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Thanks for those replies. They were good. I think that is part of being American and I value it. Part of being American to me (a non-American) is the belief in freedom of speech and the right of people to express their views. That's a very apple pie, eagles flying kind of morality, but it's undeniably American and admirable. This forum is an example of it.
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Feb 2, 2017 03:58
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For real though the food (and gasoline) is so cheap there.
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Feb 2, 2017 04:04
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:e: As a US citizen who lives here now but grew up elsewhere, one of the weirdest things about America is the tendency for people to describe banal stuff like "the peaceful transfer of power" and "social mobility is not 100% absent" as if they were particularly American things
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Feb 2, 2017 04:15
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To be fair, no one demanded that anyone post reasons they like living in America that don't apply to other countries. I can like free speech, peaceful transfers of power, and a stable supply of food, gasoline and electricity without thinking they are exclusive to my country. For the record, I like all those things, although I would prefer having food, wind/solar/geothermal/etc, and electricity. But I guess it'll do? Anyway, I'm from a really purple county in a purple state, with like...a goddamn rainbow of people swirled into a big mashed-potato lump of central Europeans of every religion. And it's cool that they all more or less get along. Plenty of problems here (gangs exist, we haven't been immune to the opioid epidemic, lack of unskilled work for people without college or a trade) but the day-to-day is just people co-existing. 
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Feb 2, 2017 04:25
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Tiggum posted:I'm pretty sure every country is like that. Not always the same thing, but it'll be something that's far from unique that is held up as being particularly of that country. Not really to the same extent, no. I lived most of my life in the UK and you can get all kinds of dumb nationalist crap but America's the only place I've been where people will talk as if they were living in the world's only wealthy democracy. (And, like, people who definitely know better - until the recent mess every inauguration would feature a dozen pundits rhapsodising about how uniquely American it was to have an election and then give power to the winner of that election)
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Feb 2, 2017 04:31
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Tony Montana posted:
1. Are there really guns like loving everywhere? People walk around with handguns and poo poo? That can't be real. I think the other responses summed this up pretty well. No people don't just wander around with their guns and since the 80's when I was still in Kentucky gun laws have gotten a little more restrictive (i'm not arguing if it's right or wrong, he's asking for our thoughts). I remember going to high school during deer season and guys would leave their hunting rifles in gun racks in their trucks. Now I rarely see gun racks like that, and it's now super illegal to bring any type of gun onto school grounds. 2. How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? I've already been accused of being a sociopath in other threads so i'll answer in this way: Most people can afford insurance and the neediest are covered by our social safety nets. I view National health care as a huge bureaucracy that is inefficient and an all around around lovely idea. Just look at the VA, We could all enjoy the wonderful treatment that our veterans get. 2a. Do you cringe when people stand up and say poo poo like 'the greatest country on earth!!'? Do you find it unbearably arrogant and self-absorbed? No and no and not at all. My in laws are immigrants from Belgium and every thanksgiving the go on about how coming here was the best thing they ever did, and how awful Belgium is, and how awful it was back when they finally left it. They talk about the weird entrenched class system they left and how when they came here his new boss had a Cadillac...and so did the Janitor. Apparently that was not done in Belgium, you couldn't have nicer things than your superiors. 3. How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I think most Americans have never even considered that question. Why should they? We live on our own little continent, with some nice neighbors to the north and some fun neighbors to the south. Europe is....over there So yeah, that probably does come off as arrogant and self-absorbed. 4. Where else have you been in the world? Canada (most of the provinces), England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, East Germany (when that was a thing),Yugoslavia (when that was a thing), Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Czechoslovakia (when that was a thing), Hungary, Austria, Italy, India, Nepal. I may be missing a few, but i think that's it. 5. What is great about being American? Besides the hamburgers, cars, and guns? Everything? They say the American Dream is dead, but I'm of the opinion that there are many dreams and many ways to achieve it. Can we, as Americans, do better by our own citizens? Absolutely. And I think with passionate people (like the ones in this thread) we can and will do better. As Americans we have that option to dynamically change things, through activism or through more humble means. We don't have centuries of custom or caste or class we have to cut through first, we can just do it. 6. What was the last meal you had? In detail please It was a really boring Wednesday meal  It was sliced chicken on a toasted kaiser bun with a little buffalo wing sauce spread on. I had three little godiva chocolate hearts for dessert and I drank ice water.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 05:08
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OP the actual greatest thing about being american is the ubiquity of garbage disposals in sinks, those things ownKiss Kiss Bang Bang posted:
America literally has centuries of all of those things
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Feb 2, 2017 05:56
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:OP the actual greatest thing about being american is the ubiquity of garbage disposals in sinks, those things own Having never seen one of those in real life, they seem like a really weird idea to me. I'm assuming that they don't actually work like in movies/TV and turn your sink into a deathtrap, but what are they for? What are you putting down your sink that needs to be mulched?
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Feb 2, 2017 06:37
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Tiggum posted:Having never seen one of those in real life, they seem like a really weird idea to me. I'm assuming that they don't actually work like in movies/TV and turn your sink into a deathtrap, but what are they for? What are you putting down your sink that needs to be mulched? Mostly it's for when you're washing stuff, as it atomises small chunks of food etc. that normally couldn't go down the drain it totally will gently caress up your hand if you stick it in there and then turn the disposal on, but that's a pretty straightforward thing to avoid doing in my experience
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Feb 2, 2017 06:51
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang posted:2. How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? Kinda this. Everyone from a universal/single-payer country looks at us and is like "how the hell do you not wake up terrified everyday?" But the truth is, most folks have some kind of coverage, and it's more about just understanding how to budget for what's not covered. That said, it's become increasingly lovely over the last few decades, with costs going up and up, and the bureaucracy of trying to get claims paid out by insurance increasingly frustrating. I feel that this is mostly because 1) the government has essentially mandated that larger employers provide insurance coverage, taking away consumer choice and making insurers the clients of employers and hospitals, and not patients. And 2) Trying to shoe-horn in universal healthcare features into our private system, so we end up with a lovely hybrid of all that is bad in both systems. Single payer may very well be more efficient than the current byzantine mess that is healthcare in the US, but I'd much rather see things go back to the decentralized system we used to have.
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Feb 2, 2017 13:40
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Moved to Munich several months ago, in the states I've lived in the SF bay area, Utah, NYC (for a couple months), Alabama, and Seattle. Good: Everyone knows that transit is way better in Europe than (almost all of) America, but what I really like is that it's also vastly more walk-friendly. The streets are narrower, there are pedestrian islands at larger intersections, lots of little random walk paths/trails, lots of random little pedestrian plazas, and of course more mixed-use development means more things within easy walking distance. In the US, most streets if you're walking around it's pretty clear that you're a second-class citizen at best, with street design that's at best mostly indifferent and frequently outright hostile to walking. I also like that kids are more independent here. American parents shelter/helicopter around their kids a lot, and this tends to be more true the more affluent you are. You see a lot more German kids by themselves walking/biking/bussing around for a given age group compared to the states. Of course, the fact that they can walk around without the threat of imminent death hanging over their shoulder constantly helps a lot. Bad: Eating out here mostly sucks compared to the states though. More 'formal' sit-down restaurants aren't too different, but there are way, way fewer fast food or fast casual or casual sit-down places here, and the variety seems less. The number of places that are still cash-only or don't accept credit cards is obnoxious. I was using AldiTalk (an MVNO) for a while as my cell provider, and in order to refill online, you can't use a credit card, you have to use a bank account transfer system, which means they must first mail a real piece of paper to your house in order to confirm your address before you can do any refilling. Really the theme here is that a lot of little random consumer-y thing are less convenient in Germany compared to the US. I'm still enjoying my time though.
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Feb 2, 2017 15:31
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quote:How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I live in Atlanta, about a mile from downtown. Metro Atlanta has 5.7 million people in it, the 9th most populous metro area in the United States. The state of Georgia has 10.2 million people in it, the 8th most populous state in the United States. The country of Sweden has 10 million people in it. I consider that and go from there. (edit: This is not a judgment statement. And the concept of scale with countries larger than the US is not lost on me.)
