The Problem with Americans and Heritage

Last week we talked about some American stereotypes and you guys had some insightful comments about heritage!
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[@oliverqueen5883]

I love how excited Americans get when they meet an actual Irish person. But when they see me they refuse to agree that I’m Irish cuz I ain’t white. Funny how Irish people accept me as Irish and foreigners don’t 🤣

[@LannasMissingLink]

I have read Emma Dabiri and Una Minh Kavanagh's books about growing up not white in Ireland and im so glad you had a positive experience cause they're experiences (specifically in Dublin weirdly enough) made me so angry. We're a country of people who were discriminated against and still get labelled Paddy's by Brits, so anyone who also discriminates against other people are particularly disgusting to me. You are Irish, much moreso than "Irish" Americans who are so proud of their ancestors landing on Ellis Island yet also performed in minstrel shows once they landed, created the police force, and developed the jim crow laws from the penal laws...

[@shannonhensley2942]

Because we're told are whole lives that the whole country is white, they even made jokes about it. Plus the whole 007 can't be black cause he could never blend in. But it is ridiculous I'm sorry. My roommate always makes this joke. Her coworker is from Hawaii and she's from California. If you told them to pick which one is a quarter Irish you'd probably not pick the one from Hawaii. And if you asked them to pick which is a quarter native American you wouldn't pick the white girl from California. However both instances you'd be wrong... An interesting conscept

[@ahhh4117]

I'm a pale mexican and i run into the same issue lol

[@SciFi2285]

Remember 2/3rds of Americans have never left America. Ever. Not even to visit Canada and Mexico. When they say "heritage" they are describing places they have seen only in movies. So Germany is beer, lederhosen, and castles. England is a Renaissance Faire with lots of beer. Ireland is beer, green hills, and leprechauns. And of course everybody there must be lily-white because they are white. Surely nothing has changed in the last 200 years.

[@darko-man8549]

i remember a reddit story about a US dad who told his daughter's Irish BF (who was living in the US) to stop making fun of Irish accents because it was insulting to his heritage

[@timecrayon]

"There's no middle in Germany" me, literally from the part called Mitteldeutschland: guess I'm outta here

[@aceofspoons8382]

We have an equivalent in Britain: People from the center of the country tell you they're from 'The Midlands' But the rest of us all laugh at them and tell them they're being silly

[@littlekinguk]

@@aceofspoons8382 'sad noises from the east midlands'

[@danielaltmann1308]

Ich beudeuten!

[@ellieellison1569]

@@littlekinguk you mean the east north

[@yannikschaper6875]

But that's the point: Although there are people saying they're from Mitteldeutschland they aren't and the region isn't even in the middle, it's in the east. (The reason in it's called MDR and not ODR is simply PR.)

[@20KadamsMaclay00]

I’m Irish and it’s so annoying when meet an American who’s like “I’m 12% Irish!!! We could be cousins!!” And then they have no idea about the troubles, or think that ireland and Northern Ireland are the same country

[@anya2325]

I really don't enjoy people saying thing like "irish American" either when they are idk 10% Irish, just...no your American , I don't know why you feel the need to be something special on top of that almost on half of my family come from Ireland my second name is Irish but i never say im irish English because i was born in England therefore i am English

[@kpusa1981uk]

I do know about the Troubles. I would have never Irish-American because I was born in the America.

[@ONeill01]

Or deny people from Northern Ireland who identify as Irish as they can under the GFA

[@ONeill01]

Just to clarify, when I was doing work experience in USA and explained I was Irish and from N.Ireland, the person in question literally muttered "...not a true Irish, British"

[@ONeill01]

Held back my tongue, since I was about to say "is that what you call yourself since you're a former colony member of the British"

[@Cat-uw8lz]

My favorite ‘American heritage’ moment was explaining to my American doctor that I (German living in the states) just had a short stutter moment because I was so used to answering his question in German that I needed a second to mentally translate. Doc: how come you speak German? Me: oh I actually am German, German is my first language. Doc (snarky): well -I- am German too but that doesn’t mean I speak the language! 🤦‍♀️

[@webelievee]

😂😂 Amazing

[@nerdanalog1707]

Only in the USofA. Wonderful!

[@joaquingonzalez834]

could i consider myself german-american if i speak a tiny bit of german and lived there most of my childhood there? i only ask this because i was terrible at german

[@nonameavailable222]

@@joaquingonzalez834 If one of your parents is german and you spent some of your childhood there, then I would say yes

[@skarbuskreska]

@@joaquingonzalez834 Well Germany has this blood bound nationality, not even people born in Germany are automatically German. You have to have German ancestors. So if you just lived here it wouldn't make you officially German. I have a friend from Palestina. He's here for over 20 years, has a German wife, studied here, talks perfectly German. After all these years he's still not German for the officials.

[@Talon_24]

Hello everyone, this is Evan Edinger from Evanshire Edingershire

[@garygcrook]

He should introduce a video with that exact line.

[@flappetyflippers]

Yes

[@fugostrawberries]

Edingshire

[@rebekahl840]

Haha thats hilarious

[@melize7035]

LOOOOOOOL

[@beccaalee]

I was born in Ireland (my mam's Irish and my father was American), but moved to America when I was a kid. I hate referring to myself as Irish-American because I immediately get lumped in with the "You're Irish? Me too! My great great great great grandmother's brother's dog's goldfish came over in the 1800s" and "I'm actually 27.4% Irish!!1!" lot who wouldn't have a clue what you're on about if you asked them what county their family came from, and it's embarrassing lmao

[@kpusa1981uk]

I am 16% Irish my mom 40% Irish,11% Scottish my mom 20% Scottish,English 15%,my mom15% the rest is manily boradly Northwestern European and maybe me 1% Jewish(?) I just conisider myself to be Amerian.

[@lindal3966]

Love your comment, so funny!

[@mangmangmangobri]

It annoys me and I'm not even American, never even been to America. Just being online and seeing people react like that just makes me cringe. I'm Australian with Irish ancestors (and other west Europe) and no one here is like that. Like why are Americans so obsessed with it yet know nothing about the history?

[@ashy1587]

You're a good one

[@NethDugan]

My Mom is American, my Dad is British and I grew up in Britain. I tend to refer to myself as half and half. If that helps.

[@IXxJordan]

As a Scotsman, I regularly have these conversations when talking to Americans -- not only can they sometimes not distinguish between Irish and Scottish accents but when they learn you are of either, all of a sudden their grandparents, cousins, goldfish is Scottish / Irish and all of a sudden they are "one of the people" and act as if they know the current political, culture or economical status of the country and start speaking as if they are speaking for us.

[@JaneMcQ100]

Then it’s like “oh I’m from the Mac Dermott clan from Donegal do you know them?” ..... uhhhhh....

[@Luflandebrigade31]

@Charles Bue looking at your numbers of Covid victims, while comparing it to other companies doesn't prove him right? The whole US system is rigged towards the result: If you are poor, you are dead. Rather sooner than later, if you can't afford to call an ambulance.

[@AngstyPrinceswagnes]

as someone who has an irish mom and a scottish dad, i have no idea how people can mix up irish and scottish accents. my dad's accent is softer since he's lived in ireland for almost 2 decades now, but its a HUGE difference whenever i go to visit my scottish aunts and uncles, who have very heavy accents. absolutely wild

[@ckhound1]

Almost like all the Europeans who think they know American political, cultural, and economic woes and want to comment... oh wait, thats literally every european.

[@IXxJordan]

@@ckhound1 Almost like every American who thinks every European cares for American politics, oh wait .. most of us dont actually care

[@Simon-tc1mc]

Yeah, white Americans have a cultural identity crisis because everyone shed their ethnicity when they came here. American focused so much on race over ethnicity.

[@aclstudios]

Doesn't help that the internet hates us, bullies us non-stop, thinks we're all evil people who go around shooting random blacks, etc. Most of us are very nice (well, the younger generations) and open minded. Also wouldn't that also somewhat count for Aussies and Canadians?

[@Simon-tc1mc]

@@aclstudios yeah, counts for all the colonialist countries.

[@jeffreym68]

To be fair, the groups that gave up their identity usually assimilated to avoid the horrible discrimination they faced in the US as "lower class immigrants." The changes in name & accent, decision not to pass on religion, food, etc. made their lives easier, but left their later descendants feeling cut off long after the original mistreatment was mostly gone.

[@Simon-tc1mc]

@@jeffreym68 yeah exactly. That was totally the case with many groups. I'm not saying that the culture was shed to be racist or whatever. It's just in the modem day US, everyone is just seen as their race, so there really isn't a unify or even smaller cultures here. Yes, big cities with have culture from immigrants there, but white Americans who have lived her for a handful of generations now have next to no ties to Europe anymore but also don't really have their own culture either.

[@jeffreym68]

@@Simon-tc1mc It's really too bad, because a lot of my white students, when we talk about culture, say they don't have any, and feel some meaning is missing. Hard to argue with that, harder to know what to do about it, outside of talking with older relatives, genealogy, or creating their own from what speaks to them.

[@lisalea9749]

Used to work at Heathrow. US citizens had to fill out landing cards with their nationality (there’s a clue on the passport!!!) and I would regularly get Caucasian - I was too polite to ask which part of Caucasia they came from.

