What a coincidence. I was hugged by five large men in a dark alley.I was mugged at work once
What a coincidence. I was hugged by five large men in a dark alley.
I accept that this is a sweeping generalization but - OMG - Americans are huggy people. I spent 3 weeks in your beautiful country and I never got so many hugs in my entire life!! Seriously. It would be, 'Oh, you're from South Africa? - hug. That's such a neat accent - hug. And you came all this way on your own - hug. (Fortunately, not all from the same person.) The warmth and hospitality I received in the U.S. was so genuine and so kind that it was impossible to be offended by the hugs. At first, I think I repressed the shudders. By week 2, I got the general idea - that you're supposed to open your arms and... sort of pat the other person's back. By the end of week 3 I could spot a hug coming and could get more or less into the right position before it landed.
And, heaven help me, when it was time to leave I even initiated a few hugs. But please don't spread that around. I have a reputation to uphold.
Aww..How romantic
I accept that this is a sweeping generalization but - OMG - Americans are huggy people.
Lol. I do a lot of work in Africa and travel there every couple months. I got the friendly handshake-thumb grab-handshake down, can sometimes do the finger snap but sometimes not, but despite my American hugginess I was totally thrown off when a Kenyan gentleman I know quite well pulled me from handshake to hug. It was no problem, just totally unexpected.
I'm warning you Peeps - if I evah run into any of you in real life, prepare yourself for a big-ole-cuddly "Southern Hospitality Hug"
Wow! The handshake-thumb-grab-handshake!!!! That's pretty awesome, Chris. Impressive! As for the hug you got... Well, I have a theory about that. Like Coca-Cola, Mac Donalds and Ford motor cars, your culture has spread - most of TV is comprised of American shows. We watch them. We learn about you people. We see the hugging. If you have an American accent*, it's almost certain the Kenyan gentleman was complimenting you by greeting you in your own cultural style.
* Most of us foreign people couldn't tell the difference between an American accent and a Canadian accent. Which means, of course, that those folk from Canadastan could get a totally unexpected hug, too. Despite this, many of us could distinguish a Southern accent from a Northern one and a Bronx accent from a posh New England one. However, if you're from Mcintyre, Georgia, we'd likely figure that you are American, but we wouldn't understand a word you were saying.
I ran into a craft vendor in Ghana who, when I told him his accent was *almost* American, admitted he practices it by imitating US TV shows. The tourists tend to trust him more if he sounds more "normal."
I also knew a Brit who was really proud of his fake American accent, which was a combination of New York, Boston and Southern. I told him he didn't sound British but nobody talks that way.
An American accent tends to attract attention around here. I don't know if people think it's glamorous, or that Americans are more sophisticated, or they're rubbernecking in case it's Charlene Theron - who has completely lost her S. African accent anyway. Maybe the fakers think it gives them an edge?
Maybe they have plans to cause some sort of trouble/make a disturbance or get really drunk, and figure that if they pretend to be American, people will pin the blame on non-existent Americans?
What's really funny is that you can spot a genuine American tourist a mile away. Or rather, you can hear them a mile away.
What's really funny is that you can spot a genuine American tourist a mile away. Or rather, you can hear them a mile away.
mrsmig - I work in professional theatre as well. LOTS of hugs. It's one of the things I love about my job.
I think hugging in the theatre comes partly from the fact that the rehearsal space is a place where actors are meant to feel safe to be emotionally vulnerable, and casual touching comes as an extension of that. That being said, the theatre community in my city has had some huge sexual harassment scandals this year, and the atmosphere of casual touching has given license to certain people to take things too far, so we're in all kinds of contortions right now to figure out a new way of working that makes things safe for everyone.
I tell my non-US friends that we're really quite sweet people at home, we just can only bring so much on the plane with us and our brains and manners are the first things to get left behind.
The irony is that my overseas travel and living (two years in Uganda) has taught me that what is considered noise is cultural. Ugandans speak softly, especially the women, while Americans are the loudest people in the room. On the other hand, a Ugandan club at a hotel has no problems playing dance music at top volume until 7 am (my pictures were literally rattling on the walls), running a wood router at 5 am (again, right next to a hotel), or playing music on their phones loudly on a crowded bus. They don't mind, neither do the other passengers.