That's "unamerican"

[gibboss28]

Only people I've heard use this term are people I wouldn't have much to do with.

 

[Ulvai]

I heard similar phrases In every country I lived in (I move around a lot). But mostly it would be more like "We don't do things this way here" or "Who do you think we are? Unspecifiedians? Thats THEIR thing!" Unspecifiedia more often then not being US.
My theory is that uniting US citizens, lifestyle etc under umbrella "American", and thus, labeling everything else Un-American is a way to deal with a fact that US citizens don't have a common ethnic background, their country being founded mostly by british, but gathering a lot of other ethnicities - Norwegians, Irish, Jews, Russians, Germans, French, Chinese, Italian, African... Also, US has a very short history. I literally lived in a house older then USA.

 

[Dr_Pie]

It is probably phrased like
"This is a disgrace to the British people blah blah"

Generally this. I never hear 'un-British', but what you said is bandied about a lot.

"Disgrace to British people." "Degradation of British way of life." "Disparagement of Britain as a whole."

Those 3 I've heard recently, but never 'un-British'.

 

[The Cheshire]

Being "un-Spanish" is probably a good thing over here. Let's be something else.

 

[Hgame]

They might call it "Un-English". I don't know if anyone uses they're nationality as a term but for Americans the term American doesn't just mean living there, it means... you have super powers or something, I've never been too clear on that.

Un-democratic, Un-christian, but I haven't heard or said Un-Irish.

From what I've heard Un-Irish means sober . JK

OP: The only people that ever call things Un-British is the BNP, who everyone ignores, especially since Barking & Dagenham, the one seat they might have had a chance of winning, resoundingly kicked them out.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

un-Australian is said way too many times on Today Tonight.

That's pretty much out version of Fox News I think.

what about 60 minutes?
OT: Yea un australian gets used to much here I've been called un australian because I hate beaches

un-Australian is said way too many times on Today Tonight.

That's pretty much out version of Fox News I think.

what about 60 minutes?
OT: Yea un australian gets used to much here I've been called un australian because I hate beaches

yeah I think 60 minutes has gone down in terms of credibility

was it them or a current affiar doing the story on

"Asian kids are smaerter than your kids!!! your doing it wrong Australian parents! woooo!!"

yea Im pretty sure it was 60 minutes thats doing that story

i remember i lost faith in today tonight when they did that story on a bunch of dudes who pooled their resources to buy homes being sold off by the banks who called themselves the vulture club. Apparently they were bad, all i thought during the story was 'the house is being sold anyway, its just business.'

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

I was listening to radio in the car today, and I heard on the political news segment (I dread politics, but I was too busy driving to turn it off) play a speech from some senator that was calling taxes, opponents, laws, etc. "Un-American". It made me wonder, does something similar happen in other countries? I find it hard to imagine a member of the British parliament calling a law "un-British". So for those of you in other countries or who follow foreign politics, is there a similar accusation to being "Un-American" in other countries? Or is this a uniquely American phenomenon?

IMO Americans are rather excessively patriotic (I'm not hating on Americans here, I like the United States a lot but this is one gripe I have). Here in Europe strong patriotism is generally seen as a bit nationalist/fascist and is frowned upon (probably because of the two world wars). I'm 34 and British and don't ever recall hearing the term "un-British" being used. We might say unethical, or undemocratic, but not un-British (that would be jingoistic [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingoism]).

 

[googleback]

its a stupid word. In my opinion patriotism is a disease. where ever you are. It's just a way of closing your eyes so you don't have to see. America isn't the worst at this though. I cant imagine parents putting their children around Obama as human shields like they're doing with Gaddafi in Libya.

its a screwed up world we live in!

 

[googleback]

Un-British? i don't know punching a bulldog maybe

stuffing a Corgi in a red letter box and setting it on fire haha

 

[ten.to.ten]

Certain people (read: idiots) in my country refer to anything they don't like as "Un-Australian"

Yeah but isnt Australia a fairly xenophobic country?

Unfortunately I don't have a link but I know that there was a study published relatively recently that said that Australia was actually one of the lest racist/xenophobic countries, and I think that if you look at our immigration and asylum programs, they're among the most generous in the entire world on a percentage basis. I think the reason why Australia gets a bad rap is because Australian racists are usually a lot more shameless than say, American racists, who're more likely to pay lip service to equality while they're out in public but then in the privacy of their own homes will talk about the blacks and Mexicans ruining the country, and so on.

Thats a statement that kinda gets thrown around a lot.
Theres a few issues with that, Australia is a fairly big place, and distance between areas is absolutely massive.
I live in Melbourne, i hear up north (and i don't mean to offend) that Queensland has a bit of reputation for that kind of more closed off sort of mentality (I wouldn't know first hand, just a stereotype)
Here in Melbourne, it is an absolute massive mixed bag of nationality, and despite all the jokes we make (because that's Australian!) I think we do a pretty awesome job at getting along.
We're just a whole lot less PC about it.

