American exceptionalism

[lumberjim]

I'm wondering where BigC is. I mean Big V. Aren't you going to come to the rescue of pico?

Not going to call Tony an asshole?

Huh.

[Undertoad]

There's nothing to address. I can't put myself into a Europeans shoes... mindset. I suck. You got me. Well played or whatever.




Actually I can, if I were in a Europeans shoes mindset, I would say, "Look at me, my numbers are bigger than all other shoe size numbers because oui oui paree had to have even bigger numbers than our metric system."

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Well - not so much that - I mean, once England's been knocked out fans usually choose another team to cheer for, in fairness. Sometimes it's one of the other British or Irish teams. Sometimes it's one of the African nations. Sometimes it is America. It's kind of necessary really, given we usually get knocked out fairly fast :P It is rarely a team that we've played against though.

What the hell? Fair weather fans. Good grief, that's shameful. Do they buy shirts they can turn inside out with another team on the inside?

[DanaC]

*shrugs* It's less that we switch 'support' - and more that, if you're going to watch a match it makes it more fun if you're cheering on one of the teams. If your team is no longer in the competition and there are still X number matches left - then you cheer on someone else's team.

The alternative would be to lose interest in the competition once your team is knocked out .

[Aliantha]

I sort of figured this thread may not go well, but i didnt think it'd end up with the yanks duking it out. Haha. I guess we all live and learn.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Even with me in the office asking them to..

Therein lies your problem


late to the party but I find the phrase/concept amusing rather than insulting. But I'm barely European any more, I'm told

[DanaC]

Right, importance. I figured the lack of support was due to that sort of "you lot became so big and powerful and we're tired of that and tired of the arrogance, now here's one thing the rest of the world has, to show you can't dominate everything."

Again, it isn't that you have become so big and powerful - it's that you think of yourselves as so important. It's the whole idea that America is just a bit too full of itself - a cardinal crime for the British. *

Like Monster says though - it's more of an amused eyeroll than offence.

Therein lies your problem

Absolutely. I don't know what American office culture is like, but British office culture, like the rest of British culture is founded primarily on piss taking. If you'd never let on that you wanted them to cheer for America, some of them probably would have.



* worth noting of course that alongside that is our own conviction that we are both much less cool and much naffer than America, but at the same time far superior to any other nation ;p

[infinite monkey]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

I'm wondering where BigC is. I mean Big V. Aren't you going to come to the rescue of pico?

Not going to call Tony an asshole?

Huh.

Well don't invoke it! Sheesh, you might as well stand in front of a mirror and say "Bloody Mary" three times!

[Gravdigr]

Draw me like one of your French shoes.

[limey]

Yabbut doesn't every nation feel it is Exceptional?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, in some way or ways. But we more gooder at everything.

[Gravdigr]

I think we just smell better.

[DanaC]

You smell meatier.

[orthodoc]

Joining very late, with only a thought about Europeans and others despising North Americans ... yes, they do. Justified or not, they do. When in Canada, my son's Chinese friends were not allowed to visit/hang out with him because we were white NAms. And my MIL despised me as a NAm until the day she died.

I think every nation, every population with a sense of identity, sooner or later despises those who are 'other'. No actual knowledge is required. It's a hardwired human tendency. Some of us think we should try to rewire. It's not a job for the faint of heart.

[Aliantha]

My opinion is that the world is full of exceptionally stupid people. Even the US doesn't hold the patent on that formula.

Human populations ebb and flow. America is on the far side of its golden years. Cling to it if you must. Or embrace the rise of new world domination. Whatever floats your boat. I'll just hang about here being a dumb Aussie.