Series: What I learned about America by living in Scotland, I
I’m pretty swamped right now, and have lots of fantastic post ideas but no time to write. But I wanted to at least begin a series both fun and ideal for quick posting. The series is: What I learned about America by living in Scotland.
Ok, so it’s a really bad name, but at least it’s descriptive. Over my final (*tear) last six weeks in Scotland I hope to reflect on a few of learnings from people to politics to religion to dirt.
First reflection: America is big. No, really, American is BIG!
Sure, I knew America was big before staying for a year in Scotland, but more of the implications have surfaced for me this year. We drive bigger cars because we’re in them longer, we drive longer distances, we have wider roads, and we’re bigger people (aka fatter.)
Scotland can fit into the United States 127 times. Scotland can fit into Georgia twice. The population of Scotland is very similar to the population of the Atlanta metro area.
Everything is smaller here: cartons of juice, refrigerators, cars, bags of chips, cans of soup, shoe sizes, yards, houses, fairways, even blades of grass (one exception is the new Church of Scotland hymnal, but we won’t go there).
The implications of these size differences are many. Scots have a clearer understanding that they are citizens of the world, not just their country (the United Kingdom questions help this). I’d say Americans are much more showy in their patriotism, much more arrogant in their citizenship than Scots. When Scots visit other countries, Americans visit other states. This makes Americans a little more nearsighted (in the real eye doctor sense, at least).
I also feel like Americans think a little bigger sometimes. Their horizons are so distant, their country so vast, perhaps their ingenuity is piqued by the sheer amount of possibilities in a country so large.
Big generalization here, but I also feel like Americans live more secluded lives, especially in terms of our class structure. While in Scotland it’s common to have a more shady neighborhood just a few blocks from an expensive one, American neighborhoods are often so spread out they don’t ever see the other. Many Americans get in the SUVs to drive to work behind tinted windows. Scots are much more likely to walk, ride the bus, or take the train. This increases Americans’ individualism.
America, obviously, has many more regions than Scotland; it’s much more diverse geographically in many ways because it’s so much bigger. Americans then have a bit more regional identity than Scots. It’s difficult to compare this assertion, since folks from Glasgow and Edinburgh (only an hour apart) have different accents and culture. But, I would say there are more possible differences at home, and more regional identity claiming. Not totally sure about these implications, but perhaps it makes Americans more likely to tell their own story about their own place to explain to others from other places. Maybe it makes us more narrative? Ok, I’m no sociologist so will stop here before I get myself into trouble.
Cheerio.
image by Billy Alexander
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I think you mean nearsighted–as in Americans have trouble seeing things far away (e.g. other countries).
Also, this post raises some thorny questions about the geopolitics of vocabulary. While in Panama, I was met with a good bit of antagonism whenever I used the term American to refer to a citizen of the United States. To Panamanians, all residents of North, Central, and South America qualify as Americans, and the fact that United States citizens claim the term, as you have, in reference to only one country is indicative of neo-imperialism. I hadn’t thought about these implications, but they’ve come to resonate with me, especially after studying the United States’ clandestine backing of military governments in Latin America in the 60s and 70s. In Panama, the term used to describe United States citizens is estadounidenses, which translates rather cumbersomely to, well, United States citizens. (By comparison, I don’t think any Scottish person would describe him or herself as British without bearing in mind the transnational implications inherent in British–vis-a-vis Scottish–identity.) Too bad we don’t have a U.S.A.-specific term that you could have employed in this post in place of American. Lover-of-freedom, perhaps?
I don’t think people can appreciate just how big the U.S. is until they spend time in Europe. I loved Scotland, more for the whisky (not whiskey like in Kentucky) than the open space. I think your observations are generally spot on, though. Personally, I think the Bay Area resembles Scotland in a number of ways, both in the philosophy and the terrain.
We even have a few highland cows. Please tell me you are going to write about them.
Thanks for the comments folks.
I do mean nearsighted, which I will change. Funny thing is, I psyched myself out and around that definition. Not even sure it’s totally right now, but I’ll roll with it.
Regarding the very genuine question of whether to refer to the US as “America.” I studied this problem in several courses, and appreciate attention being drawn to it here. I think Ian’s right on both fronts: “America” for “US citizen” has unfortunate implications, and it’s pretty clumsy to use something else.
I understand ‘America’ as simply a shortening of my country’s full name, “The United States of America.” It’s a nickname for the US rather than an affront to America which includes those south of the Rio Grande.
I wonder, though, why don’t residents of south america have the same issue? Or do they? Isn’t it that the continent used to just be America from Canada to Chile and then it got broken up in smaller descriptors? “North America” Central A. South A. and so on?
This is ridiculously long, so I’ll stop. Unorthodoxy…I’m off to drink some of that whisky with no “E”
You don’t call Germans, Spanish, French and/or Bulgarians nomads–they are European. The same way with the Americas. All people born in the Continent of North, Central, and South America are obviously as well Americans duh!!!. Europe is a continent the people there are Europeans!!! The smae is true with every continent.
People living in the United States are Americans. They along with citizens of Mexico and Canada are also ‘North Americans’, as the continent is called North America, not just America. Mexicans and Canadians are not Americans, they are NORTH Americans, a subtle but important difference. South and Central America are on a whole different continent, and along the same lines the citizens in those countries are also SOUTH Americans, or CENTRAL Americans but not Americans.
If many find it offensive – or incorrect to refer to US citizens as ‘americans’ – maybe we could start a new desrciptive term. How about if we simply called ourselves US citizens instead? Sounds good to me. If enough people start using it it will soon become the norm.