Another gramatical pet peeve!:)

[andor]

This annoys me, as does the woman who work with me that talks like:

"So I says to him 'I sees you over there. You know?'"

 

[Wasabisaurus]

It astounds me that people remain ignorant of other countries and their cultures. Doesn't the school system educate people about these things? I was taught what a "zee" is. Aren't Americans taught what a "zed" is? I should not be surprised. An American on line buddy recently asked me if I was really cold as our temperature is only 40. huh? That would be 40 Celsius. I know that the temperatures down there are imperial..why didn't this person know that the temperatures up here are in metric? It reminds me of a woman I used to work with--she didn't know what Hiroshima is. She had also never heard of the Holocaust...huh???

Was she from Mars? Never heard of the Holocaust or Hiroshima? An adult woman? If she ever made it past Grade 7, there's no excuse for that. No, Americans, for the most part, have no idea what 'zed' is. Or the metric system. I don't know why Canadian children are taught American history, language, customs, etc. but Americans are taught little if anything about Canadian customs, language, etc. The school systems don't value it or think it is needed, I guess. That is offensive. China may have surpassed Canada is its largest trading partner, (not sure) but our countries are neighbors and do a heck of a lot of business together. So it's not like there is no need for some education.

When I studied journalism, we had to abide by Canadian Press spelling, and spell neighbour and labour without the u.

An American woman (from NJ) once said me that she thought only cowboys and Indians lived in Canada. No joke.

 

[andor]

An American woman (from NJ) once said me that she thought only cowboys and Indians lived in Canada. No joke.

Did you correct her and inform her that it is Cowboys, First Nations, and people from many parts of Asia (not just Indians) that make up the quilt that is Canada?

 

[Anne & Gang]

Actually, when the Berlin Wall was coming down, my sister- in- law piped up with, "What's the Berlin Wall"? Huh??? She finished grade 12! My husband, who is functionally illiterate because of a severe learning disability, was astounded and just shook his head. Why is it that Dub knows what Hiroshima is, what the Holocaust is and can probably name the capitals of many countries, but his sister does not know? I think people just get wrapped up in their own narrow little worlds and they do not want to expand. I can deal with this lack of knowledge. I usually just explain something to the person and they may take away a little piece of knowledge. But when you try to explain to someo ne who then looks at you with that "glazed over" look - they do not want to learn anything...like their brains have shut down. My husband is an avid rock collector and quite frankly, it bores me to tears...but I still know all about them. How can you not absorb something that is going on around you?

 

[itzmered]

You would be surprised at how little a lot of very intelligent people know about history.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

The truth is Americans have become snobs when it comes to interacting with non-Americans. Most of us have a terrible superiority complex! We have been the world leader in so many things for fifty years and we just plain have beome ugly people. It is not something I am happy about and it is time we took a good look at ourselves and understand we are on the way down from our 'superiority'.

I am often embarrassed about Americans' rudeness and assumed wonderfulness. All societies have their positive and negative aspects and it is time Americans started reassessing their role in the world as partner to other peoples and not superior leader.

 

[itzmered]

Have you every travelled to Europe and experienced what they think of Americans? We encountered quite a few in France that look down their noses at Americans I also had someone in Italy call me a Stupid American! For the most part everyone we met on our travels was wonderful. I love traveling and learning about new cultures. In China they were so enthralled with the Americans that we were actually stopped several times and asked if we would pose for pictures especially my tall blonde haired blue eyed nephew

 

[Gilraen]

I think people just get wrapped up in their own narrow little worlds and they do not want to expand. I can deal with this lack of knowledge. I usually just explain something to the person and they may take away a little piece of knowledge. But when you try to explain to someo ne who then looks at you with that "glazed over" look - they do not want to learn anything...like their brains have shut down.

