‏@ctjhill asks: Why can't you wear white after Labor Day? Picked this up lots from US TV, it's never explained. Also what/when is Labor Day?

This is one of those things we're told as we grow up. (I don't actually know if boys are told this. It seems like it might be told to girls only.) Don't wear white after Labor Day, which is the first Monday of September, in a way the official end of summer.

The whys of this are never explained to us either, but it's a fashion faux pas to wear white after Labor Day. This doesn't wear off until Easter.

It's been suggested that the reasons behind this have to do with New York fashion editors, who set the styles. In New York, where it gets cold in winter, white is going to blend in. This is also, I believe, the origin of the color 'winter white' which is off-white, so it gets around the rule.

A little digging on the Internet also got me an additional reason. Labor Day is like May Day, a day to celebrate universal workers' rights. It's a federal holiday in the US, meaning all government workers and schools have it off (a bank holiday, I think you call those here). Apparently this is the end of summer where only the rich can afford to go abroad and laze about in the tropics wearing white. So the workers kept to dark colors. This happened so long ago, though, that no one really knows about it. It's just passed down. No white after Labor Day. As a kid, I thought something terrible would happen if I wore white, and then as a teenager, I felt superior in knowing about this rule. My lowly classmates, in their ignorance, might wear white. I would sniff at them.

After an earlier question about common misconceptions, I received a number of suggestions of things the British think about us, some based on incidents that happen with one American. (Americans, if you think you're not responsible for representing your whole country, you're wrong, apparently.) I was warned that these are stereotypes, so not really exactly what people think, but ideas that are floating around about Americans.

Here's the list with my comments below:

• 1. All Americans are loud, pushy, obnoxious and patronising;

This is obviously the stereotypical American tourist. I haven't run into any Brits who seemed to assume this and I haven't given them any reason to believe it, I hope.

• 2. All Americans are fat/obese/suffering from diabetes;

The Brits don't have much room to point and laugh here. Britain is the most overweight country in the world I was shocked to learn recently, since I rarely see a heavy person here. I know few heavy Americans either.

• 3. All Americans are badly dressed slobs;·
  

I can see where this might come from, Americans don't tend to wear suits and business clothes as much as the Brits do. Does it start with school uniforms here?

• 4. All Americans own guns;

No. I addressed this in an earlier question. None of my friends at home owned guns. It's regional. Where there are hunters and in crime ridden areas mostly. The interenational medias focus on guns creates this impression.

• 5. All Americans think the USA is the greatest country in the world;5

It's true, we're very invested in the greatness of our country. Having  been to a few other countries, I think there are some great things about the US myself, but a lot of other places are pretty great. It depends on what you're after. Not everyone is the rabid American fanatic that this assumes. But I will say that when I've been abroad, I've met dozens of people who appear to want nothing so much as to live in the United States. Where the streets are paved with gold, and you can "buy anything you want." It has been with great dismay that I've had to debunk some of the glowing things people have assumed about my country.

•  6. All Americans believe US law extends across the world.
  

Some probably do. But most who have traveled or wanted to travel abroad will have been warned otherwise, particularly with respect to drug laws.

• 7. All Americans think socialised healthcare is a socialist/communist plot to destroy the USA;

Not all, but this is a shocking contingent of people. My own parents, for example. The lesson here is DO NOT call it socialized. Socialism is a bad word in American. in American dialect 'socialism' means 'the opposite of democracy' which is what we have. I'll do a full post on socialism.

• 8. All Americans are right-wing Conservative creationist nuts.

We know this isn't true. Obama got elected. Twice.

• 9. All Americans expect foreigners to be as rabidly patriotic towards their country as Americans are to the USA;

This may be true of some of the rabidly patriotic. But I'm not sure. This was based on this person's experience with a single American who got angry with him for disrespecting the flag of his own country. This person may have been former military or military family. A lot of emphasis is placed on defending the flag. There are a lot of soldiers and former soldiers in my country, but also a reverance for the flag as the symbol of the revolution that started our country.

• 10. Americans are very parochial hardly going abroad or even leave their home state, and US news is the same;

There are, in fact. many Americans who don't have passports and who have never left their coutnry. It's not as easy as hopping over to another European country in your car (which thanks to the Channel Tunnel, even the British can do now. But obviously there are plenty of Americans here in London. I know them by their accents. There's a good article here that talks about why two thirds of Americans don't have passports.

• 11. Americans think the World Series is a world championship.

I don't really get why the Brisih are so miffed about this. It's not like they have worldclass baseball teams. *snark* But obviously it's not an actual world championship. The Brits also get upset because we have NANOWRIMO. They object to it being called 'national.' I think we inherited our tendency for overstatement from you guys. You know, the people who use the word 'shattereed' for tired, and 'gutted' for 'sad'

I tease the British affectionately. I adore you.

@JennS79 asks Why is there a contingent of Americans that insist there's a contingent of Brits that insist the NHS is shit?

Answer: If I understand your question right (it looks like you're an American)  you want to know why some Americans say that some British say the NHS is no good? I'm only guessing here, but is this because you want to know if this is good evidence that the NHS is actually no good?

I plan to write a whole piece about the NHS vs. what America has or doesn't have. I've made good use of both health systems. I had great health insurance in the US. There are things about the NHS that I don't love, but it has done a lot for me. I was sitting in a doctor's office just a couple of weeks ago. I told her what I'd found out about the affordable care act, something I've pinned my hopes on for being able to get health insurance as a self-employed writer. With my boyfriend who will soon be my husband, we'd spend $10,000 a year for health care on the best health insurance plan I could find under the affordable care act. We spend less than $1000 a year here.

