Does Britain, especially England, and its people try to be like America?

Jax Humanhater · Jan 20, 2012

Whenever I read or watch a video about British life, I get this idea that British people have a heart for America and its people more than any country in the World; I get the idea continental Europeans do follow American ideals, culture, and movies to a lesser extent than Britain. From what I have seen, not even Canada and Australia are very keen about America or what it has to offer. I have observed on different international forums, and it seems like the English youth share the same interests as the American youth. Heck, very few of them are more pro-American than pro-UK. Another trend I seem to notice is English people are starting to adopt American-style English. I believe you guys need to speak English English, because I think your language is being desecrated by us. Lastly, I would not be surprised if the UK had the largest American sports(American football, NASCAR, and even baseball, for certain). For all I know, my observations are probably skewed because I have not seen much of the UK.

Your thoughts.

Adrian Britton · Jan 20, 2012

I think thats more to do with corporate marketing from the big fat greedy folk at the top trying to push american style culture on to the rest of the world. If something sells well in the states then it gets filtered to the rest of the world not just the uk.
Also it works the other way too, if something works well in the uk it gets marketed to the rest of the world.

What I see is that we have a generation of youth that are been brain washed by adverts and movies, so they dont realy have any true identity america, english, australian or any other culture. They just go with whats popular or fashionable at the time.

Craig Stevenson · Jan 20, 2012

Unfortunately the answer to this is Yes, from wearing your trousers round your ankles to whooping at every opportunity and having to aks a question instead of asking it

.

I don't think American sports have that big a following, NFL, Baseball, Nascar do get shown on TV but I wouldn't expect them to have very big audiences. I do wonder just how much the BBC wasted buying the rights to NFL, money that should have gone on F1 IMO.

Péter Bártfai · Jan 20, 2012

Hungarian youth is affected as well, at least a big part of it. Especially if you go to Budapest, there people seem like they are out of another country lol. There are some people who play american football/baseball here, though not many people are actually following those sports. Movies/music have a large influence as well. Most popular radio stations (for the younger generation) also play almost exclusively american music, though I actually don't like those stations.
Another effect is that "half english" words started to appear, but I think that's mainly the responsibility of media and the translators, as they did not translate those things to hungarian (f.e. the like buttons on Facebook). And even if people actually know the hungarian equivalent of the english word, as it's appearing on those sites in english, everybody started to use these "hybrid" words. Sometimes they really sound awful.

Kyle Puttifer · Jan 20, 2012

Does Britain, especially England, and its people try to be like America?

Not from my experience.
Typically, Brits HATE NASCAR. Football is played with a spherical ball, and cricket is much better than baseball.
I've never come across anyone speaking American (aside from American immigrants) - if I do they will be subject to a huge amount of verbal abuse from me for betraying their nationality. I find the American accent absolutely infuriating, as well as some people's attitude towards the rest of the world. Don't think I speak like a sterotypical posh Brit though - I have a bit of a Cockney accent as I grew up in London.

Hampus Andersson · Jan 20, 2012

I can see the similarities overall but if you go deep you will see different cultures.

Omer Said · Jan 20, 2012

I think, anyone who watches American movies or dramas are affected to some degree.

Kyle Puttifer · Jan 20, 2012

Omer Said said:
I think, anyone who watches American movies or dramas are affected to some degree.

Proven wrong, living proof right here.

I watch action films, and they are mostly American. I would be deeply insulted if someone said I behaved like an American, because I don't and because I'm quite patriotic. I have a Keep Calm and Carry On poster with a Union Flag background.

I'm proud of my British (and possibly German) roots and that will never change.

Adam Vaughan · Jan 20, 2012

Is this serious? I feel the need to tell you to shut up but I've read some of your other posts so now I understand.......

GAIAjohan · Jan 20, 2012

Brits are a kinda special kind in Europe. In terms of business for example they're more "American" than "European".
Also in terms of how to contact people, they;re more American. Just like the gap between the rich and poor is enormous in Britain and the US, while the gap is less big in Europe.

Hiroshi Awazu · Jan 21, 2012

I deleted my post because I was being too harsh and I apologize for that. I still have my opinions but it's best I just keep them to myself.

I let anger fuel what I say and I become unreasonable in my opinions. I will no longer take part in threads such as these or anything political.

I thank and love my girlfriend Pauline for she read this thread and phoned me to talk to me about being more reasonable when voicing opinions and especially don't do it angry. Once again I'm sorry.

Kyle Puttifer · Jan 22, 2012

Adam Vaughan said:
Is this serious? I feel the need to tell you to shut up

Excuse me? Are you giving me an example of American attitude?

James Chant · Jan 23, 2012

I think some of the things over here are influenced - School proms are a big thing here now, never had one in my day, but it hasn't helped wih them being In every American teen film.

Glee is one program on TV which should be banned, it has made even more pathetic individuals think they can become performers overnight, there isn't enough work for the people who have actually done the proper training, let alone all these TV shows and talent shows like xfactor polluting the minds of the innocent.

Fast food started in America - and is now making the British a fat nation too.

Also - space travel. Americans doing it made all the British rocket enthusiasts with beards and big glasses in sheds think they could send some tin foil to mars - and it didn't work.