People sometimes wonder why I call this town "grand junk" It's simple, really. The people here are just as bad as the ones you are talking about! We've had high schoolers come in who don't know something, yet instead of taking the time to figure it out they(sadly I am NOT kidding here!) that they're not in school, so they don't have to think. We've got a video game in the lobby. It's a shooting game. One of the levels is a math level. On the screen will be the numbers 0-10, you are supposed to shoot the correct answer. On the beginner level, the equations are all addition, in advanced you get addition and subtraction and on extreme you get division and multiplication as well. NONE of the equations are double digits. It's all 1X0, 9/3, 5+4, 8-8 etc. Simple stuff. At LEAST 75% of the ADULTS in this town cannot get it. I really do, in THIS TOWN, think it is the school system. I was talking to a couple of girls shortly after I moved out here. They graduated 4 years ago, and I graduated 9 years ago. The difference between FL(which from what I heard ranks something like 48 in the school system grid) and here(CO) is crazy! When I graduated we had to have at least a 3.0. We couldn't have failed any more than a certain number of classes OR grades in general. We had to do the standardised tests and write a lot. All of our classes except the arts and phys ed required an essay of at least 1,000 words(even my internship class did.) If you missed over a certain number of days, you had to have a doctor's note, not just a parent's note excusing you. When I told the girls here that, both of them told me that they'd never have been able to graduate if they'd had that sort of requirement to be able to do so. . . .

Not to mention the schooling in general. It seems like the first time there's any issue of a budget shortage, the schools get funding cut first. I know a couple of years ago, the district was thinking of kids either going to school 4 days a week instead of 5(and keeping the same length school year) or letting them out early/getting them there later to save money. The only, ONLY reason it was shot down was because too many parents were complaining about the increase that they would have to pay with the daycares they sent their kids to. Not that they already aren't learning enough and that they will be learning even less that way. And I heard recently that the schools are thinking of cutting at least one years worth of reading classes from the curriculum. In a town where we've had people(and not just one or two, but a LOT of them) come up, stare at a sign for a few minutes and then come in to ask what it says. The boss still hasn't figured out a way to get people to understand the signs. He'll put up something simple "due to a power outage, the movie XYZ will not be playing today. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause" People don't get it. They don't understand. They'll still walk in and ask for it, then say that the sign says it is playing. We've got a sign in the lobby that says that LARGES get free refills. People come up with mediums and say "but the sign says this one gets a free refill!" even though not only did they ask for a medium, not only did they get told that the LARGE would get a free refill, but even after they read the sign, they'll say that they still get a free refill. Either we get everyone in town who is illiterate, or there are some serious problems out there. And yet when I've told people that if I ever had kids I would be home schooling them, they tend to say that I'd be making my kids dumb by doing so.

 

[deee]

Ok here is one I hear from my daughter constantly!! She says... *Mom.. itch my back please*? WHAT?? how do you itch somones back?
Dont you scratch somones back? I mean you scratch and itch....... how do you itch an itch?? drives me caahhhrazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!( I know caahhrazy isnt a word but you get my point!) lol

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I have never had the financial means to travel even to Canada or Mexico, so I have never been out of the country. I have no doubt there are poor opinions about Americans in other countries; and I am certain a lot of them are rightfully earned. I also am aware there are people in other countries who blanketly just do not like Americans because they are Americans. So, yes, there are people with predjudice on both sides of the equation. It is the way people are.

It is because of some Americans' superiority complex that many people don't feel they 'need' to learn anything after they graduate high school or college. I see it all the time; I already had all the schooling I need. They don't understand living life IS a state of constant learning and adjustment to help you make satisfying decisions in your journey though life. Part of this problem is that fact that, unlike Europeans, Americans are not required to learn other languages just to interact with their close neighbors. Learning a different language is perhaps the easiest way to understand differences in cosmological outlook. Enough. No more. Next subject.

 

[hotfoot jackson]

Yeah but isn't it fun to find we are so different but yet the same...hello LFC.

 

[suncoast]

We have traveled extensively (before the economic crash) and I have never been treated rudely. People have always been friendly and courteous, helpful and kind. I have been to Italy and France several times, England, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and have never met one person who did not like us because we were Americans. On the contrary, we have often been engaged in conversation precisely because we are Americans. Our conversations usually start if were dining al fresco and someone hears us talking, they usually smile and introduce themselves and the next thing you know were eating dinner together. It's delightful.


Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime. ~Mark Twain

Ginger