No no no…a bint is a stupid woman. It’s taken from Fawlty Towers 
My bad, I meant English. Sorry about that. I always get that English and British mixed up. You’d think I’d learn.
Anyway. Those English guys are pretty damn aggressive. Well, so are the Scots, but the Scots are just better at it. 
I’ve been shunning white athletic shoes (except for sport) for years; maybe I could blend in if I ever make it across the pond!
Seriously, I’ve asked many people “how can one avoid looking ‘too American’ when travelling abroad?”, and I’ve usually been told it boils down to 2 things: shoes and hairstyle. Yet no one is able to be anything but vague when I ask for examples. I don’t wear athletic shoes socially, and I don’t have a TV-sitcom hairstyle (it’s often considered a bit “punk” by the oldsters, though it’s really only minimally spiky). I don’t dress overly casually, but I don’t wear couture - comfort comes first, style second. I wonder if I’d be pegged as an American on looks alone?
The Americans at the Olympics are trying to keep their heads down. It’s kind of a shame that we just can’t be ourselves. But every American is starting to dread meeting the stereotype.
Took my first trip to America last year to visit friends of my wife. The lifestyle is awesome - I had always challenged Americo-bashers with the simple retort of “How many refugees from the USA try to smuggele themselves into China?” and the wealth is what really struck me. Plus, how hard people work for it.
Culturally, the folks are more earnest and prudish than Europeans. We hired an Austin Powers movie one night and we all squirmed as the smutty jokes came in a seemingly endless succession. Funny thing is, at home, my family (wife and 8 year old daughter) wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. But that night, in that sitting room in Kentucky, I just wished we’d hired something else.
Meh. Personally, I’d revise that to “the differences in income are what struck me, plus how many hours people seem to work”. 
Mmm, wondered if anyone would pick up on that, Coldfire; but I could only go on my experience.
For “hours that people seem to work”, Hong Kongers would take a lot of beating.
Well, yeah, reference culture is everything in this case.
Coming from Pinko Commie Weed ‘n’ Hookers land myself, the US work approach to retail seems to come across as “Put enough of workers in a store so that every customer can find someone to talk to within seconds, but put zero effort in actually making sure these people know anything, and also, make them work incredibly long hours for very low wages”. Whether this renders effective employees is up for debate. It may in Hong Kong, I’ve never been there - though I’d love to go.
[Hijack] I’m just saddened that I never got a chance to fly into Kai Tak! [/Hijack]
No, Coldfire, HK’s just as bad. Isn’t everywhere these days, except in the very few specialist, independent shops that still survive?
“Hijack”. Very droll. Yes, Kai Tak (that’s the old international airport in the middle of the city - well, harbour, actually) is a great loss. It was slap next to one of the best restaurant areas in the city, so you could check in and then pop out for a meal. It also had a number of other foibles, like one where, on arrival, if in the know, you didn’t need to queue up for a taxi in the designated area, but just go up one floor and grab a taxi that had just deposited its passengers, while the police weren’t looking.
Nope. That’s a slapper. A bint is just a bird.
I would also second the above about the hours that yanks work and how straight laced they are. One of the fun things you can do in the city is take an American out with the boys. They soon look like they’ve fallen into the 9th pit of hell - and that’s only after five pints - ie the sharpeners. Once we really get going they just fade away.
Ahem - in my younger year this would be considered a non-truism. The pure quantity of my ‘Sharpeners’ was certainly more than 5 pints. Ok maybe 5…But after a flat dozen I’m philosophizing about Dionysus - 3 more and I’m singing the American Anthem, and after that…I dunno you’d have to ask me in the morning, but trust me most Americans like to represent with pride!
While the US is home to many ethnic groups, I think people in Britain, France, Holland (at least) consider the US to be much less integrated, etnicity-wise, than their own countries.
And what is with that US politician/rich person look? All fake tan, too-white teeth and freeze-dried hair – you don’t get that anywhere else.
Blonde. Blue-eyed. Buxom. Nice legs. Great figure.
Time for Lycra.
If that was with septic beer it doesn’t count. Yank beer is referred to in London as “training ale”.
Have you got “American hair”?
I’m still trying to grasp “American hair” - the examples you gave are hardly average. Could you maybe point out some British hair by comparison?
The geezer on the left in the suit on this site has got “American hair” - and how!
http://www.symynet.com/online_gift_shop/mens%20hair%20styles.htm
Bill Clinton has American Hair (and a chin like an arse - but that’s another matter)
British hair isn’t as “Bouffant”, or bloody silly in plain english.
(Actually I am in no position to go on about hair as me and my hair have reached an agreement to live apart)
??? That’s just ordinary hair. Maybe a tad higher than most, but he wouldn’t be stared at.
Well, he would if kept on smiling like that.
I get the feeling that the average European ideal is much more like Kip Dynamite. Go here and click on ‘Aaron Ruell’. Can’t get much more restrained and lower hair than that.
In England children would throw stones at him in the street. Quite right too.
I can’t take this post seriously, coming from a country that gave us A Flock of Seagulls and Kajagoogoo. You guys invented silly hair FFS.
Those blokes were meant to look like cockmongers.
The yanks aren’t trying to look “touched”. They just do.