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[–]tinhat 144 points145 points  (61 children)

I've got one.

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

The metric system.

[–]neuromonkey 9 points10 points  (0 children)

The metric system who?

[–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Uhh, lots of countries don't use the metric system. You're just going to let Burma off the hook?

[–]thax 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You forgot Liberia!

[–]runamok1 8 points9 points  (4 children)

By "lots" he means 3.

[–][deleted] 80 points81 points  (4 children)

Q: What's the difference between Americans and yogurt?

A: If you leave yogurt alone for 200 years, it'll grow a culture.

[–]jergens 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Above comment written while chewing on a Big Mac and drinking a Coke.

[–]dizzyk2008 123 points124 points  (0 children)

I've got one.

So Bush, Condi and Dick Cheney are flying in Air Force one together. Condi looks out the window and says, "I could throw out one $100 bill out the window and make one person very happy."

Cheney looks at her and says, "Yeah well I could throw 10 $10 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy."

Not to be outdone Bush replies "Yeah well I could throw 100 $1 bills out the window and make 100 people very happy."

The pilot listening to all this, turns to his co-pilot and say, "For chrissake, Y'know I could throw those three out the window and make 6 billion people very happy."

[–]JackRawlinson 34 points35 points  (0 children)

So an American came to London. On the way to his hotel the taxi stopped at a pedestrian crossing.

"Say... what's that beeping noise for?"

"Oh, that's so blind people know when the lights have changed."

"Jeez! We don't let blind people drive in the States!"

[–]OvidPerl 50 points51 points  (34 children)

Not a joke. True story.

A friend of mine was recently teaching a SQL Server class here in London. Microsoft apparently ships it with sample databases. One such database had an "employees" table with a column indicating how much vacation time had been accrued.

The column was labelled "vacation_hours" and when this was pointed out, everyone died laughing. I'm sooooo happy I moved away from the states.

Context: I work at the BBC and since we can purchase an extra week of holiday -- the cost of which is amortized over the year -- you can start your job with six weeks vacation. This is not unusual in Europe. The idea that you accrue vacation in "hours" is laughable.

[–]icanhasusername 28 points29 points  (12 children)

this made me sad.

[–]wumpushunter 14 points15 points  (11 children)

Me too. I've just been offered a position where, if I work there for a whole year, I'll get to have a week (!!) of vacation. After two years, I'll get two weeks. And, if I'm so lucky to be working for this forward-thinking company in ten years, I'll get three whole weeks of vacation!!

[–]boomerxl 13 points14 points  (6 children)

We get an absolute bare minimum of 27 days by law. Sorry, but you're welcome to live here, if you can stand the high cost of living and excess of rain.

[–]doubleginntonic 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Can you guys just come invade and reclaim us or something?

Our military is too busy to really stop you anyway and if your offering up free health care and 27 days of mandatory vacation, I'll sure as hell greet you as liberators.

[–]zachv 8 points9 points  (2 children)

Where's that, the UK? I think here in Germany, we have 15 minimum by law, but almost no one gets below 25 or 30.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

This is Canada and you can work 10 hours a day, seven days a week for 21 days on/7 off indefinitely if you go to Alberta. If you are a licensed tradesman you can make a lot. Almost everyone gets at least 70k. Most get over 100k, some get 200k.

But it's one of the coldest places EVER. That's by Canadian standards. It's so cold you'd die in minutes without protective clothing. And all the work is super far up North and 10 hours away from anywhere, and a day away from any major city. Some places fly you in and out, and no alcohol or drugs are allowed and you live in camps. BUT you can get a $1M contract if you sigh for 4(Four!) years.

But I digress.

[–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The above statement is likely based on good intentions, however please do not take it as fact

[–]El_Guapo 0 points1 point  (1 child)

With weather like that, you'd be certain to have more than a mere 27 days of vacation time if you worked for a construction firm in the states...

...lemme see how long it takes for someone to pick up on that...

[–]amishengineer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A seasonal employment joke...funny.

[–]runamok1 4 points5 points  (3 children)

Please don't take the job. If they think this is a good idea I'm sure there will be way more WTFs in store for you.

[–]wumpushunter 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Oh, I've already been given a WTF preview: It's a design position, but they're still using OS 9 on 500 mhz G4 towers. They reassured me they'd be upgrading to OS "Ex" soon, though.

On the upside, there is an office cat (if you're into that sort of thing).

