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Topic: Americans vs. Everyone Else (A Challenge)
Ɔʎɹɐx's photo
Mon 10/20/14 12:18 PM
i have never encountered American ethnocentrism so far , neither here nor in the other forum ( which has less Americans and much more international members )

Ɔʎɹɐx's photo
Mon 10/20/14 12:26 PM
by the way , this forum doesn't represent the real proportion of the members in the site , where you may find hundreds of international members online , only few ( less than 10 ) participate regularly in the threads .

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 12:47 PM
I thought America goes to war everywhere to make it easier to teach the kids geography:smile:

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 01:37 PM


I thought America goes to war everywhere to make it easier to teach the kids geography:smile:


Yeah, could trace that back to English ancestry. And besides, it's really not too much different now, the British, the French and the Americans, war everywhere.

yep, I actually do agree, but my comment was meant in jest.

Besides that, if us Brits didn't join America in most wars, who else would you lot use for target practice.
You take the expression 'friendly fire' to the extreme.

karmafury's photo
Mon 10/20/14 01:47 PM
Besides that, if us Brits didn't join America in most wars, who else would you lot use for target practice.
You take the expression 'friendly fire' to the extreme.


Canadians seem to make good targets as well.

However back to the OP. On a site.. not that I can remember. In life... hell yeah.

uche9aa's photo
Mon 10/20/14 01:54 PM
Edited by uche9aa on Mon 10/20/14 02:15 PM
Well,someone must set the pace,the standard(leadership).Its entirely something else whether the one that sets the standard has sinister motives or not

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 01:55 PM
One thing that annoys me, and it's trivial I know, but the way you are basically TOLD, yes TOLD in capitals, to give waiters and waitresses either 15 or 20% tip.
I mean WTF is all that about.

I can be quite charming at times so I reckon I would make an absolute fortunenoway

Conrad_73's photo
Mon 10/20/14 01:58 PM
Edited by Conrad_73 on Mon 10/20/14 02:10 PM

Well,someone must set the pace,the standard(leadership).Its entirely something else whether the standard setter has sinister motives or not


only place they exist is in your head,lighten up Man,none of us get out alive!

rofl rofl rofl whoa whoa whoa

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 02:01 PM

One thing that annoys me, and it's trivial I know, but the way you are basically TOLD, yes TOLD in capitals, to give waiters and waitresses either 15 or 20% tip.
I mean WTF is all that about.

I can be quite charming at times so I reckon I would make an absolute fortunenoway

offtopic
i guarantee i guarantee that you can stand up for your right not to tip at every restaurant by cooking dinner at home

(bulldog double guarantee - patent pending)


no photo
Mon 10/20/14 02:09 PM
Edited by funkyfranky on Mon 10/20/14 02:13 PM

although i'm an american, i think our refusal to adopt the metric system for weights and measurements, is the height of arrogant ignorance....

hence the saying, give them an inch and they'll take a mileohwell

get it, inch, mile, metric, oh forget it

Argo's photo
Mon 10/20/14 02:09 PM
although i'm an american, i think our refusal to adopt the metric system for weights and measurements, is the height of arrogant ignorance....

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 02:30 PM


One thing that annoys me, and it's trivial I know, but the way you are basically TOLD, yes TOLD in capitals, to give waiters and waitresses either 15 or 20% tip.
I mean WTF is all that about.

I can be quite charming at times so I reckon I would make an absolute fortunenoway

offtopic
i guarantee i guarantee that you can stand up for your right not to tip at every restaurant by cooking dinner at home

(bulldog double guarantee - patent pending)




hey now, I would like to ask for tips at home for cooking. bigsmile

premierblue's photo
Mon 10/20/14 02:36 PM

although i'm an american, i think our refusal to adopt the metric system for weights and measurements, is the height of arrogant ignorance....

Yep, I'll agree with you Argo on this. I'm an AmCit too. I remember when I was in engineering school in So. California we had engnrg problems using the FPS and Metric units. When I asked my profs. why this was so they said it was to prepare us engineers to easily make the transition from the FPS to the metric system! That was thirty years ago, lol!!!

michelake's photo
Mon 10/20/14 04:49 PM
Edited by michelake on Mon 10/20/14 04:58 PM
I think that people that i have met with these kind of
ideas are very few. But..i can imagine that if i would hear
assumptions from a "Tea Party" person. That i would say
that this person is ethnocentristic. Or when i would watch
the movie "Armageddon" again...yuck !sick
When i hear that Americans
still use a different metric system. Then i would not blame that
on being "American ethnocentristics". Because we do that in
Europe as well. In Germany they say "Der see" When they mean
"Lake" And "Das meer" means the sea. And that sounds to me
as a Dutch person as the opposite. But in Holland we name numbers
in the opposite way too. seventy five we would call that five and
seventy. By the way.. speaking of the world map. People would have
a different opinion about that too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall%E2%80%93Peters_projection

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 05:02 PM



I thought America goes to war everywhere to make it easier to teach the kids geography:smile:


Yeah, could trace that back to English ancestry. And besides, it's really not too much different now, the British, the French and the Americans, war everywhere.

yep, I actually do agree, but my comment was meant in jest.

