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Showing posts from August, 2012

Word for admirer of American culture?

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There does not seem to be an agreed term as you can see from the number of Google references here: yankophile 945 americanophile 716 americophile 233 americaphile 150 usaphile 14 usphile 1 Contrast this with the situation for lovers of French, English, Chinese or Japanese culture anglophile 102,000, francophile 84,700, japanophile 20,400, sinophile 3450 Why is this? Snobbery, perhaps - a 'new' culture looked down on by traditional ones? Or pure prejudice? Casual anti-Americanism is often indulged where  where other forms of bigotry are socially unacceptable. Or is it just linguistically awkward - americaphile really isn't a pretty word. You might want to check out:  (audio) discussion about the relationship between British and American English  here . Time Magazine piece on  The Next American Century The New American Century Alistair Cooke's America

How many letters does the Hawaiian language use?

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Only 12 letters when using the English alphabet. On 20 August, 1959 Hawaii became the 50th state of the USA. To mark the occasion here are some fun facts about the world's biggest producer of pineapples. listen to ‘Fun Facts about Hawaii’ on Audioboo

What is Dudeism?

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Look, let me explain something to you. I'm not Mr. Lebowski.  You're  Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude . So that's what you call me. That, or His Dudeness … Duder … or El Duderino, if, you know, you're not into the whole brevity thing.   On the face of it, the eponymous hero of  The Great Lebowksi  (1998) is an unlikely religious leader. According to the Cohen brothers film's tagline, the Dude is 'a lazy, time-wasting slacker'.  And by his own admission, Dude struggles to stay on top of life's vicissitudes. You know, a lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-you's. And, uh, lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder's head. Luckily I'm adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug regimen to keep my mind limber. At the centre of these 'what-have-you's' is the theft of a rug which - as every Dude admirer knows - 'really tied the room together'. And The Dude's quest to track it down forms the cen