what is the image of americans?

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 12:32AM #1

this may be in the wrong forum, but i'm curious. don't hold back. no offense will be taken (by me anyway).

Somnus · 16-01-2006 12:34AM

Dangerous because of the ridiculous amount of guns in my opinion

county · 16-01-2006 12:34AM

dont worry mate iam english so were best mates:)

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 12:36AM

i lived in england for a while. loved it. best time of my life.

county · 16-01-2006 12:39AM

but the fact there is more guns in texas than people scares me a little bit

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 12:41AM

county wrote:

but the fact there is more guns in texas than people scares me a little bit

yeah. living in texas, it scares me even more....this place is nuts as far as that goes

Atrocity · 16-01-2006 12:47AM

Humourless, patronising self-centred people who talk too much and are irritating, like sand in your underwear.

I'm just modelling that on the 10 or so american people I've ever met. I sure hope they're not all like that. Ahem.

My cousins are American and when they visited it was so horrible. They brought presents. One of these was a baseball cap, and they proceeded to give a 10 minute demonstration in adjusting it and putting it on. Then one of them asked "Do Irish people have toilets in their houses?" That was bloody 1995.

Our family got our first computer in 1994 and I first used the internet about 1997. Imagine my horror in 2002 when my American cousin sent me a printed Christmas card she had made on the PC with a big letter on how she can use her computer to make cards and how she can email people. She then told me that I should discover the internet because you can email people and see pages from all over the world! Okay enough about them.

Also, an ex-girlfriend was American and it ended badly after about two weeks. I may be biased.

lodgepole · 16-01-2006 12:51AM

I love Americans. My opinion of the country as a political entity and my opinion of its people are very different. Some of the friendliest people I have ever met were in Florida. Really beautiful and genuine people. They made a complete mockery of the Irish "friendly" stereotype. You wouldn't find that kind of instant acceptance in Ireland. And it wasn't a "well i'm of Irish descent, thus i'll be nice to you" kind of thing either. Most of them didn't give a ****.

The people of New York likewise. I found the attitudes there to be similar to attitudes found in London, the two cities are so alike. I loved Harlem with a passion, the people were the warmest i've ever met. New Jersey and Conneticut have beautiful friendly people too.

I had a stopover in North Carolina once where I spent time with some Texans who were fantastically good fun.

What I particularly love about the American people is how varied they are. There's more assholes there than in Ireland only by virtue of the fact that there are more people.

Imagine if Ireland was judged by the knackers that haunt on our streets every night...

Incidentally my closest friend is an American, so I may also be biased.

delly · 16-01-2006 12:51AM

tbh i'd love to go to America for a holiday, maybe New York or similar, but i just can't stand the way that Bush character behaves. The whole Guantanamo Bay thing really annoys me, reminds me of an Northern Irish thing called internment.

I would have happily visited America while Clinton was in the hotseat, but while George is there, i wouldn't dream of visiting. I'm all for protecting your country, but i think his agenda is somewhere else.

Goodshape · 16-01-2006 12:51AM

Americans (from the U.S. at least) in Ireland seem to come in two flavours :

* Clueless to the world, walking about like they're in Disneyland
* Apologetic (sometimes overly so) about their country and just dying to find out more about the world.

I think the second group are more common, and generally nice people. Of course you also get the ones which just slip under the radar.

Nice enough poeple for the most part though, as I said. Bit loud at times, bit clueless at others -- particularly when it comes to certin types of humour.

Americans actually in the U.S. I'm not sure about, although it's never really been somewhere I wanted to visit (bit unfair maybe -- it's a big and diverse place -- but there you go).

(and I've never met the "do you have toilets in the house" crowd.. but it's definitely a pretty far reaching stereotype)

county · 16-01-2006 12:51AM

dont get me wrong but a pet hate of mine is the bastardisation of the english language,ie center,neighbor,color,check,and pronunciation of english words as well but we will not fall out about it:D

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 12:52AM

it's stuff like that that is so embarrassing to me. when i was in england, so many americans acted loud and pushy. it was a bad reflection on me, i felt.

but not all of us are that way. not to defend. obviously enough are for us to ge that reputation.......

county · 16-01-2006 12:55AM

Goodshape wrote:

Americans (from the U.S. at least) in Ireland seem to come in two flavors :
FLAVOURS!!!!

