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Author Topic: Is there some kind of a holiday in the US? No sales from the states  (Read 24337 times)

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donding

  • Think before you speak
« Reply #50 on: August 04, 2011, 15:04 »
0
I was born in Texas but grew up in the north...I married an Illinois man. When we moved back to Texas he was referred to as an Yankee all the time. Well one of his friends finally figured out how to get them to shut up. He just looked at them and said  "If it wasn't for all us * Yankees, all you Texas would have been Mexicans" They pretty much let it go after that...at least to his face anyway....lol


donding

  • Think before you speak
« Reply #51 on: August 04, 2011, 15:15 »
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Oh and by the way the dow dropped 513 points, worst drop since Oct 2008. That's probably some of the problem.

velocicarpo

« Reply #52 on: August 04, 2011, 15:20 »
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I was born in Texas but grew up in the north...I married an Illinois man. When we moved back to Texas he was referred to as an Yankee all the time. Well one of his friends finally figured out how to get them to shut up. He just looked at them and said  "If it wasn't for all us  Yankees, all you Texas would have been Mexicans" They pretty much let it go after that...at least to his face anyway....lol

Do you have any "nice" words for mexicans up there? :D

rubyroo

« Reply #53 on: August 04, 2011, 15:46 »
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This seems to be turning into the 'who can we offend next next?' thread  :D

I'll pre-empt, and save someone the trouble.

Lots of love,
A Limey

velocicarpo

« Reply #54 on: August 04, 2011, 15:56 »
0
This seems to be turning into the 'who can we offend next next?' thread  :D

I'll pre-empt, and save someone the trouble.

Lots of love,
A Limey

Naahhh...nothing serious....just nasty humor ;-)

« Reply #55 on: August 04, 2011, 15:57 »
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Well, USAers, Canadians, Europeans - they're all "gringos", even in Brazil. :)

donding

  • Think before you speak
« Reply #56 on: August 04, 2011, 15:59 »
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I was born in Texas but grew up in the north...I married an Illinois man. When we moved back to Texas he was referred to as an Yankee all the time. Well one of his friends finally figured out how to get them to shut up. He just looked at them and said  "If it wasn't for all us  Yankees, all you Texas would have been Mexicans" They pretty much let it go after that...at least to his face anyway....lol

Do you have any "nice" words for mexicans up there? :D

Didn't mean to offend ya...I know several Mexicans and got nothing against them... ;D

« Reply #57 on: August 04, 2011, 16:06 »
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I was born in Texas but grew up in the north...I married an Illinois man. When we moved back to Texas he was referred to as an Yankee all the time. Well one of his friends finally figured out how to get them to shut up. He just looked at them and said  "If it wasn't for all us  Yankees, all you Texas would have been Mexicans" They pretty much let it go after that...at least to his face anyway....lol
That reminds me of a Canadian guy I know, when he was in Florida and all he would hear was Spanish, he arrived at his hotel and of course the staff was talking in Spanish too, so he asked "Are we allowed to speak English here?". And mind you, he was really upset.

rubyroo

« Reply #58 on: August 04, 2011, 16:08 »
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Ooh I like gringo better than limey.   Didn't know I was a gringo until now.  

That reminds me of this advert from my youth:

80s Texan Chocolate Bar



Lots of love,
A Gringo

Slovenian

« Reply #59 on: August 04, 2011, 16:29 »
0
You know what I find really interesting? Virtually no American in Texas (and all the states next to the Mexican border or Florida) doesn't speak a word of Spanish. How's that even possible? In my country everybody speaks at least one foreign language and almost everybody living close to the border speaks the other country's language fluently. Doesn't matter wether it's Italian, German, Hungarian, Croatian. I mean you Americans are so business oriented (the American dream!!!), so materialistic, those that don't speak spanish in the areas with large Latin populations are loosing out a lot - coz I know tens of millions of ppl in America don't speak English. Think of all the dollars you're loosing out ;) . I'd like to at least know a few words so I could mess around with neighbours, coworkers, pool cleaners etc ;) .

BTW don't they call you blancos as well?

