7 Myths British People Believe About America - Part 2

Here are seven more myths some British people believe about the United States of America.

[taylorlibby]

I worked with a guy from London whose mother called because she had heard about the wildfires in California and was worried that he might not be able to evacuate in time. We were in Vermont.

[Dervraka]

I think the thing about Americans not getting sarcasm, is we get sarcasm, it just the way Brits go about it that confuses us. Typically, when an American makes a sarcastic comment, we'll add a smirk, a raised eyebrow, change the tone of our voice, just something so the recipient knows we are being sarcastic. Brits just tend to do sarcasm totally deadpan, no verbal or facial cues at all, so we are never sure if they are being sarcastic or just rude.

[fnger]

Brits love to make fun of us for calling car fuel "gas" even though it's a liquid. But I always thought it made more sense than "petrol" because it's short for gasoline, which is what the fuel actually is. Petrol is short for petroleum, which is unrefined crude oil and not what actually goes into the cars.

[mewster]

Being native to Texas, who studied abroad in England, I remember my English friends looking at me like I was insane for describing a trip as "well its only 4 hours by car" which led to a conversation about relative distances.

When they found out that the nearest grocery store to my home in the US was an hour away by car at 70mph... they suddenly understood why a lot of Americans can't just walk places.

[jchristo]

Regarding accents: I once saw a man in a car with Texas license plates ask a Massachusetts traffic cop for directions. They were both speaking English but they had no idea what the other one was saying.

[sirfrancis]

Fun fact, the guy who discovered aluminum actually used the american version in his academic writings and it only became aluminium after the brits decided that it didn't fit with the spelling/pronunciations of other elements, so in a way the brits *are* pronouncing aluminum wrong

[AnonEMus-cpmn]

I heard a story where someone had an English friend who lamented that he could only visit his Father twice a year because of how far away he lived. Apparently a mere 45 minute drive away. For many Americans this was like a commute to work every day. They summarized this by saying:

“Europeans think 100 miles is a long distance, while Americans think 100 years is a long time.”

[gertexan]

While in college I hosted a German exchange student for a semester here in Texas. We had a fantastic time and have remained in contact since. However, one thing we still laugh about was his desire to see the US while he was here. We only had two weeks at the end of the semester before he had to fly home. He wanted to see Florida so we planned a road trip. He then asked if we could hop over to Hawaii while there. I informed him that we would be on the wrong coast to "hop" over to Hawaii for a few days. He absolutely insisted that Hawaii was off the coast of Florida and insinuated that as an American I was geographically unaware; was it a myth or stereotype.

[drjohnwooberg]

I feel like most Americans imagine the UK as having three accents as well. There’s a “Standard British accent” like James Bond and Star Wars villains have, a cockney accent for whimsical chimney sweeps and Dickensian orphans, and a Scottish accent that’s basically Shrek. And come to think of it, those sort of match similar roles in media as the three American accents you mentioned and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

[marinhusky]

I was on a British Airways flight to England once and got in what I figured was the line to the lavatory. I asked the woman standing near the door if she was in line. She very huffily replied, "It's called a queue! Yes, I am in the queue." I was thinking, a simple yes would have been fine.

[dannyfdana]

Fun Fact: According to linguists, North Carolina alone has over 200 documented dialects, and I remember moving only according county lines and being openly confused around certain people.

[spankynater]

I actually did read a book some years ago whose whole point was addressing the fact that American English is closer to traditional British English than British English is.

[allyssapoolman]

A friend of mine from Germany thought everyone wore cowboy hats in the US. She came to Minnesota, where almost no one does. She was a little let down that it wasn't like the western movies she had grown up watching.

[rdbeef]

The point about surprising distance works in the opposite way too. As an American it blows my mind that you could cross an entire country in less than a day.

[howardbeatman]

During the year that I was a cab driver, I picked up a fare at the commuter airport who wanted to go to the local naval base. When he asked - in a Texas accent - how far away the base was, I replied "A long way... about eight or nine miles". He barked "Eight or nine miles!? Shoot, back home eight or nine miles is around the corner!!" Growing up in New England - just as in England itself - had given me a cramped sense of distance.

[UnicornsPoopRainbows]

I'm an American expat that has taught ESL for over a decade. So many people tell me they are worried about going to America. Ignoring obvious societal issues (gun violence), they assume that Americans are extremely rude since we are "individualistic" and shows placed in NYC.

I check in after their trip to the states and they are always shocked at how nice people are. I live in Korea so common decency and public etiquette is very different.

Holding doors open for others, sensing when someone is trying to pass you and moving without having to be asked or saying "sorry" for inadvertently blocking someone, a lot of "please" and "thank you"s. These are all pretty uncommon in Korea and being manhandled by older people to get out of their way is pretty common.

Even with lower level English skills, they are impressed with how much effort Americans put into trying to communicate effectively.

I blame the crappy American and Canadian tourists. That's right, I'm throwing some Canadians under the bus too. I've seen rude AF Canadians be terrible and heard the locals say "Tsh, Americans. What jerks." NO!! IT WASN'T US THIS TIME!! 😅

[darreljones]

To make clear this video's point about American accents, when legendary voice actor Daws Butler (a native of South Carolina) first recorded the voice for Huckleberry Hound, he was asked to do a Southern drawl for the character. He responded, "I can think of ten different drawls off the top of my head. Which one do you want?" For the record, the one Butler actually used seems to have been based on an acquaintance from North Carolina.

[rocketappliantist]

Went to school in the Netherlands but am from the US. My friend told his parents about me who basically wanted nothing to do with me before meeting me or hearing anything about me. Then he told them I'm from Massachusetts and they were like "thank god, we thought he might be from California or something". The thought of judging someone from what state they're from has never crossed my mind and it's crazy to hear people from other countries form opinions of people by what part of the country they're from, especially from the cultural melting pot that is the US.

[jasonferris]

"They even spell humor differently, which should have been our first clue" I literally laughed out loud when you said that.

[mond]

It's not just Brits who don't get the distances--especially out West. Years ago, when I was living in DC, I met someone who was going to take a trip out Oregon. They had never been outside of New England (until going to DC). They asked if it was better to take a taxi or rent a car for the two weeks they would be there. After asking a few questions, I found that their itinerary would be to fly to Portland, visit Multnomah Falls, go skiing at Timberline, visit Bend, go to Crater Lake, go to Klamath Falls and then head to the coast and visit a few towns before heading back to Portland...I had to explain that the drive from Portland to Timberline alone was 3 hours, and that from Timberline to Bend was another 3 hours (in good weather), Bend to Crater Lake was at least 2.5 hrs.... They did not understand that you can drive for 6 hours East or South from Portland and still be in Oregon...