"Let's never ever eat a meal together."

BBC posted an article on Thursday, August 9 with the rather interesting headline "10 Things Americans Say... And What They Really Mean." The article, written by Ruth Margolis, yielded some seriously negative reactions from the correspondents at the Johnson blog by The Economist. I, however, didn't respond quite as harshly and even thought some of the points were funny:

1. When an American shop assistant says, "Have a nice day!"
Translation: "Honestly, I don't care what kind of day you have. But please tell my manager I was friendly so I get extra commission."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I will sob myself to sleep if I subsequently learn that you had a less than adequate day."

2. When an American you've just met says, "Let's have lunch sometime."
Translation: "Let's never ever eat a meal together."
Definitely doesn't mean: "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth."

The blog on The Economist points out that Margolis had recently moved to Brooklyn, and it's definitely safe to say that she hasn't encountered the friendliest people in her move. If you have any doubts about that, just read the other eight points on the list of what she calls America's most irritating idioms. Margolis's points about Americans are overdramatic generalizations, but I probably find them to be amusing because I don't think she intended them to be taken 100% seriously. Take my post on the stupid things Mittens says and does, for example. I know that Mitt Romney is not an entirely stupid man. That post was intended to be more of a political rant than a description of his exact persona.

Margolis probably encountered some offensive people in her first few days/weeks in Brooklyn and decided to run with the global generalization that all Americans are rude, just like I got frustrated with all of Romney's shenanigans and decided to take advantage of the unfortunate mistakes he makes.

If you disagree, think about it this way: do you think any shop assistant anywhere in the world does home and sobs him/herself to sleep if you say you're having a bad day? Do you think anyone ever means "I urgently need to see you put food in your mouth" when they ask you to lunch? Of course not.