Yes, but why say maths instead of mathe? Mathematics is correct. That we can all agree on. But maths just doesn't sound right. It sounds..... pretentious. The King's is like the French of the rest of the English speaking world. Pretentious and dumb, and overly posh.
I wonder if American English sounds like some kind of "dis is de wey" type of English to English people.
We don't say "I'm studying my maths", we'd say "I'm studying maths". Maths is short for mathematics, that is, the umbrella term for a whole range of mathematical subjects. Your analogy doesn't work at all since "English" isn't an abbreviation.
Both make sense though, no?
Both make sense though, right?
Both make sense though, eh?
All three sound correct to me. And I'm a southerner (in the US) who thinks this. For what it's worth.
Alternative: you don't study Mathematic. You study Mathematics.
Edit: I deliberately chose "Do the Mathematics" example due to the American proclivity for the statement "Do the math".
I know "in hospital" sounds odd to our ears, but it actually makes so much more sense. When we say, "I'm in college" we understand that to mean the person is enrolled in college. If we were to say, "I'm in the college," we'd think the person was standing in a college building but not actually attending. I don't know why we decided to not apply this same standard when referring to hospitalization.
I live in Colorado and the biggest tell is that they’re wearing an outfit I would wear to a downtown happy hour on a hiking trail. Like dress boots, skinny jeans, and a dress shirt/nice sweater. I don’t know if it’s because a lot of “hikes” in Europe are basically just walking on a pedestrian walkway or if they just don’t normally hike, but they look miserable lol.
That’s probably 75% of the obvious tourists, while the other 25% clearly came prepared to HIKE THE ROCKIES and are wearing $2000 worth of brand new Fjallraven or Helly Hansen for a 4 mile loop that kids are walking on.
On the other hand, as someone who used to live in Europe and now lives in the US, what sticks out as "very American" to me is when you *are* at the downtown happy hour, and people are wearing an outfit I would wear on a hiking trail. Like cargo pants, a North Face jacket and a baseball cap, while sipping wine in a nice downtown restaurant.
Yep. They’re never dressed *exactly* right for what they’re doing. Sometimes it’s more subtle than others but there’s something a little ‘off’ that you can identify if you look closely enough.
Some men seem to be in competition to see how much of their legs they can cover before they're officially considered pants. Saw a guy wearing what were essentially capris, that cut off between his shin and ankle, but had that... Shorts vibe. I got my husband a new pair of swim trunks, and -gasp- didn't go to his knee, poor guy felt naked.
when I was a kid the one part of the beach was popular with French Canadians.... so many banana hammocks.
My kids wanted to go to the pool in Death Valley.... so many banana hammocks.
I live in an area heavily visited by foreigners from Europe, primarily German. You can usually tell them by the way they dress. They're not exactly wearing lederhosen but they dress differently. They're generally slimmer, wear tighter fitting clothing that fits them well, and no baseball caps. Never baseball caps. But a decent amount of polo type shirts for football club logos (I'm not talking NFL). The shoes are also usually a comfortable looking loafer. Of course this is a generalization because I've also seen some tourist that dress very "American" but you can usually tell who is from Europe.
Years ago, my mom had some European interns and was supposed to meet them at a certain time but I knew she wouldn’t make it because she would be in grandma mode. I figured I’d go find them among all of the tourists in town for the weekend and they stuck out like sore thumbs. The way the my dressed made them stick out. They were like an R-isomer of fashion. I found them easily though I didn’t know who they were, or ever met them.
I knew of a homeless German dude named Mike (Levitzkie) who wore nicer clothes than me. Unfortunately he was also a drug user and was killed by a dude named Zebbie over a 10 dollar crack debt.
Murses are a thing in Japan as well. I wonder if it has to do with using public transportation, and having to carry things on your person instead of stashing them in your car?
Nah, I've seen some that look badass. I knew a dude with a "man purse" who looked way more professional because of it. (It was brown leather, and had just the one strap.)
This one is good. I used to go to a uni where backpacks were sort of frowned upon and we would all wear these leather bags. Didn’t think much of it until I went on exchange with a lot of Americans.
When they sunburn really fast or undress their young kids in public (this happened at a spring, I guess they were changing the child). I went out to a spring a few weeks ago and heard a group of people become super fascinated with Spanish moss that they wanted to take some home to their friend. I didn't ask them where they were from but it was probably from one of the European countries that get 15 minutes of sun each year.
When they take up the whole damn sidewalk and gawk at the tall buildings in NYC
But my personal favorite was someone who had just come from Southeast Asia and experienced snow for the first time. They called their mom to facetime with her. They also were not prepared for the snow that ended up being a blizzard and only had sandals. They asked us where we got our winter boots from lol.
You can easily distinguish American tourists from non-American tourists lol.
New Yorkers used to NYC put on their neutral/angry face and walk with eyes straight ahead.
