This is not a personal thing, just Arasan Nayamus' introductory thread reminded me of something that often caught my attention and I thought that I'd finally mention it. She writes:
Quote"Runaway!" If you haven't got it, GO GET IT! Best Buy does not carry it from what I've seen. I have only found it at Circuit City so far. Go! Buy!
Why do you (the plural you=Americans, as always ;) ) think that everyone on this forum knows what is "Best Buy" or "Circuit City"?
I've never seen Vel write, "I bought this game at Skleposlav Burszanta" or Andail saying "what do you guys think about Merry Shottbullar Raindeer line" without explaining what the hell the names mean.
There are three possible explanations of this behaviour common to Americans:
a) they write their posts only for other Americans to read;
b) they somehow forget that the world is a very complicated thing and countries differ along with shop names;
c) they think that everyone on this forum is American, only with funny nicks.
Americans SUCK!!
When I first came here I didn't realize that 90% of the members here were you dirty, dirty foreigners!!
The rest of the world has stolen McDonald's and Disney World from us ... so why not Best Buy or Circuit City?? Huh? Huh?
I jest.
I'm sure she just didn't realize the 'world' reach these forums have. I made the same mistake when I was a young AGS lass ... er lad.
** DM hopes this doesn't turn into another thread needlessly and ignorantly bashing Americans **
"Can't we all just get along??"
])]v[
Yeah, well, I don't want any bashing here, it's just somewhat quaint (and may be offensive, as most of the time you don't give any explanations about your cultural phenomena yet still mention it, as if everyone knew what they're all about).
I understand what you're saying!
I just don't think only Americans do that type of thing.
But of course I'd say that ... I'm an American ;)
])]v[
UnitedStates-ian... >:(
*horrified, terrified gasp!*...
The people on these forums aren't all from the United States!??!11?!?!?1!!?!/1/1 :o
...Holy Crap! Super Elf Bowling from TechTV!@ I must have it!
It's us Americans fault that you don't have the coutesy to move to the U.S! :P
Yes, in general Americans tend to do this, but others are guilty of it too, I try to explain things sometimes if I think people in other countries won't understand what I'm talking about (but probably not always), but also It comes with experience of communicating globally, It's just a learning curve. Eventually everyone around here realises these things, and are more globally wise.
I also think it's strange we refer to the "Western World" to describe the developed world (if I can technically refer to it like that), Technically I'm from further East than the "Far East" yet still called a 'Westerner', mmmm, maybe that's American too, seeing as there is a lot of westerners, east of the GM (Greenwich Meridian [an invisible line that runs down the earth {180 degrees from the International Date Line <you can look it up on google>}]) Well technically The north pole is actually the south pole but I won't go into that, Also Electricity runs from negative to positive, Silly Northern Hemispherians not knowing that they are actually the ones that are Down Under.
It's a valid point, but I think we can help reneducate, eventually It won't be as common.
When I first came to these forums it was really my first major contact with the world outside the US and as a result I bumped heads with a lot of people.
So like Timosity said, "It's a learning curve" really.
I'm sure most people (not just we Americans) make the same mistake(s).
Speaking for myself, I've learn(t)ed a LOT since visiting these forums.
For instance:
- If I were to go to Australia I would not ask for Fosters beer (I wouldn't ask for it here either ... yuk!)
- If I were to go to College in any other country I would refer to it as "Uni"
- If I get hammered (drunk) in London I would be "pissed"
The list goes on and on ...
])]v[
Merry Shottbullar Raindeer line!? You mean you DON'T know what it is!?
Screw Circuit City, go to your local Wal-Mart. You get things cheaper there. What? No Wal-Mart? Then go to Electronics Boutique.
i think it just comes from not realizing that you're talking to people who don't live not only in the US [or whatever country you live in] but in your home town.
when i first got on the internet it's like "holy shit, i'm talking to people in Ohio!" but that didn't really mean anything to me. Then I got older and wiser and learned how to converse with people who don't know anything about me or my area.
and it isn't just americans that do it [not that we have a lot of south americans here but north america is pretty well covered] a lot of people do it to be jerks "You don't know what the Merry Shottbullar Raindeer line is?! What are you a stupid american?!?!!" and a lot of people do it on accident
and can't you guess what circuit city or best buy is? some sort of store for which to buy software, if it was something like "L0L! You guyz Hafto checkout the Ungsulate Repeater in the Richesdale!!! IT"S AZMZAIN!" then we have a problem
Forget pompous Americans! What about pompous Londoners!!!
"Capitol FM"?!?! Just another local radio station as far as I'm concerned. And I'll be spat-up if I'm going to accept some provincial radio broadcaster as a celebrity...
Come on Andail, you know what I'm saying! Yeah! Yeah?
ok. Guess not.
QuoteAlso Electricity runs from negative to positive, Silly Northern Hemispherians not knowing that they are actually the ones that are Down Under.
;D My Chemistry teacher in College (the COLLEGE of Engineering inside Oklahoma State University) has a map of the world in his office, it doesn't look peculiar, until you realize it's got New Zealand (his home country) on top and all of the words aren't upside down. :D I thought it was funny.