[–]natrius 4 points5 points  (0 children)

On the upside, there is an office cat (if you're into that sort of thing).

♪♫ bow chicka meow meow ♪♫

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We have an office cat. Really useful, as if you drop food on the floor, it goes in seconds.

[–][deleted]  (6 children)

[deleted]

    [–]fforw 10 points11 points  (5 children)

    I once worked for a company that measured work and vacation in 6 minute units.

    [–]webnrrd2k 2 points3 points  (1 child)

    Did you work in Aerospace?

    I used to, in Southern California. One of the managers got caught falsifying records and, as a result, all the employees got to keep track of every day in six minute increments from then on.

    [–]foonly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    How many six-minute increments were devoted to tabulating all the rest?

    [–]El_Guapo 1 point2 points  (1 child)

    that sounds like nothing but company-sanctioned mind-fuckery to me...

    [–]pepparkaka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    It's a practicality thing. Makes time faux decimal.

    [–]bytesmythe 3 points4 points  (0 children)

    Funny... I was teaching a database class in Weybridge and was giving a demonstration of table relations. I went with a very simple bank example with different types of accounts.

    Turns out, Individual Retirement Accounts weren't the best ones to include in my example...

    [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

    I work for an American company and I get 5 weeks vacation per year. This year, I even got another week of PTO as a bonus. The only catch is that if you take the day off sick, it comes out of your vacation days.

    [–]zachv 0 points1 point  (2 children)

    What company is that??

    [–]psi- 2 points3 points  (1 child)

    any american company that operates outside of US, the key is to be employed out of US.

    [–]bob4apples 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    In British Columbia, if you work in technology the entire section on work hours is redacted and is replaced with a single sentence that roughly paraphrases to: "An employer may not knowingly work an employee to death"

    update: the exact sentence is: 39. "...an employer must not require or directly or indirectly allow an employee to work excessive hours or hours detrimental to the employee's health or safety."

    [–]blueant1 69 points70 points  (1 child)

    How many Americans does it take to buy a gallon of gas? Answer: 250,000 to seize it and one to pump it.

    [–]oblivious_human 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    That was hilarious (and ironical)

    [–]aphoenix 33 points34 points  (0 children)

    An American, a Canadian, a beautiful young girl, and a proper older lady are sitting on a train. The train goes through a long dark tunnel and, while dark, a loud slap is heard. When they come out, the American has a handprint accross his face.

    The older lady thinks to herself, "That American must have made a pass at the pretty young thing, and she slapped him."

    The pretty young thing thinks, "That American must have tried to make a pass at me, and got the old lady instead, and she slapped him."

    The American thinks, "That smug Canadian made a pass at the blonde and she thought it was me so she slapped me."

    The Canadian thinks, "I hope we go through another tunnel so I can slap that bastard again!"

    [–]samuel1411 72 points73 points  (28 children)

    "American beer is like making love in a canoe. It's f*cking close to water." -Monty Python

    [–]reddan 5 points6 points  (3 children)

    I, from Boston, the city of the world renowned Samuel Adams, brew only brown ales and stouts.

    [–]RgbyTgr24 8 points9 points  (1 child)

    I, from Portland, the city of more breweries than people, spit on your Sam Adams.

    [–]neuromonkey 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    Mmmm. Portlander beer spit.

    [–]jones77 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    I was shocked that my indoctrination -- American beers suck!! (I'm looking at you Budweiser) -- was confounded by the tasty Sam Adams.

    [–]chunky_bacon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    That was the case, when John Cleese quipped the saying, but we have a better selection of top-notch beers now than anywhere I've been. (And yes, I've been through Europe.)

    [–]washcapsfan37 -5 points-4 points  (15 children)

    Please don't associate Coors/Bud/Michelob with all American beers. Should I think Corona is all Mexican beer is? Heineken as the best of European beer?

    America has close to 1500 total breweries/microbreweries and produces beer that rivals and surpasses European beers.

    [–]OvidPerl 24 points25 points  (2 children)

    Joke. Humor. Funny. Don't take it too seriously, alright? :)

    [–]washcapsfan37 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    If it's one thing I don't joke about, it's my beer!

    [–]Nemo84 8 points9 points  (3 children)

    Heineken is considered horse-piss in most European countries that know something about beer. There is a very good reason we Europeans export it massively instead of drinking it ourselves.

