10 Easy Ways Foreigners Can Tell You’re American
I went to Europe in 1999. I was faking a British accent within 10 minutes of getting off the plane! I was wearing white pants, a blue ski jacket and red & tan waffle stompers. I might as well have been draped in the stars and stripes. Everyone was in dark, neutral European colors. I looked like a circus walking through Munich in March.
An international survey asked people in other countries what the “dead giveaways” were that someone was American:
- Grandpas wearing baseball caps
- When you meet someone for the first time you ask if they know someone you know from that same general area.
- Calling people “sir” and “ma’am”
- Smiling at strangers or starting conversations with strangers
- Enthusiasm + optimism
- Using the phrase, “Good for you!”
- Being loud in public
- Wearing pajamas to the grocery store
- Buying groceries in bulk
- Using seatbelts
- Cargo shorts
- Going out to play when it’s hot!
- Pronouncing the letter “R” (Sorry Bostonians — Go F*** Yo’selves)
- Being amazed by anything older than 100 years
- Not in a sour-ass mood all the time
- White tennis shoes