# Average Everyday European's view of the Average Everyday American? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 16, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087 "2004-08-16T14:54:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/121 "2004-08-23T12:50:11Z")
Southern Hemisphere merchants seem to be overly fond of the “Oi-mate-you’ve-missed-a-bit” goatee look. I personally favour the extravagant sideboards I used to see sported by Irish labourers in London in the 60s but which, for some strange reason, have gone out of fashion. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/122 "2004-08-23T12:50:19Z")
> [@](#): > > The “only nancy boys care what their hair looks like” look. Hm. Sounds like me. I get my hair cut about two or three times a year. Right now I’m in the “Let’s see how long I can stand it” phase. Then I get it cut very, very short; sometimes spiking it. But when it’s short, I get “helmet head” when I ride the motorcycle. Sort of a couple of “ridges” where the ventilation channels are in the the padding of the helmet. Can’t do anything about it, unless I don’t ride, so I just reckon _I_ don’t have to look at it! It’s not my problem! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/123 "2004-08-23T12:59:24Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Southern Hemisphere merchants seem to be overly fond of the “Oi-mate-you’ve-missed-a-bit” goatee look. > > I personally favour the extravagant sideboards I used to see sported by Irish labourers in London in the 60s but which, for some strange reason, have gone out of fashion. You are not wrong. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/124 "2004-08-23T13:02:25Z")
Hey maybe that is what “American hair” is. They are the ones that brushed and moussed, rather then going with the “bed hair? what’s that?” look. 😃 (is it too late to say I have a Pommy fetish?) ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/125 "2004-08-23T13:04:47Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Southern Hemisphere merchants seem to be overly fond of the “Oi-mate-you’ve-missed-a-bit” goatee look. > > . Being a baldie I have, like all other baldies, been tempted by the devils own goatee. There is a perfectly good anglo-saxon word for a warm wet home surrounded by a tuft of hair. I realised that when I had a goatee I was one of those. So off it came. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/126 "2004-08-23T13:08:12Z")
You have no idea how much that made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/127 "2004-08-23T13:10:12Z")
On the subject of national " hair " there is a particular hair colour much favoured by women from eastern Europe , especially Russia and Poland. It is a deep red colour which I have not seen used by women from other parts of the world. Perhaps it is a by-product of all those beet-roots they eat over there. If you look carefully at some of the competitors and officials at the ongoing Olympics you will see what I mean . ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/128 "2004-08-23T13:11:51Z")
My own 'boards were originally a fairly pathetic attempt at a protest against the prevalence of the goatee when it re-emerged (in South Wales anyway) with a vengeance in the early 1990s. Now they’re just plain stupid but I’ve grown attached to them - or is it the other way round? They require minimal maintenance and distract people from the broad acres of spam above. How do blokes with the aforementioned oi-mate-you’ve-missed-a-bits shape them? Are there specially narrow razors??? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/129 "2004-08-23T13:21:00Z")
I always wondered that! Some of them are very intricate. Seems like it would be a mighty pain in the arse to maintain. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/130 "2004-08-23T13:41:10Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Use “Éire” either when you are speaking in Irish (seems unlikely) or when referring to what is now the Irish Republic between 1937 and 1949. As I said earlier, the 1937 Constitution defined the name of the State as “Ireland” (“Éire” only if you’re speaking in Irish). In 1949 the State became a republic, but its name didn’t change. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/131 "2004-08-23T14:23:50Z")
Sorry Red, you were absolutely right, twice. I’ve been reading too many British documents from the 1939-45 period, which always refer to Dev’s paradise in the Irish. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087/132 "2004-08-23T15:26:13Z")
I’m sure that’s not the worst thing they call it 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/average-everyday-europeans-view-of-the-average-everyday-american/260087.md?page=6)