Actually, we don't say that in Britain

[MadMechanic]

Now, in modern British English, it refers to any American.

I just call them seppos if they object to being called yanks.

Yet I've only ever had one English person complain about being called a pom/pommy... and their rationale, if you choose to call it such, was that everytime they heard it was in the middle of the phrase 'whinging pommy bastard'.

Forgive the ignorance but...seppos? I haven't heard that one.

I've yet to actually get called a pom, despite having Aussie and NZ relatives.
Does anyone else actually refer to the Brits as 'Poms'? In media (bad example, I know...) I've only ever heard it uttered by Aussies.

As for 'Yank' - round these 'ere parts, it seems to reference anyone from the US.

 

[nick n stuff]

i don't like tea, my teeth are alright, ive never said 'what what' and i dont have a bowler hat (although i do want one). when watching American TV shows and the British stereotype crops up i tell my butler to turn it off tell the chimney sweep to hurry the fuck up...Me old china.

 

[kurupt87]

Now, in modern British English, it refers to any American.

I just call them seppos if they object to being called yanks.

Yet I've only ever had one English person complain about being called a pom/pommy... and their rationale, if you choose to call it such, was that everytime they heard it was in the middle of the phrase 'whinging pommy bastard'.

Forgive the ignorance but...seppos? I haven't heard that one.

I've yet to actually get called a pom, despite having Aussie and NZ relatives.
Does anyone else actually refer to the Brits as 'Poms'? In media (bad example, I know...) I've only ever heard it uttered by Aussies.

As for 'Yank' - round these 'ere parts, it seems to reference anyone from the US.

Seppo = Septic Tank = Yank
Also popular because, like septic tanks, yanks are full of shit.
Basically the rude way to refer to an american.

I'm explaining a word and its definition, don't kill me!

Finally, as an Englishman, yank to me means any NA citizen, from redneck to alaskan.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Forgive the ignorance but...seppos? I haven't heard that one.

seppo = septic tank = yank

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Basically the rude way to refer to an american.

Not really, just rhyming slang.

 

[MadMechanic]

Basically the rude way to refer to an american.

Not really, just rhyming slang.

Haha, I've actually heard that before - but not seppo. I've heard it has seppers or stank. (Well, thats Yorkshire and Scotland for ya...)

I've heard another way some fellow Brits refer to Americans. "Double Blue". I'm assuming that you'll be able to work out why...
>_>

 

[Booze Zombie]

I find it funny how some people actually think my accent sounds, "bludy wut".

Uh, yeah... sure.

 

[notyouraveragejoe]

What about not understanding the difference between British and English?

This does piss me off. I'm not just British I'm specifically bloody English. Don't lump me with the Scots and the Welsh (no offence to the the Scots) I'm not one of them.

Considering how many different cultures, accents and dialects the British isles have, it's weird that there's only one stereotype for the whole country.

This too. I mean even in terms of accents alone you have so many. Cockney, Yorkshire, East Anglian, East Midlands, West Country, Scouse, Mancurian and Geordie to name but a few. I'd have a West Midlands accent had I grown up where I was born (random fact).

To compare:

Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmrg3owTRE&feature=related vs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lH2VqEmv8k

(And to add the rest of Britain we have: Scotland (I'd guess Edinburgh since it was taken from there but I"m no specialist in Scottish accents): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2PvMSBxeCo, Belfast {I'm assuming again not an expert} (Northern Ireland): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Msr1T8HuA

And Michael McIntyre on Wales: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSOaMmeiSZA

And other way round I hate it when people say all Americans are fat. No...no they're not. Some are, some aren't.

 

[titanium turtle]

As a British person I am jolly ticked-off by this.

likewise old bean- pip pip tally ho what what

 

[El Dingo]

American accents? WTF is that all about? We American's don't have accents. It's all you other crazy speaking people who have the accents!!!

 

[SecondmateFlint]

Ugh that's disgustingly patriotic! Unfortunately it's pretty true in some places. And the HUNTERS. The state I went to high school in had a day off every year for the first day of Deer Season.

Now if you'll excuse me, I see a buck outside my window that's still breathin'!

If you're referring to Ohio. A big reason that deer hunting is so big is because all of the predators big enough to prey on deer got displaced by humans. So hunting is the only thing that keeps them from overpopulating. Not to mention venison is friggin delicious. It's like beef, only better.

As far as stereotypes go, I'm a college kid who's never been outside of North America, and I don't drink, smoke or party.
Where did the stereotype of the "Boy Scout" come from? All my troop ever seemed to do was come up with creative ways to destroy stuff.