I think the reason Vel doesn't refer to his local electronics store is because he realizes he's one of the only, or few, from his country. The US is the most wired country in the world, so most of the time when you talk to someone they probably are from the US. At least that's how I look at it. I live in America and there is neither a Circuit City or a Best Buy within 30 miles of me, but I don't complain. They're just trying to help, whether they realize who they're talking to or not.
sometimes, with all of the globalazation in the world, and the american bussiness that are worldwide, us less cultured folk might forget which ones are only in the us :)
If you folks only knew... the future!
(http://sylpher.com/evenwolf/random/future.jpg)
Lol.
I agree with Goldmund. You Americans think that everyone knows what is best buy etc.
As a matter of fact, if anyone is wondering, I get my games from Slaveikov square. It is a place in the centre of the city where many booksellers and pirates are standing. And no, the police isn't doing anything about it.
Totally. You americans do this and that. I are stupid.
Seriously, I think Goldmund has a point. However, I don't think it should be offensive or anything. I think it's pretty logical for anyone to assume that at a board where people speak the viewer's mothertonque, the other members are from the same country. Disregard the fact that AGS isn't made by an American. I'm just saying that it is normal for anyone to make that assumption.
If I am to join a forum where everyone speaks english, I realize they aren't from Finland. But it's easier for me to notice that. After all, I am one of those 'international' users.
PS. You Bulgarians are all inconsiderate.
Vel - We americans are not quite as ignorant as you think. In fact, I went to Slaveikov Square during a vacation a few months ago and took a photo:
(http://sylpher.com/evenwolf/random/square.jpg)
Whose the uncultured one now, Mr. I Don't Know What Is Best Buy?
I'm not sure it's just a language thing though, the Brits don't seem to do the same thing, at least not to the same extent, I certainly never felt that people are going to understand what I mean if I start mentioning UK shop names or tv shows etc
Some US internet users have probably just gotten used to having heavily US dominated forums and chat rooms, many of them are. AGS is more international than most places and the older amercian members of the community rarely use US specific things when talking to mainly foreign members on IRC.
When expressing money values we usually convert to US Dollars so everyone can work it out in their own currency easily, and I know personally I spell things in an american way or use the american word for something if I think the British will cause confusion.. so I suppose having one country we can assume everyone understands can sometimes be useful :)
Now that I've seen that pic of Slaveikov Square, I really wanna check that out...heh
For some reason, when I'm online I tend to run into more people from Argentina than anywhere else....
I agree. Before the internet, I thought Canada and the USA were the only countries that meant anything...
I'm just kidding, you ignorant little foreigners!!!
Perhaps this topic is founded on a valid point but I have encountered several conversations where I have been totally lost. These are often discussions about certain sports, TV shows, etc. If non-Americans have to put up with Americans using asinine references then it partially makes up for all the flak Americans receive from people residing in other countries.
I will, however, try to keep in mind that other users may not know what a Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Circuit City, McDonald's, Taxi, Disneyland, et cetera, is. Perhaps annoying but if you can't work out what a Best Buy and Circuit City are from the post's context, I worry for you. A gentle chiding would've done but the point is made, thank you. ;)
Hey, America means a damn huge piece of land and foreigners mean usually smaller countries, so ignorance at this level is supposed to be absolutely okay and part of our civilization. Smaller always trying to make bigger noise - doesn't it even exist in America itsself (afroamericans,feminists,all kinds of believers,nut people,gays,etc).
Personally, I'd be grateful, if someone bombs that large McDonalds restaurant that makes my hometown's most beautiful place, Gates of Viru (part of our "old town" or however you call it) look like a flea market.
There's nothing wrong with globalization IMHO, though americani-zation doesn't make me happy at all.
Instead of spreading shops where crap food and cheap toys from china are sold worldwide, people could consider doing same with public libraries or some else useful thing like that.
And somewhere where it's needed. Africa, perhaps?
But maybe it's just me and/or my country and recent events here. We're discussing allying with NATO pretty soon and US bases, with a american solider standing in a gate with large army boots and lazily chewing gum - doesn't sound like a thing I would like to see on this sacred ground I'm used to call my motherland.
I have no tolerance at this kinda stuff and I'm happy that ancient roman guys invented forums so I could digitally make myself clear. But who cares, right?
Just another similar little thing I've noticed which comes from releases of movies etc, is When someone says They'll release a game "Summer 2004", I usually just assume it means Summer in Northern Hemisphere, but that is only Northern Hemisphere specific. It's not really that much of a big deal, but It seems that a lot of people make this honest mistake.
That's true. Much of the world is biased in that respect. The Winter Olympics is probably a strange moniker to you folks. Of course, we could just establish a common season-zone like we have time-zone and have a G.M.S. (Greenwich Mean Season).
I'm a bit confused about a previous statement about Foster's. I've heard on commercials that "Foster's is Australian for beer." ;)
LOL Evenwolf!
Quote from: YakSpit on Thu 01/01/2004 13:16:09
The Winter Olympics is probably a strange moniker to you folks.
Not really so much because it's always in the northern hemisphere, I sort of know it will be round summer sometime every 4 years. And it's not a big event cause we never win anything. We have no snow to practise in, although we have word champions in the arial jump thingy with twists and stuff.
I have no idea actually if the winter olypics has been in the sothern hemisphere, It's possible that it's been in a country in South America, but there isn't many places for skiing in the SH.
It is strange (as I'm totally going off topic) that there seem to be NO AGSers from the continent of Africa, It is even left off the AGS MAP, Surely there has been some in the past or I'm just not aware of everyone's location.
