For The Americans - Geography Question About Europe

i am from america too

(so the budokan is antiamerican statement is a little too vague :P )

i konw a lot about europe
napoleon and stuff
abslut copenhague
danish mermaids and all

but i went to a french school all my life so europe was all over me when i was a kid

Ok cool.. so you know about Europe

yeah
ask me anything i know and i will answer

Quote:

Originally posted by Bangledesh

[reply=I-love-girls]
For example, look at your own family name.
Tell us what it is and we will tell you whare you came from.
Or else tell us the family name of someone you know, that's much easier, perhaps.

My name is John David Henry ya ass.

[/reply]

With your name I can have some choises for countries, unfortunately.
The easy one: English
The less easy one: French
And even one which might not look like obvious at all: Dutch

The first one explains itself and with the second one you just have to pronounce it in French. There is a larg number of people called Henri in France, you know. (With the I instead of the Y.)

But the Dutch one needs some explaining.

When Napoleon started the introduction of last names, some people where really serious about picking a "normal" last name, since their ofpsring would also get that same name.
Some people make fun with it, because they thought it was going to blow away as soon as Napoleon would leave again.
Thus names like Spring in de wei (jump in the meddow) Naaktgeboren (bornnaked). You can find funny names like that all over the world. Now you know why.

But other people did not know what name to choose and since it was custom to be called something like jacob hendrik's zoon (Jacobs Hendrik's son) that took the name of that father as their last name. So this guy became Jake Hendriks.
Now Hendriks might have been too difficult when a Dutch family came over to the US, so it was modified to Henry.

But you name is not the easiest one to find it's origin.

If you ever find out yourself, I would really like to know the real origin, just to see, how close I got.

Quote:

Originally posted by DevilHair[DK

]
[reply=AntiDemon]
[reply=DevilHair[DK]]
If i said Denmark to you guys, what would you respond? What do you know about us people from Denmark?
Do you know our Capitol? Do you know where in the world Denmark is? Do you know what people from Denmark are called?
Without looking it up on the internet?

And no, im still not calling americans dumd, thanx for the PM you stupid fuck, its just a question.

The danes are from denmark and when i think of your country i think of copenhagen and the winter olympics that where there a long time ago

And wasnt it HCA that wrote all those childrens stories like hansel and gretel among others?
[/reply]

Winter Olympics was in Norway and he didnt write those
[/reply]

There were olympics in copenhagen one time i remember, but HCA did write childrens books i know that

Quote:

Originally posted by HighGuy

Well, I don't know him personally.

I think I learned about him in Reading class in high school or maybe even before highschool. Not sure. All I remember really is that he's a famous writer.

Most people don't remember this stuff. Isn't Hans Christian Anderson the Ugly Duckling guy?
Re: Denmark...I've read that there's something rotten in the state of...

Quote:

Originally posted by I-love-girls

[reply=Bangledesh]

[reply=I-love-girls]
For example, look at your own family name.
Tell us what it is and we will tell you whare you came from.
Or else tell us the family name of someone you know, that's much easier, perhaps.

My name is John David Henry ya ass.

[/reply]

With your name I can have some choises for countries, unfortunately.
The easy one: English
The less easy one: French
And even one which might not look like obvious at all: Dutch

The first one explains itself and with the second one you just have to pronounce it in French. There is a larg number of people called Henri in France, you know. (With the I instead of the Y.)

But the Dutch one needs some explaining.

When Napoleon started the introduction of last names, some people where really serious about picking a "normal" last name, since their ofpsring would also get that same name.
Some people make fun with it, because they thought it was going to blow away as soon as Napoleon would leave again.
Thus names like Spring in de wei (jump in the meddow) Naaktgeboren (bornnaked). You can find funny names like that all over the world. Now you know why.

But other people did not know what name to choose and since it was custom to be called something like jacob hendrik's zoon (Jacobs Hendrik's son) that took the name of that father as their last name. So this guy became Jake Hendriks.
Now Hendriks might have been too difficult when a Dutch family came over to the US, so it was modified to Henry.

But you name is not the easiest one to find it's origin.

If you ever find out yourself, I would really like to know the real origin, just to see, how close I got.
[/reply]

ooo do mine. John Jacob Jingelheimerschmidt...just kidding...

Matthew Frederick Archbold

Quote:

Originally posted by mongolia

I don't think this thread is an attack on american intelligence, I think it merely highlights the perception that americans are very insular when it comes to the rest of the world

which seems like a gross generalisation

the United States has had a history of isolationism regarding foreign policy in general and wars in particular until ww II. George Washington warned America should stay out of foreign entanglements.

Quote:

Originally posted by DevilHair[DK

]
I was wondering, nothing bad about the Americans or anything, let me point that out to start with.
But when Americans are asked about Europe, they dont know much about it.
So i was wondering, when youre in school, what do you learn about Europe?
In Denmark, we learn alot about the whole world, from Denmark and all over Mother earth.
We learn the contries in Africa, America and so on.
Ive meet some young Americans online at the age of 17-24, and they didnt know about Scandinavia, and didnt know alot about Europe. They knew about France and Germany and that was about it.
So i was just wondering what you learn in school about Europe.
We learn about the states and the capitols of the states.
Not because your a big country, but because your part of our world.
And dont tell me that its because Denmark is a small small small country, like somebody once told me in here

my ex step brother (who was American) used to think u could drive to England from America i nearly wet myself!!!

