Originally Posted by
Jan Olieslagers
@Genghis: if this is from a writer, she/he might well improve on spelling and grammar!
@Silvaire: admitting I never left Europe, and also admitting I do am biased against US'ans in general, I still want to point out I come across people from many countries, working in Brussels and living only 20 kms off. Not that all Europeans have much broader knowledge, it depends on the country. France is poor in this respect and Spain is worse. And yes, many people never leave their own country, and even if they do it is often without taking any interest in the place they are visiting - I think equally low of the typical Belgian tourist who travels to Spain or Turkey on a charter plane, to spend two weeks on the beach and/or disco, and only eats "bifstèk-frites"! But if I get in touch with a foreigner who blatantly hasn't prepared the trip at all, it is usually a US'an. Yourself are an obvious exception, and are well aware of that. I do like your image of "an adult Disneyland"!
Fair point, but not all writers have been published (or ever will be), and having been an editor from time to time of both an encyclopaedia and an academic journal, you may take my word for it that some "professional" users of written English are not as good as the average standard on this thread! I used to subscribe to a professional writers newsletter (well, some of us were) that always contained a degree of poorly written bleating about "why won't these bar-steward editors ever publish me". On the other hand I recently joined the Society of Authors (a UK centric trade union for writers) who won't let you in unless you have at least one published book, and self published doesn't (normally) count - the standards of written English in their newsletter and website are things of beauty. So, not all is lost.
On the other point,all countries have well travelled intellectuals, just as all countries have closed minded homebodies. I am unconvinced that generalising, purely based upon the relative proportions, does much good on any level.
G