The speed of eating is funny... The pace of the meal is surely slower in Europe than in the US... But not so much the speed of eating.

I nag my husband to eat slower... But we live in Hungary now. These are the only people who can finish a meal faster than my dog.

<i>But not so much the speed of eating.</i>

I was amazed the first time I went out with my colleagues for lunch and they had all finished their meals before I was half-way though.

#Don't complain about paying for tap water if you haven't ordered anything else to drink along with it#

Tap water is free in restaurants in France. If it's not on the price list there must be a reason.

@Robert

> There is no continent called America, it's the "Americas", North and South, and even a portion sometimes referred to as Central America.

This is just simply wrong and a VERY good example of the overall arrogant ignorance of US-americans about the rest of the world.

Definition of AMERICAN
1: an American Indian of North America or South America
2: a native or inhabitant of North America or South America
3: a citizen of the United States
4: american english

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti...word=american#

Definition of AMERICA
1 either continent (North America or S. America) of the western hemisphere
2 or the Amer·i·cas the lands of the western hemisphere including North, Central, & S. America & the W. Indies
3 united states of america

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/america

- qed -

> As [knives] were not comfortable to eat with, they put them down and used the spoon ....<

Only those who never mastered eating peas with a knife.
.....................................
Hey spc,

>non-USAians.

What in Sam Hill is a USAian?
..................................
Hey DG,

>We brush our hair, you brush teeth.

Next.<

I'm not going there. This is a family show.

((I))

Thank your the geopolitical lesson. You are either a teacher or just an arrogant pedant.

>Thank your the geopolitical lesson. You are either a teacher or just an arrogant pedant.<

I leave it to the reader to decide.

Does anyone refer to a citizen of the
United States of Mexico as a USMian?
Republic of the United States of Indonesia as a USIian?
Confederation Helvetica as a CHian?

((I))

There is a major cultural difference that hasn't been mentioned.

I doubt that there is a single child born in the EU and its associated members who dreams of one day becoming President of the United States.

((I))

burnie - if you ever come back to this thread do you plan to tell us where you're from and who the "us" is in the title?

<i>What in Sam Hill is a USAian?</i>

It's an American, as in someone from the United States of America.

Source: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/USAian and multiple forums

I'm surprised you worldly travelers have not run into this term before.

No, no, Ira, I was not referring to you with my snide retort, but to the post by martinZH. Your zinger got sandwiched between my response and his post. I should have clear what/who annoyed me.

That should have been "made it clear". Old age and inattention strike again. :-(

Hi Adrienne.

I did pop in midway along this thread. To be honest, the tone some posters use and the niggling over minor or unimportant details, made me uncomfortable, where I felt it better to just read the comments and once again thank everyone.

The 'us' is North Americans visiting Europe. I have been pleasantly surprised by the vast demographic this forum reaches. I joined the forum years ago, but didn't use it until now.

I wrote the question from a hypothetical position of being a first time visitor to Europe. I am a Canadian living in the UK for over 20 years now, but don't have a lot of interaction from North Americans, assuming this site was about 90% such, and wanted to see how people felt about Europe.

My eyes are clouded due to being immersed in the culture for so long. That's all. I certainly didn't expect more than a handful of replies.

So thank you for your replies.

Hey SC,

>What in Sam Hill is a USAian?

It's an American, as in someone from the United States of America.<

Bullfeathers. :)

You are taking guidance from an organization that simply records whether there are a sufficient number of semiliterates to include their jargon in its pages.

It is similar to calling people from Ireland "Irelanders" or people from the UK "UKanians".

If there were search a word to describe someone from the USA it would be "USAn" as in "Asian".

((I))

Hi burn,

>the tone some posters use and the niggling over minor or unimportant details, made me uncomfortable <

There's a cultural difference. :)

((I))

ROTFLMAO, burnie wrote a troll post and this is what he got.

I find some of the comments hilarous. Have any of you ever seen two Greeks on opposite sides of a street having a conversation? They yell back and forth as well as gesticulaing madly at the same time. You could easily mistake it for two people about to engage in a physical fight.

Americans are loud compared to Europeans? You've got to be kidding.

Sparkchaser, one comment you made about where grandfathers are from etc. made me chuckle. The best response I've heard was a bartender in a pub in Edinburgh. You can imagine how many times he has heard tourists say, 'I'm part Scotch'. (wrong to start with, scotch is a drink, Scottish or Scots is a people) Anyway, this bartender replied to one, 'It's not a club'.