I was doing some research on the skin disease seborrhea, when a quote from www.medicinenet.com struck me.
I have heard his many many times, and it has been the subject of more than a few jokes.
So is it true? Are Americans truly much cleaner than other cultures? Or are Merkins just much more obsessed with cleanliness? Is it to the detriment or advantage to Americans?
Should Americans stop scrubbing so much, or should other cultures bust out the Ivory more often? Is it simply a standard of living issue?
How did this perception come about? How about Canadians? Are Americans the best culture to be downwind from?
If I wanted smoke blown up my ass, I’d be at home with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose.
This reminded me of the following story from a Isaac Bashevis-Singer novel… There were once two villages, one predominantly Russian, the other predominantly Ukrainian. The Russians considered the Ukrainians to be filthy savages because they never bathed - they just swam in the river in the summer and smelled very bad during the winter. The Ukrainians considered Russians to be insanely obsessed with cleanliness because they made hot water and took a bath every week.
American’s do not consider themselves obsessed with cleanliness, but there are definitely differences. For you ferners out there, some info:
Americans are expected to bath daily. Most every merikan takes a shower every morning before going to work or school. Americans apply deodorant after this shower, and usually either a scented after-shave or perfume depending on gender. People whose natural odor is detectable don’t get laid.
Americans also are expected to take a shower after any strenuous physical activity - anything that makes them sweat. This means after the workout at the gym or hockey practice or moving furniture or whatever you hit the showers. Generally regardless of what you spend your day doing, you take a shower before you go clubbing or before going out on a date.
The basic rule of thumb here is: “Do I smell?” If the answer is yes, then you shower before you go anywhere or meet people. This is serious business. People who do not do this cannot have a serious career, and will be socially ostracized.
For you Americans, depending on what country you live in none of the above may apply.
Yes, most Americans are obsessed with cleaning. And it definitely is to the detriment of their health. For example, most people find that they wash so often that their natural skin oils are destroyed and they have to remoisturize (and oil) their skin with expensive “beauty products”. Same goes for hair. People use so much shampoo, which is terribly damaging to hair, that they immediately have to “condition” it! And they think it’s normal.
Then there are all the products that we use that kill off the benificial bacteria and other symbiotic creatures which normally live on us. Yeast infections, for example, can readily be caused by introducing a foreign substance such as “feminine deoderant” into the area.
I’ve found, as an openminded American, that a shower every two to three days is just about right. Of course this depends on what sort of activities you engage in. If you’ve been working in the garden you might want to wash off a bit more often, if you’re sitting at a desk at work all day and drive a car everywhere you go, you might need a shower less often.
Oh, and I speak from experience as a non-clean-obsessed individual when I say that I have no problem fitting into the business world, and no problems getting laid either (at least not ones stemming from not showering daily). And, as a matter of fact, I find the a hint of natural body odor to be a very powerful aphrodesiac.
I think the offensive stink that some people have has more to do with their poor health than how often they bathe. If your body can’t properly digent it’s food it often secretes the left over toxins through the skin. And if you are ill, in general, your body can easily get out of balance and overproduce dead skin cells and other odor producing goo.
But if you are healthy, you probably won’t smell bad if you go a day or two without that arsonal of cosmetics.
When I saw the title of this thread I was sure it was pure sarcasm. Sure, we’re a little obsessive about bathing, but in every other aspect of personal decorum, we’re filthy.
I’m speaking as one who has travelled abroad extensively. I can always tell when Americans have been somewhere. They leave a trail of litter behind them. They rarely try to blend in or speak the native tongue. They are loud and obnoxious. They laugh and mock customs and ways they do not understand. They are prejudiced and quick to judge. And yet they consider themselves superior because they wash twice a day and their women shave under their arms. If you’re like this, do the world a favor and stay home.
Its hardly funny. I’ve never seen an anti-american (or any sort of bigotry) rant that didn’t exemplify at least one of the traits they were ranting about. If you wish to pretend afterword that its tongue in cheek thats ok - but in this medium you really have to delimit this in some way.
OK let me clarify - I meant every word I said in my first post.
The joke I am referring to was my comment to tracer, which I presumed was what Eve was talking about by her comment - that I was being quick to judge tracer by implying that he doesn’t wash.
If Eve was referring to my original posting, she should have made that clear because it created quite a bit of confusion.
I imagine you’ve been abroad, seen some Americans there that behave according to your stereotype, neatly pigeonholed them. Like all bigots, whenever you see an example that does not fit your stereotype you conveniently forget their existence, or dismiss them as an irrelevant exception. You are no different than the redneck that drives through Harlem and confirms to his redneck friends back home that “I been there and them [blacks, chicanos, whatever he hates] really do live like [outrageous hyberolic description of daily life in Harlem].”
I am an American and very proud to be so. I love my country and my fellow citizens and am eternally greatful for having been born here.
But…(you knew that was coming)
I am also very well travelled and I have to agree with Sake. Americans abroad are so often ill mannered that I find it an embarrassment. They are rude, loud, disrespectful of the country they are visiting and display very big egos. “Picking out Americans” is a game I play with my friends when I’m abroad. It’s absolutely hysterical because it’s so easy!. One can’t distinguish, for example, an Austrian from a Swede, but Americans stick out like sore thumbs. If it’s not their tennis shoes that tip you off, it will be the loud manner in which they talk to each other on the street, the way they rudely point at everything, their incessent complaining about the lack of convienences and/or their total disregard for local customs.
I also find Americans travelling abroad to be unbelievably arrogant. So many times I have witnessed Americans aproaching a local in some foriegn country and, without even saying “excuse me”, ask them a question in English! It doesn’t even seem to occur to them that this might be offensive. Seriously, how would you feel if someone just walked up to you in your home city and asked you a question in Hindi?
And, just in case I haven’t sufficiently pissed everybody off yet, I’ll add that Americans are also easily identified by their sloppy attire and the fact that they outweigh everyone by a good 30 pounds.
OK. You can yell at me now.
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal
I think some people need to take their argument to the pit.
Anyway, I think americans are infact obsessed with cleanliness. I know a bouple of people who bathe twice a day. For me, every other day is about right (I just like the shower). I dont do it every day because my skin dries out badly because the water here is very hard. I also don’t wash my hair every day. It doesn’t get dirty quickly unless I have been gardening or cleaning in a dusty area.
I hardly sweat a lot (even if I attempt running, I dont drip and soak my clothes like some people I know).I’ve also not had people avoid coming near me, or move if I sit down next to them (my friends would let me know if I stank also. Kindly however :)).
Obviously, when you play this game you are only going to pick out Americans who conform to this stereotype. You’d miss all the ones who behave themselves. Since you miss almost all the ones who behave themselves, you really have no idea what percentage of Americans are rude abroad. You understand this, right?
I’m sure they don’t, which is why they can prove they are not prejudiced. Like the rascist who has a couple black friends. Can’t be a rascist if ya got black friends!
Wow, Cooper, you seem to be missing the entire point! A bit overcome by our emotions are we? What we are talking about here is the MAJORITY of americans, not every single last one of them. Do you understand this? I cherish every exception to the rule and befriend such individuals without question. They are the open-minded ones; the thinkers; the observers; the wise; the civilized ones. The others are some sick hybrid of sheep, sow & cattle which I no longer wish to think of.
I am taking a wild guess here that you rarely leave your house. It would do you well to get out some. Although, feel free to continue living in your little shell where nobody judges anyone and americans are the clean, well-mannered good guys. I’d like to see you take a trip to Serbia with that outlook. I’ll pay for the airfare.