To Object to my Colleague Harping on About Me Being British?

God yes the word banana, North Americans find the English pronunciation hilarious!!

I will say that I don't think it's all mocking, Americans just seem to love English accents (and can't tell them apart so it doesn't matter if you sound like Colin Firth or Paul McCartney) but it does get tiring.

Irish-Americans get picked on a bit, but yes, they tend to be the ones who talk about ancestry the most. Italians are certainly proud to be Italian, but often are more tied to their bit of the country. Jews (I am one!) regard being Jewish as our ethnicity in any case.

Thank you, I’m really going down fast.

See, I told you I had the flu. I’m mixed up.im in agony

Only the Irish. You know it from the day you meet them. At least where I live but practically everyone in New York has Irish heritage. Lots of Italians also and the Jewish population. My daughter in law is Jewish. And nobody cares here.we’re all just New Yorkers or Americans.

Do you have HR where you can raise it? Some Americans are obsessed with their heritage even when their ancestors moved 200 years ago!

do you sit next to anyone and say next time a message comes in - what do you think about this?
he’s dumb enough to write it all down.

But people love it, but I get getting sick of hearing it.

I thought you said you were 45 but it doesn’t make a difference. He’s making you uncomfortable and you have to kick him where it hurts.maybe, this thread is making my head spin, and I wish I had an English accent. I grew up on Long Island. Imagine the crap I get from my Long Island accent. It’s not funny. But whatever

I live in the US and am British and barely a day goes by when someone doesn't comment on my accent and this is after almost 20 years. I just accept that it's normal but I think it would bug the crap out of me if I was at work and this happened. The only time I have actually addressed it was when my kids were expected to say the word, "banana" 10000000 times a day when we first moved here and I called the Principal of the school and told them to get it stopped. A British accent is the only one that is deemed culturally acceptable to mock in my experience.

I’m getting this whole thing wrong. Im going to blame it on me having the flu. Sorry, my mind is making blanks. Clinic tmrw for antibiotics. I keep getting worse. I hope you figure it out with him.

Sounds like a playground boy picking on the girl he likes 😂He's fascinated by you and is probably a closet anglophile, and taking the mick is his way of getting your attention and enjoying your 'Britishness'. It's NOT ok if it's making you uncomfortable, I think you need to have a gentle word with him to let him know how it's making you feel. But I don't think it's coming from a bad or bullying place, IYGWIM.

YANBU I had the exact same thing when I lived in Australia, and it was one of the reasons I wanted to come back to the uk. One colleague just never let it go, commenting on every sporting event England lost etc and it was so annoying. I never minded a bit of gentle teasing but in the end it just made me feel isolated and excluded in a country I was trying to make my home. One guy really laid into me about us “coming over here”…I wish I’d spoken up and told them how it made me feel.

It can be really annoying, especially when you are constantly reminded of something that you don't consider important in your daily life. Perhaps you should tell him directly that you don't like such comments?

Sorry if I missed it OP, but how old is this man? You said your brother was bullied in school 55 years ago, is he a lot older than you or are you and this annoying man you’re describing in your 50’s/60’s? I hope that’s not a rude thing to ask

I’m Scottish, moved to the North of England 50 years ago. I’m happy to tell people when they ask where I’m from. It’s never felt like a negative, more that they’re interested. The occasional parody of the accent, usually funny!

@SALaw
I identify as Scottish - I vote for pro independence parties , support the Scotland sports teams, and I've had 2 Scottish husbands and I have a Scottish son. I've not visited the area I was born in England since my mother died nearly 30 years ago. I visit England very rarely. When I do visit it is a foreign country to me.

So when people immediately pick up on my English accent I know that most of the time it's not done with malice. But they make assumptions about me and assume I hold views and indeed have knowledge about England that I just don't have.

So I feel an outsider and a foreigner in England. But in Scotland I'm identified as a stranger because of my accent. The effect on me is that I feel like a stateless person who belongs nowhere.

Ironically my son, who is proudly Scottish, very much picked up my English accent. And when he went to school used to get very upset by other pupils asking him if he was English and teasing him. He still gets people assuming he is because of his accent, although he has learned to put on a more Scottish accent in certain situations.

So I'm glad your Dad enjoys being asked about his home country. I'm glad he finds it a positive experience. But I dont.
I recognise a lot of people asking me about my accent are often trying to be friendly and polite but it just makes me feel as though all the time I'm marked out as not fitting in.

I've met a few people here who genuinely like them, but far more who don't. We are forced to do them anyway because there is some corporate handbook that insists they're a good idea. It's the artificiality of it.

I hope he doesn’t own the company.

Men never grow up and I mean never. It sounds like he thinks he’s impressing you. I hope you have some one or mentor to talk to about this bc its not appropriate for him to be talking to you that.

I don’t know who you are either but this thread open to everyone with opinions and advice.

weirder things have happened