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Why is it relevant if I have immigrant heritage or not? The only thing that is culturally binding between the UK and the US is language, and a few aspects of government & law. That is it.
The relationship between British and American people is constantly overstated by people on both sides and I don't see many similarities - our attitudes are different on most matters and are closer to that of mainland Europeans, such as the Dutch and the Germans, especially regarding homosexuality, same-sex marriage, attitudes towards socialised health care, public transport, our cities look and feel more like mainland European cities - they have similar densities, and are less car-centric with more widespread metro systems and, in many instances, very similar styles of architecture. We seem to have adopted similar unhealthy habits to the US, but not excessively so, and our obesity levels are not obscene and are closer to Germany - besides, some of our best-known foods are not actually British, such as fish and chips (Belgian IIRC), and Germany and the Netherlands both have reputations for having food that isn't exactly savoury - kind of like us.
Throughout the course of history, our shores have been influenced by mainlaind Europeans, whether it's the Vikings, the Saxons, or the Normans. Our language is influenced by French. Our infrastructure was originally developed by the Romans. Our oldest ally is Portugal. We have a monarchy - something Americans can't understand and think is completely out of date, something the Dutch or Swedes would vehemently disagree with.
It's about time people in the UK stopped thinking that we're unique within Europe or completely different to everyone else, or that we're somehow more closely linked to the US, and realised that we're European, and we are more like Germany or the Netherlands than the US in almost everything. There is nothing special about us, and this bizarre fixaiton on a country thousands of miles away needs to stop, the one thing that most influences what happens here is the EU, and that is without doubt.
As for nearly everybody having relatives in the US - maybe for Ireland, but not for here.
Last edited by dunno what to put here; 05-25-2013 at 05:04 PM..
. Over 200,000 left ni and went to america in the 1700s.
So did all other Europeans. For example, most Germans went to America in the 19th century, between 1821 and 1912 roughly 5.5 million Germans went to America. All of them became Americans, and today there are no special ties any more between Germans and Americans of German descent, just as there aren't any to Northern Ireland. Some Americans might be proud to be of German or NI heritage and visit Germany or NI, but that's it. Get over it.
And when you go on holidays like Florida, Spain, Italy, and this year Portugal, don't waste your time in front of the TV, but get out and get some culture.
Maybe you should convince your father to go on holidays to Germanic Europe, such as Holland (sorry Linda), Germany, Sweden etc. so that you can find some similarities.
Why is it relevant if I have immigrant heritage or not? The only thing that is culturally binding between the UK and the US is language, and a few aspects of government & law. That is it.
The relationship between British and American people is constantly overstated by people on both sides and I don't see many similarities - our attitudes are different on most matters and are closer to that of mainland Europeans, such as the Dutch and the Germans, especially regarding homosexuality, same-sex marriage, attitudes towards socialised health care, public transport, our cities look and feel more like mainland European cities - they have similar densities, and are less car-centric with more widespread metro systems and, in many instances, very similar styles of architecture. We seem to have adopted similar unhealthy habits to the US, but not excessively so, and our obesity levels are not obscene and are closer to Germany - besides, some of our best-known foods are not actually British, such as fish and chips (Belgian IIRC), and Germany and the Netherlands both have reputations for having food that isn't exactly savoury - kind of like us.
Throughout the course of history, our shores have been influenced by mainlaind Europeans, whether it's the Vikings, the Saxons, or the Normans. Our language is influenced by French. Our infrastructure was originally developed by the Romans. Our oldest ally is Portugal. We have a monarchy - something Americans can't understand and think is completely out of date, something the Dutch or Swedes would vehemently disagree with.
It's about time people in the UK stopped thinking that we're unique within Europe or completely different to everyone else, or that we're somehow more closely linked to the US, and realised that we're European, and we are more like Germany or the Netherlands than the US in almost everything. There is nothing special about us, and this bizarre fixaiton on a country thousands of miles away needs to stop, the one thing that most influences what happens here is the EU, and that is without doubt.
As for nearly everybody having relatives in the US - maybe for Ireland, but not for here.
I beg to disagree, the UK nowadays is way closer to the US than Its to mainlaind europe culturally and mentally wise. The architecture is obviously still more related to the rest of europe.
I've always felt that both UK and Ireland have been the outliers of europe and they seem to get better with other anglospheric people, dutch and german people are way more direct, honest and forward in acting, typical germanic. The british seem to be more into the typical "polite" attitude where you can never say things straight up even if they are true, similar to american and canadian culturee. Continental europeans are much more regional thinking.
Germany only have 13% of obesity, meanwhile the UK stands at 24,5% and the US at 34%, which means the Uk is slighty closer to the American side.
So did all other Europeans. For example, most Germans went to America in the 19th century, between 1821 and 1912 roughly 5.5 million Germans went to America. All of them became Americans, and today there are no special ties any more between Germans and Americans of German descent, just as there aren't any to Northern Ireland. Some Americans might be proud to be of German or NI heritage and visit Germany or NI, but that's it. Get over it.
