Some British expats may crave a creamier form of chocolate,
others may desire Heinz baked beans on toast, but my main miss (well, apart
from affordable dental care) is a certain
fermented apple drink.
Yes, English cider is tasty, refreshing and surprisingly
cheap.It was my chosen beverage back in
my Bohemian days (many fond memories of slurping Old English with various punk
and anarchist types), but it is far less common in the USA, which comes
as a surprise, as it must have been brewed by some of the early settlers and
pioneers?Another casualty of
Prohibition perhaps?
To be fair, there are American ciders out there, commonly
sold in small bottles, rather than the large one or two litre ones you get in the
UK – but it is often a bit on the sweet side for me (no sharp taste) and more
mid-priced than cheap, as well as being weaker in regard to alcohol content.
It is also the case that many Irish bars here in Florida do sell
cider from “across the pond” on draft, according to my experience, although it
is usually the modern Irish brew, Magners, which dominates.I have come across Strongbow on draft a couple of
times, however, which is always a pleasant surprise.
The truth is that I like the very dry, and strong taste that
is associated with the traditional English ciders, rather than anything sweet
and weaker.In fact, I am not averse to
seeking out some scrumpy or a pint of “rough” when down in the English West Country
– the cloudiness of the cider certainly isn’t an issue for me.
Which is why I was thrilled to bits to find my recently
revamped local liquor store now selling cans of Blackthorn cider at a pretty
reasonable price (I like the way that the Americans label it: “Hard Cider” by
the way, it makes me feel a little more manly for drinking it!).
But seriously, I am so happy, I am tempted to go into a few
verses and choruses of the Wurzels’ classic, I am a Cider Drinker.But I
won’t.Oh, all right then: “When the Moon
shines on the cowshed…”
One tends to think of the immigrant/emigrant experience as being one of cultural difficulties and social adjustment, but as Eve expresses in her recent post at Queen’s English, the personal and emotional impacts of moving to another country can in some ways be greater. In fact it’s no exaggeration to say that one’s entire sense of self can be challenged to a surprisingly large degree.
The thing is, as psychologists have pointed out, our sense of who we are to a large degree relates to memory. So suddenly having nobody around us who shares any of the major experiences from our previous life can be unnerving and troubling from an emotional point of view. Often when we meet up with old friends in our everday lives, we will reminisce about events from the past and the people that we’ve known, both good and bad. It backs up and reasserts a sense of who we are.
I must admit that one of my favourite fantasies when seized by bouts of homesickness is just to be in the pub with old friends. People who know me, understand where I coming from, get my sense of humour. They’ve done some of the same things as me, met some of the same people, and lived in the same places. (I sometimes yearn for my previous access to affordable health and dental care too, but that’s another matter!)
Of course, one can’t allow oneself to be too much seized by nostalgia. It is easy to slip into the trap of romanticizing one’s homeland, if you’re not careful. There is nothing worse than the sentimental expat barfly, crying into his beer. Plus for me personally, I have been through some not dissimilar experiences before – leaving home and going to university in another part of the country, for instance. I have also known many people in the UK who’ve come to live from other places. It sometimes seems like half the world is hopping around between countries nowadays.
Given the pressures, I can understand why some emigrants return to their homeland within a year, or university students drop out before the first term has finished, but that isn’t really my style, and nor is it Eve’s, I would venture.
I was reminded by Rob over at The Inconsequential Opinion that Christmas tends to have a slightly more raucous edge to it back in Britain, which is encapsulated by some of the Christmas music, which includes songs by Slade and Wizzard that you don’t hear in the USA.In fact, I don’t think I have been anywhere that loves a drunken party as much as the British.
I first talked about this topic back in the early 1990s with a Canadian.We were in Germany, part of a group that included Germans, American, French, Irish and, of course, British and Canadians.Anyway, it was observed that the English-speaking peoples have a tendency to enjoy getting drunk and going a little crazy, whereas the Germans and French tend to prefer to drink and act in a much more controlled way.
