Usa Thread

[Bangkoktraveler]

I suspect the Posse Comitatus Act is being circumvented.

 

If there was any one purpose who was able to sucessfully circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act it was Dake. Too bad nobody ever made a movie of his life.

[chuckwoww]

Most Brits seem to be anti-everybody, not just anti-USA. Brits don't even like each other very much. As soon as you open your mouth. somebody hates you for your accent.

 

 

 

 

It's more than that I think. Brits find Americans boastful but they are mostly too polite to say anything. And a lot of Brits hate success. Did you see Rick Gervais hosting the Golden Globes? A lot of his jokes bombed....probably would have been better suited to a British audience.

 

http://primetime.tv.yahoo.com/

[Bangkoktraveler]

It was on the radio that for every dollar California spends, the state has only 78 cents. They claimed California is running with the greatest deficit and Arizona is right behind California.

 

If both states should file bankruptcy they both can dump their employee retirement and benefit plans saving both states a lot of money.

 

[dave32]

Most Brits seem to be anti-everybody' date=' not just anti-USA. Brits don't even like each other very much. As soon as you open your mouth. somebody hates you for your accent.

 

 

[/quote']

 

 

It's more than that I think. Brits find Americans boastful but they are mostly too polite to say anything. And a lot of Brits hate success. Did you see Rick Gervais hosting the Golden Globes? A lot of his jokes bombed....probably would have been better suited to a British audience.

 

http://primetime.tv.yahoo.com/

 

Gervais was FANTASTIC. I was grateful for his boldness, and you know there's no way in hell they will have him back, which is a shame.

 

One thing I did notice during my brief and ignorant stint in Europe, is that not only Brits -- but Western Europeans in general seemed to resent it if/when their peers rose above their station in life. You find that everywhere, but... people there, from what I could see, were much more locked into a path from a young age -- if you're a worker, you're a worker. If you're an academic, you're an academic. If people broke out of that to do something else, the environment was not forgiving. And Brits especially could be vicious amongst themselves when one of the group rose above his/her 'station' in an unconventional manner.

 

I don't know. Maybe it's just me and I have no idea what I'm talking about... but that was the impression I was left with.

[chuckwoww]

Piers Morgan was talking about it. He says if you drive an Aston Martin in the UK you have a good chance of someone throwing a brick at you whereas in the US people stop and say nice wheels.

[Mekong]

If Piers Morgan was driving a 1956 Moggie Minor I would still throw a brick at him. asshole!

[Flashermac]

<< One thing I did notice during my brief and ignorant stint in Europe, is that not only Brits -- but Western Europeans in general seemed to resent it if/when their peers rose above their station in life. You find that everywhere, but... people there, from what I could see, were much more locked into a path from a young age -- if you're a worker, you're a worker. If you're an academic, you're an academic. If people broke out of that to do something else, the environment was not forgiving. And Brits especially could be vicious amongst themselves when one of the group rose above his/her 'station' in an unconventional manner. >>

 

 

Sounds like one reason people emigrated. My maternal grandfather's family were farmers and agricultural workers in Norfolk. Several became cops as an escape from it. The children of the ones who went to the US ended up becoming successful businessmen. One lived in a home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Another was a test pilot who became a lawyer when he left the USAF. My cuz whose father emigrated to Oz said his dad did a lot better than he could have at home in England.

 

 

[gobbledonk]

We are notorious for the 'tall poppy syndrome' here in Oz, and I think we got a lot of it from the Irish and British working class people who came here from the First Fleet on. As one observer remarked 'Australians are happy to see you get ahead, they just dont want you to get ahead of them ..'.

 

For all that, we persist with the belief that ours is a 'classless' society - talking to an Irish guy recently it was clear that they dont grow up with the same illusion, and his relatives in Boston sound like they are still carrying a lot of that baggage around with them. 'Good Will Hunting' meets 'In the Name of the Father' - naive of me to think that it all went away with the 'Peace'.

[Steve]

Generally, I've found the same about Brits on my 'soccer' forums. I hzve a few very dear Brit friends and they are the exceptions. However, on the forum I go to which is largley Londoners as well as going to a British pub in LA for several years, I am not sure who the Brits like. I can't think of one country generally speaking that the majority of them have a kind word about. That includes America.

Americans love the Brits and have a positive feeling generally to a few other countries. Canada to some extent, Sweden, Austrailia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland to some extent. I wold include Brazil, most of the english speaking Caribbean islands. We are neutral to positive on a few European countries like Holland, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, etc.

 

However, although they visit it quite often, even Spain is not spoken of in high regard other than a fun holiday. History may have something to do with that.

 

Overseas and my LA pub would iclude this, they congregate according to where they are from in England. Londoners with Londoners and within that, south of the Thames v. north of the Thames, northerners with northerners and that is broken down to the midlands, peninines, northeast, etc. to some extent.

 

As for Ricky Gervais, I cringed but loved it. He did cross the line but he didn't care. Crossing the line to me meant what the audience thought and they were uncomfortable.

[gobbledonk]

Anyone who has watched more than 3 eps of 'The Office' will know that Gervais can be very hit-and-miss. As CS said, you cringe at least as often as you laugh. The Brit version had a lot more pathos, I think, than the Steve Carrell depiction of an incompetent trying to bluff his way through the working week.

 

As far as the line about 'Sex and the City', I far prefer the gag from 'Family Guy' where Brian, easily my favorite talking dog, is forced to go to the gay district and watch repeats of the show. 'Hey, I know this show - its about 3 hookers and their mom, right ?'