The Cellar - An American Place?

[skysidhe]

How are those language and cultural differences felt because honestly I don't understand.

I never occured to me to think of this as an 'American board'
ok where are the NON American boards so I can go compare?

[Clodfobble]

Here's the thing: I agree this is an American board in the sense that it is populated by mostly Americans and there are cultural references that are assumed or missing because of it.

BUT when you say it's an "American board," you risk implying that it is unwelcoming to anyone who is not American, and I hope everyone can agree that is far from the case. Maybe it's an "American-heavy board?"

[Sundae]

It is very welcoming. Yes it is American-heavy, but even that sounds negative. It might just as well be called intelligence-heavy or open-minded-heavy.

Sky you won't see the cultural and language differences because you are not the foreigner here. I can point some out to you if you're interested - I didn't initially because it might have sounded like a complaint. I choose to post here and I have no issue with the demographic at all. I guess I just wondered if anyone else acknowledged it.

Dana described Monster as our translator the other night - and not just in language (we're exposed to enough American TV/ movies to work most things out). But more to do with culture and attitude. In fact I think Monster works more to translate us for you - or at least me. A couple of times she's advised me that the thing I am protesting is quite normal and acceptable. I appreciate it.

I do welcome the differences. It's the same reason I love to travel in the UK, and travelled abroad when I had the funds. I like to eat other people's bread and drink their beer.

Well, it saves buying my own

[monster]

So, my MIL is here visiting from the UK. (Banana Lady) She's been here many times. In one sentence she managed to use three phrases that stuck out: Swimming Baths (Pool), Changing room (Locker Room) and Costume (swimsuit). Not that you wouldn't have known what she mean in the main, but the language is that different. So it feels alien. (not unwelcoming, just alien).

Brits see a lot of American movies and TV, and read American books, so they're pretty used to the language, but Americans don't get to see a lot of Brit films unless they seek them out, Brit TV shows are usually dubbed or remade with American actors and books are Americanized before being published here. So Americans don't get an accurate exposure to British English, so it's harder for them to realize how different the language is.

How often in the day do you (Americans) use the word "gotten"? Brits don't (in the main). How often do you use the word regular? Regular sized.... most common use in UK is to describe bowel movements that are not abnormal. We use "normal" when we mean average, everyday, not big or small or unusual in anyway.

...but on to what Sundae is stressing in her post, there are activities and situations in each country that are accepted and perfectly ordinary that in the other country would be totally bizarre. American... Halloween.... I saw ET and thought the Halloween scene in that was just part of the fantasy. Brits -it's not, it's like that and more. Americans, Halloweem in UK is little more than teenage louts demanding money with menace. In the US, there really is steam coming out of the grids in the city streets, and there really are yellow traffic lights strung over the road swaying in the wind. We Brits assume these are romantic elements of America past when we see them in movies. Americans, the thatched cottages you get to see are almost all gone -too big a fire risk, too expensive to maintain. That is a romantic element of England past.....but it sells. I could go on, but I won't.

I love both places, I'm really happy here in America, I don't think the board is unwelcoming to Brits, but it is American in the main.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by skysidhe

Ok where are the NON American boards so I can go compare?

For the record, this is the Channel 4 News Forum.
We only have 5 official channels and Channel 4 has the best news (opinion - mine and the people I work with full-time).

I post occasionally, but it's a fast moving board, don't look for me.

I have no idea if you will feel foreign, I haven't searched it out in order for you to do so, it's just one of the few British boards I post one. I'm not trying to compare it to the Cellar - it's based on a British TV show (albeit the news). I just don't know many others with a British feel.

[skysidhe]

hi SG,
I am not interested in making an account and too lazy to search for you I did go read the first page and I didn't see anything but english type written by humans. :P

Even when I read other countries newspapers I still don't see the 'foreigner' aspect.

I am sorry you feel this way. When my canadian friend tells me he had a 'pint' I know he means a beer. My mind dosn't scream foriegner. I love hearing about his Ukranian heritage which includes alot of food I have never heard of and it is in these subtle differences that make life rich and valuable.

I think this board is valuable for having people from around the world. It makes a rich community and a place where people can learn from one another.

