Differences between countries! the topic´s thread...

[evenwolf]

Dart

I once visited Canada and had a lovely time.  Once your there, as a southerner- you're like "Hey, where'd this beautiful chunk of land come from? How do they keep it so clean?"

[Sutebi]

Lost said it correctly, most Americans are Anti-Canadian government, not Anti-Canadian. We joke around alot, but really every person I have met in Canada is a damn nice guy. It's just the government most Americans don't like.

[Felipe]

Brasil (ok, without z, I didn't kown how you hated it with a z) is our bro country!

I don't hate it!
I said SOME PEOPLE don't like it.
But in my post (and all my posts I recall) I wrote it with 'z' (Brazil) because I know that's how you write it in english (although, when I'm writing in portuguese I write it with 's').
I can't say I love seeing it written in that way... I just don't mind.
It'd be like we having to say "Switzerland" (or whatever) instead of "Suíça" just because it's the way they write there.
So, don't worry - I really don't mind it!

What's that about monkeys anyway?!

Well, some countries (specially our neighbours Uruguay and Argentina) call us "Monkeys" when they try to "offend" us - I really don't know the reason of that, nor why (and when) it started.
I also heard that in one od the episodes of The Simpsons, when they come to Brazil (I think it's called "Blame it on Lisa") they make fun of us (brazilians) and make some monkey-related jokes... but I can't say anything about this since I haven't seen it...

I hate [codfish] except maybeÃ,  "punhetas de bacalhau" - when you stop laughing, pls keep reading on

LOL
It's quite funny, actually!
For those who are not understanding "punheta" (at least here, in Brazil) means "to jerk off", "to wank" (sp?) ... (it's the slang of "masturbation")

Now the guilty for alotta different names were due to your "soaps", as many people put names got from Brasilian "telenovelas" to their kids. True!

Dude, that's interesting!
For you guys that've never seen a Brazilian soap-opera: DO IT!
(Most of them) are great!
I'd say we have the best soap-operas in the world (and they are NOT like those "Mexican soaps" with a poor girl that loses her son when he's just born, then she falls in love with someone she shouldn't -that's commited- and years later her son reapears bla bla bla...)

Just one last questions for you Portugueses:
Here, there are many jokes about 'Portugueses', that make fun of "you" (saying Portugueses are dumb).
This doesn't mean we don't like you, guys, it's just part of the 'humour here' (In Uruguay they make the exact same jokes but instead of "Portugueses" they say "Gallegos").
I don't know how this started (if it was because one of your kings - Dom João VI, probably - wasn't THAT bright or if it's related to the Basques...)
Anyway, my question is: Are you aware of this? And do you make jokes about we - Brazilians - too?

soccer is gay and crap and should be banned.

OMG WTF STFU U N00B!11111@@@@@!!11

Hehe - seriously - why do you hate soccer??

To Felipe (didn't see your post earlier): No.

Er..
With 'No' you meant you don't see "armed men on the streets EVERYDAY" or that you don't see them AT ALL?

About the subject of eating rabbits... that's quite new for me!
We have them as pets here!
Although, as Primus said, some people eat "Lebres" (but that's not very common, either)


-Felipe-

[Blackthorne]

Somebody commented about how if a guy looks at one of these little sluts he's immediately a pervert.Ã,  This spawns a question ... "If you don't want the eyes on you ... why the f*ck are you dressing like that?"

I say we start a movement.Ã,  Whenever you see one of these little sluts just go up to them and say, "How much for sex?"Ã,  And then, when they get all indignant/mad/whatever just say, "Hey kid ... If I went out in public dressed like a soldier, people would assume I was in the army!!"Ã,  Meaning, for those who don't get it, that if you dress like a prostitute, people will think you are one.

Mandarb, this is a brilliant idea.  I live in New York, and we get some REAL nice slutty-dressing girls up this way.

Yeah, and I think that is a valid comment; Why dress that way if you DON'T want people to look?

Bt

[Blackthorne]

Er... to any Americans reading this, are most of y'all anti-Canadian in your country?

