In article ,
(Karen O'Mara) wrote:


What we Ugly Americans should be learning here is that our
perceptions
about what words mean are not the same as the perceptions of people
who
live in other countries. In the US, we think that "US" and "american"
are
synonyms, whereas in other parts of the world they aren't. It's not a
case of right or wrong, it's a case of words having different meanings
to
different people. We need to recognize the right of people in other
countries to use words differently.



I was listening to the radio yesterday morning and they were playing
an
interview with a US soldier who had escaped from Iraqi hands. He was
in a
US military hospital in Germany and said he was looking forward to
going
back to America. It was pretty obvious that he thought that "america"
meant the US. That's how we use the word in this country.



And, that makes him an Ugly American?



I don't think so. It's a word that clearly conveys and was not
inappropriately used. The word was used affectionately and I can't
imagine it being insulting to anyone. Perhaps, that I feel that way,
makes you think of me as being an Ugly American, and that makes you
ugly to me.




I agree. The audience for the interview was people in the US, and the
context was clear. This was the first example that popped into my mind of
a person from the US using the word "america" to mean the US. As you have
observed, we do this all the time. I can't imagine you as an Ugly
American, just that this thread reminded me of that book.

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS