deskthority

Wait, I thought Sarah Palin was the voice of (megalomaniacal idiots with delusions of grandeur in) Middle America! But she's from all the way up there in, Idunno, Ahlaskher…

seebart wrote: We all know shorter names are easier in more than one respect. That's why "usa" or "us" is so brilliant. Can't do that with germany or holland. Kraut? Oranje? No good.

well holland is already sort of shorthand... also in my limited experience most people say nederland, some get touchy when you refer to limburg (for example) as holland, much in the same way that south americans do when USA-americans refer to the USA as america.

i think the abbreviation is more of a hinderance. USA-americans want to say american too, because it sounds better than USA or US, and you can say american, but USAian or USA-an is more awkward. and even if you ignore the national argument we are still americans by virtue of continental residence

OH i forgot to mention this! when i was in the US i read the name of the wind and a great deal of the wise man's fear, by patrick rothfuss (and quickly finished that one when i got back home). im sure fantasy fans have read these but for those of you that aren't: i am not generally a fantasy lover, but got dang! i went through both books way too quickly and now i'm just sittin waitin for the third book to come out in a million years. if you have not read the kingkiller chronicles, by gum, i say do it and do it soon! fantastic reads.

The first rule of Geography Club is everyone can't fucking stop talking about Geography Club.

it strikes me that i need a new banner since i'm a club member again. last one had hot dogs or something. what should my new banner be?

sth wrote: also the US had tons of people 2500 years ago, they weren't european and we white americans are still insanely ignorant about a lot of that history (myself emphatically included). my home state only just last year finally adopted a much more comprehensive native history education curriculum. not hopeful for a lot of the rest of the country though....

I beg to differ, the lands currently identified as US had tons of people 2500 years ago. And those that raped and killed and took advantage of them became the US. Not with the same mindset nowadays, but still of European descent.

sth wrote:ok then by that logic all europeans should probably start identifying as eurasians right? how about we don't define our identities based on enormous land masses that mean nothing on an individual or societal level? inuits are not zapotec, han chinese are not basques. but those groups all share the same physical continents, more or less.

Why Eurasians? Europe and Asia are different continents.
Those enormous land masses with their topography indirectly mean a lot on a societal level. You mingle more with people you can reach easily. And going from Europe over to Asia or the other way round, was a lot harder than going to the guy over the hill, and not over Caucasus.
Even within Europe there are huge differences as you go from North to South.

Muirium wrote: The first rule of Geography Club is everyone can't fucking stop talking about Geography Club.

I'll shut up now!
Promise!

chzel wrote:

sth wrote: also the US had tons of people 2500 years ago, they weren't european and we white americans are still insanely ignorant about a lot of that history (myself emphatically included). my home state only just last year finally adopted a much more comprehensive native history education curriculum. not hopeful for a lot of the rest of the country though....

I beg to differ, the lands currently identified as US had tons of people 2500 years ago. And those that raped and killed and took advantage of them became the US. Not with the same mindset nowadays, but still of European descent.

that actually was my point but i was unclear when i said that the US had tons of people instead of the land currently known as the US. my bad, doggy

chzel wrote:

sth wrote:ok then by that logic all europeans should probably start identifying as eurasians right? how about we don't define our identities based on enormous land masses that mean nothing on an individual or societal level? inuits are not zapotec, han chinese are not basques. but those groups all share the same physical continents, more or less.

Why Eurasians? Europe and Asia are different continents.
Those enormous land masses with their topography indirectly mean a lot on a societal level. You mingle more with people you can reach easily. And going from Europe over to Asia or the other way round, was a lot harder than going to the guy over the hill, and not over Caucasus.
Even within Europe there are huge differences as you go from North to South.

i would argue that it's comparably difficult to go from nunavut to argentina but alas, some dudes decided a long time ago that both continents would share a name and now here we are yellin about dumb stuff

hey guys!!!

miss ya. how are you?

STH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i miss you too

scottc wrote: STH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i miss you too

whats up scottc!

hawaii is cool! it's hot. how's Your Up?