I would not like to be an American in this forum
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I keep on reading all sorts of funny stories about American stupidity. It all reminds me Saturday Night Live sketch where actors played Japanese talking about Americans ("I must apolodzize for ze last time when I said all Americans are fat and stupid. We should not dzeneralize: some of zem fat, some of zem stupid, and some of zem are fat and stupid"). OK, I am Russian (living in Norway though). I have a good laugh reading some of these anti-American stories - they are just funny. But frankly speaking, I would be quite offended to read such things about Russians (although we deserve at least as much irony). I have a lot to criticize in my country of origin. In fact, Russian people are typically quite negative about their political system (whatever it is), laws, habits etc. But it would embarrass me if the same critics that I accept from my Russian friends I heard from foreigners. It's easier to say "I am stupid" than to accept "you are stupid". Or maybe I still have memories from my recent trip with my kids to the US, when people were so friendly and gasoline so cheap? :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
The US is the richest and most powerful country in the world. I realize that and so it doesnt bother me when the rest of the world makes jokes about us. Big deal. We are better than everyone else, we know it, and so does the rest of the world - including you damn Russians. -dork ps: hehe. Okay, I was joking..obviously..but, seriously, people get upset about stupid small stuff like national pride and junk. When someone starts picking on some people who have real problems like the millions of Africans dying of AIDs every year then I might start getting offended.
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Yes this is true, you Brits trade a liscense to watch and for Advertisment free. Yes all television is full of crap i know. Very true.
Mathew Lowery wrote: Yes this is true, you Brits trade a liscense to watch and for Advertisment free. No, we don't. We pay the enforced license fee (tax?) to the BBC to provide crap and then not only put up with advertising to watch decent channels but pay a voluntary subscription fee to them too... cool, ain't it? :mad: Paul Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see - Led Zeppelin, Misty Mountain Hop
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It really doesn't bother most of us that much. We read it, then go get in our SUV or sports car or pickup and drive by the market and get a couple of nice thick steaks and some asparagus to take home and grill on the patio while trying to decide which of the 192 channels to watch on TV that evening or maybe just pop in a video of the latest movie or read a book. Most of us know how good we have it and are grateful. For those that don't know I would suggest a little travel - it is an awakening to see the difference between the US and most of the rest of the world. Richard When I reflect upon the number of disagreeable people who I know have gone to better world, I am moved to lead a different life. Mark Twain- Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
<kicking back on my Lazy-Boy recliner> Huh, what? Oh, right. What ever Richard said. <lean over, cigar loosely dangling on my lips, and grab the remote> :-D BW The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to talk, mad to live, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding. - Jack Kerouac
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Michael A. Barnhart wrote: In 1971 I was paying $0.19 us gal and in 73 it was almost $2.00. In just two years!?! What the hell caused that to happen? :omg:
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
An orgy in Tiverton... ({) `/\^^/\:p (Z) :$/\^^/\` (})
http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2002/arab.html[^] OPEC
Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life. -- George Bernard Shaw
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I keep on reading all sorts of funny stories about American stupidity. It all reminds me Saturday Night Live sketch where actors played Japanese talking about Americans ("I must apolodzize for ze last time when I said all Americans are fat and stupid. We should not dzeneralize: some of zem fat, some of zem stupid, and some of zem are fat and stupid"). OK, I am Russian (living in Norway though). I have a good laugh reading some of these anti-American stories - they are just funny. But frankly speaking, I would be quite offended to read such things about Russians (although we deserve at least as much irony). I have a lot to criticize in my country of origin. In fact, Russian people are typically quite negative about their political system (whatever it is), laws, habits etc. But it would embarrass me if the same critics that I accept from my Russian friends I heard from foreigners. It's easier to say "I am stupid" than to accept "you are stupid". Or maybe I still have memories from my recent trip with my kids to the US, when people were so friendly and gasoline so cheap? :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
I actually don't mind them when the are: 1. Funny 2. Reasonably original 3. Intelligent However, most boil down to someone saying something stupid, noticing they are Americans, and then getting a good arrogant laugh out of it. It reminds me of racists making fun of an African-American man saying something stupid by saying "Just another dumb black". :eek: I have posted here many times when I think people start piling it on too thick with the jokes. But some posts every now and then aren't a big deal. Tim Smith "Programmers are always surrounded by complexity; we can not avoid it... If our basic tool, the language in which we design and code our programs, is also complicated, the language itself becomes part of the problem rather that part of the solution." Hoare - 1980 ACM Turing Award Lecture
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Mathew Lowery wrote: Yes this is true, you Brits trade a liscense to watch and for Advertisment free. No, we don't. We pay the enforced license fee (tax?) to the BBC to provide crap and then not only put up with advertising to watch decent channels but pay a voluntary subscription fee to them too... cool, ain't it? :mad: Paul Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see - Led Zeppelin, Misty Mountain Hop
Well said. The BBC is ****. Either way I wouldn't say that Ricki Lake or Oprah is exactly a great contribution to the world's media ;) B.