[@janani1826]

Wow 😂 I cannot imagine doing that, then again i would say I'm proud to be British i guess i like living here. I think im technically sri Lankan British i don't know i was born here so i think that's my parents and im just British?

[@MRCOLOURfilld]

Right, nationality can easily be mixed up with ethnicity. I just think its odd that white = caucasian, when really it should be Anglo-Saxon. Most white americans are not caucasian.

[@garygcrook]

@@MRCOLOURfilld Most Brits aren't really Anglo-Saxons. They're a mix of mainly Romano-British, with some Angle, Saxon, Jute, Norse, and Norman French as well as possibly Iberian, and other more exotic genetic heritage.

[@MRCOLOURfilld]

@@garygcrook angles, saxons, jutes, and frisians all fall under “anglo-saxon” other ethnic groups would be the Celts subdivided into gaelic, picts, and britons. Picts are pretty much extinct but the Britons live on in the Welsh, Cornish, and of course Bretons. Gaelics live on in the Irish, Manx, and Scots. And lastly the Normans. The only Iberians of note are the Celts coming from Galicia.

[@MRCOLOURfilld]

@@garygcrook but for the purpose of American “whiteness” for a very long time the only groups considered “white” in america were protestant anglo-saxons. Then whiteness eventually started to include Poles, Irish, Baltic, Slavs, and Finno-Scandinavians. Hell caucasians probably wouldn’t have been “white”. TL;DR “White=Caucasian” is weird. I’d much rather an ethnicity box instead of “race”. But for most Americans an ethnicity box wouldn’t matter.

[@SamuelCasey2007]

"you just add shire at the end and its a county" yes, shire means county

[@crazchic7284]

But usually counties with a capital town/ city of the same name add 'shire' eg. Leicester/ Leicestershire.

[@Mole_45]

@Bessie Belle And then there's those where they are named for the county town, but the name of the town changed. Shropshire is named for Shrewsbury. Originally named Scrobbesburh, which split into Sciropscire and Schrosberie, then Shropshire and Shrewsbury. This is also why Shrewsbury is pronounced as Shrohz-bree buy some and Shrooz-bree by others

[@crazchic7284]

@Bessie Belle Haha -As soon as I clicked reply I remembered :(

[@crazchic7284]

@@Mole_45 Born in Shropshire, I say Shrohz-bree. Is this an urban myth? The county was called Salop for a while but changed back to Shropshire because when the local MEP was anounced in The European Parliament the French speakers fell about laughing. In French ' La salope' is er...a lady of the night! That's the very polite translation.

[@really-quite-exhausted]

@@Mole_45 There's also counties like Lancashire. Obviously Lancaster is where the name comes from, but County Hall is in Preston. Lancaster is still the county town but Preston is the administrative centre for the council. I don't know if that's common tbh. Maybe it is, idk.

[@lewis4674]

The fact that Americans learn in school that the Vietnam war wasn’t a loss for them is worrying

[@ankejanssen7341]

I recently found out that the japanese dont get taught their role in ww2. They just get taught they got bombed by the americans out of no where. Also really concerning

[@lewis4674]

@@ankejanssen7341 history shouldn’t be suppressed it’s surprising to hear that it happens especially in western countries. Sounds like something you’d hear in the Soviet Union

[@ankejanssen7341]

@@lewis4674 I woudnt say that because in Western Europe, for example the netherlands and Germany, they really look into it. The US is a special creature and Japan is ofcourse not western

[@smeetbotato]

I wasn't taught a single thing about the Vietnam War in high school or my college US history class. American education 😒

[@ankejanssen7341]

@@smeetbotato Damn even in college

[@frankhooper7871]

"One of my 3rd-great-grandparents came from County Cork,so that makes me Irish!" - ignoring the fact that the other 31 of them didn't.

[@dsims6329]

As an american, when people ask my "heritage" I say "everything that sunburns".

[@sisuguillam5109]

😂

[@stephenlitten1789]

I live in New Zealand - EVERYBODY SUNBURNS, EVERYBODY

[@dsims6329]

@@stephenlitten1789 My people!!!

[@stephenlitten1789]

@@dsims6329 So you're tomato coloured under that melanin

[@fullmetaltheorist]

@@stephenlitten1789 even the people of color?

[@Modest_Femboy]

Do Americans know the difference between Northern Ireland and Ireland? every American I’ve talked too thinks they are the same place.

[@elementus2857]

Found the unionist

[@haashirkabeer2671]

They should be

[@joshuaidugboe214]

It will be united Under the union jack 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@LK-on6rw]

@@joshuaidugboe214 and why is that exactly?

[@philomathstudies9226]

In my experience, it isn't normal. I think a lot of why we don't even know about it is because a lot of our own history has omitted Catholics and so any tension that has to do with different branches of Christianity just isn't something that we're taught. There's nothing nuanced or no room for complexity in how we're taught history. There's always "the good guys" and "the bad guys" for everything with Americans so something as nuanced as the Troubles isn't even mentioned. The only reason I learned about Northern Ireland/The Troubles was because of a show I saw on Netflix called Derry Girls which prompted me to look up the history.

[@missybarbour6885]

America has a unique relationship to national heritage because all of our ancestors came here from somewhere else unless you're Native American. So within the country, we go around saying "I'm Irish", "I'm German", and "I'm Italian" because it's commonly understood that what that means is "I have Irish ancestors and I can tell you the story of how they sailed over because of the famine." Apparently there are some people who don't know that much about their ancestors, but I can tell you that mine came from Country Antrim, so I'm actually Irish Protestant. And yeah, there are people with Irish ancestry who don't even know it's two countries. That's embarrassing. But most people who want their heritage to be a big part of their identity learn more and travel to the country. (This is an especially big deal with Ireland because of how much Ireland has changed in recent years as the Irish will tell you.) Any American city you go to has heritage festivals all summer long. Polish festival, Greek festival, Scandinavian festival, all put on by cultural groups that were formed by immigrants banding together when they moved here that are now run by their great great grandchildren. It may seem weird to other countries that we still care where our great great great great grandparents moved from, but those immigrants really did influence America's identity and we're too big to have a cohesive national identity. So this is what we have.

[@jonnyn8928]

It's starting to get stupid though. My views were shaped by the landscape I grew up in. Not Ireland or some place I've never been.

[@pauloaz496]

In Argentina most of the people are of european heritage, mostly because of the immigrations of late XIX, and even with big parts of population having grand-grand-parents from Germany, Italy, Spain and France, when you ask them whats their nationality, 99.9% will say they're argentinian. Sooooo... Maybe its the culture

[@j1430]

@@jonnyn8928not really stupid since the united states is completely unoriginal by default and has always been built by immigrants and is still swarmed with immigrants all the time. losing touch of it would be worse since people wouldn’t get the chance to learn second languages or keep any semblance of culture. for example the french speaking population of louisiana shrank cause the cajun americans were discriminated to only speak english. lots of classism and anglo supremacy. now the government is trying to work towards keeping the language alive.

[@laurabolger]

Re: Patty's Day, it's not just the mispronunciation, it's the spelling as well. It has never been Patty, ever. It's Paddy's Day or St. Patrick's Day. I don't mind when people say they have Irish heritage, it's when they say 'Oh I'm Irish!' in an American accent and it's like 'No you're not, you're American'.

[@willimations277]

YES! Him thinking it was the pronunciation made me want to SCREAM. It's St. Paddy's day because the Irish form of Patrick is Padraig, so it gets shortened to St. PaDDy's day. You get St. PaTTy's day from contracting the Anglicised version of the name, which is why Irish people find that frustrating.

[@monkeydui7241]

What a buzzkill you are

[@nellherself]

@@Hugh_de_Mortimer no, but it's like other languages. 'Wilhelm' is the German 'William', 'Padraig' is the Irish 'Patrick'. It's all about translation and, (to nobody's surprise) colonisation

[@nellherself]

@@Hugh_de_Mortimer No, I believe i’m correct. The Irish were forced to stop using their own language, like the Scottish and Welsh, and forced to speak English. Therefore, it’s colonisation.

[@GerMFnU1848Sax]

Annoying I know. I hear them all the time. I am an American (English blood).

[@stras676]

An interesting aspect of the American idea of other countries is the strange way many want there to be a racial aspect they would never tolerate for American identity. I remember the Black Irish singer Samantha Mumba saying she had a really hard time when she was trying to break America simply saying "I'm Irish". People were always questioning it and wanted her to qualify it or hyphenate in some way because they had a hard time accepting the idea that a black person could call themselves just "Irish" - as if that were somehow reserved word for white people. Those same people were probably perfectly happy to call themselves "Irish" because of their "blood" connections. Most decent-thinking Americans would never tolerate the idea that "American" was a racial identity involving the blood of your ancestors. They'd think that horrific and horribly racist. Yet in thinking of other countries, they expect blood to be a really important factor of identity.

[@MRCOLOURfilld]

Well some countries are the inverse. Like France, you will always be an Arab in France, an outsider, but in America they can be Arab-American. Much more inclusive and less “othering”. But once the culture gets to a certain point I can agree that hyphenates can be divisive. Like calling black people “African-American” is ridiculous. Honestly unless your parents are first generation immigrants you’re just American.