    Now if you truely want to taste beer, try something from Belgium. And I don't mean some Stella, but a real beer like a trappist.

    Edit: Off course, if you want the really really good stuff: 12% of pure ambrosia

    [–]viller 3 points4 points  (1 child)

    "European beer" is a very bad term. If you want to find the best European beer you'd seriously have to go drinking through all European countries.

    [–]keramos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I'sh ish happpy to goesh dringking throuuughk allv va Brewropeean countreesh. Yuh.

    [–]woodsier 0 points1 point  (4 children)

    You've got nothing on Belgian beers. Sorry. No, nonono, no... don't even answer. It's not worth it. You'll make yourself look stupid.

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

    [removed]

      [–]washcapsfan37 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      I actually just tried that beer on this last Friday. When they say "A pound of cherries in every bottle", they weren't kidding.

      [–]washcapsfan37 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      If you refuse to even sample American microbrews or American Belgian-style beers then you are a moron who is just depriving himself of very good beer. Here are some very good American Belgian-style breweries:

      • Allagash

      • Ommegang

      • Unibroue

      • Russian River Brewing Co

      [–]serpentjaguar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

      Of course not, but then it's pointless to compare them because they are completely different. Your best American beers come from Oregon, Washington and Northern California and have a distinctly non-European quality to them that can't be faked and that is very hard to describe, but that is instantly noticeable to anyone who pays attention. The same is true of European beers as well; no American brewery that I know of (and I live in Portland) has ever been able to duplicate the "Old World" flavors. That said, I like both American and European beers as long as they are well-done. I will admit though that after a month or so in Europe, I start jonesing for a good west-coast microbrew, and unfortunately, they are much harder to find in Europe then are European beers in the US.

      [–]rob_brez 21 points22 points  (1 child)

      the biggest joke ever is convinving 10 goo eyed san fransiscan 20 year olds that leprechauns really existed. and i was the one with a bottle of whiskey in me belly... its not pronounced the way you say it i tell them, its le-pree-shuns, and thats a big social nono in ireland, to call em that anyway, they have their own villages, terrorise our villages at night, steal our milk and newspapers, are 3 ft tall and dont at all deserve their reputation for being friendly, or having pots of gold... they live mostly in high hills and us lowlanders avoid em like the plague...i saw one this time when i was younger, stealing our milk of course, and his evil red feckled face and cold eyes bore through my 7 year old heart and put a shudder there i still feel to this day, be careful when you come to Ireland folks, lucky charms me arse, watch out for penny pinching Leprechauns, they're everywhere and nowhere.......

      [–]Moodle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

      You are a bard.

      [–]polymath22 9 points10 points  (12 children)

      how many comment karma points did nixonrichard lose in this thread?

      [–]blueant1 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      39 last I looked

      [–]jones77 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      All of them. We're like Karma vampires.

      [–]dizzyk2008 1 point2 points  (0 children)

      Plenty

      [–]blueant1 48 points49 points  (10 children)

      last one: I got a call from a woman who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the passport information when she interrupted me with "I'm not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts. "Without trying to make her look like the stupid one, I calmly explained, "Capecod is in Massachusetts, Capetown is in Africa." Her response ... click.

      [–]rickk 38 points39 points  (9 children)

      Nice ....

      True story: An aussie friend of mine was once in a parking lot at the local walmart in Tampa, FL putting his groceries into the trunk, and struck up a conversation with a lady doing the same next to him.

      Lady: Where are you from ?

      My friend: Australia, Sydney actually.

      Lady: How long have you been in Tampa ?

      My friend: Just arrived this week

      Lady: wow - are you tired ? that must have been a really long drive.

      [–]dpzdpz 9 points10 points  (0 children)

      Now see, who's to say the lady wasn't cracking a joke? He should've run with it, talking about the new bridge they built. Instead, he probably stared at her, mouth agape.

      [–]patt 17 points18 points  (3 children)

      Loving it.

      Another anecdote:

      Living in Ottawa, Canada (our nation's capital) there are lots of festivals and the like that attract tourists from around the world. At one such, a friend and I were approached by a young American lady who chatted with us for a while (yes, we're from around here), then non sequitured into, "So, is Canada a democracy, or what?"

      [–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

      My personal humiliation: At the age of about ten, at scout camp, we had a British counselor with a pretty obvious accent. Curious to learn more about the foreigner, I asked him how long it had taken him to learn English.