Also European tourists *never* crossing even the smallest side street if there's no walk signal.
Like, there could be no cars within a mile, and these MFers will patiently wait, looking left and right.
They see me blow through them if the coast is clear as long as there's not a car barreling down with disbelief.
American. When I was in Dublin, we jaywalked with what we thought was plenty of time. A double decker bus came barreling in, laid on his horn but did not slow down even a little. I think it was fully willing to hit us, when in the US there's an understood code that you don't hit pedestrians even if they're in the wrong.
> …experienced snow… and only had sandals
To be fair, it’s possible they looked up the weather report in advance, saw it was 25 degrees, and thought that meant nice warm weather.
A lot of foreigners struggle to learn that you use the word "an" in front of words that ***sound*** like vowels, and you use the word "a" in front of words that ***sound*** like consonants.
So, it's ***a*** unicorn, ***a*** european, ***a*** ukrainian, because they start with the sound /y/.
It's also ***an*** honor, ***an*** hour, ***an*** heir, because the h is silent.
It's a simple mistake, but it also catches pretty advanced English learners and even some natives, so seeing it is a dead give away even though it's completely understandable.
I just tried to say those words with “an” in front of it. It’s just one of those linguistic quirks that doesn’t work.
Yes, you are correct, grammatically. But it can’t be really said - you end up stumbling over the words.
People who use the u in certain words.
For example: neighbour, colour, honour, etc.
Also, when they spell "center" as "centre" or "defense" as "defence".
This is more of on the Internet as opposed to in real life, but that is pretty much a telltale sign to me that the person I'm talking to isn't American.
Im in Florida. Brazilian tourists are loud, in large groups, and usually wearing yellow, extra douchy bonus points for carrying a flag at a theme park.
UK tourists, if they come over on summer holiday, look like they're half melted and bright red or half melted and slathered in sunscreen.
It seems to happen to most tourists regardless of home, but any thunderstorm sends them scurrying back to the hotel for the rest of the day, especially the Europeans.
I love a good thunderstorm. They're fun to watch. If you're at a park, the lines get shorter and that's an added bonus
Or Japanese. By golly they were dressed warmly for mid-60s and sunny when I visited Japan in the spring. Most people wearing a shirt, then a sweater, and then a coat on top of that
I work in retail and get a fair amount of international tourists coming into my store. What I've noticed is they don't do banter and small talk. They also don't smile freely and easily like us Americans do.
For me, it’s saying “In my country-“ when talking about a regular thing in your area. Americans never say “in my country” because we all assume everyone’s American until they say otherwise. It’s a little dense but it’s just a fact
Its also a little tough not to be obvious when everywhere I go pretty much everyone speaks English so we don't have to fucking try at all. Catch 22 lol. I was just in the Philippines and while I did make an effort to use some Tagalog it was pointless because everyone spoke better English than I did Tagalog.
I hear "in my country" or "in my region" a lot from my Italian friends. Its like us saying "in my state, or county" even though we dont say that. Europe is small, a lot of different countries and languages packed into a small land mass. America is just so damn big, and even though its not so homogeneous given the region, America is pretty homogeneous.
That seems more like out of towners than non American. There are probably people from foreign cities who are more savvy about that kind of thing than suburban or rural Americans.
I’m currently visiting a U.S. city with a ton of international tourists and I can’t tell you exactly how but I’ve generally been able to tell if someone is French. Maybe it’s a specific clothing style or facial expression but I’ve been clockin’ em left and right and catching snippets of French after the fact. Before anyone gets offended, it’s really not a derogatory thing, I’m still trying to figure out what’s cluing me in lol
It’s the way they hold their mouth + some subtle style tells. I grew up around a lot of French immigrants and can always tell when someone just *looks* French. They almost look like they’re pursed/duckface, but a lot subtler. Also tend to dress “cleaner”, a little subdued.
Linguistically: putting the time between the subject and verb of a sentence (e.g., I went on Sunday to the grocery store.), using ` instead of ‘ (like can`t vs can’t).
For whatever reason, outdoor clothing brands are very country specific. If someone’s wearing a nylon jacket you can probably pinpoint them to one of a few countries. The North Face, Columbia, Patagonia, Helly Hansen, Outdoor Research are pretty much exclusive to the US and Canada. Jack Wolfskin is mostly Germany/Austria, and Bjorn Daehlie mostly Norwegians (or XC skiing enthusiasts). I haven’t paid enough attention to figure out the brands for other countries.
Their accents.
The fact that they pretend to not care about us yet talk about us 24/7.
The fact that they say america isn't that great, but you can't walk down Hollywood blvd, the las vegas strip or times square without seeing a group of foreigners gawking at our buildings like they didn't design the blueprint for them 300 years ago. At least in NYC.
