why is america so weird?after having frequented this country for many years, and after recently even establishing myself here, i continue to be amazed by the intrinsic weirdness of this land
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americans probably don't like european windows because they open up into the room and take up space for no reason. i dont think i have ever seen them open out. they are messy. also, i find the screen issue evoked by sahn to be very compelling. see my comment on this.
as i said in that comment, we have some european windows in my house in california. we almost never open them because they are a pain in the ass. they hang out in the middle of the room where one of my cousin's babies can hit her head on them. also, there is the screen issue. but they are pretty. which is why we have them in the first place.
i appreciate your engagement to defend american "windowery"!
first, concerning the taking up space issue: i must say that i am a bit amused that americans, who usually own ridiculously enormous houses, should be concerned with a few cubic decimetres (feet) lost here or there. but i think it is also a question of window-philosophy. there may be two different conceptions of window: for the first one, perhaps the american one, a window is useful because it permits light to float through and brighten your house, and because you can look outside. you can also open it, but not too much, and you make sure no bugs come in. it is more glass than opening. the idea of an aquarium come to my mind. the second conception would consider the window as one of the many gates of your house or home. it is usually larger, and you can open it entirely, and you can also exit and enter the house through it (if need be). you arrange your furniture around it as if it were a gate and not as if it were a picture. who has ever complained that doors take up
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also, i must say that i definitely noticed the strangeness of windows when i got to europe. in germany they are even different from those in france. you turn the handle and they can incline inward at the top, allowing a little bit of air to come in just at the top of the window. when you turn the handle the other way, they open inward in the normal european way. they are kind of cool. how are windows in switzerland?
same windows in US and EURgeoblvdDecember 21 2004, 15:05:28 UTC
my present apartment and my former house in Europe (western Deutschland) have the same type of windows. These kind tilt rather than open like a door or slide up and down. Neither had bug screens.
what i never understood were those faucets where the cold comes out of one faucet and the hot comes out of the other. also: toilet bowls/tanks vary from country to country. and why do almost all americans drive automatics? or rather, why dont europeans?
i can only attempt an answer to your third question:
old automatic transmissions only worked well with large engines. unlike in the us, these used to be taxed heavily in europe, thereby driving the constructors to build engines with the smallest displacement possible. and because of this, to mostly forego automatic transmissions.
nowadays, thanks to better technology, they are becoming more popular though...
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as i said in that comment, we have some european windows in my house in california. we almost never open them because they are a pain in the ass. they hang out in the middle of the room where one of my cousin's babies can hit her head on them. also, there is the screen issue. but they are pretty. which is why we have them in the first place.
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first, concerning the taking up space issue: i must say that i am a bit amused that americans, who usually own ridiculously enormous houses, should be concerned with a few cubic decimetres (feet) lost here or there.
but i think it is also a question of window-philosophy. there may be two different conceptions of window: for the first one, perhaps the american one, a window is useful because it permits light to float through and brighten your house, and because you can look outside. you can also open it, but not too much, and you make sure no bugs come in. it is more glass than opening. the idea of an aquarium come to my mind.
the second conception would consider the window as one of the many gates of your house or home. it is usually larger, and you can open it entirely, and you can also exit and enter the house through it (if need be). you arrange your furniture around it as if it were a gate and not as if it were a picture. who has ever complained that doors take up ( ... )
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al-x
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if it was an army home it is very likely that the windows in germany were of american fabrication.
al-x
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al-x
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old automatic transmissions only worked well with large engines. unlike in the us, these used to be taxed heavily in europe, thereby driving the constructors to build engines with the smallest displacement possible. and because of this, to mostly forego automatic transmissions.
nowadays, thanks to better technology, they are becoming more popular though...
al-x
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