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Feb 2, 2017 23:12
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Tony Montana posted:oh wow Are there really guns like loving everywhere? People walk around with handguns and poo poo? That can't be real. I never saw people walking around with guns but learned my brother suddenly is a conservative Christian gun owner worried about Hillary takin' his guns away (pre-election). Surprised me to no end. Even my mom, up there in age, has been going to a gun range. WTF. Times they are a'changin'. How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? Do you cringe when people stand up and say poo poo like 'the greatest country on earth!!'? Do you find it unbearably arrogant and self-absorbed? I don't understand why the US has such lovely health care. It's not true that everyone can afford it and those poor folks slipping through the cracks will literally die and/or go bankrupt. Yes, it's selfish and arrogant to not want to help out a brother in need. In Canada, I have never experienced a delay in health care and have been really impressed with my doctor and hospital's network of staff, expertise, and technology. How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I think moving away from the US and looking back gave me a totally different perspective of the country. 1. Lots more gun and other violence. 2. A seemingly large population of people who like the three G's: God, guns, and gold. Seriously, they scare me to poo poo. 3. The US is currently a laughing stock due to Trump, but on the other hand I went to the Woman's March and was equally impressed with the resistance. Where else have you been in the world? (this is a direct question to whoever answers my questions). Mexico and Ireland. Mexico was a tequila-filled romp, and kind of scary, but I really loved Ireland. What is great about being American? In my view, there's just a nostalgia of what it could be like, not what it is. When I think of the pure innocence of childhood, I realize what I didn't know then--a very enjoyable time of life was naive, and there were big things surrounding me (which we had begun to progress out of when I became an adult, like the need for more civil liberties and environmental regulations). Now the country is going backward again. That America doesn't seem to recognize freedoms and liberties for all anymore. Whereas Canada (though not at all perfect, particularly with its residence schools and Harper's crap and not moving away from oil sands) seems to represent more freedoms overall than the kind you think America is supposed to. America seems poor and gang-ridden and full of people who are anti-science. It seems fake and blingy, with people who fall looking for an American Dream which is full of materialistic crap. Gimmicky. I mean, obviously that isn't true of the whole country but that stereotype was big enough to elect Trump--I really don't look forward to traveling there in the future, tbh. The one thing I really miss, though, is the old architecture and loving front porches. I live in Vancouver, BC, and only some older houses in the city have them. Everything else seems so bland here. I like sitting on front porches in front of a grassy yard sipping iced tea or mint juleps and waving to neighbors or just having them over. I guess it's just the oldness of the more eastern parts of North America compared to the newer west coast buildings. I miss red brick, I miss pretty woodworking in pubs. Also, there is a lack of genuine friendliness where I live, but I think Vancouver, BC, is known for that. The US seems friendlier overall, and it helps build some strange sense of cultural unity, though I am not sure how the country's current divisive attitudes affect that unity found at random times. I remember having wonderful talks with strangers from more progressive areas in Indianapolis (Broad Ripple) and Chicago. I experienced the same kind of old architecture and friendliness in Irish pubs on the western Atlantic as well. What was the last meal you had? In detail please. P&J. Thanks!
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Feb 3, 2017 00:44
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Goon from Illinois here, I grew up in a suburb about 30 minutes from the heart of Chicago, but have lived in Chicago for the past 6ish years. Like others have said, there's a very small town/rural vs urban culture thing. People from the city (and closer suburbs) view people from the rest of the state as hillbilly scum (ok maybe nicer than that but you get it). Chicago is liberal, with the good and bad that comes along with that, and the rest of the state is conservative. Being a major hub in the center of the country has given us an interesting culture, it feels like everyone in the US has at some point lived here. Great food of all kinds, something that I will definitely miss if I move elsewhere (obviously larger cities like New York would be similar). People on the street do not say hi and such, much like other major US cities, but people are (typically) not outright rude, more thoughtless than anything. Our public transit is pretty loving good, the "L" (elevated rail system) runs throughout the city and is pretty decent considering the state of a lot of other public trans systems, and the bus system covers what the L doesn't. I still hate that how expensive it is, especially when I could rent the same apartment 20 minutes away for 400-600 less a month, but it is what it is. Racism has been brought up a few times, Chicago is an interesting place regarding this topic and I figure I'll touch on it from my perspective. I come from an upper middle-class white family and am engaged to the love of my life who happens to be half black, half native-american, and a quarter crazy  . Racism is still very prevalent even in, perhaps especially in, a place like Chicago. I grew up around a lot of casual and not-so-casual racism, my father is a farm boy from Pennsylvania and had/has a mentality as such, though he has gotten a bit better with age, and I'm sure the fact that my SO is black has helped. Growing up around it made me desensitized to it until I hit college and started dating my now fiancee and I really started paying attention to and noticing it. It's just ingrained in people and they don't even realize they do it most of the time, but often casual conversation can really become infuriating with people because of how nonchalantly they will drop racist as gently caress poo poo. There is definitely a large divide, police will target black communities/people much harder, as will the justice system. I know my fiancee has lost out on job opportunities or been looked down on because of her race and it's disgusting, she has a loving masters degree and I never finished college, but people have never* looked at me funny. I've stopped speaking to people (sometimes walking away mid-conversation) more times than I'd care to count because of all of this and honestly I have no problem doing it because gently caress Them.I work in IT, after dropping out of college (drugs, sex, rock and roll, and not really liking school) I worked for my father who had purchased a construction company. The company did not do well, I had always been a hobbyist with computers, so I figured why not turn something I like into a job? Stupid. loving. Move. This is probably the career where I will make the most money considering my lack of a degree, but god drat I should not have turned my hobby into a job. I also run into people from Chicago LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. Every time I've been to a foreign country I've ended up talking to people from Chicago. Also, apparently everyone can point out a Chicagoan as soon as we start talking, my "accent" isn't even very heavy but I always get called out. --Are there really guns like loving everywhere? People walk around with handguns and poo poo? That can't be real. Yes and no? A lot of people are gun owners, illinois just passed a conceal carry law so people can legally carry handguns (provided they get the license obviously). I've been around guns all my life, as I said, my father was a farm boy, so I've been shooting since I was ~8 years old. There is nothing wrong with guns, I love going out and target/clay shooting and even have done a little local competitive shooting. I do NOT want to ever use a gun against someone. Always treat a gun as if it were loaded and never point a gun at something unless you want it to die. If someone ever pulled a gun on me, I would beat them to death with it if they didn't kill me first. quote:What states have open carry gun laws? --How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? This is a tough question, most people can get health insurance through their work or get social assistance. My fiancee was on government health insurance before obama care, but it was state run. I feel like our bureaucracy is too hosed to really have a stable functioning NHS, but do I dream of a day where everyone can just walk into a hospital, get helped immediately no matter what they look like and never have to worry about paying? Yes, but you can (kindof) do that already. Get admitted to the ER and then don't pay the bill, all hospitals have it built into their budget that some people just won't be able to pay and the reality is you can't get water from a rock. Healthcare in the US is really hosed and it depresses the gently caress out of me that people are suffering right now because of it. The government needs to step in to do something, but I'm not sure they would do it right nor am I sure of the massive scope of everything that needs to be done. --Do you cringe when people stand up and say poo poo like 'the greatest country on earth!!'? Do you find it unbearably arrogant and self-absorbed? Sort of, it's good to have pride, but other countries are great too. I've been fortunate and had the ability to travel because both of my parents worked for airlines so flying was (essentially) free until I was 24, so I realize that the rest of the world is not some hellish landscape. Even places that are can also be nice. --How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I hope that other countries realize that not everyone here is the same and, just like we shouldn't stereotype you, you shouldn't stereotype us. As far as political type stuff? I'm sure everyone is loving sick of us and with good reason. --Where else have you been in the world? (this is a direct question to whoever answers my questions) Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Japan, China, Canada, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, England, Romania (holy poo poo Romanian women!), and Germany. Most places I've visited we have hit multiple cities. Weird fact: When we were in England, some nice chap squeezed in enough so we (my family) could get on the Underground, thank goodness he did, because the next train was bombed (supposedly) by the IRA. --What is great about being American? This is a weird question and I don't really know how to answer it. The American Dream is not dead, but I don't think the overall idea of the American Dream is strictly American. Everyone wants Freedom, and by that I mean, freedom to not have to worry about where the next meal comes from, freedom to not have to work 80 hour weeks just to provide, freedom of speech etc etc. --What was the last meal you had? In detail please We had to order food because our stove is broken and we have no grill It was a steak burrito, taco and Real coke. Aka "Mexican" coke which uses real sugar instead of the garbage syrup and tastes way better. Not sure if it is actually made in Mexico or not because I don't care where it's from it tastes way better. What would we have eaten had the stove not been broken? It was fiancee's night to cook but I believe we had planned some type of baked chicken, rice and vegetables. I had muffins for breakfast this morning because I was late, I do not consider that a decent meal. Sorry the original portions got a little rambly. Also I'm a a Socialist in ideology so I'm basically the devil in 'Murica! MF_James fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Feb 3, 2017 |
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Feb 3, 2017 01:25
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D.N. Nation posted:I live in Atlanta, about a mile from downtown. Yeah but also don't forget I'm in Melbourne, Australia. Population is over 4 million. That's little old Australia and that's not even our capital. Yes the scale is a thing to remember though. Particularly when I hear people generalizing about Americans I usually say something like - there is 350 million of them. There are as many people in NYC as there is in our whole country. So yes, of course they are rasict. and stupid. and whatever else you want to say, they're all that and a whole lot more too. There are so many people that there are MILLIONS of people on either side of pretty much any moral or issue you care to name. Just as there are bigots and idiots there are some of the greatest minds on Earth. You cant generalize about a population of 10 million let alone 350.
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Feb 3, 2017 01:54
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Tony Montana posted:Yeah but also don't forget I'm in Melbourne, Australia. Population is over 4 million. That's little old Australia and that's not even our capital. There's racists in Australia too! I know there's a portion of the population that hates the aborigines. I might have spell that wrong... I know you didn't say there weren't, but to the people that call us racist and bigoted and blah there are racists elsewhere in the world as well.
