The International [Club] (LV approved)

[Jeff]

Mexico is a part of America too. Even a part of North America. Many people in your country seem to have the misconception that the term America applies to you alone. O_o

Actually, in English at least, the term "America" is short for "United States of America". The continents of North America and South America are collectively known as the Americas.

3. What is the worst part about your state? What's the one thing that you'd mention in a warning if someone were to visit?

The traffic, definitely. Being adjacent to DC, and having Baltimore just 45 miles from DC gives rise to one of the worst traffic situations in the country. I remember hearing that the Baltimore-Washington area is supposed to be 3rd of 4th worst metro area in the US in terms of traffic congestion. The Capital Beltway around DC and roads leading up to it are the worst. The Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which is part of the Capital Beltway, used to have only 3 lanes in each direction, but it was recently replaced it with a new bridge with 5 in each direction. The old bridge was famously demolished by someone who won a contest for the "worst Wilson Bridge traffic story". His entry? He was in the back of an ambulance trying to get across the bridge. Yup, he almost died because of the traffic. Also, people who commute in the DC area regularly go through their morning routine while sitting in traffic, I mean read the paper, drink coffee, shave, put on makeup, etc.

That's just DC. Other cities, like Baltimore and Annapolis have their own traffic problems. If someone were coming to visit me, unless they were coming from the east, (Delaware, New Jersey, etc.), I'd have to warn them about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is infamous for its traffic. The traffic isn't actually that bad, I only experience it from time to time. You just need to know when to cross. During the summer for example, never ever EVER attempt to go east on a Friday evening or west on Sunday. Of course there are unpredictable cases. I once had to sit in traffic for about 3-4 hours due to an accident on the bridge. It was a mess.

Edit: I notice people seem to be treating this like a poll, they just look at the questions in the first post and answer them never to return. I posted a question related to food a while back and no one seems to notice.

[Dark-San]

YAY DARKSAN IS BACK

I missed you *hug*

And where are you all these times prior to the day I went AWOL? At least, I have a reason and you don't. You owe me an explanation, elfy boy. ^.^

Speaking of which for the third question:

I supposed there isn't anything to worse part for my country. Crime rate is low. Financial services can be found anywhere. But if there is anything that I have to warn the outsiders, it would be the people. There is a small fraction of Singaporeans that are a bunch of selfish people. They refuses to help by shrugging their shoulders even though they know the solution to your problem. Well, I guess you find these kind of people everythere but it is just that in Singapore, the percentage is a little bit higher.

[Asilynne]

3. What is the worst part about your state? What's the one thing that you'd mention in a warning if someone were to visit?

People cant drive worth shit. Seriously. I know this because Im one of them ^-^()

It depends on where in the state you go I guess, I only have experience with northern VA so I dont know how it is in the south, but we also have a lot of whiny prius driving rich people who live in gated golf communities and sit in places like starbucks and panera with their high priced laptops being pretentious. Other than those kinds of people I really like my state ^v^

And Lady Vulpix you mentioned Empanadas which I firmly believe is one of the best foods on the planet!!! Do you have any good chicken empanada recipes to share? Im addicted to them but I dont want to have to pay so much at a restaurant when I can make em at home

[Jeff]

So that's why the traffic near DC is so bad, all those Virginians who can't drive! Kidding, people here can't drive either. It's mostly a DC thing, but I see it over my part of the state too. Aside from the people who read the newspaper in their car, etc., I also regularly see people weaving across other cars, jumping in and out of a merge lane to get around cars on the highway, or riding a merge lane to the end instead of merging in before it ends like they're supposed to. I once heard that if everyone who took the Capital Beltway drove like they were supposed to, then everyone would be able to go at least the speed limit all the way through, and yet the Capital Beltway is one of the most congested roads in the country.

[Asilynne]

Omg lol I havent been on the capital beltway to my knowledge but I always hear the horror stories on the traffic report on dc101 and hot 99.5. People around here text while their driving, cut people off, speed up when you pop your turn signal on so you cant merge in front of them, ride your ass because they want to speed and your doing the speed limit, turn left on red (that was me :X lol), and the Va state police are notorious for picking any reason to pull people over. The worst is when people do odd things while driving (like the texting but also putting on makeup, headbanging, and WATCHING TV OMG!! WHY!!) lol

Disclaimer: Im not so bad that I do all the above things while Im driving ^-^()
PS: People in KY drive worse, theyre lucky if their cars have brakes (at least where I was living at the time).

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

They say that in Haapavesi (a town where I used to live) people drive as if they were in the wild west. Here in Ylivieska they drive better but we may still have more accidents I reckon.

[MToolen]

Living right by a heavily commuted state border myself (MO-IL), I can say with certainty that each state has different styles (Missouri's is more impulsive, and Illinois's is more defensive); this accounts for somewhere around 80% of my anti-driving rants being blamed on "those d@*%! Missouri drivers."

[Asilynne]

...in the wild west.
...I reckon.

