I think that rude is not the word I would use, uneducated or mannerless is more like it.
I am from Europe, and when children learn to use cutlery, the first stage is that their parents cut the meal for them and then they use the fork in their right hand to eat (if they are right-handed). The next step is that they do the cutting themselves, then proceed with the fork as before. Only when they learn to coordinate their hands and use them both at once, they will take the fork into the left hand and the knife into the right hand. Also, it seems easier to use the fork in order to put the piece of meat, which you have just cut away, into your mouth, since it is already stuck to the fork. Why remove it from the fork and pick it up again later? We are also taught not to change the fork into the right hand for picking up food that does not need cutting, like salad.
The American way of using the cutlery seems childish and clumsy to us, as if they had not completed that learning process.
No, I can’t. Can you explain to me why most Americans cut up the food first, and then use the fork in the right hand. And for that matter, when cutting, the fork is in the left hand? It’s just the way it’s done, and as kids, we’re told to eat with the fork in the left hand. Why is anything regarding etiquette considered rude or proper? Because it just is.
Walloon, I give you Thomas Mapother IV, a.k.a. Tom Cruise.
It’s historical fiction. Americans aren’t the only people who write historical fiction whose hero is from the writer’s own country.
In any case the Americans did capture U-505, and this is one of several incidents on which the movie is loosely based.
Define about, Australia is ~79% of the land area of the United States, weighing in at 7,682,300 sq km vs the United States 9,629,047 sq km.
Point taken though, even an Alaskan can admit she’s a big hunk of land. 
As for being shocked to learn, there are gonna be some American out there who believes such, I slapped myself on the forehead once when a game show contestant answered, “Maine” to the question, “What is the northern most State?”, it’s amazing some of the blind spots you find in peoples educations.
Remove that ‘big hunk of land’, and you’ve got a mainland area of
8,151,776 sq km…getting close to Australia. I doubt Hawaii makes up the difference, though 
The figures don’t mean an awful lot. The “lower 48” of the United States is bigger than Australia, but bear in mind that Australia has only two-thirds the population of California*. In other words, Route 66 tends not to involve hundreds of miles between villages (let alone towns or cities), two spare tyres, additional fuel tanks, satnav/two way radio/epirb, lodgement of planned route with the local police…
The Siberians might know what we’re on about.
*Also bear in mind what effect this tiny population in a huge continent has on the taxation base, and you’ll understand that our roads are not as smooth as glass.
He may have. My best recollection of that kind of statement came from Russell Crowe, of all people, after he won an Oscar for Best Actor in Gladiator: “God bless America, God save the Queen, God defend New Zealand, thank Christ for Australia!”
Hey, I’ll agree with all of those statements!
In terms of government largesse, yes. But IIRC, we give a lot more individually, even to other countries via charities.
Obviously not. I don’t own a gun nor carry one. But I could if I chose to. And that is important to me.
I’ll ignore the open insult there. I don’t feel unsafe. I live in a good place with good people. But that’s not always enough. I could be attacked or robbed. And if so, no police in the world can help me, unless they just happen to be there. And, as an American, I will not rely on other people to defend when I know they cannot do so.
You may find this odd, but most of those other people did so because we’d fought a war. Brazil, for instance, de-slaved itself because they saw the terrible war going on up north and decided they wished to avoid it. But again, this is an implied insult. And we were among the first nations to go this route.
Hardly. There are a lot of good movies that come out of Hollywood. Quite frankly, they are the most successful studios in the world for a reason. If Hollywood puts out such crap, then why do they outperform domestic movie markets prety much everywhere? Sure, they put out Dumb and Dumberer. They also put out a lot of Matrix-es and Spidermans.
They did. He’s called Schwarzanegger.
Hardly worse than various nuts you could name in every country on earth. They really lost power 30 years ago, and now exist only as a sad, pathetic remnent suitable for mocking. Even then, most of th KKK was probably not violent, albeit repressive.
But, to e honest with you, nowadays I think the US rates significantly higher than France, Germany, or even Britain on inter-ethnic race relations.
Heh heh. Seriously, B-ball players lose vast amounts of water just from sweating, they work so hard in the games. They need every bit of rest they can get, cause its rough.
I’ve seen this in Germany, too. My answer is that sparkling water is a vile, disgusting substance, and that honestly, bottled water is not really any better than tap.
What about it? We believe.
