I have been living in Australia for 10 years now and have had to cop a lot of casual, knee jerk anti Americanism. And, you know what? It’s offensive not to mention hypocritical. Those of you who read this blog pretty much already know that I’m no flag toting patriotic “God Bless America” wanker. I know my country of origin is fucked up for many reasons and rapidly getting even more fucked up. I don’t harbour any illusions that my country is some sort of land of milk and honey that does no wrong. I can complain about America right along with most people and I understand where anti American sentiment can stem from. But there are certain people (a whole lot of you Australians, whether you think so or not) that automatically denigrate America in ways that you would never dare do so to any other country. The reason you wouldn’t dare demonize any other country in that way is because it is offensive, insensitive and racist. So why is it ok to do it to the US? Yes, the US is predominantly white so the racist* argument would be hard to hold up. But that doesn’t change the offensiveness. This sort of thing happens across all sorts of subjects but the one I notice the most is language and accents.
Just now on Twitter, I noticed some people I was following having a conversation about the correct way to spell “premie” (as in, a premature baby). The fact that Americans say “preemie” was mentioned. I jumped in only to say that the reason Americans say that is just an accent thing. We pronounce “premature” “pree-mature” as opposed to the Australian/English habit of pronouncing it “preh-mature.” I also pointed out that “mum” vs “mom” is accent related yet it’s reflected in the spelling so go figure. I then got served with some snotty comment along the lines of “if it’s American then it’s wrong.” I pointed out how offensive that statement was and I got served with yet another snotty dismissal of all things American.
Here’s the thing: Accents are not wrong, they are simply different ways of pronouncing words. Different is not Wrong. Accents fascinate me because they seem so random and weird. I always wonder how one group of people speaking the same language as another group of people came to pronounce things so drastically differently. Even groups who live right next to each other have radically different accents! I find some accents beautiful and some of them make my teeth itch. Honestly, even I find a really strong US accent quite jarring especially after having lived overseas for so long. So, I get that some accents are just not palatable to certain people but they are not Wrong, for crying out loud! Neither are different spellings. They are DIFFERENT and they are all ENGLISH (well, in this context I’m only talking about English). I would have gotten pretty upset (and justifiably so) if any of my teachers had marked me down for spelling “colour” the British way as opposed to the US “color.” The same goes for if my kids happen to spell something the American way.
Language is a funny thing. It’s always changing. The English we speak now is nothing like the English spoken in Shakespeare’s time, for example. These days it seems to change even faster (I’m no linguist, that’s just my personal perception of how quickly words seem to make it into the dictionary). Accents add another layer to this. It’s all pretty fascinating and a good topic of discussion, really. But to say that everything about US English is Wrong and therefore should be ridiculed is ignorant. I wonder what the people who behave like this would do if an American went off about how Australian English is Wrong and deserves ridicule? You can bet they’d get pretty offended and justifiably so.
The language thing isn’t the only time this casual anti Americanism happens around me, to me, or about me. It’s uncomfortable on top of offensive. How should I act? If I stand up for myself and my country, I am seen as an overly patriotic American wanker. Often I have just joined in or let it go for the sake of social harmony. But, that is pretty cowardly on my part and after a while, it gets to me. These things should not be ok**. Part of what’s wrong with America is Americans’ perceived arrogance and ignorance of the world. And you know what? That’s fair enough because, as an American, I know that the American government (and many Americans, collectively) can come off as arrogant and ignorant of the world. It shits me too. But what shits me even more is that the people displaying the casual knee jerk anti Americanism are BEING JUST AS ARROGANT AND IGNORANT OF THE WORLD as the Americans that they complain about! So, get off your high horse, you arrogant fuckwits! Not everything Americans say, do, spell, eat, or think is shit. Quit acting like you’re so much smarter and worldly than an entire country of people just because you happen to live somewhere else. In short, grow up.
* I almost want to call it a sort of cultural-ism. Does that work? Can I make that a word?
