10 things Americans hate about the Brits

This was a suggested post on my facebook (yes...I use facebook, oh dear!)

10 things Americans hate about Brits

Read through the comments in response to this and people are a bit angry about it, offended even. Me? I found it quite tongue in cheek to be honest and it gave me a giggle - some of it is quite true to some extent, but it's hardly terribly insulting stuff, what, what.

Just thought I'd share it and see what others' think. Anything to add? There must be worse things about us Brits than drinking tea, being rude, offensive toilet humo(u)r and odd food, surely? Bloody hell, mate!

Is the divide between the UK and our American allies growing wider? Serious question, I've noticed a lot of mud slinging from both sides on ATS of late - I think this is quite humoro(u)s but I still have to question the motivation behind writing such a piece and it being forced onto my news feed as a "suggested post".

If I was angry enough I'd write a 10 things we Brits hate about the Americans but I can only think of 2. The first is the fact that we're more similar than we care to admit and the second is that we're not as different as we like to pretend we are...so only 1 thing, really.

Oh, and color's got a bloody u in is!

All i the name of fun - to the Americans, what's not on the list that should be?

To the Brits, what would you put in the list of 10 things about the Americans that the British hate? I've not given it much thought. Don't be mean or catty, it's just a bit of banter.

I disagree with the food thing, it doesn't apply any more. I can go into town and eat any type of food I care to purchase, from pizza to subway, burger king to kfc, it's all here, you get the same food anywhere in the world nowadays. But traditional dishes like roast beef and yorkshire pudding, bangers and mash - I love em, I love shoveling spoonfuls of mash between my crooked, uneven teeth. I agree with the tea thing, it's not as common as it once was but yes, it's horrible, give me a coffee any day.

If I were to write 10 things I hate about America - one of them would most definitely be the fact that center is spelled centre and colour HAS A BLOODY U IN IT!!. These were the things that made writing HTML and coding in general a li'l bit awkward i the beginning.

I bet if there was a list of 10 things the Brits hate about the Americans - one of the things on there would be their love of guns, but I'm staying out of that one. Truth is I don't hate America nor do I resent articles like this as much as many of those who commented seem to. I think we have one of those relationships where we can poke fun at one another but in the end we're still bloody good mates! Or am I wrong?

The main one brits hate about yanks is their bigger than reality mindset!....amongst another 20 or so things.

I just realised...

Piers Morgan isn't on the list!

originally posted by: samerulesapply
I think we have one of those relationships where we can poke fun at one another but in the end we're still bloody good mates! Or am I wrong?

You're right. We're like that couple in American Hustle........"We fight and we f**k, that's what we do"

And you're right about the guns......don't go there......you might get shot.


It's all juvenile stereotypes really. I've never been to England, Germany but not England, but the impression I get is that the common man is just like the common man in America.....struggling to get by. There is a culture about it all though that is much older than America. I respect anything that has longevity, I'm not jealous of it.

a reply to: samerulesapply

I would say it is subjective and there is not a "we brits hate" or "the american's hate about the brits" but more a personal opinion of individuals in all nations, growing up in liverpool it was a tradition and I must point out a modern and misguided one to dislike the mank's or manchester people, crazy as we accents aside are more or less the same people with familys in both citys and of course I never hated the manks at all but was drawn along by the idiotic mentality of a generation and mostly it was based on rivalry over football and had nothing to do with the city or the people.
I have been abroad with fellow brits on business trips and will say that when they act idiotic I feel ashamed and want to cringe as when abroad I always feel like a guest in someone else house so want to leave the best impression of us brits that I can (which today is like pissing into the wind with all the idiots whom act like total fools abroad and paint us as a nation of yobbo's), remember you are an ambassador for your country and more so if you are a member of the services, these words are not simply flak they are real with a purpose.
I actually like the mank's and the Yank's though I am sure there are individuals whom I could not stand among them as indeed there are here among my fellow brit's.
It actually boil's down to this, we are human beings and though we may have incomprehensible or even offencive traditions we live on one tiny ever shrinking world, even if we do not go there in today's world there is coming here and especially in europe, we may choose to hold it off for a time to try to save our nation but at the expense of isolation in the long run.
But that said I am typical reserved british and not at all extrovert but the american culture is exactly the opposite, it is not that I dislike it but I know I would not integrate well into that.

I didn't see the weather-or did I miss it?
Because our weather is usually what Americans comment on first in my experience.
And I agree It can suck.

Disagreed with the weird food point-Id prefer our food to the USA's GMO centric,growth hormone pumped,chemically addled "food" thank you.

Surprised the list didn't include Chavs/Scallies(the dissafected youth mainly from council housing,sort of like USA "projects").

The no guns thing is a myth-sure we can't go buy a gun without checks and licences,but most folks can get a rifle/shotgun legally as long as you ain't a crimminal or mentally ill.Course,that doesn't stop crims from getting illegal guns though,although even that is relativley rare in most places.

Oh well,its all a bit of fun I think,and we have more in common than the things we dislike about each other.


BTW,if I had my way,it would be an imprisonable offence to use the phrase "I could care less" in the USA.
It makes no sense...
The correct (British origin) phrase is "I couldn't care less."

Anyhow,I won't have too much of a coniption fit (I love that one,and thats American I think)over it.

Lemme see if I can churn one up for you, OP.

Good rant This is coming from an American as well mind you.

1. Many Americans are basically zombies. Walk into any Walmart (or any busy public place really) and observe the people acting as if they are cattle being led to slaughter.

