American-British Q&A

[JDKJ]

It's safer

Thank you. That's all I wanted to know. Though, I do disagree with regards to changing gear, as with how numb modern power steering systems are you can steer a car by blowing on the wheel. If one's left hand isn't able to keep the wheel in position for half a second one probably needs to get it looked at. And buy an automatic. I've certainly never had trouble keeping my wheel pointed right with my left arm, but that may be because I drive with my left arm anyways due to the interior layout I'm presented with.

You may wanna do a more accurate count. Right-hand drive may be the minority. If so, the Americans are the odd ones.

Let's see how many countries I can name that drive on the right:

US
Canada
Mexico
All of Europe except the British islands
All of Africa
All of South America
All of Asia except for Japan(Wouldn't mind asking them why they drive on the wrong side of the road as well)
Russia

...Yeah. You guys drive on the wrong side of the road. 3/4 of the world's population drives on the right, wheel on the left of the car. Or at least they're supposed to.

Again, just because there's no law against doing something doesn't make it a practical thing to do. There's no law against being a practicing homosexual but many homosexuals remain in the closet because coming out of the closet will have negative consequences for them.

Still don't see why they should be afraid of a few people QQing. Big deal. Someone doens't like an opinion.

Think elected politicians from Bible Belt states. If they are gay, they probably ain't rushing to announce the fact. Even though there's no law that says they can't be gay. Because they know that their Bible-thumping constituents will quickly vote their ass outta office.

And rightfully so. They shouldn't be lying to their constituents just to get elected to an office that pays them from those constituents' tax money! I've got nothing against gays but I'd vote their ass right out too on that standpoint.

"All of Africa," my ass. I've driven in South Africa and it was on the left-hand side. From where are you getting your facts? The Almanac of Bullshit Facts?

I have another question.

Are all Britons pedantic and rude? Because that's the vibe I'm getting from you. I'd like to believe they're for the most part nice people but you're making it awful hard.

your right most countries do drive on the right more so the left but in the past most countries actually drove on the left and so did quite alot of america but most adopted right after finland changed theres. you are though also wrong about some places like you said all of africa thats actually wrong i give you a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg this explains it all red are right and left are blue. also i am english most of us don't seem like assholes.

If you thumb through wiki some more, you'll see where there are 163 right-hand drive countries to 76 left-hand drive countries, a split of approximately 66.6% to 33.3%. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic That doesn't sound as if left-hand drive is the oddity that some would have me believe it is. It sounds as if a third of the world's countries are left-hand drive.

 

[alandavidson]

I have a question for American's, how many of you have visited the UK?

I have! I loved it.

 

[JDKJ]

Do all Americans make up facts and expect others to be dumb enough to swallow them unthinkingly? When you get to acting like I ain't got no sense and I'm a sucker is when you bring out the rude in me. I guess I could just go, "liar, liar, pants on fire" but that's childish and I''d rather be rude than childish.

Sorry about the sloppy edit job.

To answer your question, it is a very, very vocal majority who take the whole freedom of speech thing way too literally. There is usually not a whole lot of emphasis on fact-finding and so many times do like to either make up facts or quote something they've "seen or heard" as fact without checking to see if there is any truth to it.

Plus, god forbid these screeching monkeys ever admit to being wrong. Even if proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

I read through an interview with Larry Flynt (creator of Hustler magazine and major free speech advocate) and he mentioning rather profound. In short, he said that freedom of speech isn't meant for those that agree with you, it's meant for those that disagree with you. Meaning you can't stifle those you disagree with. But conversely, you don't have to agree with them either.

I do believe the US has a higher ratio of people who create false statics and expect people to believe them. Hell, they get on cable news shows as "experts" all the time. But that isn't to say we don't have those who aren't willing to have civilized discussions.

We had a President who made up non-existent weapons of mass destruction so he could invade another country that was minding it's own business.

But that doesn't mean I have to suffer a fool who tries to play me like I'm an idiot. If there's one character flaw I have, it's the inability to suffer fools gladly. I'm working on my suffering skills, but will admit to having made very little progress on that front.

 

[Thaa'ir]

My question from the UK to people in the USA;
Not sure if it's been asked here before or if it's changes recently, but what is some Americans' problem with public healthcare and calling things 'communist' or 'fascist' as a kind of knee-jerk reaction to anything (which rarely relates in any way to what communism or fascism actally is)?

This assumption is incorrect, although very widespread among Europeans. If all Americans had such a problem with health-care, there would be no debate about the issue.

