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Journal tuxette's Journal: dumbassity of the day 30

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So now they're selling this package for Americans travelling abroad.

Do people realy think stuff like that works in this day and age? The particular bit of advice they're promoting is, um, dated. To the point where people in the know see this crap and think "oh, geez, not one of those again." In addition, you really reveal a lot about where you come from by other things than just a silly t-shirt or a flag. Like your girth. And the way you talk and walk. Unless you're a very seasoned traveller (and no seasoned traveller would buy such a package except as a gag gift to another seasoned traveller) or a brilliant actor, don't think you can escape these little things that reveal a lot about you. You just can't.

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dumbassity of the day

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  • Aww come on, cut them a little slack. They're from New Mexico, for crying out loud. That's an entirely different country on its own.

    Talking of which, there was one other company from Albuquerque that went big, guess? :)
  • Like your girth...And the way you talk and walk.

    Uh-oh. And I've been mistaken for an American more than once while abroad. The last time it happened in Venice, Italy. I didn't know my ring'o'fat was that big. ;-) Maybe I should start wearing a tiny Finnish flag somewhere on my person.

    Oh, and I've been mistaken for a Brit as well. When I moved to Denmark and met my landlord for the first time, he kept joking about the last night's England-Denmark football World Cup match, which I think England lost. At f

    • Maybe I should start wearing a tiny Finnish flag somewhere on my person.

      Or a grilldress... :-P

      I'm usually mistaken for being Spanish/South American by people other than Spaniards/South Americans who say "not even close." I also get mistaken for being Thai or some sort of South Pacific Islander or other (maybe because I look like the female version of a Samoan ex-boxer turned hitman?), which is somewhat closer to what I actually am.

      Oh, and once when I was a student in Denmark, I was mistaken for a Gree

      • I'm usually mistaken for being Spanish/South American by people other than Spaniards/South Americans who say "not even close." I also get mistaken for being Thai or some sort of South Pacific Islander or other (maybe because I look like the female version of a Samoan ex-boxer turned hitman?), which is somewhat closer to what I actually am.

        A few years ago in Paris my brother was mistaken for Tunisian; meanwhile, apparently my German accent suggests I'm from somewhere around Alsace - strange, since although

        • A few years ago in Paris my brother was mistaken for Tunisian; meanwhile, apparently my German accent suggests I'm from somewhere around Alsace - strange, since although I am part German, my German relatives were all from much further south.

          The Alsatian accent sounds kinda like what the Dutch sound like when they speak German -- they emphasize the soft "s" more than other Germans, for one thing. They tend to make a trailing "r" into a "w" (like some Brits do), so "Rainer" becomes "Rainaw" or "Raina", and

          • Funny anecdote - German Shepherd Dogs are called Alsatian Dogs in India, and often abbreviated as Alsatian ("hey, that's a nice Alsatian").

            It so happened that one of my cousins went to the Max Planck Institute in Germany on an exchange program. During some party, dude saw a German Shepherd there and went, hey that's an Alsatian - not realizing his faux paus. It so happened one of the professors who was walking with him was indeed an Alsatian, and took *immense* offence at the fact.

            My cousin had a lot of e
            • Funny anecdote - German Shepherd Dogs are called Alsatian Dogs in India, and often abbreviated as Alsatian ("hey, that's a nice Alsatian").

              Not just in India - they were called German Shepherds in English, until the word "German" took on some rather negative connotations, at which point the word was deleted and the dog became Alsatian instead.

              It so happened that one of my cousins went to the Max Planck Institute in Germany on an exchange program. During some party, dude saw a German Shepherd there and we

              • Hm. He really shouldn't have taken offence, any more than someone from Hamburg or Frankfurt should find references to burgers or hot dogs offensive. I don't object to the various Scottish adverts in the US and Germany, after all - although a few Scottish people do, as mentioned here. (One addition to the jokes at the end: two Scotsmen invented copper wire, fighting over a penny.)

                Actually, in Germany I most often hear such jokes about the Swabians and/or Lipper, both of whom are supposedly "the Scots who w

            • There's a line in Bridget Jones's Diary about how Bridget is afraid she's going to die alone and be eventually found half-eaten by an Alsatian...
    • Finnish seems to be one of the harder accents to hide when speaking English. Of course most of the Finns I've heard speaking English are hockey players. No offense to them but most of them probably focused more on sports than English growing up and after a certain age accents get harder to get rid if.

      If you're mistaken for being English or American this is a backhanded way of complimenting you while slamming your fellow countrymen.

      In my limited travels I think the Dutch beat everyone in speaking multiple E

      • Finnish seems to be one of the harder accents to hide when speaking English. Of course most of the Finns I've heard speaking English are hockey players.

        Finnish lawyers aren't much better ;-) But I love listening to Finnish accents.

        In my limited travels I think the Dutch beat everyone in speaking multiple European languages with the French being the worst.

        I agree about the Dutch being the best in multiple languages, though my experience says Spaniards and Italians are far worse than the French.

        • I think the French I encountered are just unwilling to try to communicate if you don't speak French.

          As most of the interactions I have abroad involve me being a customer of some sort it seems that most people trying to sell you a product or a service go to great lenghts to try to communicate with you because they want to make the sale. The French just seem to not give a shit. In their defense I don't think American retail employees would do any better if their clients only spoke French or German.

