(Un)belonging

[nanila]

Last night, I went to a pub and had drinks with more Americans than I've seen at once - without being in the States - in a very long time.

I met a couple who were visiting the UK for a week. This was their last night in London before they flew home. I got to chatting with one of them and she said something about Budweiser being the redneck beer in America.

"I thought that was Pabst Blue Ribbon," I said.

"Oh no, that's something else," she replied. "You see, it's either Budweiser or Miller that gets served at American football games. They're not very nice. Not like your beer."

"Right," I said, warily, as it hit me that maybe she thought I was British. The pub was busy and we were having to shout, so I thought it was a mistake I could easily correct later.

Later, we went to the bar together. I offered to get the round and ordered our drinks. I figured that now that she'd heard me speak clearly, she would work out that I was not British.

Nope. She began explaining the rules of American football to me. "It's not like your football," she said, "because it's mostly played with your hands." I stared at her as she carried on blithely.

Still later, as the alcohol consumption level and voice volume increased, she leaned over and said, "Sorry if we're embarrassing you because we're so loud. You can blame it on us being American."

I have never felt so alienated from my own people in my life.

Comments

[tuzemi]

I suck at doing nuance online, apologies if I read this entirely wrong but it made me chuckle. Being mistaken for not-USA would have made my month.

[nanila]

I'm glad it made you chuckle. I was amused and baffled. And disinclined to do anything about it, so possibly also a little bit evil. ;)

[miss_s_b]

I like it when Americans try to explain American football or baseball to me: "ah, so it's like rugby/rounders, but with more padding because you're wussies?"

I'm bad and wrong, aren't I?

[gominokouhai]

"Oh yes. We have the same game, but it's called rounders and we only let our nine-year-old schoolgirls play it."

[chickenfeet]

I'm a rugby referee in Canada. I've reffed quite a lot of junior and high school games as well as having coached my club U16 boys team. Which is to say I've met a lot of parents of young rugby players; male and female. They are often seriously taken aback by how little protective gear rugby players wear given the nature of the game. If I had a dollar for every time I've explained the downside of players wearing heavy, rigid, protection I'd be a rich man.

[nanila]

It's the "Let's play twenty-second intervals and stop for five minutes in between each" attitude that I don't understand. Frankly, it's bloody boring compared to rugby, where they don't stop the match just because a play is completed. :P

[lark_ascends]

Heeeee heeeeeee heeeeeee heeeeeee.

[cosmolinguist]

Yep.

[gominokouhai]

To be fair, she sounds like the crap kind of American. Spends all evening hoping that you're going to say something like: woooow. You play American football with your hands? What a bizarre and exotic foreign clime America must be!

Either that or she's heard that self-deprecating `humor' is a thing that the Briddish do, and she's trying desperately to fit in and doing it wrong. Either way, she's the kind of American you're better off without.

The cool Americans still think you're one of them and the cool British think you're one of us. I suspect you've got the balance about right.

[nanila]

I don't think she was trying to fit in. I suspect it was more a case of assuming I lacked familiarity with American culture - which, given that PBR is now apparently trendy, was a fair enough assessment!

[lark_ascends]

*points up* This.

[chickenfeet]

Make yourself a nice cup of tea. You'll soon get over it.

[nanila]

I had a nice glass of whisky. Several, actually. After that, I didn't care. :D

[soliano]

I always thought of Miller as a redneck beer. PBR seems to be getting trendy. Even the rednecks won't drink it.

[nanila]

Sheesh. I'm seriously out of touch!

[alwayswondered]

Wait. PBR is cool now? Next you'll be telling me icing isn't a thing anymore.

[nanila]

Wait, now I'm confused. Are you talking about icing:frosting or icing:that thing they do in hockey? I CAN'T KEEP THIS STUFF STRAIGHT ANY MORE.

[cosmolinguist]

I would really struggle to believe PBR is trendy until I remember the unbearably trendy Carrhart store on Oldham Street and have the most cognitive dissonance ever :)

[nanila]

You've just made me realise I don't know if it's Carrhart or Carhartt or Carrharrtt. Where does the extra consonant go? I am clearly not a hipster.

[nanila]

Also, please explain how PBR and Car(r)har(r)t(t) are related?

[floating_coffin]

Well, hey, at least it's possible for you to be mistaken as a person from your adopted country. I stick out like a damn sore thumb in mine.

[nanila]

This is true!

I wonder if there will be sufficient integration in our lifetimes for this to happen to you.

[ex_angiereedgarner191]

Sigh.

But then, she wasn't actually your own people.

[nanila]

Ha, good point. If I were to define "my people", I'd probably use "the internet" as the primary location, rather than physical geography.

[dandelion_salad]

20 years ago I worked in a CD store where we displayed "Employee Favorites" on a rack with index cards with our names and a description of the album. One of my coworkers described an indie rock album this way: "This album reminds me of sitting on the front porch drinking PBR in my underwear." Every man that came in the store wanted to know who Christine was. This is my point of reference for the ironic hipster preference for PBR.

[nanila]

Oh wow. I feel as if you should work that into a short story somehow. Or possibly a poem.

[holyschist]

My main association with PBR is "Trucking-Driving Vampire."

The vampire of the title drinks PBR and redneck blood. It is an awesome song.

(Also, awwwwwwkward, wow.)

[nanila]

I had to look up the song. It's...it's...wow, fantastic. :D

Must put the chorus here for future reference:
I'm a truck drivin' vampire, I only drive by night.
A truck drivin' vampire, undead, but not uptight.
I'm a good ol' nosferatu, and an eighteen-wheelin' stud,
Wearin' white socks, drinkin' Blue Ribbon, and redneck blood.