non US...what is your opinion

How did this thread become about the spelling anomalies in American English?

But hey, while we're on the subject, I've had the displeasure of being laughed at for about 10 minutes by a group of American colleagues who found the fact I say and spell the 13th element as "aluminium" to be hilarious. The fact that just about all the other metals on the periodic table are designated as such by the suffix "-ium" never seemed to dawn on them, and they laughed even harder and still insisted that I pronounce and spell it wrong when I pointed this out. What can you say in a situation like that?...

[edit on 2005-10-15 by wecomeinpeace]

I don't tend to dwell on what the US is doing. We have enough problems in the UK to worry about.
I do have some opinions though and seeing as you asked i'll give you a few.
The US seems to be obsessed with patriotism. As an example i typed in the word patriotism into google and at the top of the pile was this site.

Patriotism

Here is the google page for the word patriotism.
google

Now i haven't looked through them all but most of the sites there are about the US.
As a Brit i find the American obsession with all things patriotic a bit disturbing.
Why? Well fairly recent European history has a few instances where patriotism has mutated into something quite different, something dangerous.
The second World War was begun by a nation who let patriotism run wild and
the result was millions dead and maimed.
Theres nothing wrong with loving your country but the US seems blinded by it.

Also the US seems to be of the opinion that it knows what is best for us all, well i hate to break it to you guys but individual nations are quite capable of making up their own minds about what is good or bad for them they really don't need the US to tell them. I find the US's constant meddling in other countries affairs abit perturbing.
Now we all know that the US has the most powerful Military machine in the World, but there in lies the problem. There is no counterbalance to that military might so there is a real danger that the US will increasingly use that military might as a natural extention of its foreign policy, after all whos going to stop them?
I'm also getting a little tired of the UK being pulled along with the US on everything, i know you helped us win the second world war and we are grateful for that but to be honest its about time my government started standing on its own two feet and started listening to the majority here instead of the people in the White House, we are spending billions on a war of dubious legality and most people i have spoken to would rather we spend all that treasure on us instead of funding a war on the other side of the world that we can ill afford.
This isn't politically correct but i couldn't care less about Iraq, and im sure the majority of Iraqis feel the same way about us. To me its a country on the other side of the world that would be allowed to go the same way as the majority of African dictatorships if it wasn't for the oil. Because no matter how the US dresses it up thats what the war is about, the oil. It wasn't about bringing democracy to a down trodden nation or weapons of mass destruction. If it was the US would have gone into Africa plenty of down trodden nations living under dictatorships there or Iran or North Korea who are probably the most likely to have WMD.
Well those are my opinions, i don't judge the individuals but the people who shape the worlds preception of a country of basically decent people.

Originally posted by cargo
How is it any harder to speak and spell in it's original form?

well, its original form had alot of "thee" and "thou"....havent heard too many brits or aussies using its "original" form.

i respect your opinion janus, but a couple of things bother me about your post:

Also the US seems to be of the opinion that it knows what is best for us all, well i hate to break it to you guys but individual nations are quite capable of making up their own minds about what is good or bad for them they really don't need the US to tell them. I find the US's constant meddling in other countries affairs abit perturbing.

seems to me that the UK, while in the same position the US is in now, did alot of that over the last two hundred years. now that the ball is in another court, you find fault in it?

If it was the US would have gone into Africa plenty of down trodden nations living under dictatorships there or Iran or North Korea who are probably the most likely to have WMD.

we tried that in somalia....we had no reason to go there except attempting to stop the bloodshed and make sure the aid got to the people, instead of to the corrupt militia leaders. we got our nose bloodied for the effort, and the world stood by and did nothing when we left...everyone wants to blame the US....where was the rest of the world?

snafu7700 you still trying to point out that the us is better, and making excuses for what the country has done.

im sure the UK now realises what they have done wrong in the past, the same way australia does with the aboriginals

maybe you should just accept that your country has made mistakes, and countinous to make them,

Originally posted by snafu7700

Originally posted by cargo
How is it any harder to speak and spell in it's original form?

well, its original form had alot of "thee" and "thou"....havent heard too many brits or aussies using its "original" form.

U R rite. Contemporary English is flawed and redundant with all its fancy ou's, and s's instead of z's. The language needs to be stripped back to its absolute phonetic base, of which FPS gamers pioneer this brave new cultural development.

I think Deltaboy should write a thesis about it. He seems to be paving the way for the new 21st Century English, Delta stylez.

Originally posted by snafu7700
we tried that in somalia....we had no reason to go there except attempting to stop the bloodshed and make sure the aid got to the people, instead of to the corrupt militia leaders. we got our nose bloodied for the effort, and the world stood by and did nothing when we left...everyone wants to blame the US....where was the rest of the world?

The US lost 18 soldiers but killed over 1000. This "rest of the world" was in Somalia with the US as part of the UN. Why do you paint a picture of the US standing alone when it comes to these events? It reeks of "poor us" and pisses off those countries you conveniently forget. Do you know how many Americans I come into contact with who don't even know Australia was with you in Vietnam?

