Comments on: Synchronicity (March 22, 2008 Edition)

By: pepperjackcandy

pepperjackcandy — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:07:44 +0000

I came to the term “USian” by sort-of-translating “estadounidense.”

And, no, Spanish is not my first language. I just fell in love with the word the first time I heard it. I still like to say it once in a while because of the way it falls off the tongue.

By: David

David — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:56:12 +0000

Russian has a handy way to say that you’re an USian American, it takes the acronym for the translation of “United States of America”, and treats it as a word, so a USian would say (bad phonetic translation of cyrillic that I may not be remembering correctly) “Ja iz Csha”, equivalent to saying in English, “I am Oosa”. Or my Russian teacher was just screwing with us.

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:23:40 +0000

I think most people get that “American” generally refers to someone from the USA. It may not be accurate, but it is a generally accepted term. If someone calls me American, I would say, “No, I’m Canadian”.
But getting back to the comics…
Teena is saying that in Britain, “stone” is a normal unit of measurement, but in the US, it’s so un-standard, that few Americans (including Jeri) know what it is, so it does equate to MYOB.
And FYI, for the guy weighing 90 kg, that converts to roughly 198 lbs (or about 14 stone).

By: arvy

arvy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:11:35 +0000

Lorraine,

I think that perhaps you and your friend are being a little too hypersensitive and/or PC. When we named our contry “The United States of America,” the “America” was referring to the country, not the continent, just as our neigbor to the south would later christen itself “Estados Unidos Mexicanos” (United Mexican States).

As you know, there is no continent called America - there is North America and South America which together are referred to as “The Americas.”

By: Michèle

Michèle — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:51:35 +0000

However, the USA isn’t the only “US” on the North American continent so even “USian” isn’t distinct enough….

By: Michèle

Michèle — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:50:42 +0000

My friends & I have been using “USian” for about 7 years now….

By: John

John — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:10:41 +0000

Any Brits read this? I’m under the impression that personal weights there are quite frequently given in stone (1 stone = 14 lb.), so it wouldn’t be a “none of your business” statement in Britain.

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:26:32 +0000

ReFlex–I love seeing someone else use the term “USian”–I don’t like using “American” ever since a friend reminded me that the entire CONTINENT is “America” . . .

but darn. I thought I made it up, and now it turns out that I must’ve heard it somewhere in the blogosphere . . .
I think we should start a trend . . .

By: ReFlex76

ReFlex76 — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:46:28 +0000

That’s about 39 kilos (short for kilograms) for all non-USians . . .

By: Norm

Norm — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:53:45 +0000

And Teena weighs about 84 pounds, which seems very normal for her probable height.