As I read British and Australian opinions on America's strangeness

[Kiarax]

And the blatant america-bashing is just as bad, if not worse, than patriotism. maybe if you cared about your country a little more you wouldn't have to around all the time ranting about how bad america is. america may be a big dumb jock with an overinflated ego, but better that than being a petty bitch hating on everything.

Lol Qbert for real

[Qalbert]

trolled

[Qalbert]

[Antithesis]

I'm going to flip this one on the Europeans and jut say you all have fucking wacky ass electrical outlets.

[ⒻⓊⒸⓀⓎⒺⒶⒽ]

And the blatant america-bashing is just as bad, if not worse, than patriotism. maybe if you cared about your country a little more you wouldn't have to around all the time ranting about how bad america is. america may be a big dumb jock with an overinflated ego, but better that than being a petty bitch hating on everything.

At least you're not France.

[Lucienne]

• Americans seem to be rather misinformed when it gets to other cultures. I was asked if I use deodorant, to mention one incident.
• There seems to be very little understanding of the global impact of American politics. "I kind of want Perry to win, just because I'm curious what he'd do."
• Speaking a second language that is not Spanish is impressive.

And Skirk, maybe it's a black thing, I was told that it was racially offensive by a black person as well. It made little sense to me, because pretty much everywhere I went was with someone black.

[Qalbert]

I do think that the antiflag thing is a bit silly. Displaying a flag doesn't automatically make one an ignorant jingoist.

[Lucienne]

I don't even know what you call it, rolly-polly-baby-holding-device.

lol

[Charismatic]

maybe it's a black thing

no

[ⒻⓊⒸⓀⓎⒺⒶⒽ]

I think everyone tends to associate the American flag with the gun toting bible bashing we don't take kindly to your type around here folk.
Like in that one Top Gear episode.

CAN'T BE HELPED.

[Lucienne]

no

Maybe it's an older generation black thing?

[Conrad]

• Americans seem to be rather misinformed when it gets to other cultures. I was asked if I use deodorant, to mention one incident.
• There seems to be very little understanding of the global impact of American politics. "I kind of want Perry to win, just because I'm curious what he'd do."
• Speaking a second language that is not Spanish is impressive.

And Skirk, maybe it's a black thing, I was told that it was racially offensive by a black person as well. It made little sense to me, because pretty much everywhere I went was with someone black.

-We don't learn much about non-America things, in general. Culture shock isn't just limited to us, though -- I'm sure there's a lot of ignorance when it comes to American habits, too.
-I feel like the Perry comment was sarcasm. I've said the same thing about him, Rick Santorum, and Michelle Bachmann, though mostly because it means Obama is near-guaranteed a second term :D
-World languages are, strangely enough, not emphasized here, which is crazy considering A) how much more diverse America is from every other country in the western hemisphere and B) we don't have an official national language. Also, English is hard as fuck to learn if it's not your first.

[Antithesis]

• Speaking a second language that is not Spanish is impressive.

There is a reason why we find it impressive. Spanish just comes off as the secondary norm in America now that basically half of it is populated by Latinos. You see Spanish programming everyday and people inter-splice Spanish words in English programs incredibly often. It's just as common as English. It's easy to see how people here think "Well fuck, this bitch can French it up! How sexy."

[Conrad]

My favorite "black won't rub off on you" moment is when this extremely bitchy woman came in, acted all pissy when she was buying a soda, and threw her change on the counter when I held my hand out to take it from her. I admittedly gave the change back to her forcibly which prompted her to say that. I think my response was "Oh, well is that a problem these days?" under my breath. Then she told me I needed Jesus in my life.

[Lucienne]

Also, English is hard as fuck to learn if it's not your first.

Not really, honestly. It's one of the easier ones I've learned tbh, and I don't even know any really hard ones like Chinese or Arabic.

The Perry comment was real, sadly. They also thought Bush was entertaining.

[Lucienne]

My favorite "black won't rub off on you" moment is when this extremely bitchy woman came in, acted all pissy when she was buying a soda, and threw her change on the counter when I held my hand out to take it from her. I admittedly gave the change back to her forcibly which prompted her to say that. I think my response was "Oh, well is that a problem these days?" under my breath. Then she told me I needed Jesus in my life.

rofl

[Qalbert]

My favorite "black won't rub off on you" moment is when this extremely bitchy woman came in, acted all pissy when she was buying a soda, and threw her change on the counter when I held my hand out to take it from her. I admittedly gave the change back to her forcibly which prompted her to say that. I think my response was "Oh, well is that a problem these days?" under my breath. Then she told me I needed Jesus in my life.

"We already killed him once, ma'am"

[Rocl]

re: money:
colour coding wasn't as useful as those bills that were different sizes. originally annoying but after a bit, infinitely easier to count out without looking. i find myself opening my wallet and looking in as opposed to just thumbing through

also terribly annoying that pounds didn't fit in my wallet either if they were more than 10

[Conrad]

"We already killed him once, ma'am"

I told her I was Jewish and she repeated herself. I probably would've been fired if she went to my manager for the "is that a problem" comment.

[Rocl]

also i did see some (not as many) english/uk flags while on my way to the tube, granted i only passed about half a street of straight-up residences, like every third one had a flag and most had an english flag next to the union jack