[@elitessmess9222]

Exactly... It was always weird to me to call black people African American but white people are just Americans and not European Americans

[@stras676]

@@MRCOLOURfilld They hyphenating I was meaning was more about it feeling like certain words were racially reserved in the American mind when it comes to other countries. In the African-American example, it would be considered pretty racist if a Black person said "I'm American", and they were told they couldn't say that. "American" is accepted as an inclusive identity independent of race. Yes you can expand on it with a hyphenation if you want but the base word on its own is inclusive. Yet when certain Americans look at other countries, they expect those countries to use definitions of identity that fall into racial categories - Like "Irish" should be reserved for the racially Irish to fall in with their sense of the order of the world and stereotypes.

[@shannonf101]

Local In wales we tend to run by, if you grow up in Wales your Welsh. No matter where your grate fam is from. It’s no by blood, it’s by the culture and experiences. And accent of course sometimes haha

[@garygcrook]

Reminds me of what Sir Lenny Henry has said about his first visit to the US. Americans would be going "Jack, come over here and meet this guy. They've taught him to talk British!" This was during the 80's, yet they were still surprised that were Black-British people talking with British accents. I wonder what they'd have thought of his Brummie accent?

[@jhdrch2656]

Love how the reflection of your light in the window looks like the moon... Spoopy 🎃👻

[@evan]

Thanks!

[@ladyk3729]

I thought it was the moon for at least half the video until I realised the moon isn’t that big and is in fact a reflection 🤦🏽‍♀️

[@theformalfro]

@@ladyk3729 The moon is bigger...

[@saramorris1727]

"spoopy" 😊

[@PinkiethePanda]

No that’s just the moon. He lasood it, Bruce all mighty style.

[@aimeebrooks4303]

I think the reason AP history isn't taught at an earlier age is that the moment you tell someone that other countries have other governing systems, different rules, different crimes, etc, etc it causes the person to reflect and question their own state. It seems a lot of Americans live in a bubble and simply aren't aware that other countries are governed differently. It feeds into the extreme 'pledge' to the American idea and, just like North Korea, if you close a country and its peoples off from the world and submit them to ignorance you buy yourself blind allegiance.

[@bobbycalifornia7077]

Sounds like this may apply you with regard to America...

[@bjtight98]

@aimée brooks very well put!!!

[@bobbycalifornia7077]

It’s the other way around. Nobody outside of America understand how America works and the history of it all. Nobody in America (hyperbole) gives a damn about how the rest of the world works because nobody is interested in leaving, it’s too good in America. That’s why people are dying to immigrate to America.

[@arletteschu]

@@bobbycalifornia7077 can't speak for every other country but in germany we learn a lot about US history and the political system, I chose the differences between US and UK politics as the topic of my English Abitur (A-Levels/high school diploma) of course you can't learn everything about a country when you have never been there but I would say that I have a general understanding about the US/UK and France (french classes) and all of the continents because of history (we don't only learn about german history) and geography (every school year we picked a continent and had to memorize the countries + the corresponding capitals and a bit about Climate/Flora/Fauna/Topology/Politics/Economy/History.) Everytime I see one of those "US Americans and Geography"-videos they can't even distinguish between a country and a continent or acknowledge that America consists of 57 countries between north and south america.

[@bobbycalifornia7077]

@@arletteschu After all of that referring to your formal studies, your final assessment rests on "One of those" "US Americans and Geography" videos. Having lived in the UK myself as a student - which exposed me to Europeans from many countries, I discovered that Europeans cannot distinguish those things either.

[@justanotherhuman6224]

“Sin-e-ad” its literally one of the easiest names to pronounce, ‘shin-ade’ that’s it.

[@cowchow4284]

pronounce simelane or xiomara. different languages are hard for people who don’t speak the language

[@eoin8450]

@@cowchow4284 I would guess "similin" and "simera", what language do they come from?

[@uselessstrawberry737]

as a norwegian, the annoying thing with americans who claim norwegian/scandinavian heritage: Norwegian-American: you are norwegian, I´m norwegian too! Norwegian: Great! Norwegian-American: I did not learn any norwegian because it´s a cringy, silly language Norwegian: .... great? Norwegian-American: In fact, I found it so embarissing that I did´nt want to know anything about Norway, I don´t even know the diffrence between Norway, Scandinavia and the Nordic region and nothing about your politics and way of life. I find everything about your culuture funny, silly, lame and cringy Norwegian: Okay... Norwegian-American: Great to meet a Norwegian like me!

[@PurpleCastles]

Haha. I'm American with a little Norwegian heritage too and I think the Norwegian culture and language are very creative. But speaking about heritage, unlike some Norwegian Americans I wouldn't say I'm Norwegian because 1. I have German, Irish and maybe English heritage as well and 2. I would say "ancestry" or "heritage" when talking to a Non-American. But even if I talked to people from countries where my ancestors came from, I wouldn't bring up my heritage unless they asked.

[@Meanderonthemoon]

I’m American with some Norwegian heritage and I find the language really interesting. I started watching KZbin videos in Norwegian for fun og nå kan jeg forstå veldig mye Norsk. Kanske en dag skal jeg reise dit.

[@JekyViews]

@@Meanderonthemoon - do go there if you get the chance, Norway is incredibly beautiful (but don’t tell them I said that, a Swede can’t be seen giving genuine compliments to Norway 😉).

[@nerdanalog1707]

@Useless Strawberry Craft do they look at you funny when you speak English? Or do they just assume that everyone, except them, knows at least 2 languages?

[@uselessstrawberry737]

@@nerdanalog1707 mostley assumes that I understands english, almost all scandinavians understands english, but some does not like to speak it because of our accent + low confidence

[@flappetyflippers]

Counties that Evan said that aren't counties: Northfolk, London, Birminghamshire, Liverpoolshire. What they should be: Norfolk, City of London, Greater London, West Midlands, Merseyside.

[@petervaughan9111]

Not to mention greater London is part of multiple counties

[@flappetyflippers]

@@petervaughan9111very true 😂

[@jillp1840]

"Northfolk". It's just Evan's German ancestry coming through. Really he's an Anglo-Saxon and referring to those times when it was the North folk vs the South folk vs the West Saxons vs the East Saxons vs the South Saxons. Shame there weren't North Saxons. But I guess they became the North Folk.

[@tcroft2165]

There used to be a County of London until 1965. We do still have a Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London though.

[@flappetyflippers]

@@tcroft2165 there's not any more though and I doubt Evan would've learnt that!

[@paulmoran7026]

Drives me bonkers….. I was born and raised in Scotland, my parents are/were Irish….. I’m a Scot, they are/were Irish…. Confuses the buggery out of Americans when I explain that I’m not Irish, but they insist they are, because one of their ancestors was. I typically say (for example if someone explains they are a Irish because of a great grandparent): “why/how was your great grandfather Irish? What made him Irish?” They’ll reply that he’s born, raised in and from Ireland, that’s why he’s Irish. To which I’ll respond: “now go apply that same logic to yourself!”

[@KRYMauL]

The US killed their only vestige of history in the 1950s in favor of "We won World War lets make all the soldiers have a uniform house with a white picket fence and 2 or 3 kids." That era ended in the 1970s and the US still hasn't figured out an identity. Plus Cowboys were just bounty hunters that went after mad cattle ranchers and miners. The history of the US is literally one of people coming the US to do blue collar work in homes that their kids can have a better life. However, because of this belief the US continues to be trapped in a weird state between progressive era Europe and Modern Europe.

[@jfarmerswatermelon6061]

I mean ethnically you are Irish

[@westington1]

@@jfarmerswatermelon6061 what does that even mean? We’re not a fucking race ya know

[@jfarmerswatermelon6061]

@@westington1 No one said anything about race lol If parents are ethnically Irish than kids are as well regardless of their Nationality. For ex. Mesut Ozil is ethnically turk but nationality wise German.

[@westington1]

@@jfarmerswatermelon6061 Fair enough there - race and ethnicity aren’t the same thing sure. I’m more confused as to why you’d correct someone saying they don’t think they’re Irish like that.

[@heatherclawson8686]

Ford didn't actually invent the car. He invented the assembly line, which was the first iteration of a mass production model. The Model T automobile was simply the first item that was assembled using Ford's new process and so his name has been conflated with the invention of the automobile. 😁

[@skarbuskreska]

What, inventing the car Carl Benz is shacking in his grave and the Germans are insulted ;-)

[@Jabber-ig3iw]

They think they invented the airplane, light bulb, World Wide Web as well🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@raversfantasy]

@@Jabber-ig3iwmaybe put the blame on the people in charge of the education system and not the people indoctrinated into it from birth.

[@corastone9820]

(I'm from the uk.) My late Grandmother was from Singapore, but i dont count myself Singaporean, i just say im a quarter chinese/ from there.

[@jackdaniels4346]

That’s just racist then saying they’re basically the same 🤣

[@hopeintruth5119]

@Eleanor Pass singapore is very diverse place and chinese is the dominate population

[@LK-on6rw]

@@jackdaniels4346 bruh

[@MohammedAli-hl4mr]

@@jackdaniels4346 this is why you aren't supposed to leave a comment like this when you know nothing about the country your commenting on you've just made yourself look stupid and the emoji at the end just adds to the perceived stupidity.

[@DieAlteistwiederda]

@@jackdaniels4346 look up the population of Singapore and what their heritage usually is. They have a huge Chinese population in that country and no that's not racist to say.

[@devingann6837]

the lighting in this video is IMMACULATE

[@evan]

THANK

[@alliechambers126]

As an American, I can confirm that I didn’t realize until this very moment that we lost the Vietnam War...

