I lived for over four years in Germany. I am of mostly Norwegian stock but also have some German blood as well. To a person, they could clock me as American before I opened my mouth. Everywhere I went most Germans automatically addressed me in English. Not sure what it was, but I know exactly what you mean with the Italian girl from Italy (as opposed to Little Italy ;))
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Linkmeister - I’d forgotten about that phrase. Exactly. Those French know a thing or two.
dk - I’m inclined to think that we must carry our culture in our body language. And it must be pretty subtle, yet easily recognized. I wonder what ours says about us.
I did walk out of the store, this evening, thinking, “Man, she was a breath of fresh air.”
My studying French from 8th grade through 12th had some impact on my vocabulary. My pronunciation’s still pretty good, but don’t ask me to converse in the language. The one chance I had (Paris for about a week) I got a lot of funny looks. And yes, the residents seemed to know I was American.
One definition of intuition that I like is that it is “what you know that you don’t know that you know.” There are likely all sorts of subtle cues about the woman that you’re not consciously aware of that you put together to realize she wasn’t a local. You’re lucky in that way. Many people have no intution at all.
That’s an interesting thought, Pablo. I suppose it depends on the definition of intuition. Whether it is the brain picking up subtle cues that are not readily apparent to the conscious side of the brain or some kind of metaphysical sensing. I much prefer the former over the latter. The thing is though, when Americans travel abroad it’s like they have a big neon sign over their head flashing “AMERICAN”.
I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed this when I’ve been in Boston or New York. Maybe because there are so many people from so many different places, no one really stands out as different from the rest. In New York practically everyone you meet is originally from someplace else and a multitude of languages flow around you.
In my small town where we don’t have a lot of foreign visitors, it’s much easier to discern ‘different’.
It’s kind of an interesting phenom to consider.
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That’s why they call it “je ne sais quoi.”