The American Stereotype: Tourists

To further what Mark mentioned in the previous blog, I think it's time we address some stereotypes commonly associated with Americans and speculate whether or not they are deserved. These stereotypes can be easily split into two categories: stereotypes of Americans in the US, and stereotypes of American tourists in the UK. To keep this blog within manageable length, I'm going to split these into separate blogs. First, my personal favorite: American tourists.

All of you who have been to London or watched enough movies taking place in London, are probably aware of the steady stream of announcements and warnings and general updates on life that come with riding on the underground system. Many of these have been previously recorded by one particular voice-over lady. While these recordings are still played incessantly, the voice-over lady has been fired. Amongst other discretions, she had made some mock underground voice overs and posted them on her internet site. One of them was something along the lines of: "To our American friends, yes, we can hear you. Could you please keep your voices down". And so there you have stereotype #1: American tourists are annoyingly loud.

Is this deserved? Not really. See, whilst it may seem American tourists talk loudly on the tube, they have good reason. Unlike many of the local tube users going to and from work, most often by themselves and therefore with no one to talk to, and who are most likely bitter about that the fact that they are constantly commuting on over-crowded trains and therefore have no cheery inputs, American tourists are often traveling in sizable groups and are happy and chatty because they're on vacation. Enough said. The only reason Americans get the bad wrap in this, as opposed to Spaniards or Italians and such, is that as they are speaking in English, the ear is naturally going to pay more attention to speech that it can comprehend, making the English stand out above other languages. It may be obvious that I've put a lot of thought into this, but I think it makes sense!

Furthermore, given the distance required to travel to London from the US, as opposed to say, from France, Americans often visit in larger groups. Again, perfectly understandable! Personally I think it's kind of cute seeing groups of retired people pottering around trying to figure out what train to take and pronouncing place names phonetically (but there's no excuse for you lot, I've given ample instructions on these topics for you to blend right in!). I assure you that all tourists get lost, but those without the best English are likely just less willing to ask for directions. And while Americans may travel in groups, they generally do so without guides. Don't get me started on those Japanese tour groups and their guide-following tunnel vision!

In general, perhaps American tourists tend to be noticeable because they didn't get the memo that the goal of English-kind is to blend in public and generally avoid being singled out in any way. Unless you know, you're wearing a funky outfit or really, really attractive. Americans, on the other hand, are happy people who don't think it offense to talk on trains or otherwise appear to be having fun while sober, and they generally don't see the harm in asking for directions, as in the reverse situation they would generally be more than happy to help a distressed lost visitor to their own town (and would probably invite them over for dinner as well).