[@ameliewiseman744]

I did US History 1940-1980 at alevel and we spent so much time talking about how Vietnam went on for so long JUST because Americans didn’t want to admit they had lost.

[@1chish]

No American will be told the last war the USA won on its own was against Dominica in 1916. Its why the US does 'coalitions: When it goes well they can take all the credit (as in WWII) and when it goes pear shaped they can blame others (as in Afghansitan or Iraq where they blame the Brits). Had they listened to the Brits over Vietnam to NEVER go where the French failed then history would be very different.

[@carlajenkins1990]

We won the War. What we lost at was Peace.

[@nerdanalog1707]

That's just sad.

[@julianshepherd2038]

And Afghanistan and Iraq.

[@danjlp9155]

I do think that Europeans’ perceptions of Americans’ Irish heritage is incorrect to some degree. In actuality, Americans who hyphenate their American identity with their cultural/ethnic origins don’t actually view themselves as being authentically Irish, as in from Ireland, but authentically Irish-American. The culture that they represent is the hybrid culture of Irish-American identity. That identity is obviously rooted in an affinity for Ireland and perhaps a desire to learn more about the culture and spend more time there. Still, it’s not Irish culture and Americans are aware of that. The way Americans view their hyphenated heritage may vary depending on their place of origin and what generation removed they are. So Mexican or Chinese Americans who are first generation may have a different relationship with their culture than what I described with Irish Americans. But for these immigrant cultures like the Irish, German, and Italian immigrants whose ancestors came between 1820-1920, they may have a much closer relationship to their hybrid culture than the origin one. I think Europeans largely miss that Americans are typically referring to this hybrid culture and assume Americans are calling themselves Irish as if they have the same claim to Ireland than an Irish citizen or resident. In actuality, Americans use “I’m Italian” or “I’m Irish” as short-hand for “I’m Irish-American” etc. so yeah I noticed Europeans perceptions are actually off and don’t align with how American immigrant groups (from the first and second wave of immigration view themselves).

[@saoirsek576]

yes! i'm american and technically of irish descent but i would never call myself irish-american because i don't have a personal connection to the hybrid irish-american culture. it's a totally different thing. imo there's a difference between being irish, being irish-american, and being an american of irish descent.

[@nerdanalog1707]

@DAN JLP actually they do. I'm French-American, meaning not only do I have both nationalities, but speak fluently both languages without any accent, have lived and worked in both countries, know the history and culture of both country fairly well, and still people in the US come up to me and say that they too are French, yet they know no French, couldn't cite any major cities in France (except perhaps Paris), have no idea what the EU is etc... Also, even if stating that "I'm Irish" is short-hard for "I'm Irish-American" it still isn't right. What of the Irish-Americans who are in the same situation that I am in? No, they should state they are of Irish descent or ancestry.

[@nerdanalog1707]

@@zachr1347 But there is a US American culture. I can spot a US American a mile off in a busy street in Paris. There are many cultural references perhaps US Americans don't realize because they may think that everyone in the world eats, talks, dresses, the same or have a shared history, but no... Baseball is a very US American thing, like US football... Not many other countries in the world would think that having a high school final examination as a MCQ with basically only 2 subjects, as something difficult. Universal health care is quite common in Europe and not viewed as a communist threat or as if the government is out to get you. There are no bank drive throughs in most countries in Europe. The rest of the world has mostly adopted the metric system. And though most people in Europe are very proud of their respective countries and heritage, they do not see the need to make an oath every morning to their national flag. These are just some obvious examples which make US Americans unique, in their way of viewing the world, thus part of their culture. As for Kipling, I would probably say that he was English, because at the time India was a British colony, and he was born from English parents, spoke English, lived and interacted with mostly British people and had British citizenship... I have no problems calling a person from Ireland living in the US an Irish... I do find it untrue to call a person born and raised in the US an Irish just because his great great great great great granpapy was from Ireland. Classifying people by their "descent" has not become taboo, it just has never been logical. There is not starting point. And it seem ridiculous to most people worldwide to divide your "origins" with percentages. What does it mean to be 15% French, 30% Irish, 15% German and 40% Dutch? It states nothing of where one lives, what that person experiences everyday, what their culture is, it doesn't state much at all. And those 15% German, does it date back to the francs, or does it date back to when Germany was divided in 2? And what does that tell about the person? I'm not quite sure what you mean by ethnic group... are you referring to the genes or to culture as a whole, or is it nationality?

[@nerdanalog1707]

@@zachr1347 To address the first point, it seems to me that what you think the US is lacking is history: "national heroes, patron saints, languages, distinct dialects, clothing, folklore...great architecture". Yes, history is part of one's culture, but comparing countries over 1000 years old to the US which isn't even 250 years old in terms of history seems a bit unfair to the US. I will agree that to many US Americans the sens of the past seems like something foreign. For example it hasn't bothered many US Americans to tear down older buildings or houses in order to put newer ones in their places. NYC did this a lot. But again, I would state that the US does have some history: the Gold rush, the Civil war, Lewis & Clark, Mccarthyism, slavery, the Dust Bowl, Prohibition etc... Not all history is nice and pretty, but no other country in the world lived through all of those things, making the US a distinct culture, with a distinct history. To your second point, even if the majority of your lineage were German, you wouldn't be "German-American". Even if you spoke the language and tried to preserve certain traditions, you would still be a US American with a German heritage or lineage. Because being part of a country, of a culture is also experiencing the every day life, the changes and shifts in that country. For example, let's say that a German family moved to the US just after the Berlin wall came down, and they kept alive their language, the traditions etc... They still wouldn't be able to vehicle to their descendants what Germany is like today, reunified, part of the EU, with all the political changes there were, what slang is used in German today etc... I know this from experience. Both my parents were French, born and raised in France. I was born and raised in the US. Spoke French, read French, even went several times to France on summer holidays. I still had a culture shock when I came and moved to France. And I would now have a culture shock if I were to move back to the States, even though I speak the language, lived in the US over a decade, went to school there etc... As for chicanos or black americans having nothing in common with you, well to me that's something else. The US doesn't like assimilation very much, it's almost regarded as a dirty word. In France, and in many other European countries, it's very important (though some countries don't like to admit it). No matter their history, no matter where they come from, they are now from that country. Example: in between the 2 world wars, there was a wave of Russians coming to France. None of their descendants today would regard themselves as French-Russians.They are French, period. And this is because Europe has also been a melting pot. At one point France was a lot bigger than it is today. At another point some "territories" that are French today, were German. The region I live in today was under English rule for a few centuries (longer than the existence of the US as a country), yet no one would consider themselves English. The US on the other hand, likes communities, likes to catalogue people in different groups, almost as if everyone were a botanist creating or discovering new plants. The fact is, whether you think you have anything in common or not, to the rest of the world, you are US Americans, whether chicano, black, of european descent, or wherever... But US Americans don't like this at all... This too is part of US culture. As for the example of the Jewish people, that is a terrible example, I'm sorry to say. Because of the history of persecution of these people it makes it very difficult to use them as an example to generalize anything. They have a long and complicated history and to think of them as a homogenous group, that they all wanted their "homeland" back, is very untrue. This is a very US American way of seeing things. And that's probably because most Jews who went to the US were Ashkenazi and not Sephardic, very different cultures. Not to mention the growing Hasidic communities. Also, to think that the British before WWII regarded themselves as simply Anglo-Saxon and as having anything in common with US Americans, Canadians or Australians, is not knowing the British well. They were the "Empire", not just some vulgar destitute people trying to live a dream in the US, or some prisoner sent in Australia. Have some decency (joke). But really, that is how they viewed the world. And if one had the privilege of belonging to the "Empire", even if they were just Canadians, it was always much more civilized than being French or Irish. Finally, to think that the pledge of allegiance is just a "formality" and that most people on the internet make a big deal out of this, should demonstrate just how US American of you that is, just like having US flags everywhere, it is a big deal. It sets the mindset for the population. Just like the idea of having a military parade for the 4th of July would shock US Americans or other countries for their respective national holidays, in France this is normal and patriotic. Because what you consider to be patriotic in the US, is a very different standard in other countries. And don't fool yourself to think that people in other countries aren't patriotic, they just don't feel the need to show it the same way as US Americans do, because they belong to different cultures. The display of patriotism of other countries may seem trivial to you, if you are used to seeing US flags waving everywhere, and having people boast all the time that they live in the "bestest most incredible country to have ever existed", but though subtle, the displays of patriotism in other countries are not trivial. But because of over 1000 years of wars, countries in Europe have also learned that there is such a thing as a "vivre ensemble" (living together, with one another) mindset, which of course, the US knows nothing about.

[@nerdanalog1707]

@@zachr1347 A lot of Jewish people reject Zionism... And Jewish people haven't "survived" assimilation into other societies. A Jewish person from NYC, from Germany, from Morocco won't have what you call "group identity". They will each have their own identity, influenced by their personal experiences and the culture that surrounds them. Wow, after thousands of years, Jewish people are still viewed as a homogenous group, very strange and insulting... "if a group of people call themselves sthg and they all adhere to it, that's that". No, that's called group thinking, or a cult. One can't just declare themselves to be X for it to be true, especially when talking about culture, nationality and/or identity. That's why most people laugh at US Americans who say they are X identity. It can be cute, like a child wanting to be a cat, but it's not reality.

