A Question for Brits...

[The Valkyrie]

Never break your fag in public.

<muttering under breath> God damn wanker.

When I was fourteen, I had a first-generation Scottish American friend. The first time I ever called his house, I asked for Eric. Eric's mother said, "ooo, Ehdik? E's oot in the gehrige, smookin' a fahg."

I had no idea what she said until I worked it out years later...

(sorry for being off topic)

I love the Scottish and Irish accents.

[MitchBenn]

Actually I do have some questions for Brits.
I could very easily look them up on Google, but this is simply more fun (and perhaps more accurate anyway).


Brits only please. Americans shut your filthy yankee pie holes.

1. Do Brits (including Ireland of course) celebrate the US's Thanksgiving?
2. Do Brits dislike Americans (on average)?
3. Do you like having a monarchy?
4. Do you prefer American TV shows over British TV shows (on average)?
5. Do you feel there is any truth that Americans have better teeth than Brits?
6. Do you think American's have a sexy accent or do you think we sound really stupid?
7. What's so great about Doctor Who?
8. How common is the word 'fag' used when referring to a cigarette?
9. Do you wish your country had won the Revolutionary War?
10. Would you be willing to let me stay with you for a week if I visited your country?



(For the record, I think the British accent is far superior to the American accent.)

1. No.
2. No.
3. Most of us are kind of benignly indifferent; you get the odd obsequious flag-waver but they're dying out. The royals are more the National Soap Opera than anything else. And bear in mind that the monarch plays no major part in the RUNNING of the country; that's down to Parliament.
4. Me or all of us? I'd say no either way. We only see the good US stuff, but in any event the homegrown stuff is most popular, as I imagine it is in many countries.
5. Yes & no; our teeth are about as healthy as yours but I think we're less hung-up on orthodontic perfection. We don't tend to make our teenagers spend 5 years with their head in a frame for fear of having one tooth 5 degrees out of whack...
6. Sexy Americans sound sexy; stupid Americans sound stupid. We don't tend to go all giggly over US accents the way Americans are reputed to go over ours.
7. It's the coolest smartest wildest most imaginative TV show in the history of the medium, bar none.
8. Less common these days; it's a middle-aged kind of word now. Never smoked so I couldn't tell you what the kids call 'em now.
9. God no.
10. Spare room's full for the foreseeable I'm afraid.

---

Sorry. How the hell am I supposed to know the difference between a British accent and an English accent? Help a brother out.

Well English is a subset of British, so a British accent could be English, Scottish, Welsh and ( though some of them would differ) Northern Irish.

Bear in mind also that there are dozens of identifiably distinct accents INSIDE England alone...

[Cyberman]

What he said. Except in my experience the word "fag" is still very much in the lexicon round here, though I don't partake myself.

[DeistPaladin]

Do you wish your country had won the Revolutionary War?

Sorry, can't keep my pie hole shut because this is an interesting "what if" historical question.

I suspect we'd be part of Canada right now.

Just speculation but the reason we're separate countries is they remained loyal to Britain during that war. Sooner or later, colonies break off from the mother country once they've reached a threshold in population and self-sufficiency, not unlike children growing up and leaving the house. Sometimes it happens violently and sometimes it happens piecemeal and peacefully but sooner or later it happens.

Anyone more familiar with history want to comment?

[Cyberman]

Well, not all that good at history myself, but by coincidence I did happen to see this a little earlier:

6 Myths You Probably Believe About the American Revolution

I include it for some background on the subject.

[Rahul]

Well i've read that a lot of historians believe that if the war of 1812 had not have happened then what is now Canada would be part of the US.

[DeistPaladin]

Well, not all that good at history myself, but by coincidence I did happen to see this a little earlier:

6 Myths You Probably Believe About the American Revolution

I include it for some background on the subject.

One part of our history that I didn't learn about until I got to college was that our founder's first attempt at a government was a dismal failure.

Technically, our first president was John Hancock but he was little more than a figurehead. Evidently, like many countries shifting from monarchy to democracy, we were so fearful of centralized authority that our first attempt was a government that couldn't get anything done.

Our founders hit the "do over" button in 1787 and the result was a Constitution that largely shamelessly copied the British system as it existed at that time with some cosmetic name changes. The powers of the US president were mostly identical to that of the king of England at that time, except that the supreme court was spun out into a third branch of government (the king was also the supreme judge, from what I understand). Like the Parliament, Congress held the purse strings while the president, like the king, held the sword. Struggles between president and congress today are much like how the struggles between king and parliament used to be in England. There was even the suggestion to call the president "his majesty" but that was quickly voted down and now we have the more simple, "Mr. President".

British democracy more evolved piecemeal and in many stages, so the similarity might be hard to recognize today.

So to use the anthropomorphic understanding of history that I'm so fond of, America was the rebellious hell-raising child of Britain (Canada was the good sibling), we stormed out of the house only to find being on our own was more complicated than we thought, we reflected on how mom does it and within 10 years we became like our parents. It just goes to show you that even the wild, unruly nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

[max-greece]

As an Ex-pat Englishman living in Athens:

1. Do Brits (including Ireland of course) celebrate the US's Thanksgiving?

No. I don't think many of us know when it is exactly.

