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#421
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Nice Ugly Americans
In article , Mason Barge
wrote: Well as is the case with most words and phrases, they change over time. Apparently the good-hearted culturally-ignorant "ugly American" is not to be confused with the boorish tourist. But I think we can use the words "ugly" and "American" without it's meaning being limited by the title of a 50 year old book. Not intelligently. The phrase is used because and only because it describes a character in a novel, which has nearly nothing to do with tourists or boorishness. I would assert that you don't know what the highest usage count of the phrase is, and thus the "only because" limiter is fanciful. "That's my son the solider. He's the only one that's marching in step." I understand what it once meant. I'm saying that it doesn't mean that any more. Many words morph out of initial context not because everyone is stupid but because the word has more practicable utility elsewhere. I don't know whether this is the case with this lonely phrase or not. And their is a cost to the misuse of it, as such misuse actually waters down the full impact of the meaning. I don't think that the Iraqi War would be fully applicable, either, largely due to the forthrightness of the American intervention, but it's several magnitudes closer. And one could certainly make a case that the US, through arrogance, lack of foresight, and ignorance, has played into the hands of Iranian Shiites. That may be. Back to topic: I think the world concept of a helpful but culturally ignorant American will generally never need a phrase, "Ugly American" or otherwise. Such an image is more-or-less limited to the picture of an evangelical missionary, no? And as Christianity morphs more visibly into a political party and advance team for predatory capitalism, it's easy to see even these potentially good souls viewed as cynical parasites. Logically when the literarily unwashed hears the phrase "ugly American", they have a use for such a handy phrase. Graham Greene was smarter. Nobody is going to popularize a broad usage of "The Quiet American", even though the term is even more chilling, to my mind. True, but out of literary context the universal image of a quiet American doesn't take. Ugly takes and easily. "Quiet Brit" sounds good. "Ugly Brit" doesn't seem to take: sounds like a reference to dental aesthetics. Well, of course, you can use the tem any way you want to. You can say "irregardless" and "I have went", too. Doesn't do much for your credibility, though. There is a significant difference between grammatical error and show shifts in culturally-implied meaning. Me, I don't use the phrase at all, I'm just watching it go by. -- ///--- Vote for the richest Republican. He understand the common man. |
#422
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Nice Ugly Americans
On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:37:03 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:
Reid© writes: why do you live in Europe again? I like Paris as a city, mainly. Despite not being able to get any money or go shopping, find the society stratified, poorly paid, work-shy and intolerant. Boy, those buildings must be nice to make up for it all. -- Tim. If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. |
#423
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Nice Ugly Americans
Tim Challenger writes:
Despite not being able to get any money or go shopping, find the society stratified, poorly paid, work-shy and intolerant. The money problem is recent. As for the problems with the society, I don't associate much with people, so they are not usually problems for me. Boy, those buildings must be nice to make up for it all. They are indeed. It's a very pretty city, and apart from the cost of living, it has virtually no disadvantages. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
#424
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Nice Ugly Americans
On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 11:12:58 +0200, Mxsmanic wrote:
...I don't associate much with people, ... me. We can tell. -- Tim. If the human brain were simple enough that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't. |
#425
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world's worst tourists
Yourname wrote:
No need to get snippy. I'm just reading posts in rec.travel.asia and was wondering what makes it dedicated to European travel. I'm sorry. It was just a_joke/sarcasm. This whole thread isn't a very serious one anyway, at least not IMO. If you are looking for useful information, discusions, etc., it's probably best to kill/ignore this thread. FWIW, I am reading rec.travel.australia+nz. Frank Slootweg wrote in news:3f88555f$0$35684 : Yourname wrote: What makes this newsgroup dedicated to European travel? What makes you and Mason unable to read a/the Newsgroups line? What makes you lack the courtesy to post an interleaved response to an interleaved response? What makes you unable to include an attribution line? What ... [1] What I really wonder is why, in a newsgroup dedicated to European travel, 10% of the posts are concerned with travel and 90% with bashing some other country? Mason Barge [1] And at the moment, I'm not even grumpy, so you're warned! |
#426
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Nice Ugly Americans
"Deep Freud Moors" wrote in message .. .
