Immigration

[MPH]

17 minutes ago, bovril said:

I always think Brits and Americans are a lot closer culturally than we like to admit, but what do you think are the biggest differences?

 Their mindset. How the country was formed and the subsequent constitution makes their mindset  very… centered around them.

[The Fox Covert]

This is a much nicer thread than the usual ones on YouTube and Facebook which are infested with ignorant and aggressive Reform/EDL bots. 

I got hassled by one recently who commented on my family name not looking very English. The name has actually been in England for at least 500 years which should be enough for even the most off-the-scale racist. I cracked up half way through the comment when I read 'imergrunt'. I didn't waste much time on my reply but I was careful to use only short words with no more than ten letters and two syllables!

[bovril]

1 hour ago, MPH said:

 Their mindset. How the country was formed and the subsequent constitution makes their mindset  very… centered around them.

I like reading about the early history of America as a lot of the original settlers came from East Anglia where I'm from. And it's a fascinating topic in general. I find that there is an interesting tension between how they see themselves as upholding specifically Anglo ideals of freedom and liberty, but then the belief of their nation existing as something beyond traditional nations or ethnicities. I guess that still permeates modern society. Interestingly I think it's started to influence even how the English see their country too, and the quite modern tendency to see Britain as a proposition nation in the same vein as the US. 

 

At the same time there is this constant paranoia that bad people (e.g. Catholics, tyrannical government) are coming to take away their rights, which you still definitely see today in American society.

 

I think the self-centredness is quite typical of the Anglo world in general. Our language and culture is so dominant it's easy to forget the rest of the world exists, and there are billions of people that see the world differently to us.

 

In general the relationship between Britain and America reminds me very much of the one between Slavic nations and Russia. 

[bovril]

39 minutes ago, The Fox Covert said:

This is a much nicer thread than the usual ones on YouTube and Facebook which are infested with ignorant and aggressive Reform/EDL bots. 

I got hassled by one recently who commented on my family name not looking very English. The name has actually been in England for at least 500 years which should be enough for even the most off-the-scale racist. I cracked up half way through the comment when I read 'imergrunt'. I didn't waste much time on my reply but I was careful to use only short words with no more than ten letters and two syllables!

I'd be interested to know what the name is, though no worries if you don't want to share it.

 

My Mum's maiden name is Wallin which I believe is relatively common in Leicestershire, but interestingly also one of the most common surnames in Sweden. Would be very interested to know if and how it came across, or whether it's just coincidence. 

[MPH]

16 minutes ago, bovril said:

I like reading about the early history of America as a lot of the original settlers came from East Anglia where I'm from. And it's a fascinating topic in general. I find that there is an interesting tension between how they see themselves as upholding specifically Anglo ideals of freedom and liberty, but then the belief of their nation existing as something beyond traditional nations or ethnicities. I guess that still permeates modern society. Interestingly I think it's started to influence even how the English see their country too, and the quite modern tendency to see Britain as a proposition nation in the same vein as the US. 

 

At the same time there is this constant paranoia that bad people (e.g. Catholics, tyrannical government) are coming to take away their rights, which you still definitely see today in American society.

 

I think the self-centredness is quite typical of the Anglo world in general. Our language and culture is so dominant it's easy to forget the rest of the world exists, and there are billions of people that see the world differently to us.

 

In general the relationship between Britain and America reminds me very much of the one between Slavic nations and Russia. 

 With regards to the self centered part, I often get told those in congress are not the government, they are just for administrative reasons, that “ we the people” are the government..

 

 

anyway.. um yes I also love traveling. Nicaragua is probably the best and worst place I have been to! Such an income divide. Sad to see..

 

Also, you have highly trained university educated people working in call centers because that’s the best wage available to them..

[The Fox Covert]

6 hours ago, bovril said:

I'd be interested to know what the name is, though no worries if you don't want to share it.

 

My Mum's maiden name is Wallin which I believe is relatively common in Leicestershire, but interestingly also one of the most common surnames in Sweden. Would be very interested to know if and how it came across, or whether it's just coincidence. 

(7 hours ago, The Fox Covert said:

This is a much nicer thread than the usual ones on YouTube and Facebook which are infested with ignorant and aggressive Reform/EDL bots. 

I got hassled by one recently who commented on my family name not looking very English. The name has actually been in England for at least 500 years which should be enough for even the most off-the-scale racist. I cracked up half way through the comment when I read 'imergrunt'. I didn't waste much time on my reply but I was careful to use only short words with no more than ten letters and two syllables!)

 

My family name is Maries. I wasn't born in Leicester but I grew up there. I still have some family left in the city although most of us have left. The earliest known ancestor was a John Maris, a cordwainer (shoemaker) who was born about 1480 in Flyford Flavell, Worcestershire. It clearly isn't an Anglo-Saxon name, hence the keyboard abuse I got from some knuckle-dragger who probably has wet dreams about an England inhabited by a tall, blond and blue-eyed race with direct links to their ancestors from Germany and the Netherlands. I have no clear idea where the name comes from. I have a theory that the John Maris was a descendant of a local landowner called de Marisco who lived in the village in the middle fourteenth century. This is the period when the settlers who arrived after the Norman invasion finally decided that they ought to be speaking English rather than Norman French and their names tended to become Anglicised.