# Anti-Americanism and travel **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691 "2005-03-22T07:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/81 "2005-03-24T23:48:21Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Oddly enough, almost the first thing I saw, the first time I visited Rome, was a large Wimpy’s hamburger restaurant. It looked so authentically American that I was surprised to learn later that there’s no such thing as Wimpy’s in America. Authentic? If this is the same Wimpy we had (still have?) in England, they serve you your burger on a china plate – with a _knife and fork_. Everyone knows nobody in the USA has eaten with a knife and fork since the Pilgrims finished their first dessert at Plymouth. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/82 "2005-03-25T00:07:39Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > No not really. It’s just if I start explaining it it turns into a rambling high-jack and I’m a well brought up bloke so I don’t do that. Bit late for that, innit? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/83 "2005-03-25T10:20:11Z")
All right then. **A brief Guilde to American Hair** On Men: Think John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Donald Trump, The cast of Friends. Ie “high maintainance” hair that requires “products” to produce the effect. Or you can buy it in a box like William Shatner. On Bints: Either very big like they’ve been riding a motorcycle without a helmet or very very complicated so that they can’t move: See Ivana Trump, Theresa Kerry, Jennifer Anniston, Kirsty Alley etc etc. I know that these are famous people but yank tourists often have something of this about them and it sticks out a mile. When I used to work on the trading floor of a large American brokers you could stand on the walkway and pick out the yank staff based purely on body shape and hair (blokes all preppy and polished. Bints too thin with shoulders like middleweights from too much gym time. Also they were the ones that weren’t hungover). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/84 "2005-03-25T11:16:12Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > All right then. **A brief Guilde to American Hair** > > On Men: Think John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Donald Trump, The cast of Friends. Ie “high maintainance” hair that requires “products” to produce the effect. Or you can buy it in a box like William Shatner. I have my hair short at the moment. Kind of short on the sides and back, and a little longer in front. I tend to let it grow until that horrid ‘wave’ at the front annoys me enough, and then I cut it short again. It’s low-maintenance. I wash it, towel it off, and part it on the left. Sounds as if I don’t have American hair. If not, then it must be from some other country. If it’s from another country, maybe I can emegrate to it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/85 "2005-03-25T18:18:48Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Bints too thin “bints”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/86 "2005-03-25T18:42:29Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > “bints”? 😕 bint is another words for bird, doris, crumpet, flange etc. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/87 "2005-03-25T18:49:59Z")
Not a good idea when explaining obscure slang to resort to equally obscure slang. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/88 "2005-03-25T19:23:41Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Not a good idea when explaining obscure slang to resort to equally obscure slang. Just joshing old bean - it means woman. From the arabic don’t ya know. So do those other words ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/89 "2005-03-25T22:58:49Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > See, this is the part I resent. It’s as if we’re all being lumped together as a bunch of triggerhappy, arrogant, yeehawing cowboys because of who our President is. Get a clue: people hated America before Bush became president. 9/11 was long in the planning. ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/90 "2005-04-01T19:23:52Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Get a clue: people hated America before Bush became president. 9/11 was long in the planning. There is a little hate… some hate and a lot of hate. Yep there was some before… now there is so much more to go around. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/91 "2005-04-01T20:22:02Z")
> [@Rashak Mani](#): > > There is a little hate… some hate and a lot of hate. Yep there was some before… now there is so much more to go around. 😉 Depends on your point of view, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691/92 "2005-04-06T09:22:31Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Having said all that, yank tourists are (outside of the French) easily the most irritating. They are loud, arrogant, dreadfully dressed (old people in tracksuits and trainers, people wearing shorts in churches etc) and have a propensity to expect everything to be just the same as at home. Perhaps in London, but when travelling in third countries, I was told that they like Americans for being communicative and easy going. It’s also my feeling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-americanism-and-travel/295691.md?page=4)