I'm just curious as to what Americans think of England. It's for a script I'm writing with a guy coming over from the states and getting annoyed at this crapness of the new country he finds himself in, and he starts having a go. But regardless of that, tear my country apart - I dare you.

Hmm, I've visited Scotland a lot more, but you people are all the same. Everything in your country is old and small. Everything is smaller in the UK: cars, portions, houses, milk jugs, refrigerators, you name it. You have rules for everything, even if you don't need them. Even so, you don't even drive on the right side of the road. You're afraid to offend anyone, so everyone is way too polite. All that British appropriateness is fine and well until it's time to fly on EasyJet. Then you're all falling over each other to get on the plane first. And what's with those little hats the stewardesses wear? Oh, the other time the politeness facade drops is when you're playing "football." You fall all over yourselves and stab each other over a bunch of "your" players who are all from other countries.

The UK is always cold and wet. Why do you even give the weather on TV? No wonder you went and invaded the rest of the world - you had to get out of your own miserable country. That also satisfied your latent need to administer things and make more rules for other people.

And how confusing can your country names get: Scotland, England, Britain, Whales, Great Britain, United Kingdom, blah blah blah. It's just more needless organization.

Is there any product in the country that doesn't have that royal approval? And what is up with the name "Digestives"? Instead of a cookie it sounds like something that makes you poop.


I'll try to think of some other stuff and post back later. Heck, there's a fair chance I'll be living in your country at some point to be with my girlfriend.

On the plus side your country has:
-good trains and public transportation
-Jaffa Cakes
-The Falkirk Wheel
-The Millenium Wheel
-Neat ruins
-Political discussions on TV that aren't just two extremists yelling at each other.

We did have an extremist on tv a few weeks ago, it was a big deal.

Griffin probably isn't that extremist, on an international scale.

It depends on what kind of American. When I was in London, I didn't particularly enjoy myself, I didn't find much entertaining, nothing seemed that authentic, there wasn't really a middle ground between touristy cheese and business. But I was also traveling with my slightly kooky grandfather, who wakes up in the morning thinking it's still the 70s, so that might have had something to do with it. If I lived in the UK for any period of time, I'm sure I'd have a lot more to complain about.

If I were to think of some complaints Americans would have regardless of age, political leaning and geographic origin:
-Difference in nomenclature
-Some accents don't even sound they're speaking English (e.g. Geordie)
-Cars and gasoline are more expensive and fewer citizens own them. Americans outside of urban areas don't really use all that much public transportation.
-Prices on goods and property/rent are much higher than most of the US.
-People in courts wear silly wigs.
-Overly-lenient courts that favor the perpetrator.
-Laws like ASBOs or prohibiting the sale of tableware to minors.
-Those silly guys wearing head to toe Burberry standing outside an unemployment line.
-That despite how much flak Americans get about their beer, food and weight, Brits drink as much crap (Carlsberg, Stella, Carling Black Label) eat as much if not the same crap and are rapidly approaching similar rates of obesity.
-Inside smoking bans, although most of America is the same way now.
-A lot of unflattering architecture. Dilapidated ancient buildings or dilapidated "modern" high rise tower block eyesores.
-This:

Food should not be neon colored. Food should not contain both sugar and artificial sweetener in it.

Is it common for people to get plastered during business meetings? Over here that would be very unprofessional but I always remember my dad getting back from business trips from over there recalling how he couldn't keep up with their drinking.

That's because they do! Well, sort of. It is thought (and advertised, I think?) that the bicarbonate soda can act as an antacid and help settle a stomach. This probably isn't true. It's more likely that it's from use of whole wheat flower which has more fibre than white wheat flower, so Digestives keep more regular bowel movements than other biscuits.




Really? Really?!

I've never been to England, but I went to Ireland, and even though I was already aware of it, and I don't drink much soda anyway, it never stopped annoying me that there were no free refills on sodas at restaurants, haha.

Come to America and try the "best" we have to offer. It's slow, inefficient, usually dirty and prohibitively expensive. Also the workers are usually on strike. That's the NY subway, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Amtrak etc. That's even if you have a working public transportation system in your area. If you don't and you don't have a car you're forced to work and shop at places you can walk/bike to.

we have irn bru. America doesnt.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

I have difficulty thinking of things I disliked about England when I visited. Perhaps if I had to be there more than a week at a time?

