Embarassing things Americans do while visiting Europe...

Yes, just being loud, generally. And thinking Liverpool St is in Liverpool, Oxford St is in Oxford etc. Leicester Square is not in Leicester nor is it pronounced 'Li-ses-ter' (it's Les-ter). But going to Leicester Square is pretty dud in itself. Go to Leicester instead.

Don't go on about how old a 19th century building is.

Oh, and complaining that it always rains here. This is not so much embarassing as FUCKING ANNOYING. Mostly because they're right.

Oh, and don't follow N's 'advice' and go to Leicester, either.

If you're in Paris, do try to start out trying to speak French, and don't be offended if the Frenchie switches over to English. S/he isn't being rude.

Get a good street map and don't feel ashamed about using it - in places like Paris or London everyone who lives here needs them too.

example from my life, stood behind 4 americans in a queue to buy cards. i ahve no idea what the minor differences were - too dull to remember - nevertheless they were all remarked on 4 times
[to shopworker]"so do I give you the cash now"
"yes"
[to friend]"I give her the cash no"
[from friend]"now"
[to friend]"yes now"
[from friend]"give her the cash then"
[to friend]"so I get a receipt now do you think"

Waiting 10 minutes for someone to buy a card used up all of my disproprtionate annoyance for that day, and so I was polite to bad drivers on the way home.

Also (and this isn't an american thing, but a tourist thing in general) it's a person with spraypaint on, standing still, not a human statue. Do not pay the person attention. Do not giggle. Do not stop, look, and block the road. Do not encourage the mentalist. Definitely, under no circumstances give money. Neither use of the ability to stand still nor use of the ability to be sprayed with paint deserve any renumeration.

But the secodn one is just me

I think anything but being an egotistical prat who thinks everything is so damned quaint (which covers most points here) is fair game.

You're too kind.

Advice for Eurofolks when meeting Americans: do not assume that every one of them voted for/agrees with Bush. Unless you like the assumption that you voted for/agree with Thatcher or Le Pen or Fortuyn or whoever.

If you want to walk along the Thames, walk along the South side. Yes, all the pretty buildings are on the North but they're hard too see properly from only 10ft away (that's approx 4.5 metres -- not meters)
And don't worry about going South of The River Thames. Most people who warn you not to go there have never been themselves.
That said, don't go too far south... (if you see 'Elephant and Castle' turn around. Quickly.)

London's skyline is not as dramatic(?) as some American cities' so if you're looking for a landmark Centre Point, The BT Tower (formerly Post Office Tower) and The London Eye are usually easy to spot.

Don't shop exclusively at the GAP, Disney Store, The Hard Rock Cafe or eat solely American fast food. Redundant. Redundant. Redundant.
Also, don't presume that everyone here eats fish & chips every day or that every fish & chip shop is good (as a rule, avoid those which are open 24hrs & also serve kebabs or 'giros' as Americans call them -- be careful because a 'giro cheque' is what we call a 'welfare check').

Don't call pounds "quids". Sorry, sounds retarded.
Don't call everyone you meet "mate" or end every conversation with "cheers". "Thanks" & "Thank you" are understood all over Britain.

Say "pardon", "excuse me" or even "come again?" but try to avoid "WHAT??". That really grates.

That said, I don't understand why tourists who carry around guidebooks don't bother with the pronunciation gazetteer.

(Sarah, if you're a total boor and need to be told, in painful and tiresome detail, not to be unspeakably rude in public, please accept my apologies.)

Asking if people speak 'American' could surely be ignorance and not rudeness?

Don't BT payphones have instructions on them, Benjamin?

The whole "American" language thing, if it's not in reference to Mencken, sounds like it would come from the mouth of someone rudely frustrated with his own inarticulateness: "Doesn't anyone speak AMERICAN around here?"

Don't refer to the fact that you love 'Europe' like it's one country you can see in a fortnight. We don't think of it as 'Europe' very much - it's just Britain. Or even just England, Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland. Or better still, just London or Yorkshire. Americans say 'Britain' and 'Europe' much more than we do. This might be different for people in mainland Europe - you'd have to ask them.

-- N. (nickdastoo...), October 16th, 2002.

"You mean this is REALLY no good here?"

I miss those "real money" days.

Europeans?

xp ahaha

Enclose either a current email address or an SAE and postage: International Reply Coupons if you are outside the UK (US stamps do not work from the UK. Sorry to state the obvious, but no one seems to be aware of this).

"You mean this is REALLY no good here?"

she sounds ace

yes. yes, we are in a hurry. we are not on holiday, we live here and are trying to get up the escalator with a purpose in mind at the end, and we want to spend as little time in the stinking tube as possible. this is a city, the pace is fast. also some of us, y'know, LIKE MOVING. if you don't, that's fine, stand on the right and we won't get in your way. in return, please don't get in ours.

