Poll: What do you think of the new $20 bills?

I didn't know you could get First Post in a forum you didn't create ;-)

I still haven't seen one with my own eyes. That makes me think they don't actually exist, or they are only for people far more special than I am. So I voted "I can't afford them" because it was my favorite answer.

someone showed one to me recently...i'm thinking it was melissa, but i might be on crack...anyway, my vote is pretty much that i don't care as long as they're still worth $20. :)

'twas me.� and then I spent it, and haven't seen another one since.� ppphhhhhhbtththht.

Same here.� Well, except I didn't show it to anyone.� Fact is, I didn't even see it myself ...� It was just� brought to my attention, in a dark club, that I was being handed a "new"� $20.�

And the next time I thought about it was after I'd apparently spent it, when I went to see what it looked like ... and couldn't find it.� *head explodes*�

Maybe I'll see one before the end of the year.

Meh. They spend just as well. The little gold 20's make it look like very aged paper.

I miss the delicate filligree that was on the edges. You know, the spider-webby stuff that gave a real depth to the design.

I can see why they did it but I jsut read this morning they are already picking up fakes that have been passed off on the east coast.

I'm not American, you insensitive clod?

It might be a dumb time to say it, and I certainly don't blame just this one poll, but this place has become incredibly Americentric. It makes me sad.

I appologize. And if it makes you feel better I didn't think of that because the rest of the world, Canada specifically, has always had cooler currency.

Well, the majority of us are, in fact, Americans. Who happen to listen to a Canadian band.

And just because you're not American doesn't mean you can't have an opinion of the new $20s. My boyfriend's a Newf and has a very strong opinion about the new $20s. And also everything else American. Apparently, I'm the only sane one down here... Who knew. :o/

Anyway, my opinion is that I have yet to see one, so I don't have an opinion.

Technically, unless you're not in the western hemishpere you're an american...

i've always wondered myself who decided that being an "American" meant that citizenship was locked in with the United States, as opposed to living on one of the continents of america, which would include canada, the states, mexico, and the many countries in south america.

south americans?� north americans?� latin americans?� canadian americans?� cuban americans?� i'm so many kinds of confused now.

�-= george =-

Damn. I wanted to point you to the lyrics of an Arrogant Worms song, but the song's too new, no one has the lyrics written out yet.

Suffice it to say, we're not the ones who decided that the term "American" would be reduced to dwellers of the USA. I'd love to be able to call myself American the way French people can say they're European. But I can't. Because it makes me feel like I need to take a shower. The end.

- Kath, who really doesn't care about the new American $20, probably won't see one for years, and doesn't see why just because the majority of people here are American, questions shouldn't be addressed to all. When I walk into a room where 12 men and a woman are sitting, I don't say, "Hello, gentlemen," and leave it there. If I walked into a room full of bananas with only one Mack Truck, I wouldn't say "Hello, bananas," and ignore the truck. Etc.

is it kinda like, when you go into a pub in ireland... and have a US accent... and they ask you where you're from... and you say "massachusetts"... and they say, "Oh! Boston!"?

heh.

After a while, I just gave up.

"No, we're west of there... nothing like boston." "Oh... but.... that's part of boston, right?" "well... no... but... yeah... okay.... boston it is!" *cheers around the bar*

hehehe

Back in college in Rochester, one of my friends was Morroccan. One of her friends came over to the states to visit and went to NYC. Her friend called her up and said that she should come on over after work or something and they would go out.

Of course, she didn't realize her friend was in Rochester, which is a 7-hour drive (or so) to NYC.

> Suffice it to say, we're not the ones who decided that the
> term "American" would be reduced to dwellers of the USA. I'd
> love to be able to call myself American the way French people
> can say they're European. But I can't. Because it makes me
> feel like I need to take a shower. The end.

It is common usage to refer to people from the United States as "Americans," because it refers to "The United States of America," rather than the name of the continents. You are welcome to call yourself whatever you want, or to create another word for whatever it is you are ("whiner" and "pedant" immediately spring to mind)... But the reason "American" is used to mean "Someone from the United States" is that most people understand it to mean that.

*mostly agrees with Michael's sentiments but puzzles at the vitriol in the relply*

That's about why I'm done responding to this thread. You disagree? Great, tell me about it. But tell me like that, and I won't grace you with a response.

> *mostly agrees with Michael's sentiments but puzzles at the vitriol in the relply*

*doesn't want to continue a flame war, and points out that she loves Kath to death, but thinks it might have something to do with this*

> I'd
> love to be able to call myself American the way French people
> can say they're European. But I can't. Because it makes me
> feel like I need to take a shower.

