Cultures separated by the same language

In My Humble Opinion
1

In think it was Winston Churchill (himself half American) who described Britain and the USA as two countries separated by the same language.

The shared language leads one to assume more similarity than is in fact the case.

Let’s widen the debate. This must be an international forum, so let’s hope for a variety of replies.

England, Scotland (mostly), Wales (mostly), Ireland (mostly), Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand (and others less so) share a language and some culture arising from that fact.

What are the top misunderstandings between these nations about how others differ from theirs in customs, methods, beliefs, expectations, assumptions, habits etc… How much of these misunderstanding is false and how much has an element of truth.

My top five cultural differences between the USA and England are:

1/ Americans have a greater respect for work and the workplace than the English.

2/ The English find it difficult to complain, unlike Americans.

3/ The English work very poorly in service industries - resentment and indifference reign.

4/ The English are much more cosmopolitan than Americans; they tend to know more about other places and ideas

5/ The English find it considerably more diffficult to talk with people without excuse.

What expectations are not fulfilled when visiting another Anglophone country?

2

Oooh, I just love categorizing people on the basis of national origin! Okay, wait, now, I’m gonna say…oh, I know:

“I always assume Australians are civilized human beings, but then I find out the males are drunken layabouts with funny accents and ugly shorts, and the females are bleached-blonde sluts who let their menfolk push them around.”

How’s that! :smiley:

[This post is available in a special format for the sarcasm-impaired; see the Straight Dope Home Page.]

3

Not looking for unreasoned prejudice- looking for ‘culture shock’ when you realise that things are different and it causes you to re-assess your own assumptions.

The essential point is that if you go to France, Germany, China or anywhere with a different language you are continually reminded that ‘things’ should be different, very different. But within Anglophone countries there is great opportunity for accidentally forgetting this, and then being shocked.

4

Okay, fair enough, but as I’ve never been to any other Anglophone countries and been shocked by how differently they do things there, I can’t say.

However, I have been to the Thumb of Michigan, and I must say, I was shocked.

5

My favorite joke on the difference between the British and Americans: “Americans think 100 years is old and the British think 100 miles is far.”

Seriously, both countries have huge populations and you can shock yourself anywhere if you meet a (to you) strange subset of the population. In England, while the heating systems and train systems shocked me, the people did not.