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Old 12-15-2015, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Southeast Michigan
2,851 posts, read 2,282,125 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Star10101 View Post
Of course it is, but remember that good will always prevail over evil!
If these shows are any indication, the Good will always bore Evil to death.. I like many British shows but most of their crime serials are one big yawn.. Sorry.
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Old 12-15-2015, 11:49 AM
 
181 posts, read 154,850 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Star10101 View Post
How are you settling into Uni life now?
very well. Don't really have any friends though. Find English people hard to get to know, they're very reserved and generally don't speak to me unless I speak to them.
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Old 12-15-2015, 12:18 PM
 
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
5,238 posts, read 4,029,745 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rediculousaffairs View Post
very well. Don't really have any friends though. Find English people hard to get to know, they're very reserved and generally don't speak to me unless I speak to them.
Ah, good. Haven't spotted anyone else from N Ireland yet then, I take it?!

Back in the olden days (lol), we used to queue up for grant cheques at the beginning of every term. We queued up in front of the first initial of our county (so I was under 'M' for Mid Glam). I noticed there was a grand total of two other people from M Glam, and I got to meet both of them eventually! I also went down the Union when Wales were playing rugby and met a few Welsh people down there too.

I found people from the South West, the Midlands and up North to be the most friendliest and I usually stuck with them.
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Old 12-15-2015, 01:09 PM
 
181 posts, read 154,850 times
Reputation: 51
Yeah I think it's just their culture. They don't speak to strangers.

At the start of the year I thought it was all my fault but now i've realised that it takes alot of effort to get in with the English. Tbh I don't really get the English culture and their reservedness. It doesn't do them any favours in the friendship department really.. I don't get what's so bad about speaking to strangers?

And no there's not many people from home there.

Last edited by Rediculousaffairs; 12-15-2015 at 01:27 PM..
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Old 12-15-2015, 01:50 PM
 
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
5,238 posts, read 4,029,745 times
Reputation: 4245
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rediculousaffairs View Post
Yeah I think it's just their culture. They don't speak to strangers.

At the start of the year I thought it was all my fault but now i've realised that it takes alot of effort to get in with the English. Tbh I don't really get the English culture and their reservedness. It doesn't do them any favours in the friendship department really.. I don't get what's so bad about speaking to strangers?

And no there's not many people from home there.
I think I will continue this conversation in the UK Chat thread (yes, we have a chat thread now, although it hasn't been used much lately), as I don't want to annoy anyone for going off topic etc...
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Old 12-15-2015, 06:36 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
8,452 posts, read 14,968,508 times
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I'm late to the party, but have to question the original premise of this thread: i.e., that there is actually a potential consensus on what constitutes "Americans." The huge differences in responses here about what Americans are like reminds me of the parable about blind men touching separate parts of an elephant---one feeling a leg says an elephant is like a pillar, one on the tail says it's like a rope, on the trunk it's like a tree branch, on the ear it's like a hand fan, on the belly it's like a wall, and on the tusk it's like a solid pipe. Meaning: subjective experiences are true, but only paint a limited part of the big picture.

The entire UK would fit in the US State of Oregon. The US is equal in size to ALL of Europe. Simply considering geography, there would likely be more commonality among people in England than those in the spread-out US, not to mention a wide disparity in US economics, climate, topography, history and politics, just as that which exists in the whole of Europe* (*see migrant crisis). There are 51 countries in Europe, 50 states in the US. An American from Florida has about as much in common with one from Massachusetts as a Romanian has with a Dane. The responses are interesting to read, though. I am a complete Anglophile, incidentally.

Last edited by nightlysparrow; 12-15-2015 at 07:08 PM..
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Old 12-16-2015, 07:27 AM
 
181 posts, read 154,850 times
Reputation: 51
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightlysparrow View Post
I'm late to the party, but have to question the original premise of this thread: i.e., that there is actually a potential consensus on what constitutes "Americans." The huge differences in responses here about what Americans are like reminds me of the parable about blind men touching separate parts of an elephant---one feeling a leg says an elephant is like a pillar, one on the tail says it's like a rope, on the trunk it's like a tree branch, on the ear it's like a hand fan, on the belly it's like a wall, and on the tusk it's like a solid pipe. Meaning: subjective experiences are true, but only paint a limited part of the big picture.

The entire UK would fit in the US State of Oregon. The US is equal in size to ALL of Europe. Simply considering geography, there would likely be more commonality among people in England than those in the spread-out US, not to mention a wide disparity in US economics, climate, topography, history and politics, just as that which exists in the whole of Europe* (*see migrant crisis). There are 51 countries in Europe, 50 states in the US. An American from Florida has about as much in common with one from Massachusetts as a Romanian has with a Dane. The responses are interesting to read, though. I am a complete Anglophile, incidentally.
We already know this.
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Old 12-16-2015, 07:34 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,351,321 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rediculousaffairs View Post
We already know this.
Then apply this knowledge to your life and to your opinions.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:44 AM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,797,385 times
Reputation: 11115
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon View Post
Sorry to rain on your parade. That's the term.

Just had to throw that in. But I said it softly, in case you can't tell from the screen.
Thank you, Kathryn. Ya beat me to it.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:49 AM
 
Location: Nashville, TN -
9,588 posts, read 5,797,385 times
Reputation: 11115
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ummagumma View Post
The British form of criticism is very different from what is acceptable in the US and would be considered very rude here.

In the US, you're supposed to gently let people know what you think is wrong with their performance, often the criticism is masquerading as an outward praise. It is believed that criticism in a positive form leads to better acceptance by the individual being criticized, while the negative form makes them defensive and doesn't produce the desired result. Also, it's just a cultural thing - in most states, being rude to people is still a major social taboo.

The British criticism to me is very much like German - in your face, extremely direct, and unless you grew up in that culture, seems rather harsh and personal. Add to this the infamous English sarcasm - something that the Germans don't use as much - and the English criticism often comes across as a direct, poisonous insult. Even when you guys didn't intend it to be.

This is just another example of cultural difference - like being loud in a public place. I have a buddy who's very tall, very large, very talkative, very loud, very friendly, and extremely outgoing. When he's in a public place like a bar / line to a concert / game, he would constantly engage total strangers in our conversations. Some don't mind, others make a couple polite remarks and go back to their business. It's all in good fun, and most people don't mind at all, but I suspect in Britain he'd be seen as rude and perhaps even intimidating.

Another characteristic British trend that I find somewhat annoying is the propensity to poo-poo nearly everything and always assume that no matter what someone is trying to achieve, they are destined to fail unless they somehow cheat or play unfairly. Not everyone is like that, but I've met enough Brits to see that this was a fairly common mindset.
I'm a child of British parents and still have family in the UK. I approve this message, particularly the last paragraph. One of my grandmothers was SO like that. My dad (a Scot) always used to say that the Brits (and perhaps Europeans, generally) have a strong sense of fatalism that we Americans, thankfully, cannot relate to.
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