Wham bam, thank you Ma’am

I love Americans’ kindness, generosity and energy but am often thrown by their exaggerated politeness and euphemistic speech. They use ‘passed’ for ‘died’ and always say ‘excuse me’ if they brush against you in a shop. They sentimentally refer to ‘your puppy’ when the dog is patently over three years old. They refer to a dog’s ‘going to the bathroom’. And why say ‘a grown man’ instead of just ‘man’? Wads of paper napkins are handed out unnecessarily in cafés and at parties (where one is sometimes offered ‘a beverage’ instead of a drink). But Americans can also be unexpectedly bloodthirsty and violent and I find this contrast disconcerting.

On my recent visit to Key West, once a town with a reputation for lawlessness and bohemianism, but now, owing to the influx of tourist couples in their late seventies and eighties, somewhat twee and overpriced, I was shocked by the aggression shown by otherwise warm-hearted friends towards the wildlife.