On Jun 16, 11:43 am, James Hogg

I am happy to see the sense of the word being brought up, so that
unlike Vince, who redefines common words as he needs to, we don't do
that.

National character is normally thought to be the structural or
behavioral characteristic peculiar to a country.

There are many books written on the subject in several languages.

The national character in Spain involves dining late, small breakfast
if any and a large lunch at about 2 PM. The siesta is part of it, as
is excessive generosity towards visitors. If you visit a Spanish
home, and say "Hey, nice cup," chances are that the host will give it
to you and insists that you keep it, to the point that you'll stop
praising his things lest you end up with a whole lot of booty, you
didn't really want. El "piropo" (a.k.a. witty and not so witty verbal
sexual harassment) almost unknown in the Anglo-American world is
another feature of the national character. When people who are
engaged break up they return each other's presents. Try that in the
U.S. Many Spaniards are noisy. Foreigners often think they are
fighting when they are just talking.

This is not to say that everybody conforms to it. It merely means
that it's prevalent behavior in the country. Only rural Spaniards
have a siesta these days, so the character evolves too.

Don't get me started on the Moroccan national character, or the
Egyptian.

The United States has a clear national character.

The British national character involves careful audit of who buys you
how many a beer or invites you to dinner so that you can repay in
exact kind before too long; though not every Brit does it.

In Spain if they even get a whiff that you are trying to correspond to
their invitation in a way that looks like tit-for-tat, they get
offended, as no payback is necessary.

Actually I like Mr. Hines very much. I passionately disagree with him
on many issues, and we regularly tear into each other, but it's all
sport.

I don't dislike many people, and when I do not for long. I don't
admire many people either.