Sentence Structure

One of the coolest quotes that I recall was from an American bus driver at Disneyland. I got off the bus and said "have a nice day" to the driver.
"I'm at Disneyland," he replied with a big grin, "there's no other kind of day to have!"
I just loved that expression! I've met oodles of great Americans, and really enjoy meeting people from everywhere around the world. There are rotten eggs everywhere, and they live around the world, not just in the US. Don't be sorry Sue. We have no idea what kind of service that fellow was providing or what had taken place. I find sometimes that folks who always run into problems actually are best helped by taking a good look on their insides, not at the people on the outside.

Quote :

I find sometimes that folks who always run into
problems actually are best helped by taking a good look on their
insides, not at the people on the outside.

Extremely good advice, Pam! Thank you!

Pam, that is right on! I often think that people go looking for problems where none exist.

When I applied for my disability, everyone warned me: you are never approved the first time, the people there are rude and condescending, and you will have to get an attorney to fight for you among other things. Guess what? None of those things happened.

Everyone was kind, and the first time was the charm.

I truly believe it was in part due to my attitude going in.

Perhaps we get back what we put forth?

Lin, thanks for the explanation. That is cute, and I should have guessed it was something like that.

In recent research for a book, I came across some Canadians being resentful that we call ourselves "Americans," when technically all that live on this continent are "Americans." Pam, is that so?

It would be difficult to call ourselves "United Statesians." (and that doesn't go through the spell check.)

Carol

Scottish folk claim that when their athletes are losing commentators refer to them a Scottish and when they are winning, refer to them as British! LOL!

The truth is that, in the Olympics, they compete for Britain and in the Commonwealth Games, they compete for Scotland. But who cares about the truth?

Do North Americans compete together in competitions against South Americans?

Shelagh,

I think the countries are Canada, Mexico, and the United States. And then we are Canadians, Mexicans, and Americans.

There is competition between the states, usually around sports teams. There are a few nicknames like "Yoopers" for those living in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and "flatlanders" for those living in Illinois. Then Wisconsinites are called cheeseheads.

Carol

Abe will show up soon and scold us for hijacking this thread!

I am surprised he hasn't been here yet. He is probably taking a morning walk through the vineyards.

Carol

Nope. Not in the vineyards, I'm still in Virginia. Will be leaving here on Thursday and then it will be the vineyards again Carol.

And Shelagh, how can I possiblly scold such lovely ladies.

Carol I have not run into Canadians who resent the title American applied to our US neighbours, so that is an interesting comment. Quite the opposite, my experience has often been Canadians putting a lot of effort into reminaing distincly separate from the US (using Canadian/British spellings for example, the metric system, our very different systems of government).

If you ever visit Quebec City or Nova Scotia, there are stunning historic forts (now parks) that grew out of ongoing threats of invasion from the US, even following the War of 1812. Despite becoming great neighbours and allies later, there are still reminders of what happened between us that remain a strong part of Canadian consciousness.

Abe, you're adorable.

When we were planning a trip to Europe to vist some of the places I had been during the war, everything was pretty well set when we read about a 3 week AARP tour that would visit a number of countries not on our list. The price was so cheap we signed up with the intention of adding our original trip at the end of the tour.
We enjoyed going to the places on the tour but were overjoyed when it ended. Never had we been around so many unpleasant people who complained about everything and were rude at every opportunity.
During our own tour that followed AARP's we sometimes would be relaxing in a quiet pub during the evening when a noisy, rude, self-centered and demanding group would come in the door and we'd groan and say, "Oh, no, not Americans."
Near the end of our trip we spent a few days with old friends at the little town in Belgium where I spent the summer of 1945. One day we were taken on a long tour of the area by a 25-year-old family member who was learning the hotel business. His company had sent him to hotels in Athens, Rome and London for six months in each place. It was a fun-filled day because Jackie is great with new people. At the end of it the young man, who had spent a lot of time with travelers from around the world, said, "You two aren't like Americans. You're nice."
When traveling outside of the country, many Americans can be pretty obnoxious. Not all, of course, but far too many.

Hence the term 'ugly Americans'. What a shame that many Americans traveling abroad feel that they deserve to be catered to.

Often when my wife and I go to strange places within Europe, we try to avoid speaking English. When we did speak English it was assumed that we couldn't understand another language, and that's when we learned how they felt about our presence. It was sterotyping of course. Funny how that feels when the shoe is on the other foot.