Gods, not at ALL!Ã,  I love Canada; I live in Syracuse, New York, which is less than an hour and half from the 1000 Islands Bridge.Ã,  I've been to Canda many times, and I love the landscape, people and atmosphere up there.Ã,  It's a beautiful country; I've been to Toronto many times, and I've acted in festivals there as well as sang in a few in my youth.Ã,  I would say most of the people I know like Canada as well, but I DO think some of the government is worried about the potential for Canada to decriminalize Marijuana, because we all know that's the devils weed and if Canada makes it legal, somebody in America *might* smoke pot!!!!!!

Bt

P.S.  Sorry about the double post.  I'm a moron.

[Al_Ninio]

To Felipe (didn't see your post earlier): No.

Er..
With 'No' you meant you don't see "armed men on the streets EVERYDAY" or that you don't see them AT ALL?

Sorry about that.
*I* Do see armed men every day (Israeli soldiers).  I just don't see them fighting.
Most of the fighting happens in the Palestinian territories or the Jewish settlements near them, as far as I know.

[Babar]

About Pakistan:
Sadly there are a lot of problems here. Women are REALLY badly treated. If a guy goes to shop the salesman will say hello and shake your hands, maybe hug you and such, and try to sell you stuff. If it is a girl, unless the salesman knows the person he might just stare at the women if she is not wearing a hijab, and no hello, no touching AT ALL, and will barely sell anything only if the woman finds what she needs herself and pay for it. And that is in the city. Sure, this is not the usuall thing but it happens. I believe this behaviour was caused by some ultra-religious president guy (who's name I cannot now remember). In the villages it is was always like that.
We are really poor due to a whole line of corrupt prime ministers, who just recently ended. Then we spend so much on defense causing even more losses.
Even with all its problems, I still love it. I am proud of the values and beliefs that stands for (even though they are rarely followed).Ã,  It is so beautiful. There is stuff from deserts to plains to forests to mountains. I love the clothing. I may be evil, but I love the piracy. You can get CDs for Rs 45 (I believe that is around 75 cents) and DVDs for around Rs 100 (around $1.50). I think that the whole country uses one copy of Windows. Still, it is crazy to try getting a CD for even $20. That is just impossible for the average person here.

Myths:
It is not really dangerous. Unless you are out alone at 2 am in slutty type clothes you are usually ok. You will not usually see soldiers with guns or terroristy people. That is mostly at the borders and at the important embassies.

One thing I dont get about America is how wasteful it is. Stuff is thrown away just cause one tiny easily fixed part is broken. Family is moving so half the furniture is thrown away. New kinds of the same stuff is bought even though it barely does anything new, and nothing is wrong with the old stuff.

[Sluggo]

Heh.. I live in Maine, and nearly everyone under the age of 30 hates country music. And I've only met one girl who like Christian music. Punk rock and emo are popular around here. So is rap, which is odd, since most of the people I know who listen to rap also seem to hate black people. THAT'S AMERICAÃ, 

I live more in the country in Maine, and there are a whole bunch of hicks who love country music. And my sister likes Christian music.

Er... to any Americans reading this, are most of y'all anti-Canadian in your country?

My Dad's girlfriend is French-Canadian, so yeah, nobody has a problem with Canadians.

easy way to piss off a canadian, call them american. my mate learned that klesson the hard way 

Interesting, cuz my Dad's girlfriend gets pissed off when someone refers to 'Americans' as only people in the USA. She thinks America encompasses all of North America. But I dunno, it's just a word really.

[Las Naranjas]

ESTADOS UNIDENSE!

[Nacho]

Oh, Super Scottish Hero, that's been nasty! 

