"boutique consultancy"? I'm not sure whether to applaud for a precision application of language or cringe at the pretentiousness of a deluded grab at prestige....and of course on their main page they call themselves a "Customer Experience Strategy consultancy".

Of course, I'm American, so maybe I'm just too unrefined to properly appreciate their own eloquently enhanced customer experience strategy. ;)

I don't know how you use "boutique" in the US, but it's a commonly used word around here (when speaking English anyway).

I do think there is definitely a qualitative difference in the way people speak in Europe and in the US (also when speaking languages other than English).

I was a bit surprised when I have heard a (supposedly, could have been Canadian AFAIK) American tourist saying something like "they were just a bunch of dudes hanging out" (she was a woman in her 40's, in Austria using an equivalent form of slang is something normally reserved to much younger people).

It was always amusing to me when my British drama teacher would use a word that Americans rarely use like "coach" or "metro" (as opposed to bus or subway). I had just big enough a vocabulary for it to be no effort for me to understand her, even if I never used such words personally, whereas everybody around me just went "huh?" I guess I'm finally noticing the times when I'm on the other side of that divide and have to really think about what the unfamiliar words mean in the given context.

As a European I found this article pretty interesting. And true.

We Europeans are academics - we love a good argument just for the sake of it, we think before we talk, and our products (usually) don't crash. But we can't sell worth shit...

I've no first hand knowledge of Europe, but given what I know of human nature, I'm pretty distrustful of someone describing a place the size of a continent as intellectual... still, it does make me kinda wish it were true! But I mean, honestly...

It might be a overly broad, but I don't think its entirely untrue.

Your mileage will vary of course - Spaniards and Brits are very different.

I think you could broadly divide Europe to 4 parts along the north/south axis and the west/east axis.

I believe this thread pertains mostly to the northern and in particular north western part.

... but not very humble, eh? :)

11. Know your US-based competition inside out. One of the first questions you get asked will be about it.