The American's guide to living in Germany

[horseshoe7 270]

fair enough, but in comparison, you hear the stereotypes about germans being boring (no humour), punctual, and organised, and well I've often been proven wrong, where I would say that's not really true. i haven't really been proved wrong with these "nursery school" stereotypes of mine about Americans, though I don't know that many americans too well, despite having mets tons however.

 

AND, thank you for the civil responses and beginning to prove me wrong. would these have been offered up had I mentioned nothing about it?

 

I do also apologize somewhat, it has just occurred to me that yes, one can be always on edge and defensive if one is having to constantly prove these stereotypes wrong.

[bohemka 4,338]

Ha! For better or worse... you're right at the front :unsure:

[DanHessen 2,964]

Horshoedude, I'm sure you think I'm just trying to devalue you, but weren't you the one who had only been to the States twice but came to the decision that it's a sick and depraved society after having watched COPS and Jerry Springer on TV? My apologies if I've confused you with someone else.

[horseshoe7 270]

and you're not the american who takes one snippet of info, skews it way out of context, and repackages it in a way to make a person look like a non-credible source of infomation, are you?

 

because i never said my impression of americans comes from jerry springer and cops. i said something about cops but that was a joke and if you couldn't pick up on that well, don't know what to say.

[DanHessen 2,964]

My bad, all I know is that everyone else calls you a troll, a dumbass, and someone who seems to take great delight in dissing America with laundry lists of perceived faults. But I guess they're all just stereotyping you.

[horseshoe7 270]

Funny that. The entire point of my posts, namely, as soon as you make a criticism of America, you get branded a troll (whatever that means), a dumbass, and whatever else, so that (despite any lack of official facts, statistics, or whatever) one doesn't have to think about the possibility of me having a valid point (or at least part of one). Instead you get all guns blazing.

 

Don't you see? The way that all played out was exactly what I indicated as stereotypes and I got barked at. So there was a stereotypical response to my statements of stereotypes. Perhaps I'm the only one chuckling right now.

 

happy lunch.

[georgiagirl 35]

Ah yes. Congratulations. Getting smacked down for your baseless opinions definitely makes you look the cleverest among us. Your strategy is working perfectly. Go twirl your moustache and chuckle with pleasure.

[DanHessen 2,964]

Horshoe's classic trollery schtick:

 

1) Name ten things that prove America's a pile of shit

2) Claim that everyone reacts exactly the way he said they would

3) Shout DEFENCE! DEFENCE! DEFENCE!

4) Chuckle to smug dumbass self.

[gentle jim 35]

Yeah I been in Kentucky you pork chopper munching hay hauling bean eating sheep scuttling wierdos

 

YouTube:

[L8knight 28]

Yup, All Americans are bad, stupid and dress like they just finished filming an 80s hair band video. Of course Europeans are far more cultured, have a more advanced sense of style and are the mental giants of our planet. We are so insignificant in the overall scheme of things why bother even talking about us? Why this persistent need to start topics about how horrible we are, to morph every topic into another "America is bad" thread? We suck, we know, we don't care... return your focus to yourselves and how great Europe is. We're jealous, we only wish in our wildest dreams we could be more like you - the perfect Europeans.

[guv981 8]

it seems to me that anti-Americanism is the last acceptable form of racism. People who consider themselves enlightened and liberal say things about Americans that should make all of us blush.

 

compare

 

I met an American who didn't even know the capital of Spain. God Americans stupid!

I met an Indian who didn't even know the capital of Spain. God Indians are stupid!

 

in my opinion both of those statements are unfair stereotypes, but I know I would get away with the first one and I could even probably rely on some support from fellow Ami-bashers.

 

As a Scot I think it's about time we grew up! This kind of thing goes unchallenged here in most of Europe.

[dolfan 35]

Spain has a capital?? I thought we moved it America after we kicked their asses in WWII. Well if we didn't we should have, shitty little island!

 

Signed,

An Enlightened American

[gail123 434]

It's strange that I look to a topic for support for lost Americans and find a bunch of America bashing Brits? I love Britain, with all its flaws, but perhaps you could go to a more pertinent topic so lost Americans might actually find some help?

[eof 36]

To answer Ian, yes I made that point about UK not being an island, as earlier posting seemed to imply that some people reckoned it was. Not that I could blame anyone for thinking as much. That whole area of terminology is complicated and nuanced (and we've had many threads on it before).

 

When I hear Europeans refer to stereotypes about a lack of US knowledge of European geography, I often quite how much a typical western European knows about US geography - or for that matter even about Eastern European geography. It works both ways.

 

The US has about 300 million people in it. The EU has about 500 million, and before recent enlargments was much closer to the US level.

 

That Western Europeans expect Americans to know the various capital cities and geographic composition of Western Europe, but most of them know sfa about US geography, is a product of nothing more than Europe's often intense diverse set of nationalisms, which tend to assign huge importance to geographic divisions because they often happen to represent nationalistic divisions.

 

That such geographic expectations are made of Europe/US by their residents, and not extended to basic geographic knowledge of China, South America etc. also says something.

 

How many Europeans can name more than 2/3 cities in China with its 1.2 billion people, or more than 3/4 cities in India with its 1 billion? And how many can name ANY states, let alone assign capitals to states?

[krostitzer 10]

I'm growing convinced that most Europeans who harp on America are just jealous. If they could only afford to have the problems that Americans have.

 

"Fat America?" Eat my Old European shorts.

[RubyTuesday 10]

I especially like the Burrito advice.

[leky 173]

 

How many Europeans can name more than 2/3 cities in China with its 1.2 billion people, or more than 3/4 cities in India with its 1 billion? And how many can name ANY states, let alone assign capitals to states?

Dunno about China, India I can name a few cities and the US I can name most of the states if not all (except for the 51st and 52nd ) and quite a good number of the capital cities.

[lilplatinum 7,142]

Hell I grew up in the states and I think my knowledge of european capitals is better than my memory of capitals in flyover country.

[AmberNicole 0]

"Please try not to dress like an American, Look around you. You look strange and are drawing attention to yourself. That neon tri colored shirt with matching tights and swag boots are not in fashion here, the girl at Wal-Mart was wrong it is not on Paris runways!! It screams American. I swear, look around you a bit ;you do not have to change your style but at least try to blend in just a bit."

 

Hahahaha! Now this is my favorite. What the heck are swag boots? Also, "the girl at walmart was wrong" what girl? are there sales associates at Walmart these days? Has the author of this post even been inside a Walmart before? Do people actually believe that Americans shop at Walmart because they think it is trendy? Why must someone "blend in?" here in Germany?

 

Does fitting in mean that I must use that hideous red hair dye that seems to be so popular on middle aged women... YIKES! What is that color? I don't think I've even seen that color in nature. Then there are the 80's style high healed boots with fake fur trim that every third woman is wearing in the winter time. The boots are usually paired with the hoop earrings and a winter parka. On a Saturday night he train station looks like someone threw a Jenifer Lopez (circa 2000) flash mob. Eeeesh. I also get a really big kick out of the little gangster kids wearing their American baseball team hats. Really Jurgen? New York Yankees? Can you even name a single player from the New York Yankees? You don't see me cruising around Schlossplatz wearing a St. Pauli jersey. Lets just be honest, anyone can make assumptions and judge different cultures and nationalities as much as they want, but to categorize all Americans is really stupid.

 

This post is a bunch of suck.

[john g. 37,776]

You may be right, Amber! Probably the reason yours is the first post on it since March 2008! :D