Are Americans Mad?

[TCDiver1]

Jonathan once bubbled...
King Neptune - sorry someone stole your sens of humour bone, let us know when you get it back ut: BTW tell your Aussie friend he sounds like a Kiwi - probably the same as saying you have a Canadian accent! Also ask him what POHM (correct spelling and not pomme which is actual french for apple) really means - and I am sure he would not have enjoyed the trip had he been making it! Times were hash in those early days, much like you goes going out west and survival of the fittest - so hats off to those that survived.

Still - don't often say this but I will be cheering on the Boks this weekend. As an outsider it would be good to see them win one, should be a good scrap - far more entertaining than that game you guys play! Another advantage to an international sport is you can watch it all year round - rather than just re-runs.

As to the Queen - she makes far more money for the country than she takes! Mostly off dopey Americans that can't seem to get enough of our royalty - especially those that buy the tat after traipsing round Buck House. I consider myself a monarchist and personally don't give a damn about C & C and as to the rest of you royalist comment I'll come back with your own sentiments - clean your own house first!

We invented trains - doesn't the current ones are any good.... Having said that check out the Japanese cars 99.9% of those are truely ugly.

Enough - this is taking up far too much time for a light hearted poke.....

before you can accuse someone else of not having one. The term i've heard is not "stiff @ss Yank" but substitute Brit for Yank and now your talking. My given name is also Jonathan, i go by Jon, you go by Jonathan, a little proper & stiff don't you think? Most Yanks don't take themselves too seriously, most Brits do. Can you honestly argue that?

IMO & using one of your phrases, King_Neptune light hearted jabs are "spot on." But that is just my opinion and since i am a Yank, i might be wrong. Brits have only been wrong a couple times & we know when that was don't we?

Let me be one of the first Yanks to thank you for letting us try out this little concept called "freedom." It's working out quite well thank you. Frivolous lawsuits an all!

Us dopey Americans spend money to view your "royalty" because we have money to spend. Look at it like this: we view it as going home to see our roots, after we have made good in the world. We just don't eat the beef.ut:

As for British cars i have one thing to say & then i'll stop my light hearted poking. Do your auto manufacturers have monkeys wiring your cars or what? Having worked on several older models the wiring was terrible. Whats up with that?

 

[Rockhound]

at the shortcomings of my fellow countrymen, I find my reaction somewhat different when it is outsiders that fling the stones.

I certainly have nothing against anyone, no matter their color, religion or country of origin. Such things makes no difference to me-at least most of the time. Their attitudes, their morals and their "spine" do make a difference to me, and those are things that I freely judge.

Jingoistic jabs, down-putting snide comments and outright insults are weapons of the feeble and insecure. (Yet, feeling a bit feeble myself, i might let some fly...alas...)

I have friends from all over the world (I actually recognize there is a world outside of our borders. I even recognize the existance of Louisiana)

Anyway, a friend of mine put it very nicely once. He was born in Wales, but raised in Great Britain. He came to America on a business assignment about 10 or 11 years ago, and decided to stay. He has never lost his accent.

Last year, we were at a party (admittedly, a LOUD, boisterous party), when an effete, snobbish elf with a clipped British accent made some snide comment to my friend, but in my earshot, along the lines of "Boorish loud Americans are bad, but Texans are the basest of the lot"...or something to that effect.

Anyway, my friend pointed out to this worm of a man that such comments were offensive and inappropriate. After all, he was a guest at this party and in this country. "But yu'r a Brit", the man replied. "Certainly you must find this behaviour, these people, to be very irritating".

My friend shot back, "I've Welch blood, by the Grace of God...and I'm American by choice. This is MY country. That it can by my country and not one where class conscious blue-blooded aristocracy believe the right to rule, the right to succeed and the right to have a voice is a right vested of by the virtue of lineage and not something to be earned through hard work and virtue is why I love it so much....."

Okay stop here. I'm guilty of taking some literary licence and "filling in some details" on the quote. (sorta like in a London Tabloid, eh?). What he really said--as best I can recall--was, "You f****ing little ****, I was born Welch, but I'm an American and I'm gonna kick your little arse all over this place. Then I'm going to tell all these drunk Texans what you said, and THEY are going to kick it some more. If you had any teeth of you own in your head, I'd knock them out right now..." I feel better, in the name of accuracy, of putting in that little correction.

My friend has now moved back to England, courtesy of his new employer (he moved just last month). As he told me, they thought him perfect for the job. His accent helped him avoid the bigotry and class-consciousness of the Brits they dealt with, while his "American" attitude, meant that he would actually show up at work each day and accomplish something".

