Vlastimil, our devoted reader and a great commentator, gave me a wonderful post idea. Remember our discussion about Americans and geography? Well, the following picture is a great addition – it is called the ‘ World Map according to the rednecks’. It is THE FUNNIEST THING EVER!!! – check it out:
CZ: Vlastimil je jednim z mych ‘vzornych’ ctenaru a komentatoru :0). Nedavno mne upozornil na vybornou mapu sveta – tedy jak ji vidi americti vesnicti balici (vyborne se hodi k nasi davne diskuzi o Americanech a zemepisu). OPRAVDU TO STOJI ZA TO:
Source: http://www.rednecks.info/world-map.html
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My favorite part is ‘here be dragons’ :)))))))))
This shows redneck ignorance of countries outside the USA. This can come off as offensive to the other nationalities!
After Bush got reelected, The guys who didn’t vote for Bush wanted to join Canada, then the rednecks have a territory called Dumbf**kistan, also known as Jesusland. http://westernstandard.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/exilemap.jpg
I read somewhere in your link that Canadians are no better, considering that both countries are big. Another thing to note, only a few percentage of Americans, like 10%, have a passport!
Yeah, but why travel if the US covers almost every weather climate that’s out there ? 😉
So that they could see how different people adapt to their environment and to see their differing values, right?
Sure, there are migrants and imported goods, but being a migrant’s neighbour is not really enough to now the context of the migrant’s culture, yeah?
Sometimes an imported food will need a certain climate, humidity, soil composition and sun exposure angle to grow in a certain manner to get a certain flavour.
There are a couple of different versions of this map. I think I like this one the best:
heh 😀
(BTW, as an American formally a resident of Prague … love the blog 😀 )
Oooooohhh it didn’t post 🙁
http://ferventdreams.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/americanview.gif
here!
Hi Isa!
That one is pretty awesome too! I like “here are cangaroos” – they got the jest of it, right?
The word redneck came from the great depression era. People who worked the farms and outside in the hot sun looking down at the ground, their necks got red from sunburn.It was a sign of dignity for people who were trying to feed their families and other peoples families also. There was no time for school the children had to work in the fields also just to survive.I don’t know how all these jokes got started and that is just what they are, degrading jokes. Don’t put down people who have no passport’s. Not everyone needs one. There are many people in the USA who have no desire to travel else where. They have what they want and need here. Besides that we can travel most any where we want without a passport.Don’t joke about rednecks if you don’t know one personally. All God’s people are one.
Yes…but sometimes, we love to make fun. I’m not politically correct, but every now and then, we still enjoy ethnic jokes. At post-war times, it tends to relieve ethnic tensions between 2 ethnic groups who previously waged war against each other, if spoken by commoners caught in the war.
An ethnic joke is different from a propaganda, though it must not be told to someone who hasn’t experienced it. In this case, I think Tanja and Vlastimil had an experience with them, yes?
It is known that humans are often hardwired to see differences in other human beings.
Sometimes, it’s good to observe how foreigners live their life in their own country.
B J King, we are not making fun of those hard-working people you were describing. We are making fun of Americans that don’t know world geography – I mean, how can you not laugh at this map? But don’t worry, it is all in a good spirit, we love Americans very much.
Most of the time we make fun of ourselves on these pages so once in a while we get to make fun of someone else 😉
A little something to think about – while Europeans are learning all the countries in Europe; Americans are learning all of the states in the Union. I live in CR now and most Czechs can only name a few states in the US and except for Texas, California, and New York they have no idea where they are the states are located. So who knows geography? By the way I’m not trying to start a fight, just trying to give a little more light to the issue.
HI CW,
you got a point there, although I remember learning all of the states in the US (and their capitals) when I was attending high school in Prague. But from my experiences (and my friend’s experiences) lot of Americans are completely clueless – I mean clueless. I would be telling them that I am from the Czech Republic over and over but they would keep repeating me back that either I am from Czechoslovakia (that is on a good day) or that I am from Russia. Or I have been asked in the past if the Czech Republic has electricity or traffic lights…I mean, c’mon.
These stories are just funny, that’s all. I am not judging them – if I lived in a state that is as big as 5 Europes (or more?) then I would most likely not know the outside world that much as well!
