one hamburger

have you ever tried to explain to an american why they don't understand the world? americans who leave the US find their vision of the world, and the place that america holds within it, is very different from those of the people they meet. growing up in the US you are taught that the world is a dangerous place; but that with truth, justice and the american way things will improve. after being outside the US, you realize that you don't even know what the american way is. that's the issue, american's are are not good at seeing there is another way to do anything.

i have been living outside the US for almost 5 years now. when i decided to leave, the seasons were changing at the same time i needed to move to the other side of the world. i was moving to a place where the change in season is more subdued than the summer to winter change of my home. the subtle nature of the seasons is something strange to an american (outside of southern california). americans don't do subtle, we expect things being hard, fast and direct. it takes experiencing another place and culture to realize there are more than one way to do things.

in malaysia there is one political party that has ruled the country for 50 years. this one party is actually made up of three political parties separated largely by language. in the US there are two political parties, with an occasional alternative party thrown in once a decade or so. in the US the parties are not broken down by ethnicity, language, region or even political belief, 40% of the electorate is considered independent and moves between these parties with the ease of trying on a new t-shirt.

malaysia has begun to change, there is almost a second party, and there are almost open elections. but there remains 3 major ethnic groups that make up distinct voting blocks. the US has only one electorate. the people do not see themselves as 3, 4 or 37 groups, because americans do not embrace the subtle differences. they are a single people not matter where their grandparents lived and what color their skin is. at home they speak what ever language they choose, but in public 96% of them speak english "well" or "very well". there is no official language at the federal level in the US, but the country still finds a way to educate and communicate among it's people. in the rest of the world there are "official languages", and ethnically separated schools that hobble a student from ever learning it well enough to participate in government.

so there is the core difference, amercians have one language. it is properly called american, but they call it english while they refuse to pronounce or spell it as taught in england. this one language means they can understand and disagree with each other with clarity. because of that there is little confusion, you then do not have the ability to say that what you said is not what you said. we can leave clinton and his "what is is" comments aside, we all know bill was officially european the day he stated classes in oxford. this lack of wiggle room from translation, or can we say directness, is the heart of the american mind-set.

i was trying to explain this to someone who lives in the US, but grew up in eastern europe. the thing i pointed out was that americans have only one set of plugs. there are plugs with an added point for grounding, but they all have the standard, orderly, two flat points. amercians would be shocked to go to the mall, buy a gadget, take it home and not be able to plug it into the wall. this is the issue with americans, no need for adaptors. again they expect no translation. living in the US is easy, you just open the box and plug in.

this ease is throughout the entire culture, americans have an entirely native meal, aptly named the happy meal. sure there are other burgers, but McD's is the clear winner when it comes to consumption. natives will remind you that hamburgers are the canonical american meal. that is clearly the case; it is a sandwich (named for the english city) made of beef and named after hamburg (the german city where it was created). by the way, americans eat their burgers with fries (not chips, that word is used for what you know as crisps), or pommes frite as they are called in belgium where the dish was created; not france as americans will tell you. so the classic american meal is mix of european dishes topped with ketchup a chinese sauce that went to UK from malaysia. (seriously look it up)

if you try to explain any of this to an american, or the fact that scampi is the italian word for shrimp so they are ordering "shrimp shrimp" for dinner, that jelly donuts are not american but german, and that ordering a diet coke with the super-sized meal under the golden arches while wearing running shoes you never use to run, are all things that the rest of the world makes fun of them for, the american will act as though you are not speaking american. they will seem confused and remind you that this is america and you should find a way to fit in. you need to adapt and become an american. go to school, learn the language and plug into the culture. they will be direct and assure you it's the american way and that doing it that way is best for you.

american's don't understand because they are always right. it's hard being always right, but if you practice and learn to speak their language, anyone can do it. you might find it hard without the ability to pretend you don't understand, but you get used to it. you also get used to taking the best from all over the world and believing that if it's good it must have come from the US. we may not know the correct name, or origin, of anything but we know its ours and that we made it the best by making it american.

we are not subtle, but at least we don't need to translate that.