[Nine Toes]

I live in Wisconsin.Ã,  Some observations I've made about this state (because every state in this nation is different):

- A lot of people are absolutely OBSESSED with the Green Bay Packers and every year think that they will make it to the super bowl (even though the Packers DO suck).Ã,  Or, they're just obsessed with football in general.
- Yes, people here do wear those stupid cheesehead hats to Packer games.Ã,  Sometimes you'll catch a person wearing one for no apparent reason.
- There is a Wisconsin accent, we say "beg" instead of "bag", and "worsh" instead of "wash", etc.Ã,  Not too many people talk like hicks, though... "I shot dat dere 10-poiner wi mu 12-gauge when I wuz up nort' last yeer".
- Hicks and rednecks are pretty sparse.Ã,  A lot of the people seem to be more... what's the word... "downtrod".
- The only thing people seem to like to do for fun around here is sit and drink beer.
- Sports and hunting is everything.
- There are a lot of fat people.Ã,  I think we're the third or fourth 'fattest state' in the nation, not sure.
- Wisconsin cheese IS the best (that's just my opinion).
- I'd say about 4 out of every 5 people own a firearm of some type.  The majority seems to be shotguns, or hunting rifles.

That's all I can really think of for now.

[Ryukage]

I'll start off with a hyperlink:

14 Reasons Why America is Great

I totally agree with all fourteen, even though I'm not particularly fond of sports myself.  I'll even go so far as to add a 15th: We speak English.

I know those of you who speak French, Spanish, and German will disagree with me, but English is really the simplest and most evolved language in use today, so far as I know.  Here's some of the reasons why:

- We only have 4 forms for each verb, not 20 or 30 like most other languages.  Instead of creating a zillion conjugations to be individually memorized, we just take four basic forms and modify them with simple general-purpose words until we get the precise meaning we need.  Less to memorize and more range of expression.

- The only words that have a particular gender in English are the words that imply a gender within their own meaning.  Compare this with German, English's ancestor language, in which every noun has a gender assigned apparently at random with no regard for the word's meaning.  Furthermore, in English the only place you need gender agreement is between nouns and pronouns, all other words can be used with any gender without modification.

- We've dropped nearly all inflections from the language.  Whereas many other languages, German not the least, still make you memorize 4 to 8 different forms for every noun and adjective, in English there's only one.  Since no meaning is lost this way, we may conclude that inflecting nouns and adjective is a pointless obfuscation.

- Our grammar is very simple and has few rules, which makes it easy to learn and very flexible.  In many languages, if you mess up the grammar even slightly the sentence turns into utter gibberish; in English, you can completely mangle the grammar and people can still understand you, though they might snicker a bit.

- Because English is cross-pollenated with French, Welsh, Latin, Finnish, Norweigan, German, Spanish, Danish, Swedish, and a few other languages, we've got the biggest and most precise vocabularly.  Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that English has a bunch of words that mean the exact same thing: this is not true.  While the sorry state of the US public school system has failed to impress this on several generations of students, there are in fact subtle differences between all of these words; no two words mean quite exactly the same thing.  Metaphorically, in English we can paint our verbal pictures with 16 million colors, while most other languages are still limited to a standard 256 color palette.

Granted, there's room for improvement.  Our spelling rules are utterly ridiculous (a consequence of the cross-pollenization), pronouns are a little messed up, and there's still some useless vestigial grammar rules, but by and large we're farther ahead than most languages.

Now of course there are many countries besides the USA that speak English, but we've got a few things over many of them even.  For one, we know the difference between something you dip in tar and set on fire and something you insert batteries into and push a button to turn on.  We also know the difference between an 's' and a 'z' (most of the time, anyway); and we don't stuff unneeded 'u's in next to our 'o's nearly as often as some other countries.



Moving on, there's a lot of talk in this thread about girl's fashions, but I wonder just what is meant by "dressed like a whore."  Being a conservative Christian, you might think I'd be all for high collars and low hemlines, but you'd be wrong.  I've never seen anything in the Bible against girls (or boys for that matter) displaying their bodies: in fact by my reasoning it's sinful not to.  God's best work should be admired, not shunned.  It was humans who invented clothing, not God.  Being "sexually provocative" has nothing to do with how much skin is showing and everything to do with attitude and body language.

By the same token, I hate unecessary plastic surgery.  I'm so sick of ugly, bulging balloon-breasts.  They're not attractive, girls!  Stick with what God gave you!  Even a flat chest is prettier than a fake one.