2. Do Brits dislike Americans (on average)?

Not really. There's a feeling of you being rather like us, but not quite. There's also a growing sense of you not being homogeneous. People from the East coast are more like us. People from the middle are residents of Jesusland and people from the west coast are pot smoking weirdo's obsessed with surfing.

3. Do you like having a monarchy?

They are handy for coins, notes and stamps. Other than that most English people find them to have been a huge disappointment over the last few decades or so.

4. Do you prefer American TV shows over British TV shows (on average)?

Most TV shows are dire. The best are probably equally spread. Game of Thrones is as good as anything I have ever seen.

5. Do you feel there is any truth that Americans have better teeth than Brits?

Americans are obsessed with their teeth. There seems to be a competition over there as to who can make the largest teeth fit into their mouth. I'm not sure what better means in this context - huge white teeth tend not to look real.

6. Do you think American's have a sexy accent or do you think we sound really stupid?

Varies with the region. GWB always sounded disabled to me whilst Obama sounds intelligent, articulate and well educated.

7. What's so great about Doctor Who?

We grew up with it. Its been running from the early 1960's - before the first star trek episode was even recorded.

8. How common is the word 'fag' used when referring to a cigarette?

I use it. It raised a few eyebrows in a NY Bar when I announced to my friends I was just "popping out for a fag."

9. Do you wish your country had won the Revolutionary War?

You mean - we didn't? OK - in all seriousness never really given it much thought. If we had I think America would have gained independence anyway at some point, peacefully.

10. Would you be willing to let me stay with you for a week if I visited your country?

Not applicable - sorry.


Just an aside of the cigarette incident this was in the mid 90's. You could still smoke in bars. A group of us went into a bar after work, ordered some beers and I lit up. Suddenly I was aware of everyone staring at me. I said: "This is a bar right?"
The barman replied that it was also a restaurant and that therefore smoking wasn't allowed. I apologised to everyone, picked up my beer and headed to the door.
Suddenly there's a chorus of "Nooooooo..."
I was mystified. "I can't smoke outside either?"
"You can smoke outside - you can't drink outside."
Gotta say I thought they were all making fun of the foreigner and said as much. Some of them started to laugh which didn't help.
"So there's nowhere the 3 of us can be together then?"
The caused an uproar - in the end they let me smoke one cigarette inside.
It was about half an hour later - now that we were friends with everyone in the bar that I announced I was popping out for a fag. That brought the place to a total silence for a few seconds. A friend explained the term, the was a group slow exhale of relief.

America and Britain. Two nations divided by a common language.

[Jacob(smooth)]

.

1. Do Brits (including Ireland of course) celebrate the US's Thanksgiving?

Nope. We don't give thanks for your harvest . The nearest analogue is the "harvest festival, but that's a pretty obscure church celebration

2. Do Brits dislike Americans (on average)?
Can't speak for anyone but myself. An American is lovely. Americans collectively are scary as all hell.

3. Do you like having a monarchy?

Very much. Tradition is a fine thing.

4. Do you prefer American TV shows over British TV shows (on average)?

No. Both have produced some excellent dramas. House, GOT, lie to me etc are awesome. However the more "pulpy American TV is dross, your news shows try to be dramas, and you gave the world Christian television, for which I can never forgive you.

5. Do you feel there is any truth that Americans have better teeth than Brits?

The wealthy ones, yes. In fact in general if I was a millionaire I'd rather be sick in America. On average though I think the UK has better healthcare


6. Do you think American's have a sexy accent or do you think we sound really stupid?

Bit of both.

7. What's so great about Doctor Who?

Nothing. I'm not a fan.

8. How common is the word 'fag' used when referring to a cigarette?

It's pretty ubiquitous
9. Do you wish your country had won the Revolutionary War?

Did we lose it then?

I thought we just decide the colony was too much trouble to be worthwhile and left y'all to it.
10. Would you be willing to let me stay with you for a week if I visited your country?

Fraid I don't know you well enough. But I'd show you the good places to go.

[NoraBrimstone]

Americans do seem to love putting cheese on things. I don't think that's such a bad thing. Cheese is delicious.

Oh, you know what I've noticed about British television? Tea fixes everything in these shows. In one show I watched, a girl gets raped, so they give her tea, and then everything is fine.

That's pretty much how it goes, yeah. Problem?

So I'm watching an old episode of Top Gear, one where they're making fun of Hammond for being "American," saying he drives ridiculous cars, wears cowboy hats, and puts cheese on everything. Is that a thing? The cheese thing? Do we Americans put cheese on too many things? Do Brits (or Europeans) not? What other things do we Americans do that you guys find ridiculous?

Sticking with cheese for a moment, I find that most British people seem to think that "American cheese" is the nasty orange processed stuff. I doubt many will have heard of or tried White American cheese, which in my opinion is one of the most delicious cheeses around...SO creamy.

Not sure what most Brits think of Peanut Butter and Jelly, but I can't think of a more horrible combination. Separately they are fine...but never together. :S

Almost anyone who has been to Subway in the UK has tried White American Cheese. Though, I didn't know that until I was in Subway with an American who was happy they had American Cheese.

My sister likes peanut butter and jam. I can't stand it. Awful stuff.