I am more than my nationality

Well said Amberelle11!!!

One of the greatest aspects of America is its extreme diversity.

Therefore, I am of the view that 'personal individuality' *IS* 'very American.'

OH... Here is another concept...

If 'Americans' respond to people with WITTY retorts, perhaps said 'Americans' are *breaking down the negative stereotypes* of 'Americans' - We are then living proof that can be just as witty as the Brits!

(There is a stereotype of Americans being 'stupid' right?!)

Now, that is an 'ambassador' role I CAN get behind!

 

OH... Here is another concept...

If 'Americans' respond to people with WITTY retorts, perhaps said 'Americans' are *breaking down the negative stereotypes* of 'Americans' - We are then living proof that can be just as witty as the Brits!

(There is a stereotype of Americans being 'stupid' right?!)

Now, that is an 'ambassador' role I CAN get behind!

 

Hahaha!  It's amazing the positives you can find when you really look!

Thank you Laura! I really enjoy reading your posts! They do tend to make me chuckle! I appreciate your "Individuality" Like your post above!! 

Amberelle11 -

It is sometimes said that non-intellictuals are predisposed to disliking 'witty' people.

That works fine for me - Personally, I dislike non-intellectuals!!! 

 

After spending 5 months in the UK last year and now moved here permanently, my flatmate constantly asks me questions about American politics- especially with the campaigns underway.

I try to make him realize I've spent more time in Europe in the past few years than the US so I haven't been following the races (I wouldn't even if I were there).... but then he just asks me about how we vote and how the campaigning runs and where they get the money for it and stuff..... once I start explaining the electoral college stuff to him, he stops asking questions. 

I'm more than my nationality, too.  And I'm certainly not a politics person.    There is more to me than that.

I am new to this forum, and can I say how glad I am to have found this thread! I've been in the UK for 4 years, and I still have "friends" that rib and poke at me for being American - e.g., make fun of my accent, make disparaging jokes about the US, etc. And they tell me I'm overreacting when I get angry. I tell them that they've known me long enough to recognize and accept these differences and see me as a PERSON, not as an AMERICAN. I had to finally dump one "friend" actually, after she refused to acknowledge she was doing anything wrong and said she wasn't going to walk on eggshells around me. I'm better off.

It's just so frustrating to constantly be censoring myself to avoid having the piss taken out of me or to minimize my differences. If people claim to be my friends, they should accept me for who I am as a PERSON - not a nationality.

EDIT: One more thing along those lines - it seems I'm not allowed to criticize anything about the local culture because I'm American. For example, I had a bit of a whinge about the BBC's Olympics coverage on FB and was suddenly subjected to a harsh anti-American barb. I didn't understand the relevance, until this person then said that, as an American, I shouldn't criticize something so quintessentially British. ...
So, even though something directly affects me, and I'm not allowed to say so because of my NATIONALITY?!? Argh!

</end rant>

Guess what happened to ME yesterday!

I was in central London, in a shop, like a... gift shop... and there were some American Olympic tourists in there... And they were just talking and looking at stuff... They were not being odd, or loud, or rude, in any way! They were totally normal people, shopping. They asked a few questions to the shop keeper, and he did not understand them, so they repeated everything they wanted to ask him, about two times... And eventually they made a few purchases and they left.

All the while, I was silently looking at cards. But I looked up a few times at the shop keeper who kept asking the Americans to repeat everything they were saying. I just looked up with a neutral expression on my face, and our eyes locked for a second - The shop keeper gave me some sort of look, but i had no idea what it was. I was wondering if i should help... Translate... or something. But, their accent did not seem really strong, so I was confused. I thought maybe the shop keeper was hard of hearing, because he was an older man... So, I just stayed out of it. Because, I could not really figure out why the shop clerk had such a hard time understanding them.

When they left, the shop keeper looked at me and said, "Bloody Americans... think they own the world... What are they like!"

I was speechless.

Then, there was a woman's voice, from the other end of the store, and in an English accent, she said, "Are you always so disrespectful of your customers?"

And she walked out!

And... then... So did I. Laughing.

I get outside, and the woman turns to me and says, "How can he be so disrespectful of our Olympic visitors? Doesn't he realise we are all official representatives of Great Britain!"

And, I just smiled, and shrugged.

Then, I thought to myself, OH MY GAWD I AM SOOOO ABOUT POSTING THIS ON UKY TOMORROW!


 

HA! Americans can't win.  They never travel and don't care about the outside world, but then when they do they think they own it by purchasing some cheap tourist tat. 

LaraMascara,

I was in Ludlow a week or two back and went into a tiny shop that was going out of business to see if they had anything good on sale. I was quietly browsing when the staff (a few girls around my age) started chatting about how stupid and ignorant Americans are and how they never leave their own country. I didn't want to get into a discussion with them about it because you can't cure stupid, but I immediately approached the girl who started the conversation and asked her if they had a random item in my size. The look on her face was priceless when she realized I was American and I had heard the whole thing. 