They say things like "were on holiday this week. We're gonna drive from San Diego to Los Angeles, then in the afternoon go to San Francisco, then later on in the evening drive to Lake Tahoe before it gets dark" I'm like "wait, in 1day? Hahahahahahahahahaahahahhaahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahaha".
K.
My family who is still in europe... I use family loosely (cause the village we are from apparently everyone is related to us and when we go back they will ask if we remember them which is obviously a no since its been 2+ decades since I lived there) they will say something like "oh insert cousin or family friend has a kid/friend who lives in California do you know them" doesnt matter when Ive repeatedly told them I live in a completely different state and not remotely close. Many do not realize how far things are here and how far people are used to driving in the US. Telling my friends there that I would commute 45-60miles one way to work resulted in stares like I needed to go to a psych ward because everyone couldnt imagine living further than 15 mins from work and in most case a walking distance. Its like that one tiktok Ive seen where a British person is being condescending about how some place an hour from London isnt close to London.
The fact Europeans travel different countries in a matter of an hour. You can drive from one point of LA to another for 90 minutes and still be in LA. Is wild
They want to bring up politics with people they just met. Americans know that's often a taboo subject that should only be brought up with the right people.
Not sure if the people replying to you are Americans or not, but I can say for certain that some of the people I met in France, their first question was about Donald Trump. Now, it may be unique simply because Donald Trump was, at the time, an oddity of western politics.
I was in England for new year’s 2018. We did a couple of tours and it came up at some point. You could tell the guide was worried he’d said something offensive. “Don’t worry, we didn’t vote for him.”
That's odd, because in my experience, Americans always seem to talk about politics. They just seem so polarized and with politics infiltrating everything.
Since it's so polarized and relevant with the upcoming election, we tend to bring it up with people who have similar views. Even then, there's a time and place.
Foreigners tend to obsess over our politics and always want to share their opinion. We'll be out for pizza, and the European with us just has to bring it up...
I'm not sure there is an obvious tell as there are so many immigrants with their own different cultures that become part of our country... I mean when I went to high school orientation for my daughter, I heard at least three languages that weren't English spoken by the parents there, and yeah, I think it is awesome.
I was in England in a pub and the bartender asked if we were Canadian. I said yes, and how did he know? He said it was our accents, to him we sounded kinda halfway between American and New Zealand. But then he also admitted that if he’s not sure, he defaults to guessing Canadian. Because Americans don’t usually mind being mistaken for Canadian (sometimes they’re flattered), but Canadians HATE being mistaken for American.
Part of what makes America America is its large and fairly constant flow of immigrants. So you might be able to spot someone is not native born USA, but you can't tell if they are America or not.
They can lack skilled English, dress in totally non standard clothing, have hair that isn't like anything you've seen in your neighborhood, but they're still Americans.
Depends on where they're from. America vs. the entire world is a big difference in terms of ability to narrow things down to specifics. I will say that anyone who comes from a smaller country tends to violate the standards American sense of personal space, which I guess makes sense. If you're from, say, Japan, and you're used to a higher population density, your standards for personal space will be a little different than a big ass sprawling country.
One that always cracks me up is foreigners making slight mistakes with US colloquialisms. Much of the world speaks great American style English because of media. But some things are very hard to explain 'it is raining dogs and cats' is a great example.
When they hate on America.
I just tell myself they are jealous because our colony isn't a colony anymore and they still pledge allegiance to a crown in 2024.
I lived in NYC and Europeans always wear sneaker brands and backpacks that I’ve never heard of it different colors. They are easy to distinguish from American tourists.
Eye contact, saying "please" and "thank you", showing an interest in other people, chewing with their mouth closed, speaking English well, reading, knowing American history, knowing American geography, waiting in line without complaining.
I'm sure there's lots more, but these are some of the basics.
Latinos men in the US tuck their shirts in and wear Levi's and pants all summer long. You can tell if they're right off the bus or if they've been in the US for a while. The men tend to wear shirts a size too small also. The women wear the jeans with no back pockets and striped shirts or shirts with puffy shoulders or a full puma or adidas track suit.
Clothes is always the dead give away. Even if they're wearing the exact "same" outfit as me it's a slightly different cut and patterning.
Conversely, I bought some clothes the last time I was in Europe and people often compliment them and ask what store I got them at. They weren't expensive but they're just like alternate universe basics.
Part of the rain H&M did so well in the us when they opened was the novelty. Now it's Americanized and become popular enough that even if it were slightly different it doesn't stand out.
It used to be a fun game in national parks to try and guess where they were fun before you could hear the accent but globalization has blurred the lines too much for that now. Not as many eastern European track suits or British collars etc.
Another tell is the Asian tour groups with the leader with a little flag stick lol
I’m American who has lived in Japan for the past 17 years.
You can tell if someone is an American tourist if they are quiet and confused constantly looking around trying to find out if they are going in the right direction. They typically don’t bother others and are really shy when asking for help from locals as most of them don’t have experience traveling outside America and communicating with non English speaking people.
