I know it's closed, but I thought this was interesting in light of what we tend to hear about ourselves in the USA.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18810084/

Seems we aren't so bad afterall. Americans were voted the the second best tourists.

Edited to add: Okay - so we don't know how to dress.

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Spock Jenkins of the Vulcan Jenkins'.

Well, there's 'image' and then there's 'image'.

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Bring back Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)

It's the money. As always, one would guess.

Americans travel half-way around the world to drop ignorantly large amounts of money to stay in a building identical to the ones in the city they came from. I'm betting they didn't rate quite as high on 'neatness' though. Slobs!

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random youtube observation #83:
Nana Mouskouri without glasses is like peanut butter without jelly, like yin without yang, spic without span...

Please, please, please don't start this again!!

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The dose makes the poison--Paracelsus (1493-1541) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracelsus

I don't know. That's why I'm asking--Noclevername

Intelligence may not be clearly defined, but you know stupid when you see it--Noclevername

Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge--Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

We Americans have a tendency to tip, even though the grautity is often included in the bill in European restaurants and eateries. That would make us popular at mealtime anyway. Seat the hungry Yanks in my section please...

Not all Americans...having worked for tips, I could point fingers at a segment or two.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time or the patience to deal with Sharptonites to say them aloud.

This is true. Some of the stay close to home types can be rather stingy.

we don't tip in Australia

Why do American resteraunts operate on a tipping basis?

Incentive for the waiters to work hard?

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There is no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact it's all dark - Pink Floyd, The Dark Side Of The Moon

To insure prompt service. (TIPS) It's just the custom here. Plus, some of these restaurants pay pretty poorly. When I worked as a waiter I needed those tips.

bloody capitalist resteraunt owners!

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There is no dark side of the moon really, as a matter of fact it's all dark - Pink Floyd, The Dark Side Of The Moon

This one looks like it's capable of getting out of hand and given the speed at which the last thread when bad, I'm closing it prematurely.

Please let all variations on "how America(ns are| is) different" alone for a bit.

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And the "driving on the freeway on a scooter" analogy still holds true because the pilots are sitting in 7 to 30 ton aircraft o' doom and you are running around them in your very own Meatbody, Mark I. Beep, beep.
Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.