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 12:55AM

Lodgepole wrote:

I love Americans. My opinion of the country as a political entity and my opinion of its people are very different. Some of the friendliest people I have ever met were in Florida. Really beautiful and genuine people. They made a complete mockery of the Irish "friendly" stereotype. You wouldn't find that kind of instant acceptance in Ireland. And it wasn't a "well i'm of Irish descent, thus i'll be nice to you" kind of thing either. Most of them didn't give a ****.

The people of New York likewise. I found the attitudes there to be similar to attitudes found in London, the two cities are so alike. I loved Harlem with a passion, the people were the warmest i've ever met. New Jersey and Conneticut have beautiful friendly people too.

I had a stopover in North Carolina once where I spent time with some Texans who were fantastically good fun.

What I particularly love about the American people is how varied they are. There's more assholes there than in Ireland only by virtue of the fact that there are more people.

Imagine if Ireland was judged by the knackers that haunt on our streets every night...

Incidentally my closest friend is an American, so I may also be biased.

wow. nice. texans have a reputation for being friendly. not all are, but a lot are.

R0ot · 16-01-2006 12:58AM

fat, retarded, dumb, patriot (for the wrong reasons) and gun crazy

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 12:59AM

delly wrote:

tbh i'd love to go to America for a holiday, maybe New York or similar, but i just can't stand the way that Bush character behaves. The whole Guantanamo Bay thing really annoys me, reminds me of an Northern Irish thing called internment.

I would have happily visited America while Clinton was in the hotseat, but while George is there, i wouldn't dream of visiting. I'm all for protecting your country, but i think his agenda is somewhere else.

i couldn't agree more about bush. he doesn't represent me at all. as always, a nation on people can't be judged by its government. i'm ready to leave the US because of bush's policies.

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 01:01AM

R0ot wrote:

fat, retarded, dumb, patriot (for the wrong reasons) and gun crazy

fat and gun crazy--yeah.

Goodshape · 16-01-2006 01:04AM

county wrote:

Goodshape wrote:

Americans (from the U.S. at least) in Ireland seem to come in two flavors :
FLAVOURS!!!!

oops!

I agree with you anyway, and will take issue with anyone who says you don't pronounce the 'u' in flavours.. but my spelling has always been dreadful.

edited.

county · 16-01-2006 01:04AM

twentycentshift wrote:

i couldn't agree more about bush. he doesn't represent me at all. as always, a nation on people can't be judged by its government. i'm ready to leave the US because of bush's policies.

WHY?be patriotic,if your not proud of where your from,there is something with you

lodgepole · 16-01-2006 01:06AM

One Bush policy almost kept me out... Fingerprints and photos... But I wanted to visit my friend in New York and I had to just bite the bullet, so to speak.

Goodshape wrote:

Americans (from the U.S. at least) in Ireland seem to come in two flavours :

* Clueless to the world, walking about like they're in Disneyland
* Apologetic (sometimes overly so) about their country and just dying to find out more about the world.

Interestingly Irish people around the world come in two flavours as well...

* Loud and drunken scumbags wearing tri-colours, proclaiming how wonderful they are at drinking and generally acting like knob jockeys
* Apologetic (sometimes overly so) about their country and just dying to find anybody with a different accent to their own.

county wrote:

dont get me wrong but a pet hate of mine is the bastardisation of the english language,ie center,neighbor,color,check,and pronunciation of english words as well but we will not fall out about it:D

John Cleese wrote a wonderful little piece about that, i'm sure it's knocking around the internet somewhere.

twentycentshift wrote:

wow. nice. texans have a reputation for being friendly. not all are, but a lot are.