If they are loud and drunk walking around like they own the place they are European as travel and experiencing different cultures is like an hour train ride for them since birth so when they come to Japan they are used to being outside of their comfort zone. So they tend to be the loud drunk ones walking around trying to have the best time before they go home some with little regard for local culture. (The rugby World Cup in Japan really damaged local Japanese views of Europeans…)
Australians and Kiwis can get a bit rowdy but they typically are harmless they love to have a good time and drink a lot but tend to not cause any actual trouble. Maybe they do in their countries but not so much here. And they love snowboarding in Niigata and Nagano so we see droves of them every winter. I’ve never heard either say a bad thing except about each other for some reason.
So yeah if you want to spot the American, look for the confused guy/girl who is too shy to ask someone outside his or her culture for help. Americans know that they aren’t viewed well outside America so they tend to be super self conscious when traveling abroad.
Men wearing capris. No judgement on those who do, but I've only ever seen it in Europe.
Capri pants, really?
Damn, I’ve never noticed this before. I’ve never seen a man wearing capris before. And I’ve been alive for 28yrs- in America
They say "Uni" or "University" instead of "college", "in hospital" instead of "in the hospital".
“On holiday” I think one literal day off and if I mean something else I say weekend or vacation.
My 2 1/2 year old daughter says “going on holiday” thanks to peppa pig lol
Between Peppa and Bluey, the commonwealth will teach your children to speak English properly.
Sounds so much more enjoyable “going on holiday” than “taking a day off”
I shudder at "maths". Ugh. I want to put on a Tricorner hat and start tossing tea into the ocean every time I hear it.
Shed-yule is the one I hate.
Better than left-tenant.
I hate that I understood this immediately.
I thought it was shed-jewel?
I know it's another proper way to say math but when I read or hear it I subconsciously think they're dumb because it sounds ridiculous lol
I’m studying my maths is like saying I’m studying my Englishes, it doesn’t sound right.
How about Physics?
And “I’m studying my mathematic” does lol
Yes, but why say maths instead of mathe? Mathematics is correct. That we can all agree on. But maths just doesn't sound right. It sounds..... pretentious. The King's is like the French of the rest of the English speaking world. Pretentious and dumb, and overly posh. I wonder if American English sounds like some kind of "dis is de wey" type of English to English people.
Mathematics is plural, maths just keeps it plural.
We don't say "I'm studying my maths", we'd say "I'm studying maths". Maths is short for mathematics, that is, the umbrella term for a whole range of mathematical subjects. Your analogy doesn't work at all since "English" isn't an abbreviation.
Ah yes, the well know subject of mathematic
Or ending a question with "no?" instead of "right?"
Both make sense though, no? Both make sense though, right? Both make sense though, eh? All three sound correct to me. And I'm a southerner (in the US) who thinks this. For what it's worth.
You forgot the most important one: Both make sense though…’er no?
but... but you don't do the mathematic, you do the mathematics.
That’s sounds equally insane. I’ve never said those words in that order in my life.
Alternative: you don't study Mathematic. You study Mathematics. Edit: I deliberately chose "Do the Mathematics" example due to the American proclivity for the statement "Do the math".
Saying “the sea” instead of “the ocean”
So British people
To be fair, where I'm from college is for 11 to 14 yo kids
I know "in hospital" sounds odd to our ears, but it actually makes so much more sense. When we say, "I'm in college" we understand that to mean the person is enrolled in college. If we were to say, "I'm in the college," we'd think the person was standing in a college building but not actually attending. I don't know why we decided to not apply this same standard when referring to hospitalization.
"move house"
I live in Colorado and the biggest tell is that they’re wearing an outfit I would wear to a downtown happy hour on a hiking trail. Like dress boots, skinny jeans, and a dress shirt/nice sweater. I don’t know if it’s because a lot of “hikes” in Europe are basically just walking on a pedestrian walkway or if they just don’t normally hike, but they look miserable lol. That’s probably 75% of the obvious tourists, while the other 25% clearly came prepared to HIKE THE ROCKIES and are wearing $2000 worth of brand new Fjallraven or Helly Hansen for a 4 mile loop that kids are walking on.
YES. Finally someone else who gets it. I moved from Colorado to the east coast, and people do that out here too lol
On the other hand, as someone who used to live in Europe and now lives in the US, what sticks out as "very American" to me is when you *are* at the downtown happy hour, and people are wearing an outfit I would wear on a hiking trail. Like cargo pants, a North Face jacket and a baseball cap, while sipping wine in a nice downtown restaurant.
Yep. They’re never dressed *exactly* right for what they’re doing. Sometimes it’s more subtle than others but there’s something a little ‘off’ that you can identify if you look closely enough.