I see what you did there. ^-~

Which brings me to another discussion point. What are some local sayings you notice people around where you live tend to say?

In Virginia (or at least in the part Im in) people like to say "thank you much" which personally I find annoying. Is it really that hard to say the "very" that should be in that sentence? Or if you arent going to say Very then dont say Much. It just sounds dumb!!
Also I doubt this is true with many of the people older than me but a lot of people my age and younger also like to say stuff like "thats beast" or "Im such a beast" for the positive things and "thats so ghetto" or "thats gay" for the negative things. Those are the only things I can think of right now.

In Kentucky though, they have a lot of weird ones, most notably instead of saying "excuse me" or "Im sorry?" when they didnt hear what you said they would say "Please?" which confused the hell out of me when I lived there because I was just like "Please what?" lol

[Jeff]

The main things that come off the top of my head are mostly associated with Baltimore, but my family's originally from that area so I guess they count. "Down the ocean" means Ocean City, which is the only beach town in the state, if someone's going to any other beach, they'll usually just say whatever beach they're going to, but Ocean City is "down the ocean". The most famous saying associated with Baltimore though, is probably "hon". Everyone is everyone else's "hon" no matter what gender you both are, or for that matter, whether you even know them or not.

[Kyuuketsuki]

Let's see, Lady Vulpix directed me here.

I live in Bahrain, google it

1. What's special in your country/state? Something other countries/states haven't got or just what your country/state is known for?

Well, nothing is very special here, but we are the most open-minded country in the Arabian Gulf, we have bars and stuff you don't usually see in the other Arabain Gulf countries. It's an island, so we have plenty of sea, since it's also small, the sea is at most a 30 minutes drive from anyone, for me it's right outside We're probably the only country in the Middle East that is an island. We have a lot of people from diffrent countries here, so it's practically a mix bot, Arabs, Indians, British, Americans, Russian, Japanesse, Chinesse, People from other Middle Eastern countries, and the list goes on.

2. What about false beliefs regarding your location? Is there something that is misunderstood commonly?

Yeah, Middle East, you should know what that means, terrorists. And that all Arabian Women are covered in a black dress, while only 20% are, in here anyway.

[Drusilla]

Well, since this topic has been rezzed, I'd like to update with that I'm no longer in Texas. T_T I'm stalking the northern TPMers from Minnesota, a state that I know nothing about.... Except that people up here drink almost constantly. It's the area pasttime.

[Jeff]

People cant drive worth shit.

This.

People can't drive on our side of the Potomac either. Probably the main reason for the aforementioned traffic.

[DivineAll]

Now to include Washington. The State, not the capital.

1. What's special in your country/state? Something other countries/states haven't got or just what your country/state is known for?

Besides the massive amounts of trees that the state is nicknamed for, Washington is the home of the original Starbucks, the Space Needle, Nintendo of America HQ, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Costco HQ, Nordstrom HQ, Boeing, Amazon.com HQ, and, of course, our Red Delicious apples.

2. What about false beliefs regarding your location? Is there something that is misunderstood commonly?

Despite what some people think, not everything that I mentioned in 1 is found or originated in Seattle. Only a vast majority is, but not everything.

3. What is the worst part about your state? What's the one thing that you'd mention in a warning if someone were to visit?

I can't think of anything bad to say about Washington. However, I think I do have to mention that the weather here is quite... unpredictable at times. Sure, Washington is known for it's trees because it rains a lot, right? Well... the thing is that even if you've checked a weather forecast beforehand, it might be raining in one area and be sunny in a different one. The only time I ever think the weather is consistent around here is during the Summer, where it's pretty much sunshine every day with some rain every once in a while. However, beware around Winter here because if it does snow at least a bit, there is quite a bit of craziness.

[Lady Vulpix]

Wow, it's been a long time. I wonder if we can revive this club.

Sorry I never answered your question, Brandy. But the truth is the only empanadas I've ever made myself were the corn ones. The filling is a mixture of white sauce and yellow corn grains, with optional onion/nutmeg/pepper. As for the dough... I don't know how it's made, since you can buy it pre-made here.

OK, new question: what are - in your opinion - the best and worst things about your country's society?
Personally, something I like is that we don't have a big problem of racial or religious discrimination like some other countries do. There is a lot of ignorance and some prejudices, but usually the worst you see is some rude comments; not persecution, murder, nor refusal to hire or vote for someone based on their skin color or religion. My country's quite welcoming to homosexuals too. There are some xenophobic people, however, and way too many mysogynists. To the point that the "Ni una menos" campaign became a necessity in order to draw attention to the huge domestic violence and femicide problem. And there are strong political divisions, but then again that means most people are at least vaguely aware of local politics. And the vast majority of us vote (those of us who are old enough, of course). We're still trying to learn how to defend our rights since politicians keep screwing us again and again, but I have hope that Argentina will some day learn to make democracy work. Hopefully in my lifetime.

Oh, and having free public universities is great.