America seen from abroad: arrogant, nice, tech-savvy, free

[ksamuiguy]

Example,

Sunny beach, warm ocean, surfing, .San-Diego-California .

After lunch drive 1 hour and you can be skying in the mountains. Snow Valley  about 100 miles
Big Bear Mountain
Snow Summit  
Mt Baldy
Bear Mountain  

 

Not much wonder lust or exposure to the outside world.

I know people, families who have never gone more than 35km, 20 miles from their home in their lives.

The biggest exception is U.S. military personnel, but most never  leave the Continental U.S. during their tour of duty.

 

"We have everything we need right here"

I can't argue with that!

[waldroj]

To this day, for me it remains a land of amazing contrast, extremes, and oddities - yet, it is still my most favourite place in the world to visit (especially the north-east)!

 

A nation of great and friendly people, magnificent natural beauty, and amazing diversity.

 

Only in the US would you change the name of a town from an innocuous "Cross Keys" to something a little more conversational (shall we say).

 

[chicowoodduck]

16 hours ago, JAG said:

To the Citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II:

 

In light of the imminent somewhat bizarre Presidential election campaign and the likelihood that you will not be able to govern yourselves, and because as we are leaving The European Union our “engines of state” have time on their hands, no longer having to engage in pointless arguments with Brussels “Fonctionaires” about bent bananas, vacuum cleaners and light bulbs; we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

 

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she really does not fancy).

 

Her Majesties Prime Minister will appoint a Governor General for America without the need for further elections. Initially he or she will be from The UK, but in a fairly short time the Governor General will be selected from amongst your own politicians, as is the case with Her Majesties other Dominions. Suitable candidates will be invited to serve (to advise her) on her “Privy Council”. Her Majesty will almost certainly invite Mr and Mrs Obama to serve on it – she rather likes them and finds their children very well behaved. She may even make him her Governor General – do you think that would be well received?

 

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

 

To aid in the transition to a British Dominion within The Commonwealth (if you want to know what a Dominion is ask your neighbours in Canada), the following will happen with immediate effect:

 

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.'

 

2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' '

 

3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.

 

4. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left hand side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. We had to do it so it is only fair. Roundabouts will help you understand the British sense of humour. Arbitrarily enforced metrication, imposed without popular consent and enforced by a body beyond your borders and which you have not elected may also help you to understand why we have chosen to leave the European Union.

5. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline – we're not sure why), of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.)

 

6. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with ketchup but with vinegar.

 

7 . The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

 

8. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

 

9. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full body armour like a bunch of nancies).

 

10. Further, you will stop playing baseball, or “rounders” as it is more properly called in the United Kingdom, where it is usually played in girls schools. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since so few of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. We will in time teach you cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (who are rather good at it) first to take the sting out of their deliveries.

 

11. Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, (never mugs), high quality biscuits (you used to call them cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season. Making a proper cup of tea (hot, with milk, and served without any vegetation or fruit bobbing around in it) will become a compulsory part of your children's education. The ghastly insipid fluid which you refer to as “tea” really is the worst legacy of your unfortunate post colonial experiment, and is quite possibly one of the major contributors to the unfortunate situation in which you find yourselves. You should be aware, on the subject of “Tea Time”, that it is effectively inviolable, and that there are no circumstances in which we can imagine “Tea Time” being delayed or cancelled.

 

12. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.

 

God Save the Queen

Keep your day job.....and stop spending all your time on the Internet.....?

 

I think you  enjoy listening to yourself......???

16 hours ago, JAG said:

 

 

[Watchful]

15 hours ago, ramrod711 said:

 But one thing for sure, they cannot make beer."

 

Sad but true, I was a long haul trucker for many years, met many really nice people and was treated well. I can't say that I've drank much of the craft beers so my criticism is of the national brands, they're not very good, never stopped me from drinking them mind you, but Canadian beer is much better.

 

John Cleese had a good line. He said:

 

American beer is like making love in a canoe ... it's f**king close to WATER!

[LannaGuy]

they can be annoying but say what you like about them they have saved this world from descending into chaos on many occasions 

[Caps]

22 minutes ago, LannaGuy said:

they can be annoying but say what you like about them they have saved this world from descending into chaos on many occasions 

 

What! 