« Reply #60 on: August 04, 2011, 16:48 »
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Think of all the dollars you're loosing out ;) .
I think it's Procter & Gamble that ha sthe same line of products with two different names, one for the English-American market and one for the Latino market - Tide and Ariel, perhaps?

donding

  • Think before you speak
« Reply #61 on: August 04, 2011, 17:01 »
0
You know what I find really interesting? Virtually no American in Texas (and all the states next to the Mexican border or Florida) doesn't speak a word of Spanish. How's that even possible? In my country everybody speaks at least one foreign language and almost everybody living close to the border speaks the other country's language fluently. Doesn't matter wether it's Italian, German, Hungarian, Croatian. I mean you Americans are so business oriented (the American dream!!!), so materialistic, those that don't speak spanish in the areas with large Latin populations are loosing out a lot - coz I know tens of millions of ppl in America don't speak English. Think of all the dollars you're loosing out ;) . I'd like to at least know a few words so I could mess around with neighbours, coworkers, pool cleaners etc ;) .

BTW don't they call you blancos as well?

LOLOL .... That's the point...there are more who don't speak English in America than do.

cllate estpido ...do you know what that means??? Shut Up Stupid....
(disclaimer: This is only a joke!!!!!!!!

« Reply #62 on: August 04, 2011, 17:12 »
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You know what I find really interesting? Virtually no American in Texas (and all the states next to the Mexican border or Florida) doesn't speak a word of Spanish. How's that even possible? In my country everybody speaks at least one foreign language and almost everybody living close to the border speaks the other country's language fluently. Doesn't matter wether it's Italian, German, Hungarian, Croatian. I mean you Americans are so business oriented (the American dream!!!), so materialistic, those that don't speak spanish in the areas with large Latin populations are loosing out a lot - coz I know tens of millions of ppl in America don't speak English. Think of all the dollars you're loosing out ;) . I'd like to at least know a few words so I could mess around with neighbours, coworkers, pool cleaners etc ;) .

BTW don't they call you blancos as well?

Wow, broadly overgeneralize much?

I live in a border state. While not everyone is fluent, nearly everyone knows a bit of Spanish, or at least took a couple of years in school. Generally, English is the lingua franca of most transactions here.

lisafx

« Reply #63 on: August 04, 2011, 17:28 »
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You know what I find really interesting? Virtually no American in Texas (and all the states next to the Mexican border or Florida) doesn't speak a word of Spanish. How's that even possible?

I really do try and stay out of these threads, but as usual, Slovenian, you are spouting complete and total crap.  I live in Florida, and know a lot of Anglos who speak espanol pretty well.  Nearly all of us speak un poquito. My daughter has studied it for 7 years, speaks it (fairly) fluently, and just returned from Spain where she received excellent grades in the college she attended outside Madrid.  

Have you ever even been to Florida?  How do you imagine you know what we do or don't speak down here.

Aqui es la traduccion de este mensaje en espanol hecho por mi hija:

Usualmente yo trato de evitar estas tipas de conversaciones, pero, como siempre, Slovenian, no estas diciendo la verdad.  Yo vivo en Florida, y yo conozco a muchas personas gringas que pueden hablar Espanol asi asi.  Casi todos de nosotros hablamos un poquito.  Mi hija lo ha estudiado por 7 anos.  Ella puede hablar casi con fluidez, y acabo de retornar de Espana donde ella recibio notas muy buenas en la universidad que ella asistio cerca de Madrid.

Has visitado a Florida?  Como puedes imaginar que tu sabes lo que si o no hablamos aqui?

ETA:  Donna and PPDD beat me to it.  
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 17:31 by lisafx »

Slovenian

« Reply #64 on: August 04, 2011, 18:11 »
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Well that's a surprise. No I've never been in Florida, just in NYC, when it comes to USA. From what I've gathered from all of the newspaper/magazine articles, movies, documentaries, TV shows, talk shows I never got the feeling white ppl in those states speak any Spanish. Yeah I know it's, for instance, drawing conclusions from a TV show like Dexter when no non-hispanic cop speaks a word of Spanish, they always call a Latino to sort things out. But it wouldn't surprise me at all, since so many Americans (I'm not saying most ;) ) are so ignorant they can't name a single European capital, finding someone who can show Iraq on the map or sth similar can be mission impossible. And to get back to the TV shows, now when I get to think, the picture we get really is totally skewed. Not that you never see fat ppl in them (in America lol), not even from streetshots supposedly showing city life and its inhabitants going about their business, but the main actors, even though middle aged, always have six packs and everybody greets their perfect loving family with honey I'm home when they walk through the door ;D .

