http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/2012/10/18/watch-richard-hammond-crash-course-on-american-culture-for-brits/ A Brit's Guide to Surviving America Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:21:00 -0400 hourly 1 http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/2012/10/18/watch-richard-hammond-crash-course-on-american-culture-for-brits/#comment-3185 dw Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:45:00 +0000 http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/?p=1101#comment-3185 Yup. I’ll take a fake smile over a genuine snarl any day.

]]> http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/2012/10/18/watch-richard-hammond-crash-course-on-american-culture-for-brits/#comment-3143 Linda Rubright Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:55:00 +0000 http://www.bbcamerica.com/mind-the-gap/?p=1101#comment-3143 This gives me so much comfort. I am from the US but have lived in a few different countries in Europe and continue to do so now. I absolutely love it here but I do feel the overall friendliness in the US to strangers is something that Europe could learn from (as there are many things the US can learn from Europe). I have spoken to many Europeans about why they just do not openly smile more at people and their response has usually been along the lines of, ‘When a stranger smiles at you, it does not seem genuine. When a stranger asks you how you are — it does not seem genuine.’ I can appreciate the trueness in their approach but in general I do think there is much more to be gained from freely giving and receiving smiles and niceties to strangers than spending time questioning the motives of kindness. Now on to what the US can learn from Europe…:)

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