American tourists and political questions about the US presidentialelection

In article
,
Surreyman wrote:

On 21 Oct, 19:56, stonej wrote:
Just an FYI to Europeans and others, there is an intense interest in
the US presidential election
around the world but Americans have traditionally shied away from
talking about politics in casual conversation, so if you meet an
American and hit them with questions about the US presidential
election do not be offended if you get only a quick cursory answer or
an attempt to immediately change the subject.

An old saying in the US is "don't talk about politics or religion"
they are taboo subjects for
many (but not all) Americans.

Well, they themselves are all making enough noise about both at the
moment!

The candidates are making even more. Political ads are so often
negative and/or empty of actual content that they're more likely make me
vote AGAINST the candidate sponsoring them. As for "debates"--good time
to read a book, because there's not going to be much content there,
either.

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)

You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument is
that reason doesn't count. --Isaac Asimov

Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.chibardun.net/~erilarlo*

On 24 Oct, 17:40, Magda --- wrote:
On Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:41:01 -0700 (PDT), Surreyman
wrote:

*... On 21 Oct, 19:56, stonej wrote:
*... Just an FYI to Europeans and others, there is an intense interest in
*... the US presidential election
*... around the world but Americans have traditionally shied away from
*... talking about politics in casual conversation, so if you meet an
*... American and hit them with questions about the US presidential
*... election do not be offended if you get only a quick cursory answer or
*... an attempt to immediately change the subject.
*...
*... An old saying in the US is "don't talk about politics or religion"
*... they are taboo subjects for
*... many (but not all) Americans.
*...
*... Well, they themselves are all making enough noise about both at the
*... moment!

When are they not?


dont talk about sex or toilets though......its makes them nervous.....

An old saying in the US is "don't talk about politics or religion"
they are taboo subjects for many (but not all) Americans.

Hi,

different cultures have different taboos.

in the US in polite company it's "don't talk about politics or religion"
and you might want to add sex to that list... depends on the group and
how polite.

in France sex, politics, and religion (usually somehow tied to politics)
are all fair games... you don't talk about money.

and of course in north america we're all on a first name basis within
minutes... the equivalent of "tu"ing everyone we meet.


--

== Hackamore ==
http://www.hackamore.com/
http://hackamoretravel.blogspot.com/

Locals and tourist seldom have enough time to talk about such as politics
or religion. Tourist have only enough time to ask their way and inquire
for sites and restaurants. Locals are busy living their lives.

JE

Hi,

depends....

I've often travel solo and find that striking up a conversation with a
local to be a good thing...

in Amsterdam I always stop at this TINY little brown cafe and it's a
very gezellig(sp?) place... small enough and friendly enough you'll buy
a round for the bar :-}

I tend to be there out of summer tourist season and it'll be a 50-50 mix
of locals and tourists of various sorts most of the time and I'll end up
chatting with somebody local...or at least a European national of some sort.

there's always a few folks that are just settling in Amsterdam and are
coming by to practice their dutch... (you see there's the problem of
everybody just instantly switching to English as soon as they hear
you're NOT dutch, so it's almost hard to practice).

but English is the dominant language spoken (it's a very international
place) though the nationalities of the patrons varies widely... and we
do talk about all sorts of stuff... have a good time... learn about
other cultures... dispel some of the myths we all have about each other
and each other's countries.

if the election turns into a popular vote vs electoral vote thing I'm
sure travelers chatting with locals will get asked what that's about.

I've never been harassed because of my political views while in
Europe.... be that being an American reading the Herald Tribune or a gun
nut reading Cibles

--

== Hackamore ==
http://www.hackamore.com/
http://hackamoretravel.blogspot.com/

"JuanElorza" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:56:16 -0700, stonej wrote :

Just an FYI to Europeans and others, there is an intense interest in the
US presidential election
around the world but Americans have traditionally shied away from
talking about politics in casual conversation, so if you meet an
American and hit them with questions about the US presidential election
do not be offended if you get only a quick cursory answer or an attempt
to immediately change the subject.

Locals and tourist seldom have enough time to talk about such as politics
or religion. Tourist have only enough time to ask their way and inquire
for sites and restaurants. Locals are busy living their lives.

JE