The Americans, they are very different to us.

[227bhp]

Or so I have observed, I haven't ever been there or spent a long time with one.
I mean their outlook on the life, the way they are, their personas.

So I got to thinking The way we are is because of our ancestors, you are in many ways (not all) a reflection of your parents and them before that:


This be the verse
by PHILIP LARKIN

They fk you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.


Now we (and many of our European friends) had our Country flattened and the st kicked out of us twice and for a long time too. It must have been awful to live in those times.
The Americans never did, they seem to have had an easy life. Do you think that is why they differ from us so much?

[mr_spock]

Given that many (most?) Americans have European or African ancestry, I'm not sure your reasoning works.

[captain_cynic]

227bhp said:

Now we (and many of our European friends) had our Country flattened and the st kicked out of us twice and for a long time too. It must have been awful to live in those times.
The Americans never did, they seem to have had an easy life. Do you think that is why they differ from us so much?

Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well.

However the difference is that America was colonised by puritans whilst in Europe, the puritans left to colonise far off places.

This is why the US accepts extreme violence as the norm but seeing a boob or hearing a "cuss" is evil (and why much of the UK and Europe are the other way around).

The UK passed 50% of the population being non-religious in the last survey but religion in the US remains one of the most powerful influential forces. I remember seeing a statistic that aside from Turkey, if the US was in Europe it would be the most religious nation.

[227bhp]

mr_spock said:

Given that many (most?) Americans have European or African ancestry, I'm not sure your reasoning works.

America was set up and we moved over there long before our two World Wars. It may be an isolated case, but I did read a post by one of them that they actually won the war for us.

[227bhp]

captain_cynic said:

Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well.

However the difference is that America was colonised by puritans whilst in Europe, the puritans left to colonise far off places.

This is why the US accepts extreme violence as the norm but seeing a boob or hearing a "cuss" is evil (and why much of the UK and Europe are the other way around).

The UK passed 50% of the population being non-religious in the last survey but religion in the US remains one of the most powerful influential forces. I remember seeing a statistic that aside from Turkey, if the US was in Europe it would be the most religious nation.

Interesting post, but this "Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well." What do you mean by that? I don't believe (I don't know) that they went through the same widespread hardship as whole as we did? It's a huge place to flatten. Every Brit who has their roots here has had family members who have a sad tale to tell about it, I don't think many are unaffected. Not many places escaped bombing:

[Eric Mc]

Americans are very different FROM EACH OTHER.

It's a vast and varied country with lots of different views, ethnic groups, economies etc etc.

[8Ace]

captain_cynic said:

The UK passed 50% of the population being non-religious in the last survey but religion in the US remains one of the most powerful influential forces. I remember seeing a statistic that aside from Turkey, if the US was in Europe it would be the most religious nation.

I'm interested in American Football, and the number of references to God is really surprising, if you're used to watching sport in the UK.

Interview after big games always have refernces, "I thank god for out victory" or "It didn't work out today, but God is great and we'll go away and try hard and pray to god for next year", that sort of thing.

Can't remember who, but in an interview on the radio I heard someone say that in some places in the US, it's easier to say you're gay than an atheist. I didn't believe it at first, but thinking about it it might not be rubbish

[Zoon]

227bhp said:

Interesting post, but this "Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well." What do you mean by that? I don't believe (I don't know) that they went through the same widespread hardship as whole as we did? It's a huge place to flatten. Every Brit who has their roots here has had family members who have a sad tale to tell about it, I don't think many are unaffected. Not many places escaped bombing:

You do know that isn't an actual map of places bombed?
It's a location map for people using the f-word on twitter.

www.fbomb.co

[bongtom]

227bhp said:

Interesting post, but this "Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well." What do you mean by that? I don't believe (I don't know) that they went through the same widespread hardship as whole as we did? It's a huge place to flatten. Every Brit who has their roots here has had family members who have a sad tale to tell about it, I don't think many are unaffected. Not many places escaped bombing:

See. If ever there was a chance to remove Norfolk from the map was then!

Bloody Germans. Daaaaam you to hell.

[geeks]

I can't remember what its called but there was a book written about the UK and the US and basically we are two completely different countries (no st!) and actually if they (or us) spoke a different language people would stop being surprised by this! For some reason people seem to think because they speak English it shouldn't be any different!

Same with Australia too...

[captain_cynic]

227bhp said:

Interesting post, but this "Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well." What do you mean by that? I don't believe (I don't know) that they went through the same widespread hardship as whole as we did?

The American war of Independence, the American Civil War (one of the most destructive wars the US has participated in and certainly the most destructive on US soil) and the war of 1812 between the UK and US, even though it ended in status quo ante bellum, Washington and other cities were severely damaged by British raids. The line "rockets red glare" in the Star Spangled Banner was a reference to the British use of Congreve rockets to bombard forts in 1814.

In the American civil war, there were over a million dead, another 2 million wounded and an uncounted number displaced, considering the population in 1860, this was a massive amount. Huge amounts of infrastructure were destroyed wholesale, including entire towns and crops. The Americans practised total war on an industrial scale far worse than had been seen in Europe in the Napoleonic wars. It took Europe 50 years to get close to the same level of destruction.

In WWII, the UK lost 67,200 civilians and 383,700 military personnel. the US lost 407,300 military and 12,000 civilians. Compared to occupied Philippines (164,000 civilian deaths) or France (390,000 civilian deaths) the UK got off very lightly.

[TooMany2cvs]

geeks said:

I can't remember what its called but there was a book written about the UK and the US and basically we are two completely different countries (no st!) and actually if they (or us) spoke a different language people would stop being surprised by this! For some reason people seem to think because they speak English it shouldn't be any different!

Same with Australia too...

I was thinking of Ireland, too...

"Different country is different". No st, Sherlock.

[geeks]

TooMany2cvs said:

geeks said:

I can't remember what its called but there was a book written about the UK and the US and basically we are two completely different countries (no st!) and actually if they (or us) spoke a different language people would stop being surprised by this! For some reason people seem to think because they speak English it shouldn't be any different!

Same with Australia too...

I was thinking of Ireland, too...

"Different country is different". No st, Sherlock.

Exactly!

[DRFC1879]

Zoon said:

227bhp said:

Interesting post, but this "Americans flattened their own country twice, we also did it once as well." What do you mean by that? I don't believe (I don't know) that they went through the same widespread hardship as whole as we did? It's a huge place to flatten. Every Brit who has their roots here has had family members who have a sad tale to tell about it, I don't think many are unaffected. Not many places escaped bombing:

You do know that isn't an actual map of places bombed?
It's a location map for people using the f-word on twitter.

www.fbomb.co

I was thinking that can't be right as if I lived in Colwyn Bay I'd be using the F-word every time I woke up in a morning. But this relates to twitter and would require internet access and some form of basic literacy...

[227bhp]

bongtom said:

See. If ever there was a chance to remove Norfolk from the map was then!

Bloody Germans. Daaaaam you to hell.

Ah, but there is a point, do you/we hate the Germans for what they did? Do we still refer to them with rude names? I don't think we do.
See they were led somehow by someone who was not representative of them, we were.

[227bhp]

geeks said:

I can't remember what its called but there was a book written about the UK and the US and basically we are two completely different countries (no st!) and actually if they (or us) spoke a different language people would stop being surprised by this! For some reason people seem to think because they speak English it shouldn't be any different!

Same with Australia too...

They originated from here though, It's probable I have very distant relatives over there, but yes it's a valid point.

[TooMany2cvs]

227bhp said:

They originated from here though

Some did. Most did not. Those that did, did so generations ago.

[gregd]

geeks said:

I can't remember what its called but there was a book written about the UK and the US and basically we are two completely different countries (no st!) and actually if they (or us) spoke a different language people would stop being surprised by this! For some reason people seem to think because they speak English it shouldn't be any different!

Same with Australia too...

http://oxfordstudent.com/2017/09/30/book-review-didnt-speak-english-jon-sopel/

[227bhp]

captain_cynic said:

The American war of Independence, the American Civil War (one of the most destructive wars the US has participated in and certainly the most destructive on US soil) and the war of 1812 between the UK and US, even though it ended in status quo ante bellum, Washington and other cities were severely damaged by British raids. The line "rockets red glare" in the Star Spangled Banner was a reference to the British use of Congreve rockets to bombard forts in 1814.

In the American civil war, there were over a million dead, another 2 million wounded and an uncounted number displaced, considering the population in 1860, this was a massive amount. Huge amounts of infrastructure were destroyed wholesale, including entire towns and crops. The Americans practised total war on an industrial scale far worse than had been seen in Europe in the Napoleonic wars. It took Europe 50 years to get close to the same level of destruction.

In WWII, the UK lost 67,200 civilians and 383,700 military personnel. the US lost 407,300 military and 12,000 civilians. Compared to occupied Philippines (164,000 civilian deaths) or France (390,000 civilian deaths) the UK got off very lightly.

Yes valid points, but I would counter it by pointing out it was a long time ago. Here we still have people who remember our wars so whatever it has bestowed on our psyche hasn't had time to become dissolved, perhaps it will over time.
Also, I wonder how those figures would stack up as percentages? XX% of lives lost per size of population, America is a huge place, but whether their population back then was anything like ours I don't know. 1 in 10 people being killed versus 1 in 100 so to speak.

[anonymous-user]

Americans Do but don’t Think
British Think but don’t Do

Put us together and you get the best from both nations.

I’d say we have more in common with America than some of our European neighbours. Excluding Germany of course who are “most worthy adversaries”.