Quote from: YakSpit on Thu 01/01/2004 13:16:09
I'm a bit confused about a previous statement about Foster's. I've heard on commercials that "Foster's is Australian for beer." ;)
I've never heard of it, maybe it's Austrian beer
Yeah, it's just what we have in our taps (faucets) and if we run out we whistle really loudly and a Kangaroo ... no that story won't work
I'm sure you're aware from other posts that Fosters is just a famous beer we export so that CJ is kept happy and AGS continues to exceed our beliefs.
I think I've had Fosters once
I only noticed the other day my local shopping centre has an "Electronics Boutique" I think it's a fairly new chain here, I could be wrong as I'm not much of a shopper.
I think we're probably all guilty of doing this from time to time - I know I've probably said Brit-specific stuff without even realising it.
The thing is though, as long as from the context of the sentence you can work out what the words mean (like Best Buy in this example), it's quite harmless - and just provides a bit of extra info to people who do live in your country.
Also, it can be hard to know whether a retail chain, for instance, is a global thing or just within your country. Am I allowed to say McDonalds? Or not, in case there isn't one in Outer Mongolia? How globalized does something become before we can assume people know what it means.
There's also an important point about American media - TV, movies, etc. A lot of us will know what Starbucks is even if we've never actually seen one in real life - simply because it's something that crops up on American TV, and American shows tend to get exported to almost every country in the world.
I was just looking at that picture of Slaveikov Square.. I was wondering, what the heck is Mdkgohavga??? The thing with the big M's? :o
I must be a stupid American or something.
It says "Macdonalds" in cyrillic letters
I guess you know what I think about the whole americanization-issue, so I'll just sit this one out
Just want to point out, that if a mcdonalds is there, that means someone sold that property to mcdonalds to buy it.
The fact that some of you think all americans love that crap are sadly mistaken, I really can't stand mcdonals.
Calling the large amount of mcdonalds all across the world is not americanation that is capitalism. start a shop, make money, open more shops, make more money, open more shops... and so on... Personally I think there are way too many... on a single stretch of road (31W is Kentucky) between 2 towns (approximately 10 miles/ 16KM) And there are no less than 3 of them... a bit farther down the road, probably not more than 2 miles (3.2KM) there is another Mickie D's... Personally, thats overkill...
so before you go blaming americans for an american based shop in your town, remember someone local had to sell them the land, the government would have to give them the permits (I'm sure everywhere there is building permits,or business permits and so on and so forth)... Ya see what I mean? It's not like they forced their way in there and set up shop.
Foster's isn't even brewed in Australia. It's brewed over here (Britain).
Quote from: AGA on Thu 01/01/2004 16:40:41
Foster's isn't even brewed in Australia. It's brewed over here (Britain).
A lot of products do that when they're popular, especially Beer as it doesn't travel well, Some Irish guy explained to me once that Guinness doesn't travel well and tastes different the further you get away from the Brewery, apparently it only tastes good within a certain radius that is only quite small.
Imagine if Coca Cola was exported (it probably is within some bordering countries), it would be so shaken up and probably flat by the time you got it, plus I don't think it would be practical or possible for it all to be made in just one country
Some product names are exported and the company gets royalties I guess.
I wonder what the worlds most successful product is that doesn't contain some form of addictive drug? probably milk or something.
Eric and Yakspit: yes, I can guess what certain names mean from the context, and of course I know most popular terms (McDonalds) because pop-culture is mainly, well, American culture.
In this case, it's not a problem whether some information is understood or not, it's the problem of being inconsiderate to those of other cultures.
P.S. It's like in conversations: when you sit at a table in a cafe with your friend and his friend you don't know, then you don't discuss something without making certain that this person unknown to you understands what you're saying. Doing otherwise is considered impolite - at least in my country.
you're right gold, and Im sure that everyone here, be they yanks, brits, aussies, what have you, will try to keep this in mind
while this is exactly on topic, we were talking about about the spread of McDonlads and globalazation...
did you know that no two nations that both had a McDonalds have ever gone to war? I suppose that having a McDonalds represents that a country has abtained a certain amount of weath and such, that makes going to war undeseribile.
So, I guess there are some advantages to having one around :)
I don't really think that it's so strange or offensive an occurance...I'm an American and therefore I'm sure a LOT of what I say is Americanized, but I don't do it to spite anyone or to leave out others on the board. If anything, I want everybody to be able to read it and make fun of it in the way that is most personal to them.
But I don't think that inserting a thoughtless reference to Best Buy or to Stewart's Root Beer or something really happens to frustrate anybody reading it. Either they know what I'm talking about or they don't...and the odds are that you can get by pretty well from context clues anyway.
The internet is a great thing in the way that we can have representatives from any country here to discuss whatever we like and get instant feedback from all of them. Yet we have to expect that we are going to find unintentionally ethnocentric replies simply because we all have such varying backgrounds and there is no common, universal vocabulary or set of ideas from which we can all draw.
So no harm done, I think. We all come from diverse regions with different histories, and I'm sure if any of us has a specific question about anything else written, we can always just ask--no offense was intended.
Trying to keep up with all culture's personal pop-culture and idiosyncracies is tough, for sure - but half the fun of a commuunity like this one is learning about other people and other customs in countries. Now, we're all speaking English here, but the slang changes so much from country to country! From those of us who still use the letter "Z", what I've been told is an "archaic" letter, to those of us who refer to a male friend as a "mate", difference is what makes the human race so interesting. That we all can be different, yet we're all here, united under the common bond of gaming. Just for the sake of creation and leisure, we comingle, learning more and more about just what people do.
