And you can always spot the clueless, smelly European...

Americans loud? My ass.

Basic geography? As if your average European knows where to find anything other the LA, New York or Chicago (and usually, not even Chicago). Sorry, but not knowing the exact location of someplace on a continent you don't live on isn't exactly a crime.

what a bigoted list. i love that even over tipping is a moral failing that we can look down on the americans about.

Yeah. We're the ones SAVING YOUR ASSES TIME AND AGAIN WHO IS WITH ME?

Quit even trying to blend in while on vacation - Europeans can always spot a fat, loud American are easily fooled by Canadian flags.

You can always spot some of them because they are traveling in a herd, following a young woman who is holding a flag or umbrella over her head.

Bad list. The first tip is white sneakers.

What a stupid list. I'll put my knowledge of European geography up against a European's knowledge of American geography anytime.

Europeans are rarely exposed to American tourists who are stereotypically ignorant, loud, fat, unwilling to try speaking another language, etc. The people who fit that characterization are not going to venture to Europe for a vacation. As far as I'm aware, Europeans have recently rated Americans to be the most polite tourists.

Barakku: Why would I care they know if I'm American?

Exactly my question too.

The list seems roughly half "weird stereotypes about Americans" and half "how people know you're a tourist."

Plenty of Americans don't fit the weird stereotypes. As for being found out a tourist, I don't see what the problem is. I AM a tourist. I am not going to pass for local, I'm happy to admit I'm a tourist.

That doesn't mean I have to be rude, but honestly, why be ashamed to be from somewhere else?

2wheeljunkie: Bad list. The first tip is white sneakers.

That's mostly what I've heard, also. I do wear white sneakers, I have no problem being marked as a tourist for it. Last time I was on vacation half the locals were wearing sneakers too, only they were odd colored insect-looking football shoes of some sort.

LordZorch: Basic geography? As if your average European knows where to find anything other the LA, New York or Chicago (and usually, not even Chicago). Sorry, but not knowing the exact location of someplace on a continent you don't live on isn't exactly a crime.

Definitely this, though. I get asked (by Japanese friends who haven't really been to the US before) "so is that close to New York City?" (about midwestern places) or they'll assume they can take a quick trip in a few days all across the US by car. Uh, no.

On the other hand, the US news does similar, reporting all Japanese locations as "X miles [direction] from Tokyo," when the place in question is pretty much a suburb of some other big city like Osaka. It's the equivalent of talking about, say, Northbrook IL (a suburb of Chicago) in terms of its distance from Manhattan.

Point being though, it's not an American thing, it's a foreign thing.

2wheeljunkie: Bad list. The first tip is white sneakers.

I just wear a baseball cap when I'm in Europe, especially in the UK. Seems like I get asked for directions daily if I don't wear a baseball cap. Saves everyone the trouble that way. Besides, I'm a tourist So what?

Nabb1: What a stupid list. I'll put my knowledge of European geography up against a European's knowledge of American geography anytime.

I'm with you there. I think I could correctly identify almost every country in Europe. I might miss a city-state or two, and maybe something in the Balkans, but that's it. Could probably get a good part of the capitals right too. I bet most Europeans can't name almost every state of the US correctly.

Of course, I've always been good with maps. I would guess that given a clean map, I could correctly identify upwards of 85% of the world's countries, and maybe even 20-40% of the world's capitals.

Nabb1: What a stupid list. I'll put my knowledge of European geography up against a European's knowledge of American geography anytime.

if i can find minsk on a map, i expect your average european to find des moines, or forever suffer from geography fail stereotype.

In my many travels overseas, I've only met two fellow Americans that I wanted to throttle:

1) Elderly fat southerner screaming at his wife at the cafe atop Zugspitze. He had a "Germany" baseball cap and a USA USA USA sweater.

2) Long-haired douchebag at a bar in Cesky Krumlov. He thought he and his GF were the only ones there who knew English. My Austrian buddy and I were hanging out with two guys at the bar: twins who had bulked up in hopes of becoming the Czech Republic's most famous professional wrestlers. They knew English and German. The American douchebag was really laying into his GF because "she was looking at those two musclehead dudes at the bar". The wrestling twins eventually had enough and walked over to the guy's table and asked him if there were any problems they could resolve for him. Then they started sweet-talking the guy's GF. That shut his ass up quick and they left.

/chick was hot, too. Too hot for that douchebag.
//the Czech wrestler dudes were pretty cool.
/would have made for a great porn flick.

patrick767: jonasborg
It's called a bubbler

Whatever. They seem to be rare.


That was actually the bidet.

sweetmelissa31: Europeans are rarely exposed to American tourists who are stereotypically ignorant, loud, fat, unwilling to try speaking another language, etc. The people who fit that characterization are not going to venture to Europe for a vacation. As far as I'm aware, Europeans have recently rated Americans to be the most polite tourists.

You're probably right. The Americans most in need of an international education learned all that they think they needed to during those two days at Epcot.

The Americans I bump into around here all seem to be great people, fairly worldly, and don't fit the stereotype. But lots of the ones I've encountered in the south... yeesh. I'm glad they don't own passports.

Nabb1: What a stupid list. I'll put my knowledge of European geography up against a European's knowledge of American geography anytime.

American prehistory. Try that topic next time.

Kirk's_Toupee: according to the world, Americans are strangely fascinated with toilets.

Greatest invention ever.

I've never been to Europe, but I work with a lot of Europeans. Nice people mostly, the United Kingdom does have a lot of assholes though. Australians are much nicer people over all than the British. There are exceptions of course.

Snarfangel: fla

Ok honestly now, who does this? I'm an American gal who's traveled around the world and have never met someone who was an American and sewed a Canadian flag onto their backpack, nor have I ever heard of someone who met such a mythic person.

Honestly I think this list can be summarized by "there are idiots in every culture." This is by far the biggest thing I learned while traveling, as most people are quite sane and normal and kind but you never hear about them. Oh, and because there are 300+ million Americans we're just going to have more idiots.

Snarfangel: Quit even trying to blend in while on vacation - Europeans can always spot a fat, loud American are easily fooled by Canadian flags.

Sorry, this is the quote I wanted but somehow it didn't translate over!

jonasborg: patrick767: drinking fountain

It's called a bubbler

Goddamned right!

WISCONSIN, REPRESENTIN'

Sexy Republican Girl: keep whining amerifags

Not every thread requires a troll.