I’d like to go read them but these days Chrome takes ANY excuse to crash and burn. Any way you can bulletize the 15 in summary?
Sorry, it may well be a fascinating article, but I’m not going to click 15 times to get 15 points.
16. All you can eat places - nonexistent in Europe and I’m sure most of the rest of the world.
Years ago I hosted foreign exchange students. They were astonished by the “free refills” at the fast food joints.
A man by the name of Alexis de Tocqueville once visited, and marveled at, America, after which he wrote his book, “Democracy in America.”
de Tocqueville:
“In the United States, on the seventh day of every week, the trading and working life of the nation seems suspended; all noises cease; a deep tranquillity, say rather the solemn calm of meditation, succeeds the turmoil of the week, and the soul resumes possession and contemplation of itself. Upon this day the marts of traffic are deserted; every member of the community, accompanied by his children, goes to church, where he listens to strange language which would seem unsuited to his ear. He is told of the countless evils caused by pride and covetousness: he is reminded of the necessity of checking his desires, of the finer pleasures which belong to virtue alone, and of the true happiness which attends it. On his return home, he does not turn to the ledgers of his calling, but he opens the book of Holy Scripture; there he meets with sublime or affecting descriptions of the greatness and goodness of the Creator, of the infinite magnificence of the handiwork of God, of the lofty destinies of man, of his duties, and of his immortal privileges. Thus it is that the American at times steals an hour from himself; and laying aside for a while the petty passions which agitate his life, and the ephemeral interests which engross it, he strays at once into an ideal world, where all is great, eternal, and pure.
“I have endeavored to point out in another part of this work the causes to which the maintenance of the political institutions of the Americans is attributable; and religion appeared to be one of the most prominent amongst them. I am now treating of the Americans in an individual capacity, and I again observe that religion is not less useful to each citizen than to the whole State. The Americans show, by their practice, that they feel the high necessity of imparting morality to democratic communities by means of religion. What they think of themselves in this respect is a truth of which every democratic nation ought to be thoroughly persuaded.”
Years ago, I had a friend whose extended family lived in Czechoslovakia. The Grandmother was finally allowed to come to the US and see her son/his family. The Mom took her with her for all sorts of errands and they finally went to the grocery store. “Where does it come from? What happens when it is all gone? Why aren’t people grabbing things off the shelves?” What was sad (and a wonderful reminder to me at the time) was this woman lived in a Communist country that was so humbled by food that they had to stop the shopping trip. The poor woman couldn’t stop crying.. it was just too much for her.
The thing he could never get over was how so many dumb people in the U.S. could become successful and wealthy.
I gave ‘em the clicks just to see how long it would take to get to the cars and trucks. In my interactions with dozens of foreign visitors this is far and away the #1 amazement, and it starts at the airport and all the way to what co-workers drive. The sight of a solo American driving a 4WD pickup to work just about gives them apoplexy...
And it’s not just the size of the portions but the quality of food. Especially anyone from the British Empire, who has probably never eaten food that wasn’t either boiled, fried, or beaten with a stick.
Funniest thing I ever heard was from a Russian Immigrant. She said she spent years learning to speak English only to move to Miami to find that she didn’t speak the language.
If they spent more time here they would be shocked that were flushing it all down the toilet because we wanted a black president.
Then they want to "fundamentally transform" our country.
We had a group of visitors from Nigeria, including a judge, attorney, educator , etc. and after touring the local jail, they couldn’t believe the country club existence of the inmates at Milwaukee jail (3 hot meals, a bed, basketball, tv, etc.).
I had a group from Indonesia that commented on the roads not paved in gold and how well they were accepted considering their darker skin and their fear of America’s racism.
A group from Russia was taken to Old World Wisconsin (19th century village) and we found out that many in Russia lived in similar circumstances.
Many others have commented on the size of our houses and land and the distances that we travel.
Even with difficulty with languages, all observed and were curious and shared with us about themselves.
I've driven in Ireland and been hauled around Britain by my in-laws. Drivers and roads in Ireland and Britain were pretty good as a rule, but many of the secondary roads are pretty narrow...especially in Ireland. Be thankful for wide American interstates.
Where is the guy who hates blogs and how can we get him to yell curmudgeonly against people posting click bait??????
If you FReepers find something interesting like this, copy the 14 things and post them in your post instead. No one wants to click through a world of ad pages.
Makes me think of this great song from Chris Rea, with a Brit imagining what life would be life in Texas:
Warm winds blowing
Heating blue sky
And a road that goes forever
Been thinking ‘bout it lately
Been watching some TV
Been looking all around me
And what has come to be
Been talking to my neighbor
And he agrees with me
It’s all gone crazy
Well, my wife returns from taking
My little girl to school
She got beads of perspiration
As she tries to keep her cool
She says, “That mess, it don’t get no better
There’s gonna come a day
Someone’s gonna get killed out there”
And I turn to her and say, “Texas”
She says, “What?”
I said, “Texas”
She says, “What?”
They got big long roads out there
Warm winds blowing
Heating blue sky
And a road that goes forever
I’m going to Texas
2, 3
We gotta get outta here
We gotta get outta here
Well, I got a little brother
Several meters high
Yeah, he’s built just like a quarterback
And he swears he’ll testify
He says he’s been to Texas
And that’s the only place to be
Big steaks, big girls, no trouble
Yeah, that’s the place for me
I’m going to Texas
Yeah, yeah
Oh, I’m going to Texas
Yeah, yeah
I’m going to Texas
Watch me walking
Watch me walking
Watch me walking
Yeah, yeah
I travel... A Lot...
One pet peeve I have is when “sophisticated” Europeans lament that Americans don’t travel or speak another language. I asked any of them if they realize just how geographically huge the USA is. I asked any of them if they realize just how much there is, for any type of traveler. They of course don’t.
But I do have to cut them some slack. Compare travel in the world with any USA airport and you’ll see what a pain travel here is. If I want to pay to get groped I’ll go to...well...this is a kid friendly site.
As far as coffee goes, they need to visit Austria, where restaurants will provide you with a thick coffee menu. They were the first European country to have a more modern municipal water system, and they were the main route for coffee being taken to Europe, so they are very proud of both their water and their coffee.
Very many females in this country have given up on their figures, and become fatties, to a very noticeable extent.
I could repeat it and say it 5 to 10 different ways, but I won’t.
When I was a teen, we called them sweat hogs.
They’ll also find that despite what all of the leftists say about this country, that the US is by far, the least racist society on the planet.