My father is a sailor and was in N.Y last year.He bought a world map from a store,where the woman who worked there did not know where is Italy !!!!
You'd be surprised mate. Oh believe you me, I'm not frightened at all of speaking my mind, but in this case, that is where the likes of yourself and one or two others too, fail to see the joke. Many other countries thoroughly enjoy taking the piss out of themselves, or enjoy the humour associated with other countries taking the piss out of them, take the UK for example, itself made up of '5 countries' - Scotland, Ireland, Wales, England and Cornwall. Pretty much all of us cannot stand each others guts, but we all readily enough laugh when a good joke is cracked from one towards the other. Same with our relationship with the French, we traditionally cannot stand them, nor they us, but it doesn't stand in the way of a good healthy joke. Personally, I think you guys that take offense at such light heartedness are the very ones that the joke is on, biting the bullet every time you perceive any kind of mick taking going on as you see it, against you. That's your problem see, for you turn an otherwise quite innocent funny thread into something else altogether, bandying together your insults and name calling as a result. If you really want to take it off in that direction, fine, just be prepared for some serious ribbing by other community members if they join in, for the attitude that you are thus here demonstrating, or you could just grow up and see the thread for what it is, which is not American bashing in the slightest, but simply just that, a very lighthearted, funny joke. Grow up.
Agreed The 5, er, I mean 4 countries in the UK can't stand eachother, but they joke about it. Especially Scotland and England.
Charming use of language. Is there really any need for this kind of language and rather revolting name calling on a thread such as this? Amazing that some individuals even with a few thousand posts to their name, still think that everyone else here finds this acceptable.
I'm just curious, when you light-heartedly joke about one another, do you imply that your neighbors are dim-witted, can't read a map, and by default are fatasses who eat at McDonald's everyday?
Of course we do, and worse, believe you me. The humour in the UK especially is very VERY dry, it takes some getting used to. Here in Cornwall, it's particularly cutting the humour, dry isn't the word for it. Some of you wouldn't last 2 seconds over here before the locals would rip you to shreds with their tongues, the funny thing is, that you'd think they were being nice to you and no doubt, you'd try your best to laugh along with them, which in and of itself would just make the situation even funnier as you set yourself up to fall into a massive hole, but, it's not that they would be taking the mickey out of you in a nasty way on the whole, for the Brits, it's just having a laugh, from our slapstick sense of humour generally, if you took the humour wrong, took umbrage at it or started getting funny though, you'd better watch out, for then the tone would be ratcheted up several notches from general ribaldry to full on piss taking, (not a pretty sight to the unwary). As regards our differences across our own borders, if you think that's bad, the humour across even different towns a few miles apart from each other is even 'worse', even villages right next to each other and it makes the humour in the States pale into insignificance, believe you me. What you fail to see is, and it's not your fault I add, is the very funny side of it, it's an acquired taste, like speaking in two completely different languages at the same time, in other words, you hear the words as they come out and you interpret the words for what they are in the order that they appear in, but in actual fact, another thing is being said altogether. It's like communicating in English, as you understand it, sure, it makes sense, but not as you understand it. Don't worry, it's not your fault.
A very full on famous comedy sketch starring John Cleese (Monty Python fame), case in point: Some would interpret this as racist, but it's not at all. It's actually hilariously funny. Even more so, since the Germans too, have no sense of humour whatsoever, which just cracks up the British who have the most terrible humour. Watch this as a case in point: Fawlty Towers - The German War Scene: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1k7U-_tJVmw&fmt=18
I can buy this to some extent. The English especially seem like a very cheeky bunch. An Irish person told me once that she didn't like the English because they are pompous. That kind of comes through in the English's humor about other countries. It also goes along with their history of being an empire. I think any country that spreads an empire in the way the British did will be inclined to believing it is superior. The question is, do they really feel superior or is it sheerly fun? I don't know. The fun could be getting lost in translation. What I do know is there are a lot of threads "taking the piss out of" the US these days and not so many about other countries. If 90% of the "taking the piss of x country" was about your country, would you still maintain your sense of levity?
The British will make fun of any country. Its only joking around. A lot of people make fun of the US, purely because of the way it has been run in the past few years (wars to anybody who disobey's us) No way is 90% of the "taking the piss of x country" was about the US
"Here in Cornwall, it's particularly cutting the humour, dry isn't the word for it." - Now that's funny stuff. Cornwall and humour in the same sentence I'm British, Irish and Italian and I take the piss out of all countries and cultures. Makes things easier then I can't be accused of being prejudice or racist. KP