Was It Something I Said?
By Maria Weiskott, Editor-in-Chief -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 10/1/2007
Recently I had an amazing travel experience, spending two weeks among a diversity of people from a variety of countries. One morning, I sat down to breakfast across the table from a young Asian woman and her parents. We all nodded and smiled, and they continued their conversation (in a language I could not readily identify), which I had momentarily interrupted.
At a lull in the conversation, the young woman asked me in halting English, “What state are you from in the U.S.A.?” How in the world did she know I was from the U.S., I wondered.
The following day, my husband and I joined a foursome of fellow travelers, again at breakfast. They were conversing in Spanish. In English, they welcomed us to the conversation, and we proceeded to discuss our travels.
“So,” asked one of the men, “What part of the Northeast are you from?” My husband answered. I was too dumbstruck, asking myself for the second time in as many days how not only were we recognized as Americans, but from the Northeast no less!
The two experiences got me wondering: How did people know we were American? We could have been Europeans, no? No.
I conducted a quick survey of some European colleagues upon returning to the U.S. The questions: Do Americans have a cultural identity? How are we perceived? The results: Yes, we have an identity. And the good news is that the perception of us is upbeat, for the most part (politics aside, of course).
We are gregarious. “Americans are among the friendliest in the world,” reports a Dutch colleague. Notes a Swiss editor: “Americans just love witty comments and a good joke — even if it is on you!”
We are open-minded. “Americans are willing to discuss just about anything,” a German journalist told me, with a tone of awe.
We are curious. “Americans love to hear about history. They especially like to eat at a restaurant that is linked to some historic event,” reported a U.K. colleague.
We are impatient. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, business starts with relationships, for which there is no “turn-around time” — a term, we were told, that has become ubiquitous in American business discussions.
Even with all this input, I'm still perplexed by how I was so readily “revealed” as an American.
Yo! Do you think it was something I “said”?
