A SCOT has launched an impassioned rant refuting a centuries-old stereotype after an American’s claim that “England and Scotland hate each other” – because of their banknotes.
Justin Davis reacted to a video from an American content creator known simply as Ed_in_burgh who makes videos about his life in the Scottish capital, having arrived in the country from California.
In the video, the American explains why he thinks the differences in Scottish and English banknotes are a petty dig at each other by the two nations.
The video begins with a segment from the American’s original clip as he says: “England and Scotland hate each other and all you need to do is look at their money.”
The video then cuts to show Justin, from Edinburgh, reacting to this with his head held in his hands.
After a long pause the Scotsman says: “Alright, let’s get into it. I don’t hate England, England doesn’t hate Scotland, it’s fine, alright? It’s as simple as that.
“People go down from Scotland to England all the time, f**k all happens to them, people from England come up to Scotland, f**k all happens to them.
“There’s some football and rugby rivalries, there’s some banter, but we don’t hate each other and we’re certainly not taking any petty bulls**t to our currency. You want some proof to this?
“I’m half-Scottish, I’m half-English, nobody wrote ‘dog’ on my front door, nobody tried to murder any of my parents for sleeping with the enemy and you know what, f**k all happened to me in high school, alright?
“I was bullied for being a big fat b******d but I wasn’t bullied for being half-English.
“We’re not putting any of our petty s**t on our banknotes just to spite the other alright?
“The reason that we’ve got fish and – I think the tenners got otters on it – is because f***ing fish and otters are cool, alright? Screw you. We like fish and we like otters, what are you going to do about it?”
Justin uploaded the video to social media on Wednesday with the caption: “This is probably the most infuriating interpretation of the Scottish £ versus English £.”
The clip has since received over 1,600 likes and more than 350 comments from users who were quick to agree.
One user wrote: “We Scots don’t hate England we just don’t like to government.”
Another said: “We all collectively hate Westminster though.”
A third commented: “‘That’s legal tender!’”
Another replied: “Basically we’re just like siblings, we pick on each other but only as friendly fire.”
A fifth wrote: “I’m English and love you Scots, bit of banter with sport but nothing but love.”
Speaking today, Justin said: “We have always been told that the Scots and the English hate each other and it’s simply not true.
“Most people don’t hate anyone and I felt that @Ed_in_burgh, as someone who has chosen to live in Scotland from his native America [has made] a really upsetting narrative and an intentional mischaracterisation of a relationship which has taken centuries to reach this kind of commonality.
“As for the Scottish pound vs the English pound it’s really very simple.
“The Bank of England isn’t a bank in the sense of the RBS and Santander type of banks. It’s a central bank, they do a bunch of things but in the context of the notes, they manage the currency.
“All Bank of England notes have the monarchs face on them and this is the official currency of the UK.
“The Scottish pounds we see are ‘banknotes’ and are essentially a credit note from a bank manager saying ‘This is good for a fiver, signed Barry the bank manager’.
“They’re not official currency and we can tell this because the monarchs face is not on the note.
“Is it accepted everywhere? Technically, yes. A shopkeeper should accept your note.
“That said there are obstacles, sometimes an English staff member doesn’t recognise it and you shouldn’t jump down the person’s throat who’s just been presented with a kind of money they’ve never seen before.
“Also, some smaller businesses do have bureaucratic hoops to jump through in exchanging them and that shop keeper, like any business, reserves the right to refuse service for something like that.
“Scotland and England have been through a lot together from fighting against each other on the battlefield to fighting with each other on the modern battlefields of today.
“This isn’t about politics either, unionists and nationalists in Scotland can agree on a mutual lack of hatred of England as place and a people.
“Most of the nationalists I know hate the system we’re in, think it’s broken and want to change it. They don’t hate England; they hate the system.
“Ultimately for clicks today, black and white viewpoints sell and drives up algorithms and nuance and shades of grey tend to fall by the wayside.”