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http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2002/arab.html[^] OPEC
Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life. -- George Bernard Shaw
Our petrol is over 3 GBP per gallon, so I reckon that's around $5.00 a gallon. Joy. :( B.
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http://www.buyandhold.com/bh/en/education/history/2002/arab.html[^] OPEC
Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life. -- George Bernard Shaw
Ah. :omg:
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
An orgy in Tiverton... ({) `/\^^/\:p (Z) :$/\^^/\` (})
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It really doesn't bother most of us that much. We read it, then go get in our SUV or sports car or pickup and drive by the market and get a couple of nice thick steaks and some asparagus to take home and grill on the patio while trying to decide which of the 192 channels to watch on TV that evening or maybe just pop in a video of the latest movie or read a book. Most of us know how good we have it and are grateful. For those that don't know I would suggest a little travel - it is an awakening to see the difference between the US and most of the rest of the world. Richard When I reflect upon the number of disagreeable people who I know have gone to better world, I am moved to lead a different life. Mark Twain- Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
Richard Stringer wrote: decide which of the 192 channels to watch on TV that evening On our 51 inch big screen TV! Suck on that you drunk, always grumpy Russins!! :laugh::laugh:
Jason Henderson
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Mathew Lowery wrote: Did anybody find "The Funniest Joke in the World to be funny at all...bad british humor. Was that the one about the log? :~
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
An orgy in Tiverton... ({) `/\^^/\:p (Z) :$/\^^/\` (})
Q: What's brown and sticky? A: a stick :laugh::laugh::laugh::-O:|:zzz::wtf::laugh::laugh::laugh: BW The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to talk, mad to live, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding. - Jack Kerouac
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Q: What's brown and sticky? A: a stick :laugh::laugh::laugh::-O:|:zzz::wtf::laugh::laugh::laugh: BW The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to talk, mad to live, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding. - Jack Kerouac
My personal favourite :) -- Paul "I need the secure packaging of Jockeys. My boys need a house!" - Kramer, in "The Chinese Woman" episode of Seinfeld MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Sonork: 100.22446
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I know that i sure am grateful that i have a roof over my head. Also that i don't have to pay for a liscense to watch my television with 192 channels, or my radio with at least 50 stations. Ahhhhh love not being taxed for such things, so glad the US had the revolution.
X| with envy :) Even as a student on placement last year I got taxed to the hilt, and its only going to get much worse! The bizarre thing is that you have to pay tuition fees (not bad in themselves I guess, they're pretty inexpensive considering), but you have to pay them even when you're out working for 12 months. So £500 for last year. During which time I had 2 30 min visits by my tutor, a total of 1 hour. So the University effectively charged me £500/hour last year. Thats roughly $750! -- Paul "I need the secure packaging of Jockeys. My boys need a house!" - Kramer, in "The Chinese Woman" episode of Seinfeld MS Messenger: paul@oobaloo.co.uk Sonork: 100.22446
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I keep on reading all sorts of funny stories about American stupidity. It all reminds me Saturday Night Live sketch where actors played Japanese talking about Americans ("I must apolodzize for ze last time when I said all Americans are fat and stupid. We should not dzeneralize: some of zem fat, some of zem stupid, and some of zem are fat and stupid"). OK, I am Russian (living in Norway though). I have a good laugh reading some of these anti-American stories - they are just funny. But frankly speaking, I would be quite offended to read such things about Russians (although we deserve at least as much irony). I have a lot to criticize in my country of origin. In fact, Russian people are typically quite negative about their political system (whatever it is), laws, habits etc. But it would embarrass me if the same critics that I accept from my Russian friends I heard from foreigners. It's easier to say "I am stupid" than to accept "you are stupid". Or maybe I still have memories from my recent trip with my kids to the US, when people were so friendly and gasoline so cheap? :) Vagif Abilov MCP (Visual C++) Oslo, Norway Hex is for sissies. Real men use binary. And the most hardcore types use only zeros - uppercase zeros and lowercase zeros. Tomasz Sowinski
I don't know for a fact, but I think that in the US, we're somewhat desensitized to comments and jokes like this by our cultural insistence on open speech. I recall being shocked the first time I read that in Germany, for example, it's illegal to display or own historical propaganda from World War II. I also was shocked the first time I read that a non-USian was shocked to find out that it's not illegal to say or write racist, anarchist, and seditious things in the US. In other words, we expect that some people will say fairly nasty things, and demand that they be allowed to say them. I'm not saying that this is somehow superior to other points of view (there are plenty of cases you could make that we go too far with it), or that those in other nations don't have the same opinions, but I think it might help to explain it. Tim Lesher http://www.lesher.ws