Questions about American English

Hi William,

A new thread has been created on the Mauritius forum.

Regards
Armand
Expat.com Team

Interested in things wrote:

Hey my name is William and I am an American born and raised.  I was talking to a Mauritian who lives in the U.s.a. ...What abnormalities did you notice about America such as the language, food, and mentality.  Also what did you think of the American English slang?  Was there anything about American English pronunciation and words which stuck out when you heard them?  With this last sentence I understand this is a Mauritian forum but when I posted in the U.S.A forum inquiring about this I could not receive any responses.

OK  I will give it a try  though I won't divulge much about myself ( watching the US TV shows in French on the island did impressed me-as a child-  about the US but then reality check hit me in the face once I landed there)* :

Abnormalities : I won't call  them as such but as cultural differences:
language: difficulty understanding people in the South especially in the Carolinas though Louisiana is OK
Have to get used to the slang depending on whether one is on the west coast or fly-over country or New England:
"Yo'all", "awesome" for even a stupid action, chilled out , babe ( just watch that word used on TV shows even when the characters  are  foul-mouthing each other), and military expressions in the corporate speak such as 'all-hand meeting", "dry-run', "straw man" , roll-out a product,
Same for pronunciation : the Bostonian about saying "Harvard" (i won't even try to say as a Bostonian).
or Eye(I)-Raq, Eye(I)-ran, lieutenant  etc

Food : apart from processed food and large portions in restaurant ( waste) I can appreciate the cuisine : BBQ and size of steaks in Texas to Haddock filet/sea food  in Maine to fusion on the west coast except for the watered-down of Ethnic food - such as Chinese food ( no authentic plates), a good Lebanese Shawarma

Mentality : well the typical questions as soon as you meet them and you haven't even taken a breath:
1. where do you come from , where is that and then the interest goes south when it is not in their expectation of locale.?
2. Why are you here?
3. what do you do for a living ( none of your business should be the reply in my books) ?
4. Which church do you attend if you live in the US or on a temp stay either for studies or biz?
5. The mentality that everything can be or is to be litigated  ( thus the scam artists and the ambulance chasers promoting their services) or be bought

Hope I did not offend you  ( have lived and worked in the US and still visiting from across the 49th parallel )
*BTW: Watching the bionic woman in french on TV , La Jolla was my favourite place in the US and it still is   
I guess I didn't pick-up on the slang or pronunciation since everything was dubbed in French but I had a fun time communicating with the Cajuns when I made a special trip to Louisiana and picked up on some words which are similar to Kréol.

yeah no it didn't offend me.  As Americans we're not ultra sensitive about our nationality.  Anyways it's interesting what you said.  I was talking to another Mauritius person and he pretty much said the same thing about the food and Americans lack of interest in topics they don't know about.  I really appreciate the response man, thanks!