** I’d just like to note here that I am not entirely humourless. I can take a joke and I do find most America jokes pretty funny. So don’t give me the “Australians take the piss” lecture. I know they do and I love it. What I’m talking about is not your usual light hearted Australian piss taking. Some jokes go beyond that and have too much animosity behind them to be funny.
ah I know of which you speak 😉
I’m also amused by accents, also the fact that my accent changes depending on who I’m talking to and hanging with….tis a funny world.
bless xx
My accent totally changes depending on who I’m talking to! And, oddly enough, it changed the most (more Australian) only after I had kids even though I’d been here for 5 years before having them. It’s just so weird.
I notice this about myself too. I’m often asked which part of England I’m from because my Australian accent is not very broad, but I can still unconsciously do a pretty good “bogan” accent if I’m speaking to blokes at a car show.
My husband is Australian and is always asked where he’s from in England too, but he does the BEST bogan accent. Of course with him it is conscious and it’s hilarious…I used to think he was just making the things up that he said, but then I heard more and more Australians speak like that in passing. Anyway, I just find this accent morphing thing very interesting because my stupid accent never seems to budge. I always sound like a person who grew up on the US/Canadian border. Boo.
Thank you so much for explaining that the English language Americans speak and write is different because of pronounciation and because it was standardized by Noah Webster in 1828; thus, the difference in spelling. I met my Australian fiancée through the internet. He spent 7 months in the U.S., where he admits, all the Americans he met were friendly, welcoming and never rude. He did mention that Americans speak louder then Australians. I’ve been in Australia for 2 months and have found that Australians may speak lower, but it is often to hide a spiteful remark disguised as a joke. So, in my case, I have found Australians, in general, unwelcoming and certainly not interested in getting to know me as a person. One of my fiancee’s aunt recently gloated over the fact that America was going through a recession while Australia was flourishing. I just smiled politely and said Americans are hard-working people and we’ll pull ourselves up once again. I then asked her if she ever would like to visit America, which is a very diverse country in every respect filled with caring, welcoming people. She responded that she’s been to England, Ireland, Germany, Thailand and perhaps another half dozen more countries but “goodness no, never had any interest whatsoever in visiting America,” she said with laughter. Amazing! I’m truly astounded how the U.S. is so quickly dismissed and so easily mocked. This has been a hard couple of months and I truly am rethinking making Australia my home. My fiancée never noticed his countrymen’s unfriendliness until recently and it has disturbed him as well. America’s welcoming arms beckons us both.
Perhaps a blog post that complains about people negatively stereotyping an entire nation is not the best place to make a comment that negatively stereotypes a whole nation.
To be fair, a lot of that *is* the Aussie sense of humour. You might notice that they take the piss out of themselves as much as they do anyone else in most cases. I do think a lot of what we perceive to be rude is just a cultural difference in sense of humour/ideas of rudeness. It’s something I learned with time. But then, I’ve always had a pretty sarcastic streak so it might have been easier for me than others.
However, having said that, there are times when the America bashing goes further than they would go for many other countries. It’s the underlining assumption that America is fair game for more extreme bashing that grates on my nerves & causes me to explode every once in a while. Don’t give up on Australia altogether yet. There are many things that are better here and I can honestly say that, while I’m desperately homesick, I’m glad I live here and not there. Universal health care is one big plus.
I don’t understand why different = wrong to so many people. People can be so staunch about defending their own “right-ness”, and anyone who doesn’t do things their way frightens them, so they have to marginalise those different from them & make them wrong. (Is it ok that I spell marginalise with an “s”, not a “z” on your blog?! 😉 )
Re: America bashing, it makes no sense to tar everyone with the same brush, America is a huge country, with more variation in accents than Australia (which, granted, is just as huge, though with less people). I reckon there’s probably also a fairly large variation in personality types in a country with millions & millions of inhabitants. I could be wrong, it’s just a hunch…
Re: accent bashing, well it can be fun to play around with different pronounciations (my favourite is a thick kiwi accent cuzzy bro), and I think the point at which is goes too far, at which it’s not funny anymore, is when the whole different = wrong attitude comes into it.
On a slightly related note, I was sure I’d end up having children with someone who had a more exciting accent than me. It’s a bit of a disappointment to have made babies with another Australian 😉
My exact comment on twitter was this:
“It’s easy. Whichever is the American way, it’s the wrong way. ;p”
It’s a joke. I even put an emoticon on the end to highlight it was to be taken in a lighthearted comment.
