Thursday, September 15, 2005

How American Have I become?

In this post I´m copying the idea of Soumyadip in his post:

I live on an island in the Atlantic Ocean, right in the middle between the old Europa and the so very influencing America. I still hang on to the English way of spelling taught in my Grammar School as much as I can, the American way rather irritates me than the reverse. I like to write I, instead of i, like so many people do now, and I absolutely hate the abbreviation type of spelling: r u 4 it?. Can´t say that I adore Bob Dylan, I just like his music. I can appreciate the humour in Mad. I like Mark Twain. I don´t follow basketball and hardly know the names of the stars, I think Michael Jordan is one of them, though. The five pocket trousers made of denim is the de facto attire. I can stand the Simpsons but I don´t watch it unless there is nothing better on. I´m very tired of the endless array of cheap American comic shows on Icelandic television. I´ll always prefer an European film to an American one, something about the way they are filmed and directed and the use of some very dramatic music in every situation, not to mention the choice of content and the interpretations thereof! In almost every film there seems to have to be either at least one murder, a court trial or a car chase, if not all of those. And free me for all the technical tricks so popular in those "big" American movies.Sometimes fun to watch, but usually going far over the hilltop.

I pump a litre of petrol at the petrol pump not a gallon of gas at the gas station and drive by kilometres (not miles). I only eat a McDonalds burger if I´m very hungry. Pure Icelandic water from the tap still rules over Coke. Icelandic "Helvítis djöfuls" are more effective in a brawl than f**k and MF (even though you hear Icelandic schoolchildren use the F words freely, sometimes without having a clue as to what the words mean).
I can't comprehend baseball. And I don't like George Bush!

9 comments:

Soumyadip said...

I really appreciate the mutual feeling. And I learnt an Icelandic swear word today. By the way what does it mean?

Greta Björg said...

He,he...
helvíti means hell,
djöfull means devil,
that´s how we swear in Icelandic, by the dark forces, no kinky stuff there!

Johnny Newt said...

"I" think most Americans with a few brain cells to rub together would agree with much you have said, Greta.

Greta Björg said...

Hi there Johnny!:)
I´m SO happy to have you back, I missed you :(
I gather from your blog that you have made a complete change in lifestyle...?

dwaipayan said...

i like this post. u and soumyadip both wrote on the same idea,very similar ur posts are.but yet i like the differences.

Segue said...

You stopped by my blog today, so I'm returning the courtesy. You have some beautiful scenery outside your window, don't you?

I have to say, you sound a little more American than me, and I live in the middle of it. We aren't all McDonald's-scarfing "MF's", and no less than half of us hate George Bush.

He's quite the "hell devil", isn't he?

Johnny Newt said...

Greta, if you could be more like any Nationality you would like, which would you choose? mixing and matching is permitted.

Abaniko said...

Know what? This is very interesting it can be used as a meme. I'm tempted to post a similar topic on my blog. :-)

Arindam said...

Heh Heh. No one likes george bush. Not even Americans. How on earth did he get relected?!?

Liked this post. :) Nice going through all that I have missed.