I would actually go further than what I agreed with my Canadian friend at the time and say that the British (and Irish) probably also top the English speaking peoples for raucous partying.Americans, generally, are pretty civilized by comparison.I was slightly amused by an American friend recently asking me whether a spoken poetry event that we attend at a local bar was too raucous for me, as from my perspective, it was generally not at all rowdy by British standards.But her thoughts were understandable – what is usually projected to outsiders tends to be the rather quiet, civilized image of British culture and the other side is often glossed over.
Why do the Brits have this tendency?I think we are a very schizophrenic group, who, being famously repressed in everyday life, every now and then need to blow off some steam and go a bit ga-ga.The dark, damp weather is probably a factor too, it keeps you shut indoors and frankly, can get pretty depressing at times, especially in the North of England where I am from.
There is a pretty awful side to British partying culture too, of course, which never gets mentioned in the tourist adverts.It’s virtually impossible to go through the centre of any major town or city on a Friday or Saturday night without encountering groups of extremely drunken (mainly, but not exclusively young) people spilling out of the bars and clubs, stumbling into the road, puking, groping, shouting, scrapping, swearing and collapsing… It can all seem rather hellish to the sober observer (I have spoken to more than one taxi driver that expressed their absolute horror when they first encountered British drinking culture after arriving from Pakistan).
But despite the downsides, when you’re brought up in British culture, it is difficult not to miss a little of the raucous edge when abroad.
My favourite Christmas song: A Fairytale of New York, by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl (which my wife described as “far too depressing for Americans” hehe!)
I read with great interest and was amused by the directness of an essay by Sophia Angelique about the culture shock of moving to and living in the USA, after being in the UK, and I recognized much of what she said - although I must admit that I was a little troubled that she was still undergoing culture shock a full eight years after arriving there.
Some of the videos she posted up on there are excellent too. The one of Stephen Fry (Brit) talking to Clive James (Ausie who lives in the UK) stood out as particularly outstanding and again, much of what they say is very recognizable to me. (I’ve included the vid at the end of the top 10).
I thought it would fun to summarize some of the top 10 things that can be surprising and difficult for a typical Brit living in the USA, based on a variety of sources including my own experiences and those observations mentioned above.
I’m writing from a purely British perspective, of course, so I don’t know how much you will relate to it, if at all, if you’re non-British, or if you have never experienced living in the USA. It also occurs to me that younger Brits might find it easier than older gits like me to cope with the culture shock, as I am probably stuck in my ways to some degree. But anyway, in no particular order, here goes with my top 10.
As Stephen Fry points out, coming from a monarchy, you kind of expect the US to have more republican values of “all men are equal”, but in fact American values are quite different from that. Individual freedom is seen as more valuable than equality and justice in the US which gives it a different value system to the UK (and indeed the majority of republics). Fry argues in the video that it’s rooted in the way that the American constitution prioritizes things.
As I mentioned in a previous blog, it’s difficult to underestimate and understate the importance of religion in American life, whether it’s in everyday life, or in general society and politics. Outside of respectable religion, I would also say that superstition and hokey beliefs are also much more common too.
It’s much more commercial and materialistic here compared to Blighty. Practices that would be considered mercenary back in the UK are much more commonplace. Money seems to trump all in the USA, maybe even religion. It certainly runs the political system.
As a Brit, you get told that we’re a class ridden society - and we certainly are compared to places like Germany, The Netherlands, Scandanavia, but in many ways the British class system is nothing compared to the US where there is a stronger sense of hierarchy, and social and economic status really is the be all and end all for most people.
American politics. Things are shifted so far to the right here compared to the UK, I still have trouble working out who’s who. Often a ranting politician that I think is a rightwinger, turns out to be Democrat. The loony, foaming at the mouth, religious nut, I discover later is a respected Republican Senator.
The lack of infrastructure can be frustrating here, if you’re not used to it. Outside of the big cities, there is very little public transport. Whereas you will get shops and pubs in the suburbs of towns and in rural areas in the UK, there is very little of that in the USA. Not only is it a convenience thing, but local shops, post offices, pubs are where a British community would meet and builds ties. (It was interesting to read that this was one thing that Brits found difficult about moving to Australia in a BBC article that I read).