And yes, we American's CAN BE very pompous and self absorbed. So can any culture, we're just very good at it, because we're pumped full of self-agrandizing propaganda since they day we get shot out into the world. We're a proud country, built from nothing but a bunch of religious rejects and criminals. We went from unruly farmers to unruly politicians with way too much money in less that 300 years, and DAMMIT we rock. Sorry if our puritan/heathen/captialist/humanitarian/war mongering/enigmatic/non-sequitorial ways are confusing. We're just people, and not all of us are indicitive of that typical view of America. Just as not ALL Brits are prisses with bad teeth and a penchant for TEA and ONLY TEA, or Austrialians are criminal brutes, or Bulgarians can't find their pants, or Frenchmen stink (well........prove me wrong, Batman!) etc...... we're all just learning, so sorry if toes are stepped on. We need to teach each other.... not only get frustrated when someone makes a cultural faux-pas..... okay. Cliche "Feel Good" speech over. Back to the regular debauchery.
Bt
Hey! Frenchmen don't stink!!!1!111 >:( Who says that?
I was being faceitious.....hehe. ;D
Frenchmen don't stink; but French women.....okay... enough about the French. They did invent mayonaise and champagne, both of which are quite tasty.
Blackthorne, you're blowing your culture into something larger-than-life, even in negative aspects, which isn't very accurate, as the truth is that to most foreigners "American" means: not confusing, not overly complicated, pragmatic, etc. This is of course simplyfying view, as you also have David Lynch, but most of the cultural products of America that get to the rest of the world aren't particularly controversial.
- It wasn't my aim to make everyone think 100 times before posting.
- Wondering all the time if you're not offending someone is idiotic.
- Learning about other cultures is a wonderful thing.
What I was talking about is that subconsciously a lot of inhabitants of United States felt no need to wonder whether they're understood by everyone, or not. Many of you provided sound answers as to why this happens, and now I know I wasn't mistaken about the occurence of the habit. Which makes me happy.
1) Monopols and forcing are very strongly related. U really can't say that the land to Mcdonald's was sold without any pressure. Whatever the pressure was (too much money not to resist offer, fact that our country has 20000 soliders against US's 18 million (if I'm not mistaken) or whatever else). It just is that way.
2) I really can't imagine that city council saying: Go to hell, americans, we don't need your high colesterol crap here, find another fool and historical place to spoil! This could be a scandal, especially because americans sleep always one eye open.
3) Actually I'm worried. about this NATO thing - these US guys are really dumb if they think that they can safely set up their forces only about 180km away from Russian Federations border. And this is totally offtopic - or maybe not? Americanization is spreading too fast and may cause disasters. I really can't wonder what could happen if NATO really builds bases here and at least one russian nut or maybe just someone drunk (there's living 1,4 million people in my country, 40% russians) sneaks into one of them and bombs it or even just makes some mess. What then? We'd be hunted down under flag of "war against terrorism"?
Quote
- Wondering all the time if you're not offending someone is idiotic.
I agree, no doubt. But this won't work when discussing something with american people. And this really angers. It seems that beating patriotism and absolutely dumb belief into country and its ruler(s) in USA into people's brain is 100 times more intense than it ever was in Communistic Soviet Union. This is sick. Open your eyes, burger people! (Well, I followed quoted text - and I'm sure this thread becomes into "americans beating InCreator" one - so It there will be proof about what i just said)
So - you don't own the world, americans. Remember it all the time, even if it's only a some stupid crap at the forum, mistake with thinking everyone should know what's "Best Buy".
I think you're being rather unfair on the US there. The guys who visit these forums are certainly not dumb and blindly patriotic - but of course, there are some people who are. Perhaps the US has a high proportion of "dumb and believing" compared to the rest of the world - but it's important to remember to seperate criticism of the government and its policies, from criticism of the people themselves.
yea jeez increator... what the hell did i ever do to you?
I'm talking for myself, and actually, I'm pretty ignorant and stubborn guy, so don't bother complaining or getting offended or trying to tell me I'm wrong. Complete ignorance and being non--tolerant is supposed to be wrong so I know perfectly what's WRONG with myself!
If I wasn't creative, I'd call myself stupid...
But as you see, I'm stubborn enough to post anyway... ;)
My personal disgust against USA is not connected to this forum, its members, etc. It's more like national thing, I grew up in Soviet Union and I think that hidden rivalry between these two groups of world never ends.
Just today, I looked at the american movie "Armageddon". The way they tried to impersonate russian cosmonaut (it's astronaut for you) made me angry and sick. Do they think that people on this side of earth really look, talk and act like that? Maybe it is only the media that poisons souls? Whatever.
Only Americans could believe that this guy in the movie is really related so someone from here! And there's lots of US movies made during cold war, talking about those... oh hell.
Most accurate (not COMPLETELY, but yeah, close) things in US culture (i'm right about them) I've seen were Tom Clancy's books.
Quote from: Pumaman on Thu 01/01/2004 22:29:22
but it's important to remember to seperate criticism of the government and its policies, from criticism of the people themselves.
That was the point I was trying to make.