Well nice to hear that. But really, how many ppl (%) do speak Spanish in those states?

lisafx

« Reply #65 on: August 04, 2011, 19:05 »
0

Well nice to hear that. But really, how many ppl (%) do speak Spanish in those states?

Glad to have surprised you. :)

I can't speak for other states, the ones I don't live in (unlike some people....hint, hint), but in Florida nearly all the anglos I know speak some words and phrases in Spanish, but it is less common to find ones that are fluent.  In South Florida (Miami, FT Lauderdale) when I lived there, more anglos spoke Spanish than they do here in Tampa Bay.

And yes, there are some folks that are deeply offended to have to speak any language other than English in the US, but gradually as the population shifts that will probably taper off.  

I'll give you that people in the US seem more reluctant to speak other languages than folks in Europe - at least according to the Europeans I know.  But when you consider we live in a vast continent where more than 2/3 mostly speaks the same language, there is less of an imperative than if we lived in Europe, which has many countries with different languages closer together.  

I guess it's just your style, but the broad generalizations, and the assumptions you are making about places and people you have no experience of can be really annoying.

Notice I haven't put you on ignore, because some of your posts are quite enjoyable.  Just not the ones trashing us "Yanks".  Which BTW I do not take offense at being called.  
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 19:09 by lisafx »

« Reply #66 on: August 04, 2011, 19:21 »
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Well that's a surprise. No I've never been in Florida, just in NYC, when it comes to USA. From what I've gathered from all of the newspaper/magazine articles, movies, documentaries, TV shows, talk shows I never got the feeling white ppl in those states speak any Spanish. Yeah I know it's, for instance, drawing conclusions from a TV show like Dexter when no non-hispanic cop speaks a word of Spanish, they always call a Latino to sort things out. But it wouldn't surprise me at all, since so many Americans (I'm not saying most ;) ) are so ignorant they can't name a single European capital, finding someone who can show Iraq on the map or sth similar can be mission impossible. And to get back to the TV shows, now when I get to think, the picture we get really is totally skewed. Not that you never see fat ppl in them (in America lol), not even from streetshots supposedly showing city life and its inhabitants going about their business, but the main actors, even though middle aged, always have six packs and everybody greets their perfect loving family with honey I'm home when they walk through the door ;D .

Well nice to hear that. But really, how many ppl (%) do speak Spanish in those states?

I don't even know what that Rant means.....is there a point????


Slovenian

« Reply #67 on: August 05, 2011, 04:11 »
0
And yes, there are some folks that are deeply offended to have to speak any language other than English in the US, but gradually as the population shifts that will probably taper off.  

I'll give you that people in the US seem more reluctant to speak other languages than folks in Europe - at least according to the Europeans I know.  But when you consider we live in a vast continent where more than 2/3 mostly speaks the same language, there is less of an imperative than if we lived in Europe, which has many countries with different languages closer together.  

