Topic: How Americans are? Tell an European.

@Octane I also prefer prices to be final. I am sure that when I finally visit US I will use my phone's calculator to know how much the tip is. No joke.

@NEStalgia Isn't country an American genre? By the way, very good comment. 😊

@NEStalgia I get defensive (not aggressive, there's a difference) online, but I'm sugary sweet irl. sugary much like the delicious food we have here in the U.S.

Quick answer for: How Americans are?
We're tired. Every minute of every day Americans are tired of being told we need to work hard, vacation hard, sleep hard, drink hard, eat hard, and exercise hard.
You don't do anything halfway in America, people look down on you if you think of giving less than 101% for anything. This includes bosses, parents, friends, and significant others. This is why Americans are tired.

BAHAHAHAHAHA. I wish I lived in that part of America.

@BlueOcean Country, or "Nashville country" (the fusion of pop and folk country) is American, but its roots are firmly based in largely Irish & Welsh folk, the predominant group of the South and the Appalachians in the early era. Rhythm & Blues and it's successor, jazz are pure American inventions with less direct roots, though, both really developing in their earliest forms among black slaves in the South, but it bears little similarity to either traditional African or spiritual music of the time. It was a raw invention here. Bluegrass then fused jazz with traditional folk country, so that's also an American invention And Swing (poor, short lived genre ) fused jazz with brass bands/ensembles.

@CharlieSmile that's fair then. If so, most people will, maybe not at first, but will ultimately view people by the individual person more than the characteristics they initially dislike. Not all people, some won't accept one attribute or another, and that's their prerogative. But most, if the individual person seems like someone they relate to, will ultimately include them. Some cultures wouldn't do that, so I suppose that's a positive attribute about American culture, even if it's not always instant gratification when there's a barrier of difference at first contact.

It was a Mexican restaurant in Santa Monica California. The good food (restaurants and higher quality grocery stores) in the US was better, but the normal food (fast food and Walmart) was worse.

The worst part about buying things was all the 1-cent coins. I said I didn't want them after receiving about 20 of them.

@Agriculture What's even worse is that the Penny costs more to make than it's value. Try that on for size.

@Agriculture Japan solved that by just making the 1-yen the only currency. That way everyone only deals in single cents. 3,201￥ Or $32.01, +/- conversion rate this hour. I love that system. It makes so much more cents than "hundredths of one dollar." Of course, that goes back to being based on British everything....it's all based on on the value of gold and silver, originally, and the fraction of value thereof.

But yeah, we eat a lot of garbage because that's what's there to eat Most can't afford the good food all the time so it's process food more often than not. Of course part of that is the climate, growing season is pretty short for most of the landmass, and importing food from across the country costs more in transportation then the cost of the food itself, unfortunately. Of course we have endless winter wheat in the midwest (though much of that is replaced by corn for ethanol....our fun political problems we now burn our food for fuel... ) but you can't live on wheat alone. Plus all the millennials are allergic to wheat.

@Illusion I enjoyed your comment and it's on topic. We all have different opinions and perception, we might be right or wrong and that's why this thread can be useful. I basically agree with you. Just one thing, some countries in Eastern Europe and Middle East are permanently at war basically because of their different religions. NATO has tried to bring peace to those areas since forever but unfortunately it looks like the conflicts there will never end. I liked the part where you described Europe as a fairytale land, Central and Northern Europe are kind of.

So you live next to Canada, there are beautiful landscapes there I guess. Also, it's nice to see Americans watching British series!

Another great on-topic comment. Well, to be honest, I suspected that because that is what the films and American series show. Typically, secondary/high school students must the best thing ever and become as popular as possible. Reputation and pressure everywhere!

@NEStalgia I should know that about country. Is jazz really music? Just kidding, I like some.

@JackEatsSparrows Where do you live?

Couldn't help yourself, could you?

In England McDonald’s do not sell burgers for breakfast but when I went to Holland the McDonald’s do. Got to love the Dutch.

@BlueOcean I live in rural south east Georgia. Don't get my wrong, there's definitely plenty of hard-working folks especially around here and the south in my experience. In fact, there's probably more truth to the statement @Illusion made than not, since it's super easy to spot someone that isn't studious or demonstrating a strong work ethic. (Sort of like the idea that I don't know how Ice Cream is made, but I know for sure when it's made wrong.)

The only thing that matters is that McDonald's mighty wings haven't been back in years and its uncalled for

@BlueOcean It depends: Miles before *****'s Brew, or Miles after *****'s Brew? The former, yes. The latter, not really.

@Ralizah You saw what I did there....

@Illusion you really nailed it on the head. If you're not the best in the world at something, then you're the worst...."If you're not first, you're last" that sums up existence for sure. I always hear the horror stories about Japan working themselves to death....even @HeavyArms has discussed it. But any story about that always includes an asterisk reminding that they're the second worst at that only to the US.

So what's the deal with pennies or cents in US? Can somebody explain?

@Agriculture I love hamburgers but only the good ones and the best one I had was in Holland, @BenGrimm, but obviously not McDonald's.

@NEStalgia We have junk food here too but in Europe there is a whole culture about food and I love it. Every country has its own signature dishes but in general, the food in Europe is awesome, considered the best in the world by many.

@BlueOcean

Apart from one trip to McDonald’s I ate pancakes the whole time 😁

@BlueOcean Base currency is one cent. A cent is 1/100 a dollar.

penny (one cent) = 1/100 dollar.
nickel = 5 cents
dime = 10 cents
quarter = 25 cents
no longer in production but at one time there were half dollar coins, and occasionally they are made commemoration as real currency, but they're not "normal" currency.

And the Japanese yen follows that model but eliminates the fractional conversion of a dollar to a cent, so the cent is their base yen.

Gas (petrol) is sold at $3.49 9/10.....rounded to the nearest cent. Because back when they started that a cent was worth so much that gallons mattered being sold at fractions of a penny. Now it just makes it psychologically look a penny cheaper.

Yeah, the European food culture is certainly popular here....on television...and as a hobby.... but it's expensive to do, and takes too much time in a culture where every minute you're not working you're supposed to be preparing for work or learning new work......or just cramming in video games wherever you can. But yeah, it's popular But we have specialty stores for "gourmet cooking" and restauraunts and caterers appealing to it And Food Network TV is dedicated to it and quite popular (with celebrity chefs having jarred foods for sale... )

@BenGrimm

@JackEatsSparrows It sounds nice. You probably enjoy nice weather over there.

@NEStalgia Yes like be the best or die trying (exaggerating). How do you deal with the pressure? Genuine question.

@BenGrimm @BlueOcean Have either of you tried the McKroket in the Netherlands? It's kind of a local thing (I think Belgium has it as well), due to the popularity of the kroket. It would be fun if McDonald's worldwide would have a year where they add a particular menu item from another country every so often.

Also, I'm (un?)fortunate enough to live close enough to a restaurant in North Carolina that has an exotic meat month every April. Last year they garnered some attention with a tarantula burger. I never tried it, because I'm sure my gag reflex would kick in if that thing came anywhere near my mouth!