Yassir Arthur

Brits can learn:
Things really can happen with enough effort applied (its not all totally hopeless)
Complaining and negativity breeds the same (sort of hinders the above)
A Sloppy Joe actually is very tasty

Americans can learn:
You simply cannot change everything
Not to take life so seriously (per above)
Simpler is often better for many reasons (eg: Beans on Toast)

Elvira

I think most Americans are very polite when it comes to personal contact, but can be somewhat abrupt when asking for service (stores, restaurants etc), and even more so in business contact. I'm always somewhat taken aback that they, on the whole (I am generalising - I don't mean *all* of them!), do not seem to see a need for any kind of the friendly chit-chat that is the norm amongst Brits and other Europeans.

neil

That exactly sums up what I was trying to say. Being friendly when asking for something from a shop worker has always worked well for me rather than the "American" way of just walking up to them and saying "I need..." which just seems rude to me. I suppose it's just what you're used to - it's just I find that if a problem needs sorting out it seems a lot easier if you don't go in with that direct approach; probably because they're more likely to want to help you if you're friendly (most of the time it's not that poor sod's fault you have the problem in the first place).

Circus-of-Power

Thought about an answer for quite a while, but then I realized that the typical American that inhabits the mid west is a totally different animal to the one that lives in Florida/California/Texas/New York. Its like saying all Europeans are the same.
Here people are god fearing, family orientated (large families are still the norm), honest and hard working, many will have a full time job and work on the family farm at the same time. I doubt this is an accurate description for the whole country...but ....here goes...

Brits can learn...
Being tough on crime can work....and shooting criminals is ok
Courteous and polite staff can be employed in restaurants
3.8 V8 engines are fun to drive
British women can learn that dressing up like a dogs dinner isn't always attractive.

Americans can learn
Mashed potato and cheese is not a staple of every meal
Homes built of plywood will get blown over by a hurricane/tornado/large fart
Indian food is good
Lite/Light beers are truly terrible
Nascar sucks

Redlippie

Toyota in France was the most productive factory in the world a couple of years ago, yet they work I think it is 35 hrs a week with 6 weeks or something vacation a year.

IMO, American workers would be way more productive if they got the same allotment of vacation time as the rest of the world does.

Hiro11

Says you.
...because only Americans are greedy.
OK.
What makes you say that? Some, certainly but for the "most"?
This, of course, is not true at all in the UK, where there is simply no class-conciousness.
What a strange and misguided perception. You could say this about any number of countries, why single out the US? Also, say what you want about Bush, his Cabinet has been the most diverse in history and far more diverse than any other country I can think of.

I'm not saying you're necessarily wrong, just that you'd be hard pressed to find a country where all of this wasn't true.

Celsius

Why single out the US? Look at the thread title!

Celsius

As a population...
What percentage of Americans go to (i.e. can afford) university and graduate as undergraduates?
What percentage of Americans have health insurance (through an employer)?

It's debatable whether illegal and legal immigrants have a realistic understanding of life in the US when they arrive in the US. Hence the American dream that is just a dream or unattainable to most.

Sarah

a small dose of pride on your country and flying the flag in not a bad (or rascist) thing.

tamms_1965

Many people (even Americans) have an unrealistic understanding of life in America. People think they "need" the latest and greatest car, electronic, furniture, etc., but forget that you have to pay the bill. That is not how the average American lives.....that is TV land.

To ME, the real American dream is to have a job, buy a house (not a 4000 square foot building for a family of 4 either), have at least one decent car in the family, raise a couple of kids, etc., etc. This is attainable. There are ways to get yourself through college without a huge bill at the end...I did it and so did many of my other friends from working class families. If there is a will, there is a way.

What happens here nowadays, is that kids are in debt before they get out of high school. They have car payments and credit cards that their parents help them get. It may be their parents name on the loan but the kid is still making the payment. Every kid from the age of 5 up has their own cells phone and the list goes on and on. If they're not in debt before they're out of high school, then many of them are before they are out of college. This is not due to college expenses but due to the credit card life they lead. You do not have to have a job to get a credit card if you're a college student.

What I'm trying to say is that we need to be realistic when we're talking about living the American dream. We can have it if we learn to live within our means and not try to keep up with the Joneses. We have to be happy with ourselves and not happy due to material goods.

cindyabs

I think alot of that is generational and not even country specific. We had it easier than our parents (growing up during WWII) and our kids had it easier than we did and so on and so on. Trouble is easier in the long run does not make for better or in the least necessarily aid in character building.

Bob

Errr...tail gate parties? pump more money into sports? go crazy and over the top on some holidays?

The other way, they can learn to chill at work, not do as long hours and have longer holidays and still be as productive.