There are a few countries in Europe, that most ppl can't speak any foreign languages or are reluctant to. The worst I've come across is Hungary, Spain, Italy and France. In Hungary I was looking for a street and of all ppl just a guy working at a petrol station spoke English and let's say 2/10 spoke a few words of German, but they were really awful at it, even worse than myself. I was in Spain for a couple of weeks in May and out of 7 or so hotel receptionists (RECEPTIONISTS!!!!!) only one spoke half decent English, two did speak a bit, but really refused to, after saying a few words in English they immediately switched back to Spanish because I could understand a word or 2. In restaurants nobody spoke English unless it was a bit pricier restaurant (Oh yes, there was one guy in Granada that did speak English in an awesome tapas bar), so mostly we had to guess what we're ordering, you just know that you ordered a fish or something with chicken meat. Unless you were at a tapas bar where you can just point to anything you wanna eat. Even most young folks don't speak English, we did talk to a few students (girls) and just one could say a bit more than a few basic words. Ask your daughter, she was there ;) . Italians and French are notoriously known for not speaking any foreign language, although when I was in Sicily last year, every hotel receptionist spoke at least some English (mind you all of the hotels were really cheap, low class), although I speak some Italian. On the streets and in restaurants they mostly don't but luckily my Italian is good enough to make orders and find my way around town. And they are such nice, friendly, open people always trying to help even though you're a complete stranger. I'll never forget my first day on Sicily. As soon as the plane landed I wanted to buy a bus ticket for Trapani, but I got the wrong ticket. The bus driver who was driving a different bus (say to Palermo) and had nothing to do with it, came with me to make sure I got the right one, when I got to the right bus, the driver asked everybody where they were going, so he drove everyone as close as he could to their destination (like a cab really), I had a map with me with the hotel location and everbody tried to help figuring out where it is and then the guy in the front row offered to give me a lift, since the bus couldn't get through the narrow streets. So the bus stopped near his house, he took his car out of the garage and drove me straight to my hotel. He even waited for the B&B owner to open the door (making sure everything was OK, it looked like a father dropping off his son :) ). WOW! I never ever though that was possible, that ppl like that existed. It was over 11 PM and I wanted to take a walk through town, grab something to eat etc. The owner wouldn't let me just walk, he offered to take me there by car and show me around. I really didn't want to burden him with that and it really was late, but he didn't want to hear it. He showed me all of the sites, we drove around town, walked through historic center and grabbed an awesome pizza slice. He was fluent in English too (the first person that spoke English that night). Again, I was amazed! And for the next few days, ppl were nothing like I expected, everybody was really friendly and polite, which is not usual (the polite part) for southern ppl at least when it comes to balkans. Ppl on the streets are saying scusi (excuse me) for almost bumping into you. For instance if you're in NY and you bump into someone you really can't be sure wether you're gonna get someting along the lines of mess you, watch where you're walking, get a hatefull look, or get stabbed ;D . My mum and her husband went there a couple of times and was instructed to avoid eye contact especially on the subway etc, that it can be dangerous to look at "the wrong person" . I really am different and went to south Bronx at dusk in '98, I admit, I was sweating on the way back, being alone, the only white person among all those suspiciously looking ppl. But it was a great experience, walking around the blocks, music pounding on every corner full of muscular topless (or wearing just undershirts, basketball jerseys etc) Negros. It really was like in all those gang related movies, I saw everything I hoped for ( I didn't hope to witness a drive by though :) . What I really wanted to say is I love NY, it still is my fav city, just the ppl aren't usually nice, on the contrary they can really be rude, impolite and unfriendly. But of course there are some nice as well, I remember a black bum being really cool and the waiter at an Italian restaurant, serving food that was just so much above everyting served at other (also expensive places, since you really don't wanna eat the the cheap self service restaurant, because the food looks like puke), it tasted as good as on Sicily (really top notch and I did eat a lot of good food in my life) was really nice and friendly as well.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2011, 04:18 by Slovenian »

jbarber873

« Reply #68 on: August 05, 2011, 08:17 »
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^^  A lot of your rants seem to be based on what you see on TV. Going by what you posted above, you seem surprised by how people can be nice and helpful wherever you are. Turn off the TV and talk TO people, not AT them and you may find out that people the world over are actually pretty much the same. As for Americans speaking other languages, many people I know speak more than one language. I speak French, my son speaks German, Spanish and Chinese. But we're not on television, so you wouldn't know about that, I guess. As for being afraid of the "suspicious looking people" on the subway, you would be amazed to find that they are the same as you and I , just trying to get through the day. You really should be at a point in your life where you put all that hate and fear behind you. It seems to be the only thing you have to contribute here.

lisafx

« Reply #69 on: August 05, 2011, 08:32 »
0
And yes, there are some folks that are deeply offended to have to speak any language other than English in the US, but gradually as the population shifts that will probably taper off.  

I'll give you that people in the US seem more reluctant to speak other languages than folks in Europe - at least according to the Europeans I know.  But when you consider we live in a vast continent where more than 2/3 mostly speaks the same language, there is less of an imperative than if we lived in Europe, which has many countries with different languages closer together.  

I was in Spain for a couple of weeks in May and out of 7 or so hotel receptionists (RECEPTIONISTS!!!!!) only one spoke half decent English, two did speak a bit, but really refused to, after saying a few words in English they immediately switched back to Spanish because I could understand a word or 2. In restaurants nobody spoke English unless it was a bit pricier restaurant (Oh yes, there was one guy in Granada that did speak English in an awesome tapas bar), so mostly we had to guess what we're ordering, you just know that you ordered a fish or something with chicken meat. Unless you were at a tapas bar where you can just point to anything you wanna eat. Even most young folks don't speak English, we did talk to a few students (girls) and just one could say a bit more than a few basic words. Ask your daughter, she was there ;) .