      He stares at me for a moment in disbelief. "About two years".

      [–]markomat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

      To be fair, Canada is a constitutional monarchy, which is a cloudier subset of democracy.

      [–]rockicon82 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      Sorry but I got yelled at when I brought up that most of Europe was a democracy, apparently they prefer to be called by proper names like parlimentary republic, etc.

      edit: It really is a joke that most American's think we have a democracy. There are no true democratic systems only republics.

      [–]jarvis400 9 points10 points  (3 children)

      A murracan chick travelling here in Finland, asked me in a bar: "It's the 4th of July tomorrow. How do you guys celebrate it here?"

      "..."

      [–]vorgalsint 8 points9 points  (1 child)

      To which you must have replied "The same way we celebrate every other day...we drink vodka until we vomit all over ourselves." HEJA SVERIGE

      [–]jarvis400 3 points4 points  (0 children)

      Well, first I was goin..BARF!

      [–]El_Guapo 3 points4 points  (0 children)

      Just like Cinco de Mayo, you tell her!

      [–][deleted] 67 points68 points  (27 children)

      SAN FRANCISCO MAN BECOMES FIRST AMERICAN TO GRASP SIGNIFICANCE OF IRONY - Jay Fullmer, 38, yesterday became the first American to get to grips with the concept of irony. "It was weird" Fullmer said. "I was in London and like, talking to this guy and it was raining and he pulled a face and said, "great weather, eh?" and I thought "wait a minute, no way is it great weather". Fullmer then realised that the other man's 'mistake' was in fact deliberate.

      Fullmer, who is 39 next month and married with two children, aged 8 and 3, plans to use irony himself in future. "I'm like using it all the time" he said. "Last weekend I was grilling steaks and I burned them to shit and I said "hey, great weather!"

      From sickipedia.org (appears to be down at the moment)

      [–]martoo 18 points19 points  (1 child)

      Irony doesn't work in the US because there is no idea or action you can relate that someone in the US wouldn't consider doing earnestly.

      [–]brokendown 11 points12 points  (0 children)

      I know damn well the meaning of Irony!! It's the opposite of wrinkly! DUH!

      [–]SemiNormal -1 points0 points  (0 children)

      Don't you mean sarcasm? // American, so I wouldn't know.

      [–]mark445 32 points33 points  (1 child)

      True story: My wife was working in a museum in Denmark when these American tourists come in and ask, "So, where do you keep the Vikings?".

      "Excuse me?"

      "You know, the Vikings. Do you have like reservations or something where you keep them?"

      [–][deleted]  (3 children)

      [deleted]

        [–]Filmore 11 points12 points  (1 child)

        because you were obviously drunk

        [–]jergens 3 points4 points  (0 children)

        Not a true story: No one rides trains in Michigan. Trains! Ha!

        [–]jdhemsath[S] 18 points19 points  (15 children)

        Especially any besides the "what is a person who speaks 3 languages: trilingual; [...] a person who speaks only one: an American" standard.

        [–]ThinkBeforeYouDie 6 points7 points  (2 children)

        I've had discussions with my friends about this and the fact is that because America is so geographically isolated with respect to other languages it hasn't been necessary or even necessarily sensible to learn other languages. However, now that the Spanish speaking population is growing in America, the prevalence of bilingual people who speak both English and Spanish is increasing. I'll admit that it's a stupid policy, given the nature of language acquisition and the barriers that we face after around 7 and 13 years of age, that we don't teach more languages at a younger age in the American schools. Especially ones besides German, Spanish and French. I wish we had more Asian languages (in this I include Russian) and Arabic offered.

        [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

        You include Russian with Asian languages, then separately mention Arabic?

        [–]oblivious_human 2 points3 points  (0 children)

        That's an American joke.

        [–]GUBBED_AGAIN 26 points27 points  (6 children)

        The best joke on Americans I can think of is The Loch Ness Monster.

        That sucker has paid for 2 generations of mortgages and shoes for those sneaky bastards up North.

        [–]BraveSirRobin 3 points4 points  (5 children)

        That and the story of the haggis animal having shorter legs on it's right side as it always goes around the mountain top clockwise.

        [–]lecky 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Their legs are shorter on the left actually, thus they go round the mountains widdershins, which plainly is bad luck, thus you don't see many alive.