It’s a joke because regarding spelling in Australia, it’s actually true – Australia follows British spelling, not American spelling. The joke bit was for exactly the reason you point out – people always say the American way is wrong. I know explaining a joke instantly makes it not funny but there you go.
It had nothing to do with accents. It wasn’t a spiteful comment (I even followed internet rules by using the emoticon – sheesh). It wasn’t knee jerk anti-Americanism, it was a joke based on anti-Americanism.
There is truth in the statement that no matter what you write, someone on the internet will take offense.
Ok. I get that now and I’m sorry that I overreacted. But, surely you can see where the overreaction came from? I cop this kind of stuff constantly and have done over 10 years. Many times it’s meant as a joke but a joke with teeth. Sometimes it’s hard to tell when it has teeth and when it doesn’t. Sometimes, the sheer volume of those jokes I get served with just gets to me and I snap. Especially when I’m in pain, tired and grumpy. Probably all things that mean I shouldn’t be on teh interwebz trying to interact with people, actually …
Oh, and for the record, I wasn’t even talking about spelling as I’m not sure “premie” even has a *correct* spelling since I’d class it as slang (I’m probably wrong). I was just explaining why Americans pronounce it “preemie” since Treacy added “for some reason” to her comment about it.
Yeah I was cool with that. My second comment probably pushed you over the edge then, yeah? I couldn’t resist, sorry!
Can we be friends again? You are far more attractive than me.
Flattery will get you nowhere. I demand gifts of chocolate and wine. 😉
I have the pronunciation argument with Andrew all the time… he says cookoo clock, I say cuh koo clock. I say it is only pronounced “his” way because of the way the English and Europeans pronounce things. Duck is dook, f*ck is fook etc. I say duck and fuck so in my extremely-not-a-language-nerd way, I say it is cuck oo.
There ends my insightful addition to your post 😛
A-men to this. I get the same thing. I’ve been told that I am 1) dumb just because I am American, 2) not allowed to express opinions about famous Australians because I should just “love it or leave it”, 3) unable to fend for myself because American females are far more helpless than Australian female….the list goes on and one. In spite of the fact that I am quite un-American in most ways, my accent leaves me open to attack all of the time. I have even been verbally abused in front of public meetings. And it all, as you say, is okay because my country is F*@!ed. Well, I am sorry, but I have never received a satisfactory response when I brought up the fact that most of these criticisms can be applied on a smaller scale to Australia. And frankly, the ‘taking the piss’ argument is tired. As my Australian friends point out, this argument is used to justify bad behaviour all around. A guy just comes back from the mines and lifts up a girl’s skirt or smacks her ass and slurs something filthy? “Oy, mate, he’s just come back from the mines. He’s just takin’ the piss.” No, he’s not. He’s being a jerk, and it’s not okay. “Taking the piss” is only funny when everyone’s laughing…and believe me, I love a good joke about America when it’s true. It’s when they forget that I, as an individual, am a human being and not the human embodiment of an /idea/ of America they have (most people who say these things have no direct experience with America other than through television or the few Americans they have met) that I draw the line. Being a bigot is not okay, even if it’s railing against a country that everyone can agree has done some serious damage in the world. I am not my country.
Phew, sorry about that. Sensitive topic for me.
P.S. I saw a comment you posted on Twitter about the royal wedding (I think it was you, it was labelled the Ausmerican) in my local paper. It was odd!
Say what? My tweet was in a paper? Which tweet? Which paper?
I know this is a bit late (about a month, yeah), but I was searching the net and just happened to come across this blog post.
Firstly, I think the word you’re looking for is Ethnocentrism, or, in adjective form, ethnocentric, meaning that people of a certain ethnicity feel a sense of superiority over people of a different ethnicity.
