Winston Churchill: "Americans and British are one people separated only by a common language."  Comments?
482531
Interesting query. Our prime minister, Winston Churchill, and your President Roosevelt had a few things in common. Roosevelt was born in New York. Churchills grandfather (Leonard Jerome) was also born there. \nThey shared some aspirations for the future of their countries, and they both played a substantial role in the creation of the welfare state that has become the nanny state. I hasten to add I can only comment on the british benefits system regarding the nanny state.\n\nWinston Churchill procrastinated a great deal whereas Roosevelt was a little more concise and to the point. Take these two quotes for example -\n\nChurchill: 'Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end ofthe journey. But this, sofar from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb'\n\nRoosevelt: 'It is common sense to take a method and try it: if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.\n\nAnd -\n\nChurchill: It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required.\n\nRoosevelt: Be sincere; be brief; be seated.\n\nI have digressed from your question however. On the whole I don'r agree with Churchill's statement, at least not if it is applied to today's society. It nay have been more fitting during the war when America was drawn closer (perhaps reluctantly) to Europe and a certain comradeship was a way of life. Sometimes a little more than comradeship between the G.I's and our land girls!!\nI feel that the main difference between our homelands is our pride in our respective coumtries and the reasons for it.\nI don't feel proud to be british any more. The days of 'pulling together' are long gone. It's 'all for one and one for all' nowadays. There has been a mass migration going on in the UK for a few years. Anyone that is selling a property is moving out to France, Spain, etc. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. There are people being murdered in villages for a few pence from their purses. Yob culture rules and teenagers with hoods are to be avoided. Sure, this kind of behaviour has always gone on, but mainly prevalent in big towns in the past. \nOur taxes are crippling. People who've worked hard all their lives are living well below the poverty line. They have saved for their pension only to be told that it doesn't exist. And as I mentioned earlier, too many citizens sit back and accept the ample hand-outs the government provides in exchange for votes.\n\nBritain has also lost it's sense of humour.To quote Roosevelt again -\n\n'I sometimes think that the saving grace of America lies in the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities - a sense of humour and a sense of proportion'\n\nI cannot comment on the differences in the American way of life as I've not lived there but I get the feeling you're all still proud of your origins and wouldn't swap your nationality for all the tea in China. I'd like to hear your views on that.\n\nWhen I joined the march in London against the war I saw an amusing placard being held up by a young girl proclaiming 'The only Bush I trust is my own. That tickled me but also reminded we're probably not the only country with a corrupt government. \n\nI feel there will always be a bond between the States and the United Kingdom - I hope so. But I also feel that America looks after it's countrymenin a more constructive way than our government. You are encouraged to study, work, and save towqrds a better future. And if you live your life that way you get results. We don't.\n\nThat said, I will finish on a quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter to Winston Churchill.\n\n'It is fun to be in the same decade with you'\n\nAh. comradeship!
916513
From the Daily Telegraph, 30 Nov. 2006:\n\n" Britain's special relationship 'just a myth'\n\n"Toby Harnden in Washington\n\n"A senior American official has spoken of "the myth of the special relationship" between the United States and Britain, arguing that Tony Blair got "nothing, no payback" for supporting President George W Bush in Iraq.\n \n"Bush and Blair at the G8 summit at St Petersburg when their private conversation was overheard\n\n"Kendall Myers, a leading State Department adviser, suggested that Mr Blair should have been ditched by Labour but the party had lacked the "courage or audacity" to remove him.\n\n"David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was "shrewd, astute" to have distanced himself from America.\n\n"In candid comments that will embarrass Mr Bush and Mr Blair, the veteran official said America "ignored" Britain, and he urged Britain to decouple itself from the US. . . ."