On the other hand, if you're going to wear clothes at all, I'd prefer to see nice clothes, regardless of how much skin they cover.  That to me is what "dressing like whore" means: wearing ugly, gaudy, unflattering clothes with too much makeup in all the wrong colors.  Which unfortunately a lot of young girls do.

I also heard that in one od the episodes of The Simpsons, when they come to Brazil (I think it's called "Blame it on Lisa") they make fun of us (brazilians) and make some monkey-related jokes... but I can't say anything about this since I haven't seen it...

I've seen that episode.   At one point they have angry monkeys harrassing orphans.  They also have the staff at a hotel playing football (soccer) with the guest's luggage, claim that "you can get anywhere you need to go by joining a conga line", and one of the major plot devices is a childrens' show starring strippers.  Then there's a bit where they joke about the government painting the slums bright colors so as not to offend tourists -- even the rats are painted red, green, and yellow.  But like most Simpsons jokes, it's all so playful that you can't really take offense at it if you have any sense of humor whatsoever.

BTW, in that episode they said that language spoken in Brasil is Portugese, not Spanish.  Is that true?  Every Brasillian I've ever seen on TV has appeared to be speaking Spanish, though I can't swear I'd be able to tell the difference.

I'd say we have the best soap-operas in the world (and they are NOT like those "Mexican soaps" with a poor girl that loses her son when he's just born, then she falls in love with someone she shouldn't -that's commited- and years later her son reapears bla bla bla...)

Hmm... throw in some vampires, a witch or two, an evil twin, someone in a coma, and a bit of corporate espionage, and you've got an American soap.

But you know, a telenovela isn't really the same thing as a soap.  The themes are similar, but from what I've seen telenovelas usually develop to some kind of resolution that ends the story; soaps just go on and on forever, becoming ever more ridiculous and farfetched as the writers scramble desperately to continue the storyline.  In the USA, when a show has its ending planned from the start we call it a "miniseries"; only the shows that are intended to never end at all are called "soaps".

Er... to any Americans reading this, are most of y'all anti-Canadian in your country?

We're all jealous because you have mounties.  Our police officers are often more thuggish and ill-bred than the criminals.

[Isegrim]

I'll start off with a hyperlink:

14 Reasons Why America is Great

I totally agree with all fourteen, even though I'm not particularly fond of sports myself.  I'll even go so far as to add a 15th: We speak English.

I'd like to comment on that. (please read the linked document first)

#14: The car was invented by Carl benz, the internal combustion engine by Nikolaus Otto, the Diesel engine by Rudolf Diesel (all Germans)
#13: That's the reason why you have so many overweight people
#12: Most other countries have similar festivities
#11: Might be a point.
#10: What culture?
#9: Might be another reason for the overweight people problem (ever wondered, how many calories there are even in Diet Coke?)
#8: There must be a reason why American Football is poular only in the US
#7: One Word: Guantanamo. So much for respecting other peoples' freedom.
#6: ever wondered why you have so many murders in your country?
#5: ?
#4: There may be a point.
#3: I don't comment on that.
#2:?
#1: Ever heard of McCarthy? Or, more modern: Having my fingerprints taken when I want to enter the US is not exactly what I'd call "freedom"

Two things I'd like to add:
-America was the last 'civilized' country to abolish slavery
-America still has the death penalty and an execution rate comparable to China


I hope, Ryukage, you weren't too serious about that 14 reasons, otherwise I apologize for being so bitter.
But that's exactly what I do not like in oh so many Americans: That hypocrisy, that damned feeling of being better than anyone else!

[SSH]

I'll start off with a hyperlink:
[- We only have 4 forms for each verb, not 20 or 30 like most other languages.  Instead of creating a zillion conjugations to be individually memorized, we just take four basic forms and modify them with simple general-purpose words until we get the precise meaning we need.  Less to memorize and more range of expression.

You do know that most verbs in languages that use conjugation are regular: in other words as simple as English in that respect, the only difference is whether the modification has a space involved or not.

Granted, there's room for improvement.  Our spelling rules are utterly ridiculous (a consequence of the cross-pollenization), pronouns are a little messed up, and there's still some useless vestigial grammar rules, but by and large we're farther ahead than most languages.