Quote:

Originally posted by Devil6

I think a part of our lack of interest in history is due to the fact that a large majority of North Americans are more concerned with where they're going not where they came from or how they got there(thats just my personal experience)

plus, what we've been around for a little over 200 years not much history to care about

Quote:

Originally posted by Burn

there are places other than america?

thats fucking wierd...

Yeah dude. You remember. Europe is the place we go to a couple times each century to rescue them from conquest.


Alright don't go nuts everyone...it was a joke.

Quote:

Originally posted by surfarch

[reply=Burn]
there are places other than america?

thats fucking wierd...

Yeah dude. You remember. Europe is the place we go to a couple times each century to rescue them from conquest.

[/reply]
Yes sir, I like it. that's 1-800-the-chuk...call 24/7 for all of your invasion needs...Chuck Norris will personally come and save your country from the communist (because everyone knows that the communist are the only bad guys in the world). When he is done saving the world he will call W. in to set up some oil wells and trade oil for food (you all need food for survival). Also the best part of it is that he will also give your country a brand new constitution (to his liking) to insure more world peace...

@ SuperPirate: no need for name calling, I just call it like I see it. The school system used in almost every country that is either in or in post-industrization status dates back just before the Greeks ruled the med sea; it was designed to create two very specific things: slaves who skillfully preform a given task, and soliders. I agree that a mass of workers is needed to get anything done, but much like the bow and arrow, workers alone don't produce much outside of personal comsumption. Leadership is needed to direct efforts, weither in civilian or military communities.
And just because one choses not to attend a college dosn't mean they cannot be educated. Look at America's founders, they were heavily self-educated. "large portion of the population[s]" that do not attend college put themselves in a position that sets them up for a huge loss of freedom, a job. If you are an employee, the company you work for tells you when and how high to jump. It serves no surival purpose to even know Denmark exist for some workers sitting on a lunch break room in Ohio.
As for concentrated populations of Scandanavian descented in the US having knowledge about the Scandanavian part of the world, Duh.

Well there are 2 possible answers to this question: 1. Americans are taught about the whole world and that most 17-24 year olds are so stupid nowadays that they forget, or 2. Until Denmark does anything worth while or contributes to world history in some small way then maybe we'll take a minute to learn about you. Until then, keep on walking around the windmills in your wooden shoes.

Dude you basically said you look down on people in low level occupations i.e. retail, service industry etc.. Because people work in a certain job doesn't make them stupid. This started out as a friendly thread...and generally was so until the snotty opinionated assholes came out of the works. Hey Trust...I can read perfectly fine no need to vent your rabid anti-American sentiments any time a thread about the US comes up. Jesus can't any of you douche bags who don't like Bush or the Iraq War..shut the fuck up for five mins. I hope Chuck Norris finds all you fuckers and beats you Texas Ranger style for being fucktards. This isn't directed at anyone but those morons who decided to turn this into a "I hate Bush, the US military...and Chuck Norris" thread

I guess its who you talk to...I know European geography and its history.

Quote:

Originally posted by SuperPirate

Dude you basically said you look down on people in low level occupations i.e. retail, service industry etc.. Because people work in a certain job doesn't make them stupid. This started out as a friendly thread...and generally was so until the snotty opinionated assholes came out of the works. Hey Trust...I can read perfectly fine no need to vent your rabid anti-American sentiments any time a thread about the US comes up. Jesus can't any of you douche bags who don't like Bush or the Iraq War..shut the fuck up for five mins. I hope Chuck Norris finds all you fuckers and beats you Texas Ranger style for being fucktards. This isn't directed at anyone but those morons who decided to turn this into a "I hate Bush, the US military...and Chuck Norris" thread

not trying to be political here at all...so let me just say this...I love W. in fact i voted for him...and i chuck is a great guy...if you saw what i said earlier about american schools in the first couple of pages you would understand me...also if you have read anything else i've posted you would understand me...obviously not...i just love to joke around...like i said..not bringing politics into anything but since it seems i've been called out....I'm an American, I am a Republican...enough said...i went to a great public school...which is something that this thread was started to ask about...i just answered and others put some stuff...get a joke and go with it...everyone that is around here all the time knows how i am....by the way...try out the Total Gym...it's great

@ Superpirate (again): I aplogize the manner my first statement sounded. I make it a point not to define the worth of a person by their job. What I do have a problem with is a job that takes your time, dignity, and any respect away form the person doing it. On the flip side, college degree dosn't mean smart, much less compotent. Hell, I've had college professors who have never left the school enviroment, the old saying of "what can you do with that degree? Teach it at a college."
The people problem of "looking down" as you say is not beliveing myself above those who staff low-paying jobs, but those know that they want something more but do nothing about it, sitting at work telling the other workers about how they're goin' do this or that one day.
I just think it to be sad that for some to just barely make ends meet, the give up their freedom for the "security" of a job, the worst of which, as i said, don't pay much & and generally you don't take much pride in having it.

I'm not really from Antartica, or Iceland, or whatever my country Icon says....hm, it is Antarctica....

i think it all depends on where you're schooled and what classes you take, im in ohio and the classes here gives us a good history on eorpe at least id say and there are elective classes that i myself took about world history and ancient civilizations to get more knowledgeable on aspects of the world and not be blind