The Linguistic Culture-11 (The American English Language) (1157937), страница 4
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Americans have always tended to view the frontier as thepurest examples of hard work of the people, who turned the wilderness intotowns, and towns into cities. The need for self - reliance on the frontierencouraged a spirit of inventiveness. Frontier men and women not only had toprovide most of their daily essentials of living, but they were constantly facingnew problems and situations, which demanded new solutions.
The willingness toexperiment and invent led to another American trait, a “can-do” spirit, and asense of optimism that “every problem has a solution”. Americans take pridein overcoming challenges and obstacles. As American historian FrederickJackson Turner wrote, Americans see themselves as ground - breakers in allareas of industry, science, and technology. They consider it natural that theyshould constantly create new ways of life, new means of constructing houses,new appliances, new cars, etc.The frontier provided conditions for strengthening the American ideals ofindividual freedom, self-reliance and equality of opportunity. Later many ofthe frontier values became national values.
Emphasis on individualpersonality rather than collective identity or responsibility is one of the mostimportant features of the American character.Another distinctive American characteristic is pragmatism. This meansthat emphasis on achievement and success is understood first of all as materialprosperity. Americans are fond of common sense; they are not particularlyinterested in theory, abstract reasoning, or philosophy. If something works, do it;if it does not, try to do something else.Generally speaking, Americans are open and friendly people.
The publicbehavior of Americans is less reserved than that of English, e.g. It is normal forAmericans to speak loudly, joke and laugh in public. Americans tend to beinformal and unceremonious in both their public or private lives, although theyare not absolutely uniform in their outward behavior. It seems that people fromthe Northeast are more reserved than Midwesterners, who are very direct andespecially famous for their friendliness.
The South has long been renowned forthe value it places on hospitality, gentility, and manners. Westerners areprobably more informal than all the rest. The rules, which parallel thisinformality are generally established and understood. There are topics –wages,income, religion, politics, – which many Americans try to avoid in casualconversation. Those who insist on formal address or titles or take themselves tooseriously are often targets for humor.Like the British, Americans have love for the intricate practical joke, thepun, and the understated quip (clever remark). Newspapers headlines bearwitness to the second, and the very subtle humor of “The New Yorker” is anexample of the third.
There is also a tradition of “slapstick”, the pie-in-theface, and the banana peel on the floor. A different type of the Americanhumor is called “kidding around”. It is part of the daily life of many Americans,and often serves as background to normal conversations. In many cases ifsomething is conveyed indirectly, through joking or other “light” humor, facecan be saved or arguments prevented.Marriage and DatingMarriage in the U.SA is considered a matter of individual responsibilityand decision. Marriage is preceded by dating – one of the most prominentcultural rituals in America. Casual dating usually begins in the early teens.
It isquite respectable for a young man to call up a young girl, introduce himself bytelephone, and arrange a date. Usually they have a friend in common. It isequally acceptable for a friend to arrange a “blind date’ that is a date betweentwo young people who have not met before. Steady dating is sometimesfollowed by marriage..After marriage the young couple is free to decide where to live. Mostnewlyweds try to set up their own household immediately. The familiar structurein present-day America is the so-called “nuclear family”.
It is unusual formembers of the family other than the husband, wife, and children to livetogether. But the forgotten term “extended family” is coming back again. Themarriage age is rising. A high divorce rate and a declining remarriage rate aresending economically pressured young people to parental shelters. For some, theexpense of an away-home college education has become too exorbitant andmany students now prefer to attend local universities.
Even after graduationsome young people find “their wings Clipped” by the housing costs. Accordingto the US Census Bureau, today 59% of men and 47 % of women between18 and 24 depend on their parents despite all traditional patterns ofbehavior, at least for housingThe lives of most Americans revolve around their homes and houses.Home ownership is one of the definitions of success in the USA. Generallypeople are judged by the house they live in, not only by its size and architecturebut also the type of neighborhood and the distance from different amenities.The percentage of Americans owning houses (and apartments) they live in is thehighest among western nations. Most Americans still live in “single-familydwellings”, that is houses that usually have a front and backyard. Contrary to acommon belief, only about 5 % of all Americans live in mobile homes.
For allpractical purposes, most of these homes are not actually mobile but function asprefabricated housing units in stationary settings.Most of North America has a more or less four-season climate, and therhythms of life around the house tend to follow the seasons. There is alwayssomething that needs to be done around the house, and most Americanhomeowners do it by themselves. In many American families children areexpected to help around the house and perform the home “chores”.Americans have always been concerned with making the chores ofeveryday life less tiresome and distasteful.
Inventors, businessmen, designers,neighborhood initiatives and interest groups, public officials and private citizens– all try to make things better, more efficient, more readily available, moreconvenient. From mail order shopping to drive-in banking, from durablepress materials for clothes to computerized services and take-out food,Americans have shown their preference for a convenient lifestyle.In the average American home, there is a great amount of activity, ofcoming and going, all happening at once.
For the parents, there are perhapscourses at the local evening school or college. There are bridge and bowlingclubs and golf leagues. There are PTA (Parent Teacher Association) meetings.The church is having a bake sale, a car wash, or a “potluck” dinner (everyonecontributes a dish). The social life of American children is often hectic as well.One child is off to a party, another to the music or sport classes.One of the features of American life is volunteer work. According to thestatistical Gallup polls, about 84 million Americans both adults and teenagersdonated part of their time as volunteers. Some of this work is done throughvolunteer organizations and clubs; some is on a personal basis.
Teenagers, forexample, often volunteer to work in hospitals – so-called “candy- stripers”, fromtheir striped uniforms.At the same time, many American middle-class families expect theirchildren to find part-time jobs, especially as they enter their teens. This might bework in the local supermarket or service station, mowing lawns, deliveringnewspapers, or babysitting. The idea seems to be that the work experience is“good for the kids».
One effect on American society is that middle-classchildren can do menial work without losing face. This also effects customeremployee relations: the kid who just packed your groceries or filled your tankcould be your neighbor’s son or daughter. In general, Americans feel thatyoung people should appreciate the value of work and learn how to standon their own feet.It is necessary to mark that since the 1960s there has appeared a great anddrastic shift in seemingly ideal “puritan” moral behavior of the middle classyoung people in the USA.
the “new morality., characterized by violence, sexualpermissiveness and cheating, drug and alcohol abuse. According to a federalfinding of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism a minimumof 10 million Americans have alcoholic-connected problems, more than 1.1million youths between the ages 12 and 17 have “serious drug-abuse problems”.According to the Police Foundation there are some 40 million handguns inAmerica and according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the chance ofbeing victimized by violent crime has increased 24% since 1980 and more than50% during the last 10 years.
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