mocked because of accent.

Wow - not everyone in the UK pronounces Bath the same!

Right!?

English folk can quite arrogant, but all part of their character . Even up in Scotland they'll try to order you about, but deep down they good folks .

Anyone anywhere can be arrogant.

I'm also originally from North Carolina, but have lived in Vermont, New Hampshire, Indiana & Virginia in the US, as well as Portugal (3 years), Lancashire (4 years) and now firmly settled in Cheshire for the past 2+ years.

In 1968, when I first moved to NH, I was in a small grocery, and asked a question. The older man on the till looked at me and VERY loudly, in his exaggerated version of a southern drawl, said "ya'll not from around here, are you?" and then laughed a bit and stared, plus made sure every other customer knew I was 'invading the north'.

My point is, idiots and rude folks are everywhere. Ignore them. Most people who ask me where I'm from want to talk about the US, or tell me where they've been on holiday.

If someone is rude, consider the source, and don't take it personally. The rude person is likely rude to everyone, or is a deluded attention seeker.

English folk can quite arrogant, but all part of their character . Even up in Scotland they'll try to order you about, but deep down they good folks .

You can't really hold an occasional light-hearted jab at the English against a Scotsman.

I loved G&D's when I was in Oxford!  Oh, the memories of late night ice-cream outings.  Yum.

On topic, given that there is usually a queue out the door in that place, and that you were with a large group and took them up to the counter to see the flavours and then pointed to the till, I can imagine that the man in the queue thought that maybe you hadn't noticed the long line of ice-cream fans waiting to be served.  However, I think it was extremely rude of him to talk to you in the way he did.  I imagine that a combination of low blood sugar and the sacred place of the queue in the hearts of we Brits, especially in a foreigner-heavy town such as Oxford, got the better of him.  That's no excuse though.  I imagine that he would have been just as rude to anyone, but chose to make you feel unwelcome and out of place by highlighting your accent with his choice of words.

It probably made him feel better about himself, and everyone got their ice-cream in the end, so I wouldn't let one jumped up little English man upset you too much.  Think of it as a cultural experience: you now know first hand the power of the queue in the Brtitish psyche!

Eurgh! I think it bothered me because I am super strict about lines and queuing! It's part of the culture I grew up in in Boston, too (don't try and cut the lines trying to get on the subway there!) and between my British friends and me, they're almost certainly more likely to be the ones jumping than me...

anyway, it's the first time in 2 years I've felt this bad about being an ex-pat. thinking it's probably because of switching to the 'this is forever' mentality rather than the 'yeah, my visa's up in two more years...' mentality. I've been glad from reading posts here that it's pretty normal to struggle a little bit with that change. And thanks to all of you for your kind words!

It can be extremely annoying when things like that happen. I've been here for six years now, and I still get people, including my in-laws, trying to explain things to me or tell me things that I was around to witness firsthand. There isn't much you can do except bear it and say, 'I know/ I remember, I was there' in as bored a tone as possible, which sometimes does the trick.

I understand what you mean, though, about the shift of feeling temporary to feeling more permanent-it does cause a unique set of anxieties, because if uncomfortable situations happen, you worry about whether you'll be truly accepted in this place you call a home. Even after being here for so long, I get that fear every once in a while.

Does anyone else have trouble telling the difference between Canadians and Americans based on accent alone? British people swear to me that they can tell the difference, but how when I as an American cannot always tell??

Does anyone else have trouble telling the difference between Canadians and Americans based on accent alone? British people swear to me that they can tell the difference, but how when I as an American cannot always tell??

I'm a Brit and I can't easily tell the difference at all.

Sometimes I will notice a Canadian accent in a TV show or a film (I watch a few US shows that are filmed in Canada and often cast local actors), but that's usually only after I've spent a while listening to the character speaking and I will pick up on the odd word that sounds like Canadian pronunciation (about, out, etc), but it's by no means something I can tell straight off.

Sorry u feel bad about being told off about a queue(don't u just love that word) hugs. I still get sensitive when I am hormonal !! The funny thing is that our local McDonald's drive thru workers can't understand me !!! I almost wanted to say to her today. This is a freakin American company what is your problem. !!!!

I had a coworker make fun of my accent they always sound southern when they imitate u and I'm from the Midwest !! And I was sensitive. I think it was because I was feelin sensitive in general to settling into work   Do u think its because u are still settling in x

I'm a Brit and I can't easily tell the difference at all.

Sometimes I will notice a Canadian accent in a TV show or a film (I watch a few US shows that are filmed in Canada and often cast local actors), but that's usually only after I've spent a while listening to the character speaking and I will pick up on the odd word that sounds like Canadian pronunciation (about, out, etc), but it's by no means something I can tell straight off.

I don't think they can tell as much as they think they can.  I hear that all the time, but don't tend to believe they are as fine-tuned as they believe.  Most people are more like ksand

Does anyone else have trouble telling the difference between Canadians and Americans based on accent alone? British people swear to me that they can tell the difference, but how when I as an American cannot always tell??

I can tell easily, but I'm a Southern woman who is close friends with a number of Canadians, so the difference sounds much more distinct to me, after long years of experience with the accent. I think it's all down to how much exposure you have to the accent.  I can tell the difference between different Southern accents, most of the time, and if you're a midwesterner, I can usually tell which state you are from, and I'm not bad at the Northeast, either.

Eurgh! I think it bothered me because I am super strict about lines and queuing! It's part of the culture I grew up in in Boston, too (don't try and cut the lines trying to get on the subway there!) and between my British friends and me, they're almost certainly more likely to be the ones jumping than me...

I've always been obsessive about queues as well, so I can understand how you feel. I would have told him off, though. No mincing words here

I've lived in both the US and Canada and I can't always tell the difference.

I grew up 30 minutes from the US-Canada border (Washington State) and it would usually be tough to tell Canadians from Americans.    Obviously, a heavy Southern accent will be vastly different from a thick Quebecois accent, but with everyone watching the same telly these days, I think accents are becoming a bit more neutral overall.  If I meet a (obviously) North American here (I heard one gal say 'cellphone' last week), I tend to ask where they're from rather than making an assumption (she was Canadian). 

I've been working with Aussies the past few weeks and I've asked them if they can tell the difference between Australian accents.    A few said they could, a few said maybe and one gal said flat out no- anyone who says they can is lying.    I tend to agree with her since I sometimes get taken for Canadian.   

Eurgh! I think it bothered me because I am super strict about lines and queuing! It's part of the culture I grew up in in Boston, too (don't try and cut the lines trying to get on the subway there!) and between my British friends and me, they're almost certainly more likely to be the ones jumping than me...

Well, it seems to me that the "queuing system" has degenerated a lot of late in the UK.  Time was when there were very strict lines waiting for buses but now it's become a free-for-all.  Suspect your ice cream shop big-mouth was blaming the degeneration on the influx to Oxford of "foreigners". 

At least, being from Boston you won't have any trouble with "Gloucester", "Worcester" or even "Bath"