[ghoti]

Ok, let me elaborate a bit. That "look" doesn't have nearly the following they make it out to be. It's something you find among people who are generally lower class and who tend to work bad jobs in supermarkets, etc. The "muscle shirts" (don't know if that's what they're called in English) fit that look and clientele, though the suits and strapless dresses don't (especially the latter seem to be much more common in the US than in Europe).

The part about tanning is true, there are people who do that in a way that simply looks goofy. Especially blonde women tend to look awful that way. I haven't seen it done to the extreme shown in those pictures, but then there were places (like the Nachtschicht) I never frequented. What you quote makes sense, and the terms (I especially like "Arschgeweih" ) are pretty common. Another hint that these might have been taken in Austria is the entire lack of black people. But that's still far from being a proof ...

Originally Posted by Bryson I don't know who's right, but I'm curious what makes you say that the pictures are "obviously" from the US? I can't see any identifiable marks anywhere - except perhaps the shopping bags photo, where the bags don't appear to be labelled in English.

I was just zooming into that picture too, to find something I could identify. The left one seems to be from "LPC Designs", the right one I can't quite read (could be English or German, but English names and writing on shopping bags are common in Europe). There is also a red sign in the background saying "FREE" - very uncommon in Austria.

But. Look at the money in the guy's hand in the shopping bag picture: these are definitely dollars!

Also, as was pointed out before, Heineken is not a popular beer in Austria, and you would be hard pressed to find one in most places (though they might have more of a selection at the Nachtschicht). Austrians tend to drink Austrian beer, no need to import from the Netherlands. Also for vodka, there are other brands that I can't remember right now that are much more common than Gray Goose (never saw that in Austria, but then I'm not a heavy drinker ...).

Originally Posted by Bryson I suspect that the truth is that the pics aren't actually all from the same place (well, the same guy is in a few pics..) and are simply a compilation of people with the worst spray-tans ever.

That's very possible.

Originally Posted by Bryson Contrary to popular belief, the US does not have a monopoly on stupid-looking people.

How true ...