Isaac Asimov immigrated to America when he was three years old. He never ever learned to speak Russian. There's quite a difference between his circumstances and those of Eliot and Nabakov. Also, considering that something like 99.9% of Americans are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants, I think the definition of what makes someone American is a little more broad.
American Literature vs British Literature
<< In the Waterstones bookstore in Bolton town centre, they have just opened a coffee shop. The store has two floors and on the top floor, at the back of the room, they have got rid of some of the bookshelves and installed a counter and 9 or 10 tables and chairs. I don't know why they have put in a coffee shop in a Waterstone's bookstore, but I like it. As I was wandering around looking at the books, all the time there was a strong smell of coffee - and the smell of coffee has got to be one of the nicest smells in existence. I was thinking: "My God. There's nothing better than wandering around the bookstore and looking at the books whilst being able to smell coffee." There was something old-fashioned and posh about it. >>
To Adam:
Ingenious, perfectly crafted; magnificent and excellent. Words don't get better than that, it feels like a perfect paragraph from a perfect book, if indeed it wasn't cropped from a novel, I will seek your approval to use that paragraph as the opening paragraph of my first novel (I'm working on one). It seems almost too marvelous to be genuine, I won't want any copyright conflict.
I will give you some credits when the novel is completed (if you permit my use of the paragrapgh). With an opening paragraph like that, my novel is bound to sell a million copies on its first week. But "Boston" will have to be substituted ofcourse with a "nicer" city or town.
Just think of it - when I become a very famous author, it will give Antimoon fame of phenomenal proportions. I can picture that mighty board of fame saying "Stan (the great author) of Antimoon - Inspired by fellow Antimooner :- Adam." That will be a sight to behold.
To Adam:
Ingenious, perfectly crafted; magnificent and excellent. Words don't get better than that, it feels like a perfect paragraph from a perfect book, if indeed it wasn't cropped from a novel, I will seek your approval to use that paragraph as the opening paragraph of my first novel (I'm working on one). It seems almost too marvelous to be genuine, I won't want any copyright conflict.
I will give you some credits when the novel is completed (if you permit my use of the paragrapgh). With an opening paragraph like that, my novel is bound to sell a million copies on its first week. But "Boston" will have to be substituted ofcourse with a "nicer" city or town.
Just think of it - when I become a very famous author, it will give Antimoon fame of phenomenal proportions. I can picture that mighty board of fame saying "Stan (the great author) of Antimoon - Inspired by fellow Antimooner :- Adam." That will be a sight to behold.
Surely Commonwealth countries literature exists and some very fine works must surely have been written by Canadians, Australians, NZ or even SA and Indians. Don't you think it's also a question of propaganda? What do you call English language literature which hasn't been written in the USA or Great Britain.
After all, James Joyce is probably the most important 20th c. English-language writer and wasn't he Irish?
After all, James Joyce is probably the most important 20th c. English-language writer and wasn't he Irish?
<< Also, considering that something like 99.9% of Americans are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants, I think the definition of what makes someone American is a little more broad. >>
That doesn't seem to mean much these days, I wish everyone will be that conscious of their history, but sadly that is not the case. As soon as they begin to fly that American flag, the rest of the world is forgotten and every newcomer becomes a darned immigrant.
The situation is worse over here in Canada, it has become a taboo to remind everyone that they are decendants of immigrants. To them, the immigrant is always the newcomer with an accent, forgetting that their grand parents once walked in the same shoes.
That doesn't seem to mean much these days, I wish everyone will be that conscious of their history, but sadly that is not the case. As soon as they begin to fly that American flag, the rest of the world is forgotten and every newcomer becomes a darned immigrant.
The situation is worse over here in Canada, it has become a taboo to remind everyone that they are decendants of immigrants. To them, the immigrant is always the newcomer with an accent, forgetting that their grand parents once walked in the same shoes.
<<That doesn't seem to mean much these days, I wish everyone will be that conscious of their history, but sadly that is not the case. As soon as they begin to fly that American flag, the rest of the world is forgotten and every newcomer becomes a darned immigrant. >>
Again, Stan, you are so full of it. Kindly quit trying to speak for people that you are not a part of and obviously do not know very well.
Again, Stan, you are so full of it. Kindly quit trying to speak for people that you are not a part of and obviously do not know very well.
<< Again, Stan, you are so full of it. Kindly quit trying to speak for people that you are not a part of and obviously do not know very well. >>
Once again, the few things I know are what I WATCH ON TV AND READ IN THE NEWSPAPERS!!.
I don't believe you have to LIVE in a country to learn about that country, you'll be surprised the rest of the world know more about America than most of its citizens. How come we all know so much about the moon when very very few people have actually been there, or the rest of us should just shut up and leave any discussion to the astronauts.
And if I could be that hard on my dear Canadians, why should an American complain.
Once again, the few things I know are what I WATCH ON TV AND READ IN THE NEWSPAPERS!!.
I don't believe you have to LIVE in a country to learn about that country, you'll be surprised the rest of the world know more about America than most of its citizens. How come we all know so much about the moon when very very few people have actually been there, or the rest of us should just shut up and leave any discussion to the astronauts.
And if I could be that hard on my dear Canadians, why should an American complain.
