c.i.,
Very true - my most recent trip to the USA confirmed that at >$1.88 to the GB Pound, life is much cheaper in the USA than in London!
Paris is actually a little cheaper than London, but still more expensive than USA.
KP
kitchenpete wrote: Enough people speak English (even in Paris, though they do resent it if you make no effort to say "bonjour" or "merci").
Reading that reminded me of something....here in Canada (probably more so in the west) on occasion you will hear someone (English speaking) say
merçi buckets in place of merçi beaucoup. Is that just a Canadianism? Or do you use the same expression over there?
"merçi buckets" I love that!
uh oh. i've been saying that for years, and thought i made it up. damn.
"Merçi Buttercups" works too!
fishin, "Buttercups" has a different connotation.
The US' tendency to dribble its own shite onto others may be a reason others hate us:
Japan the Next Target?
Quote:
Japan put on terror attack alert
Friday, February 20, 2004 Posted: 12:46 PM EST (1746 GMT)
Security was tightened at vital locations including Tokyo airport.
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Japan has tightened security at 650 vital facilities across the country, including nuclear power plants, government offices and U.S. facilities, to guard against a possible terrorist attack, a National Police Agency official said.
The official said the heightened alert Friday was due to such factors as Japan's recent dispatch of a contingent of ground forces to help rebuild Iraq.
He declined to say whether there had been any new information concerning a possible attack.
There were two late-night explosions near the Defense Ministry in Tokyo this week, which police said could have been carried out in a protest at the dispatch of Japanese troops to Iraq.
The dollar rose sharply against the yen in late afternoon trading in Europe after the report Japan's security level had been raised.
The National Police Agency said in December that Japan's close ties with the United States and the many U.S. facilities in the country could make it a target for attacks by Islamic militants.
Japan approved the controversial dispatch of its main army contingent to help rebuild Iraq in late January, and now has about 100 troops establishing a base in Samawa in southern Iraq, where they will help with humanitarian work and reconstruction.
Nudged by the United States, Japan plans to send up to 600 ground troops to Iraq as part of a total deployment of about 1,000 military personnel. It will be Japan's biggest and riskiest overseas mission since World War II.
Japan is one of the United States' closest allies in Asia and home base for about half the estimated 100,000 U.S. military personnel in the region. Many U.S. companies have a substantial presence in the country.
No damage or injuries were caused by Tuesday's explosions.
A leftist group calling itself "Kakumeigun" (Revolutionary Army) sent letters to Japanese media claiming responsibility, Kyodo news agency said Friday. The group said it was resorting to violence to prevent the deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq, Kyodo said.
cicerone imposter wrote:"merçi buckets" I love that!
When I first said it after moving to the U.S. (I'm back in Canada now), I realized "hey, they probably have never heard this before". It was just such an automatic thing to say. The funny thing is, no one looked at me and said "huh?" *L*
kitchenpete
I can barely get my husband out of the county of the state I live in, much less out of the country. He has lived in the house that we live in now since the day he was born. (sort of inherited it after his grandmother died) The only place we go to visit is down further south. Maybe someday, in the meantime, I'll just keep buying romance novels with people and places from "somewheres else." (barney fife, andy griffin show)
I would also like to visit London, I have read a lot about those Cornish (?) hills with the runaway highway men who are really disinherited Lords and the Scottish highlands with the Highland warlords wearing plaid short kilts over their bulging thighs wielding their broadswords with their massive arms and the sheiks palaces with the exotic dancers dancing in the background while a sheik with midnight black hair and spellbinding black eyes feeds grapes to his captive bosomy slave... (JK) (but I would like to visit other parts of the world someday, I just started to realize how I was sounding)
revel, Dreaming is nice, and many say "next year." Don't get stuck into this rut; there's life outside your county and state. You must "be there" to appreciate all the nuances of what life is all about. Start with a trip to Washington DC. Most of what you wish to see is "free."
I am so disillusioned by Washington right now the last place I want to go is there. Although it would be nice to see the statue of Abraham Lincoln and read the bill of rights that is on the wall and maybe see the wall of memorial, on second thoughts I would like to go there, maybe it would renew my hope for this country.
I notice that you live in California, I would ask you on the gay rights board but I haven't read in there yet and don't know if you go there. But what do you think about the latest upset there? Personally I don't understand how those that oppose gay marriage can claim that they believe in equal rights for all with a straight face, but on the other hand it does seem as if that mayor guy just usurped his authority.
I think Mayor Neusome(sp) is a brave soul, and agree with his actions on gay rights. It was not that long ago that we had laws in this country that forbad interracial marriage. But then, I'm an atheist unlike all my siblings who are christians who would oppose such a 'marriage.' I have a problem with christians who say they love the sinner but not the sin, then say they do not deserve to have the same legal rights as anyone else. There's an obvious inconsistency for me.
I may not seem much of one, but I am a christian, in fact I consider myself pretty religious. I just believe in separation of religious ideals and government, so I agree with you that gays should be allowed to marry even though I personally feel that acting on the desires of homosexuality is a sin. (but then so is lying and hating people)
(enough of that here, thank you for letting me get away with it)
revel wrote:
...but then so is lying and hating people
But that is the subject of this thread. Hating Americans and America.
Perhaps it is not a sin in Canada.
Ummm, I think revel is an american.
I started this thread not because I hate americans, but because a lot of people do. I thought it would be interesting to see the myriad of opinions.
If we were to discuss morals, and/or sins, I think you would find both Canadians and Americans are on the same page.
I don't think there are any Canadians who hate Americans. (Unless it's a personal thing, but that's not the issue here.) There may be dislike of Americans by Canadians, there may be annoyances Canadians find in Americans, but I've never had a fellow Canadian tell me they hate Americans in the true sense of the word.
caprice wrote:[...] but I've never had a fellow Canadian tell me they hate Americans in the true sense of the word.
Actually, I always think, "
hate" is used in a very inflatingly way on these threads: how do people call things, they really hate = express or feel extreme enmity or active hostility?
OK, so no one here hates America or Americans, but some know or encounter many who do. The feelings that Canadians express so frequently on these threads are not hatred but merely dislike or annoyance.
Why is it that Canadians have, or at least express, these feelings towards Americans so much more frequently than do Americans towards Canada or Canadians?
Are we worse, or are you merely more irritable?.
