Americans

I have no problems with americans, i love their accents and the outgoing nature of people I see on tv. Why roll eyes or make disparaging remarks. I would love to meet an american

I have never been to America but, when I meet American people, they often seem very friendly and outgoing people. It's a big country so there must be all sorts of people there, nice and nasty. Pretty much like most places really!

I don't think people should make disparaging remarks about whole sections of society anywhere and they certainly ought to be careful on this site, since it seems people from all over the place read and contribute to it.

i realize when the term americans is used it's referring to the united states but north america is made up of 23 countries.
i was born in the usa, have family who came from canada,scotland and scandinavia.i have traveled all over the world and love it all.
i am sure canadians cringe when the"it must be an americam thing"comments appear.
we have a landmass that could tuck england inside one state ,our population is about 5xs that of the uk.and much more diverse racially and ethinically. so yes there are all sorts of people here.unfortunately what usually makes it across the pond is the bad and nasty.

we love our familys ,we love to cook all sort of food including foods of the world,there are thousands of religions,beliefs and creeds.just like the rest of the world.we want peace love and to save this big blue planet.
we are varied but the same.and always happy to make new friends.

I`ve only been to America once, but was struck by how polite everyone was.

You can spot eye rolls on an internet site?

Respect!

I think the disparaging remarks are mainly aimed at Trump.

It's compulsory allowed.

we mostly all roll our eyes at trump
have since the 80s.tomorrow is a midterm election for other offices should be interesting.

Our DD and family have been living in US for just over 12 months and they have a great lifestyle. When we visited we experienced courtesy and good service, Americans work hard, they have to pay for lots of services we take for granted and have far fewer annual holidays than in Europe. I do not admire their political system, but then I am not sure ours is much better, but I believe we have to accept results of democratic elections and wait with interest to hear the result of the mid term elections in the US.

I roll my eye at Trump, too. Can’t wait to vote in the midterms tomorrow.

I really hope that the mid term election gives Trump a big fright. However, with his talent for deluding himself I suspect he'll just call it fake news and carry on as usual. Good luck America!

The Conservative party is in thrall to American business attitudes. Business is the God, wealth is wonderful and no time for the losers.

However nice individual Americans are, the political and social attitudes so many of them espouse are not.

We’re off to the States next week to visit DS and family. We love it there and the people are always so friendly and welcoming - apart from the Homeland Security guards at JFK when you arrive! I understand that there are a lot of Trump supporters in the rural areas but those we meet in New York and New Jersey definitely don’t seem in favour.

Americans and Trump are the least of my worries ! I have nothing against either.

Yep, it’s Trump!

And the followers at his rallies.

I’ve only been to the western side of the States, but loved it. Especially San Diego. I would say though that there are a lot of people in the Mid West who seem very naive and have a tendency to leave guns lying around in the back of their pickup trucks, but they’re still very nice people!

I know one thing and that is that those who emigrated from here to live/settle in the States have done far better than if they'd stayed in this country !
My daughter has a friend who lives just outside Albany and has not long moved house to the most beautiful 5 bed home imaginable,with one b/room reserved for my daughter when she stays there.

We had postings in two large Nato headquarters and had many American friends with while we kept in touch down the years. One couple particularly, who settled in Norfolk, we were very close to. They were all very sociable and hospitable. If I have a problem with Americans it is with their obsession with firearms. I’ve never been to America but my daughter and her family have just spent a week in New York and they loved the people there. Everyone they approached was very helpful. Try finding that in London these days!

Marylou, here's hoping that the comments here reassure you that there isn't hate for Americans here in the UK or on gransnet. I haven't seen any respect or affection for Mr T here, or indeed anywhere in the UK. He's a loathsome, dangerous, narcissistic bully but somehow he has a fan base. Fingers crossed that the mid terms shake him up. I don't believe anything will put a dent in his self belief sadly. I also increasingly believe it doesn't matter what he does, his fan base will blame the Swamp or the Fake Media .

It seems that anything/anyone deemed American is met with eye rolls and disparaging remarks. I thought this was an international site. Why the nastiness

Would you like to give examples Marylou?
I am sceptical of your reasoning with the possible exception of a type of DIL/MIL from Hell anecdote of which there recently seem to be more than a few from across the Pond.

I agree Marylou I have on a couple of occasions asked posters not to generalise, this seems to happen only with Americans. It's not confined to Trump either. Comments have been along the lines of 'all Americans are loud and brash' All Americans are insular'
' Americans are generally less intelligent than other nationalities '.
There are people with faults and different ideals everywhere and we shouldn't generalise.

I even like the down to earth Aussies too. And the French. It depends upon your attitude towards them and I've got on with many " foreigners " . I have no problem at all.

I have met many Americans, been there a few times and am in a book club which has many USA members and have made lots of on line friends. I have had nothing but courtesy, friendship and fun with all.

I have been to America quite a few times and have always found them to be lovely people. I think Americans per se get associated with some of the more negative things from their country that have floated across the pond, fast food outlets, certain practices such as "school proms, baby showers etc that could be deemed excessive. America has an enormous influence in the world and parts of their culture are everywhere, so much so, that one can get fed up with it. My perception is that some countries in Europe, France and Italy are more resistant to being homogenized in quite the same way, but of course a common language is not doubt factor with us. McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut etc haven't been great additions to any town once you are over the age of 14.

common language is NO doubt a factor.

Can't say I've noticed any anti American sentiment.

There is some antipathy to American 'imports' which strike many as over-commercialised or 'grabby' - e.g. all the Halloween merchandise and 'baby showers' , but that's rather different.

There do still seem to be some vestiges of the post war anti-Americanism, both in the UK and even here in Europe. ("Overpaid, over-sexed and over here"). For many, their only experience was with the GIs, who were young and inexperienced and only here for the beer, not at all interested in where they were (there were anecdotal tales that some of them couldn't even point out on a map where they were posted.)

I have not found this to be the case and have often met Americans who know more than the locals about local history/culture. Or they have taught themselves some other specialist subject and are extremely knowledgable and a joy to talk to.

As has already been said, there are lots of them back home, though. Some are nice, some are not, just like anywhere else. I'm certainly doing my bit to stand up for them if needed, as I grew up with an extremely bigoted father who was anti-everything except Germans and Scots, and towards the end of his life he even started to turn against the Scots!

His attitude was so ridiculously extreme that it made it clear to my sister and me that it was really stupid to make generalisations and denegrate an entire nation or other random group of people.