[@gracetalbot]

maybe you should do a video doing a GCSE history paper, as you do a sources, short questions and a long essay. you could do it on the cold war and vietnam, all the way to the normans. maybe you could see how differently we are taught and tested on world history compared to America

[@caithemburrow5569]

Oh yeah I did America: opportunity and inequality and Tension in east Asia for my gcse and it was completely about America

[@arcticturtle12]

Eduqas has a specific America paper which Evan should 100% do

[@lilyfox9316]

Maybe he could do a leaving cert one too (the Irish exam) becasue it's wo interesting the differences between Irish and British history

[@danielaltmann1308]

Nahhhh... Not GCSE, Do A-Level because History A-Level is stupid

[@danielaltmann1308]

6:55 hate to break it to you Evan but Northfolk is spelt Norfolk

[@ladyk3729]

You could do a whole video on Norfolk and mispronunciations, example Happisburgh is actually pronounced Haysborough......

[@Meatbeerboss]

@@ladyk3729 no I don't agree, I don't have a problem because I'm English and I can read English.

[@phoebedar3511]

I’m 99% sure that was a gag, like ‘Birminghamnshire’ lol

[@IAmKaitHearMeRoar]

@@ladyk3729 *haysbruh :P

[@mattandsi]

Oh *PLEASE* do a video on pronouncing names in Norfolk: Happisburgh, Wymondham...

[@eliza6971]

This is weird, but as a black American who’s heard a lot of “tHe iRiSh WeRe sLaVeS tOo!!1!” from American Irish heritage conservatives, it’s oddly satisfying to see current Irish inhabitants *not* claiming those American Irish conservatives as like, members of a diaspora

[@dyndan19]

P.S.: Racists, xenophobes, and bigots can get in the fecking sea. Sincerely, Ireland.

[@feliz5919]

Girl, same!

[@kasunex1772]

Tbh, you really can't pick and choose. If you have significant Irish ancestry then you're Irish-American. You can't pretend you don't share a common history with someone just because they're cringe.

[@sophiebell4758]

​​@@kasunex1772 But that is the Thing, For us europeans being "Irish/German/frensh" is Not about Heritage, its about nationality and culture. These people u and the Other Person were talking about, are Americans With Irish Heritage, but they arent Irish as they are No Part of the culture. so Its Not about "Pick and choose" they already have Chosen that people with No Connection to Ireland beside Heritage arent Irish. because being Irish doesnt mean Sharing History together, it means Sharing culture together. and people living in the States, never been to Ireland, dont speak the languange, dont know the cultures, arent Part of that cultur.

[@kasunex1772]

@@sophiebell4758 there are three things you could be referring to when you say you are Irish/German/French/etc: Nationality, Culture, and Ethnicity. For the majority of Europeans all three of them are the exact same. However as there is no American ethnic group the same isn't true here. People are almost all ethnicities that came from somewhere else, hence when they say they're whatever they're talking about ethnicity. Europeans don't care as much about ethnicity because most European countries are not multi-ethnic to begin with. And that's fine. But Europeans need to stop making fun of Americans and start actually listening to the differences between our cultures. It's not making you look good ,it's making you look like an idiot.

[@JSandwich13]

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I'm scottish. Im studying to be a genealogist and have been researching my family tree. From the 1800s back all but two lines of my family are Irish. I still have no claim to call myself Irish. I'm Scottish with Irish ancestry. I'm so proud of my heritage and through researching my family I feel like i could almost imagine what life was like for them, but i'm still not Irish. I can trace them to specific towns. My family still practices some Irish traditions and such but nobody has lived there since the early 1900s, so we are very Scottish now. I have such an appreciation for my Irish heritage, but I'm still Scottish.

[@mynym4543]

Similar situation here, but the opposite- my family name comes from a Scottish border clan, but it’s been hundreds of years since my ancestors moved to Ireland and I’d consider myself basically 100% Irish

[@AngstyPrinceswagnes]

kind of the same here, my moms side of the family is all irish, but my dads side is all over the place, with my dad being scottish, and my great grandparents being french and american. however, i would never call myself french or american, and while i'd call myself half irish and half scottish, if i was lazy i would just call myself irish, since thats where ive lived all my life

[@DanDanDoe]

My great grandmother was Indonesian, but from both my father's and mother's side there's a lot of German ancestors which came to the Netherlands throughout the 1800s. I'm still not German or Indonesian, as I never was part of those cultures. I'm Dutch, with German and Indonesian ancestors. Especially the Indonesian one is fun, because other people with (Dutch-)Indonesian ancestors sometimes recognise my Indonesian genes, while I'm white with dark blonde hair and blue eyes.

[@BroadwayBound009]

I can relate!! My mom is a genealogist and specializes in Irish genealogy. My direct line left multiple generations ago but my mom has traced both her parents sides to multiple towns all over Ireland well into the 1800’s before a few of them moved to America. Many Irish traditions and recipes where brought over and passed down but I’m not Irish as in I have ever lived there. I’m American. If asked I always say either “I have Irish ancestry” or “I have Irish dna”. I am lucky enough to still have family that lives in Ireland and are related to me but it’s more distant and even though I adore them and keep in close contact and am so in love with Ireland and Irish culture, I’m still American. But also proud of the ancestors who came before me that could truly call themselves Irish and the distant ones who are actually Irish lol

[@cg6511]

@@BroadwayBound009 “I have Irish dna” what is that?

[@benwinter5871]

A thing that annoys me about the US is when they call the U.K. “our little brother”. It almost belittles the U.K., England is 1000 years old and Scotland’s even older, it’s just a bit ignorant.

[@lazymusician10]

I never knew Scotland was older but I did know the U.K. was older then the USA. The more you know; I've never called the U.K. "little brother" ever in my entire life. Nor have I ever heard anyone call the U.K. that...must be other places in the USA that do it. But here, we don't.

[@TheRibottoStudios]

Why would Americans call UK "the little brother"? I've never heard of US calling it that-I've always heard it like US being the rebellious kid who said "Fck you you're not my real dad" to the UK and left.

[@allymog5228]

If anything it makes sense for the UK to be the parent of the US, since you know... it kind of is. Uncle Sam is the child of Queen Britannia

[@unepommeverte17]

I've never heard that in my life. Who says that???

[@milkpastasoup8960]

@@lazymusician10 add in the fact that the majority of Europe is just as much older. I would mention any other continent but they are unrelated for this specific context. On the topic of Britain and age. My school literally dates back to the dark ages. Not the buildings for obvious reasons. The school grounds of my school are literally older than America. (we have human teeth and skulls in the science block and a whale spine vertebrae thing)

[@achan730]

From my experience, Americans typically refer back to their heritage when in the US, but when we’re abroad, we’re Americans. I think the emphasis on the heritage aspect comes from the need to celebrate our roots. That’s why we have culture appreciation day or culture fair annually in school. Being just American isn’t enough in the US.

[@halliehurst4847]

I have to say that has not been my experience being Scottish and working in Scottish gift shops with American tourists. They will quite blatantly introduce themselves as Scottish in an American accent while being obviously tourists and tell me that - at closest - their grandfather was from here. I personally think American interest in their heritage is pretty cool. Visiting a whole country just because they had a great x whatever grandparent from here is dedication (except for when they tell me said grandparent was from like Dundee and they’re in Edinburgh, then I ask them when they’re heading to Dundee and they say they’re not, but they are doing a bus tour of the highlands...) It doesn’t so much annoy me as baffle me. Why?? No one else does this??? Even Canadians will be like, yeah my grandmother was Scottish. But yeah I’m afraid you’re mistaken if you think that Americans abroad are Americans, in my experience anyways. I do suspect working in a gift shop means I get the obnoxious ones so take what I say with a caveat

[@achan730]

@@halliehurst4847 Yeah I have no idea why some Americans do that abroad. Maybe from force of habit. In the US, no one really says that they’re American when asked about their background.(from my experience).They say that they’re Polish, Korean or Mexican. It may not always be technically accurate, but that’s generally the way in which we would respond. It could be just one of those things that makes sense in America, but doesn’t work abroad.

[@lightsideofsin8969]

I lived in the US for 6 months and boy do they not shut up about being "German too" whenever my nationality came up. I was born and raised in Germany and the fact that you have an ancestor who had a German Shepard is not the same as having knowledge of German culture. Being American seemed almost shameful to them. As if that's not a real thing. As if you're grasping at straws, desperately trying not to be "just American". It seems super ridiculous to us Europeans. Don't pretend to be like us when you're not. Being American is completely fine.

[@sarahgreen1029]

@@lightsideofsin8969 As an American I don't do the whole "I'm irish" thing, but I think you've pretty much guessed it right. I have two theories. 1) we don't really have our own culture and traditions that are uniquely ours and people take the whole "melting pot" thing very seriously. Maybe they're kinda desperate to be part of something? 2) like you said we find it embarrassing to be an American. We are from one of the most hated countries in the world. Despite the stereotypes, I would say most of us are aware that nobody likes us (I know a lot of people who say they're Canadian when they travel lol). Being American is not interesting to anyone really so I guess they're just grasping for something? I don't know it's weird I know. Also I find it very embarrassing and ironically it gives people more reasons to not like us lol.