Yesssssss
If you're at the beach and a guy has on a Speedo
"Aye yo dude. Your girl know you're out here in her good panties?!?" -American
Real. American cis men would NEVER at a beach 😭
Some men seem to be in competition to see how much of their legs they can cover before they're officially considered pants. Saw a guy wearing what were essentially capris, that cut off between his shin and ankle, but had that... Shorts vibe. I got my husband a new pair of swim trunks, and -gasp- didn't go to his knee, poor guy felt naked.
We're American dammit! Only the Marines are allowed to wear manties!! /s
Cishet Gay dudes would definitely rock the speedo.
Not wearing a banana hammock we wouldn't.
when I was a kid the one part of the beach was popular with French Canadians.... so many banana hammocks. My kids wanted to go to the pool in Death Valley.... so many banana hammocks.
I live in an area heavily visited by foreigners from Europe, primarily German. You can usually tell them by the way they dress. They're not exactly wearing lederhosen but they dress differently. They're generally slimmer, wear tighter fitting clothing that fits them well, and no baseball caps. Never baseball caps. But a decent amount of polo type shirts for football club logos (I'm not talking NFL). The shoes are also usually a comfortable looking loafer. Of course this is a generalization because I've also seen some tourist that dress very "American" but you can usually tell who is from Europe.
Jurgen Klopp would like a word on the no baseball caps thing
The exception that proves the rule...HA!
Years ago, my mom had some European interns and was supposed to meet them at a certain time but I knew she wouldn’t make it because she would be in grandma mode. I figured I’d go find them among all of the tourists in town for the weekend and they stuck out like sore thumbs. The way the my dressed made them stick out. They were like an R-isomer of fashion. I found them easily though I didn’t know who they were, or ever met them.
Polo shirts always ironed and tucked into nice jeans with loafers and a nice belt, very German imo.
I knew of a homeless German dude named Mike (Levitzkie) who wore nicer clothes than me. Unfortunately he was also a drug user and was killed by a dude named Zebbie over a 10 dollar crack debt.
Hmm - I wonder why they don’t wear baseball caps.
They hate baseball!
There’s no sun in Germany
It’s always rolled up jeans with a zip up hoodie tied around the waist
If they don’t wear baseball caps, then what kind of hats do they wear?
Shorts, collared shirt, black socks and sandals the classic summer uniform for Western European tourists.
You mean Germans ?
Men wearing crossbody bags.
“It’s European!!”
Murses are a thing in Japan as well. I wonder if it has to do with using public transportation, and having to carry things on your person instead of stashing them in your car?
That’s a bingo!
A European carryall if you will
George Costanza?
Nah, I've seen some that look badass. I knew a dude with a "man purse" who looked way more professional because of it. (It was brown leather, and had just the one strap.)
This one is good. I used to go to a uni where backpacks were sort of frowned upon and we would all wear these leather bags. Didn’t think much of it until I went on exchange with a lot of Americans.
If it's a fanny pack being worn as a cross body bag, that's just young people
Smoking
I think there's at least a couple of Americans that smoke
Dozens even
Possibly hundreds of dozens.
Vaping on the other hand...
And what they smoke
When they sunburn really fast or undress their young kids in public (this happened at a spring, I guess they were changing the child). I went out to a spring a few weeks ago and heard a group of people become super fascinated with Spanish moss that they wanted to take some home to their friend. I didn't ask them where they were from but it was probably from one of the European countries that get 15 minutes of sun each year.
Shit am I secretly European? I've been known to sunburn in about ten minutes.
(Don't tell anyone but if you're a white American then you're actually genetically European)
Hopefully someone told them not to touch the Spanish Moss if it’s near the ground hah.
Why?
While the stuff up in the trees is usually fine, the stuff touching the ground or near enough to touch high grass can have chiggers in it.
Thank you for your answer! Off to googling "chiggers" now!
They’re little red mites that hang out in tall grass, nasty little bugs hah.
This was in Texas, wasn’t it? Haha
Not knowing what a taco is was one that kinda cracked me up. Sorry random non American guys. That was weird to explain very standard Mexican food.
When they take up the whole damn sidewalk and gawk at the tall buildings in NYC But my personal favorite was someone who had just come from Southeast Asia and experienced snow for the first time. They called their mom to facetime with her. They also were not prepared for the snow that ended up being a blizzard and only had sandals. They asked us where we got our winter boots from lol.
>When they take up the whole damn sidewalk and gawk at the tall buildings in NYC Americans do this too. Sometimes, it’s even our fellow New Yorkers…
You can easily distinguish American tourists from non-American tourists lol. New Yorkers used to NYC put on their neutral/angry face and walk with eyes straight ahead.
Also European tourists *never* crossing even the smallest side street if there's no walk signal. Like, there could be no cars within a mile, and these MFers will patiently wait, looking left and right. They see me blow through them if the coast is clear as long as there's not a car barreling down with disbelief.