Secondly, I completely agree with your point. Yes, the United States has its issues, but what country doesn’t? Every nation on this planet has at least one issue created by large groups of people living together. No system of government, no law, no single ANYTHING is going to serve a conglomeration of millions of people and be able to act in the best interest of every last one of them. It’s a fact of life. It is also true of generalizations. I was riding the metro the other day, and listened to two girls converse about Egypt. One was insistent that Egypt couldn’t be in Africa and the other girl was incensed that the former thought that Egypt was its own country. I could do nothing but face palm. Yes, there are people like that in the United States, but there are people like that in ever nation. A French girl I once met thought that Boston was in the United Kingdom. It is trendy, at this moment in time, for citizens of other nations to harbor ill-informed, grossly exaggerated, and increasingly negative opinions of the United States and its citizens. Perhaps, this is particularly a sore spot for me as I went to Germany a few summers ago and people were incensed that I did not speak German, and they just wrote it off as the fact that I was from the United States. What I wish that they would have understood is that no, I do not speak German, but I do speak fluent Greek, Polish, and English. I am proficient in French and Spanish, and I have been Studying Russian in school for a year now. (This is mostly due to the fact that I have family members who speak nothing but Greek and Polish, not the United States public school system…) They thought that this made it okay to be rude to both my brother (twelve at the time!) and myself. Just because I do not speak a particular language does not mean that I embody the trumped up American stereotype of a self-absorbed, geographical isolationist. Most school systems in non-English speaking countries require their students to learn English, as it is one of the most important languages for business. In the United States, we choose our foreign language. Just because people of other nations speak English that does not mean that we are required to reciprocate by learning every other language that the world has to offer. There is such a double standard, and it gets to be quite old after a while. I should point out that there were several very lovely Germans that we met, including those with whom we stayed. They were not all rude egoists
In conclusion, I find it rather funny that those who find Americans to be closed-minded and ignorant of the rest of the world are equally as unwilling to accept that their biased and occasionally unfounded stereotypes may not be the letter of the law. Yes, the United States is flawed, but so is every other nation in the world. I may not agree with what my country does, but in the words of Senator Carl Schurz in his 1872 reply regarding Imperialism: “The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, ‘My country, right or wrong.’ In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” I may not be a flag toting Patriot, but it is still my country, and as such, the blatant ethnocentrism in its regard is something I find to be distressing.
Sorry that was so long, it was just a sore spot.
I’m coming at this from the other end – an Australian living in the US. In my experience, Americans are MUCH nicer than Australians, hospitable and genuinely interested in Australia. A bit too sure of their own superiority, sometimes, but actually really nice for the most part.
What just boggled me is that people would say horrible anti-American things *knowing* I have an American partner (ugh, the jokes about fat Americans). Like, I’m supposed to laugh as you mock my love? Piss off mate.
(having said all that, I do really miss the indifferent, bored Aussie customer service. The “have a nice day” fake friendliness for tips really bothers me, just pay a decent minimum wage and let servers skip the emotional work)
Yes, Americans are generally really nice/interested in people from overseas because it’s New! It’s Different! Whereas, Australians are like “You’re from overseas? Big deal. So’s half the neighbourhood.” LOL
I’ve noticed that the indifferent, bored Aussie customer service is starting to shift to the more American fake friendliness recently. It irks me. Woolies even seems to have a standard set of “friendly” questions the cashiers have to ask. It’s creepy. I hate the fake friendliness.
Right, there’s a lot of that curiosity in the US. People ask me random questions, they have such a small frame of reference. And the accent’s mostly considered charmingly foreign..
I think that Australians often *think* they know the US cos they have a telly, so they say really stupid shit about it. I live here, and I still struggle to really understand the culture much at all – the longer I’m here, the less sure I am. Especially since I’m getting my impressions of “America” through Louisiana, which has its own complicated relationship to the rest.
Ack, that’s really sad about Woolies. Leave the poor kids alone… Just nod and smile, that’s all I need!
Very much sympathise with this.
I’m dual-citizen, so is my brother, mum’s American, dad’s Australian, we’ve lived in both places for extended periods and the anti-Americanism was frustrating as hell growing up. Its like there is this poisonous vortex where like cold and hot air merging into a cyclone, the culture of piss-taking smacks head on into the culture of tall-poppy syndrome and you get this vile little storm. Doesn’t help that this American accent is so hard to work past! Sixteen years later and Australians still reckon I sound American (and Americans say I sound Australian, can’t win, haha).
But I’ve copped it, my brother’s copped it, my mother’s copped it, probably part of the reason we’ve all grown up to be homebodies and I ended up marrying another US citizen.