by wearing the latest nikes/trainers
Yeah, but the first step is hard if you’re American, and the third one is even harder if you’re shy. And I’m not even very good at the second one, 'cos I never know how to spot the American tourists myself.
BTW, a side question for the Dutch speakers, since they all seem to be posting in this thread: Am I correct in thinking that ‘oorlog’ means ‘war’? (I must say it was very confusing wandering around your Parliament buildings thinking everyone was protesting a clock in Iraq 
)
Fretful Porpentine: Yes, “oorlog” is war.
I meet Dutch guys all the time, and I’m most definately not looking for them. And much as I abhorr stereotypes, they seem to be guys sitting next to me at the bar. All the time. May be coincidence, but maybe it’s time to hit the watering holes…
With massive apologies for this here hijack.
My parents were always mistaken for Swedes when they went to Paris, despite both being American.
Pretty easy to spot tourists in San Francisco, b/c they’re the ones walking less than 10 miles per hour. Also lots of not-warm-enough clothes.
The last time I was in Europe people kept speaking to me in German. I am half German, but don’t speak more than a couple sentences, nor do I look German, I don’t think. It was weird.
Isosleepy, I had no idea we were fellow countrymen. Moreover, we both are fond of American women, apparently.
Oranje boven, and all that.
I do this. Yes, the food does get cold…if you sit around and chatter forever. If you eat fast like me it doesn’t. It rarely takes me more than 10 minutes to finish a meal. Usually more like five.
I’m not sure exactly what looks unsightly about cut-up food (“OH MY GOD! It’s like regular food…BUT IN MORE PIECES! You SLOB!”), but you can go on gawking at other peoples’ plates while I gobble down what’s left of my own. Casual table manners are one custom this country got right.
Interesting thread. I’ve made two trips to Europe, both backpacking around in younger days. I was perplexed then by the fact that people kept saying, “You don’t seem like an American.” I’d ask, “Well, what do I seem like, then?” Dutch (happy with that 'cause I’m proud of that part of my mongrel blood, and loved the Netherlands), Scandanavian, or Irish (red hair) were the answers. I guess it was because I’m pretty quiet, small, and at the time wore a lot of black or neutral clothes, and never wore athletic shoes. I never could figger it; I’m an American mutt with all kinds of bloodlines. Seeing this thread illuminates that experience a bit.
When I did open my mouth, the Southern accent seemed to generate a lot of interest, and consequent talk about racism in the US. That’s prolly a whole 'nother thread, though.
Eh, there’s no right or wrong in this case, neutron. I always feel slightly awkward when eating in company in the US. Either people will look at you with raised eyebrows (maybe they think I’m a snob :)), or sometimes people comment (“That looks so sophisticated!”). Doesn’t make me special anymore than it makes an American a complete hick for eating right-hand-only: just one of those differences we can all laugh and wonder about.
Yep. Either European tourists or me at my high school prom. (No, I didn’t have a date.)
Generally, fellow Americans are the non-smokers in smoke filled restaurants, bars, cafes, bistros, etc.
Oh, no no, my friend. We Finns do not suck at drinking. We Finns are very good at drinking. In fact, we Finns are so very good at drinking that drinking is very nearly all that most Finns will do when vacationing abroad. (I have never been more embarrassed to be a Finn than when I was in a Parisian café and a group of middle-aged Finnish group travellers barged in smelling of old booze.)
Oh, and we talk on cell phones a lot. We’re also very good at that.
I saw one today wearing a leather jacket with big stars and stripes patches on BOTH arms and with a US flag lapel badge.
And he had american hair- you know what I mean.
The absolute dead give-away for American tourists is that they walk around as a couple and they wear the VERY SAME OUTFIT. While European women might wear a dress while their male partners wear trousers, with the US couple will ALWAYS wear the same (excluding dresses of course! 
) It’s like they got a bulk discount from the clothing store.
BOTH will wear the same style and length shorts, and the white sox and Nikes of exactly the same model. Or if they are in track pants, they have co-ordinating stripes. They have the same backpacks/bumbags/shoulderbags and they wear identical Raybans on their faces.
Funnily enough, they also tend to LOOK alike. I’m not sayin’ anything about THAT though!!
As an American who formerly lived in Europe, I know that my shoes were most often the giveaway. Even after I’d been overseas awhile, bought some new clothes, and had slid into a mid-Atlantic accent–
If I was wearing my little black Italian boots with the pointy toes and high tops, I was usually taken for British.
If I wore my sneakers (Yes, white Nikes), people just knew I was American even before I said a word.
there is normally something definitely “american” in their sense of dress.
this morning, for example, as i was walking across waterloo bridge to work i passed a 50s-ish american couple who were dressed pretty much identical - the only difference was that the man was wearing what appeared to be a union army cap from the american civil war.
go figure.
My wife says its the glasses. My dentist says its the narrower jaws. Me, I don’t know. I’ve been here so long that other Americans who go to pains to look European stick out like a sore thumb. I couldn’t tell you why, I just know them on sight - just like I can tell you that a german woman is married to an American even if I’ve never seen her before in my life.
If you want to pick me out of a crowd, its easy. I’ll be the guy with the largest glasses frames you can get in Germany. I’ll be wearing my Levi 517 blue jeans over my Nocona boots. I’ll have an American flag lapel pin stuck to the collar of my european shirt.
If you’re anything like Hans Mustermann (german Joe Average,) you’ll speak German with me and neither of us will think anything of it.
I hate T-shirts, and wouldn’t wear one with some company’s logo on it for anything. All of my shirts are button ups. The Levi’s logo is hidden behind my belt. I wear dark colored socks, but you won’t see them - boots, you know.
I’m quiet and polite. I like the food in most countries - except Cyprus. When I’m there I live on grilled haloumi and french fries. I don’t ask stupid questions of the locals.
BTW:
Pointy toed italian boots are for europeans trying desperately to look american. I’ve never found real amreican boots in any of the stores that claim to sell american shoes and boots and western clothing. Not that I buy there, anyway. My folks in the States keep me in bluejeans with birthday and Christmas presents, and I buy my boots when I’m over for a visit.
Slight hijack…but I always have wonderd…are you better off to dress poor as a tourist? Ifyou are dressed in old clothes, will the thieves and pickpockets leave you alone? I’ve always thought it saferNOT to advertise that yopu have some money…maybe we Americans should all dress down when going abroad.I know that this is a good way to tour Latin America: in countries like Brazil, the last thing you want to do is toappear wealthy…that will get you mugged!
when I was in rome, we stood in front of the Saint Peter’s Cathedral and two guys asked us what it is. that’s what many people here think about Americans (no interest in culture), but of course it’s just a cliche/stereotype, you can’t generalize that.
NYers are different? That why I kept getting taken for German in Barbados? (I am not, nor is my ancestry).
The guy they picked as American in our golf group? The guy from Buenos Aires. (they should’ve known better - his was the best English)