[@achan730]

@@lightsideofsin8969 I think they might have been overexcited to have a convo with a foreigner, but constantly bringing that up is really weird. Americans are generally grown up with the idea that you should know your heritage and be proud of where you came from. Some may take that to the extreme. I don’t think that it’s Americans wanting to be like a certain culture, but more so of wanting to be more culturally diverse if that makes sense.

[@laurelbayless2816]

Most high schools in the US probably don't even offer AP World History. My school had APUSH, AP US Gov, and AP Euro

[@cambs0181]

Years ago worked at an American airforce base in England. One of the things which happened was that on of the USAF security forces guys came up and shared to the civilian staff how he supported the cause for the IRA as he was Irish. The response was "you know Johns here!" Airman: Yeah but Johns Scottish John: No I'm from Belfast Airman: Um Belfast, where's that? That conversation basically sums up Irish Americans to me.

[@juliakrbr1219]

Evan: calls Bochum the middle of Germany Herbert Grönemeyer has entered the chat

[@sisuguillam5109]

😂🤣 Me sitting in Hessen - right on the border to Rheinland-Pfalz: "Could I have a word with you, sir? In private like? Just a chat? You and me and a map?

[@yuyu-ff1wj]

@@sisuguillam5109 same, I live right next to the border to Lower Saxony lmao

[@erikw.s.5209]

tief im weeeesteeeen

[@hgriffithshlg]

You‘ve done a podcast with Susie Dent?! I would be so unbelievably starstruck if that were me, I’m obsessed with etymology 😅

[@niamhronald1851]

i was SO happy when you pronounced the “shire” properly when saying county names!

[@rebekahk787]

I always thought the Paddy/Patty difference is because the Irish version of Patrick is Padraig.

[@cinderfeather]

To those who might be going "Wait what are "The Troubles" Evan mentioned?" it....it's complicated. Poor, poor Northern Ireland.

[@smargrave]

The troubles had to do with the religious wars right? Like Catholics versus protestants or something? And Evan was right, us Americans didn't learn it growing up, our history lesson were very Americancentric.

[@marcellakilgarriff]

@@smargrave there is a religious element to the Troubles that did boil down to Protestant v Catholic, but the real root of the violence was the split between those that wanted to remain part of the UK and those that wanted Ireland to be an independent republic. The majority of Protestants tended to want to remain in the UK and Catholics wanted us to be independent.

[@TheRibottoStudios]

@@smargrave KIND of. From what I learned, it's basically Irish Protestants vs Irish Catholics cause they hate each other. England is majority Protestant, Ireland is majority Catholic. Hey Britain invaded Ireland and guess what? Yeah conflict. Lots of it. The Irish Civil War happens. Irish Catholics support breaking off from the UK and becoming its own country; Irish Protestants resist, largely out of fear that they'll be a political minority. Lots of fighting happens over the next 30 years, then there's a peace treaty, things are going on STILL but it's like lowkey shit.

[@antonycharnock2993]

The troubles have been going on for over 300 years. We had to learn all about it at school back in the 80's when it was still a serious issue. Far too much bad blood & Brexit is going to throw a spanner in the works next year.

[@cinderfeather]

@@TheRibottoStudios that's like a VERY smol summary of it-it's hard to explain isn't it? lol But yeah the solution was to split up Ireland, which is how we get Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland....which....ehhhhhhh.

[@JT-uw5xi]

I'm cancelling Evan for his irish accent again

[@sarah.2929]

agreed

[@terryhayward7905]

I really do not understand Irish/American, German/American,Welsh/American ? if you were born in America, you are American.

[@AJ-uo5zl]

tbh English people don't even learn about the troubles or the famine when it's their country's fault. Irish history is just not given enough attention.

[@ellehan3003]

I'm English and you're right. My grandad was from Galway and he never talked about those times either. But honestly youre right. In school all i learned was about the 1st world war for 5 years. My history teacher was great and made it so interesting, but i always wanted to learn something else. Anything else.

[@nicokelly6453]

True point there! Definitely it's sad when Americans don't know much about Ireland but it's frankly more embarrassing when English people don't...

[@ytbtech114]

we learnt about it but for only 2 lessons

[@AngstyPrinceswagnes]

meanwhile, thats all we learn about in primary school, and only start to move away from irish history in secondary school lmao so many years about the famine. so many

[@STScott-qo4pw]

many members of my family NEVER speak about The Troubles. they were alive in ireland during those times. i think even among themselves they never spoke about the Troubles.

[@excho]

"Birminghamshire" = West Midlands (yes, county and region have the same name) "Liverpoolshire" = Merseyside

[@evan]

not the wirral?

[@ewanpakula2810]

@@evan no the wirral is the peninsula not a county, half is in merseyside half in cheshire

[@sophieirwin3497]

Oh the Wirral is not Liverpool. The Wirral is Cheshire, Liverpool is Merseyside. It’s a thing in Liverpool to categorise it

[@vijay-c]

The Midlands don't exist. I live in Hampshire, as soon as you start going towards London, there are Road signs for "The North". I'm reliably informed that the North starts at Watford Gap service station.

[@poppymcpeake9961]

OMG IM FROM WIRRAL

[@thelovercut]

The light's reflection on Evan's window looks like the moon and I love that

[@Zinkromo]

Love love love this setup! Perfect amount of light contrast in the background but not distracting enough to take the focus off you. 12/10

[@abbiemarie3245]

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve told an American I’m Irish and they’re like “me too!” 😂

[@fionagilbert2247]

Welcome back to the channel of the man who just wants to be adopted by the UK already.

[@hainleysimpson1507]

Fiona You wouldn't? The UK is less race obsessed and has better education and healthcare and to an extent better maintained infrastructure.

[@diegusmaximus9655]

People think theyre being patriotic while holding the flag of a country that was in war with the us(Im talking abt the confederate flag)

[@tessewact]

RIGHT its so ironic when people claim its for their "American heritage" when the confederacy was the definition of ANTI american

[@diegusmaximus9655]

@@tessewact EXACTLY, ITS JUST DUMB RACISM

[@runningcommentary2125]

'I love my country so much that I stick this flag of people who betrayed and rebelled against it in my garden for everyone to see!'

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Be fair: They are being patriotic. Their country lost to the union. But the flag they brandish is not even that country's flag.

[@diegusmaximus9655]

@@davidwuhrer6704 Ok, maybe its a confederate battle flag and not a national flag, but still their country isn’t the confederacy, its the union, and the confederacy only existed for four years, and they fought to keep slaves. By defending the confederacy they are defending slavery since the only reason the confederacy existed was to keep slavery alive

[@TheMarieflyy]

omg this is reminding of one time when I lived in New York, I was in a line waiting to see a show and this older woman with the thickest American accent started talking to these Italian tourists, saying that she was Italian because of her great grandfather, it was a little awkward ngl

[@Paul-eb4jp]

My Grandfather was from Manchester and my Grandmother was from Liverpool you can't get more Irish than that.

[@juliebean1910]

We actually did have mandatory European history and World history courses that weren't AP at my school in Pennsylvania. Also, I highly recommend the book Lies My Teacher Told Me. It's all about how bad US history textbooks are.

[@KRYMauL]

Most Schools only teach European History even though it's called "world History." It honestly seemed like the only thing Worldly was checking up on China every couple hundred of years during a dynasty shift.

[@Meatbeerboss]

Went to an amazing wedding at Westminster Abbey last year. I sat next to a lovely American husband and wife, I showed them a beautiful copy of the bible the Abbey had on show. Then explained that the book they were holding is older then the whole country they are from. Its not something behind a glass case, you can pick it up, read it.

[@sh4nnz]

‘You just throw shire at the end of everything and you can make a county’ From someone who lives in Carmarthenshire.. You’re not wrong

[@rockylikm]

I need Evan to invite other Americans on his show lol. The US is so big that experiences vary DRASTICALLY by location, gender, and Race

[@juliannos]

This videos are always interesting to watch for me. I am an American but I have 2 degrees in European History, so there's a lot of historical topics that I am familiar with when it comes to Europe. Watching Evan talk about the things he didn't know before moving there and reading the comments is eye-opening to me, because it shows just how little the US does teach it's people about the rest of the world. Which leads to many people using their own family's heritage as the basis for their understanding of those places, which have obviously changed a ton since those family member came to the US. It can also be pretty easy to feel like you don't have a culture here, especially if you live in places that are very culturally homogenous and because the US is frankly, stupidly large. If everyone is pretty similar, then your culture is just "the way it is," rather than traditions that reflect a sense of shared history. Speaking from my own experience, some people just want to feel like they have some connection to the past and for many of us that past only goes to about the 18th century. Beyond that, you have to start looking elsewhere. And people just want to feel special and different. None of that makes the speaking for the actual living current culture okay, but I hope it gives some insights.

[@fay6397]

already know im gonna love this... amazing way to chill after a long day at school

[@evan]

:D

[@tamasmarcuis4455]

When I worked for my country's diplomatic department I knew some colleagues who had spent time in the USA. They had particularly hated being called White. They felt white was an artificial category used for some social hierarchy they wanted no part of. If you come from the former Soviet Union you know not all white people are European or Christian or of any particularly European culture. I have met a lot of people from the Caribbean who are as dark as a coffee bean who I recognise as culturally European. But according to how Americans see things I'm meant to have more common understanding with some Central Asian Muslim Turkman tribesman but none for a French or English speaking academic form the Caribbean who has brown skin.

