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Grish

Liche
True Blood
Oct 11, 2007
5,319
Winnipeg, MB
Ok stupid thought but it's been bothering me.

It bothers me that people from the U.S.A. refer to themselves as "Americans" and others "Canadians, Mexicans, Brazillians, etc." Like they didn't live in the Americas. It would be as if the Chinese would just call themselves Asians and feel like they have exclusive right to the name; that Japanese and Koreans were not Asians.

Now, obviously they have no other good name. What would they call themselves, the "Stateians?" United Stateians? I can't think of anything better, but what bothers me, is I think that when they say "Americans" they only think of the people from the U.S.A. It makes me feel as if they're none too bright.

End of rant. Oh, in my defence, I have had 3.5 hrs of sleep last night as the UK server team is retarded and can't keep track of their own stuff.
 

Grish

Liche
True Blood
Oct 11, 2007
5,319
Winnipeg, MB
Yeah I know it's a stupid thing to be bothered about.

I don't know anyone in Canada that calls them Yankees. I only hear that from Europeans.
 

Bravo_10

Dark Lord of Eternal Sorrow
True Blood
Jul 26, 2010
1,285
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
We call ourselves Americans because 'United States of Americans' is a bit of a mouthful. It's just a harmless nickname. Plus, what other country actually has 'America' in its name?
 

Grish

Liche
True Blood
Oct 11, 2007
5,319
Winnipeg, MB
Being called an American is correct, but it is just as correct to call anyone else from North or South america an american as well. My annoyance is some citizens of the US don't seem to grasp this.
 

Sanai

Stylish Deviant
True Blood
Oct 30, 2009
5,193
Behind Darvy
I think "Idiots" is the word you are looking for Grish. :tongue:
[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6pRbwu4Pf0[/video]

No offense to the occasional intelligent American!
 

Zanos

Vampire Count
True Blood
Jul 23, 2009
1,387
Thanks Sanai, you're making me feel very comfortable with being American =_=. Go get skype to work again.
 
I hope this topic doesn't get out of hand because I'm not very impressed already by some of the comments made in it.

I also think it could become a very touchy subject for some of the people from the united states like me and some other board members.
 

Questioner

Wight King
Jan 9, 2010
418
I can see why it is touchy. I also do not think it will change- people know the USAians as Americans, so they will call them Americans.


I personally do not like Americans, but that is in general. Specific Americans can be quite nice.

And if you play Warhammer, I like you regardless of other factors.
 

hairyjeff

Crypt Horror
May 10, 2011
579
We can't whitewash all USAians. I've met dozens, filming, reenacting, biking, all over europe. Mostly, they've been great. But when they ARE thick, they take it to extreme limits. Pity the poor buggers who have to share a country with them. The rest of them are welcome in my life, whatever they call themselves.
 

Tim

Grave Guard
Aug 7, 2011
255
Rotterdam
Honestly, is this what bugs you? If that is all you having a great life.
The citizens of the united states of america that I have personally met where great people, generalizing a whole group of people is usually a bad idea.
What I will say is the americans that are portraid in the media are usually the red neck ignorend type that have no clue about what is happening in the world and shouting america rules and such nonsense, those I feel sorry for.

For the rest of the Americans I wish theh are sensible for once and vote for Ron Paul as president. (dont want to turn this in to politics so dont reply to that)
 

Sanai

Stylish Deviant
True Blood
Oct 30, 2009
5,193
Behind Darvy
I was actually joking, hence the funny face and the disclaimer. I apologise if anyone took things the wrong way and took offense. The americans I have known I do actually like, it is just I like to make light of well.... almost everything. I like to see alot of the inaneness and sillyness and stupidity in the world as a big joke, helps me to avoid being frustrated by it all.
The reason I made that comment about america was really about certain large portions of the population which just.... amaze me. Yes, some parts of the american population do really amaze me. Yes, every country has its rednecks and sheep and etcetera, america just seems to have such a massive concentration of them. Almost every person I have met on the internet that could be described as a troll, flamer, all of the people I have heard use the "Ni" or "Fa" word excessively, has proudly stated that they are americans.