Since my husband was an airline pilot, and since I have wandering in my soul, we have traveled to fifty countries and made many trips overseas. We took friends, children, and grandchildren with us. We made it our mission to NOT be ugly Americans and for others with us to understand arrogance was not allowed. We have also had two exchange students who spent a year with us and we visited their families and went to both their weddings.

In Japan in 1969, Japanese dressed my children in kimonos in the hotel, and others showed them how to take incense up to shrines to those Japanese who died in World War II. We have visited relatives in France and been treated well as we have treated them. We have toured with musical groups from our community, even into countries then behind the Iron Curtain, who were not friendly to us, but loved the music. We have taken a trip around the world. And always we had the mission of not being ugly Americans and felt it paid off in the way others treated us. In my Cuba book I have a chapter on a trip to Prague in 1990, after freedom but before hotels were built. We stayed with a couple in a tenement, where they told us how Havel had made them happy, in German, a second language for both of us.

I think it is a responsibility every American who travels has. We are visitors to their country and have differences and that is all right, and we need to respect and honor those differences in language and culture.

Carol

My reception in Germany as an American was completely different from some I see here. A couple of years ago, we were on a river cruise from The Black Sea to The North Sea, and when we came to Germany's boundaries we actually were warned on board by the boat's social director to expect German rudeness, particularly to americans. Not the case at all. At one time I was perusing a city map and no less than three German citizens at different times volunteered to aid my search for whatever I sought. We had friendly exchanges with them all. And the farmer's market shopkeepers were the friendliest of all, purposely engaging us when we were recognized by speech as Americans. It was November and the only thing we found cold about Germany was the weather.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Jim,

One of our exchange students, Babsi, was from Germany. We visited her and her family before she came to stay with us for a year, and they also visited us later. Soon after the Berlin Wall came down, we made a trip with them to East Germany and her mother and father walked down the line of those waiting for visas joyfully exclaiming how they never expected this to happen in their lifetimes. I must admit Babsi found life with us here in America different than she expected. She has gone on to be a history and English teacher. She was much more achievement oriented than my daughter close to her in age, but I think they both benefitted. She also learned more about World War II at high school here in Wisconsin than she ever did in Germany, where, as her father once said, they didn't know exactly what to do with that part of their history.

When we took our three grandsons to Europe, she met us in Cologne. They were too young to remember her from her stay with us. She had an armload of brochures. The three boys stared at her as she said we could take a tour of the tunnels under some government building, like "Who is this person and what is she suggesting we do." Then she said, "or we could visit the chocolate factory." From that moment on she took on great esteem.

Carol

Dick Stodghill wrote:

It was a fun-filled day because Jackie is great with new people.

Whereas you are a cranky old thing. Couldn't resist that.

Jim, you were treated that way because you were nice. Had you been acting differently the result would have been different, hence the shipboard warning. We had a similar experience with a map in Munich. We had only one unpleasant experience in Germany. At Dachau we asked a female taxi driver to take us to the concentration camp. She refused because the man and woman with us obviouslt were Jews. The cabbie behind her was happy to drive us there.
In Bayeaux, France we stayed at the same hotel 11 days and nights. It was there we had the misfortune one evening of being seated at a table next to an American woman of the worst sort. She began loudly (and I do mean at the top of her voice) complaining that she didn't like an appetizer served in the hotel dining room since about 1670. She kept shouting, "It's awful, it's awful!"
The owner tried to quiet her down but she kept repeating the same thing. Finally the man said, "Madame, it may be awful, but it's famous."
The headwaiter, who had gotten to know us, grinned and winked as he went by our table.
We always tried to find a place to eat patronized by locals. In Switzerland we found a retaurant far off the beaten path. The food was excellent and the atmosphere interesting. The newspaper of his choice was on the table of every regular when he came in. As is the custom, some people brought their dogs and each had been trained to lie quietly under the table.
When we were finished eating the owner came out from the kitchen and joined us. He was a graduate of the University of North Carolina. He asked how we had found the place and we told him. He said, "We're glad you came, but please don't tell other Americans about us because we wouldn't want more of them coming."
Sad that some Americans feel it is their right to be obnoxious when traveling overseas.

Shelagh, I'm being obnoxious and ignoring you.

Dick Stodghill wrote:

Shelagh, I'm being obnoxious and ignoring you.

You couldn't ignore me if you tried! For one thing, I think you have a pretty wife. For another ... oops can't think of anything else. Perhaps it's a senior moment!

Better watch it, kiddo!