From the first time I ever saw your posts I thought,"there is the nicest person there, that sundae girl person"

[Sundae]

Sky, PLEASE don't think I have a problem with this board or I am upset at being a foreigner or I have an issue with Americans! There is nothing for you to feel sorry about - I am posting on the best forum on the internet and everythig I post is exotic because I come from England ()

I only posted the forum example because I felt I was wimping out of putting my money where my mouth is. Of course no-one should have to go to another forum to prove *my* point.

For the record, some differences you would see are: British-centric political debates - real importance given to British issues; the Government always means the Houses of Parliament; discussions on the NHS are not usually focussed on why it's worse than private healthcare; education debates NEVER feature the idea of scrapping state-funded education; anything stating "we" refers to (at most) the UK; disparaging remarks about popular culture feature people/ programmes/ magazines that you won't have heard of etc etc etc

Please take on board what Monster (a transplant between the two countries) has written.

I like people regardless of nationality. Always have, always will. And here I have a wonderful example of a community where I have been welcomed and allowed to make the occasional aside without being run out of town. Hell I can happily post something Just For The Brits and am never called on it.

I dunno. Maybe not seeing the foreignness is another cultural difference. I can't count Clod. She's ditched the Texan accent to the extent she's practically British anyway in my eyes anyway.

[monster]

Sky, if you permit, when I see, I will "translate" some of your future posts into British. You currenty come across as very American, although clearly you do not feel so. You may not even be American for all I know, but since I've been here, you've had stars and stripes in your aura.

And please let me repeat at this point that no-one here is saying that being American is a bad thing..... just maybe all y'all don't realise just how "different" that is from the rest of the world -that fact that we understand the words you're saying doesn't neam we interpret them in the same way. Lots of room for misunderstandings created by the myth of a common language.

[monster]

Feeling black, much, Sundae?

This whole thread is a little like the "equality and diversity" conversations all over the US -especially in education and government, but pretty much everywhere.

Black People: We don't feel heard/understood. We know we're in the minority, but that doesn't mean we are wrong -we just have cultural differences, and maybe we know different things that could help We just want to be involved.

(much silence....)


{we're at this point now}

next to come:

White people: My Bad. We don't have enough diversity, this committee is all white but we represent black people too.... does anyone know of a black person who think like us? or maybe someone brownish? Mr Cohen? Awesome. Well, if he can't make the regular Friday night neetings, then he can't be really committed to the cause....

[monster]

oh, and

[Aliantha]

SG, I know what you're saying and I agree with you. I don't think you've said anything bad and I don't think you should feel bad for bringing it up. So to answer your question; no, I don't think you're the only one who's noticed it.

[DanaC]

I definitely think of the Cellar as a primarily 'American' place. By that I mean it is primarily American in culture and tone.....not that it has borders and gates and passport checks on the way in.

This, to me, is a good thing. I actually don't post on English forums much. I am a member of one, a Politics forum. It is not as entertaining as this place is. When I was into massively multiplayer games, I played on the American servers wherever possible, even though it often meant the game ran sluggishly and I had to become virtually nocturnal whenever I wanted to play in a large group.

I loved being a brit amongst the Americans in those games. Like here, there were many different nationalities involved, and like here there was no sense of exclusivity based on nationality. The differences between us are sometimes startling, other times mere hints. They can be frustrating but more often they're intriguing.

monster I think has an interesting point about how much more exposure we (Brits) generally have to American language patterns and cultural references than you (Americans) have to the British equivalent. We may be more conscious of the differences because of that exposure. In my lifetime, I have seen the language of my country change and adopt aspects of American English. Gaol has become Jail, for example. Gotten.....not used much here, but I find myself using it from time to time. Gas station instead of petrol station, I hear from time to time also. Okay, hi, yeah (instead of the more English yeh) are all common now. Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but its definitely happening.

Even so, most British contact with American language and culture is passive in nature. It is television and movies and books. What's marvellous about the Cellar is it is not passive. The American language and culture is being actively expressed and meeting up with the British culture as that is actively expressed (and Australia and New Zealand etc). It's in that meeting of two actively expressed languages and cultures that we can see how distinct they really are; a fact, as monster says, which is often hidden by the shared basic language. I have often found myself arguing the toss in here only to realise that we are using the same words to mean different things, or that a word which is purely functional here is culturally loaded there, and vice versa.

