I live in Southeast Asia and am in a Facebook group where foreigners often post asking for recommendations.

Americans always phrase their questions as, "What's the BEST pizza?" or "What's the BEST sushi?"

As if they would die (or could even tell the difference) if they had the fourth or tenth best option in the city instead.

And if you recommend a place too expensive or too far away it becomes immediately clear they don't actually want the best.

All they actually want is a decent place to eat at a moderate price level.

But as Americans they can't say that. They have to pretend they deserve nothing but the BEST.

Perhaps it has to do with different interpretations of what is meant by best?

If I told you the best Thai place around where I live, I would tell you a place that is best not just because of its food, but also its price, parking, distance to travel. It is the best in that it is the most optimal given my own value judgment of those factors.

This is exactly right. Before I lived in Seattle, I was told (moving from the southwest), that there was no good Mexican food in Seattle.

Of course after I moved there I found quite a number of excellent Mexican food restaurants, and for a few years I wondered what strange definition they were using.

I eventually figured out that they meant that there was no good Mexican food within walking distance of downtown

Do you have any recs in North Seattle? Me and my wife live in Lake City and have been looking for a good (need not be the best ;) ) Mexican place.

Hello former neighbor. :-) (Lived in Lake City for four years)

Casa Del Mariachi (off 125th) has great breakfast burritos. Haven’t tried the rest of their food, only came across them recently. Should be good though.

Azteca by Northgate is only okay if you don’t want to go far, you could do a lot better.

Plaza Garcia is your classic southwest Mexican food and one of our favorites. It’s in Kirkland but worth the drive.

Acapulco Fresh Mexican Grill in Kenmore is pretty good.

Taqueria El Sabor in Shoreline is also pretty good.

Anita’s Food Truck on Aurora also has good burritos. Wouldn’t classify them as typical southwest fare though.

And if you’re up for driving, the list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Jumbo Burrito in Oak Harbor. Take the Ferry to Whidbey, do a day trip across Whidbey, stop at Jumbo and try the carnitas before you cross Deception Pass on the way back. You’re welcome.

Thanks for the recs! Me and my wife went to Casa del Mariachi the other day and the breakfast burritos were bomb as promised :) Definitely going to try that Whidbey day trip sometime as well!

El Camion taco truck on Sand Point way is pretty good

But unless you list those factors such adjective is meaningless.

As seen in this comment in another thread currently in the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27263606 (Although the person that used 'best' in that story is from the UK).

But americans do get marketing though. I bet you know about a bunch of companies that were doing $thing in $country before, probably with better outcomes, but never got the recognition.

In Spain, for example, many industrial companies have a culture where marketing is nearly BS. That hurts them a lot IMO.

Both of these are interrelated.

I think one of the reasons Americans overuse superlatives is because they're constantly bathed in expensive marketing.

Consequently, everyone is used to being told everything is good / great / the best. Which means anyone actually expressing that in a human capacity has to reach for "the very best" or similar.

Selection bias, perhaps? They're not telling you at all about the regular carrots, the okay friends, because why should they waste your time with "It's just the same old same old."

Oh they are. Their stuff are regular stuff.