Topic: Some differences between the English and Americans.
+Anonymous A — 13.4 years ago #22,300
I saw another thread derailing towards this so I thought I would make a new thread about it.
Anyway, one of the main issues I can think of is the difference in irony.
Most English people seem to agree that most Americans have little understanding of irony, however, I disagree, I think it's actually the case that the English generally use irony and humour to mask emotion, like an evolution from the 'stiff upper lip' days gone by, English people are more comfortable dealing with emotion so long as it is ever so slightly masked with humour, like a kind of'I'm a little upset by this event, & I'm letting you know, but let's not make too big a deal about it please'. I had the pleasure of meeting some fairly pleasant Americans visiting over the Xmas holidays, they were from Anaheim in California, when they told me this I pointed out the window (it was cold and rainy and grey and fairly typical of England at that time of year) and said something like 'so you came here for the weather then I take it?'. Now, I thought they'd notice by the absurdity of the question that it wasn't serious in nature, given that they'd arrived from California to a place of horrible weather. There response was a serious one, the lady said with a rather bewildered look on her face "erm, no actually, we're visiting family". If I'd added "just kidding" to the end of my question I'm sure they'd have realised what I was getting at. Americans obviously don't use irony as much as the English.
I think Americans are much more comfortable expressing emotion, I often see images of grown men, big burly men, watching their team losing in the final minutes of the big game in tears at the prospect, not too common in England really. I've also seen American famous people on talks how's in England being very uncomfortable about the situation, perhaps they're used to the raw applause of the studio audience common on U.S. chat shows, in England the audience is much more sedate in general, they'll more likely sit in quiet appreciation of what is said or offer up a brief giggle or titter to what is being said.
Anyway, that's more or less all I had to say. I hope you found it an enjoyable post, if not then I apologise profusely for wasting your valuable time.
If you have any additions to the differences between the U.S. and England (or Britain in general) feel free to mention them as I find this type of trivia quite amusing personally.
I apologise if I seem to have over generalised two whole countries of people, but I simply don't have time to be much more specific.
Anyway, one of the main issues I can think of is the difference in irony.
Most English people seem to agree that most Americans have little understanding of irony, however, I disagree, I think it's actually the case that the English generally use irony and humour to mask emotion, like an evolution from the 'stiff upper lip' days gone by, English people are more comfortable dealing with emotion so long as it is ever so slightly masked with humour, like a kind of'I'm a little upset by this event, & I'm letting you know, but let's not make too big a deal about it please'. I had the pleasure of meeting some fairly pleasant Americans visiting over the Xmas holidays, they were from Anaheim in California, when they told me this I pointed out the window (it was cold and rainy and grey and fairly typical of England at that time of year) and said something like 'so you came here for the weather then I take it?'. Now, I thought they'd notice by the absurdity of the question that it wasn't serious in nature, given that they'd arrived from California to a place of horrible weather. There response was a serious one, the lady said with a rather bewildered look on her face "erm, no actually, we're visiting family". If I'd added "just kidding" to the end of my question I'm sure they'd have realised what I was getting at. Americans obviously don't use irony as much as the English.
I think Americans are much more comfortable expressing emotion, I often see images of grown men, big burly men, watching their team losing in the final minutes of the big game in tears at the prospect, not too common in England really. I've also seen American famous people on talks how's in England being very uncomfortable about the situation, perhaps they're used to the raw applause of the studio audience common on U.S. chat shows, in England the audience is much more sedate in general, they'll more likely sit in quiet appreciation of what is said or offer up a brief giggle or titter to what is being said.
Anyway, that's more or less all I had to say. I hope you found it an enjoyable post, if not then I apologise profusely for wasting your valuable time.
If you have any additions to the differences between the U.S. and England (or Britain in general) feel free to mention them as I find this type of trivia quite amusing personally.
I apologise if I seem to have over generalised two whole countries of people, but I simply don't have time to be much more specific.
+Anonymous B — 13.4 years ago, 1 minute later[T] [B] #267,602
+Anonymous C — 13.4 years ago, 2 minutes later, 3 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #267,604
@OP
Didn't read, lol.
Didn't read, lol.
+Anonymous D — 13.4 years ago, 3 hours later, 3 hours after the original post[T] [B] #267,688
its not that americans dont understand irony, its that its just a smidge higher than puns on the facepalm scale
+Anonymous E — 13.4 years ago, 2 hours later, 6 hours after the original post[T] [B] #267,694
Gawd bless murricah.+Anonymous F — 13.4 years ago, 8 hours later, 14 hours after the original post[T] [B] #267,766
@OP
Very few Amurickans will read your statement OP - it's not about guns, drugs or cars. And it is far exceeds their concentration span.
Asked the opposite of woe - a Texan replied Giddy up
Very few Amurickans will read your statement OP - it's not about guns, drugs or cars. And it is far exceeds their concentration span.
Asked the opposite of woe - a Texan replied Giddy up
+Syntax — 13.4 years ago, 9 minutes later, 14 hours after the original post[T] [B] #267,768
England was once all over Planet Earth. Huge amount of the Planet. Now just a Splotch on a Map but they do have even a smaller Splotch re Falklands.
Fish n chips there is more better if you toss out the greasy huge undercooked chips n sub with McD's
Fish n chips there is more better if you toss out the greasy huge undercooked chips n sub with McD's
+FuckAlms !vX8K53rFBI — 13.4 years ago, 2 hours later, 16 hours after the original post[T] [B] #267,802
Ignoring the technical errors in that post,
> Now, I thought they'd notice by the absurdity of the question that it wasn't serious in nature, given that they'd arrived from California to a place of horrible weather.
I'd like to say that that's not typical of Americans and these people are just dense, but our track record seems to indicate otherwise. Seems to me that foreigners come to America to attend college and, assuming they don't come from some 3rd world country with an ass-backwards government that actually gets stuff done, they return home after graduating to become successful in their homeland.
> Now, I thought they'd notice by the absurdity of the question that it wasn't serious in nature, given that they'd arrived from California to a place of horrible weather.
I'd like to say that that's not typical of Americans and these people are just dense, but our track record seems to indicate otherwise. Seems to me that foreigners come to America to attend college and, assuming they don't come from some 3rd world country with an ass-backwards government that actually gets stuff done, they return home after graduating to become successful in their homeland.
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