OK you yanks are great at exporting your culture in the form of soap operas and dramas, so I was wondering how accurate a representation you think any or all of them are?

Shows I've seen include, One Tree Hill, OC, Friends, Dream On, Simpsons, TV nation and probably a couple more I dont recall.

I think "The Simpsons" is probably the best representation of America and Americans. Except there's no way a family like that could afford a house. Think of them in a rented apartment, and you'll be pretty close. It should give you taigs a reasonably accurate picture.

None of them because all take a tiny bit of truth and dramatize the shot out of it.
Without the extreme drama, and if they were just normal people, nobody would watch.

Good grief, no wonder people think we are dumb as rocks.

Actually Jubal is right sort of. The Simpson's have a wide variety of characters, they may be exaggerated, but your far more likely to run into an American like Homer Simpson than any of the Yuppies on those other shows.

Have you ever watched the British situation comedy programing on PBS?
Good lord, I for one could not imagine Brits are really that stupid, boring and not funny!

You know that's the same was calling me "Nigger" right?

I also like Everybody Hates Chris, I used to like Six Feet Under until it just got subsumed by homosexuality, eight simple rules, big bang theory, scrubs, they're all good too but I've got to say that I'm a big, big fan of M*A*S*H and think that if it were rescreened today people would think it was too left wing.

Some of us aren't too fond of "you yanks." I'll withdraw mine if you'll withdraw yours.


Hold on, I'll restate. I withdraw anyway. If you hit the meaning right, "taig" is far worse than I had understood it to be, far worse than "yank," and far worse than I intended it to be in the message. "Yank" is moderately insulting. Apparently "taig" is going a lot farther. That wasn't my intention, and I sincerely apologise. I'll be more careful in the future to make sure I understand all the connotations of slang terms before I use them.

You just became so much cooler. M.A.S.H was fantastic.

Even watching it today, after seeing it as a kid, M.A.S.H is fresh, funny, poignant and bitterly brutal. A masterpiece.

This is what I don't understand.

America has produced hundreds of great films and programs like this, has proven time and time again that she is capable of learning from the past, understanding her mistakes and standing by strong moral guidelines, and yet people still voted for Bush. People still wanted war. Shit. People became Creationists. Damn !

What the heck is going on ?



Sky, for British Sitcom, try "Yes, Minister.", "Rising damp", "The Good Life", "Only fools and horses." and of course, "Black Adder". Especially the last episode of the 4th series, "Black Adder Goes Forth."

For fun and slapstick, "Allo, allo" is good, and "The Young Ones" should raise your eyebrows.
British comedy and acting tends to be very subtle and understated. ("The Young Ones" are an exception here....)

To every one of them I say

The Good Life is on PBS and it stinks. Sorry.
Black Adder was OK, for maybe 2 shows. Sorry again. I just prefer my humor to be more, funny.

It's alright, I figured you werent sure of your meanings and just wanted to correct you for again.

The equivalent of yank would be "paddy", "mick", "bog trotter", "potato head", something like that, "fenian", "taig", are sectarian and beyond the pale really, especially to a northern irish person.

So why you dont like yank or yankee? You a Johnny Rep?

OH MY GAWD!!!

They really sold you guys all the shite didnt they?! Oh well at least you dont have to watch any of the Irish Troubles crappola like The Folks on The Hill or The Hole in the Wall Gang, although I think the rest of the UK is spared that too.

No, no, Rab C Nesbit, Game On, Red Dwarf, Dead Ringers (you guys would understand the GW Bush humour anyway), Have I Got News For You, those are good UK comedy, definitely Red Dwarf that would travel well.

The older, classic Dr Who episodes should travel well, they were great, the newer ones are hot on effects but I dont like the single episode format its a bit ADHD generation if you ask me, they used to string out a story over six or more episodes and there would be some quality tension sometimes, now its all wrapped up hyper quick without weekly cliff hangers, Torchwood is complete shite, there was a great serious featuring a secret government agency fighting a global vampire conspiracy which was excellent, Ultraviolet, it got discontinued for whatever reason I just dont know.

The BBC does good period dramas, Fanny Hill, Tom Jones, Moll Flanders, I'm surprised they could do Fanny Hill since its an explicit erotic novel which was banned for a while but they managed it without it being obscene at all.

Dr Who is awesome.
Some have complained that the effects were cheesy and the "monsters" even cheesier,but the creativity in the writing is top notch!

It's "Johnny Reb," short for "rebel."

No, I'm a Shawnee (Indian). But I've been overseas, mostly in the military, and I've heard "yank" used as an insult a lot.

I really like Red Dwarf, but frankly we just don't get a lot of Brit-coms out here.

when I lived on Oahu for a short time I heard the word "Haole" quite often.
I knew it was a racist insult, but I figured, yeah, I'm a white person, so what?

I mean, I am!



Traditional "Haole" means Visitor to the Islands, which was almost always white.
Modern it means white person, and is generally not complimentary.

Red Dwarf

was interesting, but most of us are spoiled by monty python, and as such get more out of reading Eric Idle novels and ignoring the few "brit-coms" that we have available to the likes of "Family Guy" and other outrageous comedies like Carlos Mencia and Chapelle's Show.

those of us that pay attention, anyway.

There are many brainwashed morons that continue watching cheesey dramas that have tried to take over MASH's poigniant sentiment by fusing their script style with soap operas, like ER and Grey's Anatomy. They can't even hold a candle to the intelligence of the writing and acting in "house" which is closer to the pulse of america today than MASH ever was, as it was offshore, even though it's presented through a murdoch outlet. And the main character gets to charicature the american medical system every week through using an accent that isn't his.

My favorite show in production currently, that isn't on PBS (I'm quite the nerd), would have to be Boston Legal.

Oh, and by the way......


No one can export anything, if someone isn't first willing to import it!

You guys are always really defensive on topics like this.

hey now, I'm not being defensive, damn it! How dare you tell me I'm being defensive! You and your leprechaun friends dance around your pot o' gold for a living when we toil every day to maintain the freedom you bastards wouldn't have had if we hadn't kept you from speaking German in the forties!...

BEFORE PEOPLE START GOING CRAZY, I'm kidding.

I wus jus givin you sum good ol mercan crap ther lark!

Really, you started the thread, and gave it the title and seemed to forget that aspect.
Before we would know to send you some of our American Apples, you have to ask someone to send you some of our American Apples. I wasn't being pissy. Just pointing out the error of your logic!

No I wasnt implying anything about the US when I titled the thread, I just dont give the form of words I use in instances like that that much thought most of the time.

The leprechauning is hard work!!