As You Wish

What is the word for

I know there is a perfect word for this type of person or this behavior.

A friend of ours appears to be a really nice guy. He is very charasmatic, he tries to get along with everyone and he's charming. But, I started to realize that he (and his wife who is NOT friendly-don't get me started) complain about everything. He recently went on a business trip to Buenos Aires. Now, I have family ties to BA, I grew up culturaly Argentinian in the US. Before he goes, he asks advice about what to eat, what to check out, etc. I figure he will have someone with them who will show them around, take them out. I suggest foods he try, areas of town that are amazing to check out, you know, give him a basic rundown.

When he gets back, I'm excited to hear how he liked it. Everyone raves about BA and I am always so happy to share that part of me with friends. I mean this is my culture, my roots, my identity. So he says, "Eh, not so impressed." HUH????? He wasn't impressed with the city, the food, the culture, anything. He continues to tell me that the cuts of meat were all wrongly cooked, he asked for it one way, it would come another way. He wouldn't try any of the specialty meats (yes, you Americans think it's nasty, but your ancestors ate every part of those animals, too). The boulevards were neat, like Europe, but not as nice. The shops were cheap.

I have been stewing for days. I mean here was this schmuck dismissing my entire culture in one huge sweep because of his 3 or 4 days worth of experience.

Well, I was too disturbed to post this immediately, now I've had some time away from the experience and I finally feel sad for him. He is one of those ego-centric Americans the world hates because they want everything to entertain them, parade for them and show them the goodies (and they better be nicer than we have it here). I don't think he'll every really get to understand and experience another culture if he can't see how exciting the differences are instead of comparing.

posted by mellonhead @ 8/09/2006 03:25:00 PM