Well there are here. It says 'PLEASE STAND ON THE RIGHT' all the way up (and down).

otoh those signs are stupid as they imply there is no option other than to stand on the right; ie you must not walk up the left. they should say 'PLEASE DON'T STAND ON THE LEFT'.

i like tourists, generally. it pisses me off when they stop in the middle of the pavement/doorway or walk up the pavement r e a l l y s l o w l y four abreast with their arms linked or stand on the left, but non-tourists do those things too. mispronunciations are sweet, and i don't mean that to be patronising and i know it goes in every direction - for the longest time i thought arkansas and arkansaw were two different states. i get a massive kick when i see obvious tourists taking pictures of my beautiful city. it is fucking depressing, though, when they stop me to ask a question and i stop, all smiles and wanting them to love london as much as i do and be helpful so they will love the people here, and they ask me where the nearest fucking pissing sodding bloody shitting mcdonalds is. FUCK OFF TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM if you are going to behave like that. seriously, fuck you.

-- emsk (vomit.quif...), January 18th, 2006.

OTFM!!!

But then again, this used to piss me off in NYC, as well. Like, DUDE!!! I am not on holiday. I actually work here, now get out of my way while you gawp at the pretty buildings.

heheh do you remember that spoof news story thing about when they were going to introduce lanes on oxford street, and if you were walking too slow in the fast lane you would get fined?

xpost - if people don't like our poor little pisshole, why the fuck have they spent thousands of their dollars/euros/whatevers coming here? who's the SUCKER?

Recent offenders include 21 fifth-graders from Westview Elementary School near Muncie, Ind., seven New York State Police troopers in gray dress uniforms and the Eichel family of Chapel Hill, N.C.

Indignant Bicyclists (and pedestrians!)

Would London be a better place if they'd never got rid of the trams?

(I think?)

http://walking.about.com/od/holiday/a/pavementrage.htm

plus google "operation tugboat" and it comes up with loads more.

and i was def still living in shepherds bush when it was going on as the only reason i heard the radio phone in thing was that that was the only station the radio in the bathroom in that flat would pick up, so 2000 would be about right...

I mean... "meep meep" - I might just start saying that instead of the current "EH! EH! EH!" alarm sound that I sometimes forget I make out loud.

"You mean this is REALLY no good here?"

If the dollar was good enough for Jesus Christ then it ought to be good enough for these people!

x-post

And don't be loud, and don't complain or whinge. I travelled all through Europe all last summer with a ton of tourists and the ones that most got on my nerves were the morons who were constantly bitching, usually about things being different than America. I even had a group of fat Americans in Ireland complain that the mini-van was not big enough for them, and they would need more vehicles. Get a grip. I am so sure the tour operators need to get one vehicle per person because you can't stop eating.

The idea is to try to be quintessentially diplomotic: as in humble and conciliatory to the fact that you are in another country and don't know what the customs are. But Paris is pretty normal as long as you are not a totally rude pig, despite the reputation the French have for being rude.

And being in one country for one day does not make you an expert on a place or a country. I heard lots of loud conversations from apparent American "experts" because they had been in Naples for two days, they knew all about it.

Just be nice and play nice and though it's sweet that you have even asked this question, try to remember that you really shouldn't care all that much about what other people think. It is nice that you are trying to break the stereotype though.

Locals in pissed at tourists shocker.

...as in humble and conciliatory to the fact that you are in another country and don't know what the customs are.

I think a lot of spoiled Americans think of vacation as travel & relaxation, and not as visiting & learning.

There are probably still bumper stickers in my hometown, stuck on stop signs and things, that read "Privacy is priceless...tourism isn't". And this is a town of 3000 people, you'd think they'd be glad just to have someone new to look at.

I feel the same way everywhere I've ever been in the US. Except I got called out for standing 2 abreast over July 4 in DC by a Brit (who then announced loudly to no one in particular about the "mo-rons and more mo-rons" around him). And in some sense he was right, I guess especially as we were en route from metro to train station (which is also huge mall/theater complex), but I still wish I had taken the opportunity to point out that this was July 4 weekend AND EVERYONE AROUND HIM WAS ON FUCKING HOLIDAY (CELEBRATING GUESS WHAT)!

Sorry DIY UNKLE I did take your comment out of context, it did sound more like a defense the way it was worded, but in retrospect I see how I made the mistake. (you were just theorizing on the assumptions of the American tourist as opposed to making a judgement on the validity of said assumption)