**** that public transportation ****! I want to go 90 MPH* on I-15!

*Not between the hours of 6 - 9 AM and 3 - 7 PM where every freeway is clogged up.

The only negative I can think of is that your cuisine is pretty awful. Otherwise England is a really nice place.

I think the reason is because there's very little food that's quintessentially British, most of what we eat (other than Fish and Chips) is originally from other places. The problem is that we've never really got the hang of stealing recipes, I had an amazing Carbonara in Rome that is leagues above anything you can get here.

That said, if you know where to look you can still find a really amazing burger.

Most of food from anywhere is from other places. The crappiness in food in Northern Europe and the English-speaking world is due, I believe, to the rise of the Protestant work ethic which treats getting undue pleasure (i.e. enjoyment) from food is gluttony. That's reversed itself in a lot of places and some of the world's best chefs and restaurants are in the UK, serving quality and upscale British cuisine.

Ugh. Who call food "cuisine" anyway?

The point is, in countries like Italy (which is my only real example), the food differs a LOT depending on where you go. Every region has its own specialities. But in England, you're pretty much going to be given the same menu wherever you go, there are very few places that have real speciality anymore.

I've also never heard the idea that we view enjoying food as gluttony, it seems doesn't sound right at all.

yes, that and extreme political correctness are big problems in Britain today.

Not to forget Detty's smell.

I think he meant historically?

Penises.

British Cuisine is awful in the same way that North American Cuisine is awful - it's not, it's just that real food has been watered down to a ridiculous degree by convenience foods and chains. Because of that theres a real lack of use of quality local ingredients and people have gotten used to the usual crap and pub food/fast food ideas that are available everywhere - There's pleanty of interesting local dishes that are excellent, you've just never heard of them.

Italy also consisted of small warring states until well into the 19th Century. Italy also has larger variations in climate and geography than England. What grows well in Sicily is very different from what grows in Südtirol.

Regionalism is also an aspect of culture. Spain has been unified since 1492, but there are many Spaniards who identify more strongly with their region than with Spain.



If you speak to older people they will tell you that taking too much satisfaction in food was not socially acceptable.

It's also a result of industrialization. Mass produced foods were considered better because they were less labor and time intensive for the consumer and didn't spoil as quickly as fresh foods. They just don't taste as good. But when both members of a household are working late into the evening it's easier to reheat something than it is to cook it from scratch. But in later years, with increased awareness of stress and diet on health, there is a greater interest on cooking and eating well.

footy

Pizza places do not deliver.

Yes they do.

In some parts of Europe (I'm thinking specifically of Spain) there aren't preservatives in the beer or wine, so they don't get as bad of hangovers and thus drink more.


Not according to Douglas Adams. Do you dare to question Douglas Adams?

Then what the **** have I been eating during my undergrad years?!

DO NOT QUESTION DOUGLAS ADAMS.

DOUGLAS ADAMS ANGRY
DOUGLA... ARRGH HEART ATTACK.

I wasn't aware it was still the 1980s.

That is classified by the United States of America.

I was there for a couple of months and I enjoyed it. I was in a place called Fairford and everything was really, really old. All the buildings were made of stone and plumbing and electricity were clearly addons from a different century. The only thing that struck me as really odd was how everyone said "cheers" 500 times per day. The food was pretty bad, too. Consistently bad.

I found it funny how the town of Fairford had something like 10 bars on the single 1-lane road that went through the town. Seriously, do 10 people even live in that town?

I enjoyed the double-decker bus ride that went to Swindon. When I got there, I went to McDonalds to get a Big Mac, and I found it funny that they had "chicken mc-pick-em-ups" on the menu (here they're Chicken McNuggets).

Oh, and the gas station had a bigger tea isle than my local chain grocery stores have (Safeway, Albertson's, etc.).

Brian, they changed them to Chicken McNuggets quite some time ago. I think the Pick-em-ups name never took off.

Cheers

I've started to pick up little UK-isms since I got here in September, but the one thing I have vowed never to say is "Cheers".

You've got to try the "now then" greeting. Proper Northern.

It took my mother many many years to understand why English people kept saying 'chairs' all the time.

dammit, you've got me all worried now about saying "cheers" at the end of emails...