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

loup another thing that is very similar to cheerleaders are majorettes which is a transalantic tradition that has come over here. when we had miners picnics and there marches of various n.u.m area organisations there were always majorettes. i always associate majorettes with happy times as a child in coal mining town called ashington in northbumberland.

kat

"Asimov was an immigrant wasn't he?"



Who isn't?
Darn few I reckon...

My father's family came here in the 1600s and my mother's family arrived four generations ago.

A *few* members of my family were here to greet the earliest immigrants... ... who were my other ancestors.

(yep, I'm a mutt)


And a whoopie pie is pretty much what Eagle 1 described, only the filling isn't actually whipped cream - it's a highly whipped, creamy frosting/icing make from tons of powdered sugar and shortening. When we had the Pa Dutch Meetup, I made a few dozen of them for our picnic.<face covered with frosting>

*notes* Stuff to get when out there - Whoopie pie

You won't find whoopie pies just *anywhere* in the US, mostly just in areas with large Amish or Mennonite populations.

Gives new meaning to the phrase, "making whoopie."

judi...'what has al*c got that i haven't got??'

well, i have a life, and it is here in the United States, amongst other places.

Ste...wait till you've been here as long as i have.

This country was at the bottom of the list of 'places i would like to live'.
When the citizens of the USA have given YOU their unswerving hospitality for a few more years, perhaps you too will change your mind.
Until then i would suggest that you bottle your criticism of the land of the free, home of the brave...look around a bit further.

Oh, and please don't accuse me of racism. You kno not wot you say.

Last time i looked, we europeans were all pretty much the same race.

My file on 'Fr*nch Treachery' goes back for hundreds of years. The recent examples of renewed fr*nch treachery are but recent examples.

alec.

>well, i have a life<

mmmmm... al*c, that's subject to debate considering that anyone checking your personal space will notice that _all_ your postings made everytime you've come <./>online</.> recently have been about the french...

>my file on 'Fr*nch Treachery' goes back for hundreds of years<

oh right... that must make you _the_ anorack of the francophobes... congratulations...

and, who on earth is judi?!....



loup

Alec, you are kind of missing the purpose of this entire thread. It's a chance to sit back and hear what people LIKE about America for a change. As an American, I am enjoying this. What I am not enjoying is seeing you use this as another thread to attack the French. It's embarrassing to me - your opinions on the French are not universal! Won't you please just chill, listen to the good things people have to say, and enjoy it?

JEllen

Alec said:

'Ste...wait till you've been here as long as i have.'

How is that relevant?


'This country was at the bottom of the list of 'places i would like to live'. When the citizens of the USA have given YOU their unswerving hospitality for a few more years, perhaps you too will change your mind.'

Wha?, are you actually replying to my post? *I started this thread* because there are so many admirable qualities about the USA and to act as a balance to all the negative stuff being said about America on h2g2. You also seemed to ignore the positive stuff I mentioned after I criticised your racist stance.


'Until then i would suggest that you bottle your criticism of the land of the free, home of the brave...look around a bit further.'

This place, especially now, needs criticism so it stays free. At the moment it is going down the road to an authoritarian nightmare thanks to its government. Criticism of a government is a good thing.


'Last time i looked, we europeans were all pretty much the same race.'

Prejudice against a nation, a culture, a people, as opposed to prejudice against a continent is still racism.


'My file on 'Fr*nch Treachery' goes back for hundreds of years. The recent examples of renewed fr*nch treachery are but recent examples.'

Ah, so you've been racist against the French for a good while then. I bet you were absolutely DELIGHTED when the US media and the US government turned their anger towards them. You were able to come out and gleefully share your file with everyone.

Strange how you forget that the French gave aid to help the US defeat the Brits and achieve independance, though. What's that big green statue in New York again?





Now please, people on this thread are saying positive things about the country that you obviously have very strong nationalistic feelings about. You should be feeling a swelling in the chest area and a lump in your throat after reading this thread.

America is for the most part a wondeful place. Tell us about your experiences of it. And the leave the French out of it please.


Ste

Hi.

I didn't know this thread was here until Judy
(also known as Lady Scott) mentioned it in
another thread earlier today.

Americans are accustomed to saying pretty much
what's on their minds, a habit that could land
you in jail in some other countries. We have a
Bill of Rights, though. It's something you don't
think about every day, but it affects the way
we interact with others.

I won't say any more now, as I have not had a chance
to read much of the backlog.

I come back after the weekend to find this thread popping up again "ooh!" I think excitedly - more cool things for me to list for my trip to America

But no, it's just the kiddies squabbling, again.

>it's just the kiddies squabbling again<

or of course we could have just let al*c get away with his xenophobic comments...

i find it rather disheartening when H2G2 researchers see challenging racist/xenophobic behaviour as "squabbling"... kinda makes me wonder if i'm in the right _international_ community site...

i'm not unsuscribing because i actually think this thread is a great [and needed] one... it's encouraging for the future to see that people from different nationalities are making a point of telling our american friends "yep... we do like you and there are some great things in america..." whatever our respective governments are doing/have done... that's what H2G2 is about after all... well, that's what H2G2 _should_ be about anyway... i haven't contributed any deep stuff but, by posting on here it was my way of saying "i like american researchers"... actually i mentioned it in one of my postings...

one xenophobe comes in and spoils it for all of us [and i'm not name-calling... he _publicly_ admitted it in another thread]... he gets challenged on what he says...
that's the spirit...

obviously not as we're now compared to kiddies...
kinda makes me really...
not only because the target of that researcher is the french but also because i've explained at length in another thread why xenophobic postings were bad for this site... but hey... who am i to moan?!... after all, i'm _only_ one of the many foreign researchers who are wondering if this site is for them...

anyway... that said, i'll still gladly give my support to this thread... and, if one of you ever decides one day to make a collective entry with all the positive things we've said about america[ns], i will be honoured to be named as a contributor [even so my contribution was on the light side]...

all the best... and thanks for your support in a certain tricky situation...



loup

sorry you guys...

however, in my line of work, i get to meet all sorts of americans...

from working-class tradesmen to multi-millionaires, servicemen to teachers and so-on.

ALL have questioned me about the relationships between European countries, and as someone who has lived and worked in most of them i feel i am qualified to answer.

Anyone who accuses ME of 'xenophobia' really belongs in the 'What's wrong with idiots' thread.

Only someone who is not here or who is divorced from reality would fail to appreciate the groundswell of questions that ordinary americans have about the real role that certain european countries are playing in world affairs.

...and that's something else i love about this country.

alec.

"What Do People Like About America?"
I like very little about the USA... in fact my girlfriend is likely the only thing positive that comes to mind when asked about the US...

I think the main problem here is topic drift.

Let's see if the original topic can be restored.

Indeed...

Russ Bassett products

The large number of Renaissance faires

Friday's restaurants (especially their wide selecton of alcoholic beverages)

Drive-in movie theaters

Stealth,

If you can't think of anything else at all that's even the slightest bit good about this country, then perhaps you can at least acknowledge that there are some cool researchers here from the US?