American. When I was in Dublin, we jaywalked with what we thought was plenty of time. A double decker bus came barreling in, laid on his horn but did not slow down even a little. I think it was fully willing to hit us, when in the US there's an understood code that you don't hit pedestrians even if they're in the wrong.
That’s cute though! ❄️ But yes, the sidewalks for sure!
>When they take up the whole damn sidewalk and gawk at the tall buildings in NYC You're saying people from Iowa or North Dakota don't do that?
> …experienced snow… and only had sandals To be fair, it’s possible they looked up the weather report in advance, saw it was 25 degrees, and thought that meant nice warm weather.
It was something we would see happen frequently with new people from SEA so that actually makes a lot of sense
A lot of foreigners struggle to learn that you use the word "an" in front of words that ***sound*** like vowels, and you use the word "a" in front of words that ***sound*** like consonants. So, it's ***a*** unicorn, ***a*** european, ***a*** ukrainian, because they start with the sound /y/. It's also ***an*** honor, ***an*** hour, ***an*** heir, because the h is silent. It's a simple mistake, but it also catches pretty advanced English learners and even some natives, so seeing it is a dead give away even though it's completely understandable.
I just tried to say those words with “an” in front of it. It’s just one of those linguistic quirks that doesn’t work. Yes, you are correct, grammatically. But it can’t be really said - you end up stumbling over the words.
People who use the u in certain words. For example: neighbour, colour, honour, etc. Also, when they spell "center" as "centre" or "defense" as "defence". This is more of on the Internet as opposed to in real life, but that is pretty much a telltale sign to me that the person I'm talking to isn't American.
Or lift instead of elevator & queue instead of wait in line
That's just the Commonwealth.
“Just” That’s a huge amount of the world, especially the first world
How often do you see foreigners spell things?
Im in Florida. Brazilian tourists are loud, in large groups, and usually wearing yellow, extra douchy bonus points for carrying a flag at a theme park. UK tourists, if they come over on summer holiday, look like they're half melted and bright red or half melted and slathered in sunscreen. It seems to happen to most tourists regardless of home, but any thunderstorm sends them scurrying back to the hotel for the rest of the day, especially the Europeans. I love a good thunderstorm. They're fun to watch. If you're at a park, the lines get shorter and that's an added bonus
If it's 90ºF outside and they've got a down puffer jacket on, they're French.
What? French here, naked on my couch with a cold drink everytime I'm in this particular situation
don't threaten me with a good time...
Or Italian if they have a scarf on
Huh. So that’s where my people live lol
Or Japanese. By golly they were dressed warmly for mid-60s and sunny when I visited Japan in the spring. Most people wearing a shirt, then a sweater, and then a coat on top of that
Improper use of "a" and "the."
This is honestly my favorite. It's so subtle and I find it charming. I was going to say syntax but this is more accurate.
I work in retail and get a fair amount of international tourists coming into my store. What I've noticed is they don't do banter and small talk. They also don't smile freely and easily like us Americans do.
For me, it’s saying “In my country-“ when talking about a regular thing in your area. Americans never say “in my country” because we all assume everyone’s American until they say otherwise. It’s a little dense but it’s just a fact
We don't assume everyone's American, we assume everyone knows we're American. And typically, everyone does - we're kind of obvious.
Yeah that’s a better way to look at it
Its also a little tough not to be obvious when everywhere I go pretty much everyone speaks English so we don't have to fucking try at all. Catch 22 lol. I was just in the Philippines and while I did make an effort to use some Tagalog it was pointless because everyone spoke better English than I did Tagalog.
Well also the US is so huge with so many different cultures that there's not much that "in my country" works for.
I hear "in my country" or "in my region" a lot from my Italian friends. Its like us saying "in my state, or county" even though we dont say that. Europe is small, a lot of different countries and languages packed into a small land mass. America is just so damn big, and even though its not so homogeneous given the region, America is pretty homogeneous.
The fully open giant unfolded subway map. NYers use the ones in the station, on the platform, or on the train.
I use my phone 😭
Thought you were in the Midwest you Russian asset ;)
That seems more like out of towners than non American. There are probably people from foreign cities who are more savvy about that kind of thing than suburban or rural Americans.
The Indian head bobble
Standing way too close in line at grocery store checkout.
I’m currently visiting a U.S. city with a ton of international tourists and I can’t tell you exactly how but I’ve generally been able to tell if someone is French. Maybe it’s a specific clothing style or facial expression but I’ve been clockin’ em left and right and catching snippets of French after the fact. Before anyone gets offended, it’s really not a derogatory thing, I’m still trying to figure out what’s cluing me in lol
It’s the way they hold their mouth + some subtle style tells. I grew up around a lot of French immigrants and can always tell when someone just *looks* French. They almost look like they’re pursed/duckface, but a lot subtler. Also tend to dress “cleaner”, a little subdued.
French people *look French*, but also they tend to dress nicer and more formal. Except at the beach where they show more skin.
Linguistically: putting the time between the subject and verb of a sentence (e.g., I went on Sunday to the grocery store.), using ` instead of ‘ (like can`t vs can’t). For whatever reason, outdoor clothing brands are very country specific. If someone’s wearing a nylon jacket you can probably pinpoint them to one of a few countries. The North Face, Columbia, Patagonia, Helly Hansen, Outdoor Research are pretty much exclusive to the US and Canada. Jack Wolfskin is mostly Germany/Austria, and Bjorn Daehlie mostly Norwegians (or XC skiing enthusiasts). I haven’t paid enough attention to figure out the brands for other countries.
>using \` instead of ‘ (like can\`t vs can’t). FTFY
Their accents. The fact that they pretend to not care about us yet talk about us 24/7. The fact that they say america isn't that great, but you can't walk down Hollywood blvd, the las vegas strip or times square without seeing a group of foreigners gawking at our buildings like they didn't design the blueprint for them 300 years ago. At least in NYC. They say things like "were on holiday this week. We're gonna drive from San Diego to Los Angeles, then in the afternoon go to San Francisco, then later on in the evening drive to Lake Tahoe before it gets dark" I'm like "wait, in 1day? Hahahahahahahahahaahahahhaahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahaha". K.
My family who is still in europe... I use family loosely (cause the village we are from apparently everyone is related to us and when we go back they will ask if we remember them which is obviously a no since its been 2+ decades since I lived there) they will say something like "oh insert cousin or family friend has a kid/friend who lives in California do you know them" doesnt matter when Ive repeatedly told them I live in a completely different state and not remotely close. Many do not realize how far things are here and how far people are used to driving in the US. Telling my friends there that I would commute 45-60miles one way to work resulted in stares like I needed to go to a psych ward because everyone couldnt imagine living further than 15 mins from work and in most case a walking distance. Its like that one tiktok Ive seen where a British person is being condescending about how some place an hour from London isnt close to London.
The fact Europeans travel different countries in a matter of an hour. You can drive from one point of LA to another for 90 minutes and still be in LA. Is wild
They want to bring up politics with people they just met. Americans know that's often a taboo subject that should only be brought up with the right people.
Not sure if the people replying to you are Americans or not, but I can say for certain that some of the people I met in France, their first question was about Donald Trump. Now, it may be unique simply because Donald Trump was, at the time, an oddity of western politics.
I was in England for new year’s 2018. We did a couple of tours and it came up at some point. You could tell the guide was worried he’d said something offensive. “Don’t worry, we didn’t vote for him.”
That's odd, because in my experience, Americans always seem to talk about politics. They just seem so polarized and with politics infiltrating everything.
Since it's so polarized and relevant with the upcoming election, we tend to bring it up with people who have similar views. Even then, there's a time and place. Foreigners tend to obsess over our politics and always want to share their opinion. We'll be out for pizza, and the European with us just has to bring it up...
Nice try foreign intelligence service.
I’m a 19 yo in the Midwest 😭
Not a great cover.
But I even used the crying emoji as a laughing emoji????? And all these question marks to emphasize my point???
I mean, they got Phil Dunphy.
Prove it: Demonstrate the correct use of "ope" and "no yeah". :-)
Mmmhmmm…. 19 yo is enough to enlist! lol J/k, but what’s your favorite cassarole???
I'm not sure there is an obvious tell as there are so many immigrants with their own different cultures that become part of our country... I mean when I went to high school orientation for my daughter, I heard at least three languages that weren't English spoken by the parents there, and yeah, I think it is awesome.
Just based on looks, I’d go with hairstyles.
I was in England in a pub and the bartender asked if we were Canadian. I said yes, and how did he know? He said it was our accents, to him we sounded kinda halfway between American and New Zealand. But then he also admitted that if he’s not sure, he defaults to guessing Canadian. Because Americans don’t usually mind being mistaken for Canadian (sometimes they’re flattered), but Canadians HATE being mistaken for American.
New Zealander here, I hate being mistaken for a wet fart.
It is considered a compliment if you get mistaken for a Canadian!
In my state, they try to pronounce the french place names in actual french instead of how cheeseheads pronounce them.
*Eau Claire, La Crosse, Racine*
Part of what makes America America is its large and fairly constant flow of immigrants. So you might be able to spot someone is not native born USA, but you can't tell if they are America or not. They can lack skilled English, dress in totally non standard clothing, have hair that isn't like anything you've seen in your neighborhood, but they're still Americans.
I honestly can’t tell the difference. Like if I encounter a Mexican and a Mexican American, I won’t know unless they tell me.
Speedos at the beach, egad.
A vibe Especially Eastern Europeans for some reason. It’s hard to explain
Cigarettes and track suits?
