Only in America

[nq:1]What do Americans say when we say "Only in America"?[/nq]
I'm confused. Who's "we"?
Is your question, "What do Americans mean when they say 'Only in America'?
It's a thing people say after a complaint, usually "Only in this country would such a stupid thing happen." Often bureaucratic foul-ups, red tape.
99% percent of the time they're wrong when they say that, in my experien

[nq:1]It's a thing people say after a complaint, usually "Only in this country would such a stupid thing happen." Often bureaucratic foul-ups, red tape.[/nq]
In Europe, or at least Denmark, we say it when something we find stupid happens in the USA, such as a law suit against McDonald's for serving hot coffee. That is when what we perceive as "common sense" seems completely suspended.
It c

[nq:2]What do Americans say when we say "Only in America"?[/nq]
[nq:1]I'm confused. Who's "we"? Is your question, "What do Americans mean when they say 'Only in America'? It's a thing ... actually have no firm idea whether the thing they are complaining could happen outside America. But they assume it couldn't.[/nq]
Interesting. I hear it the other way. Some kid grows up in a tar-paper sha

[nq:2]It's a thing people say after a complaint, usually "Only in this country would such a stupid thing happen." Often bureaucratic foul-ups, red tape.[/nq]
[nq:1]In Europe, or at least Denmark, we say it when something we find stupid happens in the USA, such as a law suit against McDonald's for serving hot coffee. That is when what we perceive as "common sense" seems completely suspended.[/n

[nq:1]The coffee in McDonald's was not "hot." It was much too hot.[/nq]
That kind of reply as well as the referenced web site is a very good example of what might make me (and with me the majority of europeans I suppose) exclaim "only in America".
I almost can't not comment on the content, but I think it's better not to.

If you are interested in the local history of the ima

[nq:1]The problem we have with these things is that it makes it seem as if people are stupid and unable ... say the exact opposite: That the individual has both the right and ability to take care of him or herself.[/nq]
It's not clear here if you realize that most Americans share those exact feelings and agree that these lawsuits are frivolous and the people that bring them are idiots.
Eve

[nq:2]The coffee in McDonald's was not "hot." It was much too hot.[/nq]
[nq:1]That kind of reply as well as the referenced web site is a very good example of what might make me (and with me the majority of europeans I suppose) exclaim "only in America".[/nq]
You're from Denmark, right? So there's a country where everyone's forced to belong to the Venture Scouts and grown men are req

[nq:1]It's not clear here if you realize that most Americans share those exact feelings[/nq]
I haven't seen any polls on the subject, but I certainly realize that not all people are the same regardless of nationality.

It was not my intent to discuss "Americans" - only certain things about the image of US-America inherent in the use of the expression "only in America".
As such it i

[nq:2]The coffee in McDonald's was not "hot." It was much too hot.[/nq]
[nq:1]That kind of reply as well as the referenced web site is a very good example of what might make ... suppose) exclaim "only in America". I almost can't not comment on the content, but I think it's better not to.[/nq]
I'd be very interested in hearing your comment since I am contending that the lawsuit was n

[nq:1]What do Americans say when we say "Only in America"?[/nq]
This is one of many American phrases of the early 20th century (and perhaps earlier) expressing that the USA was a historically and psychologically unique place. People who had not known it earlier learned it as the title of a best-selling book by a US newspaperman
approx. 1950.

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs