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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Surrey, BC. November 29, 2003 It started with a t-shirt featuring the Canadian flag and the phrase "I am not American" translated into multiple languages, a web site with a provocative name - iamnotamerican.com - and a few borrowed dollars to get it all going. It resulted in the shirt's designer receiving abuse and threats, and one U.S-based website owner trying to shut him down. Now, Surrey (B.C.) resident Trevor Wilson is expecting more of the same after releasing new designs and additional merchandise featuring the same controversial message. Thanks to 'advances in modern technology' it is now possible for anyone with an original design to offer a range of products without the need to purchase and maintain a large inventory. Trevor has taken full advantage of this by offering a selection of merchandise such as stickers, mousepads, coffee cups and clothing with one of his seventeen multi-lingual or single language designs. "I can make all five of my original designs available, whereas before I could only sell the one design." Trevor said Saturday. "I have also made each of twelve languages available by themselves on their own products. The shirt featuring Arabic only, for example, looks great! Custom designs are also possible now, with any combination of available languages." Having refined the design since the original 'Canadian Flag' shirt went on sale in February, the language line-up has changed slightly, with the addition of Spanish and Dutch and the deletion of Afrikaans. Also available in addition to the two new languages are Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Slovak, Chinese, Russian and of course, English. Newly added designs include all twelve languages without a background, or with backdrops such as the circular 'Peace' symbol. In a move that is bound to upset some 'Stateside', other designs feature the American flag beneath the international symbol of prohibition, either by itself or with the the multilingual "I am not American" translations. Prompted by a personal experience over ten years ago, Trevor had been toying with the idea ever since. In August of 2001 he decided to finally put his plans in motion, but tragic events the next month resulted in a decision to delay release for at least one more year. In 2003, the site was closed for two days out of respect for the many victims of September 11. Over and above the basic concept of the design (after all, how dare someone want to say they were not American?), Wilson's sense of humour has upset some. At one stage an image was featured of U.S. President George W. Bush 'wearing' one of the shirts. This resulted in a resident of Bush's home state - Texas - starting a campaign of harassment in order to close the web site. About that, Trevor said "the odd thing is that this person ran a 'free speech' web site. It seems they didn't truly believe in the concept of free speech." Trevor also points out an interesting example of irony. The only company offering the 'small-run' service he is utilising to make all his designs and merchandise available is located in the U.S.A. "I find it amusing that an American company is producing something that says 'I am not American'," he said. "Unfortunately though, no Canadian company offers this service, but the minute they can, I will be there giving them my business". The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
I like a lot of other Americans are probably too busy doing more important
things with our time than making T-Shirts like, "I am not Canadian" or "I am not French." although if someone made them, I'll bet a lot of us would be very happy to wear them. -- Dairenn Lombard Los Angeles, CA - http://www.base-ix.com/~dlombard/ Base-IX Communications, coming 2004 |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Dairenn Lombard wrote: I like a lot of other Americans are probably too busy doing more important things with our time than making T-Shirts like, "I am not Canadian" or "I am not French." although if someone made them, I'll bet a lot of us would be very happy to wear them. Actually I'm a bit familiar with the kind of problem canadians face abroad. I'm dutch and every time I'm abroad people think I'm german. It's just very annoying. Not that I have something against germans, but I'm simply not german. In some parts of europe you used to get really lousy service if they thought you are german. That situation is improving luckely. Nils |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
"Nils Zonneveld" wrote in message
... I'm simply not german. In some parts of europe you used to get really lousy service if they thought you are german. That situation is improving luckely. Maybe they're bad tippers? |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
McWebber wrote: "Nils Zonneveld" wrote in message ... I'm simply not german. In some parts of europe you used to get really lousy service if they thought you are german. That situation is improving luckely. Maybe they're bad tippers? We dutch are probably even worse tippers. When I was in New York I was shocked to hear that service personel expected a 20% tip (gasp!). At home I'm used to tipping to round to the next 5 euro's if the service was good. But then again, service is included in the prices here (not that New York is any cheaper than Amsterdam despite that). Nils |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
"Nils Zonneveld" wrote in message
... McWebber wrote: "Nils Zonneveld" wrote in message ... I'm simply not german. In some parts of europe you used to get really lousy service if they thought you are german. That situation is improving luckely. Maybe they're bad tippers? We dutch are probably even worse tippers. When I was in New York I was shocked to hear that service personel expected a 20% tip (gasp!). At home I'm used to tipping to round to the next 5 euro's if the service was good. But then again, service is included in the prices here (not that New York is any cheaper than Amsterdam despite that). I'm not sure what service personnel *expect* a 20% tip. They might like it, but generally expect 15%. But, since you know that service is not included in the prices, you tip accordingly. -- McWebber No email replies read If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends please forget that I'm your friend. |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Dairenn Lombard wrote:
I like a lot of other Americans are probably too busy doing more important things with our time than making T-Shirts like, "I am not Canadian" or "I am not French." ... And why should you do it? You wouldn't make much money. I think it's cool. I notice you can order the T-shirts *without* the English translation. So you can get one in Arabic that Arabs will understand, and when Americans ask you what it says, you can tell them "It means 'I Am A Proud American.'" And since Americans seem to be too lazy to study foreign languages, they'll have to believe you. \\J. Smith |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Schultz writes: And since Americans seem to be too lazy to study foreign languages, they'll have to believe you. Americans aren't "too lazy" to study foreign languages. We simply have no practical need to do so. This is because of the sheer size of our country and the cor- responding lack of proximity to peoples nattering in other tongues. Hell, we have mere *counties* that are bigger than a lot of those cute little European nations. ObTopical: English is the international language of aviation. I bet that ****es off the fashionable America-haters something fierce, and particularly galls (heh) the French. "Frere ZHOCK-uh, frere ZHOCK-uh Dormay voo? Dormay voo? Sonny LeMattina, Sonny LeMattina He's nice, too. He's nice, too." See? I speak that ****. Haw! Geoff -- If God were a liberal, we'd have the Ten Suggestions. |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Geoff Miller wrote:
Americans aren't "too lazy" to study foreign languages. We simply have no practical need to do so. This is because of the sheer size of our country and the cor- responding lack of proximity to peoples nattering in other tongues. Hell, we have mere *counties* that are bigger than a lot of those cute little European nations. Which counties are bigger than "a lot" of European Nations? Your definition of "a lot" differs from mine. |
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"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
mrtrav writes: Which counties are bigger than "a lot" of European Nations? You're trying to get me to jump through hoops, and I don't do hoops. But being in a magnanimous mood, I'll get you pointed in the right direction. Hint: break out a map of the United States, one that shows counties, and look out West. (If the map is right-side up, that will be to your left...which is probably intuitive, in your case.) Your definition of "a lot" differs from mine. Well now, that strikes me as a bit odd, seeing as how you hadn't even given me a chance to respond to your question yet. Geoff -- If God were a liberal, we'd have the Ten Suggestions. |
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