 

[JDKJ]

A slight question, though this works for Canada too.
What do you think when you hear "z" pronounced like "zee" and not "zed"?

I think of Zed in "Pulp Fiction" and the Gimp down in the basement.

"Zed's dead, Baby. Zed's dead." -- Butch

 

[Thaa'ir]

To Americans, do you guys actually understand the stereotypical, dry, British humour? I know a lot of Americans are actually pretty smart, I just wonder if this is a stereotype with basis or not.

The gun culture...having just been to the Gun Store in Vegas and talking to the ex-military lady instructor, I'm changing my mind about guns. I can see why people would like to have a gun, for safety. My question is, then, would you guys prefer to be in a gun-happy country where anyone (that hasn't been institutionalised) can have a gun, or one like the UK where the threat of gun crime/danger is smaller (on a scaled down basis, obviously. Illegal guns still exist here)?

And my final question...does anyone actually think that Two and Half Men and Everybody Loves Raymond are funny???

For my part, I do...it just doesn't amuse me. Personal tastes I guess.

Europeans usually fail to consider the other reasons for our 2nd Amendment. It was specifically put in place to ensure that the population could arm itself in the case of a tyrannical takeover and revolt. Other reasons included repelling invasions and self-defense.

I suppose I must think about that. On the one hand, liberal access to guns is dangerous. On the other, invading a country of 300 million people where guns are widely available and a significant portion of the adult population is armed and given basic training in gun use sounds...horrible.

And to that last, I haven't seen either of those shows. Well, ELR I haven't seen since I was like...12.

 

[Bloodysoldier]

What? no canadians? TT_TT

I have a question for our American cousins who live in America's Hat (Canadians)
Why not merge with America already, we promise to fix the internet for you?

 

[JDKJ]

To Americans, do you guys actually understand the stereotypical, dry, British humour? I know a lot of Americans are actually pretty smart, I just wonder if this is a stereotype with basis or not.

The gun culture...having just been to the Gun Store in Vegas and talking to the ex-military lady instructor, I'm changing my mind about guns. I can see why people would like to have a gun, for safety. My question is, then, would you guys prefer to be in a gun-happy country where anyone (that hasn't been institutionalised) can have a gun, or one like the UK where the threat of gun crime/danger is smaller (on a scaled down basis, obviously. Illegal guns still exist here)?

And my final question...does anyone actually think that Two and Half Men and Everybody Loves Raymond are funny???

For my part, I do...it just doesn't amuse me. Personal tastes I guess.

Europeans usually fail to consider the other reasons for our 2nd Amendment. It was specifically put in place to ensure that the population could arm itself in the case of a tyrannical takeover and revolt. Other reasons included repelling invasions and self-defense.

I suppose I must think about that. On the one hand, liberal access to guns is dangerous. On the other, invading a country of 300 million people where guns are widely available and a significant portion of the adult population is armed and given basic training in gun use sounds...horrible.

And to that last, I haven't seen either of those shows. Well, ELR I haven't seen since I was like...12.

Like most knives, the right to bear arms can cut both ways. There are more than a few gun-toting crazies in Arizona and Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border who have decided that they're being invaded by illegal immigrants and therefore have a right to shoot those illegal immigrants -- even though the immigrants aren't armed or threatening.

Perhaps that's why the Second speaks of "a well regulated militia" being necessary to the security of a free State and not "a bunch of loony hick ranchers taking the law into their own hands."

 

[Mr Scott]

To Americans, do you guys actually understand the stereotypical, dry, British humour? I know a lot of Americans are actually pretty smart, I just wonder if this is a stereotype with basis or not.

The gun culture...having just been to the Gun Store in Vegas and talking to the ex-military lady instructor, I'm changing my mind about guns. I can see why people would like to have a gun, for safety. My question is, then, would you guys prefer to be in a gun-happy country where anyone (that hasn't been institutionalised) can have a gun, or one like the UK where the threat of gun crime/danger is smaller (on a scaled down basis, obviously. Illegal guns still exist here)?

And my final question...does anyone actually think that Two and Half Men and Everybody Loves Raymond are funny???

For my part, I do...it just doesn't amuse me. Personal tastes I guess.

Europeans usually fail to consider the other reasons for our 2nd Amendment. It was specifically put in place to ensure that the population could arm itself in the case of a tyrannical takeover and revolt. Other reasons included repelling invasions and self-defense.

