Do Americans have it better?

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

When we in Europe talk about 'Americans' we generally mean people from the U.S.; although anyone in South, Central or North America is also an American.

I often wonder - do non-U.S. Americans mind us using 'American' in that way?

For this reason, I tend to try to use 'USA' when I can and be context sensitive about when I use 'Americans' to refer to citizens of USA.

Originally Posted by Sparrow

(I'd be a tad disconcerted if the term 'European' was assumed to refer to a particular European country.)

Agreed - but it's not a big deal at all, and I try to remember that USA is such a vast, varied country, in many ways as varied as Europe. What *do* irk me, is the use of 'EU' to refer to Europe - it's far from the same thing.


And with regards to the OP: if we weigh in options such as higher taxation in many European countries, that US is overall a more uniform market (think of Amazon having to negotiate deals with phone companies for each European country), legal issues, I'm not surprised the market looks like it does.

Also, most people I know don't read fiction in English, and I would guess that the smaller the market is, the longer time it will take for a new - expensive - technology to penetrate and be developed.

Originally Posted by kazbates

..
As a side note, I don't tend to think of people living in the UK as European. I know that the UK is now a part of the European Union, but, for as long as I can remember people have made references to "the United Kingdom and Europe".
...

Geographically, culturally and historically Britain is certainly part of Europe.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Besides, internet purchases are taxed in Europe, so there is no incentive to buying on the net. If you have to pay shipment charges then you wind up paying more than in a store and you have to wait to get the goods.

Actually everything is taxed, not only the internet purchases. And the amount of people buying online is only increasing here. A long of people here go "window shopping" (only looking, not buying) to finally buy what they want on the internet. Generally cheaper and, in case of larger products, it's generally cheaper to have it delivered than then trying to get it home yourself.

Originally Posted by Sonist

Huh?

The median household income in the US is in fact rather hight (I believe in Europe only Luxembourg and Switzerland are higher.)

Come up with some other reason....

The difference between the "rich" and the "poor" is huge.

Originally Posted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth

In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth, and the top 1% controlled 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth.[13]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Isn't Mexico "central America" rather than North? My geography is a little vague .

Is Turkey part of the European Continent or the Asian one? You'll get different responses on this as well

Originally Posted by rgeorg

I had heard that the DVD regions were to prevent US DVDs being used/sold in Europe. The US DVDs are released in the US often a couple of months before the actual feature film makes it to theaters in Europe - and the concern was that people would buy the DVD rather than go to theaters...

Time to get movies at the same time everywhere. We know it can be done...

Originally Posted by kazbates

As a side note, I don't tend to think of people living in the UK as European. I know that the UK is now a part of the European Union, but, for as long as I can remember people have made references to "the United Kingdom and Europe".

Well, we all know that those English are a bit... crazy... So we don't want them as part of our European continent!

But seriously... Here, GB is generally seen in between Europe and the US. Take that introduction of the Kindle for example. A US product, not available in Europe. But what will be its first stepping stone into Europe? Great Britain. It's not because the market is bigger (actually, Germany has the most amount of citizens of the European Union), but because of the language. The biggest "jealousy" here is not targeted to the US, but to GB. That you have to pay extra for products from the US (or won't even be able to get it in a normal way) is taken for granted (large distance, a completely different country, etc). But that you have the same in the GB is more difficult to swallow. They're also part of the EU, so, I should be able to buy there, the same as I can buy in Germany or France. But that often isn't the case.

Originally Posted by kazbates

Lucky you! Frankly, the 4 weeks of vacation my husband gets each year is plenty. Anymore than that and he would start to get on my nerves! Seriously, that's one of the reasons I've encouraged my college age children to be extremely careful when choosing a career path. You spend a lot of time at work, so you better like what you do.

You don't have to use those 4 weeks in one go! I prefer to spread my 5 weeks over the year

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Actually in parts of Europe it is still believed and even taught that there are only 4 continents. Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. There are also a few large islands.

Dale

When I went to school, it was Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Australia. Oceania I only heard of much later (and I had no idea where to find it...)

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Oceania has been abducted by Adrian...

Oceania isn't even a large island!

Originally Posted by montsnmags

We're an old, old land, parochial, whose influence slowly and barely perceptibly trickles out to puddle in the low areas of the rest of the world. Thus, we refer to ourselves as the in-continent.

Ah, is that the reason you've so little land? It would cause a lot of soil erosion.

Originally Posted by Ea

For this reason, I tend to try to use 'USA' when I can and be context sensitive about when I use 'Americans' to refer to citizens of USA.

