Differences between Brits and Americans

I mean you could say that about the UK too, people from pit villages in Co Durham are worlds away from people in inner city London or the commuter villages in Surrey.

It's a good idea when you visit another country to assume the laws might be different, then research the law and obey it.

Bluntly, did you expect the police to treat you differently from anyone else when you broke the law? Did you expect the 'busybody' to put up with people sleeping in a car when that is illegal, is associated with drug use, and can result at the very least in trash filled neighbourhoods, ? Did you expect a responsible camp counselor to stand idly by while his fellow counselors possibly became impaired and put the safety of the kids at risk?

Your post is a preposterous example of British exceptionalism.

No of course all treatment is not decided by insurance agents. But the level of insurance you have informs what you are allowed to have. So if a particular treatment is not included in your plan you’re out of luck.
Yes cost is a factor in NHS treatment, I do think we all know that ( or I do anyway!) but in the U.S it’s really a case of you get what you have individually paid for. I have had a number of very expensive procedures on the NHS and I find that while basic medical care in the uk is generally sub standard and not good enough, when you are really sick they will throw everything at it.
When you have good insurance medical care is exceptional I agree.

If you took New York and Connecticut and compared them with Germany and France, Germany and France are much more different from each other. If you took New York and Texas and Germany and France then the difference would be closer, but New York and Texas still have more similarities than France and Germany. If you took Greece and Norway then that's a whole new level of difference and is in no way comparable to any two US states.

There’s massive differences across the states and the very conservative/christian Bible Belt compared to New York or Chicago are just so different I don’t think US v UK is nuanced enough. My family from Minnesota now live in Wisconsin and they are like the American version of us re outlook (cousin grew up in USA but did have an English mum who’d lived there 10 years before he was born). His wife is fully American though.

Other cousin is still in Minneapolis and married a marine. He’s all about his American right to bare arms. Very different character. None are Trump supporters thankfully.

Yes, I edited to add

Adding: and it depends which states. Massachusetts and Connecticut, no. Vermont and Alabama, yes.

So, @Dramatic, what's your experience that informs your opinion?

I may well be because they don't know you that well yet.
My US friends and I used to join/moan/bitch about all sorts, but that was after I'd known them well for a long time.
One wife being abused and the ranks closed around her and we got her out. Another one was helped to set stuff straight and stay because that's what she wanted.
Others not as close were friends but more superficial. I find people in UK I know seem to spill all quite soon after getting be friends.
I was in California, rural, lots of ranches, closer in distance to Nevada than to San Francisco.

Depends on which countries and which states, some states are much more different then some neighbouring European countries

That is absolutely ridiculous.

In my humble experience - grew up in NY, went away for university, still Northeast, back for my law degree, lived and worked in NY before living in Paris for 6 years and then London ever since - yes.

Adding: and it depends which states. Massachusetts and Connecticut, no. Vermont and Alabama, yes.

CowboyJoanna · Today 17:03

I once went to California with DH. Horrible, horrible people. Loud, brash, superficial, put on a false air of happy friendly but not because they genuinely care but because it makes them look like good people. And also ignorant beyond belief.

That's a shame, I've been quite a few times, one of my aunts (now dead) lived in Marin County, North of San Francisco. I found people to be friendly and interested. I also worked for a company with a San Diego office and I liked them, in the main.

I didn't like LA, I have to say. The hairs on the back of my neck were permanently up.

I agree that those kind of loyalties around sports, including high school and college, is a huge difference, which is very tied in to tribal loyalties, and cuts across all sectors of income and education in ways you don't see in the UK. University sports and the amounts of money they bring in from alumni and donors, I think, are a real problem in the US.

Are you saying American states are more different from one another than European countries?

My private company I worked at gave us all tamiflu when there was a swine flu outbreak (to get us well and back to work faster). When dh then got flu I contracted my gp and he advised against it. It’s good if you’re vulnerable and have other conditions (and then it is provided on nhs) but if you’re healthy, the side effects can be worse than having the flu.

Cauliflower cheese is, at least, a vegetable. I still find macaroni and cheese weird as a side dish because it's more carbs.

I'm sure they loved you!

I have lived there and spend a lot of time in the US and have close family living there

the more time I spend there the more I realise how different we are

all this is my opinion of course ….

firstly how self referential they are possibly more so on the west coast but to centre yourself in every conversation seems the norm. It’s a country of self first and that is evident in everyday conversations (that not to say they are not kind and friendly)

they are extremely upfront and do not recognise the subtle answers to awkward questions

we are very passive aggressive

they have no qualms in making demands

we find this akward and apologise

sarcasm isn’t a thing on the west coast

our use of language is often sarcastic or subtle hints

they answer directly we do not

humour is different

very friendly and have no qualms in asking questions we would see as being nosey but often just being nice

very quick to take offence/make complaints

we prefer to have a good moan after

conservative and have a real pride on tradition

the right to protect your property seems jas important to them as our feelings around the right to own property it’s very ingrained

I wouldn’t say they have superiority complex (I think that is more evident with English and French) but a deep held belief that America is the best of most powerful and that is how it is

I think the US has some thing of the best and the worse aspects of western societies

I work with only Americans (from the south, I feel this isn’t as much of a northern state thing), and I find they’re much bigger sports fans. I know we have die hard football fans, but going to high school games when they’re at school, college basketball/football games at uni, I feel gives them a huge love for it. I know all about the various college football teams they support from just how much it’s spoken about.

Goodness. It's so hard to understand why people might not welcome you with open arms, with your nuanced and positive attitude.

Im sure nice americans exist but the accent pisses me off bare im sorry

Canada irritates me even more because they try to act all like theyre not Ameircan but they literally are the same people

Yes, and certainly in the American South it's a very traditional side with ham or barbecue. I'm not sure that it's significantly odder than cauliflower cheese? Pretty much in a similar vein, flavour wise.

I once went to California with DH. Horrible, horrible people. Loud, brash, superficial, put on a false air of happy friendly but not because they genuinely care but because it makes them look like good people. And also ignorant beyond belief.

American here, living in the UK for the past 15 years. I don't love it here and hope to move back one day. Things I miss:
-culture of hard work and enthusiasm about your work (my kids are told it's cringey that they work hard and care about their interests and are called try-hards)
-friendly, open genuine people with positive attitudes
-being among people who don't think it's weird to get up early, exercise early, go to bed early, and not drink
-people being generous, always wanting to give time, share food, give gifts
-higher quality of life, better houses, better shopping
-better weather in the summer
Things I don't miss:
gun culture
religiosity
tipping

I find they are more both extremes: obese or very fit and healthy. There seems to be fewer in the middle.

Just to say, this is true in much of the Caribbean also. A common meal in Barbados, for example, would be roast pork, macaroni cheese (or pie, as they call it) and rice & peas. That seems odd to us here, but it definitely is not 'some weird American thing', if that were the intended implication.