Is There A General Distain For Americans In Australia?

[newguy]

I'm Canadian, and here's my honest opinion.

A common joke here is "The US would be a really nice place if it wasn't for all the ******* Americans."

Most of the Americans I've met (and I've travelled in the states quite a bit) are BEYOND nice one-on-one. VERY polite, very cheerful, and quite interested in learning about (this) foreigner's home, customs, and life. However, rampant ignorance of life outside of the US' border is nearly universal. Not just ignorance, indifference, and that's what galls the Canadians I know.

How many times have you watched a US TV program or listened to a US radio broadcast or even read a US newspaper or news article and seen/heard/read the following: "The USA is the best country in the world!", usually spoken by someone who has obviously never left it. Love for the country seems to be disingenuous - more caused by indoctrination rather than actual admiration. If you hear it enough, it must be true, right? Reminds me of North Korea and their cult of the "dear leader".

To an extent, the political games that Americans play - when they hold up Canadian examples as bad (I'm thinking health care but there are other examples) - really piss us off. What's really bad - getting sick and going bankrupt because of it (if you can find a hospital/doctor that will treat you in the first place) - or never having to worry about a medical bill - ever - but that means waiting your turn for treatment? Canadians just wish your politicians would stop talking about our institutions as if they were bad/evil.

This disdain for Americans seems to be nearly universal. My wife and I took a short tour through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands a couple of years ago. We actually took the time to learn some German beforehand too. On several occasions we witnessed the locals treat us very differently from Americans at the next table. Because we made the effort to speak their language, they bent over backwards to help/serve us or converse with us. On several occasions, we were asked if we were Canadian (never American) even though we didn't have any flag patches or anything else that would outwardly identify us as such. They knew the difference based solely on how we behaved.

My $.02 CDN.

 

[Josh]

The vast majority of the Americans I have met have been great people. In general, I love American people. The ones I associate with all seem to be fun, have a good outlook on life and have a sense of humour.

BUT as with every country, there are some real dicks. I witnessed a man catch a bus in Las Vegas without a ticket. When the conductor came around asking for our tickets, he first up pretended not to know what they were asking. Then proceeded to complain to the rest of the bus "what is this, Kristallnacht?" This ******* had the nerve to compare being asked to produce a valid bus ticket to an atrocity in Nazi Germany. Some Americans can be pretty selfish and inconsiderate.

The biggest issue I have, is that even with all the poverty and lack of health care. Most Americans seem to be against anymore public health spending. I grew up with Medicare and have only ever known our public health system. It seems to work pretty well here. A bit more taxation for social spending is fine by me and most Aussies. It seems in America, that the free market must remain at any cost, and that any government intervention is evil. And for that, the biggest emotion I feel for Americans is pity.

 

[mikec]

Everything you need to know is right here:

 

[Liam_snorkel]

I have a general disdain for american media. Listening to american ads drives me nuts and would put me off from the product/group. Brewing network ads seem terrible imo.

Oh man ******* brewing network. 30% content 70% ********. So hard to listen to.

 

[petesbrew]

I have seen the Snooki..on TV news but have never watched that show. OMG Please realize that is just for morons. Don't watch it. Your brain will shrink. Our TV sucks. I gave up 'paid TV' months ago. I wish we had TV like in Europe from the satellite.

Yes I would stuff a Snooki, If I had my chance. Nice big ****s. We call tiny skrewable females "spinners", in the states.

McDonald's, KFC and Burger King aren't a cultural invasion. Don't go there. They are there to offer cheap food. That's it.

If there is something else you would rather eat, please go ahead and do so. The most common fast food chain in East Berlin Is KFC...Kentucky Fried Chicken... It's just good chicken for cryin out loud.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried beetroot on a burger?
Maccas is handy for an easy feed when you're heading up the coast, but the only time their burgers are actually decent is when they do an "aussie" burger.
There's a Sydney burger out now... pineapple beetroot, bacon, bbq sauce.... it's just missing the egg.

Ps. Personally I have no problem with americans.

 

[Amber Fluid]

I have no problem with Americans whatsoever. I treat all beings as equal, you get some ********* everywhere you go regardless of culture and it is a real shame that it is a human trait to quickly judge and catagarise people before giving one a chance.

I am curious though as to what made you start this topic?

