Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Why do people think it funny if you do a walk in US?

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Why do people think it funny if you do a walk in US?

More and more American people I see coming to France to visit and I see they are doing a lot of walking. But when I was in USA last year and I went for walk everybody looked at me from the window of their houses in a very funny way. And later police car come and asked me what I was doing. I said I was just walking. When the man saw I was from France he smile and went away. Why is it American people like to walk much when in europe but find it very strange when someone walking about in Texas?

The obvious question: Where were you in the US when you had that experience and got that impression?

I had the same feeling the first time I went to Arizona (Phoenix and Prescott). People would be surprised that I would walk rather than drive when it was less than 1/2 hour away on foot, although no policeman ever asked me what I was doing. My feeling is that due to the distances people have to cover in order to shop, work, or whatever, using their car comes more naturally than walking. I've seen posts on this forum about safety concerns too, something we are not used to care about when walking in European cities (at least in most areas).

I know what you mean. We are Americans and when we walk in the US we often get the same reaction. We have been walking in suburban neighborhoods or out in the country and had cars stop to ask us if we needed help. They assumed since we weren't local that our car must have broken down. When we stay in West Hollywood and walk two or three miles to the movies at Century City, the people at the hotel think we are confused -- that we really meant we walked to Beverly Center movies. No one would walk that far just to go to a movie!! We have our car there, but love the long walk all the way through Beverly Hills to get where we are going. Californians tend to get in the car to drive to the 7-11 around the corner, then spend a small fortune going to the gym to walk on a treadmill for hours.

I too think American people walk much less than French people except when they are on the holiday. Is this the reason why alot of American people have too much weight?

that last remark leads me to think that this inquiry has become very trollish

I think you're right, Elaine. And, just when I thought we'd have an interesting international discussion on customs and mores! (However, I must say that after reading Patrick's posting, I feel like I live in a different country. Maybe it's a California "thing." On the East Coast, no one ever looks twice at a walker--in the city, the suburbs or the country.)

@wanadoo.fr is a genuine French address, but the text looks false."Pierre" gets too many easy bits wrong & too many hard bits right.Just IMO of course. I agree with Partick, it depends where you go in the US. I have experienced it in places outside California but nowhere in Europe. I remember in Maine being astonished at the small amount of time given to cross the road by the pedestrian indicator.You'd need to be a sprinter to stay alive.Also pavements seem few & far between in many areas.

Troll! In my neighborhood, plenty of people walk through for exercise or walking the dog, whether they live in our neighborhood or not. When we were in NYC a couple weekends ago, we walked all over midtown, and it looked as though a hundred thousand or so others were too. The only place in the US where walking would seem odd to me is along a rural road. Your liable to get run over.

Perhaps you DO walk funny. Most people in the US don't walk like Jerry Lewis, so choose your pedestrian role models carefully and you might avoid those laughs.

Usually the only people we see on the streets are dope peddlers, crack smoking prostitutes, or homeless panhandlers. Since you don't belong to any of those groups you are considered an oddity when you walk the streets.

You could also avoid the walks suggested in the John Cleese "Ministry of Silly Walks" video. I find those do get me rather strange looks, even in Europe.

Here in Pennsylvania we walk! In fact most places I've been it is common to see walkers. It is true that those of that live in small towns need to drive places but we still for the most part enjoy an evening stroll.

I was also disappointed at Pierre's second posting, which was downright nasty in my opinion. Frank, we have a saying in Geneva about the time allowed for crossing the road: "there are two kinds of pedestrians, the fast ones and the deads". Zorro, I am happy to report that I didn't cross any dope addict/peddler in the streets of Phoenix, and only 1-2 homeless people. Nevertheless, people would be surprised that I'd rather walk than drive. Elvira, I promise I did not try John Cleese's silly walks while in Arizona (I've stopped doing that in Switzerland too).

I am not sure Pierre is a troll. The first time I went to the USA (visiting friends in Pasadena, CA), I had exactly the same experience. One day, my friends went to work and I decided to walk around the area. I saw people looking at me from their houses, and not much later a police car showed up and asked what I was doing there. I said "I am just walking around", and when he heard my foreign accent he said: "OK, but don't bother anyone", and drove on.

If you're leisurely walking around a residential neighborhood checking out the houses, you will arouse suspicion in a lot of areas. If you're walking TO someplace, on a mission, people probably won't pay any attention to you. By the way, I'm from Texas and I walk everywhere I can when I'm there, except when it's over 100 degrees outside.

After a business meeting business in Denver, I said that i felt like going for a walk downtown. Everybody looked at me in amazement and suggested offering me a drive. I persisted that I actually wanted a walk having been sitting down all day. I don't think they really understood me...

I was arrested once in Dallas as I walked down the pathway. I guess George Bush does not have a Ministry of Silly Walks, even though he is pretty silly himself.

Pierre, if I might be so bold as to offer you a bit of advice. For your next post, you should claim to be black. This will cause a huge discussion of racial profiling and really stir things up. The "overweight American" thing has been done to death. Nothing new there. Implausibly yours, TrollBuster

I don't know whether Pierre is or is not a fictitious character, and I don't especially care, since he raised an interesting question, one worth a few moments or reflection, regardless of whether the "facts" presented were real or hypothetical. I also didn't find his second post SO terribly offensive. Those of you who have a pretty good but not perfect command of a foreign language should understand that somethimes when we speak our second, third, fourth language, in the interest of getting our thoughts across without pondering too long or searching the extra-large dictionary, we may be a little less than subtle. I am an energetic, healthy, middle aged, but overwight American who loves to walk. However, like most of my neighborhood, most of my state, most of my region, I am car-dependent, and I will generally drive a mile for a quick purchase, instead of walking, unless my car is disabled or the ground is snow-covered. I do walk around my neighborhood, or on rural roads a few miles away, but only if I'm with my dogs (or on an organized "nature" or "history" walk with a group). I walk alone, for the sake of walking, only at lunch time at work, and only on routes that are socially acceptable lunch time "exercise" routes for many lone walkers. I believe I am overwight primarily BECAUSE of insufficient exercise, as the real or fictional Pierre suggests. I COULD walk more at home, yet I don't. But I do go on hiking tours in Europe. So I'm one of the people who must puzzle him. Growing up in suburbia, I used to sometimes take walks, for enjoyment. But neighborhood adults would stop to offer a ride. As an adult, living in an apartment complex, I'd walk my dog in the rain, sometimes without rainwear if it was hot and I had time to change clothes after the walk. Neighbors would pop out and express concern that I was getting wet. I would love to walk certain scenic roads in my neighborhood, but I'm afraid to, because so many people are out doing short errands in their cars, that I'd risk being hit by a car ( where there's no sidewalk) and I hate the smell of vehicle exhaust. So I drive a few miles to car-free socially acceptable walking areas, or I walk on some boring but relatively untrafficked streets nearby. People whom I see habitually walking alone to the supermarket, etc. in suburbia are often people who are viewed as being on the fringes of society, the rare carless folks, the mentally ill, down-and-out, people who have lost their driver's license because of drunk-driving, etc. However, walking in an attractive large town, or on certain rural roads is often viewed as "normal" under the unwritten rules. So...interesting question. Why do you care so much whether the factual background was real or hypothetical?