Back to InCreator
Also, it isn't a monopoly if there are other places to be able to get a similar product. Now, I won't say I know everything about international economics, or local. But if people really didn't want it there, it wouldn't be there. Not sure what you mean about sleeping with one eye open.
As far as the hunting you down or whatever. I can speak of this. You act like the military (and in reality the government because thats the parent of the military) Putting security and all that stuff aside, if some drunk guy somehow got in with a bomb and blew something up ( and I can say that it's not an easy thing to do, expecially for any john q public off the street to do), after some investigations they would find it was some guy acting on his own.
You may hate the government for the decisions it makes, but blaming the people for the government is wrong, because it's not their fault. Yes we vote for them, but that doesn't mean that we agree with everything. And if they make enough decisions we don't like, they don't get reelected.
The same goes for the military, you may not like what they do but they are doing what the government says, and blaming an individual soldier is even worse, he is just doing his job.
Now, it's obvious that I am American, it may not be so obvious that I am in the military. I love my country, I've been to many places in my military career, and every time it makes me appreciate what I have compared to what they have. But saying "YOU AMERICANS ARE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL" is a shot at me. And I reserve the right to defend myself.
Now, I believe I'm giving you thought out arguments, and I am in no way saying you are wrong, just stating my opinion is different than yours. If you are mad at mickyD's then you say mickyD's is the debbil, don't say the americans are.
The closest I want to come to world domination is 2 acres of land and a house.
So, after everything, we just need more cultural exchange programs. Especially me.
P.S. My way to think is a bit military indeed, because my nephew, uncle and grandfather were (nephew IS) russian MIG pilots and whole faimily is a bit militay. So we all have grown up in belief that USA is enemy and evil. Though I didn't got that drill very much, because soviet union broke when i was 8 years old, but there's still something... in blood.
there's still a rivalry between the US and Russia? I never hated Russia [or any country] before in my life. My friend Zak majored in Russian at college and went to live there for a semester with a host family [he brought them salad dressing and they gave him salted bread] he said it was great and the ladies were lovely.
and did you stop to think that maybe the ENTIRE movie armageddon was retarded and not just the actor who played a russian cosmonaut? why do you accept bruce willis' character as a rough and tough oil drill worker going to space to drill an asteroid more believeable than a russian guy in space who didn't do much in the movie anyway?
a civilian who has NEVER been even close to breaking through the atmosphere is asked by the US government to go into space with his team of OIL DRILLERS to drill a hole into an asteroid hurtling through space and planting a bomb in it's center. This was all totally plausible?
*laughing*
Okay, I give up! :D
Actually, I'm a bit afraid that people would take all the crap I'm talking too seriously. Peace!
No, MrColossal, I told only about the way russian people are show in this and these movies. Of course whole movie was worth a laugh - but that's the whole idea of entertainment.
And I'm just an ordinary male human being. Don't expect me to pilot a plane into some big building... :D
I can think or say whatever, hate americans, mongols or chinese, etc, were still all just people, but until people don't do actual bad deeds, noone cares anyway.
- I have nothing against you, scummbuddy or whoever in this forum from usa - and i don't think that a word in a passport or on id card makes me automatically hate or dislike someone. We're just ants in a nest of 6 million ants. And have to learn to get along.
This forum gives me opportunity to discuss whatever with other people, so I do it. Even if I'm really wrong, I always liked arguing and I think I'm normal enough to never get *really* upset or take things really personally. It's educative and entertaining. Maybe I'll be an advocate one day, who knows ;)
Oh. but okay, I won't post anything anymore, not to be selfish.
Referring to the original post, I think part of it might have to do with the fact that pretty much everything in the US is part of a chain.
Everything from restaurants to electronics stores to hair cutting salons....so I think people assume that other people will know these stores too.
This is not the case everywhere, so other people don't mention the store they bought things at.
Quote from: Goldmund on Wed 31/12/2003 15:57:14
This is not a personal thing, just Arasan Nayamus' introductory thread reminded me of something that often caught my attention and I thought that I'd finally mention it. She writes:
Quote"Runaway!" If you haven't got it, GO GET IT! Best Buy does not carry it from what I've seen. I have only found it at Circuit City so far. Go! Buy!
Why do you (the plural you=Americans, as always ;) ) think that everyone on this forum knows what is "Best Buy" or "Circuit City"?
LOL
I think nothing of the sort. Thanks for coming to that assumption. I do not believe that everyone knows what Circuit City or Best Buy is. I've been online for a good ten years at least and I'm 21, am well aware that the whole world can be online and I have many friends from other countries. I play MMOs for cripes.
What I do know is that a logical statement can be correctly interpreted. I was explaining a computer software and that you can buy computer software at Best Buy and Circuit City. A logical assumption would be that CC and BB are places to buy software at. You guys play adventure games and rely on mostly logic in those adventure games and yet can not divulge in the concepts that I am portraying. I was merely stating that it would be a good idea to go to your local software retailer and see if they have it. And if not, buy online for all I care.
Go get a life. ;D
This thread brought back to my mind one detail I'm completely unsatisfied with that's the fact inhabitants of the US are called Americans. Now I'm accostumed to it so I just use the term naturally, but it still doesn't give it any more sense. I'm also an American, as I live in the American contintent, I live in South America, and why aren't we called Americans, too?
