The A in America is for Arrogance

Protip: Do not go out on New Year's Eve's Eve to get errands done. Somehow, it's impossibly crowded and there are lines, lines, lines everywhere!
Gah!
I got back in the driver's seat after failing my driving exam five months ago. I'm still just as nervous, still hate lane changes and cutting across traffic, still drive far too slowly for American tastes, but I haven't really forgotten much. Whoot?
Going to try fishing the DMV for an appoint for Spring Break...at Daly City. Or San Mateo. I am NOT going to retest in San Francisco.

Anyway, went to Japantown today for some shopping. Cold, wet San Francisco winters are good for hotpots! Aaaaand where do the best hotpot ingredients come from? Japantown. Iunno. We had lunch there too, and had to jostle through scads of tourists. The couple at the table next to ours were European tourists (bah, currency exchange values!). I was watching them count out the their bill when it struck me...American coinage has no numeral denominations.
No really. Here. Google it.
Don't believe me? Or Google?
Go dig through your coin purse/wallet if you're an American, and see for yourself.
Done? Good.
Furthermore, did you notice that most of the coins do not even say what denomination they are in letter form? The dime does not say "ten cents" but "One Dime." Same goes with quarters (25 cents). The nickel doesn't say anything.
Do you realize the implications (or is it connotations?) of this? The assumption, or the demand, that visitors and immigrants to the United States must know the national tender (or be literate). I mean, okay, if you're gonna be a tourist somewhere, it's good to have done some research and be familiar with money, but America doesn't even give the user any helping hand, she just blindly assumes that whoever's janglin' change knows quarters=25/100, dimes=10/100, and nickels=5.
...
Okay, okay, I'm not saying America's the only country to do this, but as a nation that boasts internationalism and inclusiveness as bones her national body, to others, her money sure looks a lot like this.






also, if you really were too lazy to either google, click links, here you go.