Why do Americans like the Scots so much???

[McFadden]

well having lived over there I would say they do indeed like us Scots and have romantic notions about our culture and past and I guess there's nothing wrong with that ... but I've met a lot of Americans who look to their European roots with a longing born of the failure of the US to develop into one integrated country. It's possible forlots of people to live in big US cities to only speak Spanish or Chinese or Urdu for their entire lives and to move in distinctively ethnic circles. I think it's becasue of this lack of racial and cultural cohesion that white Americans of Scottish or Irish or Swedish or Norwegian or German or whatever origin yearn for connections that now lie far back in the past and sure it is understandable. Good luck to the American guy who pulls on his aran sweater and dons his kilt and woolly socks and brogues and dances on his porch to collected tunes and airs from 'The White Heather Club'. I guess in the scheme of things a man could do a lot worse. But it is a selective form of American that is devisive. If that same guy and the seven or eight million guys like him looked inwards and reached out to the cultures more immediate to their experience the USA wouldn't have so many social problems. Unforunately the white American has never really integrated or found peace in his heart regarding his relationship to blacks and to Native Americans and Hispanics. So it's easier to hum along with Silly Wizard and worry about who is going to do well in the SFL than it is to embrace the actual experience cultural experience of life in the USA. I dunno ... maybe I'm wrang ...

[simpler times]

I've been watching this discussion with mild interest. . .but, the last few postings have been particularly insightful and provocative. Why do American women find "accents" (i.e., English spoken by non-Americans) to be attractive? This curious phenomenon applies to both men and women, and to both male and female speakers. Examples: Having a female receptionist who speaks with an English accent adds glamour and sophistication to your business; a car commercial has an Italian model speaking seductively to a potential car buyer who is putty in her hands; a Four Seasons Spa hires a Spa Director not only because she knows her business, but because they love her Scottish accent. . . (true story). . . why is that? Is there something in our collective psyche that generates attraction between people (not just women, mind you) from one culture to language and speaking styles of a different culture? A good question for a linguist or anthropologist. But another interesting question is why American women seem drawn to Scottish men? Is it the relatively higher level of physicality and more rustic personas (i.e, higher testosterone)? If so, it's not just Scottish men -- look at the lure of Australian men, like Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. Is it that a certain percentage of post-feminist American women do not agree with elements of the 1970's women's movement which demanded that men be more "sensitive" more gentled, more Alan Alda-ish, if you follow me. Maybe that's why some American women are attracted to the Alpha Male archetype -- as attested to by book sales of romance novels with women being dominated and seduced by strong, manly men. Is this driven by genetic coding? We don't want pansy, girly men. We want real men. Men who can shoot, hunt, fish, grow beards and have big muscles. Men who father strong children. Since our country went through the strongest tide of Feminism, maybe that's why many American women are looking outside of our gene pool. . . because too many men in this country are struggling with their masculinity in a post-Womens Lib, Politically Correct society that bashes them for being . . . well. . . men! Someone needs to do a thesis on this.

[JCfromGA]

McFadden does have a point (an American speaking here)

In my humble opinion, there are two types of Americans in love with Scotland... there are the ones who have been born and bred into the culture. It is a part of their identify.. and he has a point.. the reason why it is a piece of their identity is because many of these communities were forced to immigrate be it because of starvation or persecution... and they weren't accepted in the US. The Scots and Irish were two of these groups. So, out of isolation and persecution, the culture of their homeland persisted.

The other group... are the Americans looking for some identity... they looked up their name on ancestry.com... saw Scotland and went and bought a kilt.

I, myself, am half Native American from my mother and half Scottish American from my father. The community that my father grew up in... was one of the outcasted communities... until recently everything was in English and Scottish Gaelic... including church services. You can learn the language in the schools and universities. The universities have a pipe and drum band etc...

Because of this... I am many generations removed from Scotland but I do dance, speak Scottish Gaelic, and play shinty... I don't do it because I want to be Scottish... I do it because it is the culture in which I was raised... I also participate in many Native American customs and traditions...

And quite honestly, I am a prodigy of the US... I am the blending of two cultures that can prevail against time and persecution. Too bad other Americans can come to the same conclusion.

[JCfromGA]

Simpler Times,

I will say this as an American who is from the South... American women are not the only ones in love with an accent... I can go into a pub in Scotland... and before I can get a beer... I would be surrounded. This is true in Ireland too... Sometimes, I think they can smell the American on me... but the love of accents is not one sided and only existing in America

Now, novels are a great resource... nothing like a powerful Scotsman wearing a beautiful kilt wielding
a claymore to make a woman want to go make love in heather... Quite frankly, these people back in the ancient times didn't bathe, probably smelled like animals, missing most teeth, were pocked face... and don't let me get into heather.

But quite frankly, I believe humans are interested in the different... Americans are very interested in the rest of the world... Most of my friends from Europe say they've been treated very well when they come to the US... but then again, I've been treated well there... perhaps it's just human curiousity

[McFadden]

Women might like a guy who can fish and hunt and have big muscles but the next day she could turn around and say she'd like to go out with a guy who's more in touch with the feminine side of his nature and that's the beginning of the end ... in the modern world where everything is thrown open to the fickle nature of finances and global cultural influences nothing is sacred ... the only other solution is a closed society like the Amish or the Orthodox Jews or the Arab sects from Saudia. In the ordinary world we live in we can't bet on a woman liking certain traits in a man no matter what those traits are as they will change as the woman changes and the woman will change because she is subject to merciless peer pressure, subtle advertising and a media that infiltrates her very soul and suggests things to her even in her dreams ... do you think the chaos we have regarding divorce and family breakdown and loneliness and all the other social ills is just incidental? By all means learn how to fish and hunt and grow a beard and talk manly and even keep a loaded gun by the front door but don't expect that to keep the woman enthralled forever ... There was a tragic case in Aldershot a few years back where a young man attained the ultimate in this society when it comes to macho attainment - he became a successful NCO in the Parachute Regiment. That's as manly and as hard as it gets you could say. But one day his wife asked him to leave the house as she wanted to move her lesbian lover in. The paratrooper moved into the army billets. But after a while he thought about it and one night he showed up at her door and butchered her and her lover to death and then jumped to his death from the highest building in town ... so much for manliness as a solution to taming the female heart.

[jharrison]

As an American woman, I can almost assure you that the rich history of Scotland has absolutly nothing to do with our attraction to it's people. Most of this attraction is based on the image Gerard Butler and other scottish actors have given us and the sexy accent which we can't seem to get enough of. Also most of us think kilts are funny but secretly find them sexy.

[scotsman4ever]

lol im in full agreement with the jacobite there is many storys been glamorised we have come up with some of the world changing inventions but as yet the mighty midge can bing a grown man to tears a six foot one at that lol try walking through purple heather in august in a kilt you wont be walking long hehehe thats one invention we need to master we are a happy bunch like to have a laugh at ourselfs yep there are tall hadsome men in the highlands but il save ma kilt for weddings why do scottish men get attracted to americans for me wee all have the same values we respect each other and like to party hehehe