Its like... the stereotype that me and all my fellow australians cant speak without butchering every word with a heavy australian accent and drink VB and play cricket and have a BBQ every weekend. Its not really true, but I enjoy making a joke out of it all the same.

I apologise for any offense I caused, I sometimes forget that sarcasm and humour does not convey properly over the internet.

Anyway, on the issue of who should be president in america....
Cthulhu4Prez-Preview.png
 
Yeah humor and sarcasm are not easy to tell when it comes to reading it compared to hearing it so when it's a touchy subject a joke could be taken wrong in context unfortunately.

Is that what a ton of people think about Australians heck the only thing I spent time watching that had to do with Australia was the crocodile hunter but then I haven't done much looking to see if there was anything else to catch my interest just yet but I should at some point especially if it involves military stuff.

I'm not thrilled with the ones who throw those two words around a lot they just wear on my nerves after a while and I sure won't deny the fact other people from here really are idiots some times heck even I've done some idiotic things from time to time.
 

bahamutzer0

Skeleton
Oct 31, 2008
81
Floral Park, New York
You know, I've had a problem with the term Americans for while now myself. There is a South and North American, so wouldn't everyone in those continents be Americans? I remember back in third grade our teacher trying to drill into our heads that America does not exist, isn't south and north america, America? Nope, geographically speaking it doesn't exist.


The media in other countries definitely portray "Americans" badly as was stated before, episode 903 of the British Top Gear is a prime example of that. But as much as Americans are portrayed as stupid, ignorant, slow, frightening, etc. people, a lot of it is true. Americans are stupid, ignorant, fools, and thats just how our government likes it.


In all honesty, I live in America, but in a weird way I don't consider myself an American, I'm a New Yorker and I've heard from people that I should go back to my own country (I'm from the US lol) and that I'm a terrible American. Why you might ask? Because I like football (FC Bayern woot!), non-American TV and movies, anime, I love hockey, but hate baseball, I don't like pie or bacon, I route for Germany in the World Cup, I prefer European over American cars and the list goes on. I work in retail and I have seen the utter stupidity of my fellow countrymen and I am scared of these people, this country is epic fail, I'm just waiting for the inevitable revolution.


I voted Cobra Commander, last presidential election, I say resurrect Chris Latta, mess with his brain so he always thinks he is CC and throw the mask on him. If the country is going to be run by a lying, moronic, cowardly scumbag then why settle.
COBRA!!!
 

Sanai

Stylish Deviant
True Blood
Oct 30, 2009
5,193
Behind Darvy
athisisthestoryof.files.wordpress.com_2010_01_cobracommander.j582451307d16884beda821168a26d59c.jpg

So, next american election, its going to be Cobra Commander vs Cthulu. Who will win?

America seems to be a country built out of paradox. It is a country that takes away peoples freedoms... in the name of freedom.
It is a country with many enemies..... that are all former allies that it gave weapons to.
It is a country that is immensly patriotic.... and incredibly apathetic.
It is one of the richest, most consumerist countries in the world.... yet it can't even provide adequete healthcare to a large portion of the population.
It dominates the worlds media...... yet it somehow has a very bad media image.

One of my favourite tv shows is the Colbert Report. It presents itself as incredibly patriotic and american, but at the same time absolutely takes the piss (in a loving way) out of America.
 

Tim

Grave Guard
Aug 7, 2011
255
Rotterdam
The Paradox about freedom isn't happening only in USA, UK and also Holland that's happening too, I'm sure other countries this is happening too. Although USA is in the lead on this. Patriot Act, DCMA etc etc.
If you are very interested on this subject I suggest you listen to the "no agenda show", it's a podcast.

