Casey Piacine dedicates his book, How to Curse in Twenty Languages "To All The Foreigners That Hate Americans". After reading it, one gets the feeling that their numbers might increase if they ever read his opinion of them.

Published by Lulu Books, the book presents an average of 15 cuss words [or adequately insulting expression] per language, along with a short introduction. Thus, you learn that -

• Toilet paper is a luxury item in the Middle East


• Andorra is a "strange little country in a weird little world"


• He doubts "there are many Jews living in the Netherlands but if you want to call someone a cheap bastard" he can help you out


• Finland is boring


• Paris stinks - literally


• "Irish" should have been Latin for "beer"


• A bar full of beer-guzzling Germans is bad news


• Hungary is strange


• Women have to "make the noodle hard to make the men smile" in Italy


• The Japanese know kung fu or something like it


• Latin is good to insult lawyers in. You could insult clergy too, but lawyers deserve it more


• Norwegians laugh when they make a toast


• The Polish don't find "dumb Pollack jokes" funny


• Portuguese cooks are violent


• Romania sucks


• "The Soviet Union no longer exists in Russia"


• Spanish men cross their legs, which is something only effeminate Americans do


• He slept with a "fat Swedish chick" and if you make enough Swedish toasts, you might do the same


• A good way to insult Turks is to attack their beliefs


• When "Ukrainian people feel superstitious about bad luck they do something quite odd"

The world was a different place before I picked up this book.

How To... is an interesting book to read at the present moment with the debate over the Ugly American heating up after decades. At first glance, the stereotypes presented in the book seem to confirm, in their turn, the worst labels applied to the American abroad - brash, insensitive, in-your-face. There were moments when I didn't know whether to be offended for the "foreigners" in the book or for the Americans on whose ostensible behalf this book is written. And then I wondered if this was an attempt at humor gone awry. Second thoughts and a look at the blurb revealed it to be a "novelty book" that will "provide you and the whole family with hours of laughter and learning". It exhorts you to "teach each other exotic curse words, phrases, and gestures from around the globe."