h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: How to Make Your Mark in US History: The Hero and the Soundbite - A87817701
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

My fellow Americans,

What better way could Elektra and I choose to honour the Thanksgiving holiday than by extolling the virtues of US heroes to our h2g2 friends?

If you've had as much turkey as I have, you might fall asleep reading this. And dream of Nathan Hale.

I've only just noticed this entry, which is a pity because it's interesting and amusing.

It's odd, the way certain people become heroes. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin seem like genuine heroes - though even they had their quirks, I'm sure. (I've heard George Washington had false teeth that gave him a lot of discomfort.)
But Betsy Ross and Nathan Hale? That seems to be rather a question of being in the right place at the right time. Or possibly, in the case of Nathan Hale, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Definitely for poor Mr Hale.

I wanted to show a palette of early republic 'heroes' here, without getting TOO long. Believe it or not, until a few years ago, you could safely assume that every schoolchild in the US had learned about Hale and Ross.

Of course, Betsy Ross is a big tourist draw in Philadelphia. We're proud of her there, and with reason: she was an admirable woman, a nd we're trying to get history to pay more attention to admirable women.

Hale, on the other hand, always made me roll my eyes.

it's true, Washington had dental problems. I believe he had one set made of ivory. He was a fastidious dresser, and a stickler for protocol. He could be fussy.

I ran across a story once, about a 9-times-treatuncle of mine, I think he was. This particular gentleman was a Philadelphia merchant and a member of the Continental forces. One night, he and some other officers were billeted in a farmhouse in Pennsylvania. In the middle of the night, Greatuncle Levi couldn't sleep: bedbugs. They were eating him alive. He decided to go and sleep in the barn.

Guess who he ran into in the barn? Yep. George Washington. Mr Washington said to him, 'You and I were both well enough brought up to prefer clean straw to a dirty bed.' Or something like that.

Bedbugs were a curse back then - and Washington's bete noir. He complained about them regularly in his diary.

I found it a bit difficult to get into the Entry - the third paragraph was heavy going, as I didn't really "get it" until I read the last section.

Once I got going, though, it was excellent - I particularly liked the Fun Facts

Just one quibble
"Franklin's desire to live life to the fullest benefitted the visually impaired for centuries to come" - I wasn't sure about the words "visually impaired", there... (I know of at least one VI person who, when mentions being VI, is told, "can't you just get stronger glasses?" - I think the definition of VI is that glasses aren't good enough...)

Hm. Is thata in the UK or the US? I'm visually impaired - and no, it goes beyond glasses - but we usually use the term in the broadesst sense, meaning people with visual problems.

If it's misleading, though, I suppose we could substitute 'prebyopic'...?

Sorry, I meant 'presbyopic'.

Presbyopic was the word I was trying to think of, yes as bifocals tend to be for that rather than myopia or hypermetropia.

Then I'll change it. Thanks for the thought.

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well done

Congratulations!

Well done, Dmitri!

PR thread read

I'm sorry I missed this while it was in PR (but it's my pleasure to sub-edit it now).

I certainly would have added my:

"visually impaired" is what I put down when listing my mother's ailments and disabilities during the endless form-filling, she is blind in one eye and wears bifocal spectacles as the other eye isn't great.



Dmitri said (in the PR thread): "I ran across a story once, about a 9-times-treatuncle of mine, I think he was."

I have never heard of a "treatuncle" and would be grateful to be enlightened

GB

Okay, mock the typo-prone. I meant 'greatuncle'.

Althought that sounds like a nice kind of uncle to have...

I was not mocking I really thought I was missing out on some generous relative