Canadians perception of Americans

While I love Canadians, I do say that a drawback to their culture is that Canadians have built up their national identity around being anti-American. So you will find that many do go out of their way and walk the extra mile to criticize America.

I've been to six continents and I can say that from my experience, Canada is a picnic in comparison to what other areas think about Americans. It is true, however that Americans are often, loud, disrespectful, rude and otherwise impatient when they are travelling, so it makes sense that we leave a poor impression for ourselves around the world. I suppose our culture is generally louder, more indivudualistic and selfish than other types of societies.

I'm not saying that your family meant any harm to anyone, but it is definitely possible that you were unwittingly rude. Even Canada has a pretty different culture from ours, and it takes patience for them to handle us, so we should be grateful. After all, it is their country...we don't even accept their currency period, so it's nice of them to do that for us...changing money in small amounts like your one transaction for the specific place you mentioned is often accompanied by hefty fees, so they probably weren't making any money off of that deal.

I've got close friends from several different cultures, and even with me, who they know and love, they give looks of shock and amazement at some of the things I do, just like I do to them. Remember that it takes patience for them, so say thank you, and remember that you are at their house...they're just not used to you cause you are different from them.

"I have to ask do Americans have an air of arrogance about us that just makes us unlikable to other people around the world?"

Some do, yes. There is a particular type of American that really irritates a lot of non-Americans when they travel to their countries; I'm speaking from a European perspective here. I'll try to give you a run down.

Basically there is a type of American, and I am by no means so ignorant that I would say all, that behave like they are in a 3rd world country, no matter what country they are in.

These Americans talk to the inhabitants in those countries like they are simpletons, with what they would self-describe as confidence, but which actually sits closer to arrogance.

They expect everybody to speak English to them, something which most Europeans don't mind doing, unless they realise that it's expected, as opposed to humbly appreciated. Think about it, how far do you think the average French or German person would get if they walked around in America expecting everybody to speak their native language, and then calling anybody who doesn't stupid, or making obvious gestures to their travel companions to illustrate it.

On the language front still, it's not only with non-English people that this type of American makes no effort to understand, this extends to English speakers too. I've been confronted with Americans who claimed they had huge difficulties understanding what I was saying, because of my Irish accent, which is really irritating as I speak English with countless people for whom English is a second language on a regular basis without them having the slightest problem decypering what I'm saying. It smacks of being stubborn and expecting me to adopt a quasi-American accent complete with American pronunciation before they will stop looking at me with that baffled "I don't speak foreign" expression. I pray they never meet a Scot.

This type of American is prone to making statements like 'If you're not with us, then you're a fucking terrorist', something which was shouted in my face when I said that the reason the whole world wasn't behind America in Iraq lay with the fact that most of them didn't agree with the war. Actually, this was something that was shouted repeatedly, until everybody went quiet, turned red with embarassment with the outburst and gave up any further discussion and just left. That is actually a really annoying habit exhibited by this strain of American, the ceaseless repetition of a cathphrase at high volume, ala Ricky Lake guests. They just keep shouting the same thing until the other person is stunned into silence, but they then start acting as if they've won the argument based upon some kind of cutting wit.

This kind of American insists on preferential treatment or at least expects it simply because they are "American citizens", like stating this loudly is supposed to justify some kind of red carpet treatment not extendible to any other nationality.

They will say things like 'If it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking fucking German" anytime somebody criticizes American foreign policy.

Anything that they are shown in any country, they will be unable to contain themselves from telling their host that in America they have those only they are ten times bigger and better.

They have a habit of writing off any part of a European country's culture that is alien to them as "gay".

They demonstrate an overbearing contempt for French people, who are generally well liked in Europe.

They interpret politeness as weakness, or stupidity.

They have a habit of eyeballing people as if they are interogating them. It's good to make eye contact, but some of these Americans tend to treat it like a staring competition. I don't know if they're taught that this is some kind of display of confidence or what, but it's weird and unsettling, and this particular breed of American are the only nationality I've experienced it with.

This type of American will also assume that because they know little to nothing about a European nation's culture and history, that the inhabitants know nothing to little about America, which is irritating as Europe is drenched in American culture and generally we pay close attention to the US.

These are some things that some Americans do while travelling outside of the US that piss people off. I have met countless Americans while travelling in Europe and Asia who don't fit this mold at all, in fact they were excellent ambassadors for their country and good traveller companions. However it is the bad Americans who are remembered more, largely because they reinforce already held prejudices held by non-Americans, and everybody like to be able to say 'I told you so'. George Bush and his supporters are representing the entire population internationally. They make you all look stupid, which is unfair, but it is a sad fact that in many cases an American will be presumed a Bush loving Republican until proven otherwise.

Also, for the record, the release of movies like 'Eurotrip' in Europe works like the most effective anti-American propaganda Al Qaeda could ever devise.

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I am the people my mother warned me about.

I visited Europe during the world cup (which we did terribly in by the way). The first couple days in Germany I said I was American and didn't receive too many cold shoulders, but everyone was very clipped and very unattached. For the next two weeks after that I just pretended I was from Canada and things got a lot easier! Which is sad, but not totally incomprehensible.

`lacey
There are no beautiful surfaces without terrible depth...