How come you can’t say “Have a nice day” in England?
And, um, this makes them different from people of other nations how??
I thought it was only offensive if you pulled the fingers back towards yourself, once or repeatedly, thereby “flipping” someone off. Vyvyan on the Young Ones did that so often and so vehemently, I wonder if Ade Edmondson ever sprained his wrist that way.
Ahem. I’m the exception. It pisses me off when people do this.
But mags, it is so CHEAP and BEAUTIFUL at SO many places! Why, do you know how much an average meal costs? Well, it’s ONLY about $2! Can you BELIEVE that? $2!!! And the beer! Oh! That’s ONLY about $0.25! IT’S SO CHEAP! AND BEAUTIFUL! Why, I could live here for 6 months on 1 paycheck! The people here are SO lucky! Everything is SO CHEAP AND BEAUTIFUL!
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Friggin’ tourons (tourist morons)!
I had a neat conversation a few years back in Indonesia with 2 women we met. They said they had had a conversation with a few other women travelers, and they had a few positive experiences with American male-travelers (no, not THAT kind of experience!). They told me how if they ever felt in trouble or in need of something while travelling alone, they felt comfortable asking an American for help. One girl was getting harrassed at a bar and an American guy walked over, got her out of there, hailed a taxi, gave her $20 in local cash and wished her a good night. Another got mugged in Spain, heard some men speaking english, asked for help, and was taken care of for 2 days with no guilt or strings attached or being asked for a payback. And the reason they said American men was that another girl had asked some Oxford english chap to escort her back to her hostel late one night, and was told to get a taxi, he had to get to bed…
I myself have stepped into situations that almost got me in trouble, for travelling women here. A few Ukrainian pickpockets are pretty pissed off at me, I know.
NO, I’m not saying that us Americans are any nicer or whatever- I work with South Africans, kickbox with Brits, Canucks and Irish lads, and I’m sure they ALL would help a lone woman traveller in distress - I’m just reporting what these women said. I wondered if it had to do with the fact that if it is an American, then statistically he is wealthier, college educated, etc. etc. whereas other English speaking travellers come from all walks of life- Including the jerk levels that think women shouldn’t put themselves into bad situations, so they get what they ask for…
Back to the OP, when the Pope came to Denver a few years back for the Children’s Crusade (or whatever the heck his visit was for), they made a huge deal about which hand-signals were and were not appropriate since there would be people from all over the world there. They basically told everyone to just not use their hands when speaking because you could piss-off someone inadvertently. It was ridiculous. Full-page descriptions with translations and everything on page 3 of the local papers.
Take care-
-Tcat
Regarding the “V for Victory” gesture, there’s a pretty famous picture of Reagan, from when he was elected governer of California, inadvertently making that gesture with old glory behind him.
As a side note, when in Greece, avoid using the “okay” gesture, (with your index finger & thumb forming a circle.) This gesture means “A**hole!” there.
I can only tell you what I’ve gleaned from personal experience, but it is generally not appreciated by Parisians when you insist on spraying copious amounts of deodorant on them before engaging in conversation. It is pretty fun, though.
Am I the only Canadian that doesn’t like to be referred to as a Canuck?