As Fry points out, America is an enormous place with lots of semi-autonomous states that often have a strong sense of self-identity. People often have more in common with and identify more with their state than the country as a whole. (In the UK, of course, we have Scotland, Wales, England and Ulster, but it is different.)
Americans really believe in things. British people tend to be skeptical about pretty much everything. We make good scientists but poor dreamers.
The right to bear arms and the gun thing is difficult to understand as an outsider. I am not particularly comfortable with all the violence that you get in America movie and drama either, although sometimes I think it just acts as a lazy plot device, it can seem to come uncomfortably close to romanticizing violence. I am no pacifist, by the way, I just don’t think real violence is in any way romantic.
As Fry says, the American ideas of “liberty” and “freedom” are very difficult for a Brit to understand. For us, “liberty” and “freedom” are essentially concepts, which makes them essentially wooly. That doesn’t mean that we see them as bad ideas, we just don’t understand them as being solid things.
Ironically, after a year of living in the USA, I quite often feel that I understand it less now than I did when I arrived.
The old cliché, two nations divided by a common language is, of course, true to some extent.The English language can become remarkably perplexing to a Brit when it is in the hands of an American (Editor: Shouldn’t that be “mouth of an American”, not “hands”?).Before my American readership reach for their guns, let me point out that I am not blaming anyone for the confusion.I just never fully appreciated that American English was capable of causing me such bewilderment before I began living here, especially in public situations, where I am prone to bouts of faux pas, following swiftly by outbursts of embarrassment.Anyway, here is my latest installment of: “How to Speak American English”.
Confusing Question Number 1:
“Is plastic okay?”
Background
Normally asked by a guy in a green apron who is lingering near the checkouts in a supermarket.He is normally very old, or very young.
Incorrect responses
“Yes, I suppose so, as long as it is degradable.”
“Who’s Plastic?I didn’t know he was ill?”
Correct response.The store attendant is a bag packer and he is asking you if you want your produce (fruit and veg) putting into a plastic carrier bag, or whether you have brought or wish to buy a reusable bag made from a more durable material.You can therefore answer: yes or no, accordingly.
Reason for confusion.Bag packers in the UK are relatively rare, you are usually expected to pack the bags yourself.The staff member working the till will most likely refer to a “plastic bag” or “carrier bag,” if the topic of bags comes up (which isn’t by any means a certainty), rather than just “plastic”.
Confusing Question Number 2
“Could you pass me a Sharpie?”
Background
Normally asked by American family members.
Incorrect Response
Dropping your jaw open and adopting a blank expression.The family members will then just ask the same question over and over again, apparently perplexed by your bewilderment.
Correct Response
A Sharpie is not druggie slang for a syringe.Nor is “passing a Sharpie” slang for some kind of sexual behaviour.It is in fact a form of pen, similar in some ways to a felt tip pen, but fatter and more cigar-shaped.You should therefore pick up the pen and pass it to the relevant family member, if requested to.
Reason for confusion
Sharpies are not a traditional part of British life and therefore must be comparatively rare, if indeed they exist at all in the UK.Although, should they ever gain a foothold in Blighty, I suspect that they will breed like wildfire and spread all over the country, rather like tobacco and the grey squirrel did.
Following on from my last blog, where I mentioned how lots of Americans love the English accent, I thought that I would ‘stick my oar in’ on the old British English vs American English debate. The most recent incidence of this controversy reared its ugly head a couple of months back, when Matthew Engel announced in an article on the BBC website, that he found Americanisms irritating. This was then countered by American writer, Grant Barrett who staunchly defended American English. A debate then ensued with British and American readers joining the (increasingly) heated debate.
I must admit that I am pretty much an anarchist on this matter and have never worried much about the influences on, or particular fate of British English. I never really minded Americanisms appearing in Britain and I would hate there to ever be some sort of national council sitting to decide the official rules for what words can and can’t be officially used, as happens in France. I tend to think that the whole thing should be allowed to proceed organically without any artificial “rules” being imposed. I am also generally skeptical of anti American English opinions expressed in the UK and suspect that they are rooted in snobbery to a greater or lesser degree.