If it's a matter of being in the North, why aren't Mexicans and Canadians called Americans, too? Why the hell do you - US inhabitants - call yousfelves (and the rest of us do the same) Americans and think the rest of the people from America aren't? What if tomorrow we here, in Uruguay, decided to call ourselves 'humans' and that we should be called 'humans' every time someone wants to refer to us... would it mean that the rest of the world out there isn't populated by humans?
When I learned at English class that the United State people where referred to simply as 'Americans' I thought it was quite unfair and it really hurted me... It doesn't affect me anymore but I still think it's unfair.
Quote
Go get a life.
What an idea! Do they sell one at "Best Buy"? :D
QuoteWhen I learned at English class that the United State people where referred to simply as 'Americans' I thought it was quite unfair and it really hurted me... It doesn't affect me anymore but I still think it's unfair
United States of What, then? Uruguay?
Habits are infectious. Call yourself an american, make your friends and family do teh same, and soon the world will follow.
Hey Kairus. I remember trying to tell DM that many Latin Americans also considered themselves american, not just the estados unidense, but he didn't believe me.
yeah, thats true. In brazil and such, they call themselves americans.
I imagine that folks from the US are called americans, b/c they have the word america in the name of the country, which I do not think appears formally in any other countries name. (other nations haves states, mexico, brazil, etc. but as far as I know, the word america only appears in the USA)
There are somewhat analagous situations where a common language seems to stop this happening.
"Germany" used to refer to the region of Europe where German was spoken, which included dozens of states, including Austria until it federated under Bismark. But I don't think the Austrians call themselves German anymore [although I believe they did for a while, and we all know that example, so no-one needs bring it up].
and "Australia" refered to all 7 colonies in the south, including New Zealand, but the kiwis would resent that term now.
I think that the common language in both cases prevented a situation like the American one though.
Yes, I'm an American, too, it's the name of our continent so I have my rights, here we generally call them 'Estadounidenses' which in English would sound like United-Statians, but generally people refer to them as Yanks. Anyway, America is not a good name, I think it would be better to call Columbia the whole continent... but maybe even better if it had some American (the continent) indigenous name, but there are so many languages and dialects that I don't think a way we could agree on a name.
Well... that was quite off topic.
About the thread, it's clear that many names are already in common tongue in most parts of the world like McDonald's and Coca-Cola, but I, personally, hadn't the slightiest idea of what Best Buy and Circuit City were. From its name I'd think Circuit City was a place to sell hardware spare parts and Best Buy should be a suitable name for a flea market or somewhere where you buy really cheap things under the label of 'best'.
I wouldn't get as far with nationalism as InCreator, but I agree something's not right with the way the multinational chains are spreading around the world. It's not only the Yankee enterprises, but many European or Asiatic, too. I don't know where all this globalization joke will take us to, but from extrapolating the currect state of the world I can't really see any good.
The world has many countries and many beautiful cultures that deserve to exist. It would be a pity to destroy entire cultures in sake of 'progress', maybe that's not the kind of progress mankind needs.
I know I must be the only Uruguaian in these forums so I know I shouldn't say I went to 'La Botica' or 'la feria de Tristan Narvaja' to buy this or that game, but maybe If I did you could get from context (I'm talking about a game) that it's a place where they sell software. That would be right in the first place but wrong in the second. Tristan Narvaja is kinda flea market and, amongst many other goods, piratery has its place. So, getting things from context doesn't always work.
That's why I always try to state: 'I went to La Botica (a place where software is sold) to buy ....' etc.
It should be very nice if everyone did this because the rest of us could, as well as understand the post, learn some interesting details from the other countries.
Quote from: InCreator on Fri 02/01/2004 03:32:46
Quote
Go get a life.
What an idea! Do they sell one at "Best Buy"? :D
Haha, InCreator!
No, you have to become an AmWay distributor and then you learn this phrase. Along with "Go Diamond!!"
Kairus: sorry, I'll use Yanks from now on. I like it. And thanks for your post, it explains also my views on the subject very well.
Are you also going to use the term confederates for the people in the southeast? "Yanks" is a stupid term to envelope us under, because that's a label for people from the northeast part of the United States. Besides that it's slang for the full word, Yankee.
The reason we are called Americans and not you is only because it is in the name of our country, and not yours. United Statesians is not proper English, and saying "people from the United States" is long winded. I'll still call myself an American, thanks. If it really bothers you that much, I could just call myself an Oklahoman but that would be pompous to assume people have went through the trouble of memorizing the 50 states.
A little bit of history for you.. The name America comes from the first person to make a map of the America's, his name was Amerigo Vespucci. He started with the east coast and gulf of Mexico, mostly mapping what is today the United States of America. Rather than calling the country "New England" after the hated English when we were founded, the founding fathers of the US gave it a simple name after the continent that it rests on. It was at the time the most prosperous colony anyway, and people even referred to it as America then. Most South American countries are named with native words that have meaning, and ours is simply the most inoffensive bland thing they could come up with at the time. So I guess what I'm saying here, is that you should be proud of your heritage and stick to your countries name instead of being offended that you don't also fall under the label of American, after the first person to make a map here.
Quote from: shbazjinkens on Fri 02/01/2004 21:31:07So I guess what I'm saying here, is that you should be proud of your heritage and stick to your countries name instead of being offended that you don't also fall under the label of American, after the first person to make a map here.
On the other hand, the Kairus statement ("It should have been better to call the whole continent Colombia") is totally logical.
It is better to call a continent with the name of the person who "officially" discovered it, than naming it by the first person who painted it.