HA! PRICELESS PlainPearl!!! LOL!!!

I knew when I posted this I was going to be far from the only person that's dealt with this crap. But I've found it's easier to just cut people off. The girl who I posted this about, I ended up deleting from FB, and her husband who was a complete douche like her. When I said literally every conversation was on me being American, I meant it. It was pretty much ALL they spoke to me about. It'll be harder to get people out of my life when actually getting a visa and being able to live with my boyfriend in the UK. But right now, pretty easy to just hit that delete button.

I don't want to come off like I can't take jokes. I am a very sarcastic, humorous person. With people I know. If it's someone I just met, or someone that doesn't know me very well then I get a little annoyed with the "Are all Americans fat?" kind of questions. (Which they can't really talk now about America seeing as they are now Europe's fattest country..) But, it's the ignoring ignorant people that can be difficult. I like making an English joke here or there as a backlash to my boyfriend's joking American comments or one of his friends, but to a complete stranger? Never would happen. Everrr.

I really enjoyed reading everyone's story on here though, made me feel a bit better with what I had to put up with there. And I was only there two months altogether, I can't imagine having to put up with it and never getting a chance to get away!

Anyone get this 'rude to americans' from folks in Scotland?

Some english folk can usually be arrogant and rude, I know I met a few. One of my bosses in my previous job in a firm of Consulting Engineers, was a Londoner, and was the most arrogant english guy I've ever met, he slagged EVERYONE who wasn't in earshot. No doubt he slagged me as well . Fast forward 10 years and I meet another one, come from Manchester, this guy was head of the Telecom Constuction dept at our Livingston office, he slagged everyone off even the Managing Directors wife's cooking when he stayed over! She told him to bugger off!

Anyone get this 'rude to americans' from folks in Scotland?

Lived in Scotland for 20+ years, and cant recall anything like this happening to me.

Hmmm... Oddly, I have spent a bit of time in Scotland, (3 month stints, about 4 times - LOOOOOOVE it there!) and... No, I cannot recall even one person there saying or doing anything like the above scenarios - not too me, and not in front of me. I mean, maybe it happens, but I did not personally experience it at all.

And, I lived in Ireland for about 6 months, at 3 different times in my life, and I am quite sure that no one there did it either - at least not to me. Actually, in Ireland, as a kid, at age 12, in Cork, the other kids loved my accent. I remember feeling 'popular' and 'unique' for the first time in my life! I did not get picked on at all.

I do have one friend who lives in Scotland, and her teenaged American born son gets picked on quite badly for being American - but he is a bit older than I was and a boy, and I think in general many older teenagers just pick on each other, everywhere, about anything. He is about 15.

In Scotland and Ireland, I did hear people, very often, slagging off the English!
But, not usually to their face - it would generally be done behind their backs. 
It happened more in Ireland than in Scotland, but it did happen in both places.

Sigh. Does everyone need someone to pick on?

I was managing staff that I chose and hired for Royal Ascot a few months ago, and one of the people I hired was originally from Manchester. By chance, he was the only Northerner in the group. The other guys, who were mostly mostly local - from Surrey and London - they totally picked on him. In a 'friendly' way. But, it was constant. I actually had to say something to them and put an end to it because it was upsetting the guy. I could tell. He never actually 'said' anything to them, or to me... He just tried to laugh it off, and he sometimes ever so lightly teased back - but I could tell he was getting angry.

So, one day, me and the guy from the North ended up taking the same train from Ascot back to London after work, and he thanked me for dealing with it. And I asked him if they had stopped doing it, and he said something like, "Well, no, because they will never stop, but they have at least stopped doing it as much, because they don't do it in front of you." And, I asked him why they mess with him so much for being a Northerner. And he just smiled and said, "I guess it is just the way the Brits are. Everyone needs someone to pick on. In Manchester, we pick on the Londoners."

And, I asked him why they mess with him so much for being a Northerner. And he just smiled and said, "I guess it is just the way the Brits are. Everyone needs someone to pick on. In Manchester, we pick on the Londoners."

It is kind of a British thing - not everyone does it, but it's common. Last summer I spent 4 months doing on-the-job training at an air force base and I got ribbed and teased every day. It's just part of working with the military on that base . I would get comments about my weather forecasts, that I was a trainee, that I was a girl, that we could never get the weather right, that I didn't make enough cups of tea... you name it, it was mentioned .

It's not that I was being singled out specifically, it was just that it's what they do there and I just had to accept and get used to it... all the other guys in the office got the same treatment too - they ribbed each other, they ribbed the Ops officers and pilots, the officers and pilots ribbed them... one big happy family, lol.