Americans and Canadians culture Q&A Thread.

[Buzz Rules]

I get what the conversation was about. The riff started with the saying of Happy Veteran's Day on the particular and comments surrounding saying that vs not saying that, when Buzz asked what do you say for Remembrance Day which related to the discussion and you responded with asking why do you need to say anything, just treat it like any other normal day. My response was just in a sort of defense about the Veteran's Day talk because you specifically asked why do you need to greet anyone in a special way (and yes I know you were talking about Remembrance Day) . You don't have to, there just are people who do it themselves for Veteran's Day thus I suppose perpetuating the greeting making it normal I suppose to assume others have greetings to for other such days. When that is an incorrect assumption it's nice to learn about it with less hostility I suppose. I'm always about learning new things personally

Sorry I bothered to respond at all

I appreciated the response.

 

[declansdad]

Again, you reference a small, representative circle and you think that covers all Americans...despite another American telling you that, no, it's not normal, it's not common, and it's not a cultural thing. Perhaps it's best to speak for yourself instead of speaking for all Americans since what may be considered common in one part of the US, is not so common in the rest.

I've never heard a TV station use "happy" to precede either holiday. It's either variants of "Honoring those who served," on Veterans Day and variants of "Honoring those who paid the last full measure of devotion," on Memorial Day.

Frankly, I do find it very disrespectful. Not that I want to play the "personal experience" trump card, but...I had an uncle killed during WWII at Guadalcanal and another that was awarded the Purple Heart more than once (and carried shrapnel from D-day in his body until the day he died). Another uncle took part in the Berlin airlift and another saw action in Korea. My father narrowly escaped being killed in Vietnam. No. I don't see anything "happy" about either Memorial Day or Veteran's Day. I have a great sense of pride for my father and uncles and every other man and woman who puts on the uniform and puts him/herself in harms way, but I will never associate that with being happy.

I have a number of friends in the US and we chat on a daily basis. Today everyone of them, including the veterans, which everyone a happy veteran's day.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Again, you reference a small, representative circle and you think that covers all Americans...despite another American telling you that, no, it's not normal, it's not common, and it's not a cultural thing. Perhaps it's best to speak for yourself instead of speaking for all Americans since what may be considered common in one part of the US, is not so common in the rest.

I've never heard a TV station use "happy" to precede either holiday. It's either variants of "Honoring those who served," on Veterans Day and variants of "Honoring those who paid the last full measure of devotion," on Memorial Day.

Frankly, I do find it very disrespectful. Not that I want to play the "personal experience" trump card, but...I had an uncle killed during WWII at Guadalcanal and another that was awarded the Purple Heart more than once (and carried shrapnel from D-day in his body until the day he died). Another uncle took part in the Berlin airlift and another saw action in Korea. My father narrowly escaped being killed in Vietnam. No. I don't see anything "happy" about either Memorial Day or Veteran's Day. I have a great sense of pride for my father and uncles and every other man and woman who puts on the uniform and puts him/herself in harms way, but I will never associate that with being happy.

I will say I have not seen a tv ad saying happy memorial/veterans day in awhile. I remember them mostly around 10 years ago, so maybe there has been a shift on that for marketing purposes.

 

[SirDuff]

I get what the conversation was about. The riff started with the saying of Happy Veteran's Day on the particular and comments surrounding saying that vs not saying that, when Buzz asked what do you say for Remembrance Day which related to the discussion and you responded with asking why do you need to say anything, just treat it like any other normal day. My response was just in a sort of defense about the Veteran's Day talk because you specifically asked why do you need to greet anyone in a special way (and yes I know you were talking about Remembrance Day) . You don't have to, there just are people who do it themselves for Veteran's Day thus I suppose perpetuating the greeting making it normal I suppose to assume others have greetings to for other such days. When that is an incorrect assumption it's nice to learn about it with less hostility I suppose. I'm always about learning new things personally

Sorry I bothered to respond at all

I wasn't asking why you needed something to say to veterans (of either country). I was (now clarifying for the third time) referring to the need to have a general greeting (which is what Buzz did and spoke about it). Your response was entirely about speaking to veterans (as I said, maybe interesting) which was had nothing to do with defending Buzz (who does a good job of sticking up for himself anyway).

Given that I've seen your criticize people multiple times for not responding directly to the point of the thread/post, I find your post and defense of it rather funny, to be honest

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No. I don't believe my views and experiences are representative of the majority of country. Frankly, that's why I get irritated when you put forth your views as being so...and you do it quite often. Have you been to every Veteran's Day parade in every part of the country? Have you visited every state? Have you spoken with every American? Unless you can say yes to any/all of those questions, you really don't have enough empirical evidence to make the claim you want. Yes. Your knowledge is limited in this case to just what you've experienced just as my knowledge is limited to just what I've experienced. Based on that, it's fair to say that what is common in one part of the country is by no means common in another so neither of us can really make any claims about what's common for the entire country.