[@crazycats9774]

For backlight, there's a good theatre trick to have a light directly behind and a pretty steep angle from above pointing at the back of performers. Maybe you could rig something onto your ceiling. Warm light is generally best

[@not_today_satan-wu2ib]

"The sun has not been on my side" Welcome to the UK

[@vellaashelo7209]

The T and D sounds youre talking about is called a flap ☺️ in britain we dont tend to use flaps we use glottal T

[@christinemorton4395]

And don't forget the annoying glottal stop!

[@vellaashelo7209]

@@christinemorton4395 yeah the Glottal t

[@wesleybush8646]

The comedian, Hari Kondabolu, once said, "I don't trust people who say they don't see race, because if they don't see race, they can't see racism." I think that's part of the reason why Americans see themselves often as part of a racial or ethnic group. Each group that came over as immigrants received an immense backlash: Italians, Irish, Eastern European, Jews, etc. By identifying with a group they could fight back against the racism, xenophobia, anti semitism, etc. Of course, they see themselves as American, but Simply not acknowledging this doesn't make it go away. Of course, black people faced the largest of this discrimination, for the most part. If the larger group doesn't include you, then you may have to form your own institutions. We have had only one Catholic President, John F. Kennedy, partially because there's a lot of anti Catholic sentiment among a significant portion of Protestants.

[@livinginthenow]

I absolutely LOVE your lighting! It's so pleasant to watch your videos and not be distracted by the reflection of a ring light in your glasses (and every other reflective surface in the room), as is the case for so many other youtubers. 👏👏👏

[@alastairk0159]

In Ireland we also study american history from the 1940s to 1970s.

[@ellajabo114]

Im american but my family heavily identifies as italian american so when im in america if people ask about my family I say we're italian, but if it was someone outside the US I would say Italian American or just american

[@catgirl6803]

Same here. I think it’s one of the immigrant groups that hung on to their culture. I think this is mainly because of the discrimination Italian immigrants faced. And most of us are Sicilian and they were discriminated against in Italy too this why they came over. My dad always told me that the mafia was formed for community support and survival. Though I’ve found that Italian American culture is way different than Italian culture in Italy. In the US I say Italian if someone asks me my heritage. And if outside the US I say American because that’s where I live. But I’ll occasionally get asked my heritage. But I still very much consider myself Italian because my great grandparents immigrated from there and I actually knew them, spoke to them, heard stories, etc. And I’ve learned the experiences of my grandparents growing up with immigrant parents.

[@Suigin86]

@@catgirl6803 it seems your dad knows nothing about Mafia. Good for him. Mafia it's a criminal group, always has been, and mafiosi have NOTHING to do with helping poor people... on the contrary, they try to exploit them on a daily basis. They kill people, even children. You know nothing about this trash organization and you don't understand how much of a issue this organization (Camorra and N'Drangheta as well, to be honest) is for both Italy and for Sicily in particular. Please, kindly refrain from spreading misinformation or romanticizing the Mafia.

[@helgaioannidis9365]

Something I've been wondering a while about Americans that identify as Italians, do you guys speak Italian and read Italian newspapers or watch Italian TV or stuff like that? I know many Greek Americans go to Greek school and actually speak Greek and learn traditional dances and consume Greek media, does the Italian community have something similar?

[@lauragoreni3020]

As an Italian from actual Italy, I wouldn't consider other people Italian unless they spoke the language and knew well the culture and/or had Italian as their nationality. I think most Italians would think the same. I wouldn't consider colour/ethnicity a factor. My best friend is Russian, she has Russian citizenship but has lived in Italy since she was little, speaks the language and behaves like an Italian. I consider her Italian at heart because that's how people think in Europe, you're part of a nation if you truly understand it, not If you have ancestry from it. It's a different world view. That's why every European (and likely most people in the world) look weirdly at Americans for claiming ancestry from a country they don't know much (or nothing) about.

[@PPfilmemacher]

@@lauragoreni3020 On point

[@charlotte4tacos527]

The Irish-American comment was very relatable for Scottish people too. Scottish-Americans seem obsessed with the idea it’s still 1890 over here, they have no idea about the independence debate and don’t understand anything about Scotland as an internationalist, modern country.

[@lindatisue733]

In almost 25 years as an ex-pat the only time my "heritage" came up was when I was teaching there was a conversation question in an ESL text book written by an American.

[@aoifekeavey6566]

Americans always spell it st. Patty on social media (well every American I follow)

[@autumnrryan8453]

I’m an American and I don’t spell it like that. A lot of Americans do though.

[@JoneseyBanana]

Yeah, it's not that they pronounce it wrong as such - they do *say* "St Paddy's day". But they hear people saying "St Paddy's day", they know it's short for "St Patrick", and they generally pronounce their "t"s as "d"s so they assume that the spelling must be "St Patty's day". They don't realise that "Paddy" is short for "Pádraig", which is the Irish language version of Patrick.

[@m1nation]

I've never heard anyone say St. Paddy or Patty. I've only say St.Patricks day. But maybe that's because I'm Mexican American so I don't really have that many Irish people around me aside from some people from school

[@rtsharlotte]

I live in Ireland and the Irish hate it being called St Patty's Day

[@quanbrooklynkid7776]

@@m1nation W

[@jessicalink6861]

I miss the puns. you used to have so many in your videos, but it's a happy surprise when you come out with one these days. Loving the community videos, as well as the continuation of your British and America Series. i also love the fact that your also including videos about Germany. I'm a british citizen presently living in germany, and i've noticed a couple of things i've heard you talk about in your videos: particularly the use of long words to describe something

[@lornaaa7]

I think it is so great that other Americans are being educated about your videos and learning about other cultures, and particularly how other countries have progressed in the past 100 years. It was so frustrating as a Scottish person studying in Canada and America and meeting new people and always been told "I am Scottish too!" Then proceeding to realise that Scotland and Ireland are in fact not the same country and asking me questions like " so does Scotland have electricity yet". This was 2015 😅😅

[@henrygustafson2755]

12:40 what? I live in California (San Francisco) and we definitely recycle and compost. In fact we can recycle much more than other places. (ex. plastic wrapping, film plastic, lower-grade plastic like yogurt containers) From what I understand, our recycling company, recology, is the best the nation and one of the best in the world at recycling. I think San Francisco is by far the closest to being zero waste of any US city. Our landfill bins are way smaller than our recycling bins (I barely put anything into landfill each week) and recology spends more money than any city sorting the recycling correctly. San Francisco's waste numbers are down to 360,000 tons per year (0.42 tons per person) which is almost a fifth of New York's number.

[@maya-te1gk]

hahah I’m also from San Francisco but I know that once you’re out of the city a lot of places don’t have a system in place (I guess I’m mainly thinking about getting food I’m in somewhere like Daly City or Brisbane lol) which is hella unfortunate :((

[@manicwebb]

I grew up in the Bay Area, and my childhood home had 3 bins: trash, compost, and recycling. Since moving to the San Joaquin Valley, I've seen only trash and compost bins. It apparently varies all over the state.

[@henrygustafson2755]

@@manicwebb hmm interesting. I had no idea it was like this in other places. I guess the bay area (specifically san francisco) is unique

[@Pheluv]

California is not representative of the standard American state. I mean that in a nice way

[@henrygustafson2755]

@@Pheluv Yes, but at the timestamp I referenced Evan says that even in California recycling doesn't work.

[@smargrave]

Where does one go in CA where there is no way to recycle? I was born and raised in CA and recycling is heavily promoted. There is even places to recycle paints and electronics and its easy to find those places.

[@justlindjul]

Yes, I thought that was very strange.

[@aisling_90]

Me: is that the MOON?! Me reading the comments looking for an explanation: ooohhhh, it’s the reflection of the light.... damn I thought he went extra for Halloween. Still spoopy tho 🌚

[@hannahgibb5547]

I love how sassily you read my comment, just saying. Didn't mean it like that, but seeing you add extra sass made me laugh 😂😂

[@alicemacfarlane5279]

Hope you’re having a great day! When I studied GCSE history my school did 2 courses, one based on the Cold War and more American history and the course I did was Nazi Germany and Medicine through time. The last time I remember doing UK history was in year 6 (10-11 years old). It’s a shame we don’t learn more about our own history but it also depends on what history combination the school decides to do for GCSE exams. You can see the variation between them on the AQA or OCR website if you were still wondering ✨

[@Inucroft]

Ngl... like all the Americans I know irl are generally nicer than most fellow brits. Like, at a museum i work at, there was an American lass working on the ticket desk. And she was always super friendly, also thought i looked like one of the Beatles due to my 60s styled mullet & glasses

[@aclstudios]

Online we're a lot nicer too, than almost any European nationality, and we're even nicer than Canadians.

[@curlygirl56129]

We are known for being friendly!

[@1983simi]

I'm German and grew up with plenty of classmates and worked with plenty of colleagues whose parents were originally from different parts of the world, and every single one of them is more German to me than any random American I ever met who claimed to be German too, but who struggled to get even just get one intelligible word out in German, and let's not even start about knowledge of history, past and current cultural issues and way of life.

