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American tourists

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by JPC, Apr 12, 2013.

  1. JPC

    JPC Guest

    I went to a tapas place last night with a few French friends. We were speaking French quite loudly at our table and a few tables down there was a group of American tourists speaking English quite loudly. It was late so there wasn't many people there, but the staff went over to the table of Amercans and asked them, not in a particularly polite way, to stop being so loud. I was pretty shocked as we were probably speaking louder but the staff were extremely nice to us. Once they had left, the waitress mentioned that she couldn't stand American tourists.
    It's not the first time that I've seen people here being quite hostile to Americans. I think it's possibly because of the stereotype that all American tourists are loud, unsophisticated and obnoxious. Though, being gay and Irish, I have so many stereotypes attributed to me that just aren't true at all so I hate when people generalise in that way.

    Has anyone here ever been on the receiving end of this kind of hostility from us Europeans? Do Amercans have similar stereotypes about Europeans?
     
  2. LD579

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    Well, it is for this reason that quite a few (more than would be expected, for sure) Americans (by this, I mean people from the U.S.) don Canadian trinkets and gear and such. The reasoning is that Canadians are seen as the gentle, more amicable and bearable westerners and so they'd avoid prejudice by doing so. That may not necessarily be true, even in a general sense, but people do actually do things like this.

    I'd say that Americans just think Europeans are cool with their accents. At least, that's how I'd feel, and perhaps how people from places like Seattle or L.A. would feel. Perhaps others have experiences or stories to share.
     
  3. TestingitOut

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    In my experience with tourists in my city, fellow Americans tend to be louder, more obnoxious, and less aware of their surroundings. The stereotypes I have for European tourists is pretty similar to the general stereotype I have about all tourists. Slow moving, stopping randomly in the middle of a busy street, bunching up at crosswalks when its clear to cross the street, a general dislike for all the tourism at the WTC memorial (which is something else all on its own I could really go on a rant about).

    I try not to go hard on tourists because I know this city depends on them and I kind of work in the tourist industry (even though my museum sees many more locals than tourists). I also avoid the big tourist areas like Times Square most of the time.

    But on the street or in a subway, I can really find myself losing patience with people who are obviously not from around here, just because they are so oblivious about how to move around or get out of peoples way. It always seems to be American tourists that I notice acting real wild and obnoxious, maybe a lot of people from other parts of the world are more used to things like mass transit and crowded streets, so they blend in more.

    Ive never been abroad so Ive never encountered anti-American tourist sentiments myself. But I always think its kind of interesting the stereotypes that tourists have of New Yorkers, that we're very unfriendly, rude, or that the city is dangerous.
     
  4. castle walls

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    When I was in Europe, I think that I was treated poorly in one or two shops for being American. It wasn't anything serious though.

    For the most part, people were just shocked to see an American as skinny as me :lol:. I was told on several occasions that I was "too small" to be American so I definitely heard the Americans are fat, lazy, and stupid stereotype. Since I was over there breaking all three, I shocked some people
     
  5. barca

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    I love tourists :slight_smile:. The fact that people can take in interest in things that I sometimes overlook, reminds me of the greater appreciation I should have for my own surroundings. Tourists make me feel pride :slight_smile:. I don't think I really have any stereotypes of the different kinds of tourists, they all seem pretty different.

    But I do have to admit that sometimes it does hurt my feelings to be generalized like in your example. It didn't bother me as much at first, but it just never ends, especially here on the internet. Please don't judge people by their country of origin if you can help it :slight_smile:, it doesn't feel good.
     
  6. Dublin Boy

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    I think that's the good thing about EC, were not American, Irish, Canadian, British, African etc were just people, helping each other out & coming to terms with who we are, we just happen to be having some fun along the way :slight_smile:

    Were like a close Knit Community, some will say we like each other, some will say we Love each other, personally, I think were just one great big Family who happen to care what happens to each other :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:ride:
     
  7. gravechild

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    Europeans can be just as ignorant as Americans, and I've encountered more than a few of those types online. Somehow, the actions of our government and the voices of a few outspoken idiots gives the world the right to paint us all with the same brush.. It doesn't bother me, though, since immature people live all over the world.

    I've never been to Europe (one day!), so I'm not sure how I would be treated. Technically, I'm not of European stock, and I'm actually very introverted, yet I'm not arrogant or rude, and have no problem adapting to local customs and filling in any gaps of knowledge when necessary. Probably be mistaken for a third world immigrant, heh.

    Welp, time to shatter stereotypes. :lol:
     
  8. UndercoverGypsy

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    Yay us!
     
