Conference thebay::joyoflex

.0>    Was it hubris to have appropriated the name "America" for this country?

Is naming one's country after a mapmaker considered hubris?

    I thought that the country in .0 doesn't really have a name.  Some of
    the states united, and those that didn't unite were not yet states,
    so no name was necessary.  Later, when it would have seemed more
    necessary for a name to be assigned, the failure was more likely due
    to laziness than hubris.
    
    -- Norman Diamond

    Amerigo Vespucci had two continents named after him.  Why then are only
    the citizens of one of the countries on those continents known as
    "Americans," and their country called "America"?
    
    [This was the gist of the question submitted to the _Ask_Marilyn_
    column.  Marilyn vos Savant fell into the trap of American self-
    bashing.]
    
    --Simon
    

    Re .0: If it was hubris that made people name the country, it shows
    that they were also not very well historically informed, or they would
    have chosen something more flattering than to name their country from
    the ruthless ruler of a petty barbaric tribe of the fifth century CE
    (I mean the Ostrogothic king Amalaric -litterally: king of the Amals,
    the Amals being the extended familly among which the Ostrogothic kings
    were chosen-, whose name Amerigo Vespucci bore, although it had
    undergone some changes through the centuries).
    			Denis.

    re .3
    
    Probably for the same reason said country hold "World Series" events in
    sports, but doesn't invite any other country to participate.
    
    q
    

.5>    Probably for the same reason said country hold "World Series" events in
.5>    sports, but doesn't invite any other country to participate.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos would be invited to participate in the
World Series if they were to win their respective league titles.  That is the
same condition that applies to teams in the United States of America.

.6  But "World" Series were held long before Toronto and Montreal were
    added to the "American" and "National" Leagues.
    ... and long before most non-North-Americans had even *heard* about
    the silly game.


Hmm, "World Series" - singular or plural?  Is one game a "serie"?
If Wheaties sponsored the first game, would they be the World Serie-al sponsor?

    Re .5, .6, .7: Question from the other side of the Atlantic: What is
    that game you're talking about?
    			Denis.

Re .8,

Rounders, I assume.

:-)

Jon

    re .8 (and .9)  Actually, it's baseball (as Jon well knows).
    
    					andrew

    re .8, .9, .10:  Asking this question is not cricket.
    

    I've read that a newspaper called "The World" decided to sponsor a
    baseball championship and name the series after itself.  Some time
    later, the series became slightly international, but still not worldwide,
    because the Central League and Pacific League are still excluded.
    
    -- Norman Diamond
    
    P.S.  "Series" is both singular and plural.  Ross Perot, who has not
    asserted any intention of being an "education president", might call
    this "an interesting phenomena."  However, in the case of "series,"
    it is really true.

    P.P.S.
    >"education president",
    >"series,"
    If I ever run for the position of chief typist, don't vote for me.

    
    Could you imagine trying to refer to a person living in the United
    States of America as an "United States of American"?  People, in
    general, are entirely too lazy for this.

    - Dave

    P.S.  I heard someone say at one point that the United States of
    America was not the only country to have the "United States of" in the
    official name.  I never was able to find any other reference to this.

    Re: .14
    
    	"I heard someone say at one point that the United States of America
    	was not the only country to have the "United States of" in the
    	official name.  I never was able to find any other reference to this."
    
    Mexico, for example.
    
Lew Lasher

    Maybe an atlas, maybe an encyclop[a]edia...
    
    Brazil is (or at least was) another example.
    
    -- Norman Diamond

	And guess what country can also use the abbreviation USA?

		-- Cliff

    South Africa (no idea what it's called now) used to be called the Union
    of South Africa; it no longer uses that name.
    
    					andrew

    Speaking of USA, there was for many years a booming business in cheap
    goods bearing a MADE IN USA imprint - they came from a city in Japan
    that was named Usa.
    
    -dick

    Re .18:
    
    It's now RSA - Republic of South Africa.
    Name changed in 1961 when they turned republic and left the
    Commonwealth.
    
    Hans

    >Speaking of USA, there was for many years a booming business in cheap
    >goods bearing a MADE IN USA imprint - they came from a city in Japan
    >that was named Usa.
    
    Sorry, this urban legend is famous but false.
    
    However, there's a similar one that's true.  During World War I, goods
    that were made in Berlin, Ontario found their sales dropping, so the
    city changed its name to Kitchener.
    
    (That was during World War I, not II, so the choice of eponym was surely
    accidental.  I think the irony isn't so famous now either though.)
    
    -- Norman Diamond

	Ref .21 Berlin/Kitchener
>>    (That was during World War I, not II, so the choice of eponym was surely
>>    accidental.  

	But .... Kitchener was a significant figure in WWI, not WWII.
	Did I miss something?

>>    I think the irony isn't so famous now either though.)

	This sentence appears to be cleverer than me - what does it mean?

    Berlin, Ontario changed its name to Kitchener before the, uh,
    "situation" started occuring with the original Berlin and,
    um, application of an invention.  (You'll have to read about
    the "situation" someplace else, and maybe about the invention;
    we're not allowed to report the facts in Digital.)
    
    -- Norman Diamond

    Mr. Diamond is again carrying on his PP&P feud, this time with
    unnecessary obscurity.  His "situation" refers to WW I, and the
    invention?  I don't know.  The bomb maybe?

>    invention?  I don't know.  The bomb maybe?
    
    Mustard gas?
    
    re .24 (re .23):
    Well, to tell the truth I was tempted to say something that wouldn't be
    construed as praise, just to make the point about my interpretation of
    PP&P, but then I thought twice about it, on the premise that not giving
    any attention to such notes might be the better tactic.  But I lost my
    resolve.
    
    --Simon