> >It's not a fabricated crisis. One of the first things foreigners notice
> >about Americans, whether they're visiting the US or we're visiting them,
is
> >what lardbutts we tend to be.
>
> Which po'folk are visiting other countries? :)
A worthy question, actually. I think the issue of the Fat Ugly American, meaning those of us who haul our extra poundage elsewhere around the world, is more one of age. In my life's experience, the truly enormous people I see everywhere these days are virtually without exception lower-income people. They ain't hopping the next jet to Paris, granted. Aside from those on business, a notably slender group in general, Americans who travel abroad are tourists, and so they tend to be people with the time and money to be tourists. Which makes them usually older, when it's been okay to put on some extra pounds in general in our society, And today, it seems, lots of aging folks are REALLY exercising their perogative to be bigger, as opposed to those older upper class, affluent and/or educated types who strive to maintain a healthy weight, rather like Europeans; they all seem to put much more emphasis on being fit no matter what your age, or at least not sliding into noticable overweight. The stereotype of the late middle-aged middle class American tourist is of a person with a serious paunch or spreading backside...I recently noted how seriously tubby the American visitors were when watching a video of a tour of Cuba. I mean it wasn't hard, it jumped out at you.
Here back on the ranch, it's a matter of what's acceptable in your personal milieu. Yeah, people are fit and trim and trendy in Manhattan, I've seen it myself, the same way they are on Michigan Ave. Or, I would imagine, Rodeo Drive. (Everyone in those places seemed noticably better looking than most people in central Illinois, or west central Florida, too. It kinda got on my nerves a little.)