i saw a post on twitter by a european saying americans are fake for their random compliments to strangers and their general cheery demeanor and like no. no no no you don’t understand. if you get a random compliment from an american on the street about your outfit or whatever, that is 100% genuine. we mean it. we aren’t lying we are making a small but fleeting connection with you because our lives are shitty but the human condition is enduring. oh god i’m clutching my chest
If you get a compliment from a random American on the street, know that they tried their best to keep from saying a peep to you but they literally could not hold it in. They HAD to say something.
The other day a tiny gay man in a hurry bumped me on the Metro escalator and said “Sorry, great dress by the way” and then he stopped at the top of the escalator and turned around and said “AND a great hat. THAT is how we do summer!” and SPRINTED for his bus and I coasted on that for the rest of the day.
Love this post!
When I first moved to Prague I had a colleague who had such great style, and I always complimented her because I thought she was hot and cool. Years later when we were friends, she told me that she always suspected me of trying to manipulate her somehow because that is not how Czechs roll, and it was really inconceivable to her that I was simply complimenting her with no ulterior motive, but that’s culturally normal to me?
Also, I am married to a British person, and his mother is an artist – she’s a collograph print-maker, and she told me that whenever she wants a pick me up, she sends photos of her latest prints to me, because I can be counted upon to say something nice. What can I say? I love her work? Her prints are beautiful, so…not faking?
Americans have a lot of blind spots and issues, but saying the nice thing in their brains to other people is fine? Like? A little more kindness and connection isn’t hurting anyone?
There was a post on r/askanamerican just the other day, by a guy living in Eastern Europe who has a fun backpack (it looks like a reeses cup package with a bite taken out of it!) and said he constantly got compliments on it from American tourists
And he was like…are all of you like that? You say nice things to total strangers as if you’re life-long friends??
And the entire comment section was like: Yup. Absolutely. This is 100% a thing we do.
And someone looked up a picture of the backpack and shared it and we were all like OMG THAT IS AN AMAZING BACKPACK yeah if I saw someone in any city on earth wearing that thing I would in fact say something.
Sometimes posts on that subreddit are a trash fire, but we were all so happy to talk about times we’ve told strangers compliments or been complimented by strangers.
And genuinely, it’s one of the few things that makes me proud to be American. Like. We have a reputation for telling total strangers when we like something they’re wearing/doing. And we mean it, every single time!
Look, I get it. I’m a Dem living in a red state, and have been for years. I used to think my vote didn’t matter so I shouldn’t bother. But if enough Dems come together in red states, we have the potential to flip close House districts, and that matters.
The margins in red states are getting smaller. Georgia used to be a red state. Now it’s a swing state. Same with NC. The margins in Texas are way smaller than they used to be. Change is slow but it can happen. We just have to work together and VOTE.
My friends and I used to do this thing where we’d dress up on a theme and go do something totally normal.
We dressed up as pirates and went bowling.
We dressed as vikings and went to the grocery store. The security guard told us we had to move our longship because it was illegally parked.
We dressed as Romans and went to Blockbuster. The staff chanted, “toga! Toga! Toga!” at us.
We dressed up all steampunk and went to the museum. Tourists kept taking our picture.
I used to do historical reenactment when I was at University. I would go to class before session as a Norman knight, and when the session was over me and some of my buddies I did it with would get the bus home in the same kit. Stop at the Tesco’s in full armour for beer and supper and ice cream, then get together at Irish’s place for a LAN party.
It’s enrichment for all involved.
I remember being told I was 900 years late for the battle, and asking the bus driver where the horses were.
I genuinely think the world would be a much better place if more people felt comfortable dressing a bit silly out in public.
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