Korean Job Discussion Forums

[laogaiguk]

Why is it the "Red, White and Blue"? Why not the "White, Blue and Red"?

[lawyertood]

[indytrucks]

Who is "Uncle Sam" and why does "he want you"? Is he a pervert?

[SPINOZA]

Anyone ever travelled TX? What are Corpus Christi, Galvaston and Austin like?

What's Albuquerque, NM like? (sorry if I spelt it wrong)

An american mate of mine said he hates Dallas because of heat, pollution and rednecks. Is this unfair? Surely Dallas is pretty kickass?

[Demonicat]

Uncle Sam is ancient. It started way back in the early 1800s. During that time, the man in charge of slaughtering and packaging meat was named Sam Wilson. At the time, as well as now, all meat designated for delivery to the US army was stamped US. Eventually some joker suggested that "US" stood for "Uncle Sam". Humor was quite different then. The joke spread rapidly within the armed forces, and Uncle Sam became a sort of mascot for the country's fighting men. Uncle Sam was used as a recruitment tool during WWI.

Red White and blue: The colors of the pales (the vertical stripes) are those used in the flag of the United States of America; White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue, the color of the Chief (the broad band above the stripes) signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice- Charles Thompson, Secretary of the Continental Congress (1777).

Guns in the sock drawer: 39% of Americans report owning a gun. This number is very similar to the percentage of Canadians who own guns. We DO have a much higher number of gun related crimes, but that is becasue we are better shots. All kidding aside, most guns that are owned are actually longarms (rifles) and would not fit in a sock drawer, a dresser sure, but never a sock drawer. The average American's sock drawer is actually filled with underwear, filled with holes, that we should have thrown away years ago.

[Pligganease]

[Ya-ta Boy]

And a little more about Uncle Sam: [from Wikipedia]

Uncle Sam was first used in a political cartoon, drawn by the famous Thomas Nast. After the American Civil War, whiskers were added to Uncle Sam in reference to Abraham Lincoln...

During World War I a very famous recruitment poster depicted Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer with the words "I WANT YOU". The artist James Montgomery Flagg, who painted the poster in 1917, used a modified version of his own face for Uncle Sam...

The poster was based on a similar World War I poster issued in the United Kingdom, picturing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose. Flagg's poster was revived and reprinted for recruitment during World War II...

The poster has been repeatedly imitated and parodied, with many different variations on the simple slogan. An imitation of note (and arguably of comparable fame) is a Red Army recruitment poster "Did You Volunteer?"

[Privateer]

Dear Ask an American

Why 'Star-Spangled Banner'? Have you ever considered calling it something zanier like the 'Star-Frosted Banner' or 'Star-Sprinkled Banner' instead? If not, why not?

[Demonicat]

The Star Spangled Banner actually has 5 verses. It was written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, as he watched a battle unhold in front of him. During this battle the forces of the Brittish besieged Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. The battle raged on as the superior Brittish forces assailed the plucky Americans, yet the newly stiched American Flag kept waving.
The song actually has five verses:

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight;
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

***

On the shore dimly seen, thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner: oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

***

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

***

Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that has made and preserved us as a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust";
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


As you can see, changing Spangled to Sprinkled, while certainly more festive would require alot of rewriting.

[Dan The Chainsawman]

[Lemonade]

[AbbeFaria]

[Bronski]

The melody of the Star-Spangled Banner was taken from an English song called "To Anacreon in Heaven":

[Dan The Chainsawman]

I hear them Limeys finally managed to grow grass in wales also. Sorry about paving over most of your country in ww2 for airfields and all.

[SPINOZA]