Article of interest to USA hosts

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I long for the day when we had a president who could spell. He, obviously, is doing his followers a huge disservice.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/03/media/trump-twitter-typos/index.html

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64

Even if he weren’t such a vile human being, the mere fact that someone can be elected to the office of POTUS while functionally illiterate is mind-blowing.

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65

Thank you SO much for taking on the job of morality police. Are we all also going to hell if we aren’t washed in the blood of Jesus?

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66

Crete was awesome! We were there during the financial crisis and even still it was a wonderful experience.

Even when we got gently rear-ended while driving in one of the towns - their system for handling insurance was fantastic - in only 15-20 min an agent came out on a moped and handled the entire thing. It makes our system incredibly inefficient by comparison.

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67

@HH_AZ. Don’t Try to pull me into this. I was letting people I knew the article was stilted- not that I agreed with the political stance.

Posting political opinions on a STR host forum is bit like jousting with windmills; it doesn’t accomplish anything

68

I just find it funny that Americans are saying that they speak English. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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69

I did not pull you into this. All I did was reference the first sentence of your post … directed to someone who was offended that the subject got political. You have your right to post / comment what you would like, as do I, and as does Darlin Nell

And if you don’t want to veer into politics, please don’t make mention of windmills. :wink:

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70

Funny indeed. Much of the current English that you folks speak developed post Revolutionary war. So … we still speak “proper English” whereas England diverged from this a few hundred years ago :slight_smile:

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71

“Jousting with windmills” was about The futility of Don Quixote‘s quest.

72

Exactly. Americans speak American. :slight_smile:

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@Annet3176. It was a joke. Lighten up

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74

I had a boyfriend for 7 years who was Canadian by birth, but grew up in London. He was insufferably pedantic and was always going on about how Americans and Canadians didn’t speak “proper English”. When I asked him why they they pronounced Worchestershire sauce as “wooster sauce”, or why he pronounced “strawberry” as “strawbry”, he could never come up with an answer. I also had a British friend who named her daughter Thea. I used to razz her about why she named her daughter a name she couldn’t pronounce properly- she called her “Thear”.

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75

We haven’t been the greatest country on Earth for some time now, and since 2016 have fallen entirely out of contention. Sad for me, and I am looking to retire overseas in 2 years. I’ve lived and worked abroad twice (France & Australia), and in both places I found people were fine with Americans who were humble, looking to learn, and respectful of cultural differences, even if not “embracing” them personally. Sadly, I observed far too few of the tourists passing through that behaved that way, and I often winced at their behavior and hoped no one nearby would recognize me as a Yank.

I’ve got it narrowed down to 10 countries, although that list could grow or shrink as I learn more. My plan is to narrow it down to 2 or 3, take an Air BnB rental similar to what I’d likely have if I moved there, live as much like a permanent expat as possible, rather than as a tourist, and see if I like any of them enough to make it permanent. If not, back to the drawing board. Oh, and I’ll take an immersive language course in each one* so as to be less of an ugly American and to get a jump start in case that winds up being my new home.

(* Well, maybe not in Australia – they might find that offensive :wink:

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76

There is a summary here: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-01-10/the-most-powerful-passports-in-the-world

U.S. ranks #6 by this standard, which relates to the ease of travel to other countries, either visa-free, automatic visa, or at least a simple process with limited waiting time.

But the other factor is the extent to which the local folks like, respect, and form friendships with Americans, and that has (IMHO) declined over the years, precipitously since 2016. In a previous job, I traveled often to some places that were unsafe and where Americans were not widely popular. I had a whole travel ensemble covered in Canadian Maple Leafs, learned to say “aboot” and end every sentence with “eh?” and refreshed my knowledge of hockey. I was always polite and soft-spoken, so people often failed to identify me as an American anyway. Oh, and for places where ID might have to be shown, I had my U.S. passport in a Canadian passport holder. Confused some border agents, but nothing illegal about it. Sorry, “. . . aboot it.”

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77

As I posted above, I used to do the same, but only for safety. I would never try to fake it with a Canadian, and I’m 99% sure they wouldn’t take me as a hostage.

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Yes, this was news last year. I wrote about it at the time. But as you say, it refers to the ease of travel to other countries.

That’s brilliant. :rofl:

This is the article I wrote.

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79

Actually, “aboot” is regional- more in Eastern Canada. Canadians from the Western provinces don’t have that pronunciation. But “eh?” is pretty universally Canadian.
Then there’s some uniquely Candian expressions (at least the Americans I know aren’t familiar with them), like “F**ckin’ the dog”, which means standing around with your hands in your pockets when there is work to be done.

80

Just last night I watched Hannah Gadsby’s Douglas on Netflix. She’s got a bit on the difference between US and Australian language. Also very funny jokes if you’ve any interest in art history. I recommend both her shows, Nanette is the other one.

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81

I spent a couple of summers working in New Jersey, and “FTD” was so universal that just those three letters were enough, and it was often rendered as “walking the dog” in polite company. Haven’t heard it much elsewhere in the U.S., though. And yes, “aboot” is more in the way of Americans universal code for poking fun at Canadians, like “G’day” and “no worries” for Australians. I used to work on a day-to-day basis with several Canadians, mostly from BC and Alberta, so there was a lot of good-humored mutual jesting.

82

My favorite was from a female American colleague who, like me, had taken an interest in “the footie.” One Monday morning, folks at work were discussing that weekend’s game at the Subiaco Oval, and she said that she had “. . . really been rooting for the [West Coast] Eagles.” There was an awkward silence, then one of the Aussies asked: “All of them???”

You have to speak a little Aussie to get that one. It also gets a great laugh or sometimes a puzzled frown when Americans talk about wearing a “fanny pack.”

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