What part of America are you from?
Well…
Now that I think about it, I do have one uncle that owns a cabin, and another who is seriously considering doing the same…
Still, I would never say common practice at all unless you make into the six-figures.
Ps This has been one of the most entertaining threads I have read in a while. Be sure to mention what country you are from, a few folks have forgotten.
PPS I agree about the huge portions at restaurants as well.
Okay, you’re on. I live so close to the US (Vancouver) that we get tons of American ads on TV, American news, and of course nothing but American movies. Half the time I have no idea what the people in all these things are talking about! They say things like “such and such is just a couple of miles from such and such” as if I’m supposed to know how far that is! I have no concept of how far a mile is, but tell me something is 2 and a half kilometres away, and I can picture it in my mind!
Also, between every TV show here there is a weather break, or some such thing. Now, because of my aformentioned proximity to the US, the information in the forecast might be useful to me, but fahrenheit? It may as well be in Greek!
I really don’t get why an otherwise forward thinking country would use such an outdated and confusing system, when a simple and convenient alternative is right there for the taking.
Having said all that, its not so much something I noticed when I was in America, as I have been seeing it all my life.
And I still think your money is silly.
I think people were referring to the (apparently) casual attitudes Americans have to gun ownership, rather than the sight of people roaming the streets with guns. By casual attitudes, I mean viewing gun ownership as commonplace and normal, not a relaxed attitude to gun safety.
Around here, gun ownership is certainly not a topic to be discussed casually.
I agree with Narrad, it’s the attitude towards guns more than anything that struck me as being very different, and quite alien to me. But for me it was also the sight of a guy pulling over on the highway, getting his gun out and wandering into the woods (as mentioned earlier in this thread).
The only consistent use of kilometers in the US is in footraces. We love to tell people that we’re going to do ‘a 10k run’. It sounds so much more impressive than ‘a 6.2 mile run’. :rolleyes:
To the Aussie Dopers:
Has the attitude about gun ownership always been this way in your country? I remember that you had some stricter gun legislation passed several years ago, so I thought that it was a major sea change from what had been the status quo there. Probably just my misperception, or my buying into NRA propaganda. I know when I have met fellow Americans usually from larger cities, their take on gun ownership was not that far off from your own.
But seriously, minor stuff.
S. Norman, joining you in two weeks 
I wanted to comment on the alcohol thing. In Europe, having a beer or some wine is commonplace and accepted. When I was in Italy there was a beer vending machine in the hostel. Here I have seen people who consider that people who have a beer are degenerates. I have an acquaintance who seems to think the amount of alcohol you consume denotes how “manly” you are. Many times he has said to me, “Come on! Grow some 'nads! Let’s go to the bar!” Sorry, mate; I don’t have to drink to prove my manhood. I’ll drink when I want to, and I won’t when I don’t want to.
I think this attitude goes back to our roots. Many of the early colonists were fleeing religious persecution in England. The Pilgrims were Puritans. It seems that this Puritan ethic still exists to this day in our attitudes toward alcohol and sex. My department manager is a devout fundamentalist Christian. He’s an okay guy and I’ve even seen him have a beer after work (once). But have a beer or a glass of wine with lunch? Uh-uh. Having a single beer with lunch is Bad.
Drinking to excess is bad. Having a beer or a glass of wine with a meal is not Bad. It’s even been shown to be healthy. But because of (I think) our heritage as a Christian country with its roots in Puritanism, Americans seem not to understand this. I’ve heard people claim that if you have a single drink on a semi-regular basis, that makes you an alcoholic. We don’t seem to understand moderation. And I think that not only relates to alcohol, but also to food portions in restaurants, the size of our cars, and other things visitors remark on.
To the non-Americans who thought pancakes for breakfast was weird: What do you have for breakfast? Anything sweet? Anything made from grain?
Regarding guns: My pet theory (which could be totally wrong) is that we Americans have this kind of ingrained image of Revolutionary War Freedom Fighters giving birth to our nation, and every picture of them we see in grade school is of them toting rifles, which looks kinda cool.
As regards guns for sale in Wal-Mart, it’s so commonplace to me, I might as well be passing the potato chip rack.
It’s all cultural, Johnny. While drinking alcohol is completely accepted in my country, having alcohol with your lunch is considered VERY unprofessional. Well, unless it’s a fancy business lunch with clients, or something. But if you just pop out to grab a bite with a few colleagues, you don’t order alcohol.
Drive 200 clicks south to Antwerp, Belgium, and people will look at you funny if you order a coke in a restaurant after 10 in the morning. Germany even has Gartenbier, special 3% beer to be had during lunch et cetera. I’ve been to London on business trips, and had beer during lunch with colleagues, not clients.
So the Dutch don’t drink during lunch. And I can assure you, puritanism has little to do with it. So what does cause it? Hard to say, but it’s one of those things stemming from the Calvinistic attitude a lot of people have in this country. “Acting normal is crazy enough”, a Dutch saying literally translated. Conformity, not wanting to stick out, putting down those that do.
