Judging from the comments I've repeatedly heard from Europeans, Americans are generally a lot more friendly to strangers than the average European. They are a lot more likely to reach out and strike up a random conversation with someone they have never met and will likely never meet again. Apparently, Europeans a more binary -lots of communication or none at all. Being open to any communication is the norm in America. Implying otherwise is unusual and indicates something is wrong. In practice, it's not expected that a very loose connection will actually say a whole lot, but the channel is never closed without strong reasons.
From all that, saying "stay in touch" is just being polite and making sure the other person doesn't get negative and assume you are thinking "I'd prefer to not speak to you again." -which would be an overly strong rejection (even if it's true).
It's a peeve of mine that no one can make a statement on the internet without at least two people popping in to point out that "Your theorem does not hold true over the entirety of the domain. Allow me to enumerate your falsitudes..."
I've seen this opinion expressed individually by Brits, Germans, French, Spanish, Finns, Dutch and Danes. When I make a generalization, it's not because I'm an ignorant clod who prefers to pretend that the Portuguese, Italians, Swiss, Belgians, Irish, Swedes, Austrians, Poles, Greeks, Czechs, Croats, Slovaks, Belarusians, Luxembourgers, ect are all a homogeneous mass who universally and uniformly are defined as conforming to my generalization. It's because I'm not defending a mathematical thesis, enumerating all existant situations is not the point of the conversation, I value my time and the time of all of the readers and I'm rushed/considerate enough to be brief.
Comments
Judging from the comments I've repeatedly heard from Europeans, Americans are generally a lot more friendly to strangers than the average European. They are a lot more likely to reach out and strike up a random conversation with someone they have never met and will likely never meet again. Apparently, Europeans a more binary -lots of communication or none at all. Being open to any communication is the norm in America. Implying otherwise is unusual and indicates something is wrong. In practice, it's not expected that a very loose connection will actually say a whole lot, but the channel is never closed without strong reasons.
From all that, saying "stay in touch" is just being polite and making sure the other person doesn't get negative and assume you are thinking "I'd prefer to not speak to you again." -which would be an overly strong rejection (even if it's true).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvidoBBJSRA
BTW, there is no "stereotypical European" or "average European". But I got used to the American notion of European = British.
I personally would describe "stay in touch" as "fake", definitely not "polite" or "friendly".
Americans include Bolivians, Chileans, Colombians, people in Alaska, New Yorkers ... Is the average a Guatemalan?
Europeans include Southern Spaniards, Finns, Germans ... is the average a Luxemburger?
It's a peeve of mine that no one can make a statement on the internet without at least two people popping in to point out that "Your theorem does not hold true over the entirety of the domain. Allow me to enumerate your falsitudes..."
I've seen this opinion expressed individually by Brits, Germans, French, Spanish, Finns, Dutch and Danes. When I make a generalization, it's not because I'm an ignorant clod who prefers to pretend that the Portuguese, Italians, Swiss, Belgians, Irish, Swedes, Austrians, Poles, Greeks, Czechs, Croats, Slovaks, Belarusians, Luxembourgers, ect are all a homogeneous mass who universally and uniformly are defined as conforming to my generalization. It's because I'm not defending a mathematical thesis, enumerating all existant situations is not the point of the conversation, I value my time and the time of all of the readers and I'm rushed/considerate enough to be brief.