According to Boo, aged 7.
Please note, Boo has never actually been to the States, so her reasoning may not be the most sound. Apologies in advance.
They have the best cartoons.
Boo is obsessed with Netflix. The Powerpuff Girls, Regular Show, Monster High – all the ‘good’ stuff is American.
To be honest though, it’s more like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead: when it’s good it’s very very good, but when it’s bad it’s horrid. And when Boo says ‘good’, well, taste of a 7-year-old leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve spent far too many hours of my life with some Monster High/Barbie DVD playing for Boo’s benefit. And I’m not getting that time back ever.
That said, there’s always time for The Powerpuff Girls.
They make the best films.
Boo: Is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs American?
Me: Yep.
Boo: Then America makes the best films.
Why that one film sums up all film produced ever I have no idea. But looking at her DVD collection you can’t argue with the dominance of the States.
They have cool words and accent.
‘They speak English, so it’s good because you don’t have to learn another language, but then some words are different – like ‘jell-o’ – and then other words like ‘awesome’ sound better with an American accent.’
Such is the effect of the dominance of cartoons and film on her that this is seen as preferable. But then, we come from Norfolk and the local accent isn’t so pretty, so maybe it’s a fair argument. (Although, obviously, I sound like Mary Poppins rather than a Norfolk vowel-strangler…or at least that’s what I’m going to claim. Although that disparity between that and reality might be why I hate to hear my own voice.)
Their Disneyland is bigger.
And it doesn’t always rain there. True. Not always. Although it did when the Gluestick family went to DisneyWorld back in 2005. Which is just our luck.
One day I’ll hopefully get to take her there and it will blow Disneyland Paris out of the water. If Disney would like to provide us with said trip then I’m more than happy to blog favourably about it. Just saying.
They get to pick what weather they want without having to go to a different country.
Hmmm. Not that it looks particularly enticing from that picture, just a diverse collection of ‘yikes!’
I’m not really sure she appreciates how big the country is, but if you can have bits that are hot and sunny and bits that have snow at the same time as each other then that’s impressive. Especially when you’re in the middle of several months that are best described as ‘grey’.
‘And they get hurricanes,’ Fair point, although I’m not sure whether in Boo’s mind that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
School is so much cooler.
‘They don’t have to wear uniforms with ties and they have lockers and cheerleaders.’
When I was a kid, American school seemed better than ours for the exact same reasons. But then we got Hogwarts, so surely the UK wins, actually. So, a dilemma: do I make her watch Harry Potter but risk her then wanting to be part of a public school system that I can’t afford (and which doesn’t actually provide classes in magic). Or do I show her Grease and Glee and have her thinking that everyone spontaneously bursts into song every five seconds but has to stay at school until they’re in their 30s? (Which could go either way because I still wouldn’t mind going to William McKinley High…and not as a teacher.)
They get a day off that we don’t
The turkey obviously saw my last post. Sorry about that.
‘They had a holiday today and I had to go to school. No wonder they’re thankful.’
To my American readers, I hope you had a great day. You guys are AWESOME!