However most of the crazy gun-toting criminals have committed federal offences and are readily caught.

I suppose I must think about that. On the one hand, liberal access to guns is dangerous. On the other, invading a country of 300 million people where guns are widely available and a significant portion of the adult population is armed and given basic training in gun use sounds...horrible.

And to that last, I haven't seen either of those shows. Well, ELR I haven't seen since I was like...12.

Like most knives, the right to bear arms can cut both ways. There are more than a few gun-toting crazies in Arizona and Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border who have decided that they're being invaded by illegal immigrants and therefore have a right to shoot those illegal immigrants -- even though the immigrants aren't armed or threatening.

Perhaps that's why the Second speaks of "a well regulated militia" being necessary to the security of a free State and not "a bunch of loony hick ranchers taking the law into their own hands."

 

[ShogunGino]

This may sound like a dumb question, but as an American, what does "taking the piss" mean? I've heard it said several times, and several times it seems like it contextually means different things, and I've never figured out what.

Also, as an animation fan, does the U.K. enjoy any domestically made animated shows? I rarely see anyone talk about an animated show that came out in the U.K.. The only one I can recall that was imported here was a show I used to watch when I was very little about a white bear called "Rupert".

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Just how big is football (soccer) in America?

depends where you visit, it's actually quite huge in quite a few places, but our media is pretty biased about it so it doesn't get even half the amount of publicity it probably deserves from the public. It's by far one of the leading growing sports though, hell my brothers team played a club the other day that had 20 teams for it's age group, and thats just one fucking club and one fucking age group.


We're gettin there...

 

[Ris]

To Americans: when you see a mixed-race person of Afro-Caribbean/White European descent, do you class them as mixed race, or black?

I ask this because as a mixed race person myself, I've noticed that a lot of Americans don't seem to recognise it as an identity in it's own right; they are more likely to class that person according to what they physically resemble the most, i.e. tanned skin and coarse dark hair = black. This is really putting me off moving to America as I'm worried that I'm going to be given a new identity that I can't relate to.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Alright so my question is this? What is a Chav? I've been called this on occasion and I don't think it's anything good, would someone care to explain?

Have you ever seen the people on the Jersey Shore? Now imagine the English equivalent of that basically.

Do you mean the only way is Essex?

That's a even better analogy.

Also, a question for you americans, do you acknowledge that we are your ancestors?

honestly i hardly know any "english" ancestral people at all, if anything 95% of the people i know (mostly white folk obviously on this part) are german or irish, and the other 5% are french/british. Honestly it is not common at all here to have any kind of english ancestry.

me personally i'm 40/20 polish and russian respectively, and a mix of german in there.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

To Americans: when you see a mixed-race person of Afro-Caribbean/White European descent, do you class them as mixed race, or black?

I ask this because as a mixed race person myself, I've noticed that a lot of Americans don't seem to recognise it as an identity in it's own right; they are more likely to class that person according to what they physically resemble the most, i.e. tanned skin and coarse dark hair = black. This is really putting me off moving to America as I'm worried that I'm going to be given a new identity that I can't relate to.

I get what your saying, but at the same time are you not doing the same thing most of the time? When you see a white person do you think "Caucasian" or do you think (in my case) "mostly polish descent with a bit of German in there"?

it works both ways on that meter, but if you do come to america and introduce yourself (assuming you speak english) we will more than likely pick up your accent and either A)ask where you are from/your ancestry or B) just not really care, america is a blend of whatever so mostly we just don't care who is what.

 

[Ris]

To Americans: when you see a mixed-race person of Afro-Caribbean/White European descent, do you class them as mixed race, or black?

I ask this because as a mixed race person myself, I've noticed that a lot of Americans don't seem to recognise it as an identity in it's own right; they are more likely to class that person according to what they physically resemble the most, i.e. tanned skin and coarse dark hair = black. This is really putting me off moving to America as I'm worried that I'm going to be given a new identity that I can't relate to.

I get what your saying, but at the same time are you not doing the same thing most of the time? When you see a white person do you think "Caucasian" or do you think (in my case) "mostly polish descent with a bit of German in there"?

That isn't a race issue, though. Polish, French, German.. you're still white.

I'm not talking about heritage, I'm talking about race; actual biological differences that are apparent from first glance. I appreciate that heritage might still make people view you in a different way for various reasons, but it's still not quite the same thing.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

It seems to me that Americans don't drink that much (compared to us) from what I've heard. How much are you likely to drink on a night out?