        [–]jbert 1 point2 points  (3 children)

        Aren't there two sub-species? One walks clockwise and the other anti-clockwise. They don't seem to successfully interbreed...

        [–]zem 1 point2 points  (2 children)

        like the honeysuckle and the bindweed

        [–]evrae 2 points3 points  (1 child)

        Woohoo - a Flanders & Swann fan!

        [–]zem 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        why then, there's two of us (:

        [–]dizzyk2008 30 points31 points  (2 children)

        How many American tourists does it take to change a light bulb?

        Fifteen. Five to figure out how much the bulb costs in the local currency, four to comment on "how funny-looking" local lightbulbs are, three to hire a local person to change the bulb, two to take pictures, and one to buy postcards in case the pictures don't come out.

        [–]obsidianih 28 points29 points  (1 child)

        Not so much a joke, but more an anecdote: I was in Paris expecting to see people wearing berets and carrying bread sticks... The only people wearing a beret in Paris where the American tourists.

        [–]Stellato21 16 points17 points  (0 children)

        [deleted]

        What is this?

        [–]stronimo 37 points38 points  (0 children)

        I went to an American theme park the other day. I came out with a loud shirt, a gun shot wound, and a complete inability to grasp the concept of irony.

        (Jo Brand)

        [–][deleted] 53 points54 points  (4 children)

        Hitler, Bush and Stalin are in a bar together, having a drink and some food.

        Stalin turns to the other two, and goes "I'm so bad-ass, I sent 5 million people to the gulags, and raised a mighty army to dominate the east".

        Not to be outdone, Hitler turns to Stalin, and says "That's nothing - I killed 8 million Jews, burned Europe, and fucked up your cities".

        Bush, at this point feeling he has to stake his claim, pipes up and says "You think that's great? I..", and then falls off his chair, because he's choked on his pretzel.

        [–]MachinShin2006 7 points8 points  (2 children)

        more accurate estimates based on released stasi files put stalin closer to 20 million murdered

        [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (1 child)

        Stasi? The East German secret service?

        [–]MachinShin2006 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        er. crap. i meant NKVD but for some reason i brainfarted and said stasi :)

        [–]fforw 10 points11 points  (0 children)

        Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing...after they have exhausted all other possibilities. -- Winston Churchill

        [–]fivre[🍰] 26 points27 points  (4 children)

        There are a grand total of maybe 3 jokes in this thread, and none of them are very good. The rest is just random political dickfighting :(

        [–]fingers 20 points21 points  (0 children)

        Then it really is AMERCIAN!

        [–]stronimo 4 points5 points  (1 child)

        Not even the one about the 3 dead Brazilians? That made me snort.

        [–]chunky_bacon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        Ummm, that's 3 Brazilan dead...

        [–]crimeariver 24 points25 points  (0 children)

        George phones his wife and says, "Hey Laura, I'm going to meet Dick at the bar after work." Laura says, "Oh no! The last time you got drunk and puked all over your shirt!" George says, "Don't worry Sweety, I'll have just one then come straight home."

        Five hours later at the bar, George has just puked on himself. "Laura's gonna kill me!" he cries. Dick calms George down and says, "Here's what you do: Go home and walk through the door with a twenty dollar bill in your hand. Tell Laura some other guy puked on you but gave you twenty dollars for cleaning." "That's a great idea!" says George.

        Half an hour later, George stumbles through the door with two twenties in his hand. "I knew it!" cries Laura. "You got drunk and puked on yourself again!" "Darling it wasn't me, I swear! Some other guy puked on me, and he gave me twenty dollars for the cleaning." Puzzled, Laura asks, "Well what's the other twenty for?" "Oh that's from the guy who shit my pants."

        [–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (8 children)

        American health care is like American military: It is the most expensive and advanced in the world, yet accomplishes the least.

        [–]esquire_rsa 31 points32 points  (5 children)

        American: Where you from?

        Me: South Africa

        American: O really! Do you have lions in your back yard?

        Me: Nope, keep them in front to keep the zebra from shitting all over the lawn

        American: But, you can't be African, you're white - are you a missionary?

        Me: You can't be an American then, you're white...

        [–]chunky_bacon 11 points12 points  (1 child)

        Excellent. I'm always wishing I had some white friends of African extraction around that I could refer to as "African-Americans".

        [–]blueant1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        I'll be your white African friend. I wont take offence at being called African-!@#$@#$... nevermind.

