>OK, I hadn't seen any of those - can only go by what I've seen/heard in
>the last 3 years while here in Ohio : )
>The group here is probably better educated than the people I have worked
>with on the factory floor too.
>Might have caught me on a bad day too - caught someone muttering "Damn
>foreigner" after I ordered food from them - and I wasn't rude etc - just
>had to ask what options there were for some items they had.
>(I do expect to have the odd problem being understood - but not that much
>being from NZ , I only speak english - never did take that german course)

        Eoin, I'll throw some light in the subject:

        I'm Brazilian. As every third-worlder, we are considered bad-educated and=
 unpolite. But you don't see it here. Americans, also tend to be too much=
 nationalists - as germans were in the times of the Third Reich. The fact=
 is: Less culture, more prone to unpoliteness!!! I know brazilians who are=
 polited like english lords. Also, I know americans that are so dammed,=
 they don't deserve even be alive (er...Bush? :oD).

        The politeness isn't in the origin of the people, but in how much=
 education had been given to him. There are a great majority of brazilians=
 who are very unpolited. Just because they were born in a poor place, got=
 no education, no attention from his/her family and was literally "thrown=
 in the world alone". - Completely different from the ones who got good=
 grade education and attention from their family.

        People need more education. Internet is a good way to get it. That's why=
 people in the net USE TO BE more polite than you can find around you.


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Alexandre Souza
taito@terra.com.br
http://planeta.terra.com.br/lazer/pinball/

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