Americans vs Brits

[WeirdHandDryers]

What’s the difference? Because there is a massive difference but I can’t put my finger on what it is! I love America so this isn’t an American bashing thread, would just love to know if anyone else sees the massive difference between the average Brit and the average American?

America with Trump at the top of the heap? Erm...that is not an enviable place to be. To think that Americans voted for that.

Give me any Tory any day - even Gove.

And re the spirited London defence, I believe the stabbing figures are greater than those of New York. That is nothing to be proud of, London.

I'd agree with the anti London comments too.

I'm a Londoner that moved to the States 7 years ago.

It's shit how they both get put down so much on mn but I really do think it's often jealously.

@SilentIsla you realise that the majority of people here DIDN'T vote for Trump?

Have you travelled America? It's AMAZING. I've not done nearly as much travelling here as I want to, many parts are breathtaking and I've made friends with the smartest, kindest people I've met anywhere.

In reply to the comment that ‘America voted for Trump’ he actually didn’t win the popular vote but due to the complexities of the US system he won the election. Believe me when I say that in many parts of America people are embarrassed and mortified that he is their representative worldwide! Living on the east coast it is generally a very anti-Trump region and I still remember going into work the next day and several colleagues admitted they cried when the results were announced!! I did too!

...see what I’m saying?!...

Anyway another thing I note is that whilst Americans are taught to SAY they are superior at every given opportunity, the Brits are taught to KNOW we are superior. We look down on absolutely EVERYONE. It’s nothing personal, it’s just our culture.

When Americans or Aussies or whoever start loudly stating they are are the best at this or that most Brits are internally enraged that these people could show such disrespect to the quietly best country in the world despite declaring that everything in the UK is shit in a contradictory manner

My OH is American, there's a mass of cultural differences. Luckily he loves it here. The one thing that blew his mind was the price you see in a shop is the price you pay, in the USA you add tax onto the price you see. And our ridiculously narrow roads. And tea, made in an electric kettle with milk. They usually have it black or as cold, sweet tea. Oh yeah and two taps on sinks with no electrical outlets in the bathroom.

Oh and our general acceptance of queuing!

Put short, there’s good and bad in both countries. I’d rather live in UK or US than many other countries in the world.

@mycatistoo Thank you

The best part about this thread is the way it's brought out so many Brits who live or have lived in the US.

My experience here is that if I'm trying to be helpful on a thread with information or advice people have been quite welcoming, other times it's mixed. I've made two friends here I consider myself fairly close to, so that's great.

My other observations is that there's a lot of misinformation about American society, culture and economic issues that oddly enough usually tends to put us in a bad light and show the superiority of the UK way of doing things. I think of it as selective perception.

There have been a lot of very insightful comments here about how our history as a nation of immigrants and people fleeing religious oppression has shaped our culture and attitudes about things like the proper role of government.

I'm a New Yorker and have always been something of an Anglophile. I found out about MN because I read a British weekly news magazine (The Economist) so I came in with a broadly favorable view of the UK and that has not changed. Almost all of the Brits I've known personally have been patients who came to New York for medical care that was not readily available in the UK. The vast majority of them have been lovely people despite the great stress they were under. But it's good to chat with you all about iPhones, cats and Christmas recipes too.

My biggest shocker so far - under catering at wedding receptions. Shepard's Pie? Really?

Best British slang I've picked up - "cocklodger". There's no equivalent term in American usage, but we desperately need one.

Maybe we should start talking about the things we have in common. Just as one example, every state in the country but one is a common law jurisdiction. Lawyers in the US sometimes cite English cases as legal authority in court.

I love London. It's my second favorite city in the UK and also my second favorite in the world, my first being the city I lived in as a student many years ago, Edinburgh. If it were feasible, I'd move to Edinburgh in a heartbeat.

Brits can spell properly.

Brits can spell properly

Perhaps, but they talk funny.

This thread reminds me of the time, several years ago, I got into watching part of a season of “American Idol,” only the first four or five episodes to see how awful the singers were, and then the final four or five episodes to see the good ones. I never watched it before that and I haven’t watched it since.

The show was holding auditions in some major city in the American heartland, I think. The judges were Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul.

One contestant got his golden ticket (all three judges moved him to the next round) and ran out of the room, to be greeted by about a dozen family members and friends in the hallway, who the judges could hear yelling in excitement through the closed door. Everybody was hugging and jumping up and down. Simon turned to Randy and Paula and said something like, “You Americans get so excited when someone you love does well.”

Randy and Paula stared at him and Paula said (again, paraphrasing), “Well, yeah, sure. Aren’t you happy for your relatives when things go well?”

Simon said something like, “Well, I suppose so, but I don’t get THAT excited.”

So definitely, one major difference is demonstration of emotion, from what I’ve read in these posts. The British are more reserved in this regard, while Americans aren’t shy.

I'll say it again, everyone who's saying Americans aren't reserved in showing their emotions must not have been to Maine. Or many other states. Not everywhere is California or Florida.

Mainers are WAY more stoic and reserved than Brits. Connecticut, New Hampshire. New Yorkers are pretty reserved too. (State not city.)

Most of the North Eastern seaboard are not all bouncy oversharers.

Ayuh.

Brits can spell properly.

Good lord, no they can't.

Mainers are WAY more stoic and reserved than Brits. Connecticut, New Hampshire. New Yorkers are pretty reserved too.

They are and we (NY'ers) are as well, but not to the degree of Mainers. The French were the predominant early settlers of Maine. The Brits tried, gave up after one winter, then tried again. The French influence waned after losing the French and Indian War. Then the Dutch tried settling in Maine too.

So the history of Maine's colonization is not so different than the rest of New England. I suspect that they're just too cold to talk much for most of the year.

Where I live in the Hudson Highlands the place names are a mix of Dutch, British then native American derived names.

"Brits can spell properly.

Good lord, no they can't."

I have to say that the average American seems to be better at grammar than the average Brit. I don't get apostrophe rage as much here in the US as I did in the UK. School letters are not littered with spelling mistakes and terrible grammar like they were in the UK.

I'll say it again, everyone who's saying Americans aren't reserved in showing their emotions must not have been to Maine.

Fortunately I don’t have time to read every single post, so I must have missed those. And Maine is one of the few states I haven’t visited.

Of course you’re going to have differences. In my company alone people are vastly different. There is one woman whose life is an open book. We know everything about her. But she is not a hugger. Someone tries to hug her and she freezes. Meanwhile, there’s another woman who shares nothing. She’s very quiet. They’re both American and we live on the East Coast.

I just think that the perception that, in general, Americans are more demonstrative than the British isn’t too far off the mark.

Are Americans more isolationists? Also more into winning than taking part. Not bad things just different.

Also they like to 'have a good day' which is catching on here.

Also more culty and some very strict christians.

American here. When it comes to religion it really depends on region you are at and age group. I'm a northern girl who works in s job with a younger demographic, atheist and agnostic are the majority.

Your average American used a knife and fork differently to Brits. They utilise a ‘stab and hack’ method to cut everything up and then switch the fork to the right hand to eat.