 

[staggalee]

I had a girlfriend from Atlanta, Georgia years ago.
A beautiful caring person, our love for each over was as boundless and free as butterflies in a spring meadow.
Sadly, she was a dud root.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

Australians by and large hate everyone to start with (saves mucking around) but when we get to know individual foreigners and occasionally Queenslanders, often have quite an affection for them.

On a international basis, sadly the average Australian is just as ignorant about life beyond our shores as Americans are. I reckon the average Pom, Frog, Kraut, *****, Curry muncher, Rusky (add whatever stereotypical slur that suits your argument) are similarly ignorant.

Luckily the members of AHB are not your average Australian .. but some are Queenslanders. Be aware of the distinction.

So Freezkat old son, we embrace you and your fellow Americans (and that strange Canadian bloke who I suspect brews with melted yellow snow) to our site here and will feel free to invite ourselves to your home, eat your food, drink your beer and sleep with your animals. You will say come willingly, knowing full well you won't give out your address (especially to me). We will freely slag off your country, especially during the Olympic Games and constantly try to work out why our children know more about some family called Karcashian (or whatever) but nothing about their own family. In the meantime, as long as the US of A keep making movies I like to watch (often using Australian actors) and allow Bruce Springsteen to keep making music, I'll be happy for you.

 

[staggalee]

God bless Old Dixie and Robert E. Lee.

 

[WarmBeer]

Sadly, she was a dud root.

Root
verb (used without object)
1. to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically. Synonyms: cheer, cheer on, shout for, applaud, clap, boost, support.

This sentence may require some translation for the OP.

 

[staggalee]

Root
verb (used without object)
1. to encourage a team or contestant by cheering or applauding enthusiastically. Synonyms: cheer, cheer on, shout for, applaud, clap, boost, support.

This sentence may require some translation for the OP.

If I must then....... she insisted on making love {marryin`, she called it} in a dark wardrobe while fully clothed and singing "Dixie" at the top of her voice.
Very off putting, hence the dud root.








'

 

[Clutch]

We dislike the stereotypical yank.
In my view, the over the top politeness and hyperbole of the average 'merican tourist is a bit much, but I've never met a yank I've disliked.

 

[pcmfisher]

If only they could drive on the correct side of the road.........

 

[freezkat]

I am curious though as to what made you start this topic?

That is a great question. Before I lost my construction job, I was fairly well traveled. I was a foreign language major in college. I never graduated (3 years), hence the construction job. I've been all over Europe except for the Scandinavian countries. My last trip was with a school tour. Half the group was from Canada. Us adults got along fine. The kids immediately were at odds with each other. The American kids were often loud, at the wrong time. Bickering... they did this they did that. The Canadian kids weren't angels either. That is besides the point. Our tour guide was Australian. He was very nice, that's his job but he was very genuine and open. Mark the guide told us to say we were Canadian if we were shopping etc...

I found Northern Germany, Prague and Austria to be aloof, almost hostile. The Slovak Republic,Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, Malta and Spain were amazingly friendly. France was friendly too...surprisingly. I sat next to a Swiss girl on the flight home. Maybe because I'm past "that age" and can speak German fairly well, she was very talkative.

 

[Bribie G]

Historically there is a huge difference in the ways that the USA and Australia were settled and this has definitely affected the nature of our societies. The USA was settled by rugged individual frontier families, where the "every man must stand on his own two feet" idea was paramount and despite more "extended family" based nationalities coming to settle later, this is still at the core of American White society and probably accounts for your universal gun ownership, strange lack of public health care, which is regarded as a right not a privilege in the rest of the West, and your high rates of incarceration where the police and law are regarded as being in charge of your behaviour, rather than family and social groups.

Australia was different, probably due to the far harsher and un-European environment, and instead of rugged individualism a system of "mateship" arose where your peer/work group is your main loyalty along with your family of course. This is being eroded and perhaps one can thank American media for this, however I'm no sociologist.

So there are differences in how Aussies and Americans view many subjects. The other thing is the usage of the English language - Americans actually do talk a few decibels higher than Australians and this comes across as loud mouthed. It's just a cultural trait, for example South Asians talk very fast. The Seinfeld episode "the low talker" seems strange to us as that female just sounds like many Australian women.

 

[DennisKing]

If only they could drive on the correct side of the road.........

