20 Ways to Spot an American Abroad

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EasilySuede
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20 Ways to Spot an American Abroad

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from http://travel.alot.com/themes/10-ways-t ... gn=FB_9775

Being Americans, we think we're pretty awesome. Across the globe, not everyone will agree with that sentiment, however. If you don't want to stick out like a sore thumb, try to avoid these stereotypical aspects of an average American traveler.

20. Not Understanding the Metric System
There are only three countries on the planet that don't use the Metric system, so unless you're in Myanmar or Liberia, you probably want to keep your degrees in celsius and your feet to yourself. England doesn't even use the English system anymore even though it's called the "English system." Learn what a meter is. It's not that hard.

19. Perfectly Straight Pearly Whites
Braces are commonplace across the U.S., as is teeth-whitening. For a country whose health industry is in shambles compared to the rest of the world, we sure do take care of our teeth. For us, a braces-straightened, bright smile is such a common sight that we don't even always notice it. For folks from other countries, it comes across a little...Stepford. And it definitely stands out.

18. Wearing Baseball Caps (edit: backwards)
Baseball is the American pastime, right? At least, it was at one point, and it's still thought of that way, even though we watch more pro football than baseball at this point. Still, we love the caps, and we carry them around with us everywhere—including overseas, where they immediately mark us as Americans.

17. Wearing White Socks
This is another huge giveaway. Here in the US, we may pick on people for wearing socks with sandals, but odds are the socks themselves are a giant white, uh...red flag whether you're wearing them with sandals or not. People across Europe and in the UK tend to wear darker socks, and if you're wearing those white numbers—especially if you've got them pulled way up onto your calves—you're an American.

16. Requesting Ice In Drinks
You might find chilled wine or mineral water in other places, but if you're trying to find tap water—or, heaven forbid, soda—with ice in it, you're automatically marked as an American. It's just not a thing most non-Americans worry about. Our bizarre obsession with watering down our beverages is a dead giveaway—not to mention more likely to expose you to local waters that haven't been filtered as much as the drinking water.

15. Walking While Eating
Army regulations prohibit soldiers from walking while "engaged in activities that would interfere with the hand salute...or detract from a professional image." This includes walking while eating. We don't know that this was specifically about helping people blend in overseas, but we wouldn't be surprised to learn as much. Walking while eating—or really, doing much of anything while eating beyond focusing on the meal—is distinctly American.

14. Not Caring About Soccer (AKA Football)
If the game is on and everyone cares except for you, nobody has to guess where you're from. Our vast indifference to what is apparently a global pastime makes us stand out in a crowd, as does our insistence on using the word "football" to describe a game where only one person per team gets to put his foot on the ball. We're not saying it's right or wrong not to be glued to the TV during a soccer match, just that you'll stand out if you aren't.

13. Going to McDonald's
From a practicality standpoint, it doesn't make sense to go to the expense of traveling abroad, paying for plane tickets, lodging, and transportation only to eat the same subpar hamburger you can get two miles from your house. But people do it—in fact, they seem to be the largest audience for McDonald's overseas, so much so that "Are they eating McDonald's?" is one question locals ask themselves to figure out whether a foreigner is American or not.

12. Drinking Too Much
Look, it's not that we can't hold our liquor. It's just that alcohol is way more taboo here than most other countries. When kids go some place that actually lets them drink, they don't know what their limit is because nobody told them how to drink responsibly. Plus, we like to check out your hospitals since we spend two and a half times more on healthcare than you guys do. Americans want to learn your secrets.

11. Prudishness About Nudity
We may be able to drink our compatriots under the table, but that's where the risque behavior stops. We are, famously, a country that'll give a movie a harsher rating for showing a man gently making love to his wife than for showing the same man brutally murdering his wife with a baseball bat in slow motion. If someone's in an art museum complaining that the woman in the Raphael painting isn't covered, that person is likely to be American.

10. Talking to Strangers
Granted, not all Americans do this, but for the ones who do, it's an immediate signal that you're from the U.S. It's not the accent that comes out when you open your mouth, it's the fact that you opened your mouth in the first place. American friendliness is a little different than what you see elsewhere.

9. Overly Sharing Your Feelings
It's not just that we're talking to the strangers. Americans are super, weirdly, intimately open with them. Maybe it's the security of knowing we're never going to see this person again that makes us open up like they're a bartender and we're four drinks in, but if you unload on a total stranger about how you're marriage is stalling, they're going to peg you for a Yank right off the bat.

8. Applauding
Clapping for a performance is important, and if you take in any kind of show anywhere, it's appreciated. But Americans have a reputation for clapping everywhere—like at the movie theater, for performers who obviously can't hear you, or for planes making a smooth landing. That's not necessary anywhere, not even in the States. Stop it. Stop. Stop it.

7. Tipping
Tipping is important in America because most waiters make less than $3 an hour and rely on tips to pay their rent. However, most other countries actually make restaurants pay their employees. Tipping is baffling across most of Europe, for instance.

6. Fanny Packs
Americans don't actually wear fanny packs in the states. For some reason, though, they become a crucial part of the ensemble when we go overseas. Maybe it's the articles we read telling us to watch our wallet. Maybe we don't know what to do with our stuff when we don't have our SUV to cart it all around in. Whatever the reason, here we are. (You might also want to check your white socks, gym shoes, shorts, and baseball caps.)

5. Your Accent
This isn't really something anyone can help. As hilarious as other peoples' attempts are to "do an American accent"—America is a huge country with tons of different accents—the timbre of your voice is still a massive giveaway.

4. Trying Someone Else's Accent
Of course, when you're trying not to sound American, that's when you sound most American. We're notorious for being convinced that we can sound just like the people we're around, and that's when we break out an Australian accent in London or a Northern accent in Wales. If you try this in the U.K., you should know that being compared to Dick van Dyke is not a compliment in this context.

3. Not Knowing a Foreign Language
We live in a country where you can drive for over 2,500 miles without leaving the country. You can actually fly in a straight line for 2,802 miles over American soil. We don't grow up learning languages the way people do when the countries are crammed together like states in New England. We have Texas. There are whole countries smaller than Texas. Quite a few of them, in fact. Is our monolingual tendency healthy or useful? Probably not. But it's understandable, and it's definitely unique to the U.S.

2. Loudness
Whether it's a question of day-to-day conversational volume, or shouting across a room to get someone's attention, Americans haven't quite nailed the "inside voice" thing just yet. If the accent you speak with doesn't give you away, your volume will.

1. Not Knowing the Customs
It makes sense. We live in a country that takes up an enormous amount of space, and while we do have a lot of differences in accent, food, and culture, we're not used to studying up before we travel. Still, it's a good idea. Learn what you can of the language instead of expecting people to speak English. Read about customs and manners. (Pay special attention to not making any obscene gestures.) You'll have more fun if you go in knowing what to expect, and you'll get along better, too.


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