Current Events > Americans seem to have no shame or sense of embarrassment, it's concerning

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've seen you in videos on the internet, interacting with strangers.

You're not awkward, or visibly annoyed that you're being talked to, or emotionally repressed. There are no obvious signs of self-loathing. There's not even a default apologetic manner, like you're sorry but for no particular reason.

You're actually happy to be having a conversation and show genuine enthusiasm. You say real feelings. You whoop and say things like "yeah baby you know it" without any sense of irony.

This sort of palpably comfortable-in-your-own-skin aura is extremely odd, you know that right? Get a grip.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/750a25f1.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/76ff503a.jpg

Tbf you aren't embarrassed making this topic

Ngl TC, you had me with the topic title

If it helps, we're not all super outgoing

>that is a polite thing to say
>that is a brute fact

Reminds me of the Ted Lasso quip about endless optimism in the face of the highly cynical British population.

Plus they call motorized rollinghams "cars."

Theres a lot of ignorant people in the USA (not necessarily ignorant on social or political matters either), and I honestly wish my fellow Americans had more shame. I always profess that Im an idiot any time I have to ask someone a question because I am inept.

There is something very drab about the UK. It seems to carry over to almost everything. I noticed it in the people and good when I was there. UK media is drab. Very slow, drawn out stories with sullen drama and a grey, mutted color palette. Wonder if it's cause it tends to be so cloudy and gloomy over there

DarkFists posted...

Ngl TC, you had me with the topic title

If it helps, we're not all super outgoing

This. I'm the complete opposite and don't want bothered in public.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Wait a second, he told this story in one of the Hitchhiker books. I believe it was So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. I believe this to be the case because, if I'm not mistaken, Arthur was telling this story to that girlfriend of his, who stopped existing at the very beginning of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and then again at the beginning of Mostly Harmless.

I hear about Brit stereotypes like this and sometimes I feel like I've been born on the wrong side of the Atlantic because they basically describe me. I'm like 99% English heritage wise though.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


But then again... Screw that.

I prefer to use 'yeah, that's not bad, I suppose', rather than whoops and cries of delight.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I can confidently say that I would change my name, emigrate to antigua and become a missionary

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


Oh God, that ending got me

Asherlee10 posted...

I feel like this exert from The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams, albeit one of the best Brits to grace the Earth, is relevant.

This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person was me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. Id gotten the time of the train wrong.

I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table.

I want you to picture the scene. Its very important that you get this very clear in your mind. Heres the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. Theres a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase.

It didnt look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.

Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. Theres nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies.

You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know. . . But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldnt do anything, and thought, what am I going to do?

In the end I thought, nothing for it, Ill just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, that settled him. But it hadnt because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie.

Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. Excuse me, I couldnt help but notice . . . I mean, it doesnt really work.

We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away.

Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies.

The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy whos had the same exact story, only he doesnt have the punch line.

I'm so glad I decided to actually skim through this topic. Thank you so much for this.

emblem-man posted...

Oh God, that ending got me

Yeah. It's a story that anyone could have told, but that particular observation at the end is what makes it a Douglas Adams story.