# The smug English **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 5, 2014, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399 "2014-12-05T12:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/41 "2014-12-05T14:19:49Z")
You should have shot him. That would have cleared up any misunderstandings regarding guns \*and \*health care in our country. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/42 "2014-12-05T14:21:26Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Well, America really is really, really, really stupid about both healthcare and guns. Sorry you guys are so fucked up, but it has very little to do with your country’s size, or with bears. You know what, I agree with your politics. However, if you are a guest in someone else’s country, what a lady or gentleman does about their politics is **they shut the fuck up about it** unless they’re only talking to people who want to hear it. I live in Canada, which IMHO has better policy regarding guns and health care, but we aren’t perfect. The state of aboriginal people in Canada is a disgrace, for instance. And the UK has its problems, and France has its problems, and Japan and Sweden and Italy and insert any country you care for. To go work in another country and insult them in the workplace is vulgar and contemptible and I don’t give a damn what you think about a particular political issue. It is of course fine to discuss issues like an intelligent adult, at the appropriate place and time, though I would suggest a smart person is careful about political arguments at work. But to cast insults and jokes at the citizens of a country that has been kind and welcoming to you, and allowed you to reside and work there, is disgracefully rude. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/43 "2014-12-05T14:34:38Z")
> [@MostlyUseless](#): > > lame ass Englishman Hey, that was one of my favorite solo acts from back in the days of Jethro Tull. > [@](#): > > England would fit within the borders of Oregon. Oregon!!! That is one of our FIFTY states. Are you sure? I thought Oregon seceded in a tizzy over GM labeling. Anyway, Texas is bigger than France. And you should cut the Brits a break. Life is obviously so dull over there that they ha e little to do but get falling-down drunk, riot at soccer games and obsess over their favorite anti-American stereotypes. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/44 "2014-12-05T14:38:26Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > If you judged your best against our best, and your worst against our worst, I think you’d find that we come out ahead overall. :dubious: Oh, really? Do tell. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/45 "2014-12-05T14:39:30Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > WRT gun laws, I see no reason why the US needs to emulate the UK or vice versa. Emulate whomever you want, but you really can’t see a reason why the US should change its gun laws? Really? (Hint: All the dead people) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/46 "2014-12-05T14:47:33Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Emulate whomever you want, but you really can’t see a reason why the US should change its gun laws? Really? > > (Hint: All the dead people) I don’t really discuss the issue with people who have no stake in it. In practice, that means I don’t debate US gun laws with non-citizens. However the issue ends up being resolved, it is a US issue that will be decided by the people of the US. However you handle the issue in Ireland is your business, just as it is our business how we handle it here. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/47 "2014-12-05T14:57:27Z")
> [@MostlyUseless](#): > > Regarding guns, lets remember that in many areas of the US, humans are not necessarily at the top of the food chain. Humans are the top of a food chain. An individual may be put at risk by other animals, especially in that animals native environment, but as a whole, no other animal can compare to humans ability to adapt, overcome, and destroy its opposition. > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > The reality is that every industrialized First World nation besides ourselves has health care coverage for every resident. They use a variety of methods, but their populace does not have to deal with anything remotely resembling the clusterfuck that is Modern American Medicine. We are so pathetic that we can’t even COPY plans that have been proven to work elsewhere. Exceptional my ass. What we can do is find systems that work better, then nitpick their faults (because there is no perfect system) to make it seem like any other system is a worse idea. Despite nationalized healthcare being a better choice, we use their shortcomings to pretend that we Americans don’t need reform. > [@](#): > > WRT guns, Bears and Wolves kill enough people per year to populate a post-it note. You’re justifying our gun culture because of the 3 people this year who may die from bear attack? QFT > [@madmonk28](#): > > Yeah Americans are stupid about guns and health care, it’s not just Brits who know this. I’m an American and I know this and I’ve met people from all over the world who know this. The proper response is a sad sigh when people point out how stupid Americans are about guns and health care. QFT \*2. I say this as an American who thinks we get more right than wrong and would rather live nowhere else, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want things here to improve. We can learn from others and adapt. Sadly we are learning how to adopt England’s surveillance state and speech & press restrictions far more than their healthcare policies. That said, size does matter in some things, especially culturally. England (130,395 km[sup]2[/sup]) can fit inside Oregon (255,026 km[sup]2[/sup]2). It’s easier for England to have a more homogeneous culture than America. Think of how different European countries can be from one to another despite their proximity, and apply that to Oregon and Alabama. It is much more difficult to get national consensus here dues to size and population. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/48 "2014-12-05T15:00:10Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > If it’s not Neapolitan, it’s not pizza Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry pizza? No thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/49 "2014-12-05T15:03:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Well, America really is really, really, really stupid about both healthcare and guns. Sorry you guys are so fucked up, but it has very little to do with your country’s size, or with bears. Our gun culture has a little to do with bears. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/50 "2014-12-05T15:04:14Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > And you should cut the Brits a break. Life is obviously so dull over there that they ha e little to do but get falling-down drunk, riot at soccer games and obsess over their favorite anti-American stereotypes. I blame their famously awful food. I’d want something to distract me from chipolatas that taste like dentists’ fingers and jellied eels too. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/51 "2014-12-05T15:09:27Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Yes. Pizza might have been invented in Italy; but it was perfected in the US, largely by Italian immigrants and their descendants. It reaches its highest flowering in NYC. We’re going to have to agree to disagree. I like my pizza wood-fired and not the size of a car tyre. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Neapolitan pizza is a tall glass of “Nope” for this pizza eater. The chocolate and vanilla stripes I can just manage to choke back, but that strawberry part just isn’t going anywhere. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MostlyUseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MostlyUseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyUseless)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/52 "2014-12-05T15:11:00Z")
