paranoidandroid

A good many people down here seem to be under the impression Ireland is one country that is under oppression from us Brits.
From what little information I can get around here, I'm almost led to believe that we're keeping them chained up and feeding them gruel.

SultanOfSwing

Everyone that's met me does

HarryTheSpider

Yes! That was one of the more interesting conversations I had with colleagues when I first arrived... especially when I tried to give as balanced a perspective on the 'Troubles' as I could - it got very interesting as 1 or 2 began to draw links between giving money for example to 'the cause' in a bar in NYC and 9-11.

And to be fair, they didn't learn about this at school in the same way that I didn't learn about the American-Spanish war, most of the American Civil War and a bucket-load of other US-specific things.

So I find many open-minded people here as well as closed-minded muppets - and we had plenty of those back home (possibly including me on some things...)

I have to agree with DM as a pet peeve... not just the editorial and the various 'articles' but also, and I say this with particular venom, all those bloody adverts for incontinence pants and magnifying glasses...

HarryTheSpider

What? You mean we're NOT?

Right - I want my donations back!!!

Egg and Cress

On both trips to the UK in 1986 and 1990, I met Brits who knew people in the US. The dialogue was very similar: "Oh, I have an uncle in Chattanooga, TN - his name is (schnickelfritz) and his wife's name is (hausfrau) - do you know them?" Of course, the fact that I lived in the same state seemed to ensure I'd know them. The tendered information that Chattanooga was about 350 miles east of where I Live went unnoticed as we continued our conversation about various relatives, immigration and the Smoky Mountains.

kimilseung

But we keep getting told that distance is different in the states, 350 miles, thats like a Brit 35 feet, they were like your neighbours.

Egg and Cress

There are some! Those that do expect someone from NI to sound as Irish as a guy from Tipperary - after all, NI is still on the island of Eire, right? If you live in Ireland, it means you're Irish. Just 'cause you come from the north doesn't mean any more than it does if you come from the "nawth" here! Or so it would seem. I think most people here don't understand the NI/Irish thing since it's all on the same continent. They don't think about the similarity of Canada and Mexico being on the same continent as the US! Geography and history are not biggies in the US.......only the "fries" and "Cokes".

It may sound like I'm scorning the general populace - in a way, yes and in another way, no. Until I married a Brit, I didn't give it much thought, much less know NI was part of the UK! Up until then, I heard it, but it didn't compute.

Sally Redux

My husband had worked with a NI man back in England who then worked at the same hospital with him over here - we were a little surprised at a social event that the man's American boss was rattling on about Ireland in a way that showed he had no idea about it, with the colleague just looking rather annoyed but not saying anything. It seemed strange at the time to happen in 'educated' circles, but no real reason he had to know and the N Irish person obviously didn't want to go into it with his boss.

Egg and Cress

HAH!!!! Yes, I think you're right there. OH and I were discussing that very thing this morning. Comparing maps (without looking at the scale), and it would seem, no matter which side of the pond you're on, that 3" on the map is a given distance and will take so long to get there. Nobody I know of can look at either a map of Great Britain or the US and determine at a glance how far/long it is. Except lyonsden1193 and me, of course. Oh yeah, and ex-pats of both persuasions on each side of the Atlantic.

SultanOfSwing

I've been in many a situation like that myself - it really does become an issue sometimes. People will just assume you think in a certain way before even talking to you. You get 'Oh you must hate those English bastards then'. "Would this be a bad time to point out that my dad was born in England by any chance ..." is what I want to say.

I've mentioned it on BE before, so apologies for repeating myself, but this is the kind of thing I encounter. At a gig, bloke asks for a song and I play it, all good. Take a break and he comes and talks to me. Long story short the topic of where I'm from comes up, and he goes on to mention that he 'knows a few people in the IRA' and 'they're all really good people.'

Needless to say, had I not been relying on my $125.00 for the show, he'd have left with a glass in his face. And that is why I let people think I'm English/Scottish when I'm out and about these days

Sally Redux

It's weird how many people 'know someone in the IRA'.

SultanOfSwing

Isn't it. I think my accent must have softened because I don't get asked as much now.

paranoidandroid

I was in Chattanooga last year.. you probably heard about me in the restaurant, even if you didn't actually see me. They told me about the Englishguy that lived a couple of hundred miles away, I suspect that was your old man.

paranoidandroid

That, or you taught yourself how to mumble and not make eye contact.

paranoidandroid

I know someone that knows a person that knew somoene's cousin...