Besides that, if us Brits didn't join America in most wars, who else would you lot use for target practice.
You take the expression 'friendly fire' to the extreme.


Only the best for our brothers in arms.

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 05:13 PM

One thing that annoys me, and it's trivial I know, but the way you are basically TOLD, yes TOLD in capitals, to give waiters and waitresses either 15 or 20% tip.
I mean WTF is all that about.

I can be quite charming at times so I reckon I would make an absolute fortunenoway


Well if you were to go back to the original intent, TIPS means "To Insure Prompt Service" and were given up front, not in arrears. You should try it some time, it is absolutely amusing not to mention the most absolute best in service.

But if someone does not service, nada, zero, zilch, nothing. I don't care what they claim. Read here recently that someone went to jail for refusing, I would love to have that happen - anyone want a good restaurant cheap, I'd either own the restaurant or the owner.

Anyway back to tips, in America, the wait staff are paid crap, less than minimum wage and depend on tips to make a living. The restaurant owners look upon the fact that if they had to increase the wages, the prices would be higher so they leave it to the customer to support the service.

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 05:18 PM

only place they exist is in your head,lighten up Man,none of us get out alive!

rofl rofl rofl whoa whoa whoa


I would suggest the same, it's only in your head. I would suffer from shear paranoia if it were not for the fact I'm certain they are out to get us all long before our time. How can one be paranoid when you accept the facts.

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 05:21 PM

although i'm an american, i think our refusal to adopt the metric system for weights and measurements, is the height of arrogant ignorance....


You are free to adopt it at any time you desire. I personally use it a lot as for some things it's just so much quicker and easier, especially when working with 1/16ths and 1/32nds. So much easier to use millimeter.

But as for the national system, it is what is understood by the masses. Have you ever tried to use exact change in a fast food joint? Now imagine one that can't make change and you want them to go metric? Good luck with that.

no photo
Mon 10/20/14 05:24 PM



One thing that annoys me, and it's trivial I know, but the way you are basically TOLD, yes TOLD in capitals, to give waiters and waitresses either 15 or 20% tip.
I mean WTF is all that about.

I can be quite charming at times so I reckon I would make an absolute fortunenoway

offtopic
i guarantee i guarantee that you can stand up for your right not to tip at every restaurant by cooking dinner at home

(bulldog double guarantee - patent pending)




hey now, I would like to ask for tips at home for cooking.bigsmile


Here is a basic one, don't burn the water, it is so messy.

msharmony's photo
Mon 10/20/14 06:13 PM

The Premise:

There is a comical scene in the animated movie The King and I in which Anna the British teacher is trying to give a geography lesson to the children of the King of Siam.

Anna presents a map of the world that shows the nation of Siam (now Thailand) as being one small nation among many other larger nations.

Upon seeing Anna's map, the children laugh and tell her that her map is wrong. Then they produce a map that shows Siam as one giant nation surrounded by numerous smaller nations.

Through the use of the Siamese "map", the children had been taught to believe that the Siam was the center of the universe, and, thus, Siamese standards were the standards for the entire world.

Just as those children naively believed that the entire world conformed to Siamese standards, some Americans act as if the entire world conforms to (or should conform to) American standards. Yet, the Americans who engage in such ethnocentric thinking aren't necessarily aware of what they are doing.

* * * * *

The Challenge:

I would like for non-American members of this website to tell about times when they encountered American ethnocentrism while participating on an international website.





give and take is a wonderful thing Dido

if I went to a shop in Mexico, I would expect to adapt to the Mexican culture and environment, and it would be NICE for them to make allowances for my ignorance of their culture

similarly, although the web is 'world wide' websites do have an origin where they began and were created, and I would expect that parcitular website to be more aligned with THAT envioronment and culture

if its American, non americans should be conceded their ignorance of amreica

if its non American, americans should have the same concession,,,

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