Tanja I think Americans are just particularly attached to “Czechoslovakia” because it is so much fun to say in English. It has a stress pattern that is incredibly pleasant to the ear, that we cannot deal with the idea that it no longer exists 🙂
Hi Isa,
Yes, I have heard about your “czechoslovakian fetish” 😉
My husband was telling me that some comedy show (SNL??) was using that word as a password to get in to some secret room! And of course, no one could get in, because no one could say the word right….
This is very cute and funny
When I explored who Rednecks are by describing it by my husband (just boyfriend by that time)- I got so excided – so excided about how someone can be so ignorant and live in his small world.
I would feel like I am wasting my time.
I think we can not even compare it with czech “Burani” – they still know where other countries are.
I thing american burani are much more lost..
Sorry for my english ( still working on it)
Isa and Tanja,
now it makes so much sense to me. That show is to blame why everybody says Czechoslovakia even though I just said I’m from the Czech Republic. Or maybe they think that if they say it I’ll start making “strudl”. You know like the password to get a piece. 🙂
And I like both of your maps! So funny. In a good way. Czechs tend to make more fun of themselves than any other nation I think. Just think about “Ales Gutte” with Milan Steindler and David Vavra.
And Tano,
why travel when you can move, right. Maybe that’s the way to get more experience about that particular part of the world. I’ll bet people in Europe would do it too if it was just as easy over there.
I almost forgot about Alles Gutte! That show was so funny…have you ever listen to Rodinka (Labus, Keiser)? That show was my all-time favorite !!
Isn’t it funny that every country has its own flavor of ‘burany’? I have to say though, if our burani had to deal with Europe that’s a size of the United States, then they would be lost as well…
I myself don’t remember much from geography either so I maybe a buran too!!! ;))
Neboj, mluvis anglicky vyborne!
Tanja wrote:
“you got a point there, although I remember learning all of the states in the US (and their capitals) when I was attending high school in Prague.”
But Czechs (at least when I was there) learned in geography class that the US had 51 states and that “America” is just one continent. These beliefs were very widespread. When I informed the kids in my classes that the US has only 50 states and that North and South America are considered two separate continents, their teacher later responded that, “To je prostý nesmysl!”
Tanja also wrote:
“But from my experiences (and my friend’s experiences) lot of Americans are completely clueless – I mean clueless. I would be telling them that I am from the Czech Republic over and over but they would keep repeating me back that either I am from Czechoslovakia (that is on a good day) or that I am from Russia. Or I have been asked in the past if the Czech Republic has electricity or traffic lights…I mean, c’mon.”
If I write about my REAL experiences with Czech ignoramuses, the Czechs here accuse me of hating their nation. However, Czechs here write similar things about Americans, they receive no such criticism. That’s quite a double standard.
I think the issue is really that Americans, large, strong nation that they are, tolerate it when people criticize us, while Czechs, with their národní mindrák, can’t stand hearing criticisms from others and deny that any of it could be true.
I think you are right Jamie, by saying that ” Americans, large, strong nation that they are, tolerate it when people criticize us, while Czechs, with their národní mindrák, can’t stand hearing criticisms from others and deny that any of it could be true” (although you could say it little more nicely 😉
Americans can take (and do take) a lot of unjustified criticism. It makes me mad because they really are the NICEST nation in the world.
Also, I think that you have to take it from a person to a person, I am Czech and I don’t mind criticism about my myself or my own country. After all, being humble is a very good trait to have..in my opinion
Yeah, its funny how people develop bigotry against redneck folks whom they depict as being bigoted people. Especially when most of these foreign bigots have never been to the U.S. or met a real down home American.
I’m an American who’s lived abroad a lot. When I was in Benin with the Peace Corps, I worked with some Dutch scientists and diplomats. They stereotyped and generalized about Americans and America all the time. When I suggested the the US is arguably the most diverse nation on Earth, and that the Netherlands is TINY and somewhat homogenous, they responded with, “You know,… you are right and we are jealous. Otherwise, we would not waste time generalizing. You don’t”.
Hi Dave, I agree there must be some kind of jealousy – for some nations more than for others. They generalize, or rather put Americans down, to make themselves feel better. But I don’t think that’s always the case, like when you hear that Americans don’t know geography. I used to say that because that’s what I have experienced when talking to them. Now I have lived here for so long that I have probably forgotten all of my geography too 😉
More like the world and how self aware socialists believe their political enemies see it.