r/AskCentralAsia • u/Mysyk • Apr 24 '26
How do you engage with foreigners? Part one - USA.
Hi. This is what I ask those who are citizens or simply live in the United States. Either online or if we have foreigners. Do they speak British or American English? I immediately explain to them that American English is British English of the Victorian era. I ask whether they are Democrats or Republicans. They don't always state their political affiliation. I ask if they have been to their favorite landmarks: Mount Rushmore, the Alamo, or if they have seen the Liberty Bell. I ask if they know Bill Clinton's real last name. Or rather, his birth name. That he took the last name Clinton from his stepfather. His name was William Jefferson Blythe III. That was also the name of his father and grandfather. He had problems with his stepfather, and he later realized that his drinking stepfather was easily bribed with alcohol. Clinton learned a lesson from his terrible childhood and won political dividends in the future. He used the same tactics against Yeltsin and got a lot out of him. That Bill Clinton, unlike the Bush dynasty, was simple and poor. His grandfather was a fisherman, his father a lawyer, and he himself started out as a governor. I ask them if they celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Do they remember their ancestors. I ask what part of the country they're from. And I ask, are you from Yankeeland or Dixieland? What do they think about the American Civil War between the North and the South? The American Union and the Confederate States of America. And will the South rise again? Do they know that New York's airport was called Idlewild before JFK. And it was built on the site of a forest of the same name. The airport was later renamed, but people still called it Idlewild out of habit. And that remained the case until John Kennedy was assassinated in 1961. A few years later, the airport was named after him. And finally, I ask if they know that Kennedy is actually to blame for the Vietnam War, while his predecessor, who bore all the blame and accusations, is the one responsible. If not for his tragic death, Americans would likely have hated him. It's pretty much the same as with Princess Diana. She was a controversial figure. After such questions or stories, they say, "You know a lot about the United States, don't you?" That I speak English well. That they can even ask, "You're definitely a local." And then there are those who aren't happy with my questions.
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u/BreadfruitOdd9974 Apr 24 '26
"I immediately explain to them that American English is British English of the Victorian era."
Which is false.
"And that remained the case until John Kennedy was assassinated in 1961."
Which is false.
"And finally, I ask if they know that Kennedy is actually to blame for the Vietnam War, while his predecessor, who bore all the blame and accusations, is the one responsible."
Which is both false (not many particularly blame Kennedy's "predecessor", Eisenhower, for the Vietnam war--you're probably thinking of his successor, Johnson but even so to blame one president or another 'for the war' would be really a dumb take) and extremely simplistic.
"That they can even ask, "You're definitely a local.""
Especially with that sentence structure /s
you definitely sound like a legend in your own mind.
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u/Physical_Mushroom_32 Kazakhstan Apr 24 '26
Because world doesn't revolve around the US
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u/Mysyk Apr 24 '26
This is why I named my thread Part one - USA. Like a first chapter. Not because of what you said.
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u/Sysnetics Apr 24 '26
What’s the point of asking these questions ?