You may be right.  Impossible to know if the locals in the areas of Spain she visited spoke English.  She was there for full immersion in the Spanish language, so she was speaking Spanish the whole time, except to a couple of her housemates who could not speak it very well. 

Sounds like you have traveled internationally quite a bit.  How fortunate for you!  Normally travel makes one more broad-minded.  I echo Jbarber's surprise that you are so quick to stereotype. 

Slovenian

« Reply #70 on: August 05, 2011, 08:50 »
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Just because I do travel I know the situation elsewhere and know that ppl in Europe are usually not nearly as friendly as Sicilians. When it comes to subway and safety in big American cities, we all know how dangerous it can be and that your crime rates are something like 25 times higher than for instance in Slovenia. So if some of you feel so safe, than why are you taking detours around the ghettos etc?

"Turn off the TV and talk TO people, not AT them and you may find out that people the world over are actually pretty much the same."

You just couldn't be more wrong, looks like you could do some traveling yourself. I mean how can you even compare ppl of 2 different European countries, for instance someone from Holland and an Italian, or a Scandinavian and a Greek? This are not states man, where ppl are much less the same, you all have thanksgiving etc, some states really stand out, because of the minorities, like Florida, especially Miami, where you can just get that Cuban feel etc. And yeah I do talk TO ppl, I thought that was obvious from my Sicily post.

And guess what, I just booked vacation there, July's SS earnings more than covered it ;D

« Reply #71 on: August 05, 2011, 10:49 »
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Just because I do travel I know the situation elsewhere and know that ppl in Europe are usually not nearly as friendly as Sicilians. When it comes to subway and safety in big American cities, we all know how dangerous it can be and that your crime rates are something like 25 times higher than for instance in Slovenia. So if some of you feel so safe, than why are you taking detours around the ghettos etc?

"Turn off the TV and talk TO people, not AT them and you may find out that people the world over are actually pretty much the same."

You just couldn't be more wrong, looks like you could do some traveling yourself. I mean how can you even compare ppl of 2 different European countries, for instance someone from Holland and an Italian, or a Scandinavian and a Greek? This are not states man, where ppl are much less the same, you all have thanksgiving etc, some states really stand out, because of the minorities, like Florida, especially Miami, where you can just get that Cuban feel etc. And yeah I do talk TO ppl, I thought that was obvious from my Sicily post.

And guess what, I just booked vacation there, July's SS earnings more than covered it ;D

Saying you've been to NY and you understand the US is like saying "I've been to Paris, I totally understand Europe!" and Europeans are more or less all the same! This is an attitude that gets ignorantly perpetuated by small minded, uninterested people in the US - "Europeans" are all lumped together. Sounds like you've got a running start at forming an inclusive, interesting worldview, but you easily fall into some very silly generalizations. 

donding

  • Think before you speak
« Reply #72 on: August 05, 2011, 11:02 »
0
Get out of the cities to the country and you will see a big difference, especially in the southern states.

« Reply #73 on: August 05, 2011, 16:16 »
0
In my experience, outside big towns people are often friendlier and more helpful, even if there is some communication barrier.

Once in Bavaria, we were spending part of the day in a city then moving on, and the left luggage at the train station was closed for lunch. We passed by a B&B and the owner was outside, we asked him if we could leave our luggage there for the afternoon, he was very helpful, didn't accept any payment for that, and as he could be out when we were back, he showed us where to find the door key.

« Reply #74 on: August 05, 2011, 19:33 »
0
As a former New Yorker, I think residents there have received a bad rap.  New Yorkers are direct, even brusque, which gets interpreted as hostile.  But they're not, at least in my experience when I return there.  I find myself in conversations with strangers more in NYC than anywhere else, in restaurants, in shops, occasionally on the street.  Doesn't happen to me in any other big city.  On occasion in small towns when I'm on the road, but not often there either.

I'm also reminded of my first job after college, working in midtown Manhattan.  Whenever we had a colleague come in from out of town, everybody dropped everything.  We all got together for drinks after work, and those who could stay joined the visitor for dinner.  The assumption is that they wanted company, and we were all ready to provide it. 

I've experienced great generosity from coworkers all over the US, Europe and Japan, but never to the same degree as in New York.  You just have to look below the surface to find it.


 

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