To all US-ers: European Faux Pas?

[Accessory Obsessory]

IOh and the not washing their hands after using a public toilet is also really icky.

I notice a lot of Dutch women don't do it and actually had an argument with a PhD canidiate (rocket science no less! Honest!), and she said there was no scientific proof it had any value...:W-T-F?: I use tissue to open the doors on my way out and don't get me started about shaking hands...Ewwww!~

I will vouch for the Brits on their queuing, they are awesome at it

Ditto!!

I haven't encountered poorly behaved European tourists... the only thing that surprised me (and I guess this doesn't really happen when they tour in the U.S.) is how frequently they'll correct your language. Almost everytime I made a mistake in French, it was pointed out to me (making it pretty difficult to get through a conversation), but for them, they don't think it's rude but rather, they think they're being helpful. Which really, for someone trying to learn, they are!

Yes, a very helpful, but frustrating trait!

 

[louis loves fendi 818]

I lived in Hawaii for 3 years and b/c of the cultural diference, many of the japanese tourist have no idea what americans define as personal space. As far as europeans i have had to deal with drunk brits in greece and turkey. Very irritating.

 

[My Purse Addiction]

I live in Orlando, so we obviously get TONS of European tourists. The only thing that really bugs me about Europeans is that most of them have no concept of a line (except for the British, as others have pointed out). I always thought maybe they were too excited to wait in the line but in college I studied abroad in England and traveled pretty extensively throughout Europe, and found it to be the case pretty much everywhere! Drives me crazy! I also found European men to be pretty sexually aggressive.

 

[Speedy]

I lived in Hawaii for 3 years and b/c of the cultural diference, many of the japanese tourist have no idea what americans define as personal space. As far as europeans i have had to deal with drunk brits in greece and turkey. Very irritating.

My mother's last assignment was at Trippler Military Hospital, and she lived on Ohau for ten years before she retired. (She was an RN in a travelling nurse's pool.) She said the same thing, and I mentioned it as well on the first page of this thread. I thought she was going to have a cow when she came here on vacation and we went to a casino, only to see a tourist bus full of older Japanese women park in front of us!

I once spent a layover in England in 75 I think, and the Brits were very polite. But then, not too many people hang out at Healthrow and drink.

One of the MOST annoying people I see now are middle to upper class American men who think they own the road, the sidewalk, the stores, the... you get the idea. Saturday I had one to one side and I was wheeling behind him, he stepped back and his heel hit my wheel. He then glared at me as if it were my fault he'd stepped back. His "Well, exxx-cuse ME!" was rude as hel*.

 

[Florasun]

^^^ what a jerk. Some of them definitely think they are entitled.

 

[Vegas Long Legs]

Not really European, but the only real issue I've ever experienced personally is with groups of Middle Eastern men. It's happened to me on several occasions where I will be walking by myself on the extreme side of the sidewalk (not taking up much room at all, I swear!!) and they will be walking side-by-side-by-side..etc. Rather than go single file for even a brief moment, they'd rather me walk in the street. They won't move to a single line, they won't even budge an inch so that I have a tiny sliver of sidewalk to walk on. In fact, sometimes they even spread out farther..seriously, I was actually pushed off the curb once. I was so angry, I could have spit nails...LOL!

I think this is their lack of respect for women. We have a friend who told my DH I am a good woman cause
I never go anywhere without DH. ush: He thinks women who he sees alone are all looking for "trouble".
He's never seen me out shopping or places with my friends so he thinks I never go anywhere without my DH. I guess at his house its the 13th century.

 

[claireZk]

Quiet...and..........reserved..... WHAT? No way jose! My world is upside down now

LOL. I swear it's true. I'm totally the "quiet girl" IRL... until people get to know me. People are always shocked the first time I crack a joke, but once I feel comfortable it's a different story!!

It is not OK to wash your private parts at the sink in a public restroom!

OMG!

 

[annanas]

Oh, I don't know if this is a European thing or not, but the woman who was doing this was from Europe. Another mortifying incident.

