Parts of American culture that have never really been imported outside the US

Seriously?! That sounds absurd.

if you did a poll in America checking her name recognition, you'd probably get less than 35%. the number of people who are really into her 'philosophy' is dwarfed by the number of people who like her books as 'literature' or simply because it makes them feel good about being narcissistic.

Okay, whatever, my point was that she seems to be an influential writer (whether as an novelist or as a philosopher) in the US (and maybe other English-speaking countries) who is virtually unknown in Continental Europe.

americans think sidewalks are for scary people who can't even afford to ride the bus. there was some suburb (in virginia, i think) that passed an ordinance a few years ago requiring sidewalks be installed in all these subdivisions that didn't have them (because kids were getting hit by cars or something), and the people in the subdivisions flipped the fuck out at the thought of strangers being able to walk past their homes. (then they probably all went to the next gun show to stock up.)

gun shows

deep fried twinkies

^^^ not sure that's even out of MN yet, to be honest

xpost:

i mean, seriously, for your average suburban american, the idea of having to walk anywhere is threatening and bizarre. that's why half of suburbia is parking lots.

http://www.egge.net/~savory/friedmars.jpg

decent mexican food

jokes about canada

ignoring soccer

creationist theme parks

"tossing the pigskin"

men's league softball

Seems like the suburbian American idea of public and private space is very different from the European one. No wonder suburban kids in the US hang out in malls, if they don't even have sidewalks to loiter on.

There aren't that many real suburbs in the US ... people just call anything that's not a city "the suburbs". I grew up in the suburbs of NYC and there are sidewalks, trains, buses, etc.

Most places with no sidewalks, etc., are exurban or rural kinda places, and it's not too surprising that they aren't all that well developed.

keg parties in cornfields/gravel pits (<---- I just sort of assumed that Euros don't have kegs party and that everyone else is too poor or something)

Okay, whatever, my point was that she seems to be an influential writer (whether as an novelist or as a philosopher) in the US (and maybe other English-speaking countries) who is virtually unknown in Continental Europe.

but you're just wrong. yes, she has influenced a small number of people who happen to have been important in government, on the right-wing side, but she is a very very tiny element in american culture writ large.

My mom's never really made much of an impact outside of the U.S.

i mean, seriously, for your average suburban american, the idea of having to walk anywhere is threatening and bizarre.

I realise this is a little hyperbolic but it is pretty freaking sad, as well. Aussies are as lazy as the next bastard and we have some car congestion probs too, but there's as big a movement of ppl getting about on foot, bikes, trams, etc.

The idea that public transport and walking is strictly for poor/scary/homeless people is just... I don't know what to say.

clear pie

freedom

grits

true grit

the balls to stand up to a dictator

Hershey's chocolate

What the hell are grits, anyway? There are aspects of American culture that have never been imported to other parts of AMerica

corn mazes

xp that was not an answer to your question

corncob gruel

that was an answer to yr question

minor league baseball

aspen, co

indian reservations

funnel cake

there are many suburban/exurban areas in which you'd have to walk for miles to get to any commercial establishment. people who live in these areas don't think that 'walking is just for poor/homeless people', as there are no poor/homeless people in these areas. however, walking in these areas could be scary in such areas even to a total urbanite, because there are no other people around except for people who are driving by in cars.

civilian militias (<---this exception i guess is limited to the "first world")

I grew up in the suburbs of NYCboston and there are sidewalks, trains, buses, etc.

honkytonks

the dave matthews band

decent mexican food

-- gbx, Sunday, May 25, 2008 6:13 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

The question that logically follows is WHY?

a good thread would be: parts of american culture we would like to apologize for loosing on the rest of the world

1 jam bands

sorta sick of doing all the heavy lifting around here, guys

xp are you british?

I grew up in the suburbs of NYCboston and there are sidewalks, trains, buses, etc.

these are more urban "inner-ring suburbs"

Am I british, or do you mean jho? (gbx)

things that some americans are sometimes inclined to think are exclusively---and embarrassingly---american but actually aren't:

* being crazy about guns
* tractor pulls
* ridiculous affection for motorsports
* hunting shit
* bad manners abroad
* willful ignorance of and a simmering disdain for foreign cultures coupled, paradoxically, with an generosity towards visiting strangers

xp you, rabies. jho i already know everything about

EVERYTHING

i think i was mostly thinking about england and germany in that last one

O M G

!

The very first episode of Spooks (Not called Spooks in the U.S.) that I watched was about anti-abortion bombings. But, to be fair, the anti-abortion Brits were led by an American.

Talk about far-fetched.

Pro-life terrorism.

otm. this is strictly a US cultural phenomenon. and in typically US fashion, there are plenty of people who make money off it.

beloved los angeles college radio station kcrw used to go hard on jungle/dnb nights in the 90s

best dj sets i heard at that time because vancouver was musically lagging by a decade at that point

scott i share your skepta-cism

There's an actual root beer thread but this is where we talked about root beer last month so eh.

I bought a fizzy drink in the local Chinese supermarket, not knowing what it was, but the can looked kind of Dr Pepper-like so I figured why not. Opened it, familiar smell, kind of like Germolene... wait, didn't I have a drink which tasted of Germolene last month too?

Oh yes. I appear to be drinking Chinese root beer, more or less. https://starkravingblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/wonderful-world-of-root-beer-watsons.html

(My can just says 沙示, but even if it had said Sarsae I don't think I'd have made the connection to Sarsaparilla, though it might have made me think of Sarson's vinegar which might have dissuaded me from buying it...)

I was in China for ten years before I tried Sarsae. It's like rubbish watered down root beer. I did live on Watson's soda water for a year or two though. I never did get over the absurdity of the only manufacturer of American-style soft drinks being the nation's biggest drugstore chain.