[@D0MiN0ChAn]

Wholeheartedly and undoubtedly! ❤️

[@jimeactua]

i really like how you film your videos, the colours omg! they are amazing

[@kmacdizzle]

I'm American (from metro Detroit, Michigan) and just got so excited that you were on a podcast with Susie Dent. I am constantly watching 8 out of 10 cats does countdown

[@quinncowan7551]

As someone from South Jersey myself, I would LOVE to hear your take on jersey culture and SJ life in general because as far as I know not that many KZbinrs are from the area or at least talk about the state we love so much! Also I want to hear you bash the north soooo bad lol Also Wawa does the same thing with their recycling. As an employee it’s infuriating!!!

[@daisyjones5559]

Jersey or New Jersey?

[@artheaded1]

It would be interesting! I'm from the North Jersey, now living in disputed Central Jersey (Does it exist or not?) Pork Roll or Taylor Ham? Let the fight begin!

[@nat-kt2qh]

okay so here’s the thing with world history classes where i’m from in the states. you’re supposed to learn early world history in like sixth grade, up until the ancient greeks. then in seventh, you go through pretty much all the major world regions and countries history. in eighth it’s all american, but you start with england because of that whole connection. in ninth grade EVERYONE takes geography, which is more like a political explanation of everything from like the late eighteen hundreds until now. then your sophomore year EVERYONE takes world history, and you can choose between ap or college prep. it’s all the same content the only differences really being the ap test and preparation, which includes a bit more detail than college prep world history. junior year you do american history, and senior year you do government and economics. i meant to comment on the video with corry where you go through your high schools curriculum, because where i live it is incredibly different, and it’s so weird how different your classes can be depending on where in the states you live. and also we do recycle in california?? like we turn in bottles and cans and stuff, and are meant to separate recyclables from the rest of the trash. i don’t know if it stays separated but we are meant to.

[@lania2246]

At my school World history and Geography was a required freshman year class. And AP classes I think were very normal to take in whatever subjects you were better in. My school heavily encouraged that sort of thing. But maybe its just that all the people I knew took a bunch of AP classes. I took 5 and I’m still mad that my middle school US history teacher didn’t let me take AP human geo in 9th grade. Your lighting and background set up is looking gorgeous.

[@ThemanlymanStan]

I'm American and I never understood why Americans seemed to care so much about heritage, especially when it was clearly evident that it was unrelated to culture and was almost entirely about genetics. Seemed kinda trivial to me maybe even pointless lol

[@jonnyn8928]

I disagree. You should know who you come from and how it fits within history. But you have to do it responsibly, claiming to "BE Irish" or to "BE Swedish" or to "BE Choctaw" is an outright lie because you're not a citizen of any of those places. It's nonsense. But it's good to know what clans you descend from, many Indigenous people teach that.

[@jonnyn8928]

It's not about genetics, it's actually about spirits if I'm being honest. Crazy as that sounds.

[@BasicallyBreagy]

Always though Sinéad was one of the easiest irish names but I guess not 😂 "Shin" "aid" kinda as it looks!

[@PurpleCastles]

Lol, I think Shannon, Kathleen and Colleen (when, at least, spelled the English way rather than how it should be) are the easier Irish names. But at least a lot of Irish names are very unique for their spellings and pronunciations

[@erinbarclay7724]

@@PurpleCastles Shannon and Colleen generally wouldn't be considered Irish names in Ireland, they're common among the Irish diaspora because they're sort of evocative of Ireland, the Shannon being our longest river, and Colleen being an anglicised version of "Cailín" which is Irish for "girl".

[@PurpleCastles]

@@erinbarclay7724 Yeah, I knew Colleen came from an Irish word. I've also seen Shannon in town names or of general geographic areas in County Galway (and maybe Mayo and Clare as well) but I didn't realize they aren't very Irish to you guys. Interesting, but thanks for the reply!

[@apollinirish5515]

Technically America lost the Civil War, but also won it

[@maximilianbeyer5642]

That's what tends to happen in civil wars

[@kaiceecrane3884]

The "country" the US fought in the civil war considered themselves a wholly different country and was fighting on that premise, the basis for war the right to own slaves, but to also be their own country to enforce that right; that's how they saw things. It would be like saying the UK fought itself in the American revolution.

[@jonnyn8928]

CSA is a currently non existent entity which previously lost the war.

[@sophiacherniysc]

Your jacket complements the setup wonderfully. Big autumny vibes: with a subtle warm fire in the background, cosy blankets and pumpkin spice flavoured hot drinks, the outside sinking into the night and bringing in the blues 👌 Really, a spectacular visual experience.

[@jadeashlee9664]

I’m a native speaker and you speak English SO fast and have a certain cadence to it. You inspired me over 2 years ago to learn Hebrew!

[@danielleramos2659]

I appreciate Evan acknowledging the AP Euro nerds (best class I took Sophomore year). My class was only 12 people (some dropped out during the summer; we had a couple summer assignments worse than the actual work). Funny enough all of us were actually we're really into it and had interesting discussions about the material we were going over. We actually did learn about other areas than europe.

[@amyschoeppich]

I didn’t know that I needed a podcast with Evan and Susie but it turns out that I do.

[@logann-mackenziefroste563]

I love your videos as they have made me look into studying in the UK! So thank you for the videos! Also the speed of how you talk really keeps me watching.

[@raccoonja5905]

I'm from Germany I never got the whole heritage thing. When I was 13 and 14 we had a teacher from America with German ancetry come to our school once a year and give a volentary extra English class. Where he talked about his City New-Ulm, the American twin city to Ulm, close to where I live. They love their ancetry so much that they sing old German folk songs, although most people there don't even know what they mean. And I found exactly one person in Germany, who knew the German song he taught us. It was the over 90 year old grandpa of my best friend. Not even my grandma knew it and she was a music teacher. He also tought us about the American culture like cooking really, really sweet food. And we went to MCDonalds on the last day of the course. He was really nice and a great teacher and the course was so fun that I did it twice, but it was a bit strange having a guy from a different country showing us the stuff they do that nobody in Germany does anymore.

[@johnwilletts3984]

I’m English, but one of my ancestors Mary Young was Irish. She came over here looking for a betterment life following the Great Famine in the 1840s. That’s 180 years ago, or 7 generations. The number of our ancestors doubles each generation. So that’s 164 ancestors on Mary’s level alone. I’ll not bother with the Maths to provide a total but even over that 180 year period the number of ancestors is massive. So unless you live in an isolated national group, then like me Americans cannot claim Irish Heritage. Only the Irish are Irish.

[@junethanoschurchill6750]

“Going out of your way in your natural dialect to mispronounce something” this holds true for many Asian names

[@JackieWarner13]

I love Evans passion of his set up, lights & camera. 🥰 it's great set up.

[@charliehilfiker6935]

As someone from New Jersey, pls make a video talking about Jersey I’m so here for it

[@tessewact]

my grandparents were both italian immigrants but i still feel weird calling myself italian

[@nihanthpinnaka2304]

Before I continue: The following is not a defense of America, just an explanation. To be fair, a lot of American stereotypes don't apply to modern-day America. I'm an 11th grader, and we've learned a lot about other places. I took Classics in 5th grade, World History in 6th grade, and then World History again in 8th and European in 10th. For the Second world history and European, AP was optional so there were people who just didn't take the AP. On top of that, most people these days know America isn't the best. Most people I know tend to actually think America is one of the worst places to live in, which I also disagree with. Saying that is just an insult to people who actually do live in terrible places. A lot has changed recently, especially also the early 2000s with reprints and newer editions of books like "A People's History of the United States" and others that emphasized what was wrong with America. (I only mention a peoples' history since it a famous book. In reality, its also filled with misinformation and reads more like communist propaganda. There is a lot of bad things to say about America so I don't know why the author decides to invent more, but hey that's how it works.) The fact that people claim culture is a lot less prevalent too. Of course, that happens sometimes, but that's just because there are more people here who's ancestors are from another nation, and as a result, there's obviously going to be more people here claiming other nations' heritage, and a good amount is because we don't tend to have our own, both because we are a nation of immigrants and because we've exported American culture across the world and American culture has basically become obsolete so you can't really call it a culture anymore. That's also a reason why people here tend to value their ideals of America as being the freest and best even though it isn't true. It's basically all the culture we have, so we deify the constitution and the founding fathers. Some communities like the Amish definitely have more culture, but a lot of people only have had their family living in America for 2 generations, so there is no real culture other than what you either brought from wherever your family migrated from or what they teach you about America in general, so you have to choose one of the two. And a lot of criticisms are a bit hypocritical. There's a lot of criticism that Immigration to America means that people will lose their original culture. On the other hand, you can't claim another nation's culture since it's literally not your culture and you know nothing about it other than what your family told you. So its a lose-lose situation in terms of cultural identity. For the recycling and environmental part, I don't really have anything to say about that except 1. people are stupid, 2. There isn't much opportunity to recycle here even if people want to. It's hard to put into practice unless you put in way too much effort. Like here in Arizona; Recycling laws and what your allowed to put in the recycling bin vary from city to city and you know that if you put in something that's not allowed, they throw out the whole thing. So you just put it into the trash if doubt that you can recycle it. Nobody is going to look up your city laws just see what's allowed. It should be much simpler. 3. Its getting better

[@randomhumanbeing9303]

The pain of Northfolk, Birminghamshire and Liverpoolshire was extreme

[@kk9591]

Fun fact my US history teacher was from New Zealand and that makes so much sense now