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Feb 3, 2017 02:55
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:None of those are really things about being American? The first in particular is much less the case in America than in other rich countries. well you do have to remember there are goons posting from places like Saudi Arabia and Thailand where there are laws that specifically state that criticism of those in power there are crimes that will result in prosecution. And other goons from and still in places like Venezuela where shortages of critical items like medicine and foods are a daily fact of life. I was just stating that one good thing was that I wasn't ever born in a place where that was a thing that I had to worry about. Hell just by being born into the USA I automatically got into the top ten percent of human life on the planet! Anyway as far as daily life goes, pretty sure we all eat sleep and poop about the same. If you'd like I do have some recipes for various 'American' foods, though aside from some things I picked up while I was in Savannah Georgia, they're mostly general.
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Feb 3, 2017 04:07
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Tony Montana posted:Are there really guns like loving everywhere? People walk around with handguns and poo poo? That can't be real. Laws about what you can carry and how you can carry it vary by place. The only place I've been where I've seen dudes walking around with holstered pistols was in the southwest. quote:How does having no healthcare as a national service reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress? I think "great country" is meant more idealistically - it's a stand-in for sentiments like we're great because we try to do good in the world, we're great because God favors us, we're great because we stand up for Liberty and the ideals of the Founding Fathers, etc. An example of what I mean is that if someone asked your question but with a different premise, like "How does having legal abortions reconcile with being a 'great country' or whatever the gently caress?", someone who doesn't have a link between the ideas of 'Christian laws' and 'great country' wouldn't be able to answer directly. They'd have to dispute the premise. quote:Do you cringe when people stand up and say poo poo like 'the greatest country on earth!!'? Do you find it unbearably arrogant and self-absorbed? I'm inclined to tacitly agree with them. Whether it's awkward or not depends on the setting -- if I come across Very Patriotic Talk randomly in public, I tend to think the speaker is selling something. But it's fine with me if I'm, say, in a bar watching a game and someone is so moved by the grace and skill of our athletes (and alcohol) as to praise America. I can see how foreigners might find it distasteful to talk about, though. quote:How do you perceive the rest of the world sees you? I hope they think we're generous people who like to help others in need, or that we're people who like adventure, or people who strive for a good life. I'm sure there are lots of ugly American stereotypes, though - that we're unsophisticated, obsessed with money and/or religion, prone to violence, fat, arrogant, etc. quote:Where else have you been in the world? (this is a direct question to whoever answers my questions) I grew up in Washington DC, I currently live on the West Coast, and I've been most everywhere in the continental US except some of the midwest. Internationally I've been to Japan and South Korea, as well as Canada and Mexico. quote:What is great about being American? The country's huge, with a great variety of very different places. There's room to accommodate a vast number of ways of living and a political system that, at least in aspiration, can establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare of all of them. Also it's pretty great that our founding documents are actually documents and that reading and arguing about what they mean is a part of our culture. quote:What was the last meal you had? In detail please Two English muffins with butter and lingonberry jam. Some water to drink.
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Feb 3, 2017 07:31
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I don't have personal experience, but my family hosts exchange students from around the world and I have vicarious experience through them. I don't know what country you're in but most recently we've had a Chinese teen (16) from Bejing. The cultural things he's had to get used to in my area (the Southeast) is that you look people in the eyes when you speak with them (even when eating), it's okay to walk beside people (even if they're your "elder"), handshakes are firm, and if you want something it's perfectly okay to say so. I've never been to Bejing but it must be horribly polluted, he expresses amazement every day about the blue sky and the fact that you can see stars at night. He also says he can breath better here. Family meals at the table are normal in my family and he tried to avoid them at first, but after a year or so he's the most vocal talker (good thing) at the table. Guns were a little scary to him at first, but after a couple of classes and trips to the range he got very ok with them, same with driving. He expressed amazement at how Americans actually obey all the traffic signs/laws and everything moves very smoothly. A funny side note: He really thought that Americans eat hamburgers every day when he first arrived. *fake edit* He had a minor breakdown about "racism" after a few months, but that was (I think) more of a Chinese thing. I think being a "foreigner" in China is seen as a negative thing. And one thing about people here is they are EXTREMELY curious and he was getting peppered with statements (Welcome to America! We're so glad you're visiting! etc) and questions (What do you eat in China? What is the weather like in China? etc) which he perceived as people pointing out that he was a foreigner all the time. He said it was racism, I explained that it was just normal human behavior to be curious, he got over it.
