How is an American supposed to look?

Question

I'm curious about people's stereotypes.....Smart answers only

Answer 1

America is a melting pot. American are suppose to look like everyone. We have many cultures and ethnicities here in America. Anyone can look in the mirror and see how an American should look. There is black, white, puerto rican, mexican, asain, hawaiian, guamanian, etc Americans. There is no set mold for a way an American should look.

Answer 2

You can't do American stereotypes because as a nation they have too many diverse cultural and racial types. These range from the effete, sexually ambiguous and pretentious type of New Yorker to the inbred, web-toed redneck who lives in a trailer somewhere in the swamps with a ghastly wife who is also his sister and mother and strange looking children who can't spell their own names but can play a banjo.

One of the best ways of recognising an American from a distance, though, is that if they're talking to somebody they're more than likely waving their arms and hands about like mad things as well. This seems to be a common thing across all the cultural groups, and it seems to afflict American women more than American men.

Other than that, Yanks look much like humans everywhere else, and to expect them to look a certain way makes no sense.

Answer 3

To begin, I've traveled extensively as a foreign exchange student, child of a military officer, and for personal leisure. Through all my travels, I've noticed a couple of very prominent features of Americans. For some reason, I can always ALWAYS pick Americans out before I hear them speak.
Welcome to "How to pick an American out of a crowd"
1. White socks halfway up the calf
2. Tennis shoes
3. Shorts of any length-rather short for women in particular
4. Some sort of patriotic symbol either on the shirt, back-pack, etc.
5. Back-pack, camera, or the occasional fanny-pack
6. If male, beer belly
7. Visor or hat
8. Fingers pointing everywhere . . ."oooh, look at that!" or confused faces staring blankly at a map.
~Disclaimer-this does not apply to all Americans, but is typical of the average middle-aged or retired traveler-younger Americans tend to mesh into the crowd a little bit better.
I would have to say that the American public viewed by ourselves consists of extremes in every direction-whether it be extreme punk, prep, cheerleader, football player, band-geek, or scholar. Everything we do, we do to the max-there is no middle ground and compromise. We live in a very "all or nothing" based society and that reflects how we look, dress, act, feel and believe. As was stated by many of the other answerers, we are also very multi-ethic and represent countless diverse peoples.

Answer 4

Good question. Of course, an American is an amalgamation of a myriad of cultures and races. That's the politically correct answer. And, I think that it is true.

However, just for fun, my mind does conjure up an image of a person who is representative of a country.

For example, for Great Britain, I think of Churchill, Elizabeth II and Montgomery (the golfer).

For France, I think of Napoleon and Bardot.

For Italy, I conjure up DaVinci and Michelangelo.

For the United States, I think of Jordan (your man), JFK and FDR.

For India, I guess my current image is Roark.

Answer 5

Unintelligent and cowardly paupers feeling proud of being an american. Also proud of the thought that they rule the world ...

poor fellas ... americans are good-for-nothing nincompoops .. just look at your President ... Greatest Buffoon in the world ...

Answer 6

An American can look anyway one chooses. Remember, this is the land of the free.

Answer 7

Lyke Preppy And Rich!

Answer 8

an american can look how ever they want. they are human beings just like the rest of the world.

Answer 9

An american is supposed to look anyway they want to look. It is called FREEDOM, get it.

Answer 10

wearing triple stitched jeans is a dead give away all over the world that you are an american.