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0 pointsPaulDavisThe1st2y ago0 comments

When I first visited the US in 1981, I was pretty convinced (as a young, naive and somewhat ignorant Brit) that the differences between someone from New Orleans and someone from Portland, Maine were far greater than anything you could find between any two parts of Europe.

Decades later, that's clearly an exaggeration or just plain wrong, but it is certainly true that people do underestimate cultural differences within the US, and overestimate them within Europe.

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Jensson2y ago

I don't think people overestimate the cultural difference between Finland and Italy for example, they are extremely different.

The language barriers makes Europe much more culturally diverse, but also makes that diversity much harder to discover since you can't fully understand a culture without learning its language.

It is more like the cultural difference between Canada and Mexico, you don't have such a wide spread within USA. You have some parts that is more like Canadians, and some parts more like Mexicans, but Mexico to Canada is still a bigger cultural leap than anything within USA.

PaulDavisThe1stOP2y ago

I think that the language diversity tends to make it less apparent that people are actually more alike than they seem. I am not claiming that Finns and Italians as a culture are identical other than language, just that the language difference makes them seem more different than they actually are.

The opposite is true in the USA: nearly everyone speaking English to each other, watching the same TV shows, driving the same cars, eating the same breakfast cereals - easy to believe they must all be culturally very similar, when in fact they are not.

Jensson2y ago

We know there are differences within countries, but those differences tend to get exaggerated since you live in them. Even in European countries people tend to say "People from city X are very brash, people from city Y are very warm and welcoming", so they know that even though they consume the same news, speak the same language etc things can be different. Or they say "People from area X are very racist, area Y is very liberal".

But we also know that there are much bigger differences if you cross many national borders and language barriers by going to the other side of Europe, they too will have those micro differences but when going there you also get many major macro differences.

avhception2y ago

Case in point: in German, we even have the same words. They are mildly antiquated, but "Gesellig" and "Geselle" are almost 1:1 translations from the Dutch "gezellig" and "gezel". As a German who has worked in the Netherlands, I never felt a big difference in everyday attitude (though I have to admit the company is based very near to the German border, so maybe the differences would be bigger when compared to Amsterdam or something).

ahazred8ta2y ago

So, where do you stand on Oachkatzlschwoaf versus Eichhörnchenschwanz? O:-)

avhception2y ago

As a middle-western German, it's obviously Eichhörnchenschwanz! Haha ;)

jansan2y ago

Even more, in north western Germany they have a dialect called "Plattdeutsch" that is closer to the Dutch language than to German.

ahazred8ta2y ago

https://pdc.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsilfaanisch_Deitsch The Pennsylvania 'Dutch' Pälzisch dialect is enough to give a headache... https://pfl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riograndenser_Hunsr%C3%BCckis... Pälz-Portuguese creole

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Jensson2y ago

I don't think people overestimate the cultural difference between Finland and Italy for example, they are extremely different.

The language barriers makes Europe much more culturally diverse, but also makes that diversity much harder to discover since you can't fully understand a culture without learning its language.

PaulDavisThe1stOP2y ago

Jensson2y ago

avhception2y ago

ahazred8ta2y ago

So, where do you stand on Oachkatzlschwoaf versus Eichhörnchenschwanz? O:-)

avhception2y ago

As a middle-western German, it's obviously Eichhörnchenschwanz! Haha ;)

jansan2y ago

Even more, in north western Germany they have a dialect called "Plattdeutsch" that is closer to the Dutch language than to German.

ahazred8ta2y ago

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