MOD: If you feel this is on the wrong board then just shunt it across.
I think it fair to say that by and large the majority of us Britons like you guys. I mean you are our little brothers that grew up to be bigger than us and in some ways that makes us feel good.
OK; There are times when tact and diplomacy you just don’t have and that is where we come into the picture, no offence intended but we are a bit better at it…we’ve had more experience y’see.
You share our language,our culture and a whole lot more besides.
You don’t take any shit from anyone, same as we once did…actually same as we still don’t and won’t despite the fact the the sun set long ago on The British Empire.
So the biggie is…what do you honestly think of us little brothers.
Americans, in general, like the British, in general. Sharing a language helps quite a bit, I guess, since Australia and Canada are generally well thought of as well. Poor New Zealand isn’t generally thought of much at all, except as the place where LoTR is being filmed.
In general I don’t think most of us Americans think of the UK much at all. It’s nothing against you folks or your Gov. We tend to be rather short sighted about the rest of the world unless they’re threatening us or we’re bombing them.
That’s changed some what sence your PM has become our good friend in regard to Iraq.
When we do think of you folks we, or at least I, think of you as nice, very polite with some, well, no way to say this any nicer, quaint ways (such as the Royal Family). I know that not everyone there is like Mr. Belvadear (sp?) but that’s the first impression that pops into my head.
Oh, that and your TV shows are great. I love Dr. Who, Black Adder, Coupling, and Red Dwarf
Specifically, with respect to myself, I am somewhat of a history buff. I actually tend to feel that British history is my history, especially with respect to pre-revolutionary events. This makes me identify with Brits, I think. (However, it is a bit odd reading about the American revolution from the British point of view…)
In contrast, I’ve never felt the same identification with any other country’s history.
(BTW, my family’s background is primarily English/Scottish/Irish.)
FRIEDO: I’ve read your laws but would like to mention that SDMB has almost 39,000 members so it’s fair to say that an opinion coming from even 1% of that membership would be pretty indicative of US feelings about the UK given that the majority of the members are US citizens anyway.
Have I missed something here or do I need another cup of coffee?
I meant to disrespect but you did ask for a blanket opinion.
Look at it this way, if all I, as a Joe off the street, can think of are very general but pleasant thoughts then we think well of you. We don’t hate you and I didn’t have to do any deep thinking to find something to reply with. Hell, I consider myself some what intelligent but for some countries I need to grab a globe to figure out where they are.
Oh, and don’t be sore about being called quaint. I like quaint and there are parts of the US that I could only discribe as *&^%ed up.
Broadly speaking–
[ul]
[li]Nice people[/li][li]Better mannered than most 'Murricans[/li][li]Better chance of being well-educated.[/li][li]Our “Cultural cousins”.[/li][li]But not little brothers. Maybe somebody we can learn from, though.[/li][/ul]
MHO is this
A.You guys make some funny TV
B.You make some annoying game shows
C.You talk like me…kind of
D.Your food sucks (I gather this from TV, I have never actually ate british food AFAIK)
E.We tend to help each other out at least as far as the last 100-150 years are concerned and thats a very good thing. No one else has as consistently been our friend for so long, with the possible exception of Canada.
*This post was slightly clouded by beer
1.) As noted above, British accents in general are sexy
2.) Britain has a helluva lot older culture than America. Anything from the 17th century here is really old. British history goes back to Roman times, and you’ve got King Arthur legendry, and a lot of kings that have served generations of playwrights well. Although there’s an awful lot of very weird history we never seem to hear about, we know about Lear, Henty IV and V and Vi and others from Shakespeare. We got Henry II from Anouilh and Goldman, Henry VIII from a whole slew of writers, and so on. There isn’t any other nation that we get such a schooling in history from popular entertainment. Including our own. We need more plays based on American presidents.
3.) You’ve got the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Ocford English Dictionary, and the BBC. Somehow, you can’t compare the Encyclopedia Americana, Webster’s, and PBS in terms of cultural impact.
4.) You guys have great children’s books. I’m serious. Harry Potter is just the latest example.
5.) The openness of Parliamentary debates and their paqssion, and the way the PM has to field questions make American political institutions look dull and scripted.
I, too, look at pre-Revolution British history as United States history. And to some extent post-Revolution history as well.
I think that most Americans capable of finding England on the map have respect for England and probably consider England friends. I don’t imagine we often think about the people, other than hoping you’re not all like the characters in “Are You Being Served?”
We’re not as close as some of the old commonwealth countries. It amuses me that Canada still has the Queen and other English folk on their currency, for example. And has Queen’s Highways. I do know the history behind this moreso than most Americans (especially those nowhere close to the American border), but it’s still amusing.
But we’re still “tight” with the mother country now that we’re not enemies. Contrast this with my wife’s sentiments for her country’s mother country. She’s from Mexico, and while I admit I don’t know if her sentiments are hers alone or generally shared among all Mexicans, she has no regard for Spain whatsoever. I’m pretty sure the countries aren’t enemies, but I imagine Mexico has a better relationship with the USA than with Spain. Maybe one of the biggest differences is the United States people were free and not slaves of the Spaniards. Maybe it’s that the US rebellion was led by European descendants rather than indigenous and mestizo people.
Okay, that got off-topic, but in general I’d say we think England’s all right.
Can I also ask people to distinguish here between “British” and “English”. Britain geographically includes England, Wales and Scotland. “British” the nationality additionally includes people from Northern Ireland (if they choose to be thus described).