To be fair https://www.disboards.com/threads/honoring-veterans-and-remembering-low-key.3901404/

It doesn't have many replies and you're bound to get varied opinions there (and that's great, it's how we learn and embrace other opinions). And over the years there's usually a thread about it with plenty of evidence that people from all over the U.S. say thank you for your service or happy veteran's day but there's also evidence of people who haven't or those who stopped saying it over time. Sometimes it could come down to service members being in the family or close to people sometimes it may come down to where you live meaning close to bases in terms of prevalence (although military personnel often move about) and as I said in my other comment not every military personnel feels the same either.

There's a poster who in respectful earnest has over several threads given his opinion on the matters of saying things to him and I've learned a lot from his comments even if they don't match my own personal experiences with military members.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I wasn't asking why you needed something to say to veterans (of either country). I was (now clarifying for the third time) referring to the need to have a general greeting (which is what Buzz did and spoke about it). Your response was entirely about speaking to veterans (as I said, maybe interesting) which was had nothing to do with defending Buzz (who does a good job of sticking up for himself anyway).

Given that I've seen your criticize people multiple times for not responding directly to the point of the thread/post, I find your post and defense of it rather funny, to be honest

Then perhaps as I know on my own personal responses your delivery of your comment could have been different. And from your comment I didn't get that you found my comment actually interesting as you said "interesting for you, I guess" which smacks of mockery but okay.

 

[SirDuff]

I stand corrected.

To be honest, I had to look it up as I wasn't sure myself. I find it interesting that tourists in the US spend (on average) so much more than tourists to other countries. Mexico I get (things are cheaper there) but, not so much the case for France or Italy (in generalities of course, since prices vary a lot across the country). I wonder if people tend to do longer visits to the US than to France or Italy?

 

[declansdad]

I never said all Americans but having heard the phrase in four states did make it seem to be just another common American thing. I have heard people say thank you for your service just as much to be honest. Would you say most Americans are ignorant and arrogant? If you ask majority of Americans if they know about the other tomb memorials, how many would honestly say yes (not a dig at you, just making a point). I fully admit when I’m wrong but I also follow more news and current events from around the world than the average person does. I said I believe the T.U.S. is the most famous (yes partly because it’s American and more eyes probably see it than the ones in other less visited countries). I don’t believe we are the center of the world. But I do think we hold the most influence as did the British before. We are on top of the world order and that gets challenged often. And an unfortunate side affect of that is some arrogance that is naturally imbedded in our culture (right or wrong).

This is what makes you sound like the stereotypical American.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I will say I have not seen a tv ad saying happy memorial/veterans day in awhile. I remember them mostly around 10 years ago, so maybe there has been a shift on that for marketing purposes.

I think what we've seen in our area is more "what can we do for Veterans" you still see the tv ads and hear the commercials about specials and such just maybe a tad less than in the past.

This was a local story from yesterday about activities and things to do

https://fox4kc.com/community/vetera...ls-freebies-events-honoring-those-who-served/

Leavenworth is mentioned there for the parade, Fort Leavenworth is here. WWI museum and memorial is here. I love our tiny homes initiative. A week or so ago one of the places was able to purchase 2 service dogs for 2 servicemen for their PTSD, that was a touching video to see, etc.

 

[Buzz Rules]

This is what makes you sound like the stereotypical American.

Most Americans, I would argue sound like the stereotype. I think @seshat0120 thinks that most of Americans don’t fit that stereotype. I am a patriotic/optimistic (not nationalistic) person in general. I like to see America as a great country with many flaws (that we continue to work through). I don’t think my country is perfect but do like to speak about it’s positives more than it’s negatives. I’m not arrogant but I would be lying if I said America’s so called place in the world as a world power didn’t influence a great deal of the population’s attitude of what they think about their country. How many of our modern action movies show Americans having a negative attitude towards our own country? I think the majority of our citizens are a warm, welcoming, honest, and hard working people.

To be honest, I had to look it up as I wasn't sure myself. I find it interesting that tourists in the US spend (on average) so much more than tourists to other countries. Mexico I get (things are cheaper there) but, not so much the case for France or Italy (in generalities of course, since prices vary a lot across the country). I wonder if people tend to do longer visits to the US than to France or Italy?

The European currency rates probably influence that.

 

[declansdad]

Most Americans, I would argue sound like the stereotype. I think @seshat0120 thinks that most of Americans don’t fit that stereotype. I am a patriotic/optimistic (not nationalistic) person in general. I like to see America as a great country with many flaws (that we continue to work through). I don’t think my country is perfect but do like to speak about it’s positives more than it’s negatives. I’m not arrogant but I would be lying if I said America’s so called place in the world as a world power didn’t influence a great deal of the population’s attitude of what they think about their country. How many of our modern action movies show Americans having a negative attitude towards our own country? I think the majority of our citizens are a warm, welcoming, honest, and hard working people.


