Why is there so much sneering at Americans with European ancestry?

[BrBa]

I don’t understand! I identify with all my ancestors whether they came as religious refugees or early colonisers, were already indigenous to the region or brought in as slaves.

Yours
Swiss, German, Native American North, Central and South, Sephardic, Irish, South East African, Scottish, Acadian/French, and English

I can tell you don't live in the UK. Mine are now older teens, and already when they were in nursery, Carter, Cooper, Harrison, Jackson etc were mainstream. Then it was Mykenzy, Madyson, and my pet hate (because it's a distortion from my own native language) Annaleise and other grotesque spellings. That particular one should actually be pronounced Analyze, not Annalees like the parents like to pronounce it. Of course you have to try to pronounce it the way the parents want, but it's very hard when you speak multiple languages and it goes against all grammatical grains. So glad I'm not a teacher!

No worries, you weren't rude in the slightest! Ours both have very traditional names, one Irish and the other from my native country. Not at all hard to pronounce in English, but have turned out to be harder to spell than we anticipated. But no biggie.

Mine isn't hard to pronounce bit it's foreign AF. My mil was utterly concused.nɓyvit!

Wtaf is nbivyit

Just as a matter of interest, why can you tell i don't live in the UK?

Apologies, I thought you said earlier that you live in Ireland and enjoyed Biden's visit. I may have got that wrong though, or got you mixed up with someone else.

They actually don’t but if it makes you happy.

Show me an American forum where they spend time talking about British people?

And my comment was lighthearted with regards to the names. I get the impression (but may be totally wrong) that the UK was earlier with adopting American-style names than most other European countries including Ireland. So the names of my children's playmates at nursery seemed strange to our families in other countries. But it was only meant tongue in cheek. And by now their best friends have fantastic names from all over the world.

My comments were lighthearted. I've no nad buzz with my british cousins. At all.

Bad buzz!

Very interesting thread. I felt fine about Biden playing up his Irish roots. The GFA is something to celebrate and sustain and he was finding a way into that via claiming an affectionate link I think. No harm meant in it. I’m not Irish though. Saying that I remember when Trump went on about his Scottish maternal connections people protested it. So there’s also who is claiming the link…

Not to derail the thread, but surnames like Jackson, Harrison and Wilson have traditionally been first names in the far northwest of England (Cumbria). Not an American thing at all. The others you mentioned are definitely an American influence.

Show me an American forum where they spend time talking about British people?

There's no such animal. Unless there's something like a royal wedding, we give the Brits no headspace at all. How you do things is of no concern to us, as opposed to the obsession on MN with all aspects of life in America. There was a thread recently about how often American mothers take their children to see a pediatrician. It's bonkers.

Its not at all. The UK is a relatively small country with decades of US TV, film and media being prevalent. Its not weird that British or any other Europeans are interested in America.

And its not smart or clever to assert that the US is only interested in itself, though that might be true for the minority.
I can guarantee you that someone somewhere on an American site has talked about NHS paediatrics.

Majority, not minority.

But yeah "we're not interested in other countries" is not the flex you seem to think it is.

I might agree with you if not for the fact that the threads here about America are almost always sneery and condescending.

I can guarantee you that someone somewhere on an American site has talked about NHS paediatrics.

I doubt it, but feel free to try to find one.

That's your perspective, but I don't agree. There are loads that are not.

I don't need tgo find one, but I can assure you that it has happened. Contrary to your belief, some Americans are interested in the rest of the world, and the internet is a big place. I can guarantee you that conversations have been had on US websites about many aspects of the UK, and other places.

What American style names are you suggesting the UK adopted?

President Andrew Jackson's surname originated from Great Britain which tells us that he was of what we call today Ulster-Scots stock.

President John Adams' surname also originated from Great Britain.

And so on.

A lot of the names in the US today have their origins in the UK in addition to other European countries.

This might explain why the rest of the world is interested/obsessed with what Amercians do or think

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/10/internet-world-trapped-americas-culture-war/616799/

On the Irish issue I think people in Britian are mocking it as it is a bit cringe - that is all. Lots and lots of British people have Irish ancestry but do not bang on about it. However for obvious reasons a lot of people in GB can have a more complex relationship with their Irish identity.

Mr Monkey is London born to Irish parents. He has a very Irish name but an English accent. He has both British and Irish passports. All his family apart from he and his siblings live in Ireland. He commented wryly the other day that you would think Biden was more Irish than he was.

The Irish have a (slightly mean) name for enthusiastic adopters of Irish identity.

This is very true, I think for our (if you are 40+) parents' generation, there was quite a lot of talk and backlash of British (probably English) culture being Americanised in the 80s and 90s and they didn't like it . All the fast food coming over here, MTV, American teenage shows like Beverly Hills 90210, later the more introspective and 'self-indulgent rubbish' (my Dad would say and DH's Mum) that was Dawson's Creek. I actually loved Dawson's Creek but nobody spoke like that in England, as our emotions largely remained repressed! My Dad refused to eat Macdonald's and DH's Dad, friend's parents were the same. Even the 90's Britpop era was a backlash against miserable American Grunge which many of us were in to prior to British indie music taking off.

When we see the gun crime rates iit is truly shocking to most of us! I was watching something on Netflix the other day and a nice auntie type character is worried about an intruder and is spooked by the niece who is staying with her and turns the gun on her then realises and obviously stops aiming it at her but this is alien to Brits and of you knew your niece was staying with you probably best to not get the gun out in case of an accident.

That's your perspective, but I don't agree. There are loads that are not. I don't need to find one, but I can assure you that it has happened.

I've been on here for six years and I've never seen one. They often start with a soft of faux neutrality ("Can someone please explain to me why Americans do this?) but they inevitably descend into bashing, stereotypes, and misinformation. It's really the least attractive side of MN.

You assert that they not only exist but are common. That's clearly not the case.

I realise this is fiction but it is not completely removed from fact. I few years back read about a woman who was a scientist so educated and intelligent presumably very sadly, accidentally loosing her child who let the gun off. So sad and incomprehensible here.

You added two separate quotes together.

What American style names are you suggesting the UK adopted?

Last names as first names I think. However not totally convinced it's an American thing as the English part of my family have been doing that for at least 200 years. My great grandfather for example definitely stood out amongst his biblically named siblings with his last name as a first name.

I have multiple relatives from the 1800s onwards called Ocean and now a family member has called their daughter Ocean, she's constantly dealing with people assuming it's an Americanised choice not a family name reflecting an aspect of her heritage.