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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:01 am Post subject: What's up with the yanks? |
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Why is every second thread in the CE about the yanks? Why are the yanks featured in every second programme on tv?
Forgive me, I am not from NA, had a quick look on wiki and they only make up about 4.5% of the population of the world. So whats up? What's with the obsession with yanks?
Coming from New Sheepland I know almost nothing about this type of thing. Why does the media talk so much about them? why are there so many conspiracies?
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Yeah Gopher, I know, I know, it's yank with a capital Y |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:12 am Post subject: |
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The US also makes up the majority of the English native speaker world, which is more relevant to this forum, since it is in English and caters to a profession for native English speakers.
US is 300m versus
GB 75m (roughly)
Australia 30m
Canada 30m
NZ 5m
SA (no idea, too lazy to look it up)
Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:18 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
The US also makes up the majority of the English native speaker world, which is more relevant to this forum, since it is in English and caters to a profession for native English speakers.
US is 300m versus
GB 75m (roughly)
Australia 30m
Canada 30m
NZ 5m
SA (no idea, too lazy to look it up)
Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
YOu've left out India. There are a billion of them, and a sizeable proportion of them speak it. National newspapers and other media are likely to be in English, and many of them speak it as natives. The Indian variety is soon likely to be the most widely used one, if it is not already.
And what about places such as Singapore and Nigeria?
Really Kuros, go back re-do your maths. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
Mahaha! |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:26 am Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
The US also makes up the majority of the English native speaker world, which is more relevant to this forum, since it is in English and caters to a profession for native English speakers.
US is 300m versus
GB 75m (roughly)
Australia 30m
Canada 30m
NZ 5m
SA (no idea, too lazy to look it up)
Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
YOu've left out India. There are a billion of them, and a sizeable proportion of them speak it. National newspapers and other media are likely to be in English, and many of them speak it as natives. The Indian variety is soon likely to be the most widely used one, if it is not already.
And what about places such as Singapore and Nigeria?
Really Kuros, go back re-do your maths. |
The problem isn't mathematical, then, its the assumptions about the native English speakers frequenting this forum.
Will all the Singaporeans, Nigerians, and Indians in the forum please stand up?  |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:28 am Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
Mahaha! |
4 million?
Really, Ireland?
And you call yourselves Catholic! Our one Catholic state has more people than your country. Yeah, go google it. |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Why is every second thread in the CE about the yanks? Why are the yanks featured in every second programme on tv? |
Excellent.
U.S.-centric bias. The seven-degrees-of-U.S.-centrism game I have outlined before. That is why. Glad to see your finally coming around. |
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Pluto
Joined: 19 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:33 pm Post subject: Re: What's up with the yanks? |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Forgive me, I am not from NA, had a quick look on wiki and they only make up about 4.5% of the population of the world. So whats up? What's with the obsession with yanks? |
And about 25% of world GDP. Of course, it isn't just us. Why little girls in Valencia, Spain care about Molly Cyrus's latest fling, or why a boy in Suzhou, China is pulling for the Houston Rockets is anyone's guess. But they do. |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| I blame Graham Greene. |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
| Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
Mahaha! |
4 million?
Really, Ireland?
. |
Yea roughly I think. Population pretty much stable since the 1850s due to emigration. Rising recently though.
It sucks though, that all that emigration led to every second *beep* i meet from America claiming to be Irish. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
The US also makes up the majority of the English native speaker world, which is more relevant to this forum, since it is in English and caters to a profession for native English speakers.
US is 300m versus
GB 75m (roughly)
Australia 30m
Canada 30m
NZ 5m
SA (no idea, too lazy to look it up)
Ireland (also no idea, but prolly no more than 30m) |
YOu've left out India. There are a billion of them, and a sizeable proportion of them speak it. National newspapers and other media are likely to be in English, and many of them speak it as natives. The Indian variety is soon likely to be the most widely used one, if it is not already.
And what about places such as Singapore and Nigeria?
Really Kuros, go back re-do your maths. |
The problem isn't mathematical, then, its the assumptions about the native English speakers frequenting this forum.
Will all the Singaporeans, Nigerians, and Indians in the forum please stand up? |
How are you knowing that I am not being an Indian? |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Gopher wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| Why is every second thread in the CE about the yanks? Why are the yanks featured in every second programme on tv? |
Excellent.
U.S.-centric bias. The seven-degrees-of-U.S.-centrism game I have outlined before. That is why. Glad to see your finally coming around. |
Haha! Caught you before you editted! I know you yanks have some funny ideas about spelling, but you could at least get you're grammar right! |
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Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 3:28 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, I was uncertain about that. I though a possessive preceded the gerund in that situation. It looked awkward. But, c'est la vie.
How should I have articulated that idea? Probably in the simple past: "glad to see you finally came around."
Live and learn, Big_Bird. |
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harlowethrombey
Joined: 17 Mar 2009
Location: Seoul
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