One of the things that strikes me the most though is that North-America has USA and Canada and they average portray of an Canadian vs an American is so different. While for both one could say they are "Americans".

I also want to say that the usage of a word will eventually define it's meaning, which is some what related to this subject too.
 

Zhatan

Varghulf
Feb 6, 2011
798
Sweden
As stated before in this thread its a bad idéa to group a large number of individuals up and say this group is stupid ect.
USA is such a large country so you are bound to have all kinds of people living there. To say they all are fat and stupid or smart and beautiful is ignorant.

I do however feel that alot of the television we see, at least here in sweden, shows USAmericans at their worst. I'm talking about shows like Jerry Springer and Cops.... the kind of shows that makes you want to rip out your intestines and strangle yourself with them just to make it stop. Note that this is not european media trying to make America look bad but rather you own shows.



As for them calling themselves Americans... they are not wrong. They are Americans too and it's not like they are calling themselves "The Only Americans".
 

Santawraith

Master Liche
True Blood
Jun 6, 2010
7,453
Wyoming
I do not have cable tv anymore due to alot of the reasons stated above. I like to select what ahows my kids are exposed too, and able to preview them first. To be honest the only channel I ever find myself missing is the history channel. I am a rare American who grew up outdoors more then in. I am still that way, sadly most of my friends and even my wife are the polar opposite.
 

Grish

Liche
True Blood
Oct 11, 2007
5,319
Winnipeg, MB
If only Ontarian had the same ring.

I really apologize to anyone that felt insulted/slighted by this. I just thought it strange that there are 'Asians', 'Africans', 'Europeans', 'Antarcticans' (joke), but not really 'Americans' that mean more than someone from the USA. Just strange, and doesn't seem to have any unity as cultures. Which might be just as well, as Central America, South America, and North Americans are very different from what I've experienced.
 
Jul 26, 2011
298
I'm American (Hah, There I go :redface: ) myself. It's one of those things that I've thought about and decided, "hey, who cares?" I guess there's really not any other way to say it, as how are you gonna categorize people from the "United States of America"? If you think about it though, the real reason is probably because when America finally became a world power, there was nobody else on the continent that was making the societal/cultural leaps and bounds that the USA was. Even the other countries of the world always referred to USA inhabitants as Americans. The only other powers on the American continents were European colonies, and those were simply for slaves, plantations, off-shore sourcing and what not, they weren't liberated countries (Not that the people weren't any less human or deserving of respect, but the way things were at the time you can only shrug and say, "hey, life isn't fair"). In response to people's observations on "stupid Americans" and the way they handle a subject like that, well, yea we got a lot of ignorant people (it's actually pretty damn bad sometimes :( ). The thing is, I'm not sure if it's just America, there are a lot of unintelligent people out there, it's society man, just the way things work, and while a larger percentage of these people may be Americans, it's not as if they are bad people. The absence of intelligence doesn't constitute evil in any sort, in fact ignorance is bliss, I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who may not be the brightest tools in the shed, but they're decent, honest folks. America gets a real bad rep at times, and while I can admit to often feeling as if I am surrounded by idiots, maybe I would feel the same way somewhere else. America won't be around forever, 250 years is pretty short in the grand scheme of things, and eventually this will all be history, and some other country will take over, be egotistical, and steal the right to a continental title, so I say let by bygones be bygones, let's have some love xD
 

Bravo_10

Dark Lord of Eternal Sorrow
True Blood
Jul 26, 2010
1,285
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Really, we should've just named ourselves the United States of NORTH America in the first place just to alleviate all the trouble. xD If you'd never heard of the USA before, you'd have difficulty even picking out which continent it's in.
 
Oh so that's what maps are for so they really aren't just trying to confuse you and get you even more lost in different areas so you have to buy a new map just to tell you what this other map is trying to say.

I wish I could just call myself by my state but I don't think New Hampshirein rolls off the tongue very well.
 

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