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Feb 3, 2017 16:10
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CharlesM posted:Also he was trying to say "hi" to people walking down the street. I think this is a thing in low-population states. People did this to me when I lived in Idaho and it took me a long time to figure out that they weren't looking to beg from me, rob me, or sell me something.
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Feb 5, 2017 23:42
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I think this is a thing in low-population states. People did this to me when I lived in Idaho and it took me a long time to figure out that they weren't looking to beg from me, rob me, or sell me something.
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Feb 6, 2017 04:05
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I'm curious about how much of a language barrier regional US dialects represents, and whether any US dialects come across as wholly or largely incomprehensible to you as native American English speakers. My perspective is coming from a small country that has local dialects that vary to such a degree that I can off-hand think of several that many native Danish speakers would find practically incomprehensible, but it is also sort of a running non-joke between Scandinavians that not even Danes understand Danish. Anyway, I'm wondering if I'm ignorant of heavy US dialects, or whether you can actually understand pretty much anyone that speaks American English regardless of dialect. I realize that there are many distinct dialects, but nothing springs to mind to me as being comparably difficulty to understand as something like the English scouse or cockney dialects. If people have examples of strong, regional dialects that they would think that other US citizens would have a hard time understanding, then I'd definitely like to hear clips and examples of those.
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Feb 8, 2017 01:51
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Most of the issues arise from peoples varying accents and various levels of mushmouth, otherwise American English is American English. Some words are more in use in a certain region versus another, and you occasionally run into places where they created a few of their own words (or different meaning of the same word), but I could hold a conversation with someone from anywhere in the US provided I can actually understand the words that are coming out of their mouths. I could be wrong, but I've been to 10 or so different states and other than local accents, it's pretty much the same poo poo.
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Feb 8, 2017 02:02
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A weird consistent thing seems to be Americans have trouble understanding pretty much anyone that isn't an American. You'll see subtitles under English productions (as in produced in England). Any thick accent needs subtitles. But that's surely just a by-product of how inward facing many Americans are, it was pretty much said in this thread and there was no apology about it. Anyway, I heard this today and it's stuck with me. A GREAT SOCIETY is NOT one where it is easy to get a gun and hard to get healthcare.
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Feb 8, 2017 02:34
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Neito posted:I can't really think of any non-Dunkin Donuts foods that I'd really call "Boston-y", except for my habit of eating hot dogs with celery salt, which is more of an RI thing.
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Feb 8, 2017 02:43
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Tony Montana posted:A weird consistent thing seems to be Americans have trouble understanding pretty much anyone that isn't an American. It's not hard to get healthcare, you just need a job (typically jobs will provide healthcare) or to apply for financial assistance, but what do I know, I only live here and my fiancee was on government healthcare before obamacare came around (she's not a vet or disabled in any way). I have never seen subtitles under any English production other than Snatch when Brad Pitt is speaking as a gypsy because gently caress, no one understands him. I don't know where you get the subtitles under everything because hurr durr murica can't understand yeeouuuu, but I'm sure you know more about these things than I do.
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Feb 8, 2017 03:22
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Grandmother of Five posted:I'm curious about how much of a language barrier regional US dialects represents, and whether any US dialects come across as wholly or largely incomprehensible to you as native American English speakers. the most extreme american accents may be difficult to understand but this is going to be almost entirely due to odd idioms and slang. in the last 40 years all american accents have been melting back together into a common accent anyway. america is a very young nation so we've had, at most, four centuries of linguistic drift probably one of the most well known and harder to understand american accents is upland appalachian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03iwAY4KlIU also i remember a lot of non-americans struggling heavily with the african american inner city accent (which is going to vary somewhat by city) that was featured authentically on the show the wire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8zavPW3Bus but mostly if any american wants to be understood they'll code switch and try to speak without an accent boner confessor fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Feb 8, 2017 |
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Feb 8, 2017 03:32
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It's on shows that come from the US. I can find examples but I think anyone that isn't American knows exactly what I'm talking about. It's not hard to get healthcare, you just need a job first - An American I don't want to turn this into a slinging match, but the reason I wrote the line above is because it's a window in 'What it is to live in the US'. How a society cares for it's least fortunate, those that can't get a 'job' in the traditional sense - it's it's true measure. The fact that the Donald Trumps of America are comfortable has never been the question, it's what about the people dying/starving on the street? Tony Montana fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Feb 8, 2017 |
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Feb 8, 2017 03:33
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Yeah, ditto on not really seeing subtitles for native English speakers. Maybe if it's a particularly heavy Scottish/Australian/Irish accent, or non-native like an (again, particularly heavy) Indian accent or something, but in general most Anglophones go without subtitles. As for Intra-US accents and dialects, most folks can understand each other bust you certainly have some heavy accents from the locals that can get tricky. Like some deep Appalachian accents, rural Maine, and of course, the South, Creole being an obvious example .
