Can someone explain to me, why it seems the British dislike Americans so?

You sound absolutely lovely, and if all Americans were like you, it would be wonderful. Your open mindedness is really impressive and I hope you will not be hurt by any of the missiles hurled at you.

You already have had multiple answers for the reasons why Americans are not popular in UK. Often a question like yours arises about other European countries' feelings towards your co-citizens too, as there is the same perception elsewhere in Europe.

Personally, as a youngster, I loved everything American. It was considered a golden land, with a dynamic and charismatic attitude to life and you were the heroes who came over and helped to win the war. When I go to the American war cemetery in Normandy, I am choked with love for those boys who lost their lives. However, my English boyfriend who lived and worked in New York in the late sixties was draughted and sent to Vietnam. When he came back , he was a changed man. He was no longer interested in a European fiancee or settling back in "little England",and everything American was "better than anything on this side of the pond".

I have travelled widely and have come across Americans all over Europe or elsewhere, and their attitude often was very much like that too. Although they professed to admire other cultures, there is this superior stance in their attitude which debases the natives of the countries which they visit. To put it bluntly, they seem to think that they own the world and it should be at their beck and call.

American intervention in other countries' politics, particularly over Iraq, smacks of Big Brother. It seems very much economically motivated, and occurs where there is a vested interest. They do not intervene in destitute countries where there is a dictatorship for instance. American leaders seem to make the same mistakes over and over and have not learned the lessons of Vietnam. They also seem to think that they have the God-given right to rule the world and get miffed with any nation that does not endorse their politics.

However the whole world was horrified and stood still when the horror of September the 11th happened. No nation deserved that! I stayed glued to the television for twenty four hours, and my heart bled for the innocent ordinary people who met their end in those atrocious conditions, and their relatives and friends. It was an unforgivable act, and I admire the way Americans have risen above it. I also understand the anger that remains, though not the hostility towards natives of totally blameless other countries. I have met with absolutely needless, unjustified, obstructive or uncooperative behaviour from some of the American staff at airports for instance. Why stop and search a fifty something blonde, blue eyed lady with impeccable credentials, no less than five times between arrival at JFK and departure of plane for Britain, simply because she is travelling alone and has an EEC passport, or give the third degree on arrival in the US to a Professor in an inocuous subject like Linguistics, invited by a prestigious American university to give a lecture to their students?

I do not think jealousy comes into the equation at all.

I go to the USA frequently because fate has decreed that all my children and even my husband work for American firms either because of take overs or because they were head hunted. I am an academic, so I tend to meet like minded persons as myself and have no problems. However, because America is so big, and effectively some states are very different from others, personalities and opinions can be wildly divergent.

I have found the average Americans totally unaware of life away from their own patch, and singularly misinformed or ignorant as to what is going on in other parts of their nation, let alone in the rest of the world.

On the surface they are pleasant, friendly, courteous but somehow it seems skin deep and they only seem to relate in depth with their own close environment be it church, association, family or workplace.The feeling of jingoism is very strong towards other nations, which is bizarre since American society has mopped up such a variety of natives from other countries.

I think at the moment Europeans are biased because of the irregularities and errors made by your government, but frankly, British people are just as dissatisfied with theirs, and so are several other countries. We have all been misled by our leaders one way or the other, but one should not tar brush a whole nation because of the inadequacies of their rulers.

I have met some lovely people in the States and realise that those who come over are not representative of the whole nation. Nor are the nasty, insulting, offensive remarks made by some bigotted or ignorant people (from both side of the Atlantic) on this forum for that matter. I also am glad to see, when I am in the US, that the ostracism towards coloured or indigenous Americans is fading. I wish Americans thought more highly of other nations. I have a vested interest: by a quirk of fate I have a beautiful little American grand-daughter whom I cherish and miss horribly. I hope that when she grows up she realises that there is good and bad in every nation and no one culture has the right to disparage others, however different.

To be honest I think there is a bit of give and take in any relationship. I would say the Brits that do claim to dislike the US are normally under the impression that Americans are brash, insensitive and full of their own self importance. However some Americans might have exactly the same opinion of the Brits. Sometimes in recognising a similarity in someone else it causes us to dislike the person, because it makes us uncomfortable seeing something we don't like about ourselves in someone else!

Personally I inderstand The States is a massive place with many variants, so I would not presume to label all 'Americans' under the same label any more then I would put all 'Brits' I have many close American friends and hope it stays that way. I can see America or what it really is, but then I can see my own country for what it is as well!

Hi Amy

I hope you get to read this after so many answers. I'm British by the way, but I think you concerns about our relationship are probably unfounded. I also started on this site with the intentions of offering what I hoped were reasonably intelligent answers, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. There are many on this site, and have to admit their usually Brits (Sid), who provide insulting questions, but I certainly don't think this is out of nastiness. The War in Iraq has provided the ammunition, but I've served with Americans, and whilst they are all more gung-ho (which is a funny thing) than we are, I've never had a bad experience with them.

Media reporting of friendly fire incidents also gives simple minded people over here something to get on a soap box about, and the the term Yank is not an insulting word, in much the same way as Limey isn't.

I think both sides of the Pond have their fair share of bigots, for want of a better word. Many American's on this site even refewr to the War of Independence, whilst WWII often provides interesting questions. I think largely this has arisen as our countries have been allies for nearly a century now, and you find friends insult each other more than enemies do

Hope I've eased any concerns, but if you went into detail on these answers, I'd hope that i was proven right

Cheers

Jealousy?????? The Americans always have bigger and better things. Have better and cheaper things than we do! I' m not jealous of anyone or anything. Just observed this. Some, NOT ALL, Americans are loud in expressing themselves whereas the English are usually introverts and keep most of their opinions to themselves. I think the English do not like playing second fiddle to America and being pushed into wars etc just because they have been friends for so long. Ive been to America loads of times and I love it there but not sure whether I would like to live there as everything seems big and far away and you seem to need to car to get everywhere.