Patriotism, my friend. Nationalism is that evil European invention. We have a much better version. But, then, we 'mericans have always been improving on European models.
…
Just kidding, but only partly. Yeah, we believe that the US is the bestest, most nicest country ever, and it getting better every day. And we work hard to make it so.
Yeah, when you get down to it, Austalia seems smaller cause as a nation it is smaller, whatever its landmass. C’est la vie.
I hate to break it to you, but its been proven that no mater how we twist and turn the system it WILL be screwing someone. You can argue that this way is more unfair than that way, but I bet the new screw-ees don’t agree.
Sorry, Betty Crocker is just too good to leave out of the recipes. But we can still make a lot from scratch.
I know that many of them are professionals, but they have fallen behind us in training and equipment. Their tactics, at least, are such that they don’t really add anything to our fighting capability. Sad, perhaps, but true. They cannot fight with us anymore. The Brits are an exception, though, as are “special units”.
I know what you’re referring to, and here’s my suggestion: some of those units are going to be there for a long time. Quite on purpose, too. There’s going to be a nice, shiny milbase right near the coast of Iraq, to keep any angry Baathists, teh Saudi’s, and the Iranians in line. An exit strategy is not what we have in mind.
But anyway, this does not address the point. We do not want to need an “exit strategy”. We do not want to bail other people out and we do not want to go on peacekeeping missions that will never keep the peace and never be a solution (Somolia).
So did I. I’ve always been really suspicious of those factoids.
A pithy phrase, but not one I think is correct. I don’t think you can sum it up so easily.
There’s also some other reasons: I think Europes’ social net has become so large its choking them off. France and Germany have had their economies sucking for years and years now. They are facing a serious financial crisis in the next 20-30 years.
Well, the basic reason is this: most people are right handed and its easier to se the right hand when eating. You cut up what foods need cutting (I often just use the edge of my fork for this anyway, so unless I need a steak knife its not even an issue) and switch once. I don’t hold a knife in my hand all the meal anyway. So why use my off-hand? If I want to butter a roll, I hold it in my left hand (which is what that hand is better for anyway) and butter with my right.
Jervoise writes:
> Would anyone else care to labour the point [about saying “God Bless
> America”]? I’d happy to see some evidence to the contrary.
Let me just point out that not all Americans feel comfortable about saying or hearing “God Bless America”. Even on those occasions when it’s used, in the closing to dramatic speeches or on banners or as part of a song (which isn’t even sung that much), it’s felt to be heightened language. Most Americans not only would never use it in ordinary conversation, they would be put off by someone who did so. And a lot of Americans are turned off by that sort of use of heightened language even in dramatic speeches or songs or banners. Their reaction to it is “What an obnoxious show-off.”
smiling bandit writes:
> In terms of government largesse, yes. But IIRC, we give a lot more individually,
> even to other countries via charities.
No, I believe that’s also wrong. First, the U.S. doesn’t even come close to being one of the largest givers of foreign aid by the government. Despite being the largest economy in the world, the U.S. is only the third largest giver of foreign aid in amount. It looks even worse in proportionate form. There are countries that give five times as much foreign aid per capita as the U.S.
Second, the U.S. doesn’t give much in private giving to other countries either. The average donation to charities by Americans is slightly less than 2% of their income. (I don’t know, but I suspect that this is low compared to other countries.) Very little of this goes to foreign countries. Two-thirds of the charitable contributions given by Americans goes to churches and educational bodies within the U.S. I don’t have the figures (Does one of you have them?), but I suspect that the amount of charity given per capita in the U.S. is less than a lot of other countries.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, … pretty much all of Latin America. I wouldn’t call that “few countries.” Sure it’s mostly restricted to the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific Rim – it’s not a global pastime like soccer. (Actually, I seem to remember a news story in the 1980s or 1990s about professional or semi-professional baseball leagues in France and Italy, but I don’t know whether they still exist.) But then no one is claiming it is globally popular. The point that was being made was that the world’s best players play in the National League and the American League. And it’s not an insignificant proportion of the world.
The point about the “World Series,” which has been stated enough times already, is that the “World” has nothing to do with any claim on the event’s status with regard to countries. Countries have nothing to do with it. There never have been any countries represented in the World Series and there never will be. It’s “mere puffery” on the part of a profit-making enterprise. Live with it.
And a lot of people don’t know that the southernmost state is Hawaii.
I wrote:
> . . . I suspect that the amount of charity given per capita in the U.S. is less than a lot of other countries.