Sky, chill babe, nobody's attackin anybody or complaining about the cellar. Sundae picked up on something from another thread and decided to examine the question in its own right. Is it an American board? Yeah, I'd say so. Not exclusively so, but culturally and demographically, it is primarily American. Mind you, there's an argument to suggest that the internet is much the same ;P

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I definitely think of the Cellar as a primarily 'American' place. By that I mean it is primarily American in culture and tone.....not that it has borders and gates and passport checks on the way in.

This, to me, is a good thing. I actually don't post on English forums much. I am a member of one, a Politics forum. It is not as entertaining as this place is. When I was into massively multiplayer games, I played on the American servers wherever possible, even though it often meant the game ran sluggishly and I had to become virtually nocturnal whenever I wanted to play in a large group.

I loved being a brit amongst the Americans in those games. Like here, there were many different nationalities involved, and like here there was no sense of exclusivity based on nationality. The differences between us are sometimes startling, other times mere hints. They can be frustrating but more often they're intriguing.

monster I think has an interesting point about how much more exposure we (Brits) generally have to American language patterns and cultural references than you (Americans) have to the British equivalent. We may be more conscious of the differences because of that exposure. In my lifetime, I have seen the language of my country change and adopt aspects of American English. Gaol has become Jail, for example. Gotten.....not used much here, but I find myself using it from time to time. Gas station instead of petrol station, I hear from time to time also. Okay, hi, yeah (instead of the more English yeh) are all common now. Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but its definitely happening.

Even so, most British contact with American language and culture is passive in nature. It is television and movies and books. What's marvellous about the Cellar is it is not passive. The American language and culture is being actively expressed and meeting up with the British culture as that is actively expressed (and Australia and New Zealand etc). It's in that meeting of two actively expressed languages and cultures that we can see how distinct they really are; a fact, as monster says, which is often hidden by the shared basic language. I have often found myself arguing the toss in here only to realise that we are using the same words to mean different things, or that a word which is purely functional here is culturally loaded there, and vice versa.

Sky, chill babe, nobody's attackin anybody or complaining about the cellar. Sundae picked up on something from another thread and decided to examine the question in its own right. Is it an American board? Yeah, I'd say so. Not exclusively so, but culturally and demographically, it is primarily American. Mind you, there's an argument to suggest that the internet is much the same ;P

Actually you have misread me. I've only been contributing as S.G asked and trying to reassure.
I don't think anyone is attacking anyone or complaining. I think I have been positive and just making points like the brits do. I am a very low key person.

To repeat. I wouldn't know if anyone was british if they hadn't made it a point to let people know.

[Razzmatazz13]

I think this sort of thing is the coolest part about the internet for me. I've had friends that I've never met who live all around the world. In a given day in my MMORPG I used to log on early and talk with my friend from japan, help him practice his english, then go and play with my american friends, from all over the country, and then spend the early evening with my british friends. We've argued and had to re-explain words and phrases that aren't common to one another, and we all just think it's damn cool that we know someone from so far away. One of my friends used to sit and lecture me about american gov't just because he knew I was american, and he didn't have any other american friends. He was shocked to learn that I don't agree with some policies, and even more shocked to find out which things he thought were true, and which were stereotypes. It was fun for me, showing him another (different) side of americans, just as it was fun for my first australian friend to talk with me on the phone. (He put me on speakerphone while he was at a party once, so that I could talk with his friends...because I have such a funny accent.) Then a few weeks later I let my best friend talk to him online, and she was confused and didn't understand a lot of what he said...which I found suprising. So even without noticing it, I had absorbed enough australian thought pattern/slang/whatever to translate the things he said to her.

Regarding the cellar individually, I joined because I got the feeling it was primarily based out of pennsylvania, from speech and subjects and of course the number of posters who live here, so I would agree that the board probably feels primarily american, with delicious dashes of foreigny-goodness.

[lookout123]

i think all you furrners need to wear special tags so's we can tell ya apart. don't want none o' yer treacherous types slippin in amongst us red blooded a'merkens.