VERY British BIL and SIL

[Anonymous]

This whole thread is so weird! I am from Europe, not British, DD went to British school overseas and then to HS here. People are either mocking her or praising her when she says, "pardon?" Her accent is American apart from some hardly noticeable word choices. Mustn't' do that if living in US?
I wonder what would DCUM think of my DS eating sauerkraut!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:OP needs to widen her circle, and maybe she'd see that this behavior is normal for immigrants. At home, many people go to extra effort to recreate home (their native country). Babies and little kids have this strong influence--the food, the language, the culture and habits--and it's all they know until they go off to school. Once they're in school they rapidly absorb American culture.

Except none of this actually applies if you're British. So the BIL is simply inventing stuff to feel superior to the heathens amid which he voluntarily (I imagine) chose to live.

That chip on your shoulder may be getting in the way of you understanding that there are cultural differences between countries that have the same language, and even between different areas of one country.

When people move to another place, they usually like to hold onto and show their children various aspects of their native culture/region.

I've lived in the UK and in Texas, as well as many other parts of the world and the US, and I and others in my immediate family have married into other cultures. Some people are all about assimilation, but many hold on tightly to their original regional ways. It's human nature, not an affront to you and your particular culture. Get over it.

Ha! I'm an immigrant married to another immigrant. Our native languages aren't English. Our customs are different. Actually different, not pretend-different like UK vs. the US.

If you're an immigrant perhaps you are unable to see the differences between American and British customs and culture. There are plenty.

No, I know they exist, I went to school in the UK and go to London for work regularly. I just don't think they are THAT different, and plus they are very class dependent. To claim that differentiation to the degree OP describes is not only pretentious, it would be frowned upon by most reasonable Brits. It is nowhere close to what is necessary to maintain language and customs that are ACTUALLY different.

If you actually were British and had also lived in the US (i am and have) you would realize that despite what is at first glance a common language (but actually very different) there are HUGE cultural differences between the two countries, as there are with ANY two countries. To say that there aren't is ignorant.

[Anonymous]

LOL, OP, you have some serious issues. Calm down and mind your own damn business!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you actually were British and had also lived in the US (i am and have) you would realize that despite what is at first glance a common language (but actually very different) there are HUGE cultural differences between the two countries, as there are with ANY two countries. To say that there aren't is ignorant.

No. You're wrong. Cultural differences between Britain and the US aren't HUGE, and they are certainly not as huge as between any two countries. There are countries whose cultural differences with the U.S. are much, much greater.

You know how I know this? Wherever there are cultural differences and a community large enough that has an interest in preserving their culture, there will be an infrastructure to support it. Look at Washington, D.C., this veritable cosmopolitan mecca of America. Every major ethnic community has built a support system around its wish to support and preserve its culture and traditions, and hand it down to their children. Russian immersion preschools. Lebanese churches. Arab soccer clubs. Indian temples. Cantonese language weekend classes. A community interested in preserving itself will find a way to service this interest. And it's just so interesting how the British, who you claim are so very different from Americans in language and culture, have created no institutions to preserve and disseminate these alleged distinctions in the U.S.

British English classes? British weekend schools? British culture courses? Where are they? British schools of DC sell themselves as international establishments that welcome diversity; their websites say nothing about preserving or embracing British values, British culture, British ways. For that, you still need to go to Britain. What exactly have the Brits created stateside to preserve their ways? A few random meetups?

So, do you have an explanation?

[Anonymous]

PP at 23:04, it's naive to say that cultural differences aren't valid unless they're extreme. There are no shades of grey in your world. As someone with lots of real-world experience, I've found that sometimes the most tricky cultural differences are the most subtle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP at 23:04, it's naive to say that cultural differences aren't valid unless they're extreme. There are no shades of grey in your world. As someone with lots of real-world experience, I've found that sometimes the most tricky cultural differences are the most subtle.