I meant to write:
> . . . I suspect that the amount of charity that goes to foreign countries given per capita in the U.S. is less than in a lot of other countries.
Only every country in the Western Hemisphere, plus Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
I see the US doesn’t have a monopoly on provincialism.
The one major contraexample is the Indian movie industry (“Bollywood”), which puts out even more crap than Hollywood. Monetary success is not a reliable peg for quality.
What’s so infurtiating about this little anecdote is that brownies “from scratch” are monstrous easy. As a general matter, one of the trickier things about baking is leavening–but most brownie recipes don’t call for any. So really, all you have to do is melt chocolate and butter, dump them into a bowl with eggs, flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt, and then stir. What’s the point of a mix?
As for several of the statements about apportionment in the Senate: ascenray, have you never read the Federalist Papers, or Madison’s Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787? Many of the concerns the Founders noted then remain an issue today. And it’s only because we’ve had 215 years of our current system that we can discount the very real fear that a strictly popular-based legislature would run roughshod over the interests of smaller-population states. Our solution is imperfect, but I don’t think there’s a truly practicable alternative.
On the culture we export: bear in mind that there are no countries that are both as large in population and in diversity as the United States, which means the domestic market makes for a terrific mass-market test-case. Unfortunately, what usually succeeds is truly lowest-common-denominator crap, whether it’s Dumb & Dumberer or Burger King. (I’ve long had a fantasy of producing a cooking show on American regional cuisine, designed to introduce foreigners to stuff too quirky and good to make it to export.)
On foreign aid: I’m not sure that any country should be proud of the aid they give to third-world governments, whether directly or via private or quasi-public NGOs. The current Jan. 17-23 Economist reports that “For every dollar that foolish Northerners lent Africa between 1970 and 1996, 80 cents flowed out as capital flight in the same year, typcially into Swiss bank accounts or to by mansions in the Cote D’Azur.” (Emphasis mine.) Now, a more rigorous system is trying to overcome these problems, but the hard reality is that much international aid does more to aid the psyches of the donors than the material condition of the donees.
Yup. In 2000, about a quarter of the players weren’t from the 50 states - with 14 different countries, plus Puerto Rico:
Aruba
Australia
Canada
Colombia
Cuba
Curacao
Dominican Republic
Japan
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
South Korea
Taiwan
Venezuela
Indeed, if an actual baseball World Cup were to be held, the US might not be the favorites to win - the Dominican would be. With Japan, Venezuela and Mexico putting up a vicious fight.
Sorry, I stand by my previous message - I’ve never personally heard someone say “God Bless America” outside of some kind of memorial service or singing it because the song “God Bless America” is just so much easier to sing than our actual National Anthem.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but I think your own press is giving you a distorted view.
By the way - what do you say when someone sneezes?
Please show me where I even once objected to the makeup of the Senate. I think I must have said “Electoral College” and voting for “president” about a million times. :rolleyes: Since you’ve decided to take this condescending tone with me, would you be insulted if I pointed out that the Electoral College does not appoint U.S. senators?
I know what the Founding Fathers’ reasons were for establishing the Electoral College in this form. My point is that I think they do not apply anymore and any perceived benefits are overwhelmingly outweighed by the massive unfairness of giving some voters greater say in choosing our president and giving some voters less say, and giving a huge proportion of voters no say.
I think you’re being intentionally obtuse now. The whole point is that politicians and public speakers feel the need to say “God Bless America” in political speeches and memorial services all the time. That is what seems strange to Europeans and that is what offensive to Americans like me.
My apologies, Ascenray, my mental wires got crossed somewhere around Cardinal’s post. But IMHO the same sources show a compelling reason for retaining the electoral college: protection of small states’ interests. I don’t like the result, which is enormous agricultural subsidies to prop up declining communities, but I’m willing to live with it.
porkchop_d_clown: Did you actually read Jervoise’s posts? The first one specifically mentioned politicians, then this was the follow up:
Your response was at best a non sequitur. Are you really claiming that you have never heard or seen any of these examples? Cites have already been given for them.
There are countries in the Western Hemisphere that don’t have professional baseball teams, but there are also thriving amateur/semi-professional leagues in Australia, where boofy_bloke is from. It’s true that he’s underestimated the number of countries where the game is played, and that’s a common misunderstanding outside baseball’s heartland. Perhaps the hubris of “World Series” is a separate issue though?