Humor about cultural differences

I know what you mean. I come from Singapore and everyone remembers this place for the caning sentence! And that chewing gum is banned too.

Seattle. The Space Needle. Micro$oft. Jet City. Former home of Boeing. The Emerald City. Mount Saint Helens. Pike Place Market. Always rains. Rainier beer. Mount Rainier. Seafair. Grunge music. The LED Museum. Puget Sound. The 1995 Seattle Mariners. Double strong double sweet no foam extra slim latte grande.

Back in High School I went to Washington D.C. for the Close Up program. My roomates from California actually asked if I went to school in a boat.

That's what I get for living in the south.

I'm in the Detroit area.

We've got automotive companies, the loser Lions, and a "great" crime rate.

As for anything else, um..., er..., I'm thinking..., gimme a minute...

Well, here in Tokyo it is probably everything people think it is. Crowded trains, expensive food, concrete jungle.
No geishas though (at least, not what most people think they are..). Wierd fashions, insane drivers, vending machines everywhere you look..

But I'm Australian, and I don't have a pet kangaroo. I had to leave him home when I moved to Japan . I don't wrestle crocodiles, eat kangaroo meat, or hunt with a boomerang. I do say 'she'll be right' and 'no worries, mate' (although, if you've ever considered the actual meaning of mate, you'd wonder why it ever got used that way...)

On a side note, I lived in Singapore for 2 years, and chewed lots of gum, but never saw a caning..

Graham

New Jersey lovely Jersey home of the toxic waste dump, toll booths, we had five Governors in two weeks (this is true), just happened this January. Jimmy Hoffa is buried in the Meadowlands. The Jersey Devil. Princeton Tec lights. Thomas Edison's laboratories are in NJ. And last but not least the book Jaws was actually written about a bunch of shark attacks that happened in Matawan around 1910-1919 time frame.

Since this is the off-topic section, just a question ...
Just how do people "see" other cultures/nations in a humorous way?

Let me give you an example.
I think that a lot of people think first of when thinking about Holland is ...Wooden shoes, tulips, windmills, Amsterdam, Walletjes (red-light district), coffeeshop, etc. It is also common knowledge that every American comes with a ten gallon hat and build-in fastfood/healthfood applieances..., every Australian with his pet kangaroo and/or wallabee...,etc. At least, to ME it is...

well, you get the picture I hope...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Graham:
On a side note, I lived in Singapore for 2 years, and chewed lots of gum, but never saw a caning..
Graham<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They'll tolerate *ahem* personal consumption, but you won't find gum on sale anywhere in Singapore. No caning? But of course, you weren't being naughty

No, they don't cane ya for chewing gum.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>as posted by Graham:
But I'm Australian, and I don't have a pet kangaroo. I had to leave him home when I moved to Japan <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hope you didn't forget your didgeridoo, just to keep those aussie roots alive...



ps, helpful tip for non-aussies:
How to speak Australian Slang

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hotfoot:
They'll tolerate *ahem* personal consumption, but you won't find gum on sale anywhere in Singapore.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, that's the funny part. Everyone buys their gum on weekend shopping trips in Johor..

Graham

Alaska: "Do you live in an Igloo?" "You're not an Eskimo?" "You're an Indian? What are you doing off the reservation?"

Southeast Alaska facts: The rain festival runs from January 1 through December 31. The state bird is the mosquito. Penquins live in the antarctic. The founder of The LED Museum and the founder of CPF both grew up in Juneau.

I'm a Floridian now. That means I don't know how to vote and I'm still swatting mosquitos.

Yep tell me about the mosquitos! Funny though last year I swear I never saw any, winter won't go away, I still have over a foot of snow on my property and when it does get over 40 it will soon melt, I think this year we will have major flooding here. Weird winter we had, it was all out of time.

Texas:

(This one is too easy!)

-We all wear jeans and cowboy hats
-have oil wells in our front yard
-speak with a heavy southern accent
-are millionairs
-Every woman is a shapely blond, big busted "to die for cute" woman with a heart of gold
-Every man is 6 foot 6 and knows how to rope a calf
-We all know how to ride a horse
-All we listen to is country and western radio
-we all watch hee-haw
-we've memorized every episode of Dallas
-we always wear cowboy boots
-we go to the rodeo as often as other people go to the movies.
-John Wayne's birthday is a state holiday
-We hate all people from Oklohoma

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hotfoot:

No, they don't cane ya for chewing gum.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

But I bet they'll strap you to that thing and start whacking if that gum ends up on the sidewalk or under a movie seat!!!

BuddTX,
Except for the thing about "Dallas", what part on your list doesn't fit??? TX

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Graham:
But I'm Australian, and I don't have a pet kangaroo.
Graham<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Hope you remebered to pack plenty of Vegemite to use as
thermal transfer compound for heat-sinking overdriven LEDs

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Footlight:
Hope you remebered to pack plenty of Vegemite to use as
thermal transfer compound for heat-sinking overdriven LEDs

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Vegemite?? Eewwww... can't stand the stuff. One of the few things about my home country that embarasses me.


Graham

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by txwest:
BuddTX,
Except for the thing about "Dallas", what part on your list doesn't fit???

TX<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Let's see, I'm 6 foot 8, and Hee Haw is too PBS "High Brow" for me!

BuddTX I am from NJ and we have a lot of hot dog places that advertise as Texas Style Wieners. Are hot dogs that popular in Texas? And what is wrong with country western I tell everybody that rides in my car "If it don't have a twang it ain't got that thang."

CHICAGO . . You can't buy a Big Mac unless you "know someone".

The term "the windy city" wasn't aimed at the local weather, it was because of the politicians...really.

Every place has a bit of "it's not WHAT you know - it's WHO you know", but CHI-TOWN has it BAD!

Walt