Oh yeah? Did you now?...

I don’t know if it’s just the skepticism of everything American, that almost every European with dignity and enough English skills holds, but the answer in the following two sentences really bugs me.

“I’ve just cooked a fantastic dinner for me and my girlfriend”
“Oh really?”

I just hate that! If you don't know what I'm talking about, it may be because you are American, or because I haven’t managed to give you an example that clearly illustrates my point. It's probably because of the latter. Here, therefor, is another example:

“I took this picture at Ground Zero three weeks after it happened.”
“You took that picture three weeks after? Oh!”

Can you see it? Can you hear the nauseatingly false interest? It makes me feel sick, uncertain and generally nervous when someone I talk to drops a line like that when I’m talking. Instead of being encouraged to keep on talking, I get uninterested in continuing or even ending them damn sentence I’ve just started.

In Sweden, we encourage the speaker with a humming, mmm, or by saying something like, ok! Cool! Oh damn! Oh my! You see the exclamation marks at the end of every line? That’s the difference as I see it.

To further the mouth diarrhea of mine, I can pose couple of questions.

Is this something that has been noticed in the states (because as I see it, it’s solely a phenomenon within the borders of the US)?

If it hasn’t been noticed, how come every European, suspicious about anything American and who enough skill in English, do notice it? How come every Martha Stewart Show (or what it’s called) watching American do not notice the insincerity, the false kindness of the listener towards the speaker?

Are we, Swedes, also insincere when we say Oh (exclamation mark) , Cool (exclamation mark) mmm (exclamation mark)?

We probably are, I am at least. I’m too egocentric to listen to anyone for any length of time, really. But that’s me. And, I’m probably the only one who have really noticed this flaw in character who a lot of Americans seem to share.

Now I got pissed! Aaargh!

Ahh soon it’s time for the world cup, a world event that every citoyenne du monde cares and talk about, except the yanks. And I feel somewhat happy and free because of that.