Nah I'm actually referring to Pennsylvania. And yeah I know that there's a lot of overpopulation, so I'm fine with deer hunting it's the hunters that annoy me (the PA ones at least). Bullets are better than starvation, it's just that everyone gets all crazy about it here. And yeah venison is pretty damn good.

And I'm the same. I'm a college kid who doesn't drink, smoke, or party either. I still find ways to have fun. And I think they're more fun without all that stuff. My personal opinion anyways.

 

[maninahat]

They call hookers in some parts of the US, "Chippys". A Chippy in the UK is a a fish and chip shop. This kind of mixup could have pretty awkward but hilarious results.

Where?

Calafornia, according to some Californian person.

 

[olijba]

As far as I know, I have never uttered "Cor Blimey Guvnor!" in common usage and not jest.

Also, I rarely drink tea, nor have a bowler hat with matching umbrella. Nor eat a diet of beef dripping with extra chips (that's fries to you lovely American folk)

However, I do often look down on the poor. But only because I'm tall and have dropped some change.

 

[mcgroobber]

Any time an american does a british accent

It's either Dick van Dyke-esque Cockney or some stupid quasi-posh (Pronounced Poe-sh)

AND STOP MISTAKING US FOR AUSTRALIANS

AND STOP MISTAKING THE AUSTRALIANS AS SOUTH AFRICANS

AND STOP CALLING THE NEW ZEALANDERS AUSTRALIAN

Good grief, is it THAT hard to understand?

i always think its funny when we do that, whenever any of us try to do an english accent they always seem to do a australian accent, but in our defense they are somewhat similar unless you have english friends like myself and watch foreign shows and movies yay for the flight of the conchords

 

[PhiMed]

First off, you can only call people from the East Coast Yanks

No, we can call everyone from the US yanks. It is our slang word for all of you. It doesn't matter if it originated from a word of yours (or even ours, I have no idea of the words origins) that only referred to a specific section of the population. Now, in modern British English, it refers to any American.

That's fine. I just probably wouldn't toss that word around if you ever visited the Southeastern United States. You probably wouldn't have time to explain yourself before someone got pissed.

 

[PhiMed]

They call hookers in some parts of the US, "Chippys". A Chippy in the UK is a a fish and chip shop. This kind of mixup could have pretty awkward but hilarious results.

Where?

Calafornia, according to some Californian person.

Huh... never heard that one before.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

That's fine. I just probably wouldn't toss that word around if you ever visited the Southeastern United States. You probably wouldn't have time to explain yourself before someone got pissed.

Those guys are still butthurt about losing the civil war eh?

 

[The Heik]

So I was watching Family Guy earlier and came across one of their rips at the British, which are usually pretty damn funny. But this one just annoyed me. Some guy who was supposed to be a stereotype referred to his bottom as his fanny. But yeah, in Britain, "fanny" kinda means "vagina". So I did get an extra laugh out of a man threatening to expose his vagina, but if you're going to take a rip at a stereotype, at least get it right

Don't worry, I do have a follow up question, I'm not just aimlessly posting Family Guy quotes. What's your favourite (or funniest) English (UK) / English (US) mix-up?

Wait, so fanny pack means......Oh you just made my day.

 

[PhiMed]

That's fine. I just probably wouldn't toss that word around if you ever visited the Southeastern United States. You probably wouldn't have time to explain yourself before someone got pissed.

Those guys are still butthurt about losing the civil war eh?

Some, yes. But even amongst those who aren't, there's still no love lost.

It's not exactly a unique occurrence in the world, though, when you have a situation in the past where entire towns lost their adult male population to a war. Go to a bar full of Turkish people and call someone "Greek". Go to a pub in Ireland and call someone "English". I doubt you'll get a friendly reaction.

 

[the_dancy_vagrant]

That's fine. I just probably wouldn't toss that word around if you ever visited the Southeastern United States. You probably wouldn't have time to explain yourself before someone got pissed.

Those guys are still butthurt about losing the civil war eh?

Some, yes. But even amongst those who aren't, there's still no love lost.

It's not exactly a unique occurrence in the world, though, when you have a situation in the past where entire towns lost their adult male population to a war. Go to a bar full of Turkish people and call someone "Greek". Go to a pub in Ireland and call someone "English". I doubt you'll get a friendly reaction.

Yep, in the southern USA yank/yankee referred to anyone born above the Mason-Dixon line and was almost always used in a negative connotation. You'll only really hear it said by older people, though; most people don't really care anymore. Sort of like how being called a communist in the 1950's was a huge, violence inducing insult and today would be more likely to confuse than enrage.