          • I've never ever had a problem with French people. Maybe because I speak French; at least I used to. But the trick in dealing with them is asking them if they speak Norwegian (parlez-vous norvegien?) or any other "obscure" language. And they go over to English. Most of the French I have known speak excellent English, though with a thick accent.

            As most of the interactions I have abroad involve me being a customer of some sort it seems that most people trying to sell you a product or a service go to great le

          • Not true! I'm a yank working in France again this week. My French is absolutely terrible - but if I give it a go, they will usuall respond in English. I suspect just to end the horrific slaughter of their native tongue. (Grin)
            • I'm a yank working in France again this week.

              Good food, good wine... I hate you ;-)

              Um...where in France?

              • Paris tonight, tgv to the west coast till the weekend, work about an hour south of Paris after that. A real weekend! The question is do I get to fly home in a week... Got a 50/50 chance of 'helping' a gig in India, which would continue to Japan like last time. I begged my bride for a real xmas tree and I'm missing out on four cords of dry oak in the fireplace and that smell of freshly cut pine.
            • My sample isn't that large so obviously it could have been just chance that brought me to stores with rude employees. But, this last year I spent about a week each in France, Spain and Portugal and the French were by far the least customer service minded people. I absolutely loved the country itself, the food, the wine, and the people outside of the retail industry.
              • But, this last year I spent about a week each in France, Spain and Portugal and the French were by far the least customer service minded people.

                Then you haven't tried the Germans yet. ;-)

                "German service" is an oxymoron, I swear. The Germans have many strengths -- good service is not one of them.

                Cheers,

                Ethelred

                • When I lived in Sweden I used to go to Germany at least once a year (mainly for the joys of underage drinking). Also back then I used to speak decent German (15 years in the US is like a language mind eraser) so I never had a problem, but when I went back last year I asked everyone if they spoke English first. Most times their English was way better than my German.
                  • I'm not referring to language fluency -- it's just a cultural thing. As a general rule, Germans don't like serving people, and tend to be brutally honest (some would say tactless) to a fault, thus the service stinks. ;-)

                    In America you practically have to fight off the salespeople with a cattle prod to leave you alone (unless, of course, you actually want them around). In Germany you have to tackle them and put them in a half-Nelson until they agree to serve you. *g*

                    Just wrote a JE 'bout it...ye inspired

              • With the USD so week these days, I can't say I did any retail shopping. (Wimper). I'd agree, however, that on average, the other two were much more forgiving - based on heavy use of local taxi rides.
      • Finnish seems to be one of the harder accents to hide when speaking English.

        Yep. For most Finns the problem seems to be with learning how to pronounce the consonants clearly and not to speak in monotone. That comes only after with a native English speaker - obviously you don't get that in the schools. I've been lucky to work for years with a Brit who speaks just perfect English. Speaking English daily does wonders to your pronounciation.

        I do, however, slip back into the more traditional "Mika Häkki

        • That comes only after with a native English speaker

          Duh! "That comes only after interacting extensively with native English speakers..."

    • mistaken for an American [...] mistaken for a Brit

      I have sometimes been mistaken for being British by native speakers of English (in the US by USAians or in the UK by people from New Zealand). I find this a bit fascinating since I have a pronounced Norwegian accent when I speak English. In the US it tends to be my vocabulary and pronounciation (which is predominantly British) that triggers the misunderstanding, but I'm not quite sure why New Zealanders make the same mistake...

  • worked in the tourist industry in Australia and he sometimes had problems pinning down the accents of his clients. He found that when he asked Canadians if they were American they would get all offended, but when he asked Americans if they were Canadian they would just shrug it off laugh, and correct him. So he just asked everyone of they were Candian instead, purely from a client happiness perspective.
  • The funny thing is that I wasn't saying anything. My wife and I were in a restaurant in Alice Springs and the cashier struck up a conversation when we were paying. He asked my wife where she was from, and she said from the U.S. in Ohio. After a minute he turned to me and said, "And where're you from mate"? I said, "Oh, I'm from Ohio too". He looked a bit surprised and then said, "No kidding! I thought you were Australian"! Of course, he could have just been "being nice". ;P

    On the Canadian tip, my si
  • What great marketing for Canada... not to mention it gives us the BEST EXCUSE EVAR! Now, whenever somebody claiming to be Canadian acts like a bastard, we just say - must be an American in disguise...

    Damn, that's funny. But if you really want to look Canadian, your backpack needs to be from here [www.mec.ca] and you should have a hat (not a tshirt, just something small, like a hat) from here [sourceboards.com]...

    Oh, and if they ask you about the Prime Minister, tell them he's a dork, but he's better than Chretien. Oh yeah, and if you'
  • The President of this outfit, one Bill Broadbent [mailto], was interviewed on the CBC news last night.

    He told Canadians that they should be flattered.

    Flattered? Flattered just because he thinks he can make a quick buck exploiting our reputation?

    We should welcome having foreigners suspect us of being ersatz Americans in masquerade? Lol.

    Frankly, wouldn't it be character building for young Americans travellers to be called on to take a stand on Bush's policies? Isn't that the whole point of getting Mom and

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