Of course, my friend also pointed out that he would be paid, "As an American", which meant he didn't have to drive around on one of those crappy, cheap little British cars (he bought a BMW for commuting and an American built "caravan" as his "play" transport, it was the only vehicle he could find that was capable of towing his Luger sailboat to the coast.).

Oh, and I DO have a right to bash British cars, having raced two of them (a Midget and a GT6). Lucas, the source of their infamous electrics, was indeed, "The Prince of Darkness"......the first thing I did was pull all that cheap wiring, apparently installed by monkeys on acid, and re-loom the whole schmeil.

 

[TCDiver1]

I say Rockhound, ole wot, spot on, i say, spot on!

No conjecture here, trying to make sense of MG wiring was like reaching into a bowl of spagetti and trying to connect the end of a single strand to it's opposite end without pulling it out of the bowl. Even the electrons are confused about which direction to take in a MG. Such a simple electrical system and they managed to mung it up quite well.

 

[JustAddWater]

Okay fellow Yanks,
Let's ease up on our little ally. Consider all of their contributions in the last fifty years. They did give us Wham and the Spice Girls after all.

King Neptune: I found humor in your post. (Or is it humour?)

JAW

 

[Jonathan]

Calling myself Jonathan rather than Jon is nothing to do with being stiff but practicle. At school there were so many John's in my class it was easier for everyone to call me Jonathan - it kind of stuck.

Having said that at college there were 2 Jonathan's and no John so being the younger I became Jon. In Japan I also go by Jon as Jon san sounds like Jonathan and Jonathan (in Japanese actually spelt jyonasan) san is too much of a mouthful!!

Here's an interesting thing to try at parties - ask a Brit where they are from. Chances are if they are welsh they will say Wales, Scottish - Scotland but English tend to say Britain. How sad is that?!

It is true though - when I was in Hawaii last year all the Americans wanted to know what part of Australia I was from, go figure....

As to cars - never owned a British built one, for all the above reasons!!

Jon(athan)
English - and proud of it!

 

[TCDiver1]

My apologies to you & your given name. Surely you know we jest back in your general direction. The last year has been quite a test of all Americans sense of humor. Only God knows where we would be without great allies such as England. Fighting a much steeper slope for sure.

Most of the Brits i have met were Royal Marines and a good lot they are. They could almost drink their ale as good as your average garden variety US Marine:boozer:

 

[Jonathan]

ahh, ale! Looking forward to my first decent pint in almost 14 months tomorrow... I know the rest of the world thinks our beer is strange, but then we think yours is! (except may the Germans and Belgiums - they make some damn fine brews as well....)

The world would be a very boring place if we all thought the same, granted safer but not much fun!

 

[Phoenix]

Hmm Interesting Thread, I usually get far too heated in political discussions, especially America Vs England ones, having so many friends on each side of the pond and having been married to an American.

I think we all need to take into considerations that we always have and probably always will generalise on a a national level in the form of stereotypes and jesty comments
This is the way its always been, and in a way helps identify a nation in a more humorous fasion

The problem is when a) people take sterotypes too seriously and get all heated about -being stereotyped-
b) when people grow up BELIEVING such sterotypes and treating members of that certain nation differently because of that

As a Brit I will always be stereotyped, by most of the world, our influence was once strong enough to draw such sterotypes, much like the influence of America today, and hence it too has its own sterotypes, the difference is english sterotypes seem to go back hundreds of years and american ones dont, so im sure alot more people take american sterotypes as -realistic- than they would brit ones (some of ours are just silly)

Again the outside world can only judge a country and a people on their international image, the image they themselves create, that and the attitutes of the people they have met from said nation, I must say personally I find most americans a very charming bunch, my girlfriend is american, my ex wife is american, and a fair percentage of my friends are american! However I do find that alot of americans have very little concept of world history (no offense intended to any History majors also the americans that get a little over patriotic bug me, the very stereotypes you complain about are brought about by the people that go around saying 'Aren't we just the greatest nation on earth' 'America is so free, thats why its so great' and other such comments, most democratic countries on earth are 'free' to an extent, but with the corruptness among governments I dont see how anyone could feel truley Free anymore

Brits on the other hand while a little more adept at history are quite happy to throw comments around with little or no support and bland generalisations, dont ask me why either, even I do that from time to time, it comes of the whole 'countrys have stereotypes' thing, The Brits have Bad Teeth, the Americans are stupid, the French are *******s, the Russians are evil, we have heard them all at some point or another, different countries see places in different views and hold different sterotypes, the teeth one for instance I have never heard of outside of the US, the tea one is my favorite, lol


