# Newenglanders and the British Comparison **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951 "2012-03-06T18:35:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ClarenceClancy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@ClarenceClancy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClarenceClancy)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/1 "2012-03-06T18:35:16Z")
I’ve never spent much time on the east coast. Are people there much more like the British than Midwesterners are? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/2 "2012-03-06T18:47:14Z")
More alike in what ways? I have heard many times that Boston is the most European city in the states. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/3 "2012-03-06T19:11:20Z")
Another vote for refining your question a bit. I actually associate Midwesterners more with the British than Northeasterners. Stereotypically, Midwesterners have qualities like self-deprecation, automatic politeness to strangers, and feelings of cringing embarrassment over any social faux-pas. All of that is a sweeping generalization of course, for both sides of the Atlantic. (And, I’ve spent no time in Britain — I just watch a lot of their television.) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/4 "2012-03-06T20:17:19Z")
What are the British like? Is the Queen similar to an unemployed dockworker? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/5 "2012-03-06T20:28:38Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > automatic politeness to strangers Is that really true? Northeasterners have a reputation for being cold. Talking to strangers here is considered a little unusual, but it’s far easier than in NYC. But a guy I know from London thought New Yorkers were super friendly and easy to talk to. In London that’s just not done. I don’t know how true that is, but I could see how someone from the midwest might think we’re all cold. ---
**Author:** ![ClarenceClancy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@ClarenceClancy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClarenceClancy)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/6 "2012-03-07T01:15:24Z")
> [@ClarenceClancy](#): > > I’ve never spent much time on the east coast. Are people there much more like the British than Midwesterners are? According to the stereotypes… if I can remember them correctly: refined, quiet yet dignified, intellectual. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/7 "2012-03-07T01:20:35Z")
In speech we probably are, and according to my History of the English Language textbook we sound more like Brits did in the in the 1600-1700s than anyone else currently alive. **tdn** , we’re polite. It’s just that we’re using a different metric than your friendly midwesterner. Here’s it’s considered rude to bother a stranger without having a good reason to do so. Fences, neighbors, you know. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/8 "2012-03-07T12:47:50Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > In speech we probably are, and according to my History of the English Language textbook we sound more like Brits did in the in the 1600-1700s than anyone else currently alive. I’ve heard the same thing – I don’t remember if it was in a linguistics class or somewhere online, perhaps the BBC’s dialect study website. > [@](#): > > **tdn** , we’re polite. It’s just that we’re using a different metric than your friendly midwesterner. Here’s it’s considered rude to bother a stranger without having a good reason to do so. Fences, neighbors, you know. “Good fences making good neighbors”, IIRC, is very much a British Isles “thing” I hardly know anybody in my neighborhood, for instance, even though I’ve lived here most of my life. Other than the occasional “hi” when you’re out in the yard or, say, walking the dog, people keep to themselves. It’s always been this way. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/9 "2012-03-07T18:37:45Z")
You might wonder just how it can be determined how folk spoke 400 years ago. One way is to look at words that were grouped together, possibly through a base word, and observe which words rhymed with what. This come sp in especially in poetry but also in puns. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newenglanders-and-the-british-comparison/614951/10 "2012-03-08T06:21:09Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > In speech we probably are, and according to my History of the English Language textbook we sound more like Brits did in the in the 1600-1700s than anyone else currently alive… I thought that was Southerners.