I think there's a real underestimation of how different we are, because people are misled by the common language thing.
This tallies with my own experience as well. And even the common language isn't quite as common as it first appears. If I ever slip up and use American terminology for something (gas instead of petrol, kleenex instead of tissue, shift instead of change gears) I can pretty much guarantee that someone will feel the need to point it out.
I don't have quite as much experience of the European POV on Americans v Brits, but that summer school I attended in July made me realise that when many Europeans assume you're a Brit because they can't parse your accent properly, they will happily badmouth Americans to you for hours.
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Date: 2014-11-11 09:27 am (UTC)This tallies with my own experience as well. And even the common language isn't quite as common as it first appears. If I ever slip up and use American terminology for something (gas instead of petrol, kleenex instead of tissue, shift instead of change gears) I can pretty much guarantee that someone will feel the need to point it out.
I don't have quite as much experience of the European POV on Americans v Brits, but that summer school I attended in July made me realise that when many Europeans assume you're a Brit because they can't parse your accent properly, they will happily badmouth Americans to you for hours.