Is it true that the English are generally more intelligent that their American cousins?

Answer 1

Being from Oxford the home of intellect (HA HA) I would like to say yes however I am sure both countries have equally intelligent and equally stupid people - lets face it neither countries set the best impression in the choice of our leaders!

Answer 2

"Well, let's see, the Americans brought home 6 Nobel prizes this year, how many did the English receive? (correct answer is 0)" - the first answerer wrote.

Where did those Nobel prize winners come to the US from? - is my reply/question to her.

Answering to the question: The English are not generally more intelligent than their American cousins. They, the English may have different temper, sense of humor, diplomatic way to communicating with people in general, etc, whereas their American cousins are more straight-forwarded, what I like - no beating about the bush.
Perhaps that may be what makes some people take it as a lack of intelligence in comparison to their English cousins!

Answer 3

In my opinion the Americans,especially those that I have worked with. are generally more intelligent than the English. If you were to say the British instead of the English,then the answer would be different.

Answer 4

It is genetic. Most Americans are descended from a surplus European stock that was unable to find employment this side of the Atlantic. Many Americans attach no value to the Arts or to intellectual matters in general. Don't be deceived by New York, Chicago or Los Angeles since these are oases of excellence in a vast Sahara of featureless banality.

Answer 5

Genetically speaking no group of people should be more intelligent than any other. On the other hand most of us in the US have ancestors who emmigrated from their country because they were kicked out, were starving farmers, were unemployed, or were businessmen looking to make it rich. Come on world, did you really expect much from us?
Are the English smarter? That depends on how you judge intelligence. If you base it on innovation, the Scottish have us both beat. If you base it on common sense or acedemic achievement, I think the British win no contest. Even Canada beats us. But that's only if you take averages. We have a lot of idiots, but a lot of smart people too.
Please, please don't judge American's by the tourists who visit your countries. I'M embarrassed by them. They're not a prime sample 70% of Americans don't even have a passport. Yes, they're naive and don't know a lot about other countries, but remember, we only border two and only one is noticably different. England is considered the outcast of Europe and they're only a channel away, we're 3000 miles or if you insist 4800km away. Why don't you complain about Australia or South Africa?

Answer 6

I know this question is innocent enough, and even silly, but I have to admit it bothers me. I think it is an example of a bigger problem, one that will never let the world live in peace.

When are we going to realize that people are people no matter where they live, no matter what religion they follow and no matter what color their skin is. We may live on different spots on the globe and we may have different ways of doing basically the same thing, but we all love, laugh, eat, sleep, dream, get sick and puke. We all have bad days, we all have good days.

I, for one, don't want to be defined by my country of origin. I don't want to be thought of as intelligent or stupid simply because of where I come from. I want to be thought of as intelligent or stupid because of who I am.

I agree that where we live does shape who we become to a certain extent, but I also think we should give our individual selves at least some credit. Don't you?

Answer 7

Of course, it's obvious. With all those international raving crowds of violent soccer hoodlums and the national sport of getting drunk, it's easy to see who are the intellectuals of the world.

I would say though that it seems to me that the English seem to prize intellect and wit more than Americans.

But, training and education are not the same as intelligence. Training and education develop any naturally occurring intelligence and populate it with information and reason.

Answer 8

The smartest person I know, who is American, said she thought that until she lived in England for a while. But I would guess that the US, having six times as many people, have more of both extremes. I do think dumb Americans are more likely to become famous or at least appear on tv than dumb Brits are, for various reasons.

Answer 9

I think we Brits have a better understanding of the World as a whole, and a more fully-rounded education, but I wouldn't say that we are definitively more intelligent.

They are much fatter than us, due to the culture of consumption and plenty of food to go round, and have little understanding or appreciation of the outside world. This isn't their fault - the news networks etc tend to cover intra-national stories, rather than international, and their Government likes it that way, keeping them in the dark.

There's a lot of yank-bashing goes on here - I know quite a few Americans, from different parts of the country, and by-and-large they're reasonably intelligent, if a little brash sometimes!

Answer 10

Maybe not more intelligent, but they tend to know the difference between Switzerland and Sweden and between the Baltic and the Balkan states.
People from the USA tend to be very insular. If a country doesn't have a MacDonald's then it is obviously subversive.