Personally I drink at least a bottle of wine myself before we head out then a few beers and mixers whilst out to keep me going. If it's just a trip to the pub it'll be 4-6 pints of ale. I think this is fairly normal consumption for a student in the UK.

this honestly all depends highly on where you are going and what you are doing.

if i am with my roommate, we are smashing down bottle after bottle of vodka and whiskey, if we are chilling at a party and are going to be driving later usually we have a good 6-8 beers a piece


It's a funny thing really, our rival university all the douchers do down there is drink beer, while 99% of the time we don't go to bars and have "pints", we usually stick with hard alcohol.

meh. like i said off the start, depends entirely on where you go and what you are going to be doing.

 

[Ris]

bah, double post, sorry

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

To Americans: when you see a mixed-race person of Afro-Caribbean/White European descent, do you class them as mixed race, or black?

I ask this because as a mixed race person myself, I've noticed that a lot of Americans don't seem to recognise it as an identity in it's own right; they are more likely to class that person according to what they physically resemble the most, i.e. tanned skin and coarse dark hair = black. This is really putting me off moving to America as I'm worried that I'm going to be given a new identity that I can't relate to.

I get what your saying, but at the same time are you not doing the same thing most of the time? When you see a white person do you think "Caucasian" or do you think (in my case) "mostly polish descent with a bit of German in there"?

That isn't a race issue, though. Polish, French, German.. you're still white.

I'm not talking about heritage, I'm talking about race; actual biological differences that are apparent from first glance. I appreciate that heritage might still make people view you in a different way for various reasons, but it's still not quite the same thing.

by that logic then, if i am just white than you are just black, to the average eye. that's how it always will be to just about everyone. Why do all asians look the same? while from another perspective why do all white people look the same?

apples and oranges... But honestly, I know PLENTY of "black" people that are whiter than me and i know plenty of white people that are darker than half the "black" people i know, so really if you come over here you might be in for a shocker or two yourself, because if you are basing it off of apparent first glance looks, then you are going to be second guessing yourself with alot of people over here too then.

 

[Ris]

To Americans: when you see a mixed-race person of Afro-Caribbean/White European descent, do you class them as mixed race, or black?

I ask this because as a mixed race person myself, I've noticed that a lot of Americans don't seem to recognise it as an identity in it's own right; they are more likely to class that person according to what they physically resemble the most, i.e. tanned skin and coarse dark hair = black. This is really putting me off moving to America as I'm worried that I'm going to be given a new identity that I can't relate to.

I get what your saying, but at the same time are you not doing the same thing most of the time? When you see a white person do you think "Caucasian" or do you think (in my case) "mostly polish descent with a bit of German in there"?

That isn't a race issue, though. Polish, French, German.. you're still white.

I'm not talking about heritage, I'm talking about race; actual biological differences that are apparent from first glance. I appreciate that heritage might still make people view you in a different way for various reasons, but it's still not quite the same thing.

by that logic then, if i am just white than you are just black, to the average eye. that's how it always will be to just about everyone. Why do all asians look the same? while from another perspective why do all white people look the same?

apples and oranges... But honestly, I know PLENTY of "black" people that are whiter than me and i know plenty of white people that are darker than half the "black" people i know, so really if you come over here you might be in for a shocker or two yourself, because if you are basing it off of apparent first glance looks, then you are going to be second guessing yourself with alot of people over here too then.

You're confusing me a little with the quotations. You say you know white and black people with varying skin tones - but what are you and American society classing them as? To go back to my original question, do you recognise these people as mixed race?

Easiest way I can explain this: If you were describing one of these "black" people to another person, would you describe them as "he's a black guy with.." or "he's a mixed race guy with.."?

 

[Blazing Steel]

Why do some American (90% of those I've met) either assume I'm either extreamly posh or some kind of anti-social, chavish dick? Is it how us Brits are depicted on Tv or is it just something Americans tend to assume unless they get to know someone from England?

Eh? Considering I've met many brits in my youth and then during my college years working at an international company when half the staff were from the UK, I've never assumed that, or felt like I gave the impression that I assumed that. Maybe you shouldn't judge a country by it's lowest common denominator? Try talking to people you would normally blow off. Birds of a feather...

I wasn't judging the country, just those I've come in contact with see me that way. You've grown up around Brits so you already have an opinion of them. Nearly everyone I've met I have been their first contact with someone from England, so all they have to go on is how we are depicted through your Tv etc. Or I've just found a lot of American dicks when I've been there. One of the two.