MountainFan

Okay.. so I'm new here. First of all I guess I'm an Expat. I was born in UK in the 70's, but I didn't know that I was a citizen of the UK by birth until recently. People had told me, but I didn't believe them. At any rate, I've lived in the US my entire life (minus the first six weeks when I was in the UK). And here's what I don't understand. Why would anyone from UK want to come here to live? I mean, I love America, I've grown up here after all and have lived with my extended family within ten miles of me my whole life. But when I think about people wanting to move here, it makes me shudder. Unemployment here sucks as well as the healthcare system as well as the financial system that nearly drug the world into the second great depression as well as, well I guess it could go on and on. It's a dog eat dog world here. God forbid that you get sick here while your unemployed... unless you've got the big bucks to spend on healthcare. If I were living in the UK and someone said, "hey, let's go live in America!", I would run and grab my NHS card and say, "No thanks!" I know that taxes are higher in the UK (or at least that's what Fox News will tell you), but at least you don't have to live the Darwinian Reality that is America. So I'm thinking, maybe the founding fathers should have just sang God Save the King, drank their tea, paid their taxes and shut up.

Am I wrong to have this attitude? I guess the good news is, I've got my dual citizenship, and I'm applying to get my British Passport... so there's hope yet. So if the roles were reversed, would any of you talk someone out of going to live in the UK?

By the way... is "Bloody" as curse word?

Trixie_b

I LOVE your post!

I judge all curse words by if I could say them in front of my mother who is aspiring middle class.

You can also say Damn and "little bugger" in front of her.

Shit or piss are not tolerated by her, and she says "sod" under her breath.

My favourite swear word in the UK is bollocks and I'm very pleased that no one in the US really knows it's "level" of offensiveness to my mother.

Anyway, back to your post, I live in America because I love my husband, and I'll be where he is. I also think everyone should travel - extensively. Go to Britain, see, and enjoy and make up your own mind.

Trixie_b

PS

Fox news is referred to as Faux news on this web site

Juswus

that's the exact same guide I use!

My boss thought I was using a really bad word when I said bugger the other day, and I told him, "no it's mild, I would say it in front of my Mum!"

Trixie_b

hahahah I will say that Damn and hell are not swear words in the UK - My American MIL frowns when I use them, but shit and piss don't offend her at all - it depends on who's mother is the standard!

mind you, I say all sorts of other things in front of the mother in law, only because she doen't turn on her hearing aid!

MsElui

NO WHERE is perfect. All places have pros and cons. Its up to each family where they get the most 'bang for their buck' so to speak - what on balance makes them the happiest by their own happiness standards (ie some might like having moRe space and a bigger house, other might like the surrounding history or landscape, others might like the travel opportunities, the job opportunities may do it for you, schooling opportunities, weather, location of friends and family etc. And the great saying ' a change is as good as a rest!

paddingtongreen

I like that, "who is aspiring middle class".

I worked for a big company in Phila. one morning, I rode the elevator with another English guy and a Chinese guy; the Chinese laughed and remarked about riding up in an American elevator with two Englishmen; the other guy, without hesitation said," And that makes you a social climber."

another bloody yank

I think you would really like the UK. You should move over (sounds like it's in the works) and find out.

robin1234

I don't have a television so have never seen Fox News. But, when they assert that taxes are higher in the UK, do they really define what they are comparing? It seems to me that the tax burden over here in the US is pretty high; to be strictly comparable with the UK, you'd have to count;
Federal income tax
State, city income tax (as applicable)
All property taxes
Sales tax
All out of pocket medical expenses (premiums, copayments, etc.)
I'm fairly sure that most people would find their tax burden to be lighter in the UK than in the US. Maybe if you lived in New Hampshire and had no medical insurance and never had occasion to seek medical care, you would have a lower tax burden than in the UK.

Elvira

You forgot Medicare and Social Security tax!

Not to mention Alternative Minimum Tax which penalises married couples :curse:

I pay way more tax etc here than I ever did in the UK.

Poppy girl

I don't think class has anything to do with swearing, it just sounds better lol..

My great grandmother was Lady..... and I am told she swore like a street urchin ......Trixie you and I both come from nautical backgrounds and have met I am sure many upper class snobs on our travels, and they swear as much as anyone else,it just as I said before has a kinda different ring tone to it

Oh while I am on a roll the late Princess Margaret had a mouth like a sewege plant.

another bloody yank

And I think it's only going to get worse. Or better, I guess if you're one of those who likes paying taxes.

AmerLisa

I agree!

Personally if we could have a house in each country and the time to go back and forth, I'd be one happy camper!

Trixie_b

hahaha With my Mum it's a case of the percieved view on how "the posh people are"

Rete

Not wrong for you. It is your right as a human being to have and hold any opinion you wish. It is not your right to have and hold an opinion that I must agree with.

I don't want to live in the UK. I don't want to be a British Citizen. I don't want to sing God Save the King or Queen or Court Jester.

I would like to visit there but enjoy my life here, good, bad or indifferent. As for Brits wanting to come and live here, you will note that those that came here years earlier did so for money and love and adventure. They didnt' do it because they hated living in the UK.

Today you might find more and more Brits saying they want out of the UK because of whatever reason. I've only picked this attitude up recently in the last or so from Brits who are emigrating to others countries.

BTW why would a Brit want to talk someone out of going to live in the UK? Or did you mean to write in the US?

Also BTW you have never lived in the UK. Easy to make assumptions without the first hand knowledge of having lived there and experienced life in the UK.