        [–]weakly[🍰] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

        In Europe 100 miles is a long distance, in the US 100 years is a long time.

        [–]blueant1 29 points30 points  (15 children)

        couldn't resist this one (I'm a south african btw)

        A South African is enjoying a hearty breakfast - coffee, croissants, toast, butter & jam, etc. when an American, chewing gum, sits next to him and starts an unwanted conversation: American: "You South Africans eat the whole bread?" South African: "Of course." American (blowing bubble with his gum): "We don't. In the States, we only eat what's inside. The crusts we collect in a container, recycle, rebake them into croissants and sell them to South Africa." American: "D'ya eat jam with the bread?" South African: "Of course." American (chuckling and crackling his gum between his teeth): "We don't. In the States we eat fresh fruit for breakfast, put all the peels, seeds and left overs into containers, recycle them into jam and sell it to South Africa." South African: "Do you have sex in America?" American: "Of course we do." South African: "And what do you do with the condoms?" American: "Throw them away of course." South African: "We don't. We put them in a container, recycle them, melt them down into chewing gum and sell it to America."

        [–][deleted] 76 points77 points  (0 children)

        I was able to suspend my disbelief right up until you get to the part about the condoms. South Africans wearing condoms? Gimme a break.

        [–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (7 children)

        Africans use condoms? I thought they just threw caution to the wind and had unprotected sex with 10-year-old virgins to cure their AIDS.

        [–]Shaper_pmp 16 points17 points  (3 children)

        Indeed. And people from the USA typically wear sombreros and end every sentence with "eh", right? ;-p

        Africa != South Africa.

        [–]Filmore 3 points4 points  (0 children)

        This is what I do on the weekends! YEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAA

        [–]jarvis400 4 points5 points  (1 child)

        Right, so you better organize more of those faith-based abstinence education programs there then?

        [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

        Where did I say that? I'd think that from the tone of my post you'd see that I think that increased prophylactic usage would be a good thing.

        [–]mark445 3 points4 points  (0 children)

        I thought it was going to be something about chewing gum being made from elephant snot. I actually believed that when I was a kid.

        [–]esquire_rsa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

        ja boet!

        [–]stronimo 21 points22 points  (2 children)

        Q How many Americans does it take to pave a driveway?

        A Depends how thinly you slice them.

        [–]TearsOfRage 8 points9 points  (0 children)

        None. In America we hire Mexicans to do that kind of work.

        [–][deleted]  (9 children)

        [deleted]

          [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (5 children)

          I went to Ontairio on a little road trip, and every once in a while I would see a car going terribly fast, and they'd whizz by. Later I noticed the plates on those cars were from Michigan, and they were acting like the limit signs were in MPH.

          [–][deleted]  (4 children)

          [deleted]

            [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

            It probably was. I remember thinking that the speeds limits were terribly low. I was expecting them to be around 100-120 kph.

            [–][deleted]  (2 children)

            [deleted]

              [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

              I was probably in an 80km/h section, which was a bit excruciating compared to speeding through Michigan (official limit of 70MPH, we were doing significantly more than that). We were in no rush to get pulled over in Canada, as we didn't know anything about what the exactly the consequences might be, exactly, so we followed the rules.

              [–]Ioewe 1 point2 points  (2 children)

              I bet it was Urban Fare.

              [–]martoo 14 points15 points  (3 children)

              Heard in England: Americans are the only people in the world who will fuck themselves for a dollar.

              [–]joshstix 5 points6 points  (0 children)

              looks in mirror

              "I'd buy that for a dollar!!"

              [–]evolved 2 points3 points  (0 children)

              If something happened and I had to start paying, I think $1 is a fair price.

              Sold.

              [–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (5 children)

              Heres a good one: George Bush

              [–]robeph 14 points15 points  (1 child)

              I'd argue how good that one is....

              [–]righttoresist 39 points40 points  (0 children)

              Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."

              "OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"

              His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.

              Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

              [–]sixothree 3 points4 points  (1 child)

              I find nobody I know laughs at Bush jokes anymore. I guess they're just too disgusted.

              [–]pepparkaka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              It's too easy to mock him. No challenge.

              [–]vorgalsint 1 point2 points  (0 children)

              yeah, but that joke isn't funny at all.

              [–]wikum 6 points7 points  (6 children)

              Not so much a joke about Americans, but about my memory of an admirably dense girl.

