why are you using "Anglo-Saxon" all the time?
>> "English-speaking" might be a good substitute for Anglo-Saxon, but it doesn't show how the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand also share a lot of cultural heritage apart from language, e.g. political and legal systems, literature, pop culture, religion, sports. <<
But the United States has nothing like a British political system. I also understand that cricket and rugby are hardly played at all in the US, and that football (soccer) is not particularly popular there either. Equally, the role and status of religion in America is nothing like that in Britain, nor does the Anglican/Episcopalian Church have a particularly significant role in the US either, as has already been mentioned.
As has been mentioned here before, by Travis, I believe, I feel that the concept of an 'Anglosphere' (or the idea of 'Anglo-Saxon countries') as a cultural union linked to Britain is significantly more appropriate for Australia and New Zealand, and to a somewhat lesser extent Canada, than for the US. As for South Africa, it probably applies to a far greater extent for a minority of the population, rather than for the country as a whole.
Frederik from Norway : « I cannot see why the term Anglo-saxon could be so confusing. Usually you see very clearly from the context wether somebody is talking about pre-1066 England or the English-speaking world. »
Certainement pas en France, comme Travis l'indiquait.
Ici, un Noir anglophone maternel qui vit aux États-Unis est un Anglo-saxon tout comme Madonna est une chanteuse anglo-saxonne. Rice et Powell sont des Anglo-saxons. Tout comme Barack Obama. CNN est un média anglo-saxon et la BBC aussi. La famille Kennedy est anglo-saxonne. Le droit des États-Unis est un droit anglo-saxon. Le Manitoba est une province essentiellement anglo-saxonne. Tennessee Williams est un auteur anglo-saxon. Etc.
You guys think too concretely!
Political systems: Two-party systems, single-member constituencies. Pluss the old alliance between the US and the Empire/the UK.
Religion: The old conflict between high church and low church, between Episcopalians and Puritans. The idea of ecclesiastical diversity, of free churches popping up like mushrooms is also essentially Anglo-Saxon.
Sports: American football and rugby look somewhat similar from an outsider perspective. The same applies to baseball and cricket. Not to mention the very Anglo-Saxon sport golf.
Media: CNN and BBC can be viewed interchangeably, they report much from the same angle, easily jumping back and forth between Washington and London.
Benjamin, I disagree: we may not be Commonwealth, but we're definitely part of the Anglosphere, even if there's been some divergent evolution. For whatever reason, there's still that bond, even if it's no longer by blood or politics or religion. It's difficult to explain why it still exists, but it does.
And rugby and soccer are played here all the time ... just not professionally. But they're still popular with kids and casual leagues. Cricket, no -- you can keep that!
I don't know much about American sport, but I thought that football/soccer was actually the most popular participation sport in the US? And Uriel - cricket is dead great, my absolute favourite sport! :-) Although I suppose it must be tedious beyond imagining for many (most??) people! :)
« Political systems: Two-party systems, single-member constituencies. »
Since when did the UK have a two-party political system? In the last General election, it was something like 38% Labour, 32% Conservative and 25% Liberal Democrat (roughly).
"Cricket, no -- you can keep that!"
Good. We don't want a beautiful game to be ruined by the Americans.
Instead of the traditional county teams such Lancashire, Yorkshire, Kent or Essex, we'll have teams such as San Francisco Supermen, Texas Terrors, and Cincinatti Cool Dudes.
Benjamin:
The UK might be about to evolve into a multi-party system, but in 2005 the Lib Dems only got 9,6 % of the seats, even though they got 22 % of the votes, because of the single-member constituencies.
<<Since when did the UK have a two-party political system? In the last General election, it was something like 38% Labour, 32% Conservative and 25% Liberal Democrat (roughly).>>
Oh, please! Since practically always! How many decades of general elections did we have where the only viable choice was between Labour and the Tories? Just because the Lib Dems are growing in popularity these days does not change the fact that the UK has had a predominantly two-party political system as long as most people can remember.
Okay, okay. It's certainly not anywhere near as extreme as the clear two-party system in the US though. But I still don't really understand what relevance any of that has anyway. Is it really a characteristic which is unique to alleged 'Anglo-Saxon' countries? And even if it is, what difference does it really make to our daily lives?
And as for rugby being similar to American football... maybe it is, but then France and Italy play rugby on an international level as well. It seems rather strange to suggest that Britain and America are linked because they play two different games which are relatively similar, when other (non-anglophone) countries actually play the same game as us.
***Since when did the UK have a two-party political system? In the last General election, it was something like 38% Labour, 32% Conservative and 25% Liberal Democrat (roughly)****
Hmmmm.....apparently the Scottish National Party or the Welsh Plaid Cymru Party did not count....... ;-(
To 99.99999999999999999% of Scots cricket is as dead boring. Only the English could devise a game that takes four days to come to any sort of result and how they work it out God only knows.
Cool Language expressions they use though...silly mid off, silly mid on, bowling a maiden over, leg breaks, googlies, knock you for four or six, caught in the slips, byes......if you can stay awake long enough through a deadly slow commentaries it may be worth it to just hear those funny terms being used....bowling a maiden over caught in the slips conjures up nice images.
Give me Murrayfield any time!
I might be wrong on this, but I don't think rugby is a significant sport in France and Italy; nothing like football or biking.
>>You guys think too concretely!
Political systems: Two-party systems, single-member constituencies. Pluss the old alliance between the US and the Empire/the UK.
Religion: The old conflict between high church and low church, between Episcopalians and Puritans. The idea of ecclesiastical diversity, of free churches popping up like mushrooms is also essentially Anglo-Saxon.
Sports: American football and rugby look somewhat similar from an outsider perspective. The same applies to baseball and cricket. Not to mention the very Anglo-Saxon sport golf.
Media: CNN and BBC can be viewed interchangeably, they report much from the same angle, easily jumping back and forth between Washington and London.<<
The main thing about many of these similarities is that they are still relatively superficial in nature. But yes, outside of common language and literature, related underlying political traditions and religious tendencies are two of the main points where the US is culturally similar to the UK, even though the US has gone the republican route, and the Anglican/Episcopal Church has been largely overshadowed by the Catholic Church as the primary "high church" in the US.
However, though, while there are definite underlying ties and similarities between the US and the UK, they are definitely weaker than those between the US and Canada on one hand, and, as mentioned before, between the UK, Australia, and NZ on the other. While may be able speak of the US as a member of some Anglosphere, it is definitely one of the more outlying members thereof, alongside, say, South Africa.
« I might be wrong on this, but I don't think rugby is a significant sport in France and Italy; »
Rugby is far less significant in Britain than football (soccer) as well.
I'm still not convinced that Britain and America are similar with regards to religion either. According to recent opinion polls (which I can find later if anyone needs verification), about 96% of Americans claim to believe in God, compared to about 44% of British people. And then, about 64% of Americans claimed that they had no doubts about their belief in God, compared to about 22% of British people. Equally, the figure which one sees in the media of people who attend church regularly in Britain is only 7%, whilst the figures for the US are significantly higher. The percentages here for Britain are more or less in line with those in most other North-Western European countries.