So anyhow, I was talking to this doctor about the fact that I didn't think we'd be able to move back to the US because of the cost of health care. She said, "People complain about the NHS but they don't know how good they've got it." I think that's the thing. There really is always something you can complain about. Waiting times can be long. The British government is doing its best to gut the NHS and replace it with American style health care coverage. But the truth is the great majority of Britons can't afford anything like what the Americans have. People will complain, but they don't have anything to compare it to. I complained about various things when I was in the US and I had amazing insurance that covered nearly everything.

The NHS could be better in some respects, but it is already better than much of the health coverage that many Americans have. And Americans mistakenly think that it's the only coverage available here. There is also private insurance. Some people use both. I'll write a whole piece on this when i get a moment.

But my verdict is that the NHS is actually close to miraculous, and definitely worth fighting for.

 ‏@shun_geki_satsu asks: from outside, it seems guns/violence play a big role in the US, as well as perceiving oneself under attack/against all odds. would you say those are related?

Answer: I think guns play a significant role in American culture relative to some other cultures. There are definitely places, and groups in the US, who are more involved with guns than others. In terms of guns and violence, meaning people against people violence, to me this is something happening in very particular places, and for particular reasons. In areas where poverty and race issues play a big part, which I would say is in inner cities and in/close to the Deep South, there's more of a gun culture that extends to 'self protection.' I haven't looked at the statistics recentyly, but if I had to guess, I'd say that most gun deaths outside these areas are accidents. Crime is a result of corruption and/or poverty.

When you say "perceiving onself under attack/against all odds" I think of Florida's new Stand-Your-Ground law. The idea that people have the right to defend themselves is one of the cornerstones of American culture. In a country where it's legal to bear firearms, but where the consequences of shooting someone can extend to life imprisonment and the death penalty, some clear lines have to be drawn around what's legal and what isn't. I remember hearing it repeated over and over while I was growing up that if you shot someone in self-defense, you wouldn't get arrested. I do think 'This is mine" is one of the things that defines America as a culture. It forms the basis of the mindset about many things, from self-defense laws to attitudes toward welfare.

Just remember there are almost 320,000,000 people in the US. And many of them are on the Internet. The vocal ones giving you that impression aren't necessarily the majority.

So yes, and no. I think there's probably some overlap, but most people who exhibit the "this is mine" or "everyone's against me" mindset are probably not murderers. You can tell that's true because there are more guns than people in America and some of us, most of us, have never been shot.

@shun_geki_satsu asks: i was actually thinking of "socialism–us," "terrosism–us," or how at sports, no matter how accomplished an US team is,…theres always the narrative of the uphill struggle of the underdog, the heroic, patriotic, whatever. victim of tweet length

Answer: I think of this as more a problem of isolation. This HUGE, geographically, country surrounded by oceans. Unlike Europeans, most Americans never leave home. Which is not to say they don't travel, but there are (by my very rough calculations) six million square miles of America to explore. So I think many Americans have a harder time forming realistic pictures of other countries.

We are, in a way, the perfect group for believing that everyone is against us. It's instilled in us from birth. Socialism v US has been beaten into us. I know older people who will still shout contemptuously that something is SOCIALISM, like it's the worst thing in the world. (And I've heard a few younger people do this, too, though I found it more shocking.) Give my coutrymen a buzzword that they can unite against, and you'll have an unstoppable, albeit ignorant, force.

@neetyneet asks May I ask "What are the most common misconceptions we Brits have about America/Americans?"

Answer: This is tricky because I'm sure I haven't discovered them all yet. But there does seem to be a belief that we are "obsessed with teeth." It probably does seem that way from here, where it appears that people don't actually use dentists. (Just kidding.) Most Americans are not obsessed with teeth. Also, we don't all own guns. In spite of the huge number of guns in my country, I know a lot of people who don't own a single gun. In my immediate circle of friends, probably not a single one owns a gun.

I'm looking forward to questions about other misconceptions/stereotypes that I might debunk (or confirm!)

Hello. I'm Salome Jones. That's SAL.o.may, for those of you wondering how to say it. (NOT Sal.OH.me, which is the British way.)
That's me there on the left. I'm an American writer living in London. It's winter. Fuzzy hat needed.

So here's the deal. It was suggested to me that my insights about the differences between British and American culture and society might be helpful or at least amusing to others. I've lived in London for three and a half years now and spent most of the rest of my life (with a few years out in other parts of the world) in America. Or as we say there, the United States.

I have no special journalism credentials, no degrees in history or sociology. Just life experience and two degrees in creative writing, which I mostly use to write fiction. But I do have an interest in what makes us alike, and different, and a willingness to learn and to share. So I'm going to try to use those qualities here.

I decided to call the site 'The Naked American' not because I'm going to be naked, in the 'clothing optional' sense, but because I'm going to be honest. Naked of propaganda. I think we've all had just about enough of that. Of course, I'm just one American. My opinions can't possibly represent all of America. But I hope I can make at least some sense of it for you. And I hope you'll teach me some things, too.

With no further ado, I give you ME. So for this to work, you have to talk to me. Ask me questions. I'm listening. Hint: Use the contact page!