[edit on 15-10-2005 by cargo]

Originally posted by tiddly54
snafu7700 you still trying to point out that the us is better, and making excuses for what the country has done.

im sure the UK now realises what they have done wrong in the past, the same way australia does with the aboriginals

maybe you should just accept that your country has made mistakes, and countinous to make them,

i am not trying to say the US is better than other countries...and maybe if you go back and read some of my posts on other threads before you judge me as just another conceited american, you'll find that i do disagree with alot of my country's policies. if i was just another conceited american trying to tell the world how much better we are than everyone else, why in the hell would i post a thread asking for everyone else's opinions?

in fact, if you really want to know how i feel.....if we had continued the isolationist views we had prior to WWII after the war, we would be in a helluva lot better position today than we are. trying to go out and help in beirut and somalia, and then running after we got our noses bloodied, proved to the radical muslims that they could push us into doing things their way. we should have just let them kill each other, and dealt with our own problems at home.

furthermore, if, when we were kicked out by the iranians after the revolution, we had put blasting caps on every well we contructed and maintained on our way out (you want it, fine, rebuild them yourselves), radical muslims probably would have respected us enough to leave us the hell alone afterwards, IMHO. they would have hated us even more, and we would have been branded as the criminals everyone seems to think we are now, but they would have respected us, and respect is all that seems to count over there.

but no, we had to do things the "correct" way, and look where we are today.

you want to know how i really feel? bring everyone home and let the middle east sort itself out in its own bloody way. theyve been killing each other for thousands of years, why should we continue to put ourselves in the middle of it when we have our own problems at home. the french cuoldnt stop their bloodshed, the brits couldnt either, nor the germans....why in the world do we feel like we can do what nobody else could do? let em destroy themselves, seems to be what they are best at.

screw the big oil barons....lets come up with alternative energy sources....they are feasible and they are out there right now.

wouldnt do us any good politically...everyone will hate us for doing nothing...just as they hate us now for doing something. but it will definitely keep more american blood from being spilt (at least until our inaction overseas once again embroils us on our own turf, as it does every single time we ignore the rest of the world).

[edit on 15-10-2005 by snafu7700]

Originally posted by cargo

Originally posted by snafu7700
we tried that in somalia....we had no reason to go there except attempting to stop the bloodshed and make sure the aid got to the people, instead of to the corrupt militia leaders. we got our nose bloodied for the effort, and the world stood by and did nothing when we left...everyone wants to blame the US....where was the rest of the world?

The US lost 18 soldiers but killed over 1000. This "rest of the world" was in Somalia with the US as part of the UN. Why do you paint a picture of the US standing alone when it comes to these events? It reeks of "poor us" and pisses off those countries you conveniently forget. Do you know how many Americans I come into contact with who don't even know Australia was with you in Vietnam?

[edit on 15-10-2005 by cargo]

im sorry cargo, you are absolutely right on both accounts. the point i'm trying to make is that we did try to help in africa, and bosnia, with no obvious gain on our part...but that seems to be forgotten every time this topic comes up...."big bad america trying to push their values on everyone else"...forget the good we try to do, and the flack we take for it.

Originally posted by snafu7700
i respect your opinion janus, but a couple of things bother me about your post:

Also the US seems to be of the opinion that it knows what is best for us all, well i hate to break it to you guys but individual nations are quite capable of making up their own minds about what is good or bad for them they really don't need the US to tell them. I find the US's constant meddling in other countries affairs abit perturbing.

seems to me that the UK, while in the same position the US is in now, did alot of that over the last two hundred years. now that the ball is in another court, you find fault in it?

If it was the US would have gone into Africa plenty of down trodden nations living under dictatorships there or Iran or North Korea who are probably the most likely to have WMD.

we tried that in somalia....we had no reason to go there except attempting to stop the bloodshed and make sure the aid got to the people, instead of to the corrupt militia leaders. we got our nose bloodied for the effort, and the world stood by and did nothing when we left...everyone wants to blame the US....where was the rest of the world?

Not at all, the US should look at where the jingoism got us and learn from that, yes we interfered and the world is quite possibly a worse [place now because of it. Something to think about.

One thing that has always bugged me, how can W Bush, a proud Christian openly go against one of the main Comandments (Thou shall not kill)?

How many people did he sign death sentances for during his role as Governor of Texas? How on earth can someone justify that? To me, he is as much of a hypocrite as the muslim terrorists killing in the name of Allah.

I understand that America is the superpower of todays world, the Iraq invasion was purely to secure oil, such an easy target considering their lack of defenses. Nigh on every scrap of evidence the US used to justify the invasion has been found to be false, we have even seen documents showing they were changing the evidence to justify the invasion.

I feel insulted when I hear Bush talk about spreading freedom.

-Spreading Freedom does not involve picking certain dicatorships/rogue countries to invade, and forgetting the others.
-Spreading freedom does not involve torture.
-Spreading freedom does not involve detainment without evidence or trial.
-Spreading freedom does not involve pandering to certain rogue states to use them for a strategic gain.
-Spreading Freedom should certainly not involve Shock and Awe tactics.
-Spreading Freedom does not involve securing Oil fields as a priority (also when Baghdad was captured, the ministry of oil was the first and only government building that was secured)

I used to admire Tony Blair, now whenever I see him I think of the lies he told us, The Hutton Report showed that evidence to justify the invasion of Iraq was altered. I think of what we gained from our inclusion in the coalition:

BP, the UK's biggest company is now securing contracts to supply China with Oil. Oil that prior to the invasion of Iraq, Saddam was going to sell to China/Russia/France (nigh on everyone but America/UK). I see that we are going to make a lot of profit from this.

Freedom? Would be a nice bonus...

I would have a lot more respect for America's government if their President admitted that they needed the oil and because they're bigger than everyone else they were going to take it. Telling the world that invading Iraq was part of the war on terror and spreading freedom through the middle-east is a primary goal, well, it's a BIG FAT LIE.

(my two pence, I dont think bad of Americans, I certainly am not anti-american, I just dont like corrupt politicians)