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America is big and as different as Europe. Even though most Americans speak English, it's not a uniform country as us Europeans think. But don't confuse the peo

America is big and as different as Europe. Even though most Americans speak English, it's not a uniform country as us Europeans think. But don't confuse the people with the state. They're not the same. The Americans I met were generally quite nice and willing to help an (obvious) tourist out. Bureaucrats? They thrive in chaos.

Dewie 13y ago
> and as different as Europe. How? I just have a hard time imagining how a place with dozens of languages and cultures (I think that cultures with very different languages are likely to be very different from each other) and all of that can be less varied than a place like the US.
- workhere-io 13y ago
  Exactly. The difference between NYC and a rural Mississippian town may seem big, but it's nothing compared to the difference between, say, Copenhagen and a rural Spanish town.
  - digitalengineer 13y ago
    No, it's not. America was formed by European immigrants remember? Each sought out their own place. The Bayou, NY City, Texas, North Dakota, San Fransico… All with their own culture. This struck me as I drove from New Orleans through Alabama. I couldn't even understand the Alabama-english..
    - workhere-io 13y ago
      I couldn't even understand the Alabama-english.. They still speak English, though, just like the vast majority of Americans. Europe has a huge number of different languages, and especially in Southern Europe it's not uncommon for even young people to not speak any English at all - meaning there's not even a common language that all Europeans speak. I'm certainly not saying that all of US is the same. I'm saying that the differences are smaller than the differences you see in Europe. And I'm saying that as someone who've lived in the US and Europe and visited a great number of European countries.
- Glyptodon 13y ago
  I feel more like I'm in a foreign country in Mississippi than I do when in Germany. And I'm an American who doesn't even speak German.

Dewie 13y ago

> and as different as Europe. How? I just have a hard time imagining how a place with dozens of languages and cultures (I think that cultures with very different languages are likely to be very different from each other) and all of that can be less varied than a place like the US.

workhere-io 13y ago
Exactly. The difference between NYC and a rural Mississippian town may seem big, but it's nothing compared to the difference between, say, Copenhagen and a rural Spanish town.
- digitalengineer 13y ago
  No, it's not. America was formed by European immigrants remember? Each sought out their own place. The Bayou, NY City, Texas, North Dakota, San Fransico… All with their own culture. This struck me as I drove from New Orleans through Alabama. I couldn't even understand the Alabama-english..
  - workhere-io 13y ago
    I couldn't even understand the Alabama-english.. They still speak English, though, just like the vast majority of Americans. Europe has a huge number of different languages, and especially in Southern Europe it's not uncommon for even young people to not speak any English at all - meaning there's not even a common language that all Europeans speak. I'm certainly not saying that all of US is the same. I'm saying that the differences are smaller than the differences you see in Europe. And I'm saying that as someone who've lived in the US and Europe and visited a great number of European countries.
Glyptodon 13y ago
I feel more like I'm in a foreign country in Mississippi than I do when in Germany. And I'm an American who doesn't even speak German.