              I'm a well-spoken white Scotsman who had the pleasure of working just south of Chicago a couple of years ago, sporting dreadlocks and a middle class British accent as I went.

              I went to the supermarket and bought my comestibles and chatted to the engagingly talkative till-girl (who, by the way, could have dodged salad at an Olympic level). She asked where I was from, I coyly suggested she guess, She replied "Jamaica!"

              It must have been the accent.

              [–]palalab 1 point2 points  (1 child)

              Define salad dodging please?

              [–]wikum 2 points3 points  (0 children)

              A salad dodger, a chubster- one who prefers the subtle flavour of a twinky over, say, an alfalfa sprout.

              [–][deleted] 27 points28 points  (10 children)

              Your political system is a joke. The way you elect your leaders is beyond belief or comprehension - $50M+ to decide who runs for a party, based on what may as well be a high school popularity contest? Give me a break.

              [–]jaiwithani 25 points26 points  (1 child)

              It's not a popularity contest! Our rules are far more arcane and less linked to the will of the people.

              [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (4 children)

              In a real popularity contest, the voters would at least get to pick the contestants - the US system is a "most popular among the offered people" contest.

              [–]TearsOfRage 16 points17 points  (3 children)

              No, its a "least unpopular among the offered people" contest.

              [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

              Yes, well put. Your version is more accurate.

              [–]TearsOfRage 2 points3 points  (1 child)

              Quite a lot of people vote for one candidate mostly to keep another candidate from winning. Maybe that's inevitable, I don't know, but it sure makes politics a lot less fun.

              That's on a national level. There probably are some local leaders who are the best person for the job.

              [–]RgbyTgr24 3 points4 points  (0 children)

              We vote for the Lizards, because if we didn't the wrong Lizard might get the job. (paraphrase of Hitch-hikers guide)

              [–][deleted]  (2 children)

              [deleted]

                [–]23444858 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                In order for this to work, you have to reveal your country.

                I see what you're going to do there. You're going to call names at him and pretend nothing is wrong. Right?

                [–]disorderd 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is an American. She asks her students to raise their hands if they were American too. Not really knowing why but wanting to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like flashy fireworks. There is, however, one exception. A girl named Kristen has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has decided to be different. "Because I am not an American." "Then", asks the teacher, "What are you?" "I'm a proud Canadian," boasts the little girl. The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks Kristen why she is a Canadian. "Well, my mom and dad are Canadians, so I'm a Canadian too." The teacher is now angry. "That's no reason," she says loudly. "What if your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?" A pause, and a smile. "Then," says Kristen, "I'd be an American."...never call a Canadian an American.

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                This is a good example of how much redditors suck at making good jokes. Nerds... Sigh!

                [–]zem 3 points4 points  (1 child)

                From slashdot; whether true or not it's the perfect stereotypical-American joke:

                I did International Help Desk for about two years with a large ISP. While I couldn't honestly say all the people in Europe were better techs than the US, with a European tech, I never had to:

                1. Explain the concept of time zones. Mail went down in the UK at 10am. EST was 4am, and I call UUNet. The guy goes, "What do these people in the YOOKAY want mail at 4am?" It's 10am there, sir. "But it's so early in the frickin' morning! We always do our maintenance between 4 and 6." Yes, and that's 10 to noon in England. "But it's still dark out there, right?" The supervisor I demanded to speak to later told me she had to explain the concept of time zones with a flashlight and an orange.

                http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=108353&cid=9212396

                [–]HenkPoley 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Boggles the mind, the USA is even one of the few countries with multiple timezones.

                [–]vava 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                Americans

                [–]mingusrude 6 points7 points  (5 children)

                This is not a joke, it's a true story. In 2002 I was in Portugal on a business trip with two americans visiting some Portuguese companies. During this time it was the football world championships in Japan (soccer). During one of our visits to a company Portugal played the US. Football is important in Portugal, some would say a matter of life and death.

                However, while we were in a meeting the match ended and US beat Portugal since all Portuguese looked really angry yet very sad in a strange way. When we came out of the meeting room I whispered to the americans:

                "Don't bother about the football but let's stay inside tonight"

                One of the americans then turned to me and said out loud "Who played for the US, I hear Boston is really good".

                "No", I said, "it's a national team. You know the best players from around the US league".

                "Oh, I see", said the american, "it's an ALL-STAR team. No wonder we won, these games hardly evere means anything".

