# I shut my eyes and woke up in Americatown **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699 "2002-10-31T14:00:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/61 "2002-11-02T00:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\* > > If you don’t believe me and if you want to test it, I humbly request that you go to GD, find a thread that has a post by Collunsbury in it and do the same sort of “I think you’re full of shit” post that you did here and in other threads. > > Fenris \*\* Now _that’s_ just plain cruel **Fenris**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/62 "2002-11-02T07:54:17Z")
The resident of the nursing home where i work get to have a party on Halloween with cake,which had whipped cream frosting and juice, milk or coffee to drink. Staff members were in costume and there were pumpkin and ghost decorations, After supper the residents gathered in the dining rooms to give candy to staff’s children who had come here to trick or treat. The Director for the Activities staff brought her baby, in costume, although he did not have any candy. Midnight staff were allowed to have leftover cake and candy. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/63 "2002-11-02T12:24:11Z")
Cite? And I think we’re going to need a cite for that whole “chateau of the dandelions” thing too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/64 "2002-11-02T13:39:25Z")
I have worked for a nursing home for two years, and that is an old family joke as none of us can keep a plant alive, but dandelions thrive. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/65 "2002-11-02T21:25:31Z")
I hate it when people post to threads like this and they have nothing, or something weird, listed as their location. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2002, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/66 "2002-11-02T22:34:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Muad’Dib \* > \*\*I hate it when people post to threads like this and they have nothing, or something weird, listed as their location. \*\* And California’s _not_ weird? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/67 "2002-11-03T03:02:37Z")
How do you like California, as compared to Arrakis?😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/68 "2002-11-03T03:24:32Z")
Furriners embracing American quasi-holidays, i.e. Halloween = **BAD**. American cultural imperialism at work! Americans embracing furrin quasi-holidays, i.e. Cinco de Mayo, Dia de los Muertos, St. Patrick’s Day, Carnival, Bastille Day, Dingus Day, St. Joseph’s Day, Oktoberfest, etc = **GOOD**. Closed-minded Americans are finally recognizing diversity and looking out beyond their own borders. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/69 "2002-11-03T06:46:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*So we had no candy to give them. We didn’t have any lollies either, which is what we call those little sugary things, but I’m feeling like I should be saying candy because that’s apparently what one gets on Hallowe’en. \*\* In the US, “candy” encorporates chocolate, gum, mints, hard candy, lollipops, and most other things made of sugar (except for things like cake and cookies) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/70 "2002-11-03T13:15:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > So we had no candy to give them. We didn’t have any lollies either, which is what we call those little sugary things, but I’m feeling like I should be saying candy because that’s apparently what one gets on Hallowe’en. Here in the States, if you don’t have candy it’s considered acceptable to give out pennies. I don’t know if you have “pennies” as a distinct coin in Oz, but a couple of the smallest denomination should do, should you choose to participate. > [@](#): > > It’s odd. I usually don’t mind so called ‘Americanisation,’ seeing it rather as the natural interactions between cultures. I’m more concerned about the food at McDonalds than its country of origin. But this rubs me the wrong way. > > So what’s the story? Is my sense of sadness reasonable at my cultures imminent further ‘Americanisation’, or have I become a crotchety old grouch before I’ve reached my twenties? Speaking as an American, immersed from birth in a culture that seems to happily adopt all sorts of customs and things from all over the world… sometimes it get us down, too. Too much change can be disconcerting. Like when all the local salad bars in downtown Chicago started offering take-out sushi a year or so ago. I like sushi, OK? I enjoy it. But _take-out_ sushi (not just maki but also nigiri take-out) just seemed… odd. Out of place. Strange. And that in culture that has adopted food from pretty much everywhere. > [@](#): > > Oh, and a quick question, when American kids are told not to take candy from strangers, do you add the rider ‘except on Hallowe’en?’ My parents always went along to supervise. There were some houses we just didn’t visit, anything not sealed in a wrapper was thrown out unless we knew the folks really really well. Oh, and about the drinking thing? A traditional beverage in many parts of US for Halloween is hard cider. Very hard cider. Adult Halloween parties almost always feature some sort of alcohol punch. What you really don’t want coming over to your side of the Big Puddle is the Detroit custom of “devil’s night”, which is the night _before_ Halloween. This involves out-and-out arson. It usually starts with burning trashcans and before the night is over graduates to burning buildings. The fire department gets hundreds of calls that night. They’re trying to stamp out the practice, of course, but it’s a tough battle. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have spread beyond the Detroit area. Most of the “vandalism” involved on actuall Halloween involves draping toilet paper over the neighbor’s bushes, or smashing of eggs or flour over cars or porches. Messy, yes, and tough to clean up at times (dried egg is tenacious), but not actually destructive to property. And if you _catch_ the little devils in the act THEY get to do the clean up. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_B.Goode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Johnny\_B.Goode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_B.Goode)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/71 "2002-11-03T16:30:10Z")