At the end of the day the types of people you meet here are people with the same interests and loves as you, you are not realy that much different
EnglishGuy1 doesnt have bad teeth
AmericanGuy1 isn't stupid and self reichous
CanadianGuy1 doesnt always say 'eh'
and AussieGuy1 isnt always drunk (ok maybe thats not totally correct)

/me sets mode +sarcasm
Yes I used guy in all 4 examples, i know i know im a such a sexist bastard
/me sets mode -sarcasm

Anyway, my point in general, America has its flaws, **** loads of them, England has its flaws, just as many, people and nationalities, have thier flaws, and also there sterotypes which really dont equate to flaws
however on a Person by Person basis most people on earth are nice people, the attitudes of the few shape the believes of the many, (me, 2002)

ahem, anyway hope i didnt offfend anyone, I LOVE YOU ALL HONEST!!! (dons kevlar vest next time he goes to the US)

oh, and Johnathan

POHM (or POHMIE not the french apple) is
Prisoner Of His/Her Majest In Exile,
hence the reason I dont get why they call the brits it, being it was there ancestors that were the prisoners

Just another sterotype that doesnt hold much ground

Now everyone be happy! and um, dont flame me if i upset anyone, i didnt meeean toooo!

 

[Phoenix]

oh and um, please excuse all grammer and spelling errors, its late, ive been up all day, annddddd im crap at both, never really was a fan of english!

 

[Laurence Stein DDS]

Phoenix

I can't explain it...as a dentist I've seen many nationalities and their teeth. When I did my residency in Cleveland, Ohio, this was an entry point for many Eastern Europeans and a smattering from other parts of Europe and the Soviet Union.

First, from an American dentist's point of view...in general, the level of care here is based on prevention and it shows. Many teenagers have braces and straignt teeth as adults. Our culture is image driven so it is rare to see someone missing their front teeth--they are too embarrassed.

In most of Europe, treatment is based on need for immediate care. Cosmetics, orthodontics, and retention of teeth is secondary. The nationalization of you medical system in part contributes to this. One of the scubaboard members needed root canal surgery and patiently waited months. In this country this would be unacceptable.

I have seen pictures of world figures from Great Britian with missing front teeth, severely crowded teeth, teeth covered with something darker than pieces of spinach. To Americans, this is most strange. I have personally treated tourists for GB who come in with a toothache in a tooth in the back of their mouth but don't give a hoot about the missing front tooth in their ill fitting upper denture. I just can't figure it out.

I have been to Britian and call it an occupational habit, but I look at teeth and there are some very peculiar mouths over there.

Just so you don't feel bad, the Soviet Block countries are about 100 years behind the current dental technologies. They come with steel front teeth as do some of the Italians.

Nobody seems to brush--many people are totally encrusted with "barnicles" on their teeth and have serious gum problems.

Please keep in mind that only about 30% of Americans visit their dentist regularly. The rest come in when it hurts and by then, often little can be done.

The best general dental training is found in the US, Canada, South Africa and Israel. Unfortunately, the percieved needs by the population doesn't necessarily follow the abilities of their dentists.

I know there are great dentists in Great Britian but most people elect to go to the nationalized doctors. They have no incentive to provide ideal treatment even when it's available.

The Swedish invented the dental implant used today. They use it for dentures, Americans use it for caps. The Germans also helped with the dental implant and have some of the finest dental technicians I've seen. Where is all that ability going--their general population has poor dental health compared with here? The Israelis have helped develope the intra-oral laser. But when you examine their mouths, they are often filthy and they don't have a clue that the scum around the necks of their teeth are causing serious problems.

Finally, smoking is rampant across the pond. Not just GB but the rest of Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the former Soviet Union. Forget the cancer it causes. It ruins the gums in many mouths. I think the US tobacco companies are sending all this junk overseas because we are finally becoming successful in reducing the tobacco habit. They are not going out of business very soon though--they have the entire rest of the world to screw around with.

Finally, most of the US has fluoridation programs for drinking water. It has nearly stopped cavities cold in kids. Other countries still debate whether this is a) A communist plot or b) A toxic substance that will cause terrible disease. The fact is, that it works, it is safe when used as intended. Even here in the US we have fluoride wars every 10--20 years. The conspiracy theories just don't go away.

So in conclusion to this longwinded entry, from an American's ( a dentist to be exact)observations--the Brit's teeth are terrible. I will admit, however I have not met 99.99999% of your population and so perhaps the rest of you are movie stars.

I might have a sterotype but it is based on my own observations. It is also my understanding that often times Americans are spotted because they have GOOD teeth!

Regards,


Larry Stein