For example, i come from a Greek background (first generation here). At first during primary school and the like, i was teased for it and used to get really angry. I found once i stopped getting angry that i wasn't really getting teased for it, that people were just fucking around.
I eventually joined in throwing inaccurate and wild racial slurs to my 'attackers' with a smile on my face, and found that that was the cure for it all.
Any other Melbourne guys/Australians have any thoughts on that?

Rather than a state vs. state problem, I very much believe that racism is a city vs. country problem. Brisbane is less racist than Sydney, for example (and again I'm real sorry that I don't have the study on me), but I think it's because Queensland is the only state in the country where people who live in the capital city don't outnumber the rest of the state that the whole state is perceived as being backwards and redneck. It's also easier in Queensland to pass discriminatory laws because Queensland's parliament has no upper house and rural Queensland is overrepresented.

But anyway, back to the OP, I have heard un-Australian being used a lot and in a similar way as un-American, and I don't remember ever noticing another country using un-[X country] in the same way.

Un-Australian makes a lot less sense than un-American too if you ask me, America has such a strong culture of liberty that it's pretty understandable that when someone says X law is "un-American" it almost always refers to a law passed that curtails civil liberties. Un-Australian on the other hand can mean absolutely anything anyone wants it to because Australia's culture is a lot harder to define.

 

[Woodsey]

They say something similar over here, and it makes me cringe.

Who gives a flying fuck if its "Un-British"? The only thing that makes me think of is pig-headed, racist attitudes.

If you want to say something's undemocratic, say its un-fucking-democratic, don't try and provoke some sick "national pride" that the BNP use to bash anyone whose skin is tinted a little bit browner.

People only say something's un-British if it has the whiff of another culture about it.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Actually, recently I found a case of Labour accusing the current government of being "Un-British", I think concerning children being made to pay to use a playground. Didn't particularly see anything remotely definable as British in the matter, but ah well.

Edit: Hm, checking the sources I can't find where it was said. I possibly got it from somewhere else, but I definitely remember seeing it, mainly because the term "Un-British" is so unused, which got my attention.

 

[Dogstile]

In Canada we just call it politics. Which we than mock on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. And our other Political satire shows

Roughly this in the UK.

"You're one of England's mistakes"

"You shame our country"

That sort of things. Silly politicians don't realise they're arguing because people in the country want said changes.

 

[SuperNova221]

It's just to appeal to patriots, because a lot of not so clever people see patriotism as an acceptable substitute for reason.

 

[supermariner]

We don't really hear things like 'un-british' in our politics
i think the reason it may happen in america is because of patriotism

In Britain we have a sense of humour about our respective countries
i think we all secretly think its a bit crap but we kind of like it because of it's flaws
in america you have a much larger section of society that passionately loves your country indefinately
so by saying that something is 'un-american' a politician can instantly gain some support from that side of the population

It's much like the Peter Griffin speech from family guy
'Anyone who does not want to go to war is gay'
so bu saying that if you oppose this law you are un-american. Those same America loving patriots may immediately take that point of view just because

this is all just a theory though

 

[DaJoW]

"Un-swedish" is used as a positive thing - though it can be very negative, it's never used that way. If a person, music, event or tradition is "un-swedish", it's a positive thing. If it's something more clinical (the example used by a Swedish comedian was an "un-swedish meat storage") or something which can be objectively viewed as good or bad, it's bad, though that's generally moot since nobody uses it that way.

 

[Shycte]

Well, the racists sure are complaing about everything being non-swedish. But other than that no.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

It made me wonder, does something similar happen in other countries? I find it hard to imagine a member of the British parliament calling a law "un-British".?

One of my favourite quotes comes from a British naval general before the first world war, when discussing the rise of submarines as a military naval vessel, he called submarine warfare:
"Underhanded, unfair, and damned unenglish."

I think it's a brilliant quote.

Apart from that, I've never heard anyone call any law or person unbritish or unenglish, but we do have a group of right wing extremists called the British Nationalist Party, who are against all immigrants and non-caucasion people living in Britain, and they would spout about protecting england and english heritage from foreigners, but they are mad and no one listens to them (Unless you are from Barnsely)

 

[trollnystan]

"Un-swedish" is used as a positive thing - though it can be very negative, it's never used that way. If a person, music, event or tradition is "un-swedish", it's a positive thing. If it's something more clinical (the example used by a Swedish comedian was an "un-swedish meat storage") or something which can be objectively viewed as good or bad, it's bad, though that's generally moot since nobody uses it that way.

Ninja'd. Darn it. But yeah; what he said. We tend to embrace things that are unswedish in the way of culture etc. I guess we're scared we'll fall back to our evil ways otherwise... Seriously, we've been pretty bad in the past.