Americans, they may be our Atlantic neighbours but does the distance across the pond separating us result in a totally different way of life to that of us British? Here at HCX we wanted to explore the perceptions we hold about Americans and what we define as their stereotypical behaviour. We’ve searched high and low compiling various opinions and whittled them down into the top 5 American stereotypes we apply to those that reside in the USA.
1) They are SUPER confident and enthusiastic about pretty much, well, everything. While us here in the UK are renowned for our retiring personality our American counterparts seem to be a beacon of energy and keenness. Everything is always ‘awesome’ in their world – and they are more than happy to pipe up in a seminar while the rest of us sit like deers caught in the headlights trying not to make eye contact with the person next to us.
[pagebreak] 2) Everything is labelled ‘cute’; American’s know how to gush. This, to me, is one of the major differences between us and those across the pond – they love a good compliment be it your shoes, hair or even the way you sneeze everything always seems to be ‘totally cute’.
3) They literally love fast-food. Now I know this may seem slightly hypocritical as, let’s be honest, Britain chows down on a fair bit of maccy d’s and KFC. However, from taco bell to steak escape (no I hadn’t heard of it either) the US has every base covered in terms of fast food selection. Apparently French fries, chips to us, are the most eaten vegetable in America (slightly concerned that deep fried potatoes count as a vegetable).
[pagebreak] 4) That being said the half of Americans that don’t succumb to the lure of the golden arches seem to be fitness fanatics. Think of all the crazy diets that were conceived in America, one of my personal faves being the babyfood diet, and you get the idea. I don’t know whether the prominent celebrity culture of lala land and the obsession with body image has caused me to make a sweeping generalisation here, but it seems Americans live by a bit of an oxymoron. Either you go for breakfast, lunch and dinner at Krispy Kreme’s or you live in your yoga pants and nibble on carrot sticks and tofu.
5) Americans are just so darn happy all the time! It must be a genetic factor that gives them the ability to stand with a smile plastered on their face all day, I for one get to about 1 O’clock at work and all enthusiasm and cheer goes out the window. It’s a well-known fact that if you ask a British person to impersonate an American the one phrase they are bound to spurt is the cheerful catchphrase ‘have a nice day’- something we definitely don’t get told by shop assistants in England that of
Picture credits:www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com, www.wisegeek.com, guardianlv.com, www.protectamerica.com