Re: Unamerican

DOUGLAS KOLLER <LAOKOU@...> wrote:


>Does political rhetoric in your country play this card?  Is there
>"un-Dutch", un-French", "un-Argentinian", "un-Swedish", "un-Danish"....
>behavior?  How is it codified (by which I mean, what prized views of your
>country is it supposed to be antithetical to?), and what is the push-button
>term in your various languages? "osvensk"?

We Argentinians believe we are the best people on Earth
(at least individually or in small groups), capable of
solving problems cleverly with little resources, and
in general irresistably charming; OTOH we also believe
that the country is the worst in the world, and noisily
protest against corruption and misery (I don't know how
to translate the word _desidia_ -- it means bad organisation
and incompetence on all levels). Of course, the fact that
the country and its people are the same thing and the two
claims above are therefore contradictory does not deter
us from voicing it aloud.

Examples of these attitudes:

1) "Yo, argentino" ("Me, [I'm an] Argentinian"): this
   means 'I know nothing about this mess, it was like
   this when I got here'.
2) A joke, supposedly told by foreigners about us: "How
   do you get 25 Argentinians into a Fitito [a Fiat 600,
   *very* small car]? Answer: you put two in the front,
   two in the back, and the rest you deflate them and
   squeeze them into the glove compartment."
3) Another joke: a Frenchman, an American and an
   Argentinian are on a plane. They fly over France,
   and the Frenchman stretches his hand outside and then
   says "Oh, I think I touched the top of the Eiffel Tower!".
   Then they fly over the US, and the American guy does the
   same and then cries "Hey, I think I touched the torch
   of the Statue of Liberty!". Then they fly over Argentina
   and the Argentinian takes his arm out and then back in,
   and says "Damn, someone stole my watch!".

As you see, the local culture is rather self-flagelating. The
only value of being an Argentinian, as seen here, is that you
can tell people you know Maradona (or, if you go to Italy,
about half the famous football players in their teams).


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.geocities.com/pablo-david/index.html
  "... When all men on earth think, day and night, about the
   Zahir, which one will be a dream and which one a reality?"
                              Jorge Luis Borges, _The Zahir_