This is a bit bitchy, so be forewarned.
My mother has this ridiculous obsession with passive-aggressively insulting America/Americans, and it really gets on my nerves. Like, okay, I know we're British-Canadians, but that doesn't mean for any moment that America isn't worth as much as either of those countries. There aren't too many things I don't like about my mother, but the way she passively degrades our southern neighbours makes me want to scream and cry at the same time.
Like, for example, when she sees a word written in American spelling, her opinion of whatever she's reading instantly goes down. I spell my words in the British fashion (see: colour, theatre, programme, catalogue, monopolise, &c.) because my sister and I were taught that the American way (color, theater, program, catalog, monopolize) was all wrong. Personally, I will always spell with the British spelling, but I don't actually believe that there is anything wrong with the American spelling. At least she managed to provide a suitable explanation for this: that English spelling is one of the few pieces of English culture that we are able to keep, as opposed to a lot of other cultures that have traditional dress, or cuisine, or music, or whatever, what is there about England? (Well, I could argue that a long while, but I'm not going to.)
And then today was the kicker: I was watching a documentary about the Great Smog of London in 1952, and it was really interesting, but one of the historians (actually she was an epidemiologist, which is just awesome) was an American. And she said "oh, is this an American programme?" and the condescension in her voice was palpable. I was actually offended. It was actually an Ontario programme, but the fact that there was an American talking about British history just made everything worth less than if all of the historians were British. An American (or any other nationality for that matter) can be an expert in British history, it doesn't have to be just British people. I majored in British history in university, but any time I showed an interest in any other class (I took Japanese, Russian, and German history, for example) and professed an interest in them, she would say something along the lines of "oh, yes, those are very interesting" but any time I mentioned something about British history it would launch this huge discussion! I don't even bother bringing up American history anymore because I have to practically defend the Americans to my mother and that just isn't fair at all.
I like America. I don't think there's anything wrong with America, or being American (morally, that is; every country has its problems). We vacation in America (I think it's so stupid that it's closer to go to New York than it is to go to Alberta D:). My mother is stupid sometimes. >:/
I told you this was a bitchy post. XD Interesting stuff will come later. Also, I got a new computer and it is lovely. I fell for the HP, hard. ♥
Like, for example, when she sees a word written in American spelling, her opinion of whatever she's reading instantly goes down. I spell my words in the British fashion (see: colour, theatre, programme, catalogue, monopolise, &c.) because my sister and I were taught that the American way (color, theater, program, catalog, monopolize) was all wrong. Personally, I will always spell with the British spelling, but I don't actually believe that there is anything wrong with the American spelling. At least she managed to provide a suitable explanation for this: that English spelling is one of the few pieces of English culture that we are able to keep, as opposed to a lot of other cultures that have traditional dress, or cuisine, or music, or whatever, what is there about England? (Well, I could argue that a long while, but I'm not going to.)
And then today was the kicker: I was watching a documentary about the Great Smog of London in 1952, and it was really interesting, but one of the historians (actually she was an epidemiologist, which is just awesome) was an American. And she said "oh, is this an American programme?" and the condescension in her voice was palpable. I was actually offended. It was actually an Ontario programme, but the fact that there was an American talking about British history just made everything worth less than if all of the historians were British. An American (or any other nationality for that matter) can be an expert in British history, it doesn't have to be just British people. I majored in British history in university, but any time I showed an interest in any other class (I took Japanese, Russian, and German history, for example) and professed an interest in them, she would say something along the lines of "oh, yes, those are very interesting" but any time I mentioned something about British history it would launch this huge discussion! I don't even bother bringing up American history anymore because I have to practically defend the Americans to my mother and that just isn't fair at all.
I like America. I don't think there's anything wrong with America, or being American (morally, that is; every country has its problems). We vacation in America (I think it's so stupid that it's closer to go to New York than it is to go to Alberta D:). My mother is stupid sometimes. >:/
I told you this was a bitchy post. XD Interesting stuff will come later. Also, I got a new computer and it is lovely. I fell for the HP, hard. ♥