I too, have seen children trick-or-treating here in Sydney, both this year and last. I had nothing to offer them last year but the kids made me feel very guilty about it by being so nice about the whole thing. I was slightly more prepared this year but they didn’t come around to our house so it was all for nought. As much as I might decry the pervasion of american culture into Australia, I don’t see any particular harm in kids taking up this tradition. More than it being fun and harmless, it isn’t especially irrelevant to Australian culture (we have dead people too) like gangsta-rap is, for example. Yes, it has no longer-term tradition here and yes, it is (for me) based on superstitious clap-trap but I am a believer in having kids participate in fun and social rituals whilst ther grow up. When I was young, we had the Queen’s B’day fireworks and bonfires and now that these are gone, Halloween seems like a pretty cool ritual (so long as there isn’t the egging and stuff they had when I was living in London; cleaning dried raw eggs on my many windows was pretty shit). ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699/72 "2002-11-04T15:06:48Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by King Nifty_ > And I’m not willing to take someone’s word for it if I think it sounds like BS. Mate, when I first saw those kids standing on my doorstep, I didn’t believe it either. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Primaflora_ > I’ve never known any Antipodeans on this board to be in such breathless admiration of the Americans that we’ve needed to post bullshit threads to get attention. Hey, just wait til John Howard signs up as a member. Now, on to other stuff… like how everyone said stuff. Uh… I’ll try to find responses for things… lessee… > [@](#): > > _originally posted by El\_Kabong_ > I suggest you do your level best to stamp this out now, or in a couple more years you’ll have people putting up ten foot high, floodlit Jack-o-lanterns in their front gardens. You’ve been warned. Then again, Hallowe’en decorations could be a good thing. My street is covered in Santa stuff right now, so maybe giants pumpkins could hold it back a bit. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by gobear_ > Well, consider it delayed payback for inflicting on the US Paul Hogan, Dame Edna, Yahoo Serious, and that annoyingly loud fellow in the 1980’s Energizer commericials, “The New Energizah, it’ll surprise ya!” You forgot to mention Steve Irwin. Actually, if anyone turned up on my doorstep in a Steve Irwin costume, they may just sufficiently scare some candy out of me. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by LolaCocacola_ > First off, as an Aussie-American I am on the fence here, but I do need to ask - do people really believe the Americans force their culture upon others? I daren’t say that no-one put a gun to station manager’s head and say “You MUST air American television and play American music and videos!” They wouldn’t be aired if there wasn’t a demand. You are right, and I knew this even as I was posting it. No-one can be forced to take on a culture. I guess I meant… kind of uncomfortably placed upon. I’m not articulating this very well. America isn’t doing anything to force the practice, but it seems to me as if our society is simply taking on the surface qualties of Hallowe’en without having any internal connection to it. Kinda like following the actions but not really attaching any cultural importance to the tradition, making it a sort of hollow imitation of another cultural practice. Does this make sense? > [@](#): > > A strange comment from someone (and I’m not singling you out as I’ve heard this from others) from someone who chooses to expose themself to American culture even further via a predominantly American message board on the internet. > Just my two cents. > > And for the record, I love both cultures! I know it is strange, however I accepted to discuss why above. Of course, one of my favourite things about the SDMB is the exposure to American culture I get. I too love (many aspects of) both cultures. > [@](#): > > _originally posted byyojimbo_ > So the Irish never brought the tradition to Oz? I never knew it was Irish… interesting. Is it celebrated in Ireland to the extent it is in America? And why didn’t we get Hallowe’en? There’s lots of Irish in Australia. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Revtim_ > If people enjoy it and have fun, why not adopt the custom? Surely you are not going to dislike it simply because it is from America? That would be bigotry, would it not? It would be bigotry, and its source has nothing to do with my dislike of it here. And people aren’t really engaging in the custom of Hallowe’en. There’s no carving Jack O’Lanterns, preparing for weeks, or putting up the Hallowe’en tree (which is a dead Christmas tree, I have decided). Hallowe’en was a candy grab that lasted for one evening, rather than a holiday or cultural custom. Um… What **TheLoadedDog** said. I agree with him. > [@](#): > > _originally posted by Goo_ > If this country adopts Halloween as a whole, then my views might change, but in the meantime I’m not encouraging it. I feel the same. Maybe that’s my problem - I don’t really see the holiday as being adopted, only the trick-or-treating. I figure, if you have the perks, you have the holiday. It’d be like just giving presents on Christmas and then not drinking lots, eating lots, putting up stupid decorations for weeks beforehand and all that fun stuff. **Princhester** says some more stuff that I agree with. **King Nifty** I’ve talked about. But I’ll sign an affadavit if you really want me to. > [@](#): > > \*originally posted by Broomstick (very appropriately named, for this thread) > Speaking as an American, immersed from birth in a culture that seems to happily adopt all sorts of customs and things from all over the world… sometimes it get us down, too. Too much change can be disconcerting. Like when all the local salad bars in downtown Chicago started offering take-out sushi a year or so ago. I like sushi, OK? I enjoy it. But take-out sushi (not just maki but also nigiri take-out) just seemed… odd. Out of place. Strange. And that in culture that has adopted food from pretty much everywhere. Oh no! First Hallowe’en, next take-out Sushi. I am so marching on Washington. 😃 > [@](#): > > Here in the States, if you don’t have candy it’s considered acceptable to give out pennies. I don’t know if you have “pennies” as a distinct coin in Oz, but a couple of the smallest denomination should do, should you choose to participate. I didn’t know this, but it follows from this I saw in the paper recently: > [@](#): > > There are many American customs we’re glad to see aren’t catching on, and one is Halloween. Jenny Bridge, of Jannali, at 5.30pm on Thursday, was approached there by two boys as she got in her car. They wore everyday clothing and carried plastic shopping bags. > > Boys: Trick or treat? JB: Give me a break, you’re not even dressed up. Boys: Oh, we had masks, but we lost them. JB: I’ve nothing to give you anyway. Boys (hopefully): How about some money? > > Jenny says: “They left empty-handed. We say, ‘Only in America’. but this is a definite ‘Only in Australia’ - Blow the costume, we’ll just have a go at collecting the booty!” ([http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2002/11/01/1036027034304.htm](http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2002/11/01/1036027034304.htm)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-shut-my-eyes-and-woke-up-in-americatown/134699.md?page=3)