Joe90 wrote:
We don't speak in that snooty cockney accent, at least not any more.
Cor blimey, speak for yourself, guv'nor.
I didn't actually realise how disliked the British are by Americans in general. I mean, I don't blame them, I just didn't know.
A few years back I was listening to a podcaster I liked and he was doing a geneology test or something and I think he thought he was of Irish descent and his test revealed like, 90% English and the sheer disappointment in his voice. Really opened my eyes. I started to notice it everywhere. I noticed how every bad guy in a Hollywood movie has an English accent.
It's always seemed strange to me that Americans venerate Irish descent because, of all the people the English are traditionally casually racist about, the Irish seem to hold a special place.
But when I hear about American anglophiles, it always seems that what they like is the history, not the people. Again, I don't blame them. We suck. But we have thousands of years of history to explore to America's 400-odd. And it's written in English. I think that's what some Americans like.
Here's the explanation I've heard (of why Irish ancestry is romanticized more than English ancestry among us Yanks)
The English are viewed in a somewhat negative light because this country began as a revolution against the English (Also, the English are seen as oppressors worldwide. Not that I agree. But that's what a lot of the population thinks)
The Irish, on the other hand, are seen as an honorable group that came here starving from famine, then eventually made it all the way to the White House (JFK). The popularity of Saint Patrick's Day could play a role in romanticizing the Irish too.