Look at the facts, they don't do it on their own, and I wouldn't say saved the world.  I would say interfered for profit, domination, governments to suit them and made the world worse

[LburtonL]

they can be annoying but say what you like about them they have saved this world from descending into chaos on many occasions 

loooollllllllllllllllll

[PatOngo]

Wherrrre's ma gurn!

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

11 hours ago, digibum said:

 

I'm American and gotta say, ewwwwww, on that one :-)  

 

My wife loves Coors though.  It's the only beer she'll drink.  

 

Our mass market beers are pretty horrible.  I can't think of a single one that is on par with what you can get in Canada or Europe.  But our microbrews are often better than anything you can get in Canada or Europe.  

 

I was with you all the way till you said American microbrews are better than those in Canada. This is a thing with Americans. Such as "nothing could be better than something made in the US."  Not true.  Overall, micro-brews in both countries are a wonderful gift. In fact, a friend of mine from Colorado runs one of the best and most successful micro-brewing companies in the States. Outstanding beer. The products from both countries are high quality, varied and serve all tastes. Just be thankful we don't live in a Coors world.  

Edited August 7, 2016 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[smotherb]

10 hours ago, Thian said:

 

No way, also we want to have our gold back soon, just like Germany.

 

VW also paid allready, what takes you guys so long?? They really think we will buy Fords even after that open trade deal between usa-eu?

Also EU banks who frauded with interestrates and commoditymarkets paid the whole damage within a few months.

 

Americans act like they can't help what happened, well sure they can! Those frauding US banks bought off their misbehaviour to some American institution, we in EU have never seen a penny of it.

What, no words on how it's America's fault you have so many Muslims

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I have to say that i having  traveled all over the USA.On the whole i have found the people to have an intelligence level on a comparison to the state they lived in.While i found the people from the North East to be  of an educated type. Most of the New England people wanted to impress me with stories of how their ancestors came over with the Mayflower,this applied to people from Connecticut as well,to believe this,of course,would have rendered the ship able to have carried some 4000 people.In the ,West i was impressed with their memorabilia that hung on to the times of the Wild West and the characters there in.

Of course  the South was the place for entertainment and after visiting all of the then parks,it proved to me that no one can put on a show quite like the 'Yanks'

 

In the lower southern regions,they were still convinced that Sherman should have been hanged for burning Atlanta.Also the the bumper sticker best was "save your confederate dollars boys,'cos the South's gonna rise again" and 'Lee surrendered,i didn't' I lived and worked in Georgia for some time and i was very impressed with the charm and the accents of the Georgia ladies.On the whole,i was well received by the Americans,where ever i went.

The only disappointments that i found were,that in the deep south,black people are still a second class citizen and the young people of the South are very ignorant of their county's history.Some couldn't even name the president,while some never knew of the war of independence.

 

 

 

 

 

[ramrod711]

6 hours ago, waldroj said:

To this day, for me it remains a land of amazing contrast, extremes, and oddities - yet, it is still my most favourite place in the world to visit (especially the north-east)!

 

A nation of great and friendly people, magnificent natural beauty, and amazing diversity.

 

Only in the US would you change the name of a town from an innocuous "Cross Keys" to something a little more conversational (shall we say).

 

 

I can't recall the original name of the city, but I spent about 24 hours in Truth Or Consequences New Mexico one time. Seems it was named after a television program.

[ClutchClark]

3 minutes ago, ramrod711 said:

 

I can't recall the original name of the city, but I spent about 24 hours in Truth Or Consequences New Mexico one time. Seems it was named after a television program.

 

Not just a TV show.

 

A TV "Game Show".

 

That is a strange part of New Mexico When it comes to the Anglo community.

[phoenixdoglover]

As an American, I am happy to see a thread where the USA is not "off topic", and where the bashing is balanced by the praise.

 

In the absence of first hand experience, we get our impressions of distant countries through the news media, social media like facebook, and a few traveling friends. When we travel ourselves, and particularly when we work and live some place else, our superficial or incomplete views are replaced with something closer to reality.

 

I'm living and working now in the Middle East. I ride motorcycles, and often sit around with like minded bikers from other countries (European mostly). Most of these guys want to go for a long ride in the US. Route 66 is a favorite. I try to convince them it will be boring; there are better places! They will not be dissuaded. The American mystique is strong.

 

Last month, I took myThai wife on a 12 day motorcycle trip inthe western US, sticking to the high elevation areas. My idea was to reinforce her emotional attachment, to smooth the way for a possible move in a few years, in which we spend substantial time in the US each year.

