United States – understand-culture

Rhode Island

Comments:

“As a telephony engineer, I feel for Nathan. Too many times in the office, I’m locked in and focusing on work and then someone comes with a drive-by question that totally breaks my concentration and flow. Some times it can take 10-15 minutes to get back in the groove of what you’re doing. Huge time waster.”

“”Do you have a second?” “Wait 5 minutes; in the middle of something.” Solves a lot of problems.”

“Perusing has two definitions in the dictionary that are contradictory in nature. Perusing also is defined as to skim in Meriam dictionary. Both meanings have been in use over 400 yrs.”

“That little interruption costs 30 minutes of context switching, but feels like 2 hours of stress. So in an 8 hour day, he will have to work 8.5 hours to finish the same work, but it will feel like 10 hours. It’s like slamming on the breaks in a car.”

“She is falling for him bc he doesn’t care.”

small talk + big talk

Bringing back directness

Texas trial lawyer Jefferson Fisher comes from the land of bless-your-heart politeness but says pleasantries threaten workplace culture.

“There’s this tendency to tiptoe around the heart of the matter,” he says. “It’s not going to go well for you over time, and you’re going to find that people will trust you less.”

In the future, offices could become even more passive-aggressive, unless we practice the art of disagreement. The Wall Street Journal spoke with Fisher, author of “The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More,” about how to bring directness back to the workplace.

“Air your grievances.”

“Air your grievances.” Encourages openly expressing complaints or accusations, typically in a forum where all parties are present.

“Tell it to my face.”

“Tell it to my face.” Demands that criticism or accusations be made directly, not behind someone’s back.

“value to your manager”

This is a comment on a Wall Street Journal article vom March 17, 2025 entitled: “Job Seekers Hit Wall of Salary Deflation – The salary bump that people who switch jobs used to command has vanished.”

“Going for the money as the big motivator for a job has not been the best personal career choice. Location and challenging work are much better career decision criteria. Constantly providing extra value to your manager and your manager’s managers is always a strong career strategy.”

If you ask most Americans who they work for, they will name their immediate boss. If you ask a German they will name their company. If you ask that German to be more specific they will name the division. Ask further and they will say the department. Rarely would they name their immediate boss or anyone in management.

League of Nations

U.S. Refusal to Join the League of Nations (1919): After World War I, President Woodrow Wilson negotiated the Treaty of Versailles, which included the League of Nations. However, the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty, and the United States never joined the League, demonstrating a reluctance to commit to binding international agreements that could limit national autonomy.

Paris Climate Agreement

Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement (2017): Although not in the search results, this modern example fits the pattern: the U.S. entered the Paris Agreement on climate change but later withdrew, asserting the right to exit when national interests were perceived to be at stake.

McDonald brothers

The Founder (2016). This film tells the story of Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers. Kroc enters into an agreement with the brothers to franchise their restaurant, maintains constant contact as the business grows, but ultimately finds ways to change the terms and force the original owners out. The movie highlights how agreements can be transactional, with parties reserving the right to alter or exit arrangements when it suits their interests .

Euphemisms

Because Americans find it difficult separate what they say from the person they are saying it to – especially in the case of criticism – they strive to use softer, more indirect language, including euphemisms: mild or indirect words or expressions substituted for ones considered to be too harsh or blunt when referring to something unpleasant or embarrassing.

Examples of euphemisms: pre-owned car instead of a used car, sex worker instead of a prostitute, to be between jobs instead of to be unemployed, senior citizen instead of old person, underserved neighborhood or underserved population instead of the poor, or an impoverished, needy neighborhood.

Further examples: economically disadvantaged instead of poor; temporary negative cash flow instead of broke; enhanced interrogation methods instead of torture; collateral damage instead of civilian deaths.

About George Carlin.