Burgers, Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers: 5
Political Correctness: 4
SUV's, Big Cars: 4
Christian Fundamentalism, Creationism: 4
Teeth Whitening: 3
Baseball: 3
Wastefulness: 3
Stars and Stripes/Patriotism: 3
Space Exploration, NASA, Spaceshuttle: 3
Obesity: 2
Filmindustry: 2
Guns: 2
Intense competitiveness, Winner/looser: 2
Drive Thrus, No Sidewalks, Driving everywhere, Long commutes
Consumerism, Shopping Malls, Shopping network channels, Strip Malls
Small Talk, Forthright openness, "Friendliness", Helpfulness, Politeness
Brownies, Peanut butter
Fast Food Chains, Supersized portions
Writing checks
Refusing to use the metric system
Shaved pubic hair
Air conditioning run amock (walk-in fridges)
Democracy
Exceptionalism, National Interest, Nabelschau (navel gazing), Pride, Absence of International News
Great Landscapes
Reality Shows
Democrazy
Believe in own propaganda
Daylight saving time
Country Music, Jazz, Hip-Hop
Religious tolerance
Fast and cheap but with low quality
Anti-intellectualism, Math phobia
Terrorism, War, Nuclear Weapons, Military
Ivy League
QED
Native Americans
Iced tea with sugar
Root beer floats
Freedom
Simplicity
Ingenuity
Stubbornness
Puritanism
Rugged individualism
Love of family
Distrust of bigshots
Extreme need for privacy
Wheat
Ipods
Size (Big, Bigger, American), Big cups, Big screen TVs
Starbucks
Bailout
"Oh my God!" screams
College/University T-shirts
Satire
Scientology
Televangelists
PS: You don't have to come up with items that are not already on the list. I count how many times they were named, I just didn't want to use a standard poll because this way you can suggest items yourself.
Democracy
ReplyDeletePatriotism
National Interest
Space Exploration
Baseball
Shopping Malls
ReplyDeleteNo sidewalks
Fast Food Chains
Great Landscapes
Small Talk
... impressions of a tourist from Germany
Democrazy
ReplyDeleteBelieve in own propaganda
Political Correctness
Nabelschau (don't know a translation)
Daylight saving time
I guess I can add to the list, so here it is:
ReplyDeleteTeeth whitening (thanks to the Coen Brothers to make this even clearer)
Baseball
Country Music
Wastefulness
Christian Fundamentalism
Peanut butter
ReplyDeleteFast and cheap but with low quality
Anti-intellectualism
Math phobia
Religious tolerance
Jazz
ReplyDeleteFeynman
Terrorism
Creationists
Ivy League
Replace Feynman with QED :P
ReplyDeletepost consumer waste
ReplyDeletehollywood
nasa
war
native americans
Thomas Edison, John Wayne, Superman
ReplyDeleteBig Steel, Oil, Transportation, Utilities
American Standard toilets
Flag worship
Banjos
six guns
depleted uranium
oil drilling; Red Adair
The Dollar
Footprints on the moon
"We come in peace. Shoot to kill."
(Red Adair went to Hell where he enjoys an air-conditioned palace. It was that or all the fires gone in 30 days.)
Root beer floats
ReplyDeleteSupersized portions
Driving everywhere
Shopping network channels
SUV's
Writing checks
Iced tea with sugar
Hamburgers
Hi All,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your contributions! Please feel free to repeat what has already been said, I count. I didn't want a simple poll just because it wouldn't have been possible for you to suggest items.
Uncle: You have disqualified. I said 5 items, no names, no places.
Sojourner: I've dropped Hollywood, it's a place.
Best,
B.
Turn right on red. Definitely un-European
ReplyDeletefreedom
ReplyDeletepride
simplicity
ingenuity
stubbornness
From hip-hop culture (and maybe gangs by roundabout), the young people often wave by putting one or two "v-signs" hands-down. I don't think the hip-hop thing has hit any other nation the way it has the USA (and we have the most "authentic" flavor.) BTW this is not meant as a put-down of US, I think the artsier non-thugish forms of HH are cool and enriching ... I employ it myself when dancing as "Uncle Sam" for Liberty Tax Service (an avocation for an eccentric, don't try to understand why an "intellectual" would do that ...)
ReplyDeleteAlso, how about elaborate clever advertisements and ad series and themes, that try to make a big cultural splash?
BTW Bee, is "Democrazy" a typo or did you mean it as a clever snarky take on our style of democracy? I want to think the latter ... If a typo, let's make up a cool spin for it anyway; if deliberate, what did you mean? ;-)
Hi Thomas Larsson,
ReplyDeleteTurn right on red. Definitely un-European.
Actually, the Green Arrow is one of the few official regulations of the former GDR that has survived German reunification ;-)
Cheers, Stefan
Exceptionalism.