 

I would say it worked too well. By the end of the trip I was getting lobbied for basically extending it indefinitely, and doing what some retirees do, as other posters here have mentioned - just travel around America. And I include Canada, Mexico, all of the Americas in that idea.

 

My wife's impressions, in no particular order:

- This must be "Indian Land"; it looks bad. (yep, I had to "explain" that)

- This beer is good. (Yes, that's why we are eating at this microbrewery.)

- Rocky mountain passes: "Wow, wow, wow!"

- (What did you like best?)  The hike to Jerry Johnson hot springs in Idaho. - Honey, that old man is not wearing a swim suit.

- Why is it called Yellowstone? I don't see any yellow stone.

- Where are the people? (while rolling through farm land)

- Honey, I need papaya salad. (How about Mexican food?)

 

And our politics? Crazy. But it's been crazy for 200 years; we'll sort it out without too much gunfire.

Edited August 7, 2016 by phoenixdoglover

[JimGant]

Quote

Right, when will i get my money back which they stole from our banks? Been asking several times now, getting desperate.

 

Believe I answered you in another thread......consider any losses due to the Lehman Bros meltdown (and your own bankers' understanding of risk) a small, partial interest payment on the Marshal Plan . We've agreed to eat the principal, however -- in deference to the fact that you took a few more bombs than we did. Of course, those bombs were both Axis and Brit (no French bombs, naturally-- hard to bomb when you're running away) -- neither side should we have had an interest in. But we did. At great cost in lives and treasure.

What does America -- more precisely, Americans -- owe you? Only thanks that you helped so many of our forebears figure out what a loser Europe was -- and thus inspired the more able and ambitious to cross the Atlantic.

[Thian]

50 minutes ago, JimGant said:

 

Believe I answered you in another thread......consider any losses due to the Lehman Bros meltdown (and your own bankers' understanding of risk) a small, partial interest payment on the Marshal Plan . We've agreed to eat the principal, however -- in deference to the fact that you took a few more bombs than we did. Of course, those bombs were both Axis and Brit (no French bombs, naturally-- hard to bomb when you're running away) -- neither side should we have had an interest in. But we did. At great cost in lives and treasure.

What does America -- more precisely, Americans -- owe you? Only thanks that you helped so many of our forebears figure out what a loser Europe was -- and thus inspired the more able and ambitious to cross the Atlantic.

 

It's not an understanding of risk, it was a matter of trust. 

 

And we also don't need your bombstories, just cash please....like every decent nation would so after such an incident.

[Trouble]

On August 6, 2016 at 8:31 AM, pattayahenry said:

https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/06/03/laos-hit-average-one-b‑52-bombload-every-8-minutes-24-hours-day-9-years/
Laos was hit by an average of one B‑52 bombload every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day for 9 YEARS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UM2eYLbzXg
Bombing Missions Over Laos From 1965-1973
There are now close to 78 million unexploded bomblets littering rice fields, villages, school grounds, roads and other populated areas in Laos, hindering development
The U.S. spent as much in three days bombing Laos ($51M, in 2010 dollars) than it spent for clean up over 16 years ($51M).
that is america

 

The Vietnam War was a period in time with conflicting views of the Communist threat. It was also a period in time that ended up dividing the American people.  All that being said how many countries would even have tried to clean up the mess. Maybe the amount spent to clean up the mess doesn't seem significant but it's at least an attempt.. What's the point of this 45 year old unfortunate period in history? Does that reflect the totality of what people think of America and it's people?

[Skeptic7]

On 8/6/2016 at 3:13 PM, ramrod711 said:

 But one thing for sure, they cannot make beer."

 

Sad but true, I was a long haul trucker for many years, met many really nice people and was treated well. I can't say that I've drank much of the craft beers so my criticism is of the national brands, they're not very good, never stopped me from drinking them mind you, but Canadian beer is much better.

Don't know how long ago that was, but even for mass market brews...Samuel Adams and Leinenkugel both brew an extensive selection and some excellent and on par or even better (and WAY cheaper than the Euro brews) than any I've had in Canada and most I've had in Europe. 

 

Edited August 8, 2016 by Skeptic7

[tubby johnson]

Negative: obese, entitled, shallow, talkative and loud

 

Positive: polite and affable, produce good tech

[gandalf12]

The trouble with America is not the people but the government who like all governments do what is good for them and to hell with the rest of the people