And when you go on holidays like Florida, Spain, Italy, and this year Portugal, don't waste your time in front of the TV, but get out and get some culture.
Maybe you should convince your father to go on holidays to Germanic Europe, such as Holland (sorry Linda), Germany, Sweden etc. so that you can find some similarities.
I beg to disagree, the UK nowadays is way closer to the US than Its to mainlaind europe culturally and mentally wise. The architecture is obviously still more related to the rest of europe.
I've always felt that both UK and Ireland have been the outliers of europe and they seem to get better with other anglospheric people, dutch and german people are way more direct, honest and forward in acting, typical germanic. The british seem to be more into the typical "polite" attitude where you can never say things straight up even if they are true, similar to american and canadian culturee. Continental europeans are much more regional thinking.
Germany only have 13% of obesity, meanwhile the UK stands at 24,5% and the US at 34%, which means the Uk is slighty closer to the American side.
I agree that we seem to be reluctant to be upfront or direct, and are more politically correct and want to avoid offending, but that is how we have always been, it isn't a recent phenomenon, and the 'polite' culture here is nothing like the US - we don't have that incredibly cheesy faux 'hello, have a good day, how are you?' politeness that people in the States force down your throats. In fact, whenever I go into stores, the people who work there appear completely uninterested in what is going on, they just serve you and off you go. If you started greeting people with a massive smile and an overbearing 'HELLO THERE!', you'd get a very strange look indeed.
However, I would like you to elaborate further - mentally I can't see many similarities. Some may exist, but not many. Our social attitudes are far more liberal than the US and are probably more liberal than most of Europe. Attitudes to social healthcare is obviously more comparable to Europe, people here would go apeshit crazy if you even talked about privatising that aspect of life, but many people in the US appear completely opposed to socialised healthcare because they see it as inefficient or bad.
Culturally, I still insist we are more similar to continental Europe, and I find it pretty offensive that people actually think the UK is culturally closer to the US than Europe. We still retain a monarchy and have strong support for it - probably stronger than other European monarchies, and unlike the US we do not idolise our politicians or leaders. I cringe whenever I see a large group of Americans frantically cheering for Obama. *shudder*. We also have similar drinking habits to Europe - we prefer socialising while drinking in public venues like bars and pubs, we also have stronger city centres with a wider array of things to do such as shop and drink and eat - unlike the mega-mall culture of the US. This is accentuated by the car-centric culture of much of the US that simply does not exist here, and public transport usage continues to go up, and demand is rising ever more, while cities like Manchester and Nottingham continue to expand their tram networks at a rapid pace. These metro systems are far more heavily used than their US counterparts.
As for obesity, well, we're further ahead of Germany than I remembered, but we're not too far ahead of Luxembourg, Finland and Hungary, and still far behind US levels.
Last edited by dunno what to put here; 05-25-2013 at 07:49 PM..
I agree that we seem to be reluctant to be upfront or direct, and are more politically correct and want to avoid offending, but that is how we have always been, it isn't a recent phenomenon, and the 'polite' culture here is nothing like the US - we don't have that incredibly cheesy faux 'hello, have a good day, how are you?' politeness that people in the States force down your throats. In fact, whenever I go into stores, the people who work there appear completely uninterested in what is going on, they just serve you and off you go. If you started greeting people with a massive smile and an overbearing 'HELLO THERE!', you'd get a very strange look indeed.
However, I would like you to elaborate further - mentally I can't see many similarities. Some may exist, but not many. Our social attitudes are far more liberal than the US and are probably more liberal than most of Europe.
Only countries like china or north korea are less liberal than the US. Yes I know Americans have that thing of being often smiling (even when they dont mean it) and being overly polite ( no matter if most of the time It's fake).
I think in dating and social gathering brits are more like americans, only in countries like the US, Canada and UK (and perhaps australia) you see so many people chatting on their mobile phones on gathering places (pubs, clubs, etc) rather than being really interacting like normal human beings, well maybe the UK isnt so much like that but the trend is there. I noticed the dating stuff works quite much the same between men and women anywhere in the anglosphere and you can trow the brits right in there, which I find quite different in continental european countries.
The europeans are foreignors. Everything is different food, tv, language etc. I dont even like their foods. And its funny because look at lidl a foreign supermarket and youll see what I mean.
Of course we are foreigners, and so are Americans to you, or aren't they? Most of "us Europeans" do still consider our neighbours as foreigners.
What is different in other parts of Europe is mainly the language. You obviously don't speak Spanish sufficiently to follow Spanish TV as otherwise you would realise that the whole of Europe basically watches the same TV, that is American movies, American soaps and American shows or localised copies of these shows, interspersed with news, sports programmes and some real local productions or movies.
And what about Lidl? Yes, it's a different shop system, without frills, but cheap. You will get used to it as well, just as we got used to Walmart in Germany for some years. As far as I know Walmart in the UK bought ASDA but didn't change its name to Walmart, maybe they didn't want to expose the British to a culture shock?
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