231053
United States, Britain, and Germany
265222
Aah! Here we go again.....\n\n\nYou should make the same comment to the imperialist white men that came here and slaughtered the natives? If you lived during that time, would you have made the same statement to the white men about learning to speak the language of the local Native American Tribe.\n\nI often wonder why people insist that people speaking spanish should learn to speak english. \n\nIt is not their fault that YOU do not speak spanish. It is also NONE of your business what they are saying. The fact that you make the tired old comment of 'this is america, speak english' goes to show your level of intelligence.\n\nYou could fill a bottle cap with your knowledge. \n\nWhere you aware that the United States is filled with immigrants. Unless you are Native American, you have no business telling anyone that they should speak the language of this land. \n\nIf you were not monolingual, would you make the same comment. Did you know that in almost every other country, children are taught two languages.\n\nSo as a whole, most Americans are monolingual and have no room to tell anyone to learn another language.\n\nYou should learn how to speak mandarin becuase that soon will be the universal language.
195391
Yep, it's OK in the US.  Not in UK, though.\n\nIn the US it's only normally used with 'go' and 'come'.  Example: 'You come see your old Ma next week!'\n\nIn UK we use 'come and see' and 'go and get' etc.\n\nWinston Churchill said the British and the Americans were one people divided by a common language.
569805
Nearly 100 years ago President Theodore Roosevelt hit the nail on the head when it came to immigration.\n\n"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American… There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”—Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
1186928
Sorry, I'm not a Brit, and couldn't resist answering.\nPlease, we (U.S.) are still your friends.  Don't aim it at us, aim it at the French.
530942
The phrase "All for one and one for all" was popularized by the book and later on the movie 'Three Musketeers' by Alexandre Dumas. Since the book was set in France, I'm thinking language is French.
503771
"There is much talk about 'jingoism'. If by 'jingoism' they mean a policy in pursuance of which Americans will with resolution and common sense insist upon our rights being respected by foreign powers, then we are 'jingoes'." -Theodore Roosevelt.\nI agree with Roosevelt on this one...sorry.
595366
Neither.  There are a number of different American dialects and a number of different British dialects.  Moreover, in some ways, (standard) American English is more "conservative" (has changed less from older forms of the language) than (standard--RP) British English.  Also, it wasn't the *British* who spread the language throughout the world; it was the *English*.  The Welsh and Scots (and Irish if you mean "British Isles" rather than "Great Britain") only started speaking English (rather than their original Celtic languages) under rule by England.
379296
I think it is fairly safe to assume he is American.  It is a common misconception over there that England and Great Britain (he couldn't even spell it) are the same thing.  Ronald Regan once came here and called it England.
258815
Well it sounds great with 1907 standards, one nation one language this all good; as long as it does not keep going into one religion, one leader, one race, just like it did in Germany under Hitler just a few decades after Teddy said these things. I have no doubt, if he was alive today he would tweak his idea and rhetoric according to what happened in the last 100 years. I am not Hispanic but I know that Spanish was spoken in parts of US way before English was adopted as an official language (just a few votes ahead of German and Dutch by the way), are you going to kick them out because they have been speaking Spanish since before the US was founded?
450359
I think that comment is too harsh.\nI am English living in England and we get inundated with French where I live each summer, it's enough to put you off the French forever.
121129
Yes. Each culture has its own way of demonstrating its sets of grammar. You refer to "English people" as that. Americans refer to "English people" as "British".\n\nA common phrase a British teen might say is "That was bloody brilliant" that means the same as "That was totally awesome", in american teen culture. You must also take into consideration that each culture uses its own set of slang words as well. These slang words follow a grammar style all of their own.
1164178
all i can think of to say to this is a quote from the Fifth Element: "look lady, i can only speak two languages; english and bad english."
609664
I am guessing both are more than likely trained along the same lines. The US and British military seem to work together well, so that's what made me say that.
739306
I believe there is an intrinsic connection between the UK, through people like Winston Churchill and others throughout history that gives  America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia , Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England an evolution towards justice and a sense of fair play.  It is NOT an achieved goal but a process that we can judge ourselves objectively and try to get better long into the future.