Weird. I’ve lived here for almost 3 decades, and I still don’t get it.
A typical Dutch breakfast is either something like sandwiches with ham, cheese, or marmelade and a glass of milk (I’d say 50% eats their breakfast that way), oatmeal-type things (Brinta!! about 30% or so, kids eat it a lot), or Murrikenized stuff in the cornflakes vein (20%).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by The Red Menace *
I would be interested to know if the American practice of owning two houses is common in Europe and elsewhere, or if it might be isolated not just to the US, but to the midwest alone. I know that most of my friends’ parents have both a primary house they live in through most of the year, and then a “lake home” of varying grandeur for weekends during the summer. (These are not particularly rich people, and most are solidly middle class).
QUOTE] (bolding mine)
Didn’t some of you read that part? I could definitely see it as a Midwest thing, more specifically, an Upper Midwest thing. Probably due to the combination of cheap land and lots of lakes. It’s quite the norm for many middle-class families to own a cabin “up north.” They’re not intended to spend extended amounts of time in–the ones I’ve been in have poor insulation, are small, and interior decor thats 30+ years out of date. But it’s a fun place to go in the summer for a weekend.
Guh? What do you think we are out here, a bunch of cowboys? I don’t think this would go over well anywhere.
And who the hell can’t finish a restaurant meal? Maybe you’ve been trapped into the lie of three meals a day?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by easy e *
**
No, it happens in several pockets of the country. It is fairly common in New England to have a weekend getaway. Of course, this means big bucks because first houses in New England are very expensive. My in-laws live in downtown Boston during the week and go to their 300 acre farm on the weekends and holidays. Lots of New Englanders get together with friends and rent a ski house in Vermont for the season.
I grew up in rural Louisiana which is very poor but lots of people owned a mobile home or small house by a lake.
Next time some of y’all furrin dopers is in the states, take a trip to Flagstaff, Arizona. Specifically go to Ruff’s Sporting Goods and Liquor, which serves Flagstaff’s booze/weapons/porno needs.
There’s another place right near the NAU campus that sells hard liquor and guns and has a drive thru window(!) but I can’t remember the name of it.
For those US dopers that haven’t seen someone casually walking around whilst packing heat, I recommend a trip to beautiful sunny Tucson.
I was actually thinking of mentioning New England. It seems pretty common around here (the Boston metro area) for people of my parents’ generation to own a ski/lake cabin in NH or a little summer house on the Cape, and these are not wealthy people, nor even upper-middle-class. I’m talking lower-middle and working class people.
But I don’t personally know any people of my generation (30s) who can afford a second house at the moment (other than a full-time rental property), nor many that will ever be able to afford to buy one, or possibly even keep one if they happen to inherit.
I hope that changes, though, because I’d really like to have a cabin in the woods someday.
Hmm. I find this very interesting. I’ve only ever been out of the country once - on our honeymoon we drove up to Toronto. Nice town. Expensive as all get out, though. I know I still had fun getting more money than I gave at the exchange, but everything cost a bundle! (Reckon I can handle that for free health care)
Food portions - Hey, I bees po’, so I gots to get lots fo’ little!
Really.
Guns - Also pretty odd. The first time I fires a rifle (and the only time for a pistol too, actually) was on my grandmother’s farm when I was visiting at the age of about 16. After that day, I did not handle a loaded weapon until I joined the Army in 2000. I haven’t touched a loaded weapon since then. NOBODY in my immediate family owns any firearms, and beyond that only two people in my extended family own rifles for hunting season.
Ah, well.
By the way, I thought an Ausie guffawing at Outback was pretty good. I know y’all don’t really care much for Foster’s, either.
Oh, and I am now so in the mood for a big old breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon!!!
Just to clarify my point: I thought that eating pancakes with sausage and bacon was weird - I’m British and had never dipped a hunk of sausage in maple syrup before.
When my wife first came over here she thought that eating the British fry-up breakfast was weird. (A British fry-up may be: Egg, bacon, sausage, beans, tomato, maybe even black pudding :eek:, mushrooms etc)
Now, because of being married to an American, I get to enjoy the wonder that is the pancake pretty often. I still don’t eat them with meat though - That in no way means that doing so is wrong! - I eat pancakes, then my bacon and eggs (and beans)
Answering your question, British breakfasts tend to be cereal, toast or a fry-up.
Sorry if it sounded like I had a chip on my shoulder, but it just struck me as odd that of all the bizarre things that makes America…well, America, you mentioned pancakes (with sausage). /shrug
That’s precisely why I love the U.S…
In fact, I shot an M-16 just last Sunday. (My first “full-auto fun” experience.) How many Irishmen have shot M-16s? Can we have a show of hands?
America-n-guns. I love it.
Crafter_Man (a.k.a. “The Gun Nut”)