 'Oklahoma City Bomber'. Whatever the realities of people being on the receiving end of a bomb, I think it could have been a bit more impartial.

I do think however it had too much of an 'Independence Day' feel about it. Ultimately I think it is good that Americans are taught the basic facts - to quote one of the American women (age c. 23) at the bus stop afterwards, she had never heard of the Doolittle Raid, she thought the war started at Pearl Harbour and ended with Hiroshima / Nagasaki a few weeks later.
</font>

---

Too many freaks, not enough circuses.

androphobic

hehehe some funny stories .

I work with foreign tourists and I have to admit that I've met some overbearing Americans but I guess it's the overbearing ones that you remember.

Americans aren't the only ones though! While working in Germany last summer I was asked if we have central heating in Ireland.

Hobbes

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by androphobic:
Americans aren't the only ones though! While working in Germany last summer I was asked if we have central heating in Ireland.
</font>

LOL Jug-a-Lug told a load of Americans in a newspaper interview that Irish people walk everywhere as very few people have cars (and they printed it).



[This message has been edited by Hobbes (edited 05-07-2001).]

androphobic

who a lug?

SantaHoe

I suppose my main experience with Americans was working in Tech Support...
I had calls ranging from "I'm suing you all unless you replace my machine NOOOWWW!!! GOD DAMN IT!!" to "oh you've been so great, let me give you my address and phone number, and if you're ever in the US, you can come and stay with us..."... yeah, hang on a sec while I get a pen and paper

I've gotten people calling up that could really brighten your day, or just make you want to punch somebody.
The only generalization I'll put across is that - Americans as consumers are over-demanding and utterly obnoxious.

DeVore

Nggggh basic statistics people:

Ireland: 3 million people:
Irish bellcurve of dumb to smart:

Dumb.....-='=-.... Smart


USA: 220 Million people:
US bellcurve of dumb to smart:
..............='=
............_/...\_
.........../.......\
Dumb.-=.........=- Smart.

Combine with the fact: Dumb people make more noise.

Conclusion?

DeV.

[This message has been edited by DeVore (edited 06-07-2001).]

Illkillya

there are a lot more very friendly people in america than anywhere else I know.
what Irish people would view as impoliteness is often just a difference in culture... its the same in a lot of foreign countries like Spain, americans don't know how to behave as we would expect them to, and this suits me fine because there are a lot of conformities in ireland and UK that we can do without.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by androphobic:

While working in Germany last summer I was asked if we have central heating in Ireland.</font>

thats nothing... some of my most educated TEACHERS in USA didn't believe that we had cars or television, or thought that the famine was still going on


i'm very tolerant... and having lived in USA for 7 years (and i'm there again atm) i have become accustomed to the american way of life, and usually it doesn't bother me. but there are a few things that do p1ss me off...

many americans DO think USA is the greatest place in the world, seeing it as the only country of great importance on earth, with liberty and justice for all. these people have been singing My Country 'Tis of Thee and God Bless America since they were 2, and when they begin to speak of how great america is and how unfortunate i am to come from a third world country like ireland, i get very annoyed.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Bob the Unlucky Octopus:
the fact of the matter is that there are more and better opportunities in the US, and most Americans are proud of the fact</font>

what opportunities are these... you're talking solely about jobs? theres a lot more to life than earning some money, and a country is not defined by its economy. Americans are proud because they're told to be proud. they believe USA is the greatest country in the world, but are completely ignorant of the rest of the world. i am generalising here, but the people who dont' believe everything they are told, and think for themselves do not apply to this thread. these people do not assume they know everything, and are will not be surprised when they see roads and electricity when they come to ireland.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Ri-ra:
I have to say that some of the smartest people I've ever met are from North America. I also think that the Irish arrogance regarding "intelligence" is completely unfounded. </font>

very true, americans can be very intelligent, they're not stupid, just a bit naive or else blinded by preconceived notions formed by the american society. i blame TV

Blitzkrieger

Americans tend to be arrogant but all nationalities are guilty of that to a degree.

The main problem I'd have with Americans is their ignorance. We don't notice but we do have a very good education system here, and as has already been mentioned, we tend to learn more about the world than Americans. I often had to talk to Americans on the phone while I was working for Apple last summer, and since it was tech support I was phoning I probably sounded like a dumb-ass. One guy came up with this gem though : "You're from Ireland? Do you know the O' Conners from Meath?" It's a small country but it's not that small.

Our problem is we often confuse ignorance with stupidity. As most of the Americans we meet are stranges in a strange land, we automatically think of them as stupid.

Greenbean

There was some famous Irish guy who quoted near enough what dev said on rte. It went something like "I reckon there are the same proportion of dumb people in every country, the only problem is in america dumb people are loud".

There is something undeniably american in the ability of loud and possibly dumb people to be sucessful - the way of doing business in america suits it (big image, big brashness). Remember the simpson episode where a new guy in work couldn't believe how big homer's house was, how sucessfull he was given how foolish and useless he seemed to be; in comparison to his hard working intelligent ways that had yielded nothing. I'm taking this as a spurn by the writers as something that doesn't just occur in cartoons.

But when people go on about how shocked they are that americans don't know all about ireland, where its at etc. Put it like this, could you point out where half the states of america are supposed to be on a map without aid? Ireland would easily fit into most of those states. For a country that doesn't focus too much on the outside world, I'd be half pleased that some american even knew we had a famine - thats pretty impressive really. Start thinking from other peoples boots - some of the stuff we expect is unreasonable - its more stupid to not give someone leeway.

Eg someone walks into the internet cafe. He says something you've heard before, are you gonna blame him for saying something just because you've heard it tons of time. Its your history of other people that is annoying you, not him; he's at no fault.