American contribution to the world

[Sierra]

On the other hand if a French speaking tourist happened to visit the US and is in some tourist mecca like Vegas and had some difficulty with the English language he would be treated with concern and friendly curiosity.

Americans like people with foreign accents particularly those from Europe.

 

 

Oh yeah we luurrve accents! I've had many an impromptu conversation with someone/group of people asking for directions or trying to figure out a local menu, particularly if it's in spanish. Most are genuinely touched we care enough to ask about where they're from and are grateful when we tell them how to save money or avoid a long line.

 

Just last summer (it gets beastly hot here) two girls from the Czech Republic knocked on our door. They were selling some sort of educational material and needed some cold water, a bathroom and directions. We invited them in, let them use the potty and had a nice conversation outside with some iced tea.

 

Everyone was a bit wary at first, making sure neither party were serial killers, but they were both delightful and spoke excellent english. Both of them hoped to study at American universities and I sincerely hope the contact info my daughter gave them helped.

[mapleboy]

true, I'm just waiting for Mr Obamas first scandal to break

Obama's been doing WHAT with WHO?! Oh come on, he must have played away from home at least a little bit, he's an American politician, it's part of the job description, isn't it?

[Harleyman]

the Republican agenda to privatize Medicare and later on Social Security, eliminate collective union bargaining rights ( a right giiven to unions by Roosevelt as far back as 1935) chop civil service and public worker pensions while at the same time giving billions to the fat cats of the big oil companies and letting the wealthy off the hook when it comes to paying their fair share of taxes.

 

This is very reminiscent of our Thatcher years which resulted in far fewer strikes, however the people who wanted and were prepared to work did quite well. When the Tories took their brand of trickle down politics too far, we got rid of the abysmal John Major, and voted in Labour and for a time things felt better, but their tenure resulted in a war that we couldn't afford, an open door immigration policy which has changed the face of our country forever without any reference to the people of this country's wishes. I see a lot of scare stories in the American media about seniors not having health care if Obama's health plan is not implemented, I understand that he looks to our health system as something of a role model, I would really urge Americans to take a good look at the health and end of life care that our senior citizens are enduring and this has worsened under a Labour government.

You say that Republicans are the cause of "rising fuel prices accompanied by inflation (which always happens) the depressed housing market, slow job growth much of it caused by employers now so used to doubling up work loads on employees that they fell no need to employ further help and all that coupled with stingy pay raises by employers over the last two years. It's no wonder the middle class increasingly seem to be an endangered species of late".

We have the same problems here after 17 years of Labour. It appears to me that whatever political party is voted into office they seem either unwilling or incapable of fixing or even slowing down the worsening state of our countries.

 

I didnt say that Republicans were responsidble for rising fuel prices. That was caused by market speculation and something that politicians have little control over just the same as a depressed housing market and slow job growth.

What the Republicans can be blamed for is their penchant for deregulation and privatization. After the deregulation of the banks and lending institutions all kinds of shady dealings were going and this led to the near economic collapse in 2008.

The US economy is in serious trouble alright and Obama will pay the price for it if things dont start improving by 2012. Strange though that despite all the Republican criticism of his policies I've yet to hear their solution to the problem.

Oh sorry ! The Trickle Down Theory. Now that's a winner

[Harleyman]

Oh yeah we luurrve accents! I've had many an impromptu conversation with someone/group of people asking for directions or trying to figure out a local menu, particularly if it's in spanish. Most are genuinely touched we care enough to ask about where they're from and are grateful when we tell them how to save money or avoid a long line.

 

Just last summer (it gets beastly hot here) two girls from the Czech Republic knocked on our door. They were selling some sort of educational material and needed some cold water, a bathroom and directions. We invited them in, let them use the potty and had a nice conversation outside with some iced tea.

 

Everyone was a bit wary at first, making sure neither party were serial killers, but they were both delightful and spoke excellent english. Both of them hoped to study at American universities and I sincerely hope the contact info my daughter gave them helped.

 

 

There you go Sierra. Your very typical of many Americans. The friendliness and willingness to help always there.

 

When I first came to the States I had a broad Sheffield accent. My future wife to be loved it. Said I sounded just like Albert Finney.

Funny though how so many Americans have asked me if I'm Australian.

Wot? Sheffield and Australian?

[Harleyman]

What i mean is everyone thinks their country is best, the French just overdo it a bit.

 

 

To the point of being obnoxious occasionally.

 

As for the service in some restaurants ..................

[Bulgarian]

Funny though how so many Americans have asked me if I'm Australian.

 

I've been asked if I'm Austrian, they meant Australian, easy mistake to make.

[Bulgarian]

To the point of being obnoxious occasionally.

 

well, again, we all do it.

[buck]

Well, I think he does. He represents my views well at least. We see it as pathetic that Americans are in the slightest bit bothered about their flag, it's not even as nicely designed as ours & we couldn't care less.

If you can't care less, why bother trolling?

[buck]

You dont seem to have a clue about democracy. You and others like you get all wound up and full of hate about people like O'Reilly because he has a different view of politics. I dont like him much either but the answer is simple.

If you dont like his program then JUST DONT WATCH IT.

 

People like you are basically dictatorial. If it doesn't agree with you then it shouldn't be allowed

I'm happy to say I've never watched him. The only stuff I watch on any Fox channels are Cops, AMW, and the soccer and rugby games on what used to be Setanta. The thing is owned by that creep Rupert Murdoch.

[Harleyman]

I've been asked if I'm Austrian, they meant Australian, easy mistake to make.

 

It's understandable. Most Americans spend their holidays at home since Europe and air fares started to get expensive years ago so therefore there's less familiarity with foreign accents than their grandfathers generation, millions of whom spent time in Europe during WW2.

 

I was once asked by a girl while living in Canada if England was a part of Europe as she could never find it on a map