... I am allways interested in learning what Austrians are supposed to be

From a personal perspective I would have paid for both, but I was not dating too often in the last time...
I guess that you can not make an error by paying for both, unless your date persists on paying herself (which could be possible of course).

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"In democracy its your vote that counts, in feudalism its your count that votes."

This site is supposed to fight anti-americanism and raise understanding between nations. But what it does is, in all innocence, spread the worse superficial misconceptions in a childish and a bit superior way : the rest of the world as a big zoo with strange animals with strange ways ...

You see, in a way, I can handle a Dr Coltonbrown (got banned). He is just ignorant and vulgar and you can really feel sorry for him. He is not "American", he is "Ignorant", there are plenty of those all over the place.

But such a site seems to have been made by intelligent and well intentioned people. This is why when browsing it my feeling is one of utter hopelessness. How can you expect to raise understanding between nations when the main characteristic of the Austrians is that "Unless it's a special occasion, men and women split the costs of their dates evenly." ? I will close my eyes on the errors (Australia the largest film industry in the world ???), but I cannot accept that differences between cultures be reduced to such superficial stuff on how you date, kiss, get the dog out, go to the sauna - or the outcome of arpatheid done away with as a "great differences of incomes" ...

Shallowness is what riles me up.

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Dating could be the subject of an entire thread. The Americans "date", as far as I am concerned I "went out" with guys I was interested in many ways, also just go to the movie, or they were interested in me. And I only let myself invited (for dinner) if I was not interested (after all : he proposed, he should pay). Otherwise, I would propose to split the bill. But this is personal. And I am French, not Austrian

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Well, lets better change the subject

If you want to say something definite about Austrians (and especially Viennese):

When standing on a moving stairways, STAY ON THE RIGHT!
No matter if you are Austrian or not, no matter how the special situation is like.

Thats perhaps the most essential rule to get along fine in Austria...

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"In democracy its your vote that counts, in feudalism its your count that votes."

Sucre I think you missed the whole point of the site. Before you get to the nation by nation information did you see how many different references they provided information on and websites for? As you said these people are more educated than perhaps the norm and the site is specifically designed for other students which implies an equal or sometimes greater level of sophistication and knowledge. What tye did was take small cultural tidbits you do not find anywhere for most of these nations and present them. I doubt seriously in the reehms of reference material they suggested would you find anywhere that Austrians like to split the cost on dates, or that the Finns like saunas. None of this was intended as a put down nor was it intended as the definative information database on these countries.

I really think you are looking for issues here where none exist. I am willing to bet you if you were to ask the people that put this out they could tell you a lot about the nations they have listed, they would almost have to in order to find this stuff out. THey were not trying to put out another Frommes or some other Europe on $100 a day type book. Frankly this does seem to be a bit presumptuous on your part. Then again if you are looking for something to complain about with respect to Americans I guess you can pretty much look at anything through that prism and find what you are looking for. Have a nice day.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

And I think you miss my point, most probably like the people who made this site : good intentions but misses its target.
I did not find this site on my own, it was pointed out on another forum as an example of imbecility. The tits bits are stupid, some are wrong ... It disqualifies the site, which ever good intentions it has ... So the issue exists, whether you like it or not, and rather than dismiss this as irrelevant, I think it is better to try to understand why some may feel this way ...

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn

See now maybe under France's heading it should write:

"France: Careful, they are offended easiest and if you say something about their dating methods they will snap, followed quickly by a surrender"

I know it was Austria's dating but if something like this site causes anti-americanism than you all need some prozac. I mean really now, the only nation in the world that is not allowed to be offended anymore is the US, but all the other countries freak over the most trival junk. How do you know the creators never asked someone from that country about it for a blurb. I was in South Korea for a year and when I first got there I asked a student, with a substantial knowledge of English, to explain to me briefly their country and they said "Korea loves Kimchi, we don't like Japan".

If an american repeats that should there be anti-american demonstrations. Hell half of those are stating the obvious.

This is a good thread though, it is showing full how ridiculous the reasons for being anti-american are.

OK. To start with, whatever you may think of the stupidity of my argument or of my dating style, I don't think you should make it personal. I am not attacking anybody here. The title of the thread is "anti-americanism", I am a foreigner, therefore in the best position to give a few examples. Or aren't you interested in foreign opinions ?

Secondly, as said, I found these two links on another forum and people were making fun of the sites (there are two links). You may find it odd but it is a fact. You are right : anti-americanism is based on a great deal of pre-conceptions and susceptibilities, like any kind of misconceptions on another culture (in fact : your own). Feelings are just feelings and not always grounded on facts. However, what you are missing to see is how much superficiality hurts if it comes from a country which thinks it knows better than anybody and sends its armies around the word. I do believe that this perception of American superficiality when it comes to other countries feeds anti-Americanism.

Gort is right, there are a lot of probably good links on the site, but if you check the site itself, you come across the "tit bits" and unfortunately they are shallow and not even funny.

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______________________Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.”___________________Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I hear you, my tactics suck, but this knee jerk reaction is nuts. All the anti-american slander on here is tolerated by foreigners until someone says something about them. I am not American as you may have noticed, I am a French-Canadian, so I have roots from France and I am insulting my own heritage. But I know that the country I would say rivals the US for thinking they know everything is France. Canada would be a close second, soon to be competing for the top place. If we are all not above seeing past these little things, in the Western nations, getting offended over the little things, then I'll fuel that fire until someone sees how dumb it is.

I wasn't commenting on your dating style, just using the Austrian one as an example of something petty. You are being offended by something just as petty, you call them shallow, but I was trying to show you how ridiculous getting offended over that was. I didn't do a good job of it, I agree, and was not taking a personal shot at you. Although nothing I said is any worse than calling Americans superficial. But next time I will be more careful

That is not just for Austrians and holds true in any major city with a metro system.

About dating, you might wanna read this before you go to Germany next time! http://www.spiegel.de/international/...419712,00.html

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It all comes down to this on election day: Are you a racist, or do you look down on spastics?

I do not think they were intended to be funny. I think they were intended to present some tid bits of information not available anywhere else. Frankly Sucre I do think you and those making fun of it on other forums are simply being overly sensitive or just looking for something to bolster their preconcieved notions.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

Well, for sure, it is. But in Vienna there is real discipline in it. People here can get very rude if there are others who dont comply and block the left side.

Thats quite a difference to other towns. And if you dont believe me, just try it yourself when you are in Vienna.

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"In democracy its your vote that counts, in feudalism its your count that votes."

I've been to Vienna and it is pretty much the same here in the D.C. area. In fact there were a few times when I asked somebody to move over in Vienna because I was trying to catch a train in a hurry.

What I did notice, however, is that bike riders get very irate when anybody is in the designated bike lanes on the sidewalks.