Leivland does have a certain charm to it (ignoring other alleged prior discoveries or the fact that it was discovered as much as I discovered the Tower of London when I visited England).
Edit: I forgot to mention I only figured out InCreator was from Estonia with the help of Google. Now what was the original topic of this thread about...?
Edit 2: I obviously wasn't clever enough to look at his profile, but that's besides the point.
shbazjinkens, thanks, I already knew where the name came from and who Americo Vespucci was. But that wouldn't explain why the whole continent is America. It would've been better if it had been called Columbia, as I stated previously, but that's a little out of the range of things we are capable of changing. :)
Which brings up the fact that the Gran Columbia was formed in South America in the 1800's, there adopting a name that had previously applied to the entire continent as well...
Quote from: Farlander on Fri 02/01/2004 21:52:16
t is better to call a continent with the name of the person who "officially" discovered it, than naming it by the first person who painted it.
Umm, I don't think Columbus "officially" discovered it, it had been settled loooooong before.
I think people should just be comfortable calling themselves what they feel, there is no right or wrong answer and of course South Americans can Call themselves American as can Central American's and Canadians. Just as people from the USA can even just use the initials US without even the America part if they like.
Although it is Easier if you want to know more specifically where someone is from by using the country name, State/Province/Territory/County, and narrow it down the more information you need.
We are all From Earth, Hang on, that's just me.
Perhaps we should call it Ericsonland, after Leif Ericson, who was the first European to land there.
Neglecting those already there.
Lets just call it Hugh Jass [huhuhuh]
That's when the beauty of a name like Australia [South Land] really becomes apparent.
Quote from: Timosity on Sat 03/01/2004 05:38:25
Quote from: Farlander on Fri 02/01/2004 21:52:16
t is better to call a continent with the name of the person who "officially" discovered it, than naming it by the first person who painted it.
Umm, I don't think Columbus "officially" discovered it, it had been settled loooooong before.
Right on dude, which brings us full circle to the point that this continent's "official" name should be "Native America" AKA "New India".
Whoever said sailing a boat was more respectable than walking over a friggin' piece of ice with spears and a craving for meat?!
Generally speaking, I don't think it really matters in the end what anything is called. As long as we know what we're talking about.
Quote from: Pessi on Sat 03/01/2004 11:20:58
Generally speaking, I don't think it really matters in the end what anything is called. As long as we know what we're talking about.
For practical comunication yes. But, the language is a representation of the culture and the way people thinks. So the name of things is not trivial and could have misterious reasons.
By the way, I think Columbus didn't realised he arrived to a new land (his objective was to reach the India), and was Amertico who discovered it was a different place. But Americo was sitting in a desk drawing and thinking and was not an adventurer so he has less charisma than Columbus.
Timosity, Evenwolf... Notice the (" ") when I wrote that Chris Columbus discovered America... I was aware of the fact that the vikings came first. ;)
In fact, there is a new theory saying that two gauls called "Asterix" and "Obelix" were the firsts!!! :)
Leif Ericson is a reference to vikings, but he didn't discover anything either.
We're talking about asians who crossed the landbridge over to Alaska. The first settlers didn't sail, they walked. That makes them smarter and much more efficient. However, they were too laid back to have a party and start sticking flags into things, so no dice for them. Except for the dice in their descendants' casinos! Hey Oh!
So they had to cross down to get to the mainland. So technically USA was discovered by Canadians.
QuoteBut Americo was sitting in a desk drawing and thinking and was not an adventurer so he has less charisma than Columbus.
Mapmakers today maybe.. but Amerigo had to sail the coasts noting positions of the stars to know where he was and make semi-accurate maps. He was just as much an adventurer as any crewman of Colombus was.. except he knew he wasn't going to sail off of a cube.
Quote from: shbazjinkens on Sat 03/01/2004 19:27:38
Amerigo had to sail the coasts noting positions of the stars to know where he was and make semi-accurate maps. He was just as much an adventurer as any crewman of Colombus was.. except he knew he wasn't going to sail off of a cube.
I completelly agree with you. I was only trying to say that Colombus get the merit because of his image. I'm not saying that it were just.
Even if Amerigo were sitting in his desk, discovering America using his intelligence would have been even more meritory in my opinion that finding it by accident trying to arrive to India.
Maybe my POV is difficult to explain (because of my english) but I hope now it's more clear.
Okay, this seems to be a multicultural forum... I'll dump these questions here for you to answer. If they're not correct; I will throw you off the bridge of death.
What country does:
- Nokia
- Esso
- Swedes
come from?
Seriously... I know two of these answers. Does anyone know 'em all
Quote from: shbazjinkens on Fri 02/01/2004 21:31:07
The reason we are called Americans and not you is only because it is in the name of our country, and not yours. United Statesians is not proper English, and saying "people from the United States" is long winded. I'll still call myself an American, thanks. If it really bothers you that much, I could just call myself an Oklahoman but that would be pompous to assume people have went through the trouble of memorizing the 50 states.
A little bit of history for you.. The name America comes from the first person to make a map of the America's, his name was Amerigo Vespucci. He started with the east coast and gulf of Mexico, mostly mapping what is today the United States of America. blah, blah, blah....
YEEOW~! I will shut my yap now.
