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Grex > Agora47 > #215: Should I Grex or Should I Go? The Culture Clash Item | |
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| Author |
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| 19 new of 36 responses total. |
bhoward
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response 18 of 36:
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Dec 10 12:14 UTC 2003 |
Really? I would have thought they would be a "Peruano" or "citzen de
Perú", assuming their passport is that of Peru.
I've been asked many times in the countries I've visited "are you an
American?" meaning from the United States but no one ever asked me
"are you a South/North/Central American?".
Then again, I often get asked whether I'm a Canadian. Go figure.
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md
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response 19 of 36:
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Dec 10 13:05 UTC 2003 |
Right. Peruvians don't call themselves "Americans." The idea is
ridiculous, but is often used to show how arrogant Americans are by
preempting the name of two entire continents for themselves. As if
there weren't enough *truly* arrogant Americans around, so we have to
make up this pretend argument.
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other
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response 20 of 36:
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Dec 10 13:50 UTC 2003 |
You know, it might be more of a thing if the name of our country
wasn't The United States of AMERICA.
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twenex
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response 21 of 36:
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Dec 10 15:11 UTC 2003 |
Accusing me, md, of "simple prejudices" (as opposed to what? complex
prejudices?), which may or may not be true, ignores the factg you
betray your own prejudices by equating monarchy (and Englishness?)
with evil, or support for it with a defective state of mind, etc.) As
I indicated in my response above, it is possible to have a monarch who
can be looked up to, or a president who is a loser, without
necessarily agreeing with monarchy in general, or disagreeing with
republicanism. Kemal Ataturk, the 20th century Turkish "benevolent
dictator", is the person we have to thank in large part for the fact
that Turkey is a member of NATO and perhaps the only current example
of a Muslim state where the government is secular and truly
republican.
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gull
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response 22 of 36:
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Dec 10 18:58 UTC 2003 |
Re resp:17: What are we supposed to call ourselves, then?
United-Statesians?
Re resp:21: Uhm...could you point out where md equated monarchy with
evil? I must have missed it.
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twenex
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response 23 of 36:
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Dec 10 20:39 UTC 2003 |
Response #1 implies "monarchy bad".
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willcome
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response 24 of 36:
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Dec 10 20:43 UTC 2003 |
"Russ fat"
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gull
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response 25 of 36:
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Dec 10 20:46 UTC 2003 |
I suppose, if you also assume clotted cream and kidney pie are works of
evil.
But really, people's interest in the British royal family isn't about a
monarchy any more than people's interest in Michael Jackson is about
music. It's about celebrity and fame. There's a certain set of people
that are famous for being famous, and not much else, and people love to
read tittilating stories about people like that.
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tod
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response 26 of 36:
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Dec 10 21:29 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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twenex
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response 27 of 36:
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Dec 10 21:33 UTC 2003 |
Chuck? rotflmao.
Who needs to spend 10,000 quid on a wedding anywa? I believe that's
the average figure round here.
Re: 26: Yeah, I would agree with that.The Monarchy these days is hiugh
drama. People blame the newspapers/tabloids, but seem to forget that
if people didn't want to be able to read the drivel that gets painted
about Royals/Jackson/JFK Conspiraciy Theories/Little Green Men/Faked
Moon Landings, the papers wouldn't be able to sell copy with those
stories in.
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tod
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response 28 of 36:
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Dec 10 22:17 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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mary
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response 29 of 36:
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Dec 10 22:19 UTC 2003 |
I've known a Peruvian who when asked what he was would
answer, "American". I thought it was a good response.
And USian would be fine in my book.
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md
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response 30 of 36:
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Dec 10 23:52 UTC 2003 |
[You've known a native Peruvian, who was a citizen of Peru living in
Peru, who when asked what he was said, "I'm an American"? I mean, for
reasons other than to be tedious?]
The first people to be called Americans were the aboriginal inhabitants
of the Americas. (My ancestors, or at least some of them.) They were
always, until at least the beginning of the 18th century, the
only "Americans." Then, in the early 18th century, people in England
started referring to the denizens of their colonies across the Atlantic
as "Americans."
I've always thought there was something a little ironic about the
usage, maybe even condescending. But the name stuck, which ought to
suprise no one. The colonists began referring to themselves
as "Americans." After they declared their independence, they continued
to be called "Americans," by themselve, by the Brits, by the
continental Europeans, and by just about everybody else except my
ancestors.
And here we are, stuck with the usage. It will change with time, as
language always does, but not in the lifetime of any of the peeved non-
readers of history posting here.
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mary
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response 31 of 36:
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Dec 11 00:05 UTC 2003 |
I don't think anyone here is peeved. The Peruvian I knew who had fun
with the usage wasn't peeved. He was mostly just having fun with
the responses he'd get. He would have loved yours, by the way.
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russ
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response 32 of 36:
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Dec 11 14:06 UTC 2003 |
If only "Unitedstatesian" rolled easily off the tongue,
we wouldn't be having this discussion.
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scott
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response 33 of 36:
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Dec 11 14:49 UTC 2003 |
Frank Lloyd Wright created the name "Usonian" for some of his "local United
States" designs.
OK, that covers my daily elitist reference requirement.
Except that Wright actually intended the Usonian houses to be affordable,
which of course they weren't.
Hah! Extra credit.
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twenex
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response 34 of 36:
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Dec 11 15:26 UTC 2003 |
Maybe you could all use hte Spanish term, "estadounidense". Sounds
quite nice, too.
Interestingly, I was watching an episode of the 60s Estadounidense
comedy "Bewitched", today. It was the one about the Stevens' baby
daughter, Tabitha, being able to speak "The King's English", as they
called it on the tv. Which suggests that at that time, America stil
thought of British English as the standard, and is also interesting
because, when there is a Queen (as there has been since 1953), just
about everything that was called "King's" is then referred to as
"Queen's", - "the Queen's English", etc. (names of pubs, universities,
and regiments dedicated to a particular king being exceptions).
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other
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response 35 of 36:
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Dec 11 16:08 UTC 2003 |
Re: Estadounidense. I think it would be generally more fitting to
drop the 'estado' part, and just call us Unidense. Of course, the
fact that some of us are more unidense than others goes without
saying... ;)
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twenex
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response 36 of 36:
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Dec 11 16:21 UTC 2003 |
Heh.
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