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Feb 8, 2017 03:34
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Tony Montana posted:I don't want to turn this into a slinging match, but the reason I wrote the line above is because it's a window in 'What it is to live in the US'. How a society cares for it's least fortunate, those that can't get a 'job' in the traditional sense - it's it's true measure. The fact that the Donald Trumps of America are comfortable has never been the question, it's what about the people dying/starving on the street? you're right, it's ridiculous and not very easy to get healthcare. i mean, it's easy if you're middle class and have middle class expectations but i know plenty of people who go without healthcare, have chronic health problems, etc. it's one of the worst tragedies of america that we tied healthcare to employment, because that only benefits people who could already pay for it themselves while also giving extra leverage to employers
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Feb 8, 2017 03:39
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Yeah but it goes on. The reasons Americans think they way they do about healthcare, from what I've been able to see, is something about socialism and perhaps it's roots in communism. It's a genuine belief in some Animal Farm logic, where people are corruptible and if you give them power over others nothing else can happen other than inefficiency and corruption. It's a key defining point, the idea that the free market is somehow 'fairer' or more just than a government department. I just find that completely ludicrous. The entire mandate of a private company is to make profit, there is no mistaking that. A private company always has to pay it's shareholders first and then it's employees and society can fit in somewhere down the bottom or wherever it's convenient to us. If you think CSR (corporate social responsibility) is a real thing and a solution to government owned services, then you are stupid and don't know what the gently caress you're talking about. If you've ever been on the inside of corporate CSR programs you will learn the intention is to appear to do good, get the most goodwill for the dollar as opposed to actually championing societal change. For the country that goes on endlessly about democracy (there is a political party named after it, in Australia it's just Liberal and Labour and that's it. They do what you'd think they do, Liberal is smart people with degrees pushing for more private ownership and Labour is government handouts and strikes and basically lower-class rubbish, you can probably guess which side I am on) how can your government entities not be accountable and transparent enough so you can trust them to do the things you cannot effectively do privately? Healthcare and Education. These things should not be private. Dollars and financial bottom lines are not the outputs of these critical societal structures. You cannot assess them as you assess a for-profit company like a trader about to buy stock. Healthcare and Education are cost centers that provide non-monetary benefits for society, so they should be funded by the society as a whole and held accountable directly to those people. So that's just one of the things that English and Australians look at Americans and think 'what the gently caress are they thinking' edit: or you can assess hospitals and schools on their 'bottom lines' but this produces outcomes that are not what you want! If a hospitals primary consideration is expenses over how many people it's helped, that is a lovely hospital! Exactly the same way if Doctors are more interested in their wallets than helping people, those are bad doctors and in Australia we implemented a series of interviews for med students to weed this poo poo out. Yes, you may have an amazing score and have beautiful flowing hair and an academic marvel in everywhere, but if you're arrogant dick and we perceive your 'bedside manner' is going to suck, then go an be a stock broker or something because you're not being a Doctor in Australia. Tony Montana fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Feb 8, 2017 |
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Feb 8, 2017 04:00
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Tony Montana posted:It's on shows that come from the US. I can find examples but I think anyone that isn't American knows exactly what I'm talking about. I can't think of any off the top of my head, unless it involves regional dialect that we would not have bewn exposed to. Can you link something? Edit: I vaguely recall some reality television that may have used subs on American regional accents that are strong. Perhapsn on "Moonshiners" or the like, but I honestly think that was for effect anyway. In the Appalachian English video there were maybe 2 or 3 words that I couldn't guess just from context or prior knowledge and I had no trouble with understanding rhe sylables despite not knowing anyone from there and never having been there or anywhere really close. I am sure there are people who wouldn't talk to them that aee dar enough up in the hills that they may habe a pretty isolated dialect that I wouldn't understand but that would be rare these days. Creole or deep south inner city are your best bets for nonintelligible dialects but southern rap music has spread enough of the latter that a lot of people can understand that as well. therobit fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Feb 8, 2017 |
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Feb 8, 2017 04:49
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Sure, Ill find some examples and get back to you.