Again I ask you - where are the institutions devoted to preserving and handing down these tricky, subtle cultural differences? Where are the keepers of the British culture in the US?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP at 23:04, it's naive to say that cultural differences aren't valid unless they're extreme. There are no shades of grey in your world. As someone with lots of real-world experience, I've found that sometimes the most tricky cultural differences are the most subtle.

Again I ask you - where are the institutions devoted to preserving and handing down these tricky, subtle cultural differences? Where are the keepers of the British culture in the US?

They are here in my house (we are another family of Brits living here). Yes, we don’t have “British School” - though actually there IS a British school here - but because we have a common language and many cultural similarities with the host country many Brits do not feel the need to seek out institutions devoted to our culture. But to say it isn’t there or that there aren’t differences is wrong and ignorant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP at 23:04, it's naive to say that cultural differences aren't valid unless they're extreme. There are no shades of grey in your world. As someone with lots of real-world experience, I've found that sometimes the most tricky cultural differences are the most subtle.

Again I ask you - where are the institutions devoted to preserving and handing down these tricky, subtle cultural differences? Where are the keepers of the British culture in the US?

They are here in my house (we are another family of Brits living here). Yes, we don’t have “British School” - though actually there IS a British school here - but because we have a common language and many cultural similarities with the host country many Brits do not feel the need to seek out institutions devoted to our culture. But to say it isn’t there or that there aren’t differences is wrong and ignorant.

Thanks for making my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP at 23:04, it's naive to say that cultural differences aren't valid unless they're extreme. There are no shades of grey in your world. As someone with lots of real-world experience, I've found that sometimes the most tricky cultural differences are the most subtle.

Again I ask you - where are the institutions devoted to preserving and handing down these tricky, subtle cultural differences? Where are the keepers of the British culture in the US?

They are here in my house (we are another family of Brits living here). Yes, we don’t have “British School” - though actually there IS a British school here - but because we have a common language and many cultural similarities with the host country many Brits do not feel the need to seek out institutions devoted to our culture. But to say it isn’t there or that there aren’t differences is wrong and ignorant.

Thanks for making my point.

Ok so we all agree. Many cultural similarities and also many cultural differences. The presence of one doesn’t mean the lack of the other.

[Anonymous]

You know what? My kid loves cricket. We subscribe to the cricket channel. My husband adores formula one. We say Ahhhnt, not ayunt. This is not a worry.

Furthermore...

There is a north Texas cricket league, a central Texas cricket league, and they are building an oval in Dallas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean he isn't allowed to talk about things American? They live in Texas - how is it possible to avoid all things American??

OP here

Yeah, he's discouraged from playing baseball specifically, which I think is my hangup. When spring training was on the TV (tele) this weekend, his Mom told us that baseball was specifically outlawed in their house.

I was going to add an edit about how I know everybody thinks of Texas...but the problem is that they are isolating him, in a sense.

So your problem is that BIL is a dick. Your problem isn't at all related to being British.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Canadian here, trying to figure out what’s wrong with F1 and BBC. Both are amazing, considering the US alternatives?

I know, right? And we just finished watching the Ashes a month or two ago. Friends came over and all had fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Canadian here, trying to figure out what’s wrong with F1 and BBC. Both are amazing, considering the US alternatives?

Oh, you tricky Canadian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP at 23:04, it's naive to say that cultural differences aren't valid unless they're extreme. There are no shades of grey in your world. As someone with lots of real-world experience, I've found that sometimes the most tricky cultural differences are the most subtle.

Again I ask you - where are the institutions devoted to preserving and handing down these tricky, subtle cultural differences? Where are the keepers of the British culture in the US?

Well according to OP and others on this thread Brits who live here shouldn't be allowed to keep any of their native customs. Maybe they're all underground.

[Anonymous]

I happen to think that a kid with a British accent will be far more interesting in school to the other kids. My ex-husband is from Minnesota, and all of my kids sound like native Minnesotans, although only the two oldest ever lived there, and only when they were? small. Their classmates in Virginia have always loved? their accents, because they're different.