Does this make the inhabitants of Paris 'less rich' somehow? Yes. Less freedom. What freedoms do Americans have that Europeans don't? (I have asked this question a number of times in usenet land, and never gotten much of an answer) It's not an easy question. For one thing, the concepts of "freedom" aren't universal and involve alot of culture. If the declaration has any validity at all, it would be in terms of "rights". The US Constitution has a slightly odd feature which declares we have nonspecific rights. (10th amendment as I recall). So where as many (though not all) countries have protections for specific rights, human rights clauses, these kind of things, in theory, the US citizen has comparatively more rights because his list of rights is potentially endless. However, if one wants to discuss specific freedoms, probably the one that strikes me most often is the number of countries that all a fair amount of control over their press institutions. All sorts of things one "can't print" in various countries. I also understand one can't insult a civil servant in Germany. I suspect the freedom of speech clause would probably prevent such a law here. |
#427
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Nice Ugly Americans
"me" wrote in message om... "Deep Freud Moors" wrote in message .. . Does this make the inhabitants of Paris 'less rich' somehow? Yes. Less freedom. What freedoms do Americans have that Europeans don't? (I have asked this question a number of times in usenet land, and never gotten much of an answer) It's not an easy question. For one thing, the concepts of "freedom" aren't universal and involve alot of culture. If the declaration has any validity at all, it would be in terms of "rights". The US Constitution has a slightly odd feature which declares we have nonspecific rights. (10th amendment as I recall). So where as many (though not all) countries have protections for specific rights, human rights clauses, these kind of things, in theory, the US citizen has comparatively more rights because his list of rights is potentially endless. However, if one wants to discuss specific freedoms, probably the one that strikes me most often is the number of countries that all a fair amount of control over their press institutions. All sorts of things one "can't print" in various countries. I also understand one can't insult a civil servant in Germany. I suspect the freedom of speech clause would probably prevent such a law here. So - You've got the freedom to insult someone ? - Great ! And they, obviously, have the freedom to carry a gun :-) |
#428
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Nice Ugly Americans
"Miss L. Toe" wrote:
"me" wrote in message . com... However, if one wants to discuss specific freedoms, probably the one that strikes me most often is the number of countries that all a fair amount of control over their press institutions. All sorts of things one "can't print" in various countries. I also understand one can't insult a civil servant in Germany. I suspect the freedom of speech clause would probably prevent such a law here. So - You've got the freedom to insult someone ? - Great ! And they, obviously, have the freedom to carry a gun :-) I do like consistency! -- PB The return address has been MUNGED |
#429
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Nice Ugly Americans
On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 17:11:59 +0100, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote: "me" wrote in message . com... However, if one wants to discuss specific freedoms, probably the one that strikes me most often is the number of countries that all a fair amount of control over their press institutions. All sorts of things one "can't print" in various countries. I also understand one can't insult a civil servant in Germany. I suspect the freedom of speech clause would probably prevent such a law here. So - You've got the freedom to insult someone ? - Great ! And they, obviously, have the freedom to carry a gun :-) Insulting politicians is a great American pastime. And the right to openly accuse them of inappropriate or illegal conduct is at times a great thing indeed. Laws of lese majeste are easily invoked to hide misbehavior. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
#430
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Nice Ugly Americans
le 13 Oct 2003 09:00:22 -0700, dans l'article 73af7090.0310130800.631ab6=
, me a dit ...=20 { snip } I also understand one can't insult a civil servant in Germany.=20=20 Nor in France: 7,500 EUR fine, or the same plus six months in prison for 'rebellion' [2]. [1] Article 433-5, Code P=E9nal [2] Article 433-6 --=20 Desmond Coughlan |desmond [at] zeouane [dot] org http://www.zeouane.org/=20 |
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