I generally say "American" for a citizen of the US of A, and North American for anybody from the North American continent, South American for anybody from the South American continent and Native American for the native inhabitants of both continents.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Is Turkey part of the European Continent or the Asian one? You'll get different responses on this as well

Geographic and cultural definitions don't always overlap 100%. For example, geographically, Europe's eastern border to Asia, is usually considered the Ural mountain range, so half of Russia is European. Culturally on the other hand, Russia does not belong to Europe.

As far as I know, it's only a little bit of Turkey that is geographically European, and IMO they are culturally Asian. Still, they could become member of the EU, since EU is (at least not yet) "United states of Europe" (I can't really imagine that)

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I generally say "American" for a citizen of the US of A, and North American for anybody from the North American continent, South American for anybody from the South American continent and Native American for the native inhabitants of both continents.

LOL - it gets difficult

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Is Turkey part of the European Continent or the Asian one? You'll get different responses on this as well

Hmmm... not to that specific question you shouldn't. Istanbul and its South-Balkan environs are in Europe, the rest is in Asia/Middle-East--making Turkey transcontinental.

I think the understandable confusion is about whether or not Turkey is a European country. And part of the confusion is due to the utter vagueness of such a question.

- Ahi

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by ahi

Hmmm... not to that specific question you shouldn't. Istanbul and its South-Balkan environs are in Europe, the rest is in Asia/Middle-East--making Turkey transcontinental.

- Ahi

Strictly speaking, half of Istanbul is in Europe.
Istanbul indeed is transcontinental.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Kostas

Strictly speaking, half of Istanbul is in Europe.
Istanbul indeed is transcontinental.

Cool. Do bridges connect the two halves?

- Ahi

[Sparrow]

The litmus test for a country being European is surely participation in the Eurovision Song Contest!

The 2010 lineup -
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark , Estonia, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by ahi

Cool. Do bridges connect the two halves?

- Ahi

Actually, I believe that there are 3 bridges (one more recent probably does not appear on the map) connecting european and asian side over the Marmara Channel (Bosphore) + a rail tunnel...
Though, not to far from here, never happened to go there...
It must be an exception for a Greek citizen...

[Kostas]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

The litmus test for a country being European is surely participation in the Eurovision Song Contest!

The 2010 lineup -
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark , Estonia, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Two remarks:
1) Israel... Hmmm


2) Fortunately, NOT all European countries do participate in the Eurovision Song Contest
What about Austria, for example? Could Europe be Europe without Austria??
Not to mention Italy (Europe without Renaissance, Vatican, espresso, pizza & gelato??? Oh noooo).
And last but not least, half of the European money is missing: Luxembourg and Liechtenstein...

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

The litmus test for a country being European is surely participation in the Eurovision Song Contest!

The 2010 lineup -
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark , Estonia, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

Well then thank God the Czechs have finally come to their senses.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by Kostas

Two remarks:
1) Israel... Hmmm

A second Russian entry?

- Ahi

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by ahi

Cool. Do bridges connect the two halves?

- Ahi

Turn on your graphic display and look at the map he posted.

Dale

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

...
The difference between the "rich" and the "poor" is huge.
....

Hm, not sure why this is relevant to my response to Cookie Monster, who argued, that:

"...The American market may be large but the median American has a relatively low income compared to many other developed nations hence the lower price.

In other countries prices are higher because that is what the market there can bear...."

I merely pointed out, that US "median household income" is rather hight.

Which in practice means, that those who fall below the poverty line, which is often calculated against median income, would likely have greater purchasing power, relative to countries with lower median income.

Which would suggest the opposite result relating to prices, to the one proposed by Cookie Monster.

[HansTWN]

Germany, Denmark, France, Japan come to mind, I don't know about Norway, Sweden, Holland -- I think the list of the countries with higher median incomes is longer than the one given by Sonist. But the reason why US prices are cheaper just comes down to three simple reasons. First US Americans are the greatest bargain seekers, and second they spend a much greater proportion of their income (which is why most people are heavily in debt). Third it is, for a lot of products, the biggest market in the world.

Cookie Monsters quote "what the markets there can bear..." was probably referring to the fact that people in the wealthy parts of Europe are not as sensitive to price as Americans, and thus you can charge more.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

The litmus test for a country being European is surely participation in the Eurovision Song Contest!

The 2010 lineup -
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark , Estonia, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom

I can't beleive Switzerland participated. I would think they'd remain neutral.