krizzy

talk of the devil and he will appear.......

Wintersong

I'm going to post this on this thread as you don't appear to have read it on the other one:

If you do live in California as you profess, you were up at 4am typing this? And you accuse others of having miserable lives? Well, I for one am not so miserable that I have to get up in the middle of the night in order to attack others for being negative.

You claim that your posts have been positive. Well, newsflash here - they weren't. They were just negative in a different way.

I'm not going to enter into a battle of words with you, I'm just going to point out one or two things. Take them as you will.

Firstly, sites like this are a Godsend for expats like us. Until you have experienced the emotional rollercoaster of moving to another country and giving up everything you are used to, you have no way of understanding what it is like. Your stint in Germany does not compare, because you were working for America, with Americans, albeit in a different setting. You may believe that you experienced the culture - in fact, I'm sure you did, but while you were doing so, you had the fallback of all your compatriots experiencing it right along with you. You could hear an American accent whenever you wished, chat about TV programmes or food or whatever it was that you were missing whenever you wanted to. Most of us do not have that luxury. We are assimilating into a new culture and there are some things we need to get used to. We don't have the liberty of being able to whinge about them with dozens of other Brits during the day, so we do it on this forum.

If, as an American citizen, you are hurt and upset by the things we choose to complain about, it begs the question - what on Earth are you doing frequenting a board like this? What exactly is your link to British Expats? Or is it some masochistic desire to get yourself all riled up and hot under the collar? I do think that, for the good of your blood pressure, you need to steer clear of these forums. You are not British. You are not an Expat. Why are you here? Not that you don't have the right to be, but it doesn't seem to be doing you an awful lot of good.

You want us to be more accepting of a different culture (i.e. yours) and yet you are not being accepting of our culture. You chose to come to a British Expats site (which should, by definition, be full of Brits) and argue with us about something which is very much part of our cultural identity - whinging. You don't think we should be doing it. And yet at the same time you complain that we are not accepting the American culture. You can't have things both ways. To us, this site is like a little corner of Britain. I don't go and stand in the middle of Safeway and shout "Jesus christ! You can't even buy ground almonds in this shit hole! What the hell is this country coming to?!" - I save my whinging for the forum. What you are doing is basically coming into the UK and telling us to stop being British. It isn't going to happen.

I don't expect the USA to be just like the UK; after all diversity is a wonderful thing, so I integrate as best I can while I'm out in the real world. I do, however, get homesick every now and then. When I do, it's nice to be able to share some of the things which are getting me down with other people who have gone through or are going through the same thing. The important thing for you to note is that this doesn't mean we hate your country. You're right - we chose to come and live here. It just means that it's not our home and there are some things we miss which we can't get or are different over here.

If you insist that everyone who comes on here has to be positive and upbeat about America, you are removing one of the outlets that we have for frustration and homesickness. To be quite frank, this site is to help British expats settle in and stay sane. It is not intended to make American citizens feel proud of themselves and their country.

Please note that the questions posed re: posting in the middle of the night and why you are here have already been answered.

Duncan Roberts

You seem to have a knack of reading something and then answering something completely different! I asked why you felt the need to come on a British Expat board and post your guide to how immigrants should act in America and why you think most people here are anti American. If your only reason is that somebody called you vile names that your arguments are weak at best, not to mention the most childish thing I have seen in a long time. By your logic I could say "I went to Applebee’s and had a steak that tasted like shit" and I would be anti restaurant or watch a TV show and say "That was a big pile of dog shit" and I would be anti TV!

Are you a politician? Seriously, because people ask you a question and you give them an answer that has nothing to do with the question and doesn't answer it. I’m just trying to find out your motivation for starting what you have started and then maybe it will make sense and possibly other people will be able to see your points, but right now you just post more and more nonsense and confuse more and more people.

Fig Newton

Oh really? Give that advice to your friends. I'm not rude to anyone that hasn't been given more than a few chances at having a respectable and adult conversation.

Sorry, I don't bow to forum cliques.


Lovely language coming from a lady.

I'm not here trying to reach a consensus. Your approval or the approval of the forum clique does not matter to me in the least.

krizzy

What is a troll?
The term "troll" can mean a number of different things, but in essence, a troll is a person who aims to have 'pleasure' at your expense. There are two main types of trolls:

1. people who are psychologically disturbed, and seek to feel good by making other forum/group members feel bad. This is a sort of "psycho troll", whose deception involves deceiving themselves as well as others. In this respect, they are no different to the sorts of people we meet in everyday life who are disturbed - some of them are easy to spot, and others aren't. Such people may even use their real names on the internet, and they may not even realise that they are "trolling" because it is all subconscious.
2. people who pretend to be someone that they are not - they create personae that you think are real, but they know is fictitious.

