text: what do people think when they hear 'american'? honestly. i'm curious if there is any pattern... stereotypes, etc. share what you think. i spend a lot of time with tourists & expariots from all over the world when iam i viet nam.... the tourest seem to like americans and often agree w/ our administrations polocies... which suprises the heck out of me, cause i surely dont.. the viet namese like americans and i'm treated very well there even by the north vietnamese. the "ex-pats" however seem to have a diffrent view [ not all but a lot] they seem to look at americans as low class bullys.  i'll sit and drink beer & converse with them but i get the feeling they have little respect for me or my ideas.. but most of them more about world polotics[ including american polotics than i... they also all seem to know 3-4 diffrent langueges, and take that for granted... you have to go a  l o n g  way to find an american that can speak 2... they all seem to think we have more money than they but are not impressed or resentfull w/ that ... not that they should be... it just comes w/ living in our[ usa ]type of economy. i arrived in viet nam just a few days after we invaded iraq... i thought i was in for big trouble.. i even made out a will!   but no one even brought up the subject!?!??!  oh p.s,  they love bill clinton, hate bush........... ......i just read some of the other responses and would like to add this:  yes ,some of us are very loud... i know i am. however i have 2 friends that spend time overseas and they are pretty mellow...they think i'm loud!! lol ! i am.... not an excuse but an explanation, i've given this some thought for a long time... in america we have it pretty good our reffrigerators are always full we all have our own cars, nice clothes and get to take vactions all over the world.... of course we feel good about ourselfs.. especially after we've worked hard [ 40 hrs a week, 50 weeks a yr] and now get a change to vacation and party... we're used to freedom of speach and action ... we take it for granted our culture is diffrent from many other places... when we go to france we dont mean to be insulting or loud ...we're just being who we are at home... and american people are very good and kind ....we dont ask the french or anyone else to act diffrently when they come here. ever since i was in the army many yrs ago i was always told to respect other peoples culture even when they come to this country..."dont speak to the woman", "shake hands this way" "pass food that way" etc....i wonder if other people are told to do the same thing when they are comming to the usa, " talk loud", "eat while you walk" buy a lot of things you dont need.....??