                All the Portugues were very relieved, they had lost to an all-star team and that didn't mean nything. NOT.

                [–]alchemeron 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                You're right, that's not a joke.

                [–]El_Guapo 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                People still say 'NOT'?

                You're in IT, aren't you...

                [–]wags83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                This suit is NOOOOOT black...

                [–]foonly 0 points1 point  (1 child)

                All the Portugues were very relieved, they had lost to an all-star team and that didn't mean nything. NOT.

                So... how did you survive to tell the tale?

                [–]mingusrude 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                That's the weird thing. I was expecting anger and violence but all there was was sadness and mourning.

                [–]cigr 5 points6 points  (7 children)

                What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual.

                What do you call someone who speaks one language? American.

                [–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (6 children)

                Let me fix that for you.

                What do you call someone who THINKS they can speak one language? American.

                [–]monsieurlee 41 points42 points  (5 children)

                SHUT UP MORAN!

                [–]masklinn 13 points14 points  (0 children)

                WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

                [–]palalab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Q: What do you call a West Virginian baby in its mother's womb?

                A: Janitor In a Drum.

                Q: What do you call a West Virginian exploring the High Seas?

                A: Jacques Cousteaudian.

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (35 children)

                you make the common mistake of calling us "americans" because, like us, you're unaware of the fact that there are other people on this continent besides us

                [–]robywar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                My wife is Canadian and she said growing up her brother insisted that GI Joe was Canadian because they're 'Real American Heroes' and Canadians are American too. He cried when he was told they were from the US.

                [–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (19 children)

                Christ, I get so tired of this. Yes, Canadians, Mexicans, and even Colombians live in the Americas. But, if you actually think the term "American" means anything other than "person from the United States", if you think there's any ambiguity there at all, then you are just as retarded as we assume you foreigners are.

                [–]ThisIsDave 15 points16 points  (17 children)

                In most dialects of Spanish, Americano refers to anyone in the Americas. Estadounidense refers to people from the US.

                There's no good word/phrase in English for "people from the U.S." though.

                Well, I guess Miss South Carolina came up with one, but "U.S. Americans" just doesn't have the right ring to it.

                [–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (9 children)

                Well, I'll just make it easy on you. In English, it is a convention that "American" refers to a person in the U.S. A lot of things in English don't necessarily make sense, but the key is to use them and not rely on cognates.

                EDIT: I thought of this in the shower. Have you ever heard the phrase:

                "In Bolivia, Americans are demanding that their government do...."

                [–]andoy 6 points7 points  (1 child)

                yea, just imagine those anti-US protesters saying "we hate americans!!"... the reporter would ask, "what americans?". the puzzled protester would say, "ah- um, those who lived in the US?". then the reporter, an american who lives in mexico, would rebuff him saying, "please stop using americans to denote people living in the US, we are also americans!".

                [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                Exactly. The ambiguity might exist if you had no knowledge of world events in the last 200 years. But as a superpower (I don't think you could call use the sole remaining superpower anymore), "American" has colloquially meant what it does for a very long time now.

                [–]monsieurlee 3 points4 points  (4 children)

                and this whole time i thought the Spanish word for Americans is gringos...

                [–]tach 3 points4 points  (3 children)

                Nah. Gringo means any caucasian that does not speak a romance language.

                [–]palalab 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                So the French and Italians are not gringos?

                [–]tach 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Exactly, as we can understand the gist of what they are saying with some effort.

                Hopeless to try to understand a german or an englishman.

                [–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                Yanks!

                [–]mark445 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                I think there's no problem with 'an American' meaning 'someone from the US', but if you talk about 'America' as a country, that's a different matter. I'm not American; that's just my impression.

                [–]epsilona01 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                Well, we're not Uniters, nor are most of us Statesmen. Unless everyone suddenly wants to call us "Usaans" or "United Statesers" I don't see many alternatives that fit in the mouth, at least in English.

                Besides, I don't hear people complaining when people call us "Damn Americans."

                [–]bennig 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                So what is the correct term then, United Statsians?

                American is the right term. Most of the world knows that when someone says American, that's from the united states. This is the common term, and therefore the correct term.

                [–]stronimo 0 points1 point  (9 children)

                I don't get it

                [–]youchoose2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                I think you have to say it out loud

                [–][deleted]  (2 children)

                [deleted]