Geography of Bliss

I was only able to read the first chapter of "The Geography of Bliss" by Eric Weiner on Google books, which is a shame because it seems like a great read. The way Weiner describes the cafes in Rotterdam made me want a warm beer......and i HATE warm beer. there was one line that stood out to me from the short excerpt that i was able to read....A polish citizen living in America made this comment about Americans..."When Americans say it was great, I know it was good. When they say it was good, i know it was okay. When they say it was okay, i know it was bad." I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, if it is indeed true. Are we happier because we save each other's feelings by some ingrained societal padding of the stats? Maybe we are really not as happy as we say we are, and we do this to trick our minds into believing that things are better. I think that i am a reasonably happy person......so keep telling me that I'm a great cook, a really nice guy, and that I'm an awesome person to have a drink with America (truthful or not). It's working!