Well we’ve had the Britain/British thread so I figure it’s time we put the USA in the firing line.
If at all possible can we keep politics out of it, It’s the USA and its citizens I am asking about.
So…I’ll kick it off.
Most, if not all of you will be aware that I consider the USA to be the second finest country on this planet, the best of the lot is of course my own…Merrie England
What what you like to see in your country that the US has, I’d like to see Clam Chowder for starters after that maybe burgers unlike the soggy sore arsed buggers :mad: we have in McDonald/Burger King here in England.
You may think that Americans are arrogant but I don’t think it’s so. I think it’s a case of being supremely confident that their country is the strongest around, much like Britons felt when we were top dogs, a belief in their ability to overcome all obstacles given time.
I don’t in all honesty understand Americans who are so anti-American, this is something I find difficult to come to grips with
I also find it strange that the USA hasn’t embraced the’ Beautiful’ game.
Given the American will to win, the facilities they have, the money they would be able to invest in the game, I firmly believe that if they adopted football then within a short space of time they could be the new Brazil.
Just about the only thing I don’t like about the US is the tendancy for violence which many of them have. Accidentally step on someones foot and you run the risk of a smack in the chops…maybe I over exaggerate but you get the drift.
I was just thinking a few minutes ago about how Europeans say this sort of thing, and how funny it is, coming from the people who gave us World War I and the European Theater of World War II. Of course, maybe y’all have learned your lesson.
I’m a rare species - a student who likes Americans. Anti-Americanism is very fashionable amongst students at the moment.
I think as a super power, they’ve been largely benign and in most respects beneficial for the world at large. Certainly, out of all other possible candidates for super power status, I’d take them any day.
Strange, as long as you apologize, there is almost never a problem. I am not sure where you picked up that impression that we are that violent. Possibly Hollywood products?
Fútbol/Soccer is slowly picking up here. Give it another 50 years and we will see.
You have probably heard something to this effect before, but the reason we don’t pay more attention to “Football” is that advertisers don’t know what to do with it. There isn’t really a way to televise it with commercials, so networks don’t make any money when they broadcast it. And without being televised, most sporting events seem to die.
That being said, everyone I know was watching the last world cup. So maybe things are starting to change. If I remember correctly soccer is the most popular children’s sport in the country by a wide margin, so when those kids who grew up playing soccer start getting old enough to have influence on the culture (I would say in the next 10 years) soccer will probably gain a LOT of popularity very quickly.
I also think that the Anti American thing you are picking up on is really much more an anti government attitude than anything else. We are raised in a country that was founded by people who overthrew their previous government, and then didn’t trust each other enough to let the new government have any real power for about 20 years. Distrusting the government is an instinct that Americans are born with. On top of that we are taught that it is not only a good thing, but a necessary thing, to voice our distaste for the government loudly and often.
I am sure that you are sick of Americans posting to this, so I will go now. But I will be following the thread with interest. It’s always neat to find out how other people really see you.
The first thing that comes to mind is the difficulty I have reading a lot of American fiction, because of Americans’ infrequent use of perfect tenses.
This isn’t a grammar nitpick - without perfect tenses, I have genuine trouble following the sequence of events and am probably missing out on some otherwise fine writing.
Oh, and I consider ‘different than’ one of the most nails-on-a-blackboard piece of grammar it has ever been my misfortune to come across. But that is a nitpick.
I’ve spent a lot of time around Americans, and the two things which stick out the most are
(1) An odd sort of navel-gazing diversity. More than any other ethnic group, I’ve heard Americans argue about where in Jersey to find the best pizza or Chinese or Mexican food, or about how diverse their particular part of the US is.
I’ve always wanted to step in and say Look, I know there’s a lot on offer but there’s a whole lot more in the outside world. Sophomoric speculation: maybe because of immigrant hyphenation (Italian-American, Japanese-American) there’s a sense that America is where it’s at, and that the best of anything will be found somewhere in the US. I’ve met Americans who would only grudgingly admit that there just might be better Japanese food in Japan than in the US, for example.
(2) An inability to see the US as a normal country, just like any other. This is manifested as a belief that the constitution, for example, is some pure ahistorical dictation from God, and that everything about the American political system is inherently superior to others. Don’t have term limits but do have national healthcare? Poor bastards - bet you wish you were American.
