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From: alan@dragon.acadiau.ca (Alan McKay)
Subject: Re: Odd English [was: American] Words
Message-ID: <1995Aug16.134128.123@relay.acadiau.ca>
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References: <1995Aug14.172223.1144@relay.acadiau.ca> <40ocip$70n@optigfx.optigfx.com> <40pvev$116t@hrz-ws11.hrz.uni-kassel.de>
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 1995 13:41:28 GMT
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"R. Perkins" <perkins> writes:

>broad concensus that US-Americans are ignorant of other cultures- ignorance is
>generalizing all Americans as living in the US. Did he mean to imply that most
>of the people in Equador ignorantly refuse to acknowledge the existance of
>other countries- they are also Americans, are they not? Habla el Espanol? 

I used the term "Americans" meaning that which U.S. Americans call
themselves.  I am fully aware that, technically speaking, us Canadians,
Mexicans, as well as all of South America, are also Americans.  The
fact is though, that mostly everyone (including Europeans -- I lived there
for 3 years) mean "U.S. Americans" when they say "Americans".

>He's really a moron. 

I beg to differ :-)

>Does he
>really think everyone over here spends the days watching soccer, wearing
>lederhosen, eating wurst and sauerkraut, stairing at their cucoo clocks, and
>polishing the BMW or Mercedes? 

Having lived 2 years in Germany, I am well aware of what life is like there.
And yes, to some extent, people do the things you mentioned above to a 
larger extent than they do back here in N.A.  (Well, except for the part
about the cucoo clocks).  Different peoples do different things.  My point
was that most other cultures are aware that there are other civilized
countries out there.  This is to a large extent untrue in the U.S
and unfortunately to some extent in Canada as well.

>	He said one thing correctly- all generalizations are false. Too bad he
>obviously didn't let it sink in before he wrote it. Just out of curiousity-
>since I'm in Germany, does that mean I'm less ignorant? I didn't even see a
>stamp in my passport telling me...

Probably you are less ignorant.  Almost certainly, in fact.  How many people
do you know back home, though, who talk to you about Germany as if it were
a 3rd world country?  "Oh, how are they getting along these days?".
"Life must be difficult over there".

I once watched an episode of a U.S. cooking show (Urban Peasant, I
think) in which he was doing a special on German cooking.  One recipe
was from Berlin, and he started explaining:  "Berlin is a really neat
city.  They divided up the country, and there was this one city right
on the boarder, so they just split it up the middle"  Idiot.  Even
worse, the producers didn't know enough to cut the friggin thing.  Even
the way he spoke about dividing up the country -- as if one day
everyone just said "Hey, why don't we divide up our country?".  In the
same show he was talking about Sweden being just south of Germany.
Obviously he meant Switzerland.  Nobody producing the show seemed to
find a problem with his facts, though, and now half of America has
learned all about European geography from this ding-bat.

>As for the topic "Odd Words," try- Nee Klar-. 
> Translated it means "no yes", but
>it usually is understood as "ya, cool!"     

Too bad your German isn't really as good as you seem to think it is.
"Nee klar" means, "no, clear".  i.e. "No, I understand".   It is used
in a situation where someone is doubting whether or not you
understand.   Sort of an appropriate phrase for you to misunderstand,
when you think of it.  Maybe  you should consider staying for more than
a semester, if your intent is to learn German.

-Alan

-- 
         Excuse me for butting in, but I'm interrupt-driven.
http://www.acadiau.ca/cc/alan/
