National Stereotypes

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 08:58 AM

True, true, Guest of 12:58 a.m., true, true, true.

Who CARES about the Giant's Causeway, the Great Glen, the Alps, the Lake at Lucerne, the Fjords, the Steppes, Everest, the Burren, Fuji, the Pacific Deeps? Of what interest is Victoria Falls or Kilamanjaro or South Island? Damn right! Let's just stay home, watch the Cubs on TV, and drink Budweiser. Like I once said about the Atlantic, "Looks just like Lake Michigan. You can't see the other side of THAT, either."

Or were you engaging in irony? I was. And you know what? My passport is still good, even though it's been a whole year since I last used it!

As for traveling, gee, Guest, I've missed out on visiting Oklahoma, Arkansas and Hawaii in the US. In Canada I've missed Nunavit, Labrador, Newfoundland, PEI. Haven't been South Of The Border at all. Golly dang, how're YOU doing?

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:08 AM

William Worthy isn't worthy to enter our door,
Went down to Cuba he's not American anymore.
Someday very soon I will not be surprised to hear [sic]
The whole world is off limits, visit Disneyland this year.
Phil Ochs.........God how I miss that man.
Giok

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:34 AM

Nashville is a huge tourist destination. It draws people from all over the world. It used to draw a lot more, before they closed Opryland. Now the city wonders why tourism is down. Could be that people might travel across the globe for the Opry, but not for Opry Mills (the giant shopping mall that took Opryland's place).

I had a passport. I believe it's expired now.

There is a great show on PBS that Mister and I watch every week, called Globe Trekker. They go to all different places all around the world, and usually to non-tourist attractions. Plus, I also enjoy Rick Steves' travel show on PBS.

I was having lunch with a friend the other day, and we sat outside on the patio. He said, if this could be anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?

My answer? Istanbul. :-)

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 10:29 AM

Kim, those are two of our favs on tv, too. They both do a great job, don't they?

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: clueless don
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 11:07 AM

Don's the name, and thread creep is my game.

Little Hawk, I was intrigued/puzzled by your statement "...the Enterprise (named after the most famous American warship of all time)...". I did a google search and discovered that a U.S. aircraft carrier named the Enterprise was the most decorated ship of World War II. You have contributed to my education! But "most famous"?? I had never heard of it before I did the web search. I am aware of the more recent nuclear-powered carrier of the same name, but I wouldn't call it "famous." Are you saying that the Enterprise is more famous than the Constitution? than the Bonhomie Richard? than the Monitor? than the Maine? the Arizona? the Missouri?

Maybe you meant most famous to non US citizens?

Or maybe you were being ironic :) ?

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 05:48 PM

"... a continent four times the size of Europe "

Area of US 9,629,091 sq km, slightly smaller than Europe, which is 9,938,000 sq km.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 06:59 PM

McGrath - did you add Canada to your totals? The U.S. is not the only country on the continent.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 07:05 PM

You don't need a passport to visit Canada then? Very sensible. And would that apply to other countries in America? Does it work both ways?

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 07:44 PM

No, you don't need a passport to visit Canada.   I believe the U.S. and Canada have the longest stretch of unprotected border in the world. I don't believe you need a passport for Mexico. I'm not sure about the Caribbean countries or Bermuda.   Cuba is a whole different story.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Blackcatter
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 08:59 PM

Check my post above.

A U.S. citizen does not need a passport to visit Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, several (non-U.S. possession) islands in the Caribbean, and a few Central American countries, I believe.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Blackcatter
Date: 24 Jul 03 - 09:13 PM

Here's where Americans can go with either a valid picture I.D. or sometimes, a birth certificate:

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
ARUBA
BAHAMAS
BERMUDA
CANADA
DOMINICA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
GRENADA
JAMAICA
MEXICO
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF
MIQUELON ISLAND
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
PALAU, THE REPUBLIC OF
PANAMA
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
SAINT LUCIA
ST. PIERRE
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
VIRGIN ISLANDS, British
WEST INDIES, British

Gathered from the U.S. Department of State. I believe Belize used to be on that list, because I didn't need a passport when I did archaeological work their in 1989.

Ther are also:

Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, etc. which are part of the U.S.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 01:29 AM

Hi, clueless don. Yes, it's debatable whether the U.S.S. Enterprise is indeed the most famous American warship. I'd say it certainly was during World War II, and for good reason, since it played a key role in virtually every important Pacific Theatre carrier battle of the war (with the exception of the first one...Battle of the Coral Sea). The starship Enterprise was most certainly named after that aircraft carrier.

