Jeez...she'd fall over dead in my office. Which is not a good thing. I've never come across so many people in one place who don't understand the concept of proper english. Don't get me wrong...I'm all about the shorthand and slang and casual speak and I'm certainly no grammatical role model when it comes to message board posting, but it absolutely kills me to be sitting in a meeting and have a woman who makes twice as much money as I do feel that "they ain't got nothin to do with it" is an appropriate way to speak to people who want to do business with our company. And that's just one example. The day she utters anything outside of her borderline illiterate redneck wheelhouse, I'll eat my chair I'm sitting in. Another pet peeve: saying "they" when you actually mean "they are" or "they're", i.e. "see if they still up there". Ugh. One thing I find interesting about the idea that Americans overseas would claim Canadian citizenship (which I'm not knocking, given all the times I've joked about the same thing) is that we do it right here as well. All the Stephens in the world backpedalling away from the American stereotype of stupid wouldn't change how we treat each other. New Englanders hate the South, the South hates the North, middle America hates the East coast and so on and so on and so on. Obviously that's really only true of a very small percentage of people in each of those spots, but it's the same basic idea. Southerners are stupid, New Englanders are arrogant, Californians are entitled, etc., etc. And *nobody* wants to be a tourist no matter how much they pretend otherwise. We want to blend. It's a strange place we live. I love it, but it's more puzzling than not.

I hear you all. I'm not sure about the US, but in Europe the Israelis have a horrible (and on occasion well-deserved) tourist rep, as if this country doesn't have enough image trouble :roll: . I think Stephen enjoyed himself here though, I haven't read to the contrary anyway. I can assure you at least I was polite when I asked him nicely for a hug :wub:

Hey, the best way to get a hug is to ask for it politely. {g}

I think Stephen enjoyed himself here though, I haven't read to the contrary anyway. I can assure you at least I was polite when I asked him nicely for a hug. Jouse, you asked him for a hug!? :shock: Did you get one? Was it wonderful? What's the height difference? Did you already share details and did I completely miss it? :oops:

I wonder if Hugh, now having spent so much time here, is either setting him straight or confirming those false impressions? At any rate, hopefully Stephen's experiences over the course of his 50-state tour will prove enlightening. I'm not trying to be contrary, or imply that Stephen needs me to defend him in any way, but ... I honestly don't understand why people are attributing negative attitudes about America to Stephen, and hoping that his mind will be changed. The way I read his quotes (as well as his comments in the televised interview with Mark Lawson), he clearly said Americans are NOT like the stereotype that some people have of them/us. I think he was just commenting that other countries might have this prejudice against Americans, and as an Englishman, he might be assumed to share that prejudice, but he's eager to show that he does not. I also recall Hugh saying (on Craig Ferguson's show) that "Europeans have a sort of lazy prejudice that Americans expect things to fall into their lap" and he went on to say that he finds Americans to be incredibly hard-working, generous, funny, etc. ... So I don't see how Stephen's comments are any different. Both are saying that they approach America as outsiders, and that they find the reality to be quite different from the stereotype. They're praising Americans. There are 280 million of us at this point, which makes it virtually impossible to construct a monolithic portrait of America other than to say it's highly varied. Which I think is exactly what Stephen is trying to say (such as when he said "an Oregonian is very different from a New Yorker" or something to that effect), and I think he'll make this even more clear in his documentary.

I'm not trying to be contrary, or imply that Stephen needs me to defend him in any way, but ... I honestly don't understand why people are attributing negative attitudes about America to Stephen, and hoping that his mind will be changed. The way I read his quotes (as well as his comments in the televised interview with Mark Lawson), he clearly said Americans are NOT like the stereotype that some people have of them/us. I think he was just commenting that other countries might have this prejudice against Americans, and as an Englishman, he might be assumed to share that prejudice, but he's eager to show that he does not. Sugarplum, I read it the way that you did. he was commenting on what Europeans think.

Ok, this is very loosely related to Hugh, but I just saw Joely Richardson on theskinnywebsite.com Holy shit! For you who don't know, he starred with her in Maybe Baby. I've seen her on nip/tuck but I don't recall her looking like this! Dayum, what the hell happened?? :shock: :shock:

I guess I didn't express myself very clearly, because I don't think that Stephen thinks we Americans are idiots. He's said as much many times, but he's done it in such a way as to pay us backhanded compliments like the one I related from the woman in Italy. That sort of "Wow, you're not at all like your bad press would have us believe" comment gets really annoying, because it implies that it would even be possible for an entire nation to be stupid (or any other quality you might like to name, good or bad). To follow on from something other posters mentioned, I never, EVER pretend to be Canadian rather than American when traveling. Why let the Canadians get all the credit for civility? Or rational political beliefs? Or multilingualism? Or anything that isn't, frankly, idiotic?

jj, I see what you're saying. Like, why should it even be a surprise, or necessary, to say that Americans are not all idiots? But I just assume that Stephen's saying it to make a point, and referring to the popular perception of Americans, not saying HE literally thought Americans were stupid until just recently, or whatever. That reminds me of another thing Hugh said in an interview once. It was on the Desert Island Discs show from 1996 or 1997. They were talking about whether Americans liked Jeeves & Wooster or not, and Hugh was saying that the kind of dialogue Americans are used to is simple sentences like "Get in the car." He said the long complicated sentences of Wodehouse are too foreign to Americans, and that they "literally don't hear it" or "literally don't understand it." The host mentioned a British program that was popular with Americans and Hugh said "yeah, well that has people kissing a lot and saying I love you, etc." as if that was what made it palatable to Americans. On one hand, I get what he's saying and it's fairly true, when you look at our culture as a whole and the type of things that are usually popular. Big action movies with things blowing up, romantic comedies that rely mostly on cliches, etc. But at the same time, I feel like "wait a minute ... some of us can certainly understand it and would much rather watch J&W than the majority of American shows!"

Im not 100% but I thought I heard that Stephen is doing a documentary this fall about the US and going to every single state. If he hated it here, he prob. wouldn't do that. Perhaps he wants to show the world or BBC1 viewers that the US isn't as bad as everyone thinks and also showing how massive it is. (how can you stereotype 300 million people?!?!) I'm looking forward to it!

"when you look at our culture as a whole and the type of things that are usually popular. Big action movies with things blowing up, romantic comedies that rely mostly on cliches, etc. " Note that those are some of our most lucrative exports, cultural or otherwise. Apparently we're not alone in liking to watch stuff blow up! It's interesting to observe, in light of that, that the Hong Kong film industry is noted for producing films that are possibly even more violently simplistic, yet no one follows on from that to assume that the residents of Hong Kong are simple-minded and/or inclined to participate in shootouts. Or do they?

But more to the point--how do I get a cushy column writing job where talent and ability are apparently not requirements? I mean, this guy is just an awful writer. I'm pretty sure I can crap something out on a weekly basis that's every bit as mediocre but my excuse would be that its because I'm doing it: a.) In my sleep b.) with one lobe tied behind my back or c.) I gave it to the dog to write that week. Clearly, you are a better writer than this guy in your sleep, with one lobe tied behind your back and your dog would probably rock.

I'm not sure what that guy is trying to say. It kinda sounds like he doesn't recognize that Hugh is in fact singing throughout the track.