Not to mention the single msot difficult thing for non-native speakers to learn: PRONUNCIATION. In Spanish, a letter always sounds the same, so even if you don't know what you are saying, its very easy to read written Spanish out loud if you knwo the pronunciation rules.

Now of course there are many countries besides the USA that speak English, but we've got a few things over many of them even.  For one, we know the difference between something you dip in tar and set on fire and something you insert batteries into and push a button to turn on.

The mind boggles: I guess you're referring to homosexuals and artifical vaginas.

and we don't stuff unneeded 'u's in next to our 'o's nearly as often as some other countries.

You mean you don't undertsand the concept of dipthongs... "o" is a different sound from "ou"

It was humans who invented clothing, not God.

Having said this, then, are you a nudist or a hypocrite?

Being "sexually provocative" has nothing to do with how much skin is showing and everything to do with attitude and body language.

I think that "nothing to do with" is obviously false. Just see how many car adverts have pictures of ladies in burqahs...

BTW, in that episode they said that language spoken in Brasil is Portugese, not Spanish.  Is that true?  Every Brasillian I've ever seen on TV has appeared to be speaking Spanish, though I can't swear I'd be able to tell the difference.

He reveals his ignorance...

And as for the 14 reasons, they're quite laughable. All I have to Isegrim's comments is to point out for #13 that Burger King is actually british-owned (or was lasdt time I checked)

[Primus]

Felipe:
That one of "monkeys" is the most idiot thing : I didn't really knew... And what a lack of humour!

Oh, check this pls, anyway:
http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/arquivos/geral/brasileirospt.htm

Yeah, I love "punhetas" de bacalhau (codfish "wanks" ), slices of codfish with sliced or smashed onion, olive oil and a little bit of vinegar. I don't know the origin of fhat slang name for a salad.

Repeating, we've alotta different christian of first names, yeah, and also alotta "Antonios" and "Manuéis" and "Marias" too, but not so many "Joaquins" as before. Eg Adolfo (mainly due to Adolph Hitler) is very rare. And fun names are common: for instance, a pt man called António Noivo Cueca had to remove "Cueca" from the phone list as calls making fun of his name were driving him crazy...
But we have alotta different names, also due to your soaps, I repeat. Now Portugal has already some quality ones (soaps).

I think you makig funny of us is a "revenge": we started! ;)Ã, 
http://www.letras.up.pt/deper/primeiraprova/anedota.htm

And we laugh alot about ourselves, too:
http://www.superdivertido.web.pt/P_Paginas/P_Amarelas/SerTugae.htm

Jokes about Brazilians:
http://icepick.home.sapo.pt/jokes/06.html
http://www.superdivertido.web.pt/P_Paginas/P_Menu/Menu_anedotas.asp
http://vertigens.no.sapo.pt/LOIRAS.htm (e brasileiros)
http://amandioleal.planetaclix.pt/humor/anedotas4.htm
http://www.piadas.oninet.pt/categoria.aspx?PageNum=8&CatID=CH113_Povos_e_Etnias

We've also a special group we have most jokes: "Alentejanos". Check them eg here, please:
http://www.eusei.com/anedotas/Portugal.asp
http://icepick.home.sapo.pt/jokes/01.html
http://www.superdivertido.web.pt/P_Paginas/P_Menu/Menu_anedotas.asp

Of course it's natural all around the globe a group or country makes fun of others:
Dutch, French, German jokes about Belgians; French jokes about Swiss; US jokes about Irish and Polish; British jokes about Scottish and Polish; Russian jokes about the Americans; don't ever try to explain 'knock knock' jokes or lawyer jokes to the Japanese; and so on.

About the English language, I completely agree with Ryukage. Portuguese is the fifth most speaken official language (1st Mandarin, 2nd Hindi, 3rd English, 4th Spanish), and it is Brazil's official language - but in all other Latin America countries, Spanish is the official one.

Isegrim, I also must agree with you: Portugal abolished slavery in 1815 (France 1848, Dutch 1863, Brazil 1888, US 1865) - and we didn't have a civil war to do so. I was really chocked and sad about that Spielberg's 1997 movie, "Amistad" - it showed Spielberg was really ignorant and an analphabet, maybe thought Portugal was Brazil, and vice-versa...

