American wanting to move to UK
May 17th 2008, 5:33 pm
#46
A lion in your lap
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Sparta NJ
Posts: 7,605
Re: Longing for the sunny States
this question is, and always will be, an indication that the person asking it is either a bit of a blinkered idiot or just severely lacking in imagination.
and has it ever occurred to you that Arizona might not be the best or only location with which to compare US/UK weather? I wonder what people from Washington State, Minnesota or Maine think of the weather in Britain.
and has it ever occurred to you that Arizona might not be the best or only location with which to compare US/UK weather? I wonder what people from Washington State, Minnesota or Maine think of the weather in Britain.
May 17th 2008, 5:38 pm
#47
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,542
Re: American wanting to move to UK
I once met a guy from Seattle in the Lake District on a rainy day, he said it reminded him of home
May 17th 2008, 5:43 pm
#48
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 93
Re: Longing for the sunny States
Well I just got off the phone with my sister in Leeds who said its a bit crap today but it was sunny last week and I was there in Feb when we had lovely sunshine for first week and same temp as here in North Florida.
I posted met office data to show that there is sunshine, of course not as much as in Arizona/California but no one is going to take you seriously if you continue to insist that there can be six months without sunshine.
Look at my photos in the gallery for evidence of february sunshine!
I posted met office data to show that there is sunshine, of course not as much as in Arizona/California but no one is going to take you seriously if you continue to insist that there can be six months without sunshine.
Look at my photos in the gallery for evidence of february sunshine!
and has it ever occurred to you that Arizona might not be the best or only location with which to compare US/UK weather? I wonder what people from Washington State, Minnesota or Maine think of the weather in Britain.
MY POSTS ARE ALL IN RESPONSE TO THE ORIGINAL POSTER WHO ASKED FOR OPINIONS ON WHAT TO EXPECT MOVING FROM ARIZONA TO NORTHERN ENGLAND/SCOTLAND! I NEVER PRETENDED TO BE COMPARING THE WEATHER OF THE ENTIRE US Vs. THE ENTIRE UK!
Did you read it this time? Should I repeat it? Please let me know if you guys are still confused about the purpose and intention of my posts.
Also, do me a favour and scour my posts and find anywhere where I say "The USA rulez and UK sux, lol." Or to make it easier, try and find where I say "Britain is inferior to the US in every way".
You can't. BECAUSE I DIDN'T TYPE IT!
Thank you.
May 17th 2008, 5:45 pm
#49
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,397
Re: American wanting to move to UK
Thanks, but I don't need you to offer perspective on what I've clearly stated over and over again as my own personal opinion and how I feel about the country.
Life here is inferior for me and my family (though it may not be for you; I never tried to say it was inferior to everyone), and I wasn't coming onto these boards to announce such. If you read back over the first post, you'd recognize that I did not make this thread. No, in fact, I replied to someone else asking for people's opinions on whether someone from Arizona would like it in Northen England. I felt extremely qualified to answer such a question and so I did. You should also note that nowhere in my first post did I announce that England was inferior to the states. In fact, I made it a point to list some positives and made an even bigger point, which you obviously missed, that someone with a very similar lifestyle to my former one might find Northern England the same way I do. I apologize again if it offended you and your national pride, but the post wasn't intended for you.
I'm sorry your European prejudice for Americans is clouding whatever meaning you could glean from my posts (that weren't intended or aimed at you by the way), as I don't recall having any particular attitude in my posts. I merely (yet again it needs to be said) listed what I felt were negatives from my point of view and that the OP being from a very similar climate and lifestyle might find the same negatives when she arrived here.
Life here is inferior for me and my family (though it may not be for you; I never tried to say it was inferior to everyone), and I wasn't coming onto these boards to announce such. If you read back over the first post, you'd recognize that I did not make this thread. No, in fact, I replied to someone else asking for people's opinions on whether someone from Arizona would like it in Northen England. I felt extremely qualified to answer such a question and so I did. You should also note that nowhere in my first post did I announce that England was inferior to the states. In fact, I made it a point to list some positives and made an even bigger point, which you obviously missed, that someone with a very similar lifestyle to my former one might find Northern England the same way I do. I apologize again if it offended you and your national pride, but the post wasn't intended for you.
