US: "appreciate it". You don't, right?

[Peter Harris]

[ QUOTE ]
I've had this discussion before. There's a guy who sells the Sunday paper at the corner. He's always waving to people telling them he hopes they have a nice day etc. My friend was like "that guy is fos. What do you think?"

I think if the guy looks like he means it and acts like he means it then what does it matter?

Perception is reality.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was asked once in the pub if i meant it when i said goodbye to people and was taken aback by thinking people thought i was ungenuine. Guess this thread is an extension of the principle!

I think it's the fact that i received a couple of half-hearted thanks. I agree with perception colouring things, maybe people in Houston are happy with the words coming out rather than the way they were presented...

[Peter Harris]

[ QUOTE ]
I refuse to use "how is it going" unless I actually care, which I really don't. Often times when people say that to me, I respond with "hi" or "yes" and nobody notices.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, that's fun. My dad always answers funnily when he suspects people of not being attentive, and it sure winds me up.

What do you do with these people?

[AngusThermopyle]

"No problem"

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
Can't believe people are complaining when people are being nice.

You'd rather people just give you blank stare and punch you in the face?

[/ QUOTE ]

what's more, i cant believe a brit is complaining about americans being too polite.

[Peter Harris]

lol it's false politeness that's the beef.

and "no problem" is fine because things rarely are, and if they were, you'd be daft to say "no problem".

[man]

this pisses me off to no end. there is no reason to express kindness to anyone before cultivating a meaningful, personal relationship, which shows our genuine wishes of well-being to each other. I absolutely agree. completely.

[Peter Harris]

and are you american, or european?

[New001]

I guess I'm from Houston now, but I said this before I came here I think. I say it when I appreciate what someone's done for me. Go figure.

[bwana devil]

peter, maybe because this topic is on my mind i said it or maybe i said it and i was aware of it because i read the thread but someone just came into my office and emptied my trash.

i thanked him when he picked up the trash can and when he replaced it, i said "appreciate it" which think i dont normally say. i chuckled to myself. id always say "thank you" or acknowledge his help but the "appreciate it" was new.

if the people in texas made you cringe (im a few hours from houston) with their too quickly stated thank yous, spend some time walking the streets of new york city or boston and youll feel socially raped coming from england.

[PokerFox]

It's part of the whole American culture (yes, I am American and live in Texas).

It's just like how we smile constantly, smile to strangers, smile on TV, smile, smile, smile. It's the same concept. Philosophers like Baudrillard (French) touch upon it often and as a pretty distinctive feature of America. The smile loses all meaning because we do it all the time. It's the same with small praise, etc. It's been overused to the point where it has lost all meaning.

Check out Baudrillard's book, America for a crazy mind trip. He's a French sociologist who traveled across America and wrote about what he saw. Fascinating stuff.