To SSH - Portuguese is a difficult language on phonetics and sounds, so we can speak any other languages with ease.

[Nacho]

I think that English is easier than any of the other languajes I've tried to learn (Imagine how bad I speak German  ) for some of the reasons Ryukage said.

I was going to type that I agree with SSH about the accent issue, but, on second thought, I am not so sure. The "supposed to be proper" Spanish has no accent... But the tongue is an intangible concept, we can't be sure which is the correct "Spanish" and some regional forms have a tricky accent. Whereas I think they're not talking correctly, a purist linguist could come to me and say that I'm wrong.

The zones of Spain with a lot of accent are:

Andalucía, Murcia and Extremadura have some kind of "Andaluz". In the Canarian islands the time seems to be stoped for them, and they talk in a way that reminds the ancient spanish, or the venezuelan, for instance.

The other zones with accent are mostly related with places where a second tongue is spoken (Cataluña, Galicia, Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias...)

About the 14th reasons why America is so great... they seem more a joke for me. 

[Isegrim]

About the 14th reasons why America is so great... they seem more a joke for me. 

It's a bad sign when it's so hard to tell irony from seriousness...

[DragonRose]

I know those of you who speak French, Spanish, and German will disagree with me, but English is really the simplest and most evolved language in use today, so far as I know.Ã, 

Argh! No! Not true!

The reason that English speakers see English as the easiest language is because they don't learn the rules.  They just talk.  Our grammar is half Germanic, half Romanitic.  We use contractions like it's going out of style.  We use coloquialisms like they're going out of style.  We speak in a language of metaphors and borrowed words. 

About the verb conjugations: We don't have four. We have at least nine that I can think of. 
I watch
I am watching
I watched
I was watching
I did watch
I have watched
I will watch
I am going to watch
I will have watched

Why can you say "I don't" and not "I runn't?"  And what the heck is up with "I won't?" Shouldn't it be "I willn't?"

"I have run" "I have done" "I have been" "I have walked"  We have a huge variety of irregular verbs in the present perfect tense.

Why is it pronounced "Shoor" when it's spelled "sure?"  Why is it pronounced "crysanthemum" when it's spelled with a ch?

More than one goose is "geese." So why aren't many moose "meese?" More than one house is "houses," but more than one mouse isn't "mouses," it's "mice."  And that C is pronounced S.

English is hard.  We have contradictions all over the place. 

And I'd comment on your "14 Points," but I've got to go to work soon.

[Primus]

Eg the simple present of verb to be
I am
you are
he/she/it is
we are
you are
they are

Simple Present of verb to be (Ser-estar) in Portuguese;
Eu estou
tu estás (você está)
ele/ela está
nós estamos
vós estais (vocês estão)
eles/elas estão

Eu sou
tu és (você é)
ele/ela é
nós somos
vós sois (vocês são)
eles/elas são

Dragon Rose, all grammar (not just the verbs) of Romanic languages is far too complicated.
"Latin is a dead language,
So dead as it can be;
First it killed Romans,
Now it's killing me"

All grammar of Romanic languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, Roumenian, Spanish), is strictly based on Latin and sometimes with a general rule and alotta exceptions: what a phuck! So even TPNL teachers (Teaching Portuguese as a Native Language) commit mistakes very often.

[Blackthorne]

Good lord.  A rant from a conservative Christian American........

Dude, you're just making yourself an example of why we, as American's, are ridculed over the globe.  And the childish defense of "They're just jealous." Doesn't cut it.  Being that haughty and ignorant (For someone who portends to knows A LOT about the semantics and linguistics of the English language, to not know that Brazil (Brasil! )is a Portugese speaking country, decided by the line of Demarcation by the pope in the age of exploration, is typical American ignorance.  Sigh.

I know you meant well, in stating that you love your country, and there's nothing wrong with that.  Most people love things because of their flaws as well as their strengths.  But being so bold, it's not suiting.  The wise and the truly great are humble.

Bt