Although there has obviously been interplay between Britain and America for four hundred years or so, the American English invasion never really got going until the 20th Century when American English expressions started creeping into British English via the American Movie/Film industry. Before that, British English ruled supreme, thanks to the British Empire. But as the British Empire declined and the increasingly cool American movie/film stars dominated the popular imagination, all sorts of expressions slipped into the UK. The process became even more pronounced with the American forces arriving in Britain during World War II, American music coming onto the radio, and more recently, American English expressions arriving via computer and internet technology (e-mail instead of e-post etc).
One possible reason for my own relaxed attitude to English is that I grew up speaking with a regional accent and back in the 1970s, when received English (“BBC English”) was still seen by some as the “proper” way to talk. In the class-ridden UK, regional accents were generally looked down upon, which I resented (that said, regional accents became increasingly more accepted by the “well-spoken” from the 1960s onwards and are now pretty much accepted). Anyway, I think it made me more sympathetic to the attitudes towards language found in the “New World” countries, with their generally more egalitarian approach.
Language is, of course, deeply political. The Celtic nations in the UK have attempted to bolster and/or revive their traditional languages in recent years, which are associated with a sense of independence and pride. That makes me wonder how Americans would feel if the situation was reversed with English: if their own American English expressions were gradually disappearing and being replaced by British English equivalents? Since I began living in the USA, I have noticed that there is a small but significant minority in the USA who feel threatened by what they perceive as an increasing Spanish language influence on their country, especially in the South of the country. I tend to agree with my fellow British expat blogger, Rob, who argues that America has been a multilingual country pretty much from the beginning and so it is a bit late for people to start complaining.
Anyway, moving swiftly away from the social politics and back to the strictly personal, one practical problem that I have on an everyday level with regard to the British English vs American English debate is, of course, spelling. When should I use British English spelling, and when should I use American English spelling? This problem is especially profound when it comes to the internet, which has no national boundaries. My solution has been to use American English when my writing is mainly aimed at Americans and British English when my writing is aimed at Brits. And when my writing is aimed at either or both, like with this expat blog, I just spell the words however I like!
I was told by numerous Brits and Americans before I came to the USA that the Americans love the English. But I didn’t quite believe it until I got here. Here is an extract from a conversation with my next door neighbour, which is pretty much transcribed word for word:
“Where are you from?” she said. “You sound foreign!”
“England,” I replied.
“Where?”
“England!”
“Italy?”
“No, England!”
“Oh, England! I love your accent! I’ve always wished that the pilgrims had kept their English accents after they got off the boats and we didn’t speak like we do now - you know, with the American accent…”
Okay, the neighbour is slightly dotty, but her general sentiment has been expressed to me over and over since I started visiting US and then living in the USA as a British expat. Basically, the Americans love the English, and the English accent, although ironically, many Americans can’t locate my own Northern English accent until I tell them where I am from - I’ve been asked if I am from Australia or Poland many times.
US and UK mugs owned by my wife and I
I guess I should be pleased, but I do find it a little disconcerting sometimes. I have never been to another country like this. As an Englishman, I can travel a short distance to parts of Wales, or Ireland, and find people who dislike me because of my nationality and what they perceive it stands for. Across the Channel, there are French and Germans who will mutter behind your back when you’re at the bar about the “bloody English” (or sentiments to that effect), thinking that if they say it in French or German, no one in your group will understand them.
(Digressing briefly, I once did a similar thing in Berlin, Germany. There was some awful music playing in a café where I was eating with a German-speaking English friend. The barmaid had previously been conversing to my friend in fluent German, so I assumed she was German. Although many Germans speak reasonable English, I was still confident that she wouldn’t understand me when I described the music to my friend as “dross”. Imagine my surprise when she bellowed at me in a broad Ulster accent: “This music is not dross! I picked it myself!”)
Anyway, back to Anglophilia, or rather, moving on to its opposite: Anglophobia. The truth is that there are many negative stereotypes of the English around the world, but these are probably the main ones:
The English are arrogant and consider themselves to be superior to everyone else.
