In article , Mason Barge
wrote:
> >Well as is the case with most words and phrases, they change over time.
> >Apparently the good-hearted culturally-ignorant "ugly American" is not
> >to be confused with the boorish tourist. But I think we can use the
> >words "ugly" and "American" without it's meaning being limited by the
> >title of a 50 year old book.
>
> Not intelligently. The phrase is used because and only because it
> describes a character in a novel, which has nearly nothing to do with
> tourists or boorishness.
I would assert that you don't know what the highest usage count of the
phrase is, and thus the "only because" limiter is fanciful. "That's my
son the solider. He's the only one that's marching in step."
I understand what it once meant. I'm saying that it doesn't mean that
any more. Many words morph out of initial context not because everyone
is stupid but because the word has more practicable utility elsewhere.
I don't know whether this is the case with this lonely phrase or not.
> And their is a cost to the misuse of it, as such misuse actually
> waters down the full impact of the meaning. I don't think that the
> Iraqi War would be fully applicable, either, largely due to the
> forthrightness of the American intervention, but it's several
> magnitudes closer. And one could certainly make a case that the US,
> through arrogance, lack of foresight, and ignorance, has played into
> the hands of Iranian Shiites.
That may be. Back to topic: I think the world concept of a helpful but
culturally ignorant American will generally never need a phrase, "Ugly
American" or otherwise. Such an image is more-or-less limited to the
picture of an evangelical missionary, no? And as Christianity morphs
more visibly into a political party and advance team for predatory
capitalism, it's easy to see even these potentially good souls viewed
as cynical parasites. Logically when the literarily unwashed hears the
phrase "ugly American", they have a use for such a handy phrase.
> Graham Greene was smarter. Nobody is going to popularize a broad
> usage of "The Quiet American", even though the term is even more
> chilling, to my mind.
True, but out of literary context the universal image of a quiet
American doesn't take. Ugly takes and easily. "Quiet Brit" sounds
good. "Ugly Brit" doesn't seem to take: sounds like a reference to
dental aesthetics.
> Well, of course, you can use the tem any way you want to. You can say
> "irregardless" and "I have went", too. Doesn't do much for your
> credibility, though.
There is a significant difference between grammatical error and show
shifts in culturally-implied meaning. Me, I don't use the phrase at
all, I'm just watching it go by.
--
///--- Vote for the richest Republican. He understand the common man. |
