Is the term "British" offensive?

[Shatmandu]

That said, the Welsh/Scots/English divide is hardly minor.

Oh, absolutely.

Can't go anywhere without people talking about the Welsh. Watercooler-fodder across the globe, it is.

Good thing the sun revolves around that part of the Earth.

Joe, edge of seat

 

[Pemmer Harge]

The term "British" is not offensive to most people, but when Americans talk about a "British accent", that tends to annoy us. I know you guys don't all talk the same way either, but there's just as big a difference between the accents of a Glaswegian and a Londoner as there is between a Londoner and a New Yorker. Also, most portrayals of Britain in American comedy are silly and unfunny to us. Seriously, you can walk around London (not, by the way, the only city in the UK) for as long as you want, you will never run into the Queen (God knows why you'd want to...). Pretty much the only genuinely amusing joke about Britain I've seen on American TV is the bit in the Simpsons where the family are allowed to go back to the US on the condition that they take Madonna with them. That reflects how we actually felt about Madonna in her "English gentry" period.

 

[Michael Chris]

It's a family of accents. Just like American accents.

 

[Smiley]

The only reason we say "British accent" is because our ears are not attuned to the variations between the accents of different localities in Britain. Just about all accents from that region sound cool to me.

 

[Pingfah]

Surely you can tell the difference between a broad Scottish accent and a well spoken English accent. Say Billy Connolly and Roger Moore

American accents all sound completely different to me and I think to most Brits, I can distinguish quite easily and tell where somebody is from in the US with a good degree of accuracy.

 

[Neeka Keet]

I can tell if an accent in Britain is southern, northern, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish. I couldn't do any more specific distinctions but recently I've been able to tell the difference between Manchester and Liverpool accents.

 

[Michael Chris]

Surely you can tell the difference between a broad Scottish accent and a well spoken English accent. Say Billy Connolly and Roger Moore

Occassionally, but not normally.

 

[Count Zero]

Also, most portrayals of Britain in American comedy are silly and unfunny to us. Seriously, you can walk around London (not, by the way, the only city in the UK) for as long as you want, you will never run into the Queen (God knows why you'd want to...).

Well, most countries are being stereotyped in mainstream movies. Compared to us Germans, you get off easy, though.

 

[RJDiogenes]

American accents all sound completely different to me and I think to most Brits, I can distinguish quite easily and tell where somebody is from in the US with a good degree of accuracy.

Where do you think I'm from?

 

[captcalhoun]

Boston?

 

[RJDiogenes]

Uncanny!

 

[captcalhoun]

it's in your location field, genius.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Thanks for getting the joke, Einstein.

 

[captcalhoun]

no problem, Hawking!

 

[Deckerd]

For the record... As much as the Spanish-speaking cultures cry about it, they are not "Americans". You never hear Canadians and Brazilians fighting to be called Americans (the Canadians are likely to kill you if you try).

American is the diminutive of the United States of America just like Mexican is the diminutive of Los Estados Unidos Méxicanos.

And I hate "Estadounidense". If we're Estadounidenses, so are Méxicanos.

And there is no continent called America. There are North America and South America, which are the Americas, but never America. The only America is the U.S.A. It's the same with how the United Mexican States call themselves Mexico for short.

United States is the equivalent of Bundesrepublik or Estados Unidos. You don't hear Deutschen calling themselves Bundesrepublikaner and you don't see Méxicanos calling themselves Estadounidenses. Same thing. We are Americans and the short form of our country is America.

You're gonna have to deal with the fact that in Latin America Americans are "Estadounidenses". I know it must be hard for you to accept but for us all people from the continent know as The Americas are "Americanos". It's not done to irk people from the US it's just the way it's worked out for Spanish speakers language wise.

In Europe people from the USA and Canada are generally referred to as North Americans since it's difficult to tell them apart, except people from the southern states, who are seen as a separate group but more because of their accents than their philosophy. California is seen almost as a separate country.

 

[Pingfah]

American accents all sound completely different to me and I think to most Brits, I can distinguish quite easily and tell where somebody is from in the US with a good degree of accuracy.

Where do you think I'm from?

I heard you reciting some of your poetry years ago, and I thought to myself, now there's a fine Bostonian accent if I ever heard one.

Honest!

Seriously though, there are some accents that distinguish themselves quite easily, Chicagan, Texan, New York(ian?) etc.

 

[Colonel Green]

That said, the Welsh/Scots/English divide is hardly minor.

Oh, absolutely.

Can't go anywhere without people talking about the Welsh. Watercooler-fodder across the globe, it is.

Good thing the sun revolves around that part of the Earth.

Joe, edge of seat

Oddly, most people around the world don't spend a lot of time discussing the inbred American south. Doesn't mean they aren't aware of it.

You need to have a chat with you HS history teacher if you don't understand the divisions within the UK, the country that founded YOUR country.

 

[Sci]

We are not European. We cannot be placed in the same group as those located on the mainland, the differences are much much greater for us.

And yet that doesn't stop the United Kingdom from being a member state of the European Union. Funny, that.

Or, for that matter, from having shared in Europe's military and economic invasions and exploitations of the rest of the planet for centuries on end.

No one's arguing that the United Kingdom does not have a unique culture and history that sets it apart from the rest of Europe. But to claim that it is not part of Europe, when its inhabitants are all descended from Europeans, when its language is European, when it's politically integrated with Europe in the E.U., when it shares a common history and origin with other European states, when it has been entwined in European politics for centuries, and when Europe is the only continent it's actually anywhere near?

That's just getting silly.

Besides, you're all European to us Yanks.

 

[Michael Chris]

Seriously though, there are some accents that distinguish themselves quite easily, Chicagan, Texan, New York(ian?) etc.

Maybe the stereotypes of those accents...

Oddly, most people around the world don't spend a lot of time discussing the inbred American south. Doesn't mean they aren't aware of it.

Whoah, no need to make those kind of remarks.

You need to have a chat with you HS history teacher if you don't understand the divisions within the UK, the country that founded YOUR country.

SAY WHAT?! The UK did not found the United States of America. It's former colonies came together and tore apart the false crown of the British and those men, freed from the tyranny of the crown, founded a unique nation.

 

[Goliath]

^It always warms my heart to see members of the public embracing such impartial and fair-minded views of history.