What is the chip on your country's shoulder?

[u/ATWK01]

A.K.A. the thing that people are still sensitive or insecure about, or feel the need to correct or overcome. A historical grievance, an ongoing issue, a cultural stereotype, etc.

For Portugal, it would be how irrelevant we are compared to the 16th century, or the fact that everyone confuses us with Spaniards or Brazilians. (Though it’s not as intense now that we’ve become a popular tourist hotspot.)

[u/holytriplem]

Also, people who compare us to the US and assume we're the same.

There's a special place in hell for the people who call us "the Americans of Europe"

[u/Matt6453 → u/holytriplem]

Never heard that, no fucking way I'd accept it. We are European.

[u/E420CDI → u/holytriplem]

Yep!

Our Special Relationship has always been with France - never the USA. Not forgetting the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 and Windsor Treaty of 1386.

[u/ninjomat → u/E420CDI]

Nah our relationship with the US has been overwhelmingly positive for the last 200 years or so of the US’ 250 year existence. By contrast the last 150 years or so of positive relations with France are the aberration after the previous 250 years of warring with them (850 years if you count englands history before the Union) even during that 150 years of entente cordials it’s always been a relationship of mutual convenience defined by apprehension about each other especially in regards to post ww2 relations with Germany, by contrast the 4 years of WW2 co-operation with the US was the most remarkably interlinked we’ve been with a non-colonial foreign government. Even on a cultural level the French eye roll at our provincial ness while we eye roll at their snootiness.

France and Britain should be natural allies - our political makeups and places on the world stage are very similar but instead the French pine for a special relationship with the Germans and we look across the Atlantic, rather than turning to each other. Id like us to have a much closer relationship with France but you can’t really look at the history and say our relationship with the us hasn’t been far more important and far more close in the last 2 centuries

[u/Ok-Opportunity-979 → u/holytriplem]

I think this is because some ESL learners see us as similar to the US as we speak the same language (mostly). Many similarities and many differences between us and America.

Tbf I find it funny we get called the Americans of Europe.

[u/gaygeografi → u/holytriplem]

I haven't heard "the americans of europe", but have definitely seen the groupings on the internet like "in the US and UK...". I wonder if it's partly a misguided shorthand to refer to the 'whole' anglophone world or just "I've seen people with what I perceived as USA and British accents talk about this, so.."

i also think they are two very populated english language countries with science funding and immigrants so there is a lot of research that will put the two in comparison/opposition in the same study and, on a political level rhetoric that can be and is shared by conservatives. Of course this rhetoric is used in many countries but media dominance makes the UK and USA similarities stand out way more