On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 14:23:31 GMT, Anne Jackson
wrote:

I found (in London) that no matter what the (American) _accent_ is,
the mode is usually LOUD!

We must not have encountered each other. I am soft-spoken at home and
abroad. As I suppose you are. Perhaps you were beside me when a
clearly-identifiable American woman made a nuisance of herself loudly
repeating every other line of a play to her companion. This is rude in
London. It is also rude in Chicago or Elko, Nevada.