It’s not just Americans - when travelling as British there are certain ‘looks’ and sadly true stereotypes you avoid like the plague - football lout, the pasty-white Brit who hates EVERYTHING foreign despite maybe the sun and constantly complains, those who only eat British food, etc. In fact, when I used to travel if I heard a British accent I would turn tail and go the other way. Wherever the Brits were, I was not. I wasn’t there to speak to people from my own country, but to get away from them!
But certainly Americans (and yes I mean by that those from the US) do do that loud/brash thing sometimes. And it’s not all Hawaiian shirts and shouting, it’s simple as talking to people in places where it is socially frowned upon. Yanks think it’s cute, but it isn’t to talk to strangers in a restaurant, or on the Tube. We want to eat or travel home without being disturbed, usually (depends on the establishment/situation/event, but yes, it’s a major taboo here to disturb someone without at least apologising for doing so, and preferably not doing so at all). The arrogance comes over in the fact that these people think it’s ‘minor’ or ‘stuck up’ or ‘repressed’- whereas social codes aren’t repression, ask Asia about how important they are. Break social conduct and it becomes rude anarchy. Politeness is how society is lubricated here. Over 7 million people stacked up in a relatively tiny space (compared to the US) in London alone…we need rules of behaviour to cope. We need our ‘space’.
Knowing when you can speak and not is really important here (like during a big event, Pride, or a sports game, it’s probably OK, people expect that. Harassing people going home from work, no).
And the codes of politeness to strangers mean that it gets tolerated, usually and people play along even though they’d rather not…so if you thought people were ‘OK’ with it, they probably more likely after told the story of this annoying irritating Yank who bothered them to their family and mates…sorry they probably were offended by the intrusion and hated you for it!
My specific issue with Massachusetts is that, having grown up there, for decades I’ve heard it referred to as a “liberal stronghold”, but I never saw the preponderance of evidence to justify that kind of absolute label. So when something like this happens and people are like “Wow, there’s a racist somewhere in Massachusetts” I’m just like “Yeah, the state is filled with them, even in the parts that are supposed to be farthest left.”
Not just the english speaking world - I’ve lived/traveled overseas and was always called amerikanisch, amerikanskiy, américain etc. I always said United States if asked (which by the way is the only answer accepted when clearing customs/immigration) but was called American if nationality came up. Ironically in England I kept getting asked if I was Canadian because of the loud obnoxious ugly american stereotype (which is far from universally true, germans tend to win the worst tourist surveys with US finishing out of the top 3). South/Central America is where the irritation over US citizens being called American is concentrated. I did not find it an issue during the years I lived on the Mexican border.
I briefly travelled with a cute girl from California whilst backpacking in Spain. Until she complained loudly that none of the foreigners spoke English and had a snit in a grocery store.
You mean a bit like how annoying it is when someone uses England instead of Great Britain or United Kingdom?
Just had that on the FB Boing Boing page. A Yank insulting another Yank by saying ‘why don’t you go live in England’ - where they thought that English is of course the only official language.
…which it isn’t, cos assuming they were confusing the whole England = UK we have Welsh, Gaelic and to some extent Cornish. :-/ And even if they did mean England, I don’t think we have any officially stated ‘language’ like that.
It’s technically the bluest state. There are parts of the West Coast that are deep red. Illinois and New York are far from homogeneous, even if most of their populations are concentrated around specific urban areas. The other blue states aren’t reliably so, or else have pockets of deep red. Massachusetts is the most consequential state that’s solidly blue everywhere.
But some people misinterpret that as meaning there aren’t racists there, or even that there aren’t belligerent racists there. That’s completely false.
Less annoying, because calling the UK “England” is flat out wrong.
Technically, she was a foreigner, and she only spoke English.
Anyone else misread this?
Loudly complaining that none of these foreigners have Ore-Ida crinkly potatoes and ketchup and Birdseye frozen veggies, like what normal people eat. I mean, why leave your country if you can’t have everything 100% like it is at home, amirite?
I once had to explain to a Canadian friend the difference between Yank and Yankee, when he said “you yankees” to a group. He didn’t really believe me until I invited him to call a kid from South Carolina a yankee instead of yank and see what happened vs. how I being a westerner reacted.
A friend corrected me quite sternly when I made the England vs UK mistake many years ago. His family was from Guernsey, never English, though he carried a UK passport and considered himself British (mother’s side). I knew he’d attended Cambridge, his parents were living in Manchester, and I made the mistake of inferring he was English. I got a history lesson on crown dependencies - the Bailiwicks of Guernsey, Jersey, plus the Isle of Man which is all very complicated because they’re technically not part of the United Kingdom.
When we lived in Germany back in the 70’s - I never heard Vereinigte Staaten but usually Amerikaner occasionally OohEsAh (USA) as general reference to both the country and nationality. And I’ve encountered variations of hearing America/American used everywhere but China where according to our guide they often called us “big nose” as a general term for westerner that could be either insulting or generic depending on usage in mandarin. In english it was typically America/American.
Oh yes. Manx is REALLY difficult history there. They are and they aren’t part of the UK…British Protectorate I think, but could be wrong. It is very complex that history of the Norn(?)-speaking islands, the former Viking colonies basically, and how they became ‘British’ - or not, kinda…certainly Manx unlike other parts of the UK has some of it’s own laws and courts, but it’s more like Falklands, it does depend on the UK.
British is safer - if they have a passport can’t deny they are British. But Guernsey and Jersey also have a weird relationship with the UK, mostly to include their tax exempt status.
Upper mexicans - I’m stealing that - I’ve lived in Colorado many years and Texas before that. I get tired of pointing out that most of the people the MAGA pro-wall people talk about “invading our country” have been here for hundreds of years - far longer than they have. The border moved south the people stayed in place. I went to school in Texas with people who had Spanish land grants from well before when the pilgrims showed up.
I hope you find healing. It sounds like you have experienced much pain in this life.
Honestly, it was watching Watchmen on HBO this year that made me realize how justified people of color are to hold total paranoia of white people. It is your choice. I don’t agree with it – I wouldn’t call myself racist or someone who harbors white supremacist beliefs, as you seem to allege. But it is your right. I don’t think it’s terribly helpful, however. Karma – it’s definitely worth getting over, but that’s for everyone to figure out in their own time.
Or anywhere on the planet, really. I’d even argue that most cultures at large are racist, at a nation-state level to be sure. Individuals are individuals though, and though we are subject to being molded by our societies, I like to think that we can break free of the programming, if we put some energy into it.
I think that’s pretty fair. But this is really true of all generalizations that relate to very broad areas, such as state-level geographies. I’ve never understood “Coastal Elites” because being from a coastal state (MA) and living in another one now (MD), I can tell you – it’s not all that “elite” compared to anywhere else. We have our rural areas, we have countryside, we have people of all persuasions.
What there does seem to be evidence for, is that people who live in multicultural areas with a decent amount of diversity, tend to be a bit more open-minded and accepting of others than people who live in monocultures. All the “deep red” states that have major cities that are solidly blue seems to be good evidence for this.
That’s not an unpopular opinion by any stretch. At least not here. All you need to do is watch The Amazing Race and watch Americans get angry at people not speaking English while traveling in foreign countries.
(And by angry I don’t mean frustration at the language barrier - that’s something pretty much any experienced traveler has had to deal with at one time or another. I mean literally being indignant at the nerve of people not speaking English in a non-English speaking country.)
White racist woman refuses to get off the bus when given a lawful order by a police officer; nothing happens but more requests. Asian doesn’t say a damn word and is asked for ID.
