Phil, good point about the yankee doodle dandies. But, you have to admit: New York is full of New Yorkers....who are an interesting stereotype all by themselves. So, in a way, we do have people parading around in some of our big cities on this side of the pond who very well fit the stereotypes that Europeans have of Americans. OK, let the flaming begin on that comment :-)

Perhaps we Americans just long for Disneyland-type places wherever we go and that's why you are seeing messages posted that are pining for more people in kilts. Well, we tourists will just have to visit Edinburgh in kilts more often to create our own self-fulfilling prophecy.