1. It is not OK to wash your private parts at the sink in a public restroom!

ummm i can't say i've ever encountered that! that's a little much..

and i don't think i know anyone who doesn't wash their hands after using the toilet. if i do, they certainly don't admit to it

It does seem universal to me though that all European tourists wear hideous shoes (Granted those last couple are not faux pas as much as observations).

i always see american tourists wearing hideous shoes trainers with visible white socks then again if someone thought my shoes were hideous i'd just think they were lacking in taste except maybe last thursday, i got stuck in a snow storm and was wearing rather inappropriate footwear and i had to buy a pair of wellies to get home with dry feet..

as for the queuing.. i never find it a problem (save for at the zoo that is the hermès sale in paris ush: ), but in a lot of countries you take a number rather than stand in line. which i find about 1000000 times better, why should you stand there wasting time when you could be browsing while you wait?


anyway, there are what, 48 countries in europe? there aren't that many, if any, things you can classify as universally european :s

 

[Accessory Obsessory]

My mother's last assignment was at Trippler Military Hospital, and she lived on Ohau for ten years before she retired. (She was an RN in a travelling nurse's pool.) She said the same thing, and I mentioned it as well on the first page of this thread. I thought she was going to have a cow when she came here on vacation and we went to a casino, only to see a tourist bus full of older Japanese women park in front of us!

I once spent a layover in England in 75 I think, and the Brits were very polite. But then, not too many people hang out at Healthrow and drink.

One of the MOST annoying people I see now are middle to upper class American men who think they own the road, the sidewalk, the stores, the... you get the idea. Saturday I had one to one side and I was wheeling behind him, he stepped back and his heel hit my wheel. He then glared at me as if it were my fault he'd stepped back. His "Well, exxx-cuse ME!" was rude as hel*.

What a jerk...but I thinks that's a MAN thing, not a cultural thing!

Little old man with a hat on... rudely coming through in ANY country!

 

[Sophie-Rose]

This is a great thread to read... I donät have much to add except: I'm from england but I live in Holland and I HATE that people don't wait they're turn!!
apart from that I LOVE living in Holland!

 

[mellecyn]

That´s hilarious !! Although there are so many cultural differences between the european countries that we can´t take it as one entity. I am shocked by certain things British do (namely their behaviour on holidays in Spain or greece), how loud they are, the shoes the Germans wear, how sexually aggressive Italian and Spanish men are, how the Danes have no concept of queuing...and the French are too judgmental lol !! almost all Europe covered ?

 

[fashionista7]

Although I certainly couldn't base my judgment of all Germany on one person, there is one image that will forever stick in my head: DH and I were in the Caribbean and kept seeing this round German man around the hotel/pool with a biiiig pot belly, extremely sunburt face, and a teeny weeny um.. revealing.. red Speedo! AND he stole our cab!
Seriously though I've never had any problems with European tourists in the US. They always seem pretty polite and soft-spoken (and well-dressed!). I just shudder when DH and I are in Europe and we see American tourists being "Ugly Americans". I want to say "we're not all like that!"

 

[claireZk]

^ I know what you mean about the Ugly American thing...
When I was in Rome, there was this couple who was VERY obviously from New York (Queens if I had to guess)-- the woman looked and talked just like Fran Drescher on "The Nanny," so they stuck out like sore thumbs to begin with-- and they were complaining VERY loudly about everything you could imagine. Their beer was too warm, their drinks didn't have enough ice, their soda tasted flat, was the waiter sure it was Coke and not Pepsi, their silverware was smudged, their pizza wasn't good-- they kept saying they could get better pizza at home (I wanted to just yell "SO GO HOME!!!"). For every single one of their ridiculous complaints, they brought the waiter over and he didn't speak English very well so they were talking really slow and SCREAMING at him like that would make him understand. Finally they just left without paying their bill or leaving a tip. I was soooooooooo ashamed to be from the same country as those people ush:...

 

[annanas]

Although I certainly couldn't base my judgment of all Germany on one person, there is one image that will forever stick in my head: DH and I were in the Caribbean and kept seeing this round German man around the hotel/pool with a biiiig pot belly, extremely sunburt face, and a teeny weeny um.. revealing.. red Speedo! AND he stole our cab! "

i think we might have the same person it was around bvi i think, i can't remember, we were sailing. it wasn't a sight i could ever forget

 

[Korilynn]

I am an American living in the UK, and I can ALWAYS tell if someone is American by their shoes. :s
I find it odd that over here no one greets people when they enter a store, and noone asks if you need help while youre browsing. Strange!

By the way, I noticed a comment earlier that someone was blonde, and Asian tourists take pictures of them. I heard that they do this because some of them think blonde haired women are angels. Not sure if its true, but its a lovely thought!