I met an American in Ireland who said to me, why do you all drive on the wrong side of the road when we Americans invented the motor car. He did not like the truth. Only been to America once and loved it and it's people. All countries has their arse holes.

 

[freezkat]

freezxer pussy *** off

distain = affirmative


your folk beat our folk in your war yes ,

WE ARE THE ENEMY






edit:

aok usa yay not

Now that's funny right there...

What was the comment about QLDers offered earlier?

I gotta get me some beetroot. We just call them beets. I love the greens. They taste like spinach, Sounds interesting on a burger. Are these raw, pickled or cooked?

Thanks

 

[newguy]

Mark the guide told us to say we were Canadian if we were shopping etc...

A friend and his wife took a 6 week backpacking tour of Europe about 20 years ago. They made sure to purchase clothing items with the maple leaf on them before they left. He said that there was a group of people (some Canadian, most American) that seemed to be travelling the same route as they kept meeting in different countries/cities. It only took about 2 weeks for the Americans in the group to rip their stars & stripes flags off of their clothing/backpacks and sew on a maple leaf in their place. He told me of one instance - an Italian restaurant in Germany somewhere - he and his wife walked in, and one of the American couples they had grown to know were sitting up front waiting for a table. Chris and his wife, on the other hand, were seated immediately. ....And there were plenty of empty tables.

There are, however, tells. A Canadian will never utter the word "soda" - ever. Here it's simply pop. We don't have sofas, we have couches or chesterfields. A Canadian will ask if you "went out to the game" or "went out to see" a particular movie, or if you "ate out at ___ restaurant". Americans always leave the "out" out. I've also heard that the Europeans can tell the difference between Canadians and Americans in another way. If asked how far is it to ___?, a European will reply that it's 100 km, an American will say 60 miles, and a Canadian will say "it's an hour." Unless you're talking to someone from northern Saskatchewan, in which case it's "2 beers."

...And no matter how hard anyone tries, we can tell if you're Canadian or not simply by the way you use the term "eh." There is a right and a wrong way.

 

[Bribie G]

I find Canadians very easy to pick, particularly the ones who are oat and a-boat the place B)

One thing I do admire about the Yanks is their pride in their own country, for example they quite happily sing about San Francisco, Moonlight in Vermont, 24 Hours from Tulsa. I think you could count on one hand the number of Aussie songs that actually refer to the place - not counting John Williams the country singer who sounds like a lawnmower in need of an oil change -

Road to Gundagai
Last train from Sydney
Sweet Sorrento (Mornington Peninsula) Moon......... can't think of too many others.

I mean it would sound weird:

Pardon me boy is this the Port Macquarie Choo Choo?
.....
Dinner in the diner
Nothing could be finer
Than to eat your ham and eggs near Molendinar

 

[freezkat]

A friend and his wife took a 6 week backpacking tour of Europe about 20 years ago. They made sure to purchase clothing items with the maple leaf on them before they left. He said that there was a group of people (some Canadian, most American) that seemed to be travelling the same route as they kept meeting in different countries/cities. It only took about 2 weeks for the Americans in the group to rip their stars & stripes flags off of their clothing/backpacks and sew on a maple leaf in their place. He told me of one instance - an Italian restaurant in Germany somewhere - he and his wife walked in, and one of the American couples they had grown to know were sitting up front waiting for a table. Chris and his wife, on the other hand, were seated immediately. ....And there were plenty of empty tables.

There are, however, tells. A Canadian will never utter the word "soda" - ever. Here it's simply pop. We don't have sofas, we have couches or chesterfields. A Canadian will ask if you "went out to the game" or "went out to see" a particular movie, or if you "ate out at ___ restaurant". Americans always leave the "out" out. I've also heard that the Europeans can tell the difference between Canadians and Americans in another way. If asked how far is it to ___?, a European will reply that it's 100 km, an American will say 60 miles, and a Canadian will say "it's an hour." Unless you're talking to someone from northern Saskatchewan, in which case it's "2 beers."

...And no matter how hard anyone tries, we can tell if you're Canadian or not simply by the way you use the term "eh." There is a right and a wrong way.

I always reply in time traveled vs distance. Time is more relevant. I live in a rural area. Minnesotans say couch & pop. We'll say soda for other peoples benefit. I wont wear those sun-lover swim suits. That's where a fella should draw the line, eh?.