I'm sorry your European prejudice for Americans is clouding whatever meaning you could glean from my posts (that weren't intended or aimed at you by the way), as I don't recall having any particular attitude in my posts. I merely (yet again it needs to be said) listed what I felt were negatives from my point of view and that the OP being from a very similar climate and lifestyle might find the same negatives when she arrived here.
It also has nothing to do with my national pride, I'm more than capable of accepting criticism of the UK where its accurate, and there certainly is plenty of room for it. The simple fact is though, it's not cloudy for six months at a time and everything does not cost 2-3 times what it does in the States.
Further, its not a European only held veiwpoint by the way, it's pretty much a global one. Even most Aussies I've met, who are quite well known for their own national arrogance will pass comment on the attitude of Americans.
I do appreciate you feel you are in a position to comment, and I agree, I'm just trying to point out that you've done exactly what your nation is renowned for. If I had read all your posts on UK-Yankee I still wouldnt have agreed but I would have had a very different reaction to you, and that's my point!
May 17th 2008, 5:51 pm
#50
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 93
Re: American wanting to move to UK
No you didn't actually. You came on here stating opinions as fact, interjected with one or two, "to me's" and quoting the Daily Mail to us.
I do appreciate you feel you are in a position to comment, and I agree, I'm just trying to point out that you've done exactly what your nation is renowned for. If I had read all your posts on UK-Yankee I still wouldnt have agreed but I would have had a very different reaction to you, and that's my point!
I do appreciate you feel you are in a position to comment, and I agree, I'm just trying to point out that you've done exactly what your nation is renowned for. If I had read all your posts on UK-Yankee I still wouldnt have agreed but I would have had a very different reaction to you, and that's my point!
I implore you to go back and read my posts without looking through the prism of "American = arrogant" and see if it sounds different.
May 17th 2008, 6:02 pm
#52
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,397
Re: American wanting to move to UK
Well I apologize again if prejudices led to a knee-jerk reaction to my posts. I never intended to offer my opinions and personal observations (and I even went out of my way to note that at the beginning of my first post) as facts. My link to the daily mail was to support what I was saying, not to "prove" something.
I implore you to go back and read my posts without looking through the prism of "American = arrogant" and see if it sounds different.
I implore you to go back and read my posts without looking through the prism of "American = arrogant" and see if it sounds different.
In all the reading of posts on this board I have done over the years I honestly believe the only thing I've ever heard reference to as inferior is the US healthcare system. It's not in peoples general psyche's to refer to something as inferior even if they dont like it or feel they had it better at home.
It may seem like a very subtle nuance to you, but to those of us not brought up in the States it stands out like red raw sore thumb.
Edit: There are American's who dont display symptoms, some are very good friends. I am quite capable of telling the difference between those affected and those not.
Last edited by Tootsie Frickensprinkles; May 17th 2008 at 6:07 pm.
May 17th 2008, 6:35 pm
#53
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 35,082
Re: American wanting to move to UK
It's not just you, it comes from several years of experience in dealing with, living with and trying to understand Americans. I coined it, "the American superiority complex". It's by no means entirely unique to America but it is indeed endemic there. It occurs regionally, quite frequently. The Arabs for example, quite openly refer to themselves and their way of life as superior to the rest of the Middle East. The difference in the American version is they apply it globally
In all the reading of posts on this board I have done over the years I honestly believe the only thing I've ever heard reference to as inferior is the US healthcare system. It's not in peoples general psyche's to refer to something as inferior even if they dont like it or feel they had it better at home.
It may seem like a very subtle nuance to you, but to those of us not brought up in the States it stands out like red raw sore thumb.
Edit: There are American's who dont display symptoms, some are very good friends. I am quite capable of telling the difference between those affected and those not.
In all the reading of posts on this board I have done over the years I honestly believe the only thing I've ever heard reference to as inferior is the US healthcare system. It's not in peoples general psyche's to refer to something as inferior even if they dont like it or feel they had it better at home.
It may seem like a very subtle nuance to you, but to those of us not brought up in the States it stands out like red raw sore thumb.
Edit: There are American's who dont display symptoms, some are very good friends. I am quite capable of telling the difference between those affected and those not.
this question is, and always will be, an indication that the person asking it is either a bit of a blinkered idiot or just severely lacking in imagination.
and has it ever occurred to you that Arizona might not be the best or only location with which to compare US/UK weather? I wonder what people from Washington State, Minnesota or Maine think of the weather in Britain.
and has it ever occurred to you that Arizona might not be the best or only location with which to compare US/UK weather? I wonder what people from Washington State, Minnesota or Maine think of the weather in Britain.