ReplyDeleteThat one pretty much says it all.
Positive can-do attitude
ReplyDeleteunbiased easy-going
energetic
ingeniosity and creativity
youthfulness
tolerance
open to new ideas
latte macchiato
civilized general manners
Santa Claus (the red one is due to Coca Cola)
round doorknobs
artificial fingernails
lack of taste in dressing
loud cool talk everywhere
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou left out sincere, humble, modest, understated and unassuming, oh I’m sorry the one I was thinking of was actually English :-)
Best,
Phil
This is the opinion of a Frency who has lived some years in the US.
ReplyDelete1. Teeth whitening (because American people have known that smile was important much before other people in the world)
2. Shaved public hair (at least for women. On nudist beaches in California or Florida, that's the decisive factor to know a priori if a woman is really American or a French or Italian tourist...)
3. American only sports (Baseball, American football, NASCAR races).
4. The only country in the world to still use old English measures and not the metric system...
5. ... And of course puritanism (the US is the only country of the western world where Clinton's affair with Monica could have led to an impeachment procedure, which is still considered in France as worst than Bush election...)
Ooops, I meant "fancy Frency" not "fency" of course...
ReplyDeleteNo, it is "Frenchy", not "frency", the "h" is not working well on my keyboard. And this leads me to the point 6 about what is typically American:
ReplyDelete6. Hope. Even if you're a homeless one, in America, there's still hope you can come back in the economic game.. if you're not already burnt by alcohol or drugs. But if you're a rich one, there's also still hope you could quickly become a homeless. Future, even immediate future, is not written for American, while Europeans have some difficulty to imagine their life could change dramatically in a few days.
Cheeseburgers with the yellow cheese sticking out.
ReplyDeleteReality shows of blonde women looking for love fighting other blonde women
Reality shows of middle aged women looking for love fighting other middle aged women
'International news' - or the absence of it
Bee:
ReplyDelete1. rugged individualism
2. intense competitiveness
3. forthright openness
4. love of family
5. distrust of bigshots
Bee,
ReplyDeleteIs Hollywood a place or an industry?
So:
Hamburgers,
Hollywood movies,
Big cars,
Hi Neil,
ReplyDeleteI thought Democrazy was a deliberate typo (came from George, see above). There is plenty of Hip-Hop also in Germany. Best,
B.
Hi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWell, I will continue to ignore those who can't count to 5. It wasn't my intention to brain-storm everything anybody could possible connect to the USA but what are the most frequent first associations. I totally fail to see what's supposedly American about Latte Macchiato? Best,
B.
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteHollywood is a place. Could mean many things. Like, bad actors, bad plots, starlets you'll never see again, obsession with looks? Best,
B.
Political Correctness
ReplyDeleteGuns
Extreme need for privacy
"Friendliness"
Consumerism
helpfullness
ReplyDeletepoliteness
wastefullness
filmindustry
wheat
Hamburgers
ReplyDeleteBig screen TVs
SUVs
Ipods
Long commutes
Nuclear Weapons
ReplyDeleteBurgers
Size (Big, Bigger, American)
Patriotism
Military
Size (Big, Bigger, American)
ReplyDeleteDid you fly American lately? Maybe I'm paranoid but I believe their kneespace is constantly shrinking.
obesity
ReplyDeletebig cars
air conditioning run amock (walk-in fridges)
strip malls
obesity
(as seen from the 4th floor in this part of Scandinavia.)
Creationism
ReplyDeleteBailout
MIT
Spaceshuttle
Starbucks
Winner/looser
ReplyDeleteBig cups
"Oh my God!" screams
College/University T-shirts
Obesity
Hello Neil, Bee,
ReplyDeletethat Democrazy was deliberate.
But rather spontaneous, a kind of
"Freuds Typo" :=)
I wondered, whether somebody would
see it.
Georg
Hi Georg,
ReplyDeleteI noticed it also. In that respect I’ve heard us Canadians being connected with Maple saps and Germans being Mercedes-Bent :-)
Best,
Phil
hi bee,
ReplyDeleteHollywood meant the film industry, you can count it there.
best,
What the American Dream means to me:
ReplyDeleteWake up!
Satire
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn9FlD_IPOE
Televangelists
ReplyDeleteCreationism
Scientology
Guns
PC
come now people.. APPLE PIE!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Snowboarder,
ReplyDeleteYour right about that, yet I think the reason it was forgotten is that there are fewer moms and girls next door that make them, not to mention knowing how to :-)
Best,
Phil
Hello Bee,
ReplyDeletespitting this poll into Americans
vs non-Americans might be interesting.
Georg
Dollar$
ReplyDeleteDollar$
Dollar$
Dollar$
and, la$t but not lea$t:
War$