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Feb 8, 2017 04:56
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Tony Montana posted:in Australia it's just Liberal and Labour and that's it. They do what you'd think they do, Liberal is smart people with degrees pushing for more private ownership and Labour is government handouts and strikes and basically lower-class rubbish, you can probably guess which side I am on) Also, given the current makeup of federal parliament, it's pretty misleading to say that it's "just Liberal and Labor and that's it". Also, to Americans, "liberal" generally means social liberalism, whereas in Australia it usually means economic liberalism, so there's often some confusion there (especially when people assume that different countries have basically the same political parties under different names, eg. Democrats=Labor, Republicans=Liberal, which really isn't true).
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Feb 8, 2017 05:32
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Grandmother of Five posted:I'm curious about how much of a language barrier regional US dialects represents, and whether any US dialects come across as wholly or largely incomprehensible to you as native American English speakers. Free movement, modern transportation infrastructure and nationalism were solidly built into the American experience. We didn't have a Middle Ages (well, we did, but we genocided all those groups) so our regional dialects cover a much larger area. Mass Media and general population movements post-WWII also basically eliminated seriously hard-to-understand dialects. For example Boontling would be incredibly hard to understand, but it has less than 100 speakers. Gullah is another dialect that is really hard to understand. At a quarter million speakers, it's one of the larger "semi-unintelligible" dialects but similar to African American Vernacular English modern Gullah speakers can always understand General American and can usually code switch so as to likewise be understood. Some truly isolated local communities don't speak English or, in the case of certain parts of Appalachia, speak a sufficiently archaic form of English so as to be essentially a different language, but those are rare exceptions. If you are having a hard time understanding someone, it's probably because they speak English as a Second Language and don't speak it very well because they are an immigrant or from a recent but isolated immigrant community. As opposed to being from what used to be the Feudal demesne far enough away that theoretically spoke the same language nobody would have spoken to each other until sometime after 1650 but never bothered to linguistically unify for . . . various historical reasons.
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Feb 8, 2017 07:05
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Tiggum posted:Are you the Australian version of Jastiger? Is your reference American? I am not American. See, assuming someone is going to know what you're talking about because it's AMERICAN and what else is there? is some really classic American stereotypical poo poo. I have no idea who Jastiger is, perhaps that's a reference from your culture and your culture isn't my culture. Some of it is, plenty of it is not. Anyway anyone saying that there isn't two real political parties in Australia isn't being truthful. Just the same as the US, vote for the Greens, vote for some random party that's going grab a couple of seats, but the race is between two. Just as in the US. No I meant Labour is labour, as in imagine physical labour. Imagine dockworkers and unions and all that poo poo. Labour is the party that wants more money for schools but aint so hot on the details on where to spend it. Labour famously decided Australia should have the NBN, which is fibre to everyone's doorstep. Which is a loving ridiculous and stupid idea and that is a lot of the reason it's still not done. Look worldwide, nobody else does this poo poo. It's a bunch of professional bullshitters playing at being in charge. Liberal on the other hand would encompass much of the IT profession (we negotiate our own salaries, get that loving union away from me, etc) and the Liberal plan was a mix of technologies, wireless, fiber and others used in the most effective way. But hey, fibre for everyone right?! Who cares what it costs?! Yes. These are stupid people.
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Feb 8, 2017 07:32
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Tony Montana posted:Is your reference American? I am not American. See, assuming someone is going to know what you're talking about because it's AMERICAN and what else is there? is some really classic American stereotypical poo poo. I have no idea who Jastiger is, perhaps that's a reference from your culture and your culture isn't my culture. Some of it is, plenty of it is not. Tony Montana posted:Labour Tony Montana posted:Labour is the party that wants more money for schools but aint so hot on the details on where to spend it. Labour famously decided Australia should have the NBN, which is fibre to everyone's doorstep. Which is a loving ridiculous and stupid idea and that is a lot of the reason it's still not done. Look worldwide, nobody else does this poo poo. It's a bunch of professional bullshitters playing at being in charge. Liberal on the other hand would encompass much of the IT profession (we negotiate our own salaries, get that loving union away from me, etc) and the Liberal plan was a mix of technologies, wireless, fiber and others used in the most effective way. 
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Feb 8, 2017 07:56
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gently caress, it is spelt like that. Well there you go, they can't even spell their name right. In this country its with a U and adopting an overseas spelling is.. typical. Whatever, go away. Either talk to the Americans about being American or just gently caress off, because I don't want to talk to you. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Feb 8, 2017 08:14
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Only Tony Montana could manage to poo poo up a "Tell me about living in the US" thread with angry Australian politics posting, it's kind of magical.
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Feb 8, 2017 08:22
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What is this, a fan club? Can you stupid faggots just shut the gently caress up and actually address the topic at hand?
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Feb 8, 2017 08:25
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