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This thread reminds me of the an internet meme I saw recently. It had a Danish (from Denmark) teacher talk about how in Denmark you can live and raise a familly on a teacher salary and still have a house and car and how that was the real american dream that no longer exists in the US. I was looking at it thinking "yeah but you still have to live in Denmark though". No thanks.
I have been in packed cities, and rural towns/villages. I have seen coastal and mountains. The people are not all the same even within cities, much less the entire continent.
I don't see anything about their lifestyle that I envy, I never have. Europeans is just different. Being different doesn't always make something better..
I really don't understand this thread. For starters the US is a country, and you are trying to compare it to an entire continent. ??
Also I really don't understand what you mean by 'european lifestyle'. I've been to many countries in Europe, and lived in one for three years.
There is such a difference in not only the different countries I went to, but also within the countries themselves. I have been in packed cities, and rural towns/villages. I have seen coastal and mountains. The people are not all the same even within cities, much less the entire continent.
So which european lifestyle are you talking about? You need to really break it down a lot further than that.
I saw a thread like this about the American lifestyle. Same goes for that. There is no American lifestyle because everywhere is so different. The people are so different.
Both have hundreds of millions of people, different languages, different weather, different geography, different customs, etc....
I just don't see how that question could ever be answered.
Simple.
The European lifestyle is walking to the boulangerie for freshly baked bread. It's taking your time to enjoy the finer things in life. It's discussing the writings of Sartre and Molière over a glass of wine at a neighborhood cafe. It's traveling across metro areas on trams and in high speed trains. It's being able to pursue your heart's desire without worrying about health insurance (or a lack thereof). It's savoring the beauty of this thing called life.
The American lifestyle is driving your gas guzzling SUV to Walmart. And it's working 45 hours per week to afford the monster mortgage on a McMansion. Furthermore, you have to stay at the 45 hour per week job just to keep health benefits.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 07-01-2014 at 07:48 AM..
To say immigrants are European rejects is a ridiculous statement and it actually shows ignorance. Perhaps a little education on the subject would help.
It's true. 99% of the Europeans who came here were poor and low status in their home countries. The nobles and the gentry stayed in Europe. That's why America has such an inferiority complex when it comes to Europe. We look at their history, culture, their castles, etc. and pine for it all. American aristocrats used to imitate British accents.
And of course, Jacqueline Kennedy was widely admired for her elegance, partly owing to the fact she spoke fluent French and actually had direct lineage to French aristocracy. Had she had direct lineage to Scots-Irish Alabamans, it's unlikely she would have been so admired.
It's true. 99% of the Europeans who came here were poor and low status in their home countries. The nobles and the gentry stayed in Europe. That's why America has such an inferiority complex when it comes to Europe. We look at their history, culture, their castles, etc. and pine for it all. American aristocrats used to imitate British accents.
Few were high status, but I think many middle-class types did immigrant. As for those who admire Europe, 100-150 the differences between Europe and the US weren't the same. At least you wouldn't get liberals admiring their social welfare state.
Quote:
And of course, Jacqueline Kennedy was widely admired for her elegance, partly owing to the fact she spoke fluent French and actually had direct lineage to French aristocracy. Had she had direct lineage to Scots-Irish Alabamans, it's unlikely she would have been so admired.
Did most people know Jacqueline Kennedy had French ancestry?
The European lifestyle is walking to the boulangerie for freshly baked bread. It's taking your time to enjoy the finer things in life. It's discussing the writings of Sartre and Molière over a glass of wine at a neighborhood cafe. It's traveling across metro areas on trams and in high speed trains. It's being able to pursue your heart's desire without worrying about health insurance (or a lack thereof). It's savoring the beauty of this thing called life.
The American lifestyle is driving your gas guzzling SUV to Walmart. And it's working 45 hours per week to afford the monster mortgage on a McMansion. Furthermore, you have to stay at the 45 hour per week job just to keep health benefits.
Best post yet, and this from an American who spent 15 years in Europe. Lots of wonderful things about the US, but there really is no comparison between the two when it comes to lifestyle. These type threads always take me back too, in my opinion, the key difference between the two.
Americans, for the most part, live to work, whereas, our European counterparts work to live.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 07-01-2014 at 10:40 AM..
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