However, the frigate Constitution may indeed be more famous. So might the Maine or the Monitor or the Confederate ironclad Virgina (Merrimac). It all depends on your outlook, I suppose. The Arizona is also very famous, of course, for the same reason as the Maine...it blew up in a spectacular fashion at an unexpected moment, and served as the inspiration for Americans going to war.

The Missouri was famous because the Japanese surrender ceremony took place on her deck.

Well, take your pick, I guess. For the finest fighting record it has to be either the Constitution or the Enterprise, both of which served gloriously, and survived their wars. The Enterprise unfortunately was broken up for scrap sometime in the 60's. Too bad. I think she should have been preserved as World War II's most tenacious and successful aircraft carrier. The Japanese had a really good shot at sinking her in two battles...Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz, but were not quite able to manage it. They did manage to sink her two sisterships, the Yorktown and the Hornet, and her near-sistership the Wasp, and also the giant Lexington at Coral Sea. Of the original big six US carriers in service in Dec '41 only 2 survived the war...Enterprise and Saratoga.

- LH

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 03:37 AM

Let's talk a little bit about the Germans : They have potato bellies and live of bratwurst (fried sausage) with sauerkraut (sliced cabbage preserved with large additions of salt in big barrels, may be eaten raw or cooked). That's why they were called by the Yankees (including over here Southern rebels, Western cattledrivers and Californian gays, too) Krauts.
Their main sport is stone lifting, which leeds to an excessive swilling of beer (a yellowish to dark brown liquid leading to abuse and causing temporary to eternal headaches).

I gave these characreristics of the tribes of my fatherland because I enjoy this thread very much.
Just do me one favour: Don't give a passport to B.S.! It's enough to see him on the screen over here!

And now let me plead "not guilty" for some US-Americans. We saw a lot of them over here; now they are fortunately deported to a Near Eastern contry studying geography the tactical way. A rough characterisation of the types you can meet:
1) The really interested ones (learning even a foreign language!) Once
I gave an American soldier a lift and I was dumbfounded how well he spoke German fluently. On leave he travelled all over Europe with German friends.
2) The slightly interested, even travelling abroad, but never preparing for a travel, like this student of geography from the Middle West we took with us from the heart of Germany to Palermo, Italy. The only word in a foreign language he knew was "arriba!" (Mexican influence presumed.)
He never got over the day when going to Italy we drove through 5 countries with 4 currencies, but only (thank God) 2 languages (Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy).
3) The totally interested. He thinks Germany is a big jungle crossed by a vast number of autobahns.

Wilfried

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 06:58 AM

I've had a fair amount of experience of different races and nations at close quarters in the last couple of years. Only one difference I noticed between them: some people had good manners and some had bad. But that didn't seem to be connected to their nationality or race.

Sorry to be po-faced, but the guilty snicker of racism conceals something quite nasty.

As for America being enough for Americans to explore - fine if you want it that way! But it's nice to see other places and hear other languages, eat different food, see different customs, and meet new people from quite a different culture once in a while.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 08:52 AM

correction of my last post:
3) the totally uninterested [evidently]

Wilfried

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: clueless don
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 09:28 AM

Thank you, Little Hawk, for the additional information on the Enterprise (World War II version.)

I was born at the tag end of 1949, so while World War II was a central event in the lives of my parents and other older family members, it was only a peripheral event to me. My uncle was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge, but neither he nor any other family member has ever told much in the way of "war stories", at least not in my hearing. I've picked up some World War II history over the years (much of it from movies!), but I've never made a systematic study of the war. Perhaps that makes me a "typical American" (said with a sneer), and thus ties this into the topic of this thread!

As I'm sure you guessed, I was interpreting "famous" in the sense of "having fame" or "well known". I was *not* interpreting it in the sense of "deserving of fame", "important", or "successful in battle".

c.d.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 09:32 AM

Impressive list of countrie US citizens can go to without oassports. How far does it work the other way?

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Ghirotondo
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 09:47 AM

If our mr. Bossi succeeds in splitting Italy in two (the 'Padania' and the South), I will need a passport to go from Florence to Milan...

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 10:08 AM

Why should you? You don't need one to go to France, for example.

Subject: RE: National Stereotypes
From: Amos
Date: 25 Jul 03 - 10:16 AM

The last time we went to the Dominican Republic, we were told no passports were needed; but when we got to the airport they required them! Fortunately, we had them at home, so we only lost a few hours of our vacation as the airline took repsonsibility for their contradictions and let us on the next flilght.

I don't believe the requirement was diplomatic -- I think the airline was being anal.

A