Saturday, November 27, 2010

영어 Slang of the Day #1: What is an "Ugly American?"

영어 Slang of the Day #1:  What is an "Ugly American?"

The term "ugly American" is meant as an insult.  It is used by Americans and non-Americans alike.  It refers to something that points out that Americans are ignorant regarding the rest of the world.  Some of that may be because Americans are poorly educated, and some of that may be because Americans believe that the U.S. is the only important nation in the world, and is disrespectful of other nations, their habits and their customs. 

Thanks to YouTube, you can easily find examples.
Poorly-educated ugly American:  This is one of YouTube's most famous videos.  It has been watched more than 47,000,000 times!  This is from a Miss Teen USA beauty pageant, and the contestant, Miss South Carolina, barely makes any sense as she used incorrect facts along with incorrect grammar the entire time.

Sarah Palin.   The ex-governor of Alaska, and former vice presidential candidate, has mistakenly referred to North Korea as a U.S. ally.  Now, I would like to make a few excuses on her behalf, but it is difficult.  This occurred a few days ago, during an interview about the most recent military clash.

While it is true that the term "ugly American" may be overdone, there are reasons that the term exists, and thanks to the internet, there is evidence regarding why the term exists for all to see.  Now, remember that there are approximately 310,000,000 people in the U.S., so to choose a couple examples may be a bit unfair.

1 comments:

ALECHO said...

I like this term! Ugly American! Yeah... there are tons of them around here. Welcome to America...

Post a Comment