I love New York

[redbird]

I keep running into online articles, LJ comments, and so on that say that the difference between Europe and North America is that in Europe, you go 200 kilometers and run into 14 different languages, and anywhere you go you may see people who just got off the plane from Tunisia that morning.

I can run into 14 different languages in 20 kilometers, probably in two, never mind 200, and run into people who are just arrived from anywhere on the planet any random morning.

Comments

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

When we were in New York, it reminded us much more of London than of anywhere else we'd been in the US.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

They're both large, fast-paced and very diverse cities.

I kinda like London, but I wouldn't want to live there. Which is very similar to NY.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

London, New York, and Tokyo are in one category on my visit as often as possible lists. They're places where I like to go see new things, try new food, and see old friends. And they're enormously big cosmopolitan busy places with mass tran that *works*. I love that.

Also on my visit as often as possible lists, but with entirely different reasons are Dublin, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Where I go back to much loved places, eat much loved food, walk everywhere, and make new friends.

MKK

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I thought the real difference between US and UK is that in the UK 100 miles is a long way, and in the US 100 years is a long time...

Or at least that's what I was told...

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's what I thought too.

But I love NYC for what redbird describes. *remembers and smiles*

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Which would make NY more like London than most of the US...

I wonder if this is why 'middle america' worries about those who live in NYC, and other large, internationalised, cities?

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I wonder if this is why 'middle america' worries about those who live in NYC, and other large, internationalised, cities?

I'm sure there's something to this.

[ailbhe]

I suspect this comparison works a lot better if you say "in a small town in Europe, you go 200 kilometers..."

But it's a fairly feeble difference, really, unless the US is a lot more homogenous than I think anywhere could be. I much prefer "In Europe, 100 miles is a long way - in the US, 100 years is a long time."

[redbird]

I know that line/joke, and it's a different thing than I'm talking about. What I'm trying to get at is that there are many areas of the United States that are culturally and linguistically heterogeneous. It's not just New York City. It's Minneapolis. It's corners of Arkansas with large numbers of recent Mexican immigrants working in the meat-packing plants.

If 100 years were a long time, there wouldn't be so many people who get so worked up about the American Civil War.

[ailbhe]

Well, I did say the "go 200km" one was a bit feeble. But I *do* often encounter Americans who think my house is old because it's just over 100 years old. And I also encounter yurpeens who think that 100 miles is trivial. I just think it's a more effective generalisation.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I think I could run into 14 different languages within 20 kilometers even here in Seattle. I know grade schools that have that many different languages spoken.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

One of the key differences, I think, is that in Europe, the language of administration and government can change as you go as little as 200 km.

In North America (north of the US-Mexican border, you can be assured of being able to use English anywhere in contiguous forty-nine states and nine provinces. The sole exception to this is Quebec. (Even there, it's not as if you've arrived in France.)

I believe this is the difference people are reaching for when they make the comparison between Europe and America.

Moreover, once you cross the border into Mexico, you can go thousands of kilometers straight to Patagonia without expecting to speak anything but more or less intelligible dialects of Spanish (assuming you don't go through Belize, the Guyanas, or most importantly, Brazil). There are lots of indigenous languages, spoken by many people, but there again, the language of administration and government is clearly Castilian Spanish.

I'm wondering if there's anywhere else you can go quite as far in a single direction (more or less) and continue to speak the same language. I've actually never given thought to this question. Russian, perhaps, starting from St. Petersburg and ending in Vladivostok.