Differences
Here are seven sets of five things that have struck us:
Food
1. There is no peanut butter, but there’s plenty of dulce de leche
2. People eat vast amounts of barbecued meat (parilla) and hardly any beans
3. Empanadas
4. Breakfast doesn’t exist, or consists of a couple small pastries (medialunas); dinner takes place at 10 pm
5. Mate
Appearance
1. The women are beautiful, aided not infrequently by surgery, and often anorexic
2. Nobody wears glasses
3. Men with blond hair stick out; since most people are what we’d call “white” in the US, hair and eye color are used to make almost racial distinctions between people
4. Preppy-ness is very in (eg. polo shirts) -- paired with long, unkempt hair on men
5. Schoolchildren wear guardapolvos -- doctor-like gowns (literally: dust-guards)
Driving-related
1. At night headlights are generally put on a dim mode that cars don’t have in the US, and turned on fully only to alert somebody in your path; that is, they’re used like a horn
2. Seatbelts aren’t used
3. Most intersections, even downtown, lack stoplights and signage
4. The lights flash yellow before they change to green, in case you want a head start
5. Calling taxis is the norm here for security reasons, and they come in under 5 minutes
The single lifestyle
1. Most people live with their parents through their early 20’s
2. Public affection
3. People go out much later at night, and stay out forever
4. Aggressive and romantic men
5. When you set somebody up, you “hacer de cupido,” or “make cupid”
Money-related
1. Health care and schooling (including college) are free
2. Electronics are extremely expensive
3. It’s almost too obvious: there is highly favorable exchange rate
4. Dial-up internet service is free
5. Salaries are calculated monthly
Language
1. Argentines use vos in place of tu
2. Conjugations for the vos form are made simply by replacing the final -r of the infinitive with an -s and accenting the last syllable: vos tenés instead of tu tienes
3. The pronunciation of “ll” and “y” sounds like the English “sh” – outside the city of Buenos Aires it has more of a “z” sound to it
4. If you want to strengthen an adjective, put re- before it (refuerte, rebien etc)
5. You don’t say coger here
Other striking differences
1. Cartoneros
2. Pregnant people are everywhere
3. Graffiti is left up forever
4. Bidets are found in nearly every house
5. Normalcy of protests
Food
1. There is no peanut butter, but there’s plenty of dulce de leche
2. People eat vast amounts of barbecued meat (parilla) and hardly any beans
3. Empanadas
4. Breakfast doesn’t exist, or consists of a couple small pastries (medialunas); dinner takes place at 10 pm
5. Mate
Appearance
1. The women are beautiful, aided not infrequently by surgery, and often anorexic
2. Nobody wears glasses
3. Men with blond hair stick out; since most people are what we’d call “white” in the US, hair and eye color are used to make almost racial distinctions between people
4. Preppy-ness is very in (eg. polo shirts) -- paired with long, unkempt hair on men
5. Schoolchildren wear guardapolvos -- doctor-like gowns (literally: dust-guards)
Driving-related
1. At night headlights are generally put on a dim mode that cars don’t have in the US, and turned on fully only to alert somebody in your path; that is, they’re used like a horn
2. Seatbelts aren’t used
3. Most intersections, even downtown, lack stoplights and signage
4. The lights flash yellow before they change to green, in case you want a head start
5. Calling taxis is the norm here for security reasons, and they come in under 5 minutes
The single lifestyle
1. Most people live with their parents through their early 20’s
2. Public affection
3. People go out much later at night, and stay out forever
4. Aggressive and romantic men
5. When you set somebody up, you “hacer de cupido,” or “make cupid”
Money-related
1. Health care and schooling (including college) are free
2. Electronics are extremely expensive
3. It’s almost too obvious: there is highly favorable exchange rate
4. Dial-up internet service is free
5. Salaries are calculated monthly
Language
1. Argentines use vos in place of tu
2. Conjugations for the vos form are made simply by replacing the final -r of the infinitive with an -s and accenting the last syllable: vos tenés instead of tu tienes
3. The pronunciation of “ll” and “y” sounds like the English “sh” – outside the city of Buenos Aires it has more of a “z” sound to it
4. If you want to strengthen an adjective, put re- before it (refuerte, rebien etc)
5. You don’t say coger here
Other striking differences
1. Cartoneros
2. Pregnant people are everywhere
3. Graffiti is left up forever
4. Bidets are found in nearly every house
5. Normalcy of protests
previously there was Iraq opposition poll
afterwards you have anti-war
1. People vote Republican unabashedly
2. The public libraries are wonderful
3. Grocery stores are huge and terrible
4. "About Schmidt" = art film
5. Funniest things of the week happen infrequently [submitted on 14 Feb 03]