2. Many Americans have an obsession with guns that borders on the erotic (in some cases it is full blown erotic.)

3. Americans stare a lot. I do not know what it is - but Americans just do not get the fact that prolonged eye contact with a stranger is just not okay unless you are trying to get to know said person.

4. No worldview - most Americans are very hard to have an intellectual conversation with because they are pretty much incapable of grasping anything outside of their own lives.

5. American Entertainment. - What the *snip* has happened to American Entertainment? The movies suck. Music sucks. TV sucks. Anything that comes out of the American Entertainment Industry lately is 100% unfiltered garbage. Commercials even suck! I wonder how these company's sell anything with those terrible ads...

6. "White trash" running amok. I'm white so I can say this There is nothing worse than a true American white trash family spreading their ignorance. I will not go into detail with this so as not to offend

7. We drive on the wrong side of the road here in America.

8. Americans felt the need to invent a separate measurement system rather than just using the BETTER metric system which is in place everywhere else in the world.

9. Americans like to yell across the room a lot and speak with their hands and do all sorts of outrageous things when engaging in public with others.

10. Many Americans would not know mutual manners and respect if it slapped them in the face. Seriously, go out of your way in America to be super polite to people and many will likely 'take it wrong' and think you are messing with them and thus treat you badly because of it.


Please keep in mind the is all views coming from an American and meant to be taken lightly.

a reply to: LABTECH767

I know what you mean. I grew up in Glasgow but work in Edinburgh a lot and the same mentality is at play on both sides, Glasgow folk hate Edinburgh folk and vice-versa.

I mentioned it in another thread not long ago, no matter where you go in the UK, the folk in the next town over have sexual relations with sheep, etc. It's quite funny.

But you're spot on about one thing - a lot of it is bigotry due to football rivalries. Sadly, I know too many people who are raising their kids to think the opposition are evil incarnate, so I don't see that ending any time soon, particularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh where the sectarian attitudes are quite hardcore.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

THANK YOU!!!!!

I am American and I say "I couldn't care less.'

Ever since I was 8 years old I understood that the phrase " I could care less " made absolutely no sense and the real saying must be couldn't. Seriously - I say it this way in America, "couldn't care less" and people actually try to correct ME.

a reply to: lightedhype
Someone gets it!
You da man!!!

Well played indeed!

Who was the idiot that put British humor on the list? Monty Python, Mr. Bean, Eddie Izzard just to name a few. Could it be that British humor isn't dumbed down enough for some Americans?

Lol @ could care less, I used to hate that.

I agree on the humour thing, although I was never a Mr Bean fan but we do export some good comedy.

I'd reference Bottom as a great example of British, immature but still extremely funny British comedy. We lost Rik Mayall, sadly, but to me he was the archetypical British comedy actor.

I could spend all day rhyming off classic Brit comedy shows, men behaving badly, red dwarf, league of gentlemen, peep show, fawlty towers....be here all day!

I also think we've a knack for producing good music, so many great bands and musicians.

a reply to: buster2010

Well said dude.
Don't forget "Comic strip presents."
Plus the Brit version of the IT crowd was far superior I think.
And don't forget Psychoville/Leauge of Gentlemen.
Utter Class.

Not to say the USA does not produce cracking comedy as well.
Am I evil to say the new Fargo series is hilarious?
(not all of the super nasty stuff of course)

a reply to: samerulesapply
Americans?
Why we gotta drag the Canucks, Mexicans and all of the other Americans into this?
This here US American does not dislike anything about the Britts when I really think about it.
They are folks just like you and I.

originally posted by: samerulesapply
I just realised...

Piers Morgan isn't on the list!

That's because the Brits hate him too.

In reality, and as a person who hates "ten things" lists by people who think they have a sense of humour or knowledge, I asked my American sister in law.

She hates the following about Brits and Britain...

1. Narrow roads - She hates narrow roads and the way we drive down them. The British can calculate car width and road width. American's have not developed that trait and wet themselves.
2. Tipping - She hates not understanding pub etiquette. It's simple really. Go to the bar, buy a drink. Natter with whoever is there. Go and sit down at a table. Don't tip anyone as it's rude.
3. Indian food. She does not like Indian food. It's too (er) tasty.
4. Ploughman's lunch. She hates the fact you can have a lunch without chips (sorry, fries).
5. Houses - She hates the fact that I live in a house that was built before the USA existed!
6. History - She hates the fact that British history goes back to the dawn of time, but American history starts just a couple of hundred years ago. I try to tell her that there were proud Indian nations in North America, but she just looks blank and starts humming.
7. Military history - The Brits rarely lose. She hates that. She also hates the fact that the US would not have come to pass without the French, although that fact makes her change the subject quite quickly.
8. er, on an on. You get the point.

Regards

I'm not sure about anything on that list.

All I know about Brits is that they have some awesome and committed soldiers and they made my experience in Afghanistan that much more interesting.

Especially at Camp Bastion...Couldn't understand the Air traffic controller half the time..But their ground crews were awesome and very professional.

I could never hate the country that gave us "Benny Hill" and "Monty Python." Any and all flaws are forgiven.

This is typical stereotyping. As a child, I remember a great saying in a Disney flick called Bambi, "if you don't have nothing nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all." Maybe if we all lived by that simple quote, the world would be a better place. Peace will never exist on this earth if we continue to find fault with one another.

a reply to: samerulesapply

We " Common " Brits don't like snobs either