Manc

which is the one that lives under the bridge then?

Fig Newton

So my schedule must mean I lead a miserable life. What kind of reasoning is that??

They were negative because the clique here didn't like an American criticizing anti-Americanism and giving advice on emigrating to America, sans calling people "twat" and an "aryan" and other vile crap.

[QUOTE=Wintersong]I'm not going to enter into a battle of words with you, I'm just going to point out one or two things. Take them as you will.

Oh please, you have no knowledge whatsoever of my experience to make such silly conclusions, especially as they apply to what I have said in this forum.

Many of you could get used to it much quicker if you lose the whining and the bitching and the moaning, and especially the anti-Americanism. You are all adults.

No, it is quite clear that many of you are "hurt and upset" that you feel you have to vent so much hostility.


And you are no longer in the UK! Get used to it or leave.

I don't have to be "accepting" of your culture; you chose to be in mine, not the other way around.

You are also not an "us." Speak for yourself.



Hellooooo, you are not in the UK anymore!


Oh Jesus, not that word. that explains a lot.


I directed quite a few posts to those who are obviously anti-American. If that does not apply then don't worry about it.

Once again, speak for yourself.

Please. I don't need people from other countries to make me feel proud of my own.

See prior response. Same applies..

krizzy

I think he's the one taking a holiday on your forum mate.........

AmerLisa

Not new here, born and raised and Californian to boot. I've lived in another country (you can't claim that for your objectionable opinions, can you?) so I can appreciate seeing it from different perspectives. You might try this, before you start spouting your highly ignorant views.

Wicked Jester

0 -100 posts in 4 hours, gee what have I been missing.

Frig Newton old dude, you seem to have pissed people off even more than me (and I was doing well until you came along). At least I have the good sense to be polite and accomodating. Frig, you even jumped up on my post about medical schools and slated me because you chose to misinterpret certain words.

Well Frig, as you know G1ant jumped to my support because you were clearly spoiling for a fight, and it looks like you've found it here ol' buddy, take it from me, these people are really decent and civil, you don't want to be going and taking the piss with your "shoot from the hip" approach. This ain't the wild west Frig!

So Frig, I think you owe these people somewhat of an apology, don't you my friend?

Look forward to your reply Frig!

Wintersong

As I said, this has already been explained in one of your previous posts so is no longer valid. However, you have said time and time again that people on this forum are making themselves miserable. Don't assume anything about our lives if you don't want us to assume about yours.

I agree that there was no call for anyone to be so rude. I am not one of the people who has used such language towards you. Your advice has not so much been on emigrating to America as it has been "ignore this bunch of vile, miserable posters"

You're correct, I don't know about your experience. I do know that you were in the military. Am I wrong in assuming that you were there with other Americans? Am I wrong in assuming that you were working for America? Were you in some far flung outpost of Germany, totally devoid of American company, surrounded by locals and not a single other American for 3 years?



As I have made clear, the whining and bitching only goes on in this forum, not outside in the "real world". It is a way for us to vent frustrations so that they DO NOT impinge on our enjoyment of the American culture.


Not at all.




This old chestnut again? Seriously, we are used to "it" (i.e. the differences between our cultures) but that doesn't mean that every now and then we don't miss the way things were. That doesn't mean that we have to walk around with smiles plastered on our faces, going "Ah, the Grand old US of A". We are entitled to complain about things we don't like. If, on balance, we decide that we prefer to remain in the US then that is our decision. No single country is perfect and pretending that it is may help you stay happy but you're living in La-La land. There are things that are wrong about the US. We have a right to say so and don't have to leave the country just because we disagree with certain aspects of it.



Actually, as I pointed out, at this moment you are choosing to spend your time in our culture. This is a BRITISH Expats site. Therefore you need to be accepting of our culture while you are here.


I'll speak for whoever I like, thank you. If anyone on here disagrees with me, they are more than welcome to count themselves out of the "us" of which I speak.


Yeah, I think we covered that one already.


Care to explain precisely what it explains?

AmerLisa

His explanation sticks to one montone opinion. It would seem he has to circle that little wagon party and can't seem to invade with his inflated American ego....its a shame, because he might have had some interesting insight.

Wintersong

He actually comes across as an intelligent person. As soon as he sees that America is not perfect and that immigrants have a right to discuss the non-perfect aspects of it, he could be an interesting poster.

Just a shame that he has such a blinkered view.

Bob

well you have to admit, the whole anti-immigrant diatribe you spoke was very much in that light, saying they are basically wasters to the country that should leave because they complain, don't have medical, or don't wish to keep any of there own culture amongst themselves.

Bob

aaahh....but he was in the military and posted abroad...so of course he can...