This also comes out as a bipolarity about America’s role in the world. It’s either “USA! USA! We’re Number One!” or, in response to any criticism (if it’s not dismissed as Anti-American), “Yeah we suck, we killed the Indians we’re the worst country in the world, the real evil empire”. No kind of middle ground (some good things, some bad things, America’s a country just like any other).
I’ve never been to the USA, but have met and spent time with say five to ten Americans the last ten years or so, and each one of them gave me the impression of being real fine men. (None of them were women, I’m afraid.) Intelligent, funny, pleasant people. Note that I’m talking about black fellow from working class New Jersey background, black fellow from upper middle class Texas, white fellow from slightly upper class New England, and so forth – just about from anyplace, any background, but having in common of being terrific guys.
Hence I get the impression that Americans are simply great, which gives an astounding contrast to the politics I’m not allowed to talk about in this thread. But it never ceases to amaze me ho the land of Thomas Jefferson, Bob Dylan, Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Dee Dee Ramone, to name just a few hitting me while writing, and with such obvious nice and intelligent citizens, vote George W. Bush for president.
But in a way, Leonard Cohen was right when in “Democracy” calling USA the cradle of the best and the worst, and that is also why Europe is so ambivalent towards the “New Land”, I believe.
I’ve lived over here for 6 years now so I’m going to make a stab at an answer.
The good stuff first.
On the whole I’ve found Americans to be far more polite and well manered than any other counrty I’ve been in. I’ve noticed this especially from the kids who will (IME) call you sir and be respectfull. This is in marked contrast to anywhere I lived in the South of England.
The cities are a lot cleaner than most I’ve seen elsewhere. People actually use the rubbish bins (aka trash cans) in the streets.
If you are willing to work a good standard of living can be achived by anyone here.
Good Malt Whisky is cheaper here than Scotland
The odd stuff.
The need to eat every time Americans go out, can’t we just go out for a beer? Beer is food, I don’t need the chicken wings!
Storage, never seen this anywhere else. I know you all like buying stuff, but when you need to rent a place to keep the overflow, it’s going too far!
I second the Bob Evans comment. Blechh! Total tripe. . .and poor to mediocre service to boot. If I wanted bad food, served by unkempt waitresses, speaking in dialects I have to strain to understand I’d go to…um…England
Foxy40 Is possibly right and to this end I apologise if I came over wrong.
Onomatopoeia Granted some of our food is not so much bad but… erm…different.
'Frinstance we like liver/kidneys/heart etc but would not dream of eating squirrel…nice little fluffy rascals
Something I forgot in my OP which ** SeaDog** puts right, yes most Americans are far friendlier and open than my own countrymen/women and most certainly more generous and willing to make friends.
I spent part of my childhood in Texasm, my parents lived in Tennessee for 16 years, I worked in Connecticut for six months, I’ve vacationed there more times than I can remember, and have been to all of the contiguous states except Rhode Island. The US is intertwined with my life and history, and I have an abiding affection for the individuals I have known. It’s an amazing country with a fascinating history, and has done a lot of good in the world. We in Europe owe the US more than can be imagined.
Negatives, well, I couldn’t phrase it better than britboy put it. American exceptionalism is a dangerous philosophy. You’re unique, yes, but so’s everywhere else. You’re also pretty bad at taking criticism. Also, despite protestations to the contrary, the only people I’ve met who en masse were less aware of the rest of the world were the Chinese, and most of them aren’t allowed to leave the country. As a superpower, on balance, the US is only teetering on the edge of benign. Not that we did much better. Ask a Cambodian or Iraqi and you might get a different answer.
Disagree. There are plenty of people here who are indeed simply anti-American Government, but also plenty who are flat out anti-American, period: ie, “we’re so dumb, we’re so uncivilized, we have no culture, we’re the worst nation on the planet.” This plays into the odd schizophrenic American exceptionalism someone else mentioned: a startling number of people either seem to think we’re the best nation in history and God’s gift to humanity, or that we’re the worst, most vile nation that ever existed. Little or no middle ground, though I don’t know why.
:rolleyes: A war that ended 60+ years ago is being trotted out to talk about violence levels today? Please. :smack:
after that maybe burgers unlike the soggy sore arsed buggers :mad: we have in McDonald/Burger King here in England.
