Why do you think there are so many "Why do Americans do/say such-and-such?" questions hanging around?

Question

I'm just honestly curious. What's with the fascination that Americans and British people seem to hold for each other? Does these questions appear quite frequently, or am I just here at the an odd point in time?

Please, don't be offended or anything. I don't mean it in any offensive way, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Answer 1

cause they are both alike lol

Answer 2

I think Americans and British probably most closely resemble each other and have similar ways of life, but there are differences and there is a general constant curiousity. At the same time, there are differences in philosophies and terminologies for items.

I always wondered with the Brits are taught in school about how America came to be and the loss of the colonies. What are the Brits taught about the US Revolutionary War?

Answer 3

I think a lot of Europeans love to hate Americans because of what we represent. We have freedoms they do not have, our country, geographically is incredible, vast and still wild in many places. Our lifestyles make us appear brash, loud, obnoxious and rude, and many Americans are when they travel abroad.
However, I have travelled the world and nowhere are people more accomodating to travellers than in the US.
Everytime I checked in through harbor customs in every country I sailed to, I felt like I was paying fees, fines and other payola that had nothing to do with the government and everything to do with the local agents extorting money from tourists. In the US, the government, with all its faults, runs efficiently and cleanly when compared to 99 percent of the other countries in the world.
We have everything here and I believe that a lot of envy sparks a great many of the questions and rants on Y/A

Answer 4

Well, I suppose you could say it's trans-Atlantic curiosity and cultural willingness to share. But it's not.

The Americans really wish they had the class system of the English and a royal family - think of that ridiculous sit com 'The Nanny' with the so realistic 'English' dad!

We English/Scots/Irish just know the Yanks are completely weird and want to know why they do such utterly bizarre things!

Answer 5

Haven't seen your "Why do Americans..." questions but I assume you mean Brits wondering about these brash Americans. I think that most Americans are so used to just speaking our minds, expressing our feelings, exercising our freedom of speech that we don't always pause to consider that here on YA, what we say is going out to a bigger world than just the USA. Brits may be slightly appalled by our ability to say stupid, insulting, shallow things because Brits are far more repressive about these things--they actually believe it is shameful to appear stupid, insulting, shallow whereas in the USA, we know everyone is at some time or another so why worry about it. But a lot of it is that most American on YA can't seem to grasp the concept that YA is worldwide, not just USA--so we proceed to give answers basically aimed at other Americans, in a manner we'd speak to other Americans. Plus, I think many many US YAers are (1) youngsters and still in their wiseass stages and (2) are people who are bored with whatever else they are doing at the moment and go to YA to find something a little more appealing; they aren't on YA to be helpful and are not trying to give good faith answers. No one should not be judging people by YA because it's an open forum and basically anonymous so many people are going to say things they wouldn't normally say, in ways they wouldn't normally say it.

Answer 6

Well, it can be said that due to our mutual language, we are "cousins across the water"... yet we do have a wealth of cultural differences, despite being a chip off their block, so to say. I think the fascination is just based on this.

Answer 7

I think that a lot of it is curiosity. The media hypes everything up and people honestly wonder about us.

Answer 8

You divide a set of people give them different things, naturally you're fascinated by how they vary especially if you're one of the sides.

Answer 9

Didn't somebody say we're two cultures divided by a common language, or something? And a bloody great ocean, thankfully...

Answer 10

I suppose we almost speak the same language, so its easy to ask questions about a different culture....I would love to speak fluent French and go on their pages, but can't...hope that answers some of your question.

Answer 11

maybe because we are related lots ..and the Americans like being related and searching for their roots as we Brits would like to find our lost roots who went there........honest got so far as Ellis island then ....NY then gone......... into the wilderness or were no man has ever gone .........