<< Again, Stan, you are so full of it. Kindly quit trying to speak for people that you are not a part of and obviously do not know very well. >>
And how come I see so much threads and posts about Canada when very few of the contributors (if any) on those threads have actually been here. If I should go by your statements, they should all shut up because "they speak for people that they are not a part of and obviously do not know very well."
And how come I see so much threads and posts about Canada when very few of the contributors (if any) on those threads have actually been here. If I should go by your statements, they should all shut up because "they speak for people that they are not a part of and obviously do not know very well."
***you'll be surprised the rest of the world know more about America than most of its citizens***
Whatever disagreements or issues some people in here have with Stan from Canada, I suspect that there is a grain of truth in his statement as above. I have two self evident examples I can quote here:
1 Casual chat with a couple of American students at uni (both of them really nice).....I happened to mention some things connected with their home country (USA of course)...I forget exactly what they were now, something geographical I think...but my "knowledge" seemed to take them by surprise as they were so not aware of them.
2 The Weakest Link USA series on TV....quite a few times the American contestants were unable to answer questions put to them by Cruella d'Evil that were about their home country, but little me, sitting a few thousand miles away to the east, and who has never been closer to America than the Isle of Skye, knew the answers. It was good fun, especially when one of the contestants thought that the London home of the Queen of England was Stonehenge. Poor wee Queen - how draughty for her as it was something like -6C among those stones last night. Ha!
To be fair, it's not unknown for British contestants now and again to be equally ignorant of their own country, the same being true for British contestants on other shows, like the blonde bimbo, having a mega blonde moment, who thought that East Anglia was somewhere near Japan ....."or sam plice loike vat". Aye....that's tight.....she came from Essex....still does as far as I know or care.
Whatever disagreements or issues some people in here have with Stan from Canada, I suspect that there is a grain of truth in his statement as above. I have two self evident examples I can quote here:
1 Casual chat with a couple of American students at uni (both of them really nice).....I happened to mention some things connected with their home country (USA of course)...I forget exactly what they were now, something geographical I think...but my "knowledge" seemed to take them by surprise as they were so not aware of them.
2 The Weakest Link USA series on TV....quite a few times the American contestants were unable to answer questions put to them by Cruella d'Evil that were about their home country, but little me, sitting a few thousand miles away to the east, and who has never been closer to America than the Isle of Skye, knew the answers. It was good fun, especially when one of the contestants thought that the London home of the Queen of England was Stonehenge. Poor wee Queen - how draughty for her as it was something like -6C among those stones last night. Ha!
To be fair, it's not unknown for British contestants now and again to be equally ignorant of their own country, the same being true for British contestants on other shows, like the blonde bimbo, having a mega blonde moment, who thought that East Anglia was somewhere near Japan ....."or sam plice loike vat". Aye....that's tight.....she came from Essex....still does as far as I know or care.
Stan, I will call you out every time you say something about us that is ridiculously and manifestly untrue, and this little gem of yours is a prime example:
"As soon as they begin to fly that American flag, the rest of the world is forgotten and every newcomer becomes a darned immigrant."
If you knew so damn much about us from TV and newspapers -- and I won't even get into what crappy sources THOSE are -- you would know better. Americans wallow in their various ethnic heritages. In fact, we never shut up about them.
And I think that as a long-time resident of the coutry, I'm a lot better qualified to tell you "how it is" here than you are.
"As soon as they begin to fly that American flag, the rest of the world is forgotten and every newcomer becomes a darned immigrant."
If you knew so damn much about us from TV and newspapers -- and I won't even get into what crappy sources THOSE are -- you would know better. Americans wallow in their various ethnic heritages. In fact, we never shut up about them.
And I think that as a long-time resident of the coutry, I'm a lot better qualified to tell you "how it is" here than you are.
<< if you knew so damn much about us from TV and newspapers -- and I won't even get into what crappy sources THOSE are -- you would know better >>
You asked for it. Here are some of my crappy sources:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2006/02/klansman-told-me-to-get-out-of-america.html
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/8908/rframe.htm
http://www.kkklan.com/
I've got a lot more, but I really hate to embarrass your country (America), I didn't want to get to all these but you were just asking for it, those are just the tips of some giant icebergs. Like I said, I have got a lot more If you still insist, then I will be forced to open your eyes to a lot of things you don't seem to know about your country.
You asked for it. Here are some of my crappy sources:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2006/02/klansman-told-me-to-get-out-of-america.html
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hills/8908/rframe.htm
http://www.kkklan.com/
I've got a lot more, but I really hate to embarrass your country (America), I didn't want to get to all these but you were just asking for it, those are just the tips of some giant icebergs. Like I said, I have got a lot more If you still insist, then I will be forced to open your eyes to a lot of things you don't seem to know about your country.
You might also want to check the following links:
http://www.media-alliance.org/article.php?story=20031108155709787
http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/sep1998/tex-s15.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States
I hope you learn a lot.
http://www.media-alliance.org/article.php?story=20031108155709787
http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/sep1998/tex-s15.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States
I hope you learn a lot.
This one is particularly very interesting, you certainly will learn a lot about things you don't know:
http://www.wisaflcio.org/political_action/rightwing.htm
http://www.wisaflcio.org/political_action/rightwing.htm