...then I will go shop at K-mart... ;D
Quote from: MrColossal on Thu 01/01/2004 23:50:53
there's still a rivalry between the US and Russia?
during the time when USA was all bombing Iraq, I talked with some random russian guy via ICQ and he told me russians think america gonna get them next...
NoNoNo
First Iraq, then Iran, then all the other countries surrounding, until finally reaching russia. But not finland, since here's no oil :)
Quote from: Haddas on Sun 04/01/2004 21:49:45First Iraq, then Iran, then all the other countries surrounding, until finally reaching russia. But not finland, since here's no oil :)
I heard a rumor that Finland
does have oil, but they're hiding it from the U.S!
Look out Finland ... the big bad US of A is coming at ya!!!
** laughing **
])]v[
QuoteQuote from: MrColossal on 01 Jan 2004, 17:50
there's still a rivalry between the US and Russia?
during the time when USA was all bombing Iraq, I talked with some random russian guy via ICQ and he told me russians think america gonna get them next...
Bush stated after a visit to Moscow that he considered Russia an ally and a friend around the beginning of his term. People couldn't believe it. Bush had Russia's leader over to his Texas ranch for a visit as well, I think.
If you think about it though, they've dumped the communist regime and are now no threat at all to us. Sure, have nukes, but the economic situation is so poor that we're sending them tons of $$$. Pretty much, they've fallen and are slowly starting to stand back up, but will probably not become nearly as tense with us as we once were. There's no reason to be. The comment about "they're gonna get us next" was probably because Russia was against the takeover of Iraq, and people were assholes to all of those countries that did that. Freedom Fries? Pshh...
pfft, US attack Russia? is this kid nuts?
no way america attacks the only country with a nuke arsenal almost as great as ours.
This isnt the cold war anymore. I actually think that america looks to be out of the war bussiness for a while..although I woulnt be surprised to see troops in less combantant roles in other nations
Yes... not all of us are from America...
*Looks wistfully at her picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA*
Heh, Yufster:
Pic I did of GGB awhile back. (http://invis.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.geocities.com/fishlight/ggb-mh.jpg)
Contemplating moving to SF, actually. Rent's cheaper.
Back to topic, I think it was a good point and it's good to be reminded of this once in awhile but 5 pages?
Okay, I had to skim through most of the posts in this thread, for they were either silly and humorous, or unnecessary, and I, too, think 5 pages in 6 days is a little crazy.
I think the problem resides in not knowing whether a company is global or not. I mean, how am I supposed to know that Best Buy isn't an international company? Am I supposed to go to their web site and look up their corporate information? Or call them up and ask them how far their reach extends?
No. We all say what is familiar to us, and if a French AGSer mentions a French business that he thinks might be in other countries as well, then so be it. Like everybody else said, we can figure out what most businesses are from the context clues, and whatnot.
As for calling ourselves American, what else are we supposed to call ourselves? People from Mexico are called Mexicans, people from Brazil are Brazillian, people from Canada are Canadian. People from the U.S.A. are...
Well, since "American" isn't use exclusively, we took it for ourselves. Otherwise, what else would we call ourselves?
United States of Americans :P
Anyway, the safest thing to do is not assume that any companies exist outside of your country (if you see what I mean...) . It's not as though specific company games are necessary anyway. If I was talking about buying a game, I could say "get it at your local game store" instead of saying "get it from Electronics Boutique". Of course, if someone was asking a specific question about a certain country, like "Any Brits know where I could get Knights of the Old Republic from", it would make sense to answer with a Britain-specific store-name...
Awesome picture, Yak.
But here is a question for you all.
Does it really matter?
QuoteDoes it really matter?
Of course not! That's the first law of democracy. We can yell or arses off and no-one gives a damn about what we say. So we can blabber forever here.
Quotethere's still a rivalry between the US and Russia?
I opened window and looked towards east. Didn't notice any nuke mushrooms... Or is it just my bad sight?
Quote All the crap about who found america
So Vikings discovered America. So America is a viking colony. Russians are vikings in long line too. All russian names are ancient viking names (Jelena, Oleg, Igor, etc). Russia was ruled by a Viking king once.
Now, mathematic dudes, think: if A = B and A = C how are B and C related?
They both are the same as A
InCreator:
"Vikings discovered America so it is a viking colony"
You might want to check your records and make sure that no power changed hands since then. I'm not sure but I believe there is some story about the british, the french, and another about revolutionaries. I think the accepted priniciple is "for a ___ colony to exist, ____ people must actually inhabit it".
Saying there should be no qaulms between Russia and US based on their viking heritage would be like Space Aliens killing all US citizens, colonizing the states, and then coming after Russia.
Then you can try to convince the Space Aliens there's nothing to fight about.
"But we're both Viking colonies!" ;)
May also mention that the viking element in Russia, even with all the dilution of a millenia, was rather restricted the White Russia.
I suspect Oranges is american.
You should know Mostly. We lived next to each other in Orange County remember?
Quote from: Captain Mostly on Tue 06/01/2004 17:18:03
I suspect Oranges is american.
If so, he's a little more secretive about it than some of us around here (http://www.sylpher.com/evenwolf/random/uncle2.jpg)
I'm only resting there. I'm a free spirit, roaming the globe on my piagio ciao... burning dust like knicker springs. YEE HAW!
*peddles frantically, then rides off into the sunset*
Myself, I buy games from Future Shop. ;)
Oh wait, Best Buy bought it off. So much for patriotism.