The part I object to is the assumption of superiority. Unfortunately, this is not limited to Americans. The fact is that the British in particular have been pissing local populations of much of the world with their bloody smugness and presumed superiority for hundreds of years. For a group of intelligent people, I find it laughable that your best argument is gosh, these things are stupid and Americans are stupid. Really? England was quite the developed country when America was discovered. WRT guns, the fact is that there has been a long developed historical tradition (not to mention that pesky Constitution) that necessitated firearms. That many Americans do not want to change that Constitution might be for the same reason that the NYT got into bed with Larry Flynt over the 1st amendment. There are long historical and political realities behind these issues that make them far less than the simple solution. As regards the two smug assholes at work on healthcare, what they did was rude. You come to this country with your smug, condescending attitude and then act as if every American were simply stupid? Rude, rude, rude. STFU. For being such a place full of stupid, much of the world is still trying to find a way to get here. I am sure that many British would dearly love if I came there and spend all my time pointing out their flaws and stupidities as there are many. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/53 "2014-12-05T15:13:00Z")
> [@Bruce\_Wayne](#): > > Our gun culture has a little to do with bears. Uh, hello? _Right to bear arms_? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/54 "2014-12-05T15:23:15Z")
> [@MostlyUseless](#): > > The part I object to is the assumption of superiority. Don’t be excessively hard on the Brits. I am married to an immigrant from Ukraine and, as a result, have a social circle that includes people from all over eastern Europe and several of the -stans. They are bonded by having grown up in the Soviet Union. Anyway, many of them display the same attitude toward the US as you are complaining about from Brits. Never about guns, though. They love shooting and eagerly accept any invitations to the range. They bitch about other things. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/55 "2014-12-05T15:35:04Z")
[satire on] > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > WRT guns, Bears and Wolves kill enough people per year to populate a post-it note. You’re justifying our gun culture because of the 3 people this year who may die from bear attack? When I saw this, I wanted to ask for a cite [because the average number of U.S. deaths attributed to black or brown bears averaged _less than 1.0 per year_ during the GWB Administration.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America) However the same webpage shows one death from black bear just in 2014 AND one death from brown bear in 2014, two altogether. :eek: With more than 3 weeks left in the year, the threat of THREE deaths in a single calendar year is a real threat. Thanks for calling this problem to our attention, **Cheesesteak**. Damn that gun-grabbing Obama! [/satire] > [@MostlyUseless](#): > > The part I object to is the assumption of superiority. Unfortunately, this is not limited to Americans. Smug superiority is a common trait; if you doubt that Americans overseas are among the worst offenders then you’ve never traveled. Anyway, you’d have gotten a much more sympathetic reception from me if you’d come up with examples where the ideas smugly thought to be superior weren’t … superior. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/56 "2014-12-05T15:39:12Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > You expressed yourself poorly. Use of words like “friends” to describe international relations is something I associate with political speechwriters and the tragically naive. For whom do you write? Are you parsing my language, in the pit? How preciously pedantic of you. > [@Scumpup](#): > > I would suggest that a resident of England who wished to own firearms relatively freely would be better served to move to the US than to try to force wholesale changes to the laws in England. Throughout human history, people have always taken advantage, when they could, of moving to parts where they believed they could have greater freedom or safety or happiness. Or even just wealth. That has nothing to do with “love it or leave it,” as convenient as it was for you to ascribe that attitude to me. Do not lecture me on the virtues of moving from country to country or continent to continent, or one culture to another, in search of better opportunities. I’ve done my share and more than once. In doing so, I’ve reached the conclusion that sometimes you leave for change and sometimes you stay and advocate for change. With respect to the gun culture in the US, I advocate for change. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/57 "2014-12-05T15:40:04Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I don’t really discuss the issue with people who have no stake in it. In practice, that means I don’t debate US gun laws with non-citizens. However the issue ends up being resolved, it is a US issue that will be decided by the people of the US. However you handle the issue in Ireland is your business, just as it is our business how we handle it here. Oh my. You’re adorable. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/58 "2014-12-05T15:42:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Are you parsing my language, in the pit? How preciously pedantic of you. > > Do not lecture me on the virtues of moving from country to country or continent to continent, or one culture to another, in search of better opportunities. I’ve done my share and more than once. In doing so, I’ve reached the conclusion that sometimes you leave for change and sometimes you stay and advocate for change. With respect to the gun culture in the US, I advocate for change. You are at liberty to ignore my posts if you find having your weaknesses in thought and language pointed out to you makes you uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/59 "2014-12-05T15:47:02Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Oh my. You’re adorable. …and you’re Irish. You have no stake in US gun law. Other than as a passtime, for which purpose I already have several hobbies, why _would_ I want to discuss it with you? Persuading you to share my beliefs would accomplish what, exactly, that would make it worth my time? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_of\_Words](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@Jack\_of\_Words](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_of_Words)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399/60 "2014-12-05T15:48:21Z")
> [@MostlyUseless](#): > > I am sure that many British would dearly love if I came there and spend all my time pointing out their flaws and stupidities as there are many. You’d be most welcome. We like to laugh at ourselves. Weinvented satire (and soccer, of course) and exported them both world-wide. Well, not so much to the US, who don’t seem to grasp either terribly well. I can’t understand why, they’re quite simple ideas really… But please, don’t bring any of your tastelessly cold beers, your substandard cheeses and chocolate, your entrenched racism (_intelligent_ racism, I’m sure) or, above all, your regulated militia’s arsenal of assault weapons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-smug-english/706399.md?page=4)