The English are duplicitous and they play mind games with people (especially when it comes to politics).
The English are at best cold and aloof, and at worst, downright cruel, especially with their humour, which they use to berate people that they don’t like.
How true the negative stereotypes are is a matter of opinion, of course, but Americans don’t generally buy into any of them in any significant way, in my experience. Quite the opposite, in fact, they have all sorts of positive stereotypes (I can feel a little embarrassed sometimes, because I feel sure that I won’t live up to expectations!)
Britain does generally do a good job of projecting itself abroad. Possibly too well, I sometimes think. I remember being back in Blighty and working with immigrants from places like India and the West Indes. They would sometimes tell me how naïve their views on Britain were before they moved there. They thought that everyone lived in big houses, either in beautiful old cites resembling central London, or in rambling green countryside, and the British people were very polite and civilized. In reality, of course, lots of people live in grotty inner cities with grey suburbs and the British people can be a pretty surly and miserable bunch at times (unless they’ve had a few drinks in the pub).
There is a tendency in the US culture to look for simple truths and to some extent there is a tendency to split the world’s countries into goodies and baddies, or white hats and black hats, as they say here. Americans generally prefer cultures that are similar to their own. I remember reading a survey that showed the American public overall feel most positive about the Canadians, closely followed by the Brits. I do sometimes feel a little sorry for the peoples that are designated black hats though (generally those people in arab and muslim countries).
Anyway, having said all of the above about Anglophilia, one question still puzzles me: If the Americans are so positive about the English, why does every other American movie seem to cast an Englishman as the leading bad guy? ;-)
A Scottish expat living in Canada asked me about the UK riots the other day, when I was playing an online game of draughts or checkers (the name varies according to which side of the Atlantic you hail from). They dropped the subject when they found out that I was living in Florida nowadays. The joke is that I know as much about the riots now, as a British expat, as I probably would have done living in Britain. Because of the internet, my news sources regarding the riots in the UK are exactly the same here in the USA as they were in the UK, mainly the BBC and The Guardian online (although I can also get pretty much get any US or UK tv channel or newspaper over the internet).
I have lived in numerous places in the UK, but spent much of my adult years in the Leeds area, which strangely enough, was largely unaffected by the UK riots. I say strangely because Leeds is a big city with some very rough areas and bleak housing estates. The Chapeltown area, which I know well, rioted back in the 1980s riots, but there was relatively little trouble there this time around. I have lived, or spent quite a bit of time in some of the English inner city areas that were affected, however, including Dalston in London, Manchester in the North, and Leicester in the Midlands.
I must admit that I wasn’t surprised that there was rioting in the UK. The sudden drop in living standards caused by the recession was likely to spark trouble at some point. Plus, for some reason, there often tends to be more disorder when the Conservatives are in power (although that may well be because they are usually voted into power at times of economic struggle). But like most people, I was shocked by the form that the riots took, with mobs of amoral underclass youths looting at will. It seemed almost medieval in character. I’ve heard the UK riots described as ‘shopping with violence’, and it seems difficult to disagree with that assessment.
Everybody looks into the smouldering ashes of the burnt out shops and cars and sees what they want to see at the end of the day and I am probably no different, but here is my take: In recent times, the UK seems to have lurched from crisis to crisis: the MPs’ expenses scandal, the police getting bribes from the News of the World, bankers awarding themselves massive bonuses despite being kept afloat by huge public bailouts, and now the inner city riots... I am on the centre left politically, but strangely enough I found myself agreeing with an article in the (conservative) Daily Telegraph, namely that:
“The culture of greed and impunity we are witnessing on our TV screens stretches right up into corporate boardrooms and the Cabinet. It embraces the police and large parts of our media. It is not just its damaged youth, but Britain itself that needs a moral reformation.”
Over here in the US, the problems are no better, but they take a different form, with political polarization virtually paralyzing the government and all the cross party consensus of previous years seeming to evaporate in the new, vitriolic atmosphere.
