By Sarah Pye
Staff Writer
As an American living in Britain, it is hard not to feel conspicuous. The way I talk, the way I dress, even the way I eat seems to be under continuous observation by my posh European counterparts.
The situation is compounded when I find myself in public among a group of Americans. Alone, one American stands out enough. As a group, we can be detected from miles away. I’ve noticed this especially with other American groups I’ve encountered around London: They’re loud, obnoxious and they seem to be making no special effort to blend in.
This is not to say, of course, that I am ashamed of my American heritage. In fact, I’m rather proud to be one.
But what I really want to know is, is my Americanness overly offensive to the British? Am I entirely unwelcome here? Am I dismissed as detached and unintelligent? Or am I welcomed as a person of a different yet acceptable culture, with my own thoughts and views to contribute?
The answer, of course, cannot be summed up in one sweeping generalization. Surely there are those who find it “fashionable” to bash Americans and perpetuate the stereotype that Americans are superficial, naïve and imperialistic.
This view is especially prevalent in British universities, as Ariel Hessayon, Pepperdine London professor of Humanities, pointed out. He is reminded of a joke in which America is compared with a carton of yogurt. The difference between the two? If left alone for 225 years, the yogurt would develop a culture.
But he was quick to add that though this is a stereotype, it is by no means one that all British people accept as fact. In his dealings with Americans, and especially American students, Hessayon said he has found them to be enthusiastic to learn and able to see many ways to work around problems.
But these are people who have specifically chosen to put themselves in daily contact with American students. It serves as reasonable that they have some interest in being around us. What of the other citizens that we, as American students, encounter from day to day here in London?
As Elizabeth Wurtzel, an American writing for The London Times, pointed out in a Sept. 23 article: “I’m sick and tired of this anti-U.S. bigotry.” She said she is often treated as if America “were a country full of stupid idiots.”
I often feel this way as well, when a cashier is rolling her eyes at me as I struggle to count out correct change, a waiter looks at me in disbelief when I’m making special order requests on my dinner, or people in the Underground push past, annoyed, as I stare quizzically at the map.
I often feel like a stupid American. And some surely think I am. But the point is, others think that I am not, and that is what matters. And just as I wish for everyone here to give Americans a chance before writing us all off as lost and culture-free, I have to be sure not to generalize my new British neighbors as cold, snobbish, or whatever else happens to be the current fashionable stereotype of Englanders.
October 03, 2002
