Ask a Yank of the Day

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  • babydick-4

    Why are you so fucking stupid?

    • Adolescent internet trolling is so Passé.toemaas
    • Shut the fuck up, Tom.babydick
    • Choice of words in the question aside, there's a grain of truth, there. Anti-intellectualism does seem endemic in the US, and that's a fair point.Continuity
    • True, in some parts of the country where early schooling was set aside for going directly to work, they came up with the phrase,toemaas
    • "If you can't be smart, then you better be tough." An unfortunate set of circumstances...toemaas
    • endemic among the bobos, and most americans are JUST as appalled by itmonospaced
    • Because smart citizens are dangerous citizensscarabin
    • Did the babydick squeak? You're boring.garbage
    • Spot on nickname, garbage.babydick
    • From where are you smart arse ?i_was
    • This is not just an American thing. We all have our fools, dumb fools, idiots, stupid ppl, just look how this pandemic trashed the world because of them...grafician
    • I ain't tellin you shit.babydick
  • MondoMorphic0

    For the life of me I don't understand why there is such delight by you people in the notion of a decline of the American Empire. IF America were to cease to exist, do you not realize what that would mean for the rest of the free world? What that would mean specifically for you?

    Already America is the reason you people are speaking English and not German or Russian. What language do you think you would be speaking of America ceased to exist?

    Please explain this.

    • Mondo, don't let the internet trollery trigger any emotions. This thread is a great opportunity to have a direct discourse with our fellow QBNers. Even if thetoemaas
    • first few questions are silly. I thin it will go ina good direction and actually create some understanding as most of the myth around America has gone fromtoemaas
    • the weird perception fo Hollywood form the 20th century to one of a country of roving lunatics and idiots. Every country has those. But the thread is callingtoemaas
    • on REAL people, not blogs or news sites that need ad revenue, to answer. Questions away.toemaas
    • ich spreche ein bisschenkingsteven
    • English is my 3rd languagedrgs
    • Nothing will happen to the world and America will not disappear. It will just lose it's importance to become a country between Canada and Brazildrgs
    • Good points, toemaas. My question is posted here but it's regarding all of the anti-American sentiment on QBN. It'd be interesting to know...MondoMorphic
    • ...what people are actually thinking.MondoMorphic
    • I don't see an anti-American sentiment here, we actually make fun of things we admire or even love.
      That said, we're rooting for a good America, no doubt
      grafician
    • ...as a beacon of democracy and stability.

      But sure, we'll wait.
      grafician
  • Continuity-2

    Why is it you Amercians — when abroad, in a non-Anglophone country — automatically launch into speaking English with someone from said country, without first respectfully and politely asking if they actually speak English?

    • As a matter of principle, when I encounter this in Germany, I simply say, 'Tut mir leid. Ich spreche kein Englisch'.Continuity
    • Or 'Désolé, j'parle pas l'anglais', when I encounter it in France.Continuity
    • I don't. We have free "Mango Language" programs at our public libraries that teach language learning for free and prepare you for the basics when visiting...toemaas
    • ...another country. I'm assuming you mostly interface with American people that unload from cruise ships?toemaas
    • Most Americans don't like those people either :)toemaas
    • Fuck knows where they've been offloaded from. Certainly not cruise ships, I'm land-locked.Continuity
    • Maybe b/c out of the world's approximately 7.5 billion inhabitants, 1.5 billion speak English — that's 20% of the Earth's population.whatthefunk
    • English is by far the most commonly studied foreign language in the world, and most americans only speak 1 language so, ya know...whatthefunk
    • Brits do this too.
      I've seen Germans do as much in Spain.
      I'm sure lots of shithead tourists from wherever do this.
      Nairn
    • And that gives you license to ignore things like respect to local culture and language and politeness in a non-Anglo country. Got it.Continuity
    • Next couple of decades we're probably going to see lots of shithead Han chinese tourists come over and give us a taste of our own bitter medicine.Nairn
    • I could see that. They already think cycle lanes are meant for walking in, in their entire bus complement numbers, despite huge markings to the contrary.Continuity
    • I don’t even ask. I just memorize what i want to say in whatever language and rehearse it in my head over and over before ultimately fucking it upscarabin
    • Americans aren't the only English speakers who do this.cannonball1978
    • This is not about language, but attitude, they just walk in anywhere like they own the fucken place lol
      Brits too.
      grafician
  • Nairn-1

    Also, is using the term 'Oriental' verboten over there?

    I've had flak for using it in the past on here - but in the UK it's a commonly-used descriptor.

    • I think it falls into the same 'no-go' category as saying 'eskimo' in Canada.Continuity
    • When referring to people, yes, typically not when referring to objectswhatthefunk
    • It also fucks up measuring out salt in a recipe, if you use antiquted spoons to measure a dry ingredient. So, then, one is forced to figure out ...Continuity
    • ... how much a tablespoon of kosher salt weighs, and then measure out the same weight in whatever other salt one typically uses.Continuity
    • *antiquated. Fuck me, I seem to have contracted whatever degenerative brain disease afflicts yurimon/deathboy.Continuity
    • Also, all three of the above notes belong to the post below. Fucking hell.Continuity
    • We have a lot of different asians, so we address them from where they come from.toemaas
    • hahaha, wonderful.

      @whatthefunk - makes sense! hadn't thought about it that way
      Nairn
    • Remember the scene in Peep Show where Mark makes a Nazi friend and he asks Jez if he fancies a Chinky? Oriental is not on.garbage
    • I'd not use it for a person. I hadn't otherwise thought about it much. I've only ever thought about it in vague cultural terms - food and generic articles &cNairn
    • Also, The Orient is a term for the East, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Eastern world, in relation to Europe.whatthefunk
    • It is the antonym of Occident, the Western World. So The Orient for the US is Europe I guess.whatthefunk
    • The term "Orient" derives from the Latin word oriens meaning "east". Do Aussies use the term? Seems geographically significant and not used there, idkwhatthefunk
    • To be fair, saying anything other than 'Oriental rug' would just sound weird.Continuity
    • In the UK, if you described someone as Asian you would probably be referring to someone from India or Pakistan.Chimp
    • Well they're not wrongpango
    • Only old people use "orient" in Canada. Or where I live at leastpango
    • Oriental doesn't even mean one place. It's China for UK speakers, Iran for rugs, Egypt for the Oriental Orthodox church. And it's racist in North America.monNom
    • @continuity Yeah, pretty much just rugs. I would say Americans generally think racist Asian jokes are ok. It happens on this site, ffs.garbage
    • ^pango
  • eryx2

    Thank you for pronouncing "Z" as "Zee" and not "Zed". It rhymes with "A B C D E" so much better.

    We as the rest of the world will adopt this if you get rid of a "1/3 cup"

    • The pronunciation 'zed' has its origins in the ancient Greek 'zeta'. So 'zed' makes perfect sense to me.Continuity
    • ^ Except, it’s pronounced ZEE-tahGnash
    • In modern Greek, yes, but not in ancient Greek, from which is originates.Continuity
    • In Ancient Greek it’s still not zed. Only If it’s in the middle of a word it’s pronounce ‘dz’ as in how the word ‘suds’ ends..Gnash
  • grafician-3

    Why is America so fucked?

  • _niko2

    question 1.
    Why is a Brit starting a thread called ask a yank?

    • oh wait i thought you were Gardener lol_niko
    • lol, I wish.garbage
  • trooperbill0

    why is your tax system so messed up.

  • moldero5

    El Corona AKA "The Boomer Remover" will make all of our countries great again.

  • oey_oey1

    Would you prefer to have some Theatres instead?