Ridski

Sorry, dude. Didn't realize that was you.

medicleo

Food - mountains of it - after a while you'll think you've lost your appetite - but it's just that there's three times as much.

Walking - here a long walk means you can't see the car anymore. I know people who drive from one store to the one next door!

Guns - yes most Brits get hung up on the fact that there are guns everywhere - one's that you see, and one's that you don't. After ten years I don't go anywhere without my .45. Join a gun club - learn to use a handgun when you get here. (The last Vice President couldn't hit a duck - maybe the next one is a expert marksman!)

Accent - everyone will tell you you have a "cute" accent. After a couple of years you forget you have an accent - except for the constant reminders. Now I just tell people "I don't have an accent - this is English - you speak English with an American accent!!!) (Don't get a job with a uniform - it makes it worse - nothing seems to fascinate people more than someone in uniform with a British accent. Just watch Cops! )

Guns - did I mention guns? Walking at night to the sound of ... gunfire ... in the distance.

Heritage - when they hear that you are from the UK they will tell you "I'm Scottish / Irish / Half Norwegian" or whatever, despite often not even knowing where the place is on a map - let alone being "from". Oh, yes - and throw a Highland Games and you'll get loads of Americans in kilts trying to do Scottish accents!

But all that aside - you'll love it here!

Kali-forniarrr

Deep Fried Coke?

Marmalade

That is so funny. I can't tell you how many people tell me they are from Scotland. So when they do, I just ask them what town in Scotland were you born in.............then they start stuttering

Mummy in the foothills

LOL I did the same thing when I got here, OH's friend said he was Irish. I said he didn't sound Irish how long have you been here, Little did I know being Irish just means that some long lost relative came from there 6 generations back. It's weird.

Marmalade

Yes, it is weird I don't say that I'm Irish just because my father's granddad came from there, or that I'm English because my mother's mother was English.............boggles the mind doesn't it

Juswus

I guess this is how they can claim to be not only a little bit country, but also a little bit rock and roll

Michael

I suspect it is mostly to do with an identity issue with some Americans. In most other countries in the world, a person is raised with the traditions and customs of that country. In the US, what are the traditions and customs? What is an American? So some relate to the traditions and customs that they observed in their family brought over by their immigrant parents or grandparents. It is who they feel they are.

I suspect that some of your children (even though they may have been born, raised, and lived in the US all their lives) will say they are English or the ansestry of the parents as an adult.

This is why I believe that many black Americans prefer to be refered to as Afro-Americans to give them an idenity.

Steerpike

The classic American bar really is just a drinking hole, and I haven't been to one in years. But there are other places to get a drink. Most good restaurants around here have bars, and it's quite normal to go to the bar area and just sit there as if it were more of a 'pub'. I'm thinking of, eg, the bar in Il Fornaio, etc. A lot of hotel bars are like that too - used by locals as social gathering places. Even the bars in places like Chilis, TGIFs, etc are not bad as a social destination.

Kali-forniarrr

why do american bars routinely have windows the size of a port hole on their frontage? It's like prohibition..whatever that was about. well weird. But since the OP is Muslim, so I'll just say the tea is a bit variable

Marmalade

I actually don't have children of my own, and I'm Scottish, so I wouldn't be too pleased if my children (if I had any) claimed to be something other than American or Scots or both!!

But, I see your point in the American ancestry thing. But, if you are born in a certain country, wouldn't you say that you are from that country and not another??

Steerpike

You probably would, being British. Most Europeans would do the same. But the point is, Americans don't have a strong sense of history/culture and so cling onto/emphasize what little cultural elements they have, i.e. their ancestry. I thought it was strange at first but I fully appreciate their reasoning now.

I think another factor relates to acceptance of origins. I'm not sure how accepting UK is of foreigners. If your mother were polish and your father were spanish, and you were born in england - what would you be telling your friends? You'd probably say you were british so you'd fit in. But here, people are proud of their diverse origins and celebrate it, emphasize it. So it's kind of the opposite.

Marmalade

Bloody hell ~ I'm not English Only joking

I do understand about the ancestry thing, but if you're American then you're American, what's wrong with just saying that

Michael

I think the person assumes that the other person knows that he/she is American but only state the ansestry instead of saying something such as "I am also of an English ansestry" or "I am German American".

Some of that may come from people growing up in a small village in the country. In many of those places, people in the village knew each others ansestry and oftem referred to them by the ansestry (usually by a name that would be considered derogatory by todays political correctness but was really a sign of affection).

meauxna

Like me, I'm half Canadian for example.