You don’t lose when you lose fake friends!
Awful! 
IIRC, Victorville is high desert, and it’s also Hot Hot Hot.
There are a lot of German ex-pats in Victorville. Many came all that way to shop at The Upland German Deli on Foothill Blvd (AKA Route 66) when I worked there. It was owned by a lovely Bavarian and Swiss couple I soon came to call Tante Inga and Oncle Willi.
ETA:
I’m V glad to see the anarchy and silliness was continued by the next owners who took over!
A fake friend is worth even less than a faithless lover. Less than nothing, as the French say.
Yeah, none of those things describe me.
I mean, yeah?
It seems generally accepted that “America” is shorthand for “the US” versus someone saying they are Canadian or Mexican or whatever. What I think is more of an American trait is to go hyper-specific with, “I’m from East Bumblefuck” as if someone would know where that is.
This one is a hard disagree. I’ve found the honesty and directness of people in many European countries to be refreshing. Maybe Americans from some regions will typically be more assertive (mid Atlantic especially), but all too many Americans tend to be pretty wishy washy.
You’ll have wildly differing experiences across different European countries with cash vs card, so on its face I’m not sure that this is unreasonable. Last time I was in Sweden, pretty much everywhere was cashless (I got about $100 US equivalent at the airport forex as “walking around money” and it took me almost a week to spend all of it). It can usually help to do this kind of research in advance to know if the place you’re going tends to be more cash or card-forward.
I am not sure I understand why this is considered American-specific behavior.
How can you tell whan a German at a party is bored, tired, and just wants to go home? He’ll say “I’m bored, I’m tired, and I want to go home”
I grew up in North Carolina (hi @anon77190095 !) but I left when I was 18 and have lived in Chicago and SE Wisconsin for over 30 years now. Several years back I visited Surf City, NC in January and was very comfortable in short sleeves, while my mother was wearing her Winter coat.
I know geography is basically a human/cultural construct but it takes a pretty twisted brain to look at a map and declare that the Americas are one continent but Eurasia is two.
My mileage definitely does vary – I was born and raised in the US, but I have lived in France for over a decade, and Belgium for half a decade before that. Many people have certainly correctly identified my accent as American, but it’s quite common for me to be identified as British, Spanish, or Italian, regardless of whether I’m speaking English, French, or Dutch. Twice I have even had Italians insist that I speak to them in Italian, and when I told them I don’t speak the language they have loudly berated me for denying my heritage (I have exactly zero Italian heritage as far as I am aware).
In my experience, that is mostly untrue. In France, restaurants are legally obliged to provide free tap water unless they post a sign to the contrary, and in over a decade living here I have never seen such a sign. And when you ask for it, the glasses they bring you are often small, as depicted online, but they leave a bottle of a liter or more on the table (not often depicted online) and refill it whenever it is empty. In Paris and many other cities, there are plenty of free public water fountains, but tourists often seem to be unaware or untrusting of them. Locals are usually not spending their days seeing all the sights and get water at home or at the office, thus no need to drag around a water bottle the size of their heads.
There are differences between countries, of course, but I have not found it difficult to get free tap water in most of Europe. When I lived in Belgium, I often ordered bottled water just because the tap water where I lived was so hard, and I used a filter at home. And in tourist areas anywhere there are obviously places that will take advantage and try to force you to buy water.
Watched a yt vid by an ex-pat (Canadian? Brit? Yankistani? Can’t recall which) who’d moved to The Netherlands. The topic was, “Are the Dutch Rude?”
She gave some good examples. Her friends and coworkers would beg off from going to a party by calling the host/ess & saying, “I really don’t feel like making the effort,” or even simply, “I don’t feel like it.” Most Yankistanis I’ve known would have used some lie as an excuse - a headache, sick kid, etc.
She’d asked a friend to pick her up when she would be out and about the next day. Her friend thought about it, and said, “No, I don’t think I will. It’s x km out of my way, and then it’s x more to take you back home. I don’t want to do that.” The Yankis I know would have been more diplomatic, and would have added somewhere in their excuse that they’d “love to hang with you tomorrow, but…”
Sounded to me like such directness could be interpreted as rudeness by outsiders. I also thought some of her examples were just hysterical.
- Cargo shorts. Cargo pants. With a lot of stuff in the pockets.
- Total absence of leather (or leatherette) cross-body bag, if a man.
- One of these western belts made of tooled leather:
24. Yoga pants in a place where the wearer and/or people near the wearer are not doing yoga.
Mom and I got matching khaki/beige cotton hunters’/fishers’ vests, with shitloads of pockets. We took them to Jamaica. We esp loved having them during long horseback trail rides. Smol kleenex pack, a bandana, smokes, lighter, smoke, spare lighter, rolling papers, a handful of band-aids, aspirin, hand sanitizer, snacks, something treat-y for the horse, sunglasses when they weren’t being worn, etc etc
We loved them, and so did the guides and grooms.
“Wheere yu get dat, Miss?” they asked us.
Maybe confirmation bias here but…
Seeking out other Americans and asking where they’re from.
Why am I supposed to care if locals can tell I’m an American? They can try to overcharge me, take me on extra long taxi rides and otherwise fleece me perhaps. They can look at me with disdain and tell me how America is the cause of the world’s troubles. I am there, giving them money. Am I supposed to feel ashamed? I can tell European tourists by the way they smoke, and, all too often smell. It’s either been way too long since the last shower or an attempt to perfume the world with rose water. Is wanting ice in a drink really that objectionable? At least they left “they’re all fat” off of this list.
You could use CONUS when OCONUS if you want to sound like a somewhat jumpy fed about it; and aren’t from one of the detached states.
Dear readers - please enjoy this list of silly ways to feel even more self-conscious when you travel!
Probably from Uniqlo, or Muji.
Try ebay and amazOMG. I see some great clothes for good prices at both joints.