  9. LoveMusicPoetry

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    I have to admit, tourists do rather do my head in. Not specifically Americans though, they are normally polite, there are tourists of other nationalities that I won't name that I find utterly rude and ignorant and completely out of step with British customs and manners. I know this is completely unreasonable because tourism is a big part of the local economy and I'm probably just as annoying to other people when I am in their places, but yes, I'm sorry to say, tourists do annoy the f**k out of me.
     
  10. Stoical

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    I worked at Disney World for a semester when I was younger, which of course see a ton of international tourism. So I think I can take a guess as to which nationalities were the "utterly rude" ones, haha.

    In all seriousness, I don't really think anyone is intentionally rude (as a country). A lot of it just boils down to cultural differences - behavior that's considered "rude" to here is considered "normal/acceptable" there, etc. While I don't work in any tourist-type places anymore, I still generally try to be nice to everyone. Figure at some point I'll be the tourist somewhere, and I'd hope people would do me the same courtesy.
     
  11. IrishEyes1989

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    Indeed! lol..Though, that reminds me, many times I've been mistaken for an American while overseas and I'll admit it does irk me a bit. Our accents are essentially identical which makes it understandably difficult for many Europeans, Australians, South Americans, etc to tell the difference but sometimes it feels like all of us North Americans are just lumped together as Americans. The ironic thing is that many of us Canadians have to adorn our baggage with maple leaf tags as much as Americans do, just so that we won't be mistaken as Americans lol.

    EDIT: I must tell a short little story about a time I was in Paris though. My family and I were waiting for a cab outside of the Euro Star station and as we were walking towards our cab, this pompous asshole British guy steps in front of us and opens the door to the cab. My dad and I were the most upset by this (we have the same fiery temper lol) and we were not silent about it. Anyway, this guy was swearing at us and we were swearing at him. It was at that point that I realized truly that people from any and all countries can be shitheads.
     
    #11 IrishEyes1989, Apr 12, 2013
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2013
  12. ForgottenRose

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    Americans in general are loud and obnoxious... Most anyways.
    My Human Geography teacher said that the reason everyone hates Americans is because we treat other people so badly.
     
  13. JPC

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    The reason I thought it was odd though, and this is really why I brought it up, is that American tourists are often the warmest and most courteous that you'll meet. So, I find it odd that they get such a bad rap. We LOVE American tourists in Ireland, they always have the best stories and are generally really friendly and talkative (maybe because culturally we're probably the most similar to the U.S.) but in Spain they appear to be viewed less favourably. I think it's mostly a language thing. I have noticed that they make little or no effort to speak the language here, and that seems to really bother the Spaniards.
     
  14. Hexagon

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    I never detected any particular hostility towards americans when I was living in spain. In the UK, among some people, american seems to be a synonym for stupid.
     
  15. Dublin Boy

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    in the UK it's the Irish who get the Butt end of the being stupid jokes, believe me! [​IMG]
     
  16. Hexagon

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    No, not always. I've definitely heard a greater number of american stupid jokes than irish stupid jokes.

    What part are you in? That might account for the difference.
     
  17. JPC

    JPC Guest

    Haha, in Ireland it's the other way around. I have friends from London and Liverpool and it's definitely the source of plenty of banter :lol:
     
  18. Dublin Boy

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    Yet when I did Family Research in Ireland, all my relatives could read & write & speak both English & Irish, yet when I researched family in England, some relatives could not read or write & signed their name with a X :badgrin:
     
  19. gravechild

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    I always thought it was amusing how the closer two nations are (historically, geographically, culturally), the more bitter the rivalry. Anti-American attitudes exist all over, but by far, some of the harshest criticism I've seen has come from other Anglophone and Western European nations. Maybe it's because I interact with other Westerners online, but, I think a more accurate explanation might be that a lot of our shortcomings were problems for Europeans at one time or another, and they see the errors of past mistakes; it hits closer to home. After all, a lot of American values probably came from Europe, somewhere down the line, for better or for worse.

    It would be a lot more frustrating to cope with issues involving a member of my immediate family than say, a classmate I hardly ever talk to.
     
  20. JPC

    JPC Guest

    That's really cool, I'd love to research my family. My grandmother has an English surname and I think I have a lot of family in London and Nottingham or Birmingham (Not sure which one) so it'd be pretty cool to look into it.

    ---------- Post added 13th Apr 2013 at 01:34 AM ----------

    That's definitely a really good point. Though I don't know if I would say that neighbouring countries have bitter rivalries necessarily (though this is true in some cases) I like to look at it as if they were a married couple, always fighting over something or other but still love (or whatever the international relations equivalent is) one another. I know that it's an odd analogy, but when I think about Britain and Ireland for example, though there's a pretty ugly history there, it's now more of a faux rivalry for the most part (I know there's still some real issues, the IRA, etc). It's this kind of love-hate thing. We kind of make jokes about each other but I think, in reality, the two countries are basically the same in terms of culture, traditions, etc.