I guess you could say that Brits dislike Americans the same way Americans dislike the Canadians or the Japanese dislike the Chinese. Ignorance is in every corner of the world. To my experience, the British think of Americans as obese, unruly, lazy, etc. its just a very harsh generalization of the American lifestyle. Obviously it holds as little truth as those ¨lazy mexicans¨ and the ¨dirty chinese¨.

OK, just lost a whole screed....again, if there is one thing that really gets on my..........oh, never mind.

All right, here it comes again, but the short version.

I'm a Brit, old military family. Moved to the USA the first time in 1964, thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Lived on a US Air Force base, everything laid on, and dirt cheap. Fabulous facilities, and wonderful people. Remember the UK was still fighting post-war austerity in the mid-60's.

Since I have maintained a close liason, and have owned property, and visited frequently over the years. Lived in Florida for 5 years in the 90's.

OK, very inclined to be pro-USA, ok ?

Now, here's the thing. There is a HUGE difference between what we may think of a country's people, and what we may feel about it's government, and especially it's foreign policy.

The problem is that since the end of WW II, the US has taken over the role of 'world policeman' that was previously by the Brits, under the auspices of the British Empire. This has not been helped by the fact that the US has invaded over 50 sovereign territories since 1945.

The current situation is that the first 'Gulf War' was staged in an atmosphere of 'rescue the poor, invaded, Kuwaitis', and everybody likes to be seen to be 'helping', all well and good. But what happened after is that tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, mainly children, died under the ten year + embargo, and then this illegal invasion was cooked up by Bush and his controllers, and even sucked in the mongrel Blair, and it would be practically impossible to convey the extraordinary sight of a British Labour government forcing through an aggressive warfare action to an American.

Americans may not even realise that, in order to approve the UK side of the invasion, the Blair government would have technically fallen, had not he received almost unanimous support from his opposition, which isn actually a mockery of the whole principle of the so-called democratic process in the UK.

So...this invasion was not only enormously unpopular in the UK, but also there was a sense of Bush leading Blair along by the nose. Not good.

Since then it has only gone from bad to worse.

And, most significantly, American citizens are very much on the defensive, considering all of the invective raised against their actions overseas. Additionally, the media hype, some would say propaganda, has really laid on thick this cr*p about 'if you're not with us, you're against us', which does heighten the 'siege' mentality on the domestic front in the US.

When Brits express their dislike of certain aspects of the US please try to understand that this has far more to do with your actions of 'State', than you as individuals.

In general the much vaunted 'special relationship' still exists...indeed how could it not ? But it has been somewhat strained by events.

Also............truth be told, Americans don't help the situation by saying things like "We saved your *sses in WW II", that's just plain stupid, and not remotely, historically, accurate, WW II was fought, desperately, for 3 years before the USA joined the fray, mostly by the USSR and the UK. The final victory over Hitler and Nazism was mostly due to the horrific sacrifice made by the Soviet people, and whether Americans like it or not, those are the facts.

Further silliness, as seen above, that Brits are 'jealous' of US 'freedoms', and standard of living, are just nonsense, and stating that kind of provocative garbage also doesn't help your image in the slightest.

We are cousins, we are family, and, as in most families, we squabble and fight amongst ourselves, but please try to remember, that we are entitled to a point of view, and Brits are generally fairly well-informed about world events, and their opinions, on the whole, are not based on blind bias, or prejudice, but on a fair appraisal of a given situation.

If we seem critical, then look to the large body of dissent within the US, and listen to their concerns as well.

Above all read your Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the many notes left by the 'Founding Fathers' and wonder at the high wisdom of their several entreaties to future generations not to get embroiled in 'foreign adventures'.

The last war on the scale of Iraq was Vietnam, this one looks horribly like ending, not the same way, but worse.

These are the things that cause non-US citizens to appear critical, almost no-one finds fault with life within the borders of the USA, and quite right, what you guys do there is entirely up to you. Outside it would be well to remember that the USA only amounts to 5 % of the total world population.

OK, end of rant, I hope that this answers your question, and that it, at least in part, explains what might appear to be a puzzling situation.

I think once you have been on this site long enough you will find there is a lot of bitching from American's about Brits,usually teenage fools that know nothing about History.

Theres nothing worse than,we saved your as.s',Brits are miserable,Brits are jealous of us,We are the best country in the world,We saved the world,The world can't survive without us,We American's are the greatest,the rest of the world sucks.I think you get my point,you have to laugh,i just put it down to immaturity form both parties as the retorts are just as bad,me included.

People who hate Americans are probably just lonely and mean.

I personally love America and Americans and I've only spent 3 days in New York. Everyone there was so friendly and polite, it restored my faith in humanity.

Please don't take those insults personally, most of us are more open minded and more annoyed at our own leaders.

I try not to generalise against individuals because of whatever culture or group they belong to. However, I suspect anti-american feeling is due to the following things:

George Bush

Creationism

The bible belt

Capital punishment (illegal here)

American English

Fox tv

Ironically enough, people who take these issues as a reason to dislike Americans are as ignorant and closed minded as the actual individuals responsible for giving your country such a bad name.

And you were almost guilty of it yourself - it's not the British that dislike Americans, it's just some idiots that happen to be British (or French, or Canadian or etc etc etc). But you put in enough details for me not to take that generalisation seriously....

there are a lot of Europeans that are mad that U.S. of A. won the cold war maybe that has something to do with it.

myself I still think that the Brits are our cousins from across the pond and don't take what they feel right now personal.