Split: Mistaken for Canadian

I was in a French train chatting to an elderly French lady (in French) and she asked me if I was Swiss! I was so proud!

Now THAT is something to be proud of!

I didn't ask if she meant la Suisse romande or the German speaking part!

 

But the definition of pride is "a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired"

Being an american is not an achievement.

Daring to come back to the conversation one last time to say perhaps I should have said 'feelings of patriotism toward the country you are from' instead of 'pride in your country' or however it was that I worded it.

If I had known it was going to get the thread this far off topic I would have never bothered with my remark.

Because it's my country. If you can't be prideful of where you come from, what can you be prideful of?

My fiancé and I actually had this discussion when he said some sarcastic remarks about America which, to me, were not bad because I know we aren't te only country in the world. Some membes of my family don't think of it like that and took offence. Basically, from our experience, Americans are a lot more patriotic than the British. My fiancé was amazed to see the amount of flags flying when we were in NY.

Can anyone who feels "proud" to be an american tell me why?

I am proud to now be a good cook, because it's something I struggled with and learned with time. But being born in the US was a complete accident. Where does this "pride" come from?

As in the driving an automatic discussion, I am not criticising anyone's opinion. I'm just fascinated by the human condition!

But again, the definition of 'trivial' is based on what the person sees as trivial. You see someone getting bent out of shape over this trivial, I do not. As I said, my own fiancé - who is English - has balked at someone suggesting he was Australian. it's a pride thing. Doesn't make you right and us wrong or us right and you wrong - because it's all based on what that person finds trivial.

I know of a girl who is 33 and gets upset when anyone bad mouths the movie Titanic. To me, that's trivial. To her, it isn't.

Again, that all goes to what I said earlier. What is the point in taking someone else's mistake so personally? It's extremely conceited on the 'offended's' part, and proves their arrogance. IT DOESN'T HURT YOU.

Yes, the person should ask where you're from instead of assuming- they're kindly corrected in the end, aren't they? So what does it matter? There have been two people at work to assume that I was Irish instead of asking, it didn't bother me; I just smiled and politely corrected them. There's so much more to life than being offended by yes, something so trivial.

Might I suggest the The Four Agreements? It's a great philosophy. 

If I had known it was going to get the thread this far off topic I would have never bothered with my remark.

Welcome to UKY! 

Seriously though, topics often get do far off-track, but that's how it works in a real-life conversation as well, so I don't really mind it.

But again, the definition of 'trivial' is based on what the person sees as trivial. You see someone getting bent out of shape over this trivial, I do not. As I said, my own fiancé - who is English - has balked at someone suggesting he was Australian. it's a pride thing. Doesn't make you right and us wrong or us right and you wrong - because it's all based on what that person finds trivial.

I know of a girl who is 33 and gets upset when anyone bad mouths the movie Titanic. To me, that's trivial. To her, it isn't.

For the UMPTEENTH time, it is very trivial to get offended over someone else's mistake. It may even be embarrassing to that person for making the mistake. You must be an extremely arrogant person to have such pride in your nationality that you believe that EVERYONE- the whole world, basically- should be so wrapped up in American culture to be able to pick an American out of the crowd; that it's their duty to have to know American accents. pretty much. That is what you're saying, and not only is that feeding into foreign stereotypes about Americans, but it's gross, too.

Not telling my husband how I think about this, I asked if him if he would be offended if someone mistook him for being an Australian. He said 'No, why should I?'

As for what you said above your reply to me: just because a person doesn't have pride in their country, their nationality, DOES NOT mean that they can't have pride in themselves, their abilities and achievements.

Wow, I don't know but that post comes off as pretty offensive to me. No need for such anger and foul language. Someone disagrees with you. So move on.

OK.

Part of moving to a new country involves accepting that there is a different culture and people look at things differently.

In the UK, in general, there is not this "My country is the best country in the world; I am proud just because I happened to be born here" attitude that is so prevalent in the US.

In fact, in the UK, that attitude is often associated with being racist and anti-foreigner when it comes from a British person.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I just wanted to warn that talking about how great you think your country of birth is will probably get you a different reaction in the UK than it did in the US.

Wow, I don't know but that post comes off as pretty offensive to me. No need for such anger and foul language. Someone disagrees with you. So move on.

I was trying to make a point of what her attitude comes off as. I've seen 'ars*' on the forum quite frequently, I don't think 'ass' is any different, especially when I'm not using it to call the person an 'ass'. Should I have used 'butt'? Or 'Gluteus maximus' instead? But, I reworded my sentence anyways.

In fact, in the UK, that attitude is often associated with being racist and anti-foreigner when it comes from a British person.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I just wanted to warn that talking about how great you think your country of birth is will probably get you a different reaction in the UK than it did in the US.

This is a really important point to make and excellent advice for the "openly patriotic" among us.

This is a really important point to make and excellent advice for the "openly patriotic" among us.

Now I'm picturing the closeted patriotic among us turning cupboards into Americana Shrines with sparkly pinwheels being spun by a fan and a large poster of Uncle Sam saying he wants YOU! to buy government bonds.

Well, you have to do *something* with the airing cupboard besides dry your smalls.