Over last Christmas I was working taking calls for XM Radio up in Toronto and got a to speak to people from virtually every state in the US and without a doubt it was Texas where I got the friendliest and politest people. I know taking a work call isn't the same as actually meeting them but I got some good banter out of the Texans where as people from middle America and the West Coast were a little more short with me.

lodgepole · 16-01-2006 01:08AM

county wrote:

WHY?be patriotic,if your not proud of where your from,there is something with you

True that... You can't do much good for your country if you're not there. It's a county worth staying to try and salvage.

county · 16-01-2006 01:09AM

Lodgepole wrote:

John Cleese wrote a wonderful little piece about that, i'm sure it's knocking around the internet somewhere.
i seen it, so funny:D

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 01:10AM

county wrote:

WHY?be patriotic,if your not proud of where your from,there is something with you

i've never been one to follow the governemt blindly.

patriotic to me means being able to disagree with the governement. i'm proud of a lot of american things, but not proud of a lot of other things.

i like america well anough, but i am afraid we're losing what we were designed to be- free. in my humble opinion, bush is turning our country into a dictatorship. disagree with him and his politics, and you're an enemy. he's really scary to me.

but american peoople are bascally good at heart.

El_Nino · 16-01-2006 01:10AM

Hmm I dont know about what I think of Americans, but I think we have something in common. Im also deathly ashamed of my nationality when compared with my locals.

Everytime I go to the pub for a few drinks with my friends, I take a look around and all I see is dribling alcoholics in denial. The retards go out 2+ nights a week and get hammered.

Then they complain about how much everything costs in ireland, and your thinking, "Hey dumbass, howabout you save the 100+ Euro you spend every god damn weekend on raping your liver, and see if you can afford the overpriced goods then."

Then we get the, jesus half these immigrants are scumbags, ect ect, now howabout we go for a few scoops get ****faced, and call in sick to work tomorow?
Wow check out that bird, shes hot. Yeah when she isnt falling flat on her face puking litres of vodka.

Atrocity · 16-01-2006 01:11AM

just ride it out, he'll be gone in a few years

county · 16-01-2006 01:12AM

twentycentshift wrote:

i've never been one to follow the governemt blindly.

patriotic to me means being able to disagree with the governement. i'm proud of a lot of american things, but not proud of a lot of other things.

i like america well anough, but i am afraid we're losing what we were designed to be- free. in my humble opinion, bush is turning our country into a dictatorship. disagree with him and his politics, and you're an enemy. he's really scary to me.

but american peoople are bascally good at heart.

you make a good point so i will excuse your spelling:rolleyes:

Goodshape · 16-01-2006 01:14AM

Lodgepole wrote:

* Loud and drunken scumbags wearing tri-colours, proclaiming how wonderful they are at drinking and generally acting like knob jockeys
* Apologetic (sometimes overly so) about their country and just dying to find anybody with a different accent to their own.

I've travelled a bit and wouldn't have thought that people see us like that. Could be wrong though.

Don't really see what point your making though. The threads about the 'image' of Americans, not the people themselves. As I said, they're usually nice enough.

And I've never met an Irish person apologetic about Ireland (as, already, twentycentshift seems to be about the U.S. -- it's very common in my experience).

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 01:14AM

Lodgepole wrote:

True that... You can't do much good for your country if you're not there. It's a county worth staying to try and salvage.

valid point there. i just get frustrated with some policies......

my wife is australian and we'd like to move to her country. i don't see anything wrong with that.

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 01:16AM

county wrote:

you make a good point so i will excuse your spelling:rolleyes:

sorry about that. it's all i know.....

lodgepole · 16-01-2006 01:19AM

Goodshape wrote:

I've travelled a bit and wouldn't have thought that people see us like that. Could be wrong though.

Don't really see what point your making though. The threads about the 'image' of Americans, not the people themselves. As I said, they're usually nice enough.

And I've never met an Irish person apologetic about Ireland (as, already, twentycentshift seems to be about the U.S. -- it's very common in my experience).

Happens a great deal in North America, Asia and Australia in my experience. When I lived in North America I certainly ducked my head if I heard an Irish accent. I recall a night in a nightclub in Toronto when I walked into the bathroom to find two little spanners with vertical baseball caps kicking in some loose tiles and laughing like hyenas. I'm not sure if other nationalities look at us and see what I see in Irish travellers, but I know what I see.

My image of Americans is shaped by my knowledge of them and most of my knowledge of them is from first hand experience with them.

edit... don't mean to go so off topic, just wanted to answer your query

twentycentshift · 16-01-2006 01:20AM

i can't compare to the irish. i don't know anyone from ireland.

my impression is-- fun-loving, kind hearted, generous, and honest.

what is the image of americans?

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