But cut the Panda some slack; why is HIS experience of the UK not 'ok' with you all but YOUR overgeneralizations about the US are ok?
Yeah, it's that darn American superiority you've got to stay on guard against...
May 17th 2008, 6:50 pm
#54
A lion in your lap
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Sparta NJ
Posts: 7,605
Re: American wanting to move to UK
I actually like living in the USA - but really no more than I did in Britain. And if I find something in my experience of US life to be not to my liking (or even "inferior"), I have occasionally felt free to mention it on here. But I like to think I have personally been careful not to make the kind of sweeping inaccurate statements that Panda has.
May 17th 2008, 6:53 pm
#55
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,397
Re: American wanting to move to UK
It's hard to believe that you folks have been reading the same forums here as I have over the past several years.
But cut the Panda some slack; why is HIS experience of the UK not 'ok' with you all but YOUR overgeneralizations about the US are ok?
Yeah, it's that darn American superiority you've got to stay on guard against...
But cut the Panda some slack; why is HIS experience of the UK not 'ok' with you all but YOUR overgeneralizations about the US are ok?
Yeah, it's that darn American superiority you've got to stay on guard against...
I dont think I've been nasty and I hope the smilies are infering the amount of tongue in cheekness I mean this with - even if I do believe it to be true. Pandajuice has apologised several times, for which there is no need really. I'm not upset and I doubt anyone else is. I was just trying to point something out, I really hope the guy has a think about it.
May 17th 2008, 6:59 pm
#56
Bitter and twisted
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: Upmarket
Posts: 17,503
Re: American wanting to move to UK
Isn't it amazing how I can live in a country for the best part of 60 years yet still need some patronising american tw*t to point out all the "problems"
that I have obviously never experienced.
........and as someone who has also spent a lot of time in Oregon (and whose brother still lives there) I also find it a bit rich to be told that the UK is grey for several months of the year.
May 17th 2008, 7:03 pm
#57
A lion in your lap
Joined: Jul 2003
Location: Sparta NJ
Posts: 7,605
Re: American wanting to move to UK
ever tried Arizona? Apparently it's much sunnier there.
May 17th 2008, 7:17 pm
#59
Bendy Bully
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: It's the wrong answer, and there's a light on.
Posts: 281
Re: American wanting to move to UK
It's a cast iron certainty that every keyboard ninja who turns up on this forum to have a moan about the UK, will, at some point, and with a tiresome inevitability, come out with something like this:
Your whole schtick on this thread is that you're claiming to be offering advice to someone, so what has this rubbish got do with it exactly? Why offer this nonsense up as advice? "Taking over cities"...you make it sound like War of the Worlds but with Polish plumbers instead of space aliens FFS. This is utter crud and you know it. Why not assume (it's reckless I know), that most of them simply want to live here and become a part of Britain and have no desire to "take over the city" with their evil foreign ways?
You are though aren't you? Ignoring the fact that you listed it in your original waffle as a "negative" - if it doesn't bother you then why bring it up? If I was living in the US (fortunately I don't, but let's just suppose), I could dredge up gigabytes of negative press about the US that wouldn't neccessarily bother me, but I wouldn't feel inclined to pass it off as some sort of advice to anyone considering moving over there. I'd probably throw caution to the wind and assume that when it comes to idiotic personal predjudices, the potential mover can decide for themselves.
Don't talk crap. Got to be a troll, this. Did this "fact" come from the Daily Mail as well, by any chance?
Errm, nope.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770
I suggest you read over that and the fact that "Some 58 per cent think the nation's cultural fabric is being "damaged and diluted" by immigration." I'm not the only one who thinks that, clearly. And I want it known that I wasn't complaining about it,
I suggest you read over that and the fact that "Some 58 per cent think the nation's cultural fabric is being "damaged and diluted" by immigration." I'm not the only one who thinks that, clearly. And I want it known that I wasn't complaining about it,
May 17th 2008, 7:24 pm
#60
Bendy Bully
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: It's the wrong answer, and there's a light on.
Posts: 281
Re: American wanting to move to UK