meauxna

You miss my point. I don't live in the state I was born in, where my parents met & got their start (a third state) , where my father is from, where my mother is from (foreign country) or where they live now. I have no extended family living within 2500 miles. People here move.
Perhaps if you stop positioning yourself as so far outside, you'll realize you are not.

gradboy

Right, but lots of people all move *within* lots of countries.

Anyone who grew up in the US has rather a lot in common (likely watched the same shows as a kid, same political system, same loyalty oath every day in school) especially if they're not first-language Spanish.

You can move from Illinois to Nevada and you're not really a foreigner, especially not after 10 years there. Hell, I'm from Wales and live in Ireland and I don't really feel like a 'proper' foreigner here.

But in the US (and anywhere else), if you have a recognisably foreign accent, that always marks you out, albeit often for 'positive attention'.

The person who moved from Nevada to Illinois can blend in if she's not feeling sociable that day. Less so the person from London.

(This might be less true for people from the US South -- I know many of them get tired of constantly being told their accent is 'cute' when they go north or west.)

Englishman43

I have noticed among many, many threads here regarding life in the US that this is an issue. Perhaps you should really consider this before moving over as it only seems to become a bigger problem the longer you stay ( especially missing friends & family back home).

meauxna

I don't want to argue about it, especially as you seemed to be seeing my illustration there toward the end..
The US is so geographically huge that different regions are like different countries. I'll give you one on the TV, but slang, accent, regional differences.. trust me, I know when I meet someone here in town if they are not from the West Coast.

Your foreign born question was interesting though, and I knew the answer was out there somewhere. I didn't dig far enough for the last census info, but these 2 give an idea if you wanted to read any more.

The foreign-born population of the United States exceeded 33 million in 2002, slightly more than the entire population of Canada, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's latest American Community Survey (ACS).

Of the total U.S. population, 11.8 percent were foreign-born and accounted for 44 percent of the nation's population growth in 2002. A majority of the foreign-born residents live in four states: California (28 percent), New York (11.8 percent), Texas (9.8 percent) and Florida (8.9 percent).

---

The American Community Survey (www.census.gov/acs/www) estimated there were 38.1 million foreign-born US residents in 2007; 12.6 percent of the US population.

gradboy

I don't want to argue either

But I've never bought the whole 'US regions are like different countries' thing. I know when I meet someone in Wales whether they are from South East Wales, South West Wales, North Wales, Southern England, Yorkshire ... but that doesn't mean these places are all different countries.

England (not the UK as a whole) has as much cultural variation in people as the US does, I think: within England you have London bankers and rural Yorkshire farmers.

meauxna

And the entire UK fits inside my state, geographically. You can not use Wales as a sufficient comparison here.

You don't buy it, and I'm getting ready to argue, so I'll bow out since I don't want to argue today and this isn't remotely on topic to the OP.
Enjoy your foreignness! (wait, you're not even here yet.. eek)

Nutmegger

Perhaps an apt illustration to you is that the people in, say, the Ozarks are like a different nationality to a USC from the northeast. They have zero in common! The lives led by people in a small village in Minnesota are a world away from the lives led by people in NYC and LA. There really is culture shock for USCs moving within the US that is a world apart from a Yorkshireman driving the 150 miles to Wales! Just watch a TV program like "Swamp People" -- those folks are as alien to me as a Martian!

Giantaxe

I disagree they have zero in common even if their everyday lives are completely different. They've still shared a common heritage of, for example, sports, politics and entertainment. They can still have conversations of whether Wade Boggs or George Brett was the best hitter of the '80s. They can talk about the best television comedies of the '70's etc. Recent immigrants typically can't because they haven't shared that cultural base.

Nutmegger

I think that there are pockets within the US where the heritage is as different as the lifestyle. And hey, what about Don Mattingly?!

Sally Redux

It's not rocket science is it. Sometimes you want familiarity, doesn't make you a bad person or mean you won't integrate. "Da Doo Ron Ron" by the Crystals came on in the gym (back in the days when I still went), only another British person could have said, "We are The Management"

gradboy

I left and am coming back -- I lived in NC 2007-2010.

I suppose all we can do is trade intuitions, but I don't think the geographical size of the country is relevant to any supposed cultural differences. China is either almost as big as, or slightly bigger than, the US, but that doesn't mean the variations within China are like the variations between other foreign countries.

Bob

Aye, but most would know a tight end from a knuckle ball...more common ground there for folks, just because they've spent their lives living in the country.

Wouldn't help much in their day to day lives of moving across the country I'd admit, but things wouldn't be completely alien to them if they got chatting in a bar watching a game

nethead

+1 and I think that is what Gradboy was trying to say

tonrob

Can I just interject helpfully by saying that you're all wrong?

AmerLisa

But they are! Try living in the South for a few years and then move to the West Coast, you'll see what she's talking about. The accents alone will show that you are indeed from another part of this very big country.