The European currency rates probably influence that.

Most of my best friends are Americans and they don't sound like that.

 

[Sparkyfella]

It totally is, same as how we spell certain words with a "u" and you do not, such as colour.

The most annoying thing for me as a brit is that you pronounce the word Herb as ERB......

 

[SirDuff]

The European currency rates probably influence that.

It what way? Until recently (and, honestly, I've checked in a couple of weeks so not sure the exact rate right now), the EURO was trading above the USD, so spending 1,000 EURO would convert to spending 1,200 USD (or whatever - but more than 1,000 USD). And, even after converting to USD (or maybe especially after converting), things in France are not cheap in comparison to the US (again, talking at a national level).

could see Americans spending less in Europe (in EURO) because of the exchange but the comparisons in the table are USD and I can certainly see how exchange rates can affect spending, but not sure, in this specific case, how the EURO/USD exchange rate would lead to such a big difference. The currency differences don't seem to be enough to explain that massive difference.

ETA - this isn't me giving you hard time Buzz. Honestly, not sure and just thinking things through.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The most annoying thing for me as a brit is that you pronounce the word Herb as ERB......

That makes me think about the time I first read kerb in one of the romance novels I was reading. As far as I can tell phonetically sounding the same as curb but threw me for a loop there for a second, contextually I could figure out what it meant. And from the book it was written by a british author so I also saw tyre.

 

[SirDuff]

The most annoying thing for me as a brit is that you pronounce the word Herb as ERB......

Eddie Izzard has a bit in one of her comedy sketches about this. I'd post a clip, but the language isn't safe

 

[Buzz Rules]

Most of my best friends are Americans and they don't sound like that.

Opinionated or loud personality? Overall positive view about the US with rose colored glasses? Sing the anthem proudly? Not saying that’s your friends, just some examples of what I hear other nations think of us. I think there’s a cultural difference between the coasts, midwest, and south though when one thinks about the American stereotype.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

How many of our modern action movies show Americans having a negative attitude towards our own country? I think the majority of our citizens are a warm, welcoming, honest, and hard working people.

I think it's just a reflection of the times as far as movies and tv shows. We were watching with our DISer group last night Father of the Bride (the one with Steve Martin) and we literally had a conversation about "oh yeah the expectation of the bride's family paying" and "oohh wonder what the fights would be like now in 2022 vs 1991" and some things didn't age well even in that movie including various stereotypes.

That said your last statement is separate from viewing the country in a negative light and so much of it is political in nature so hard to get into here. And I'd wager for many people it's not an all or nothing situation meaning they find everything negative nor do they find everything positive. My husband and I have a lot of intellectual conversations and we don't always agree on things but we aren't afraid to say when we feel something is really getting bad or when we feel something is going well. And we treat that as differently than our nationality status.

 

[Buzz Rules]

This is what makes you sound like the stereotypical American.

This part?:

I don’t believe we are the center of the world. But I do think we hold the most influence as did the British before. We are on top of the world order and that gets challenged often. And an unfortunate side affect of that is some arrogance that is naturally imbedded in our culture (right or wrong).

Is this not a fact? I would argue that when the British Empire existed, they felt similar to how most Americans have a slight arrogant attitude today.

 

[Buzz Rules]

It what way? Until recently (and, honestly, I've checked in a couple of weeks so not sure the exact rate right now), the EURO was trading above the USD, so spending 1,000 EURO would convert to spending 1,200 USD (or whatever - but more than 1,000 USD). And, even after converting to USD (or maybe especially after converting), things in France are not cheap in comparison to the US (again, talking at a national level).

could see Americans spending less in Europe (in EURO) because of the exchange but the comparisons in the table are USD and I can certainly see how exchange rates can affect spending, but not sure, in this specific case, how the EURO/USD exchange rate would lead to such a big difference. The currency differences don't seem to be enough to explain that massive difference.

ETA - this isn't me giving you hard time Buzz. Honestly, not sure and just thinking things through.

I’m saying the currency and economy in each country determines how much Europeans spend in America. British pounds used to give you a bigger bang for your buck in WDW.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I’m saying the currency and economy in each country determines how much Europeans spend in America.

That is true. On the several FB pages for the cruise company we're going with there's actually a lot more Europeans and Australians than those from the U.S. and there's been a lot of talk about how currency is affecting travel. Right now it's more advantageous for us to visit Europe than the other way around but I will tell you flights to Europe are sooooo not cheap. It's several thousand (actually I think it was about $5K) for 2 of us to get to Venice and back home from Athens. We're using primarily points but also a combo of cash. Unfortunately our travel isn't until next summer so who knows what will happen in the meantime.