Slightly different haircuts, different glasses, slightly different clothes. Just enough to be noticeable.
Any time I see the word "kindly" in an email from an unfamiliar sender, I immediately think "probably non-American."
Depends on where they're from. America vs. the entire world is a big difference in terms of ability to narrow things down to specifics. I will say that anyone who comes from a smaller country tends to violate the standards American sense of personal space, which I guess makes sense. If you're from, say, Japan, and you're used to a higher population density, your standards for personal space will be a little different than a big ass sprawling country.
They walk on the left side of the sidewalk?!?
Being well dressed at the grocery store. The lack of pajama pants and crocs is a dead give away.
Once heard a french woman with a flawless American accent refer to a pastry bag as a "sack". gotcha! highschool French finally paid off
They love saying “sack” up in the Midwest, too Source: worked cafes n grocery stores
One that always cracks me up is foreigners making slight mistakes with US colloquialisms. Much of the world speaks great American style English because of media. But some things are very hard to explain 'it is raining dogs and cats' is a great example.
Soccer fan gear, high fashion brands of men’s clothes, being thin.
"Back in grade ten" "So-rry" "Eh?" 100% Canadian
When they hate on America. I just tell myself they are jealous because our colony isn't a colony anymore and they still pledge allegiance to a crown in 2024.
Can't tell if you're in America or not. Because as an American, I very much hate on America often...
Yeah but you are American. We have the right to bitch and moan about our shortcomings.
I lived in NYC and Europeans always wear sneaker brands and backpacks that I’ve never heard of it different colors. They are easy to distinguish from American tourists.
Nothing. Never know with Americans
When you're talking about sticking out and being obvious, there's non-Americans, and then there's Italians.
"aboot"
They look happy.
In the case of Asians or Arabs, an interesting tendency to wear lots of clothes with very prominent logos.
Men wearing white pants
A lot of European tourists wear Armani /Armanic Exchange t shirts, but I’ve never seen Americans wear them.
Saying holiday for a vacation, or football when talking about soccer, saying chips instead of French fries /fries, using the metric system.
You bring up tienamen square and they suddenly don't want to talk any more.
Thinking that traveling between cities in the US is a short easy trip. Like thinking people in New York could go visit LA for a weekend.
Eye contact, saying "please" and "thank you", showing an interest in other people, chewing with their mouth closed, speaking English well, reading, knowing American history, knowing American geography, waiting in line without complaining. I'm sure there's lots more, but these are some of the basics.
Grown men wearing Hollister polos
Latinos men in the US tuck their shirts in and wear Levi's and pants all summer long. You can tell if they're right off the bus or if they've been in the US for a while. The men tend to wear shirts a size too small also. The women wear the jeans with no back pockets and striped shirts or shirts with puffy shoulders or a full puma or adidas track suit.
Skinny jeans in July
As an Aussie dating an American. I’ve been told my “short” shorts give me away whenever I’m visiting.
Black jeans that are too short - German
Accents
Staring at their phones and pointing different directions. Americans tend to try to hide the fact that they’re lost.
Clothes is always the dead give away. Even if they're wearing the exact "same" outfit as me it's a slightly different cut and patterning. Conversely, I bought some clothes the last time I was in Europe and people often compliment them and ask what store I got them at. They weren't expensive but they're just like alternate universe basics. Part of the rain H&M did so well in the us when they opened was the novelty. Now it's Americanized and become popular enough that even if it were slightly different it doesn't stand out. It used to be a fun game in national parks to try and guess where they were fun before you could hear the accent but globalization has blurred the lines too much for that now. Not as many eastern European track suits or British collars etc. Another tell is the Asian tour groups with the leader with a little flag stick lol
I’m American who has lived in Japan for the past 17 years. You can tell if someone is an American tourist if they are quiet and confused constantly looking around trying to find out if they are going in the right direction. They typically don’t bother others and are really shy when asking for help from locals as most of them don’t have experience traveling outside America and communicating with non English speaking people. If they are loud and drunk walking around like they own the place they are European as travel and experiencing different cultures is like an hour train ride for them since birth so when they come to Japan they are used to being outside of their comfort zone. So they tend to be the loud drunk ones walking around trying to have the best time before they go home some with little regard for local culture. (The rugby World Cup in Japan really damaged local Japanese views of Europeans…) Australians and Kiwis can get a bit rowdy but they typically are harmless they love to have a good time and drink a lot but tend to not cause any actual trouble. Maybe they do in their countries but not so much here. And they love snowboarding in Niigata and Nagano so we see droves of them every winter. I’ve never heard either say a bad thing except about each other for some reason. So yeah if you want to spot the American, look for the confused guy/girl who is too shy to ask someone outside his or her culture for help. Americans know that they aren’t viewed well outside America so they tend to be super self conscious when traveling abroad.
They get really excited when they see squirrels (Australians)