A question about stereotypes.

[Cowtipper]

I'm from the States and I was wondering about American stereotypes in media in the UK.
Like:
Are there many?
Are they generally accepted as true?
Does it color(colour) your impressions when you meet somebody from the US?

[Cowtipper]

I think one of our history books is skewed. I was taught that in 1776 we bitched and you all left. Then you got home and thought about it got ruffled around the boa and came back to burn the White House. Then you realized why you left in the first place and went home.

[craft1948]

I like Sarah Palin...............now she's a nutter and would probably show you hers as well.

[Cowtipper]

I like Carbou Barbie. Hot in a "I'd love to spank her" kind of way.

[craft1948]

Is it true that you're trying to get rid of Obama 'cos he's not really American? We tried to get rid of Brown because he's Scottish but that didn't work............

[mike11111]

What I like about the good ol' US of A is its diversity and tolerance, as evinced from this clip from the 60s.
http://www.youtube.co...h?gl=GB&v=dOKqzJJvEOw

[Maydup]

When I worked in London in the 1980's the American tourists were stereotypically large, brash, rude, demanding but wealthy.

When I went to the US in 2007 I was delighted to receive an extremely warm welcome from everyone I met. I soon realised that those people I'd encountered in London were just one type and the nation is as mixed as it could be. You are far better at customer service than I had expected and far less agressive than your reputation.

[Cowtipper]

You give a link for a satire produced in Britain as an example? I've been to Mississippi and its a beautiful place. The natives call it Mis'ippi. It took me a little while to learn the dialect, but its really quite nice to listen to once you learn what they are saying.

[mike11111]

No, but 50 years ago it was sadly too true in the Deep South. Can you remember Governor George Wallace, Democrat but deeply segregationalist.

[Cowtipper]

Its still largely segregated by community. White towns and black towns. I don't know if its just inertia or what. Its tough to generalize on things but black people in Mississippi and Louisiana tend to be friendlier than northerners.

[mike11111]

I may be wrong here, but I think the introducer to the link I posted was the great American satirist Tom Lehrer, who announced his retirement on the day that Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, on the grounds that such an award had rendered satire totally redundant.

[Cowtipper]

It says on Wikipedia that tw3 was still on the BBC in 1963. I don't know who the announcer is. Still, satire is laughing at something that's not really funny. There is still plenty of bigotry, don't get me wrong. Its a pattern of thought passed down from generations that may never be stomped out. Black stereotypes exist, but most aren't propagated in main stream culture. Tom and Jerry have had all the black-face cut out of them. Bugs Bunny too, if you see it anymore at all. Too politically incorrect. Sesame Street First Season is rated PG of all things.

[mike11111]

Does Wyle E Coyote still chase Roadrunner(meep, meep) or is that banned too?

[4getmenot]

my bro lives over there. I have found americans dont get british dry humour.

[mike11111]

Gee, ya don't say!

[Buenchico]

I've always wanted an excuse to post this lot!

Americans . .
. . . are overweight ;
. . . are pushy ;
. . . are loud-mouthed ;
. . . believe that they live in the greatest nation in the world (despite a considerable amount of evidence to the contrary) ;
. . . don't understand irony ;
. . . have little concept of 'culture' ;
. . . are likely to 'bible bashers' ;
. . . shy away from any political ideas which could be branded as 'socialism' without even considering the possible merits of those ideas ;
. . . fail to understand that their flag is just a piece of cloth ;
. . . are insular, with little knowledge of what's going on in the rest of the world ;
. . . expect everything to be done 'the American way', even when they're thousands of miles from home ;
. . . believe their country to be above international laws and agreements ;
. . . seem willing to accept a considerable amount of aggression and violence in their media but flinch from the portrayal of loving sex ;
. . . believe that 'quantity' is far more important than 'quality' when eating a meal ;
. . . don't know what good beer should taste like ;
. . . have no real concept of what a love of quality cheese is all about ;
. . . are obsessed with 'celebrity' ;
. . . are incapable of producing quality TV ;
. . . fail to understand that European cinema (particularly in France and Spain) is vastly superior to anything that Hollywood can turn out ;

That's just a few starting points!

Well, you DID ask for stereotypes!!!

[boxtops]

Wow Chris - can I add, wear Hawaiian shirts and a camera?

[mike11111]

Ooh! You've lit the blue touch paper. Time to retire, as the instructions say.

[Buenchico]

But you also asked for whether those stereotypes colour* my impressions when I meet someone from the US. (*Thanks for recognising that US English isn't the ONLY version!)

My response is to state that I'm unsurprised when I meet someone who conforms to most of what I've written, but I'm also pleased to acknowledge that many Americans don't conform to stereotypes.

For example, I met a guy (through this site) who was visiting the UK for the first time. We corresponded a great deal and I eventually gave him a guided tour of Paris (on a day trip from London). He lived in the Rocky Mountains (Lake City, Colorado) and his attitudes seemed 'stereotypical'. (He didn't even attempt a single word of French in Paris, not even a simple 'Merci'. I got the impression that he just assumed that US English ought to be used everywhere in the world). Throughout his stay in the UK he wouldn't go into a pub, as he was convinced that the beer wouldn't be to his liking and that he's probably get attacked anyway!

But a few weeks ago I met a US couple (from Nevada) who had only arrived in the UK an hour or two earlier. They immediately sought out a traditional British pub (which is where I met them), ordered British beer and (after enquiring what is was!) 'toad in the hole' for lunch.

I was unsurprised when the first guy met many stereotypes but I was delighted to meet the couple who didn't. (I used to run a railway station, where I met many American tourists. The vast majority were happy to immerse themselves in British culture but there were still a small minority who repeatedly, and very firmly, protested "We don't do things that way in the States"!).

Chris

[Cowtipper]

Buenchico I did ask for specifically that. Thanks for your candor. So if you were to meet me in person before we even spoke would that affect your impression?

[Cowtipper]

Oh, thank you.