i just realised that in some cases i know more about america than england (im english).
its come from being exposed to so much american tv, films, games and books.
examples:
i can name 4 british pm’s
i can name 10+ presidents
i think i could get 30 states at least
i can recognise accents other than texan and generic southern hick, tho not many.
i prolly know last couple 100 years history of america better than british
theres a bunch of other minor stuff like getting laws confused but those are the main things.
has anybody else had similar experience to this?
Sure have. I sometimes think to myself verbally using old fashioned upper-class young gent expressions, from reading all that P.G. Wodehouse, or things from Monty Python or Fawlty Towers. I think I can pick out a few of your major accents within England, but have a harder time distinguising Scots and Irishmen. With actors who do a lot of work over here I get that wrong all the time. The one who plays the psychotherapist in In Treatment–I was sure was Welsh, but he’s Irish.
I think Fawlty Towers, through the many guest characters, did a lot to educate us that everybody over there does not either sound like a film butler or else like Eliza Doolittle. As a sometime linquistics student, it was interesting to notice how the accents varied from character to character. The raging little spoon salesman sounded almost American at times, quite different from Polly’s friends; in passing I have to mention the accent of the guest who was supposed to be Californian was horrible. He sounded American all right, but definitely not California. It was more like Chicago or Milwaukee. My cousins and uncle there have that slight flat twang in their speech, but nothing like this character.
I probably know artists from various places and periods on the Continent better than I know American artists, although there have been some post-WWII modernists here that I like very much.