How Well Do You Know the United States?

One of my favorite parts of working at the school I do is that the vast majority of my students have never been to the United States. Exchange years in high school are not all that uncommon in Austria, and I know that TAs in other, wealthier Gymnasien frequently encounter students who've spent a year in Iowa, Alabama, or Montana. (You have to pay extra to get the "good states" like California or New York, so you'll meet Austrians who've lived in the most random f-ing places.) At the very least, many of them have gone to either New York City, Miami,* or Los Angeles on family vacations.

Not so here at Brigittenauer Gymnasium. There are a few exceptions, mostly in the audio classes and sports classes, where students tend to be wealthier because they have to pay Verein (sports club) fees or buy expensive musical equipment. (I even have one student whose mother grew up in Cranberry, PA.) But, for the most part, the closest my students have come to experiencing life in the United States is a dinner at T.G.I. Friday's.

So I get to be their first real introduction to American culture. I've recently led some pretty successful lessons for 4th and 5th formers (13-15-year-olds) where I give them a true/false quiz about life in the United States. Here are some of my favorite questions from that quiz. (Highlight the white area under each question to get the answer, and some comments from me.)

About 85% of Americans are white.

FALSE: In 2010, 63% of Americans were white, non-Hispanic. The country is 16% Latino, 12% African-American, 5% Asian, 3% mixed race, and 1% Native American.

Most Americans own a gun. 

FALSE: Only around 40% of Americans own a gun. But those that do typically own more than one, which explains how there are 88 guns per 100 people in the US. I also mention how gun ownership runs in specific social circles -- my family doesn't own guns, and almost no one I know does either, but in other towns and social networks, almost everyone does.

Most Americans think the United States is the best and greatest country in the world.

TRUE: I've read polls putting this figure at 80%. "Do you think that?" my students always ask. "No," I say, "but my entire family and many of my friends from home do." 

Because so many Americans drive cars, it is important to wait for the walk signal before crossing the street on foot.

FALSE: When I explain the New York method of crossing the street -- standing at the very edge of the parking lane, a hair's width away from oncoming traffic, and waiting for a two-second lull so that you can dart across the street, risking life and limb -- my students look at me like I'm mad.

It is polite to always arrive on time or early to casual parties.

FALSE: If I tell people the party starts at 9 pm, I really don't expect people to arrive until 9:30, and things will really kick off at 10 pm. For my Austrian students, though, "the party starts at 9" means arrive at 9:10 at the latest.

If you’re going to arrive 5-10 minutes late to a meeting with a friend, you should call or text to let them know.

FALSE: I would say that 10 minutes is the border of acceptable lateness. I always share the story of my roommate Eunice, who had a German boyfriend. He once texted her, "I'm not very German -- I'm going to be two minutes late." Little did he know that that was one of the most German things he could do: an American probably wouldn't even have noticed.

When you walk into a restaurant, you should find a table, sit down, and wait for a waiter to come.

FALSE: I always explain to my students that I worked for three years as a "restaurant hostess" (I still don't know the word for this in German), which meant that I greeted people at the door of the restaurant and walked them over to a table. They think this is the stupidest thing ever.

When you are finished with your drink (juice or soda) in a restaurant, the waiter will bring you another one for free. You don’t even need to ask.

TRUE: This is probably my favorite question to ask. Absolutely no one believes that it's real, and when I tell them it is, all hell breaks loose. "Urgeil!" they say -- "that's awesome!"

It is not appropriate to smile at strangers on public transport or talk to them.

FALSE: In the United States, you're pretty much required to smile any time you make eye contact with a stranger in public, and one of the things I had to unlearn when I moved to Austria was my penchant for walking around with a goofy grin on my face. I call it my amerikanisches Lächeln, and making sure it doesn't appear when I'm out in public is still a daily battle. Because sometimes you're just happy, you know? But mostly it's nice to be able to stare at people for long periods of time without having to acknowledge them. 

Wearing casual clothes like hoodies, tee shirts, sweatpants and even pajamas in public is normal.

TRUE: Americans are slobs. 

Americans like to stand close to each other during discussions to show their interest in what the other person has to say.

FALSE: This sounds pretty reasonable, so most of my students go with "true." But Americans stand really far away from each other -- that's why we need to talk so loudly. When I first moved to Austria, I tell my students, I had a lot of trouble hearing what people were saying. "Austrians must have superhuman ears," I thought to myself -- until I noticed how far apart I was standing compared to everyone else. I took two steps in, and suddenly, everything was so much clearer.

If you have something to say to a person some distance away, you walk over to them and then speak normally.

FALSE: America is one of the only places where it's totally normal to shout at people across the room, or from a different room. At home, it's quite normal for members of my family to call out to one another from different floors: "Marshall, time for dinner!" "Keri, don't laugh so loud, I'm trying to sleep!" "Jordan, did you shower today yet?" Here in Austria, I live in a much smaller apartment, but every time I try to talk to my roommate while she's in a different room, she darts over to me. Shouting is just not done.

People often say “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes. 

TRUE: Yes, we say it. No, we don't know that it means "health," and that German speakers say it, too.

It is legal to be a member of the American Nazi Party.

TRUE: Americans would rather let the people really really offensive opinions say what they think, and then give everyone else the opportunity to tell them how wrong they are, than to shut off the conversation from the get-go. This gives my students something to think about; some of them have even told me that they prefer the American system of free speech.

It is normal conversation to ask someone how much money they make.

FALSE: While I have no qualms about asking this question in German, I once asked it in English to an acquaintance here, and it just felt so wrong. 

* I've never been there, but from the number of German speakers who've told me they've been there on vacation, I keep picturing the place as a kind of Mallorca West.