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It also helps that during the decades after the war, the political and cultural leaders, plus the people all made a conscious effort to heal the rift which caused the war. This desire to heal the rift had some unfortunate consequences, such as northern acquiescence to Jim Crow, but overall it helped to rebuild a solidly united country.
I'm surprised by the difference in architecture when I cross the border from Quebec into New England. The style of houses changes immediately as you cross the border. I'm always surprised by how strong regional American accents are. I'm used to seeing General American accent spoken on TV which happens to be very close to my own regional Anglo-Quebecker accent, so I forget that most Americans generally have a very different accent from mine in the real world. I get surprised by toll roads and gated communities, both of which are quite foreign to me. We only recently got our first toll bridge in my city and gated communities don't exist, most people haven't even heard of them, I only found out because my very middle class uncle lives in one in Orlando.
The variation in accents comes from the various immigrant cultures populating America. I think it isn't as widespread in Canada except for Quebec because most Canadians until recently descended from English or Scots Irish. Of course now Canada is far more diverse, but the accent became uniform due to 200 years of migration from similar locales.
The general American accent is preferred on television because it is easy to understand. News stations and radio stations used to prefer Midwestern Americans (usually from the Great Plains or Northern Midwest) as reporters and news anchors because of that accent.
I was just in China with my wife visiting her relatives this last week- and one of them who just came back from a visit to the US said he was actually surprised by how crappy some things looked. Such as the New York subway system- it looks so dirty, so run down- so opposite of the rich, fancy impression they have of the US- and so opposite to the clean, ultra modern subways they have in the big Chinese cities.
I'm surprised by the difference in architecture when I cross the border from Quebec into New England. The style of houses changes immediately as you cross the border. I'm always surprised by how strong regional American accents are. I'm used to seeing General American accent spoken on TV which happens to be very close to my own regional Anglo-Quebecker accent, so I forget that most Americans generally have a very different accent from mine in the real world. I get surprised by toll roads and gated communities, both of which are quite foreign to me. We only recently got our first toll bridge in my city and gated communities don't exist, most people haven't even heard of them, I only found out because my very middle class uncle lives in one in Orlando.
There is also a definite difference in regional architecture within the US, especially in terms of residential housing, for example if you compare New England with the stucco-colored ranch houses in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. I would assume the Quebec buildings are more French? Is English Canada's architecture similar to the northern and midwestern US? I don't know why there are no gated communities in Canada.
Toll roads are a very East Coast thing, btw, you do not see many in places in the South, and when you see them, the tolls are much more reasonable than in New Jersey or Delaware, or here in Maryland where our liberal governor is doubling all tolls.
I was just in China with my wife visiting her relatives this last week- and one of them who just came back from a visit to the US said he was actually surprised by how crappy some things looked. Such as the New York subway system- it looks so dirty, so run down- so opposite of the rich, fancy impression they have of the US- and so opposite to the clean, ultra modern subways they have in the big Chinese cities.
New York is famous but its by no means the most modern city in the US. Places like Houston, Dallas, Miami, Charlotte, and Atlanta are MUCH more modern, also Los Angeles has a nice modern subway system.
There is also a definite difference in regional architecture within the US, especially in terms of residential housing, for example if you compare New England with the stucco-colored ranch houses in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. I would assume the Quebec buildings are more French? Is English Canada's architecture similar to the northern and midwestern US? I don't know why there are no gated communities in Canada.
Toll roads are a very East Coast thing, btw, you do not see many in places in the South, and when you see them, the tolls are much more reasonable than in New Jersey or Delaware, or here in Maryland where our liberal governor is doubling all tolls.
That may be the case with government funded toll roads, but privatized toll roads are ideal for conservatives since they are not funded by tax dollars. I'm not sure if there are any privatized toll roads in the U.S., since they are all part of the federal interstate system, but in Japan a private company called NEXCO owns the toll roads. That company might be subsidized though. A few years ago, the prime minister wanted to remove the tolls, but many people were against it since they would be paying taxes for something they don't use (because many people in Japan commute via rail or drive on the regular roads).
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Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70
New York is famous but its by no means the most modern city in the US. Places like Houston, Dallas, Miami, Charlotte, and Atlanta are MUCH more modern, also Los Angeles has a nice modern subway system.
NYC and other NE cities are older so much of their architecture is "classic" (ex: Empire State and Chrystler Building), while Southern and West Coast cities are newer and most of their buildings were constructed in the last few decates. Although the new skyscrapers in NYC including the Freedom Tower will give the city a more modern look, and blend with the aforementioned classic structures.
People from many parts of Asia are surprised that almost no one has a maid or a cook like most succesful families have in their country. They are also surprised that we have to work so much with so few holidays to make a living. Their perception was that we Americans are "rich".
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