Kath, honey, I think you'd be really pissed off if I said the same thing about calling myself a Canadian resident, or something approximately similar.

I would hope that opposing (US)American policy, grandiosity, hegemony, cultural imperialism, warmongering, self-absorption, myopic worldview, environmental recklessness, economic enslavement or whatever doesn't have to deteriorate into gratuitous insult against citizenship. Otherwise I'm going to have to start flinging a lot of mud at myself. :D

Peace out, yo.

Oh, well yeah, there's that too. But seeing as how most of the (US)Americans around here tend to use the same sort of language I guess I just sort of didn't notice it... I've been blocking it out.

Exactly. Everyone else says it. I wasn't referring to any of you, I was making a statement directly about your president. I'm sorry about him. I'm sorry you have to live with the knowledge that he's running your country. It's sad.

*sticks fingers in ears* Lalalala...

I feel much better now that I know I have your empathy. I was hoping you didn't think I was, like, all *dirty* just coz of him. :D

I understand what you are saying, but the thing is that it is bad enough that he's the President. It is a further blow when you feel that the whole NAME has been so poluted by him that YOU wan't to take a shower. That really DOES make us fell bad, Kath. I know you didn't mean it that way, but even I found that line kind of offensive. I will criticize "America" as much as anyone, but when you say something like what you said, you go from Al Franken's loving "America" like an adult (as opposed to the childish way the conservatives love it) to actually hating "America" and that isn't nice.

Well, go ahead and find it offensive, then. I'm sorry. But I was reacting to something I found (mildly) offensive, it was blown all out of proportion, and now as I see it the score is 2-1 against me for something I really don't care about, I was JUST POINTING IT OUT. And just so you know, I'm not alone in my feelings there. I'm just the only one who was stupid enough to offer a differing opinion.

I don't think you were stupid to offer an opinion. I agree with your opinion. I think it was mildly offensive for her not to put US $20 on there too. And I think pointing it out was an important reminder that not everyone here is American.

Please don't get mad at me. I'm not mad at you. I was just saying, because I don't think you perceived it, that the bit about feeling like you need to take a shower, THAT was offensive. It even offended liberal old me. I know you meant no offense whatever, but I thought I better tell you that saying something like that is going to offened almost ANY American.

But please don't feel bad about posting. I'm glad you posted. :)

You're not a liberal. You're a leftist. :P

Then what the hell am I?

a freak. :)

a freak who really DOES need to get a shower before tonight's festivities.� And not just because of Dubya.

ta!

It is common usage to refer to people from the United States as "Americans," because it refers to "The United States of America," rather than the name of the continents.

Um, actually, dood, the "of America" part refers to the CONTINENT.�

Technically, the peoples living on either continent (that would be "North" or "South" America) are Americans.� Hence the border guards giving citizens of the US a hard time-- "Citizenship?"� "American"� "North, or South?"�

People who live in the US tend to monopolize the use of "American" because that's how ethnocentric we tend to be.� I think, actually, that's Kath's point.� Being ethnocentric is what's getting the US, and the rest of the world into this global terrorist quagmire.� Peaceful and non-egomaniacal thinking needs to start at home.� Even in silly polls about money.

You are welcome to call yourself whatever you want,

How generous.

or to create another word for whatever it is you are ("whiner" and "pedant" immediately spring to mind)

And now the name-calling.� How lovely.� I suddenly miss ammf.�

Um, actually, dood, the "of America" part refers to the CONTINENT.

I don't think that is actually the case... I think it is the United States of America the same way as the People's Republic of China, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Rebublics, respectively commonly referred to as America, China and the Soviet Union (formerly). I think that the country is itself named America, and shares the name with the continents. And last time I checked, citizenship was national, not continental. You cannot be a citizen of South America.

Canada is on the North American Continent. It is a North American nation, but it is a nation whose name is Canada, not the Canadian provinces of America.

Actually Gella is right on this one (as on many actually, though certainly not all) ;)

The country "America" (Full name "The United States of America") was the very first "nation" (in the European sense) on this contenent and in this hemisphere. By that logic, I think we DO have some claim on the name America as it was an unused nation name at the time.

Everyone else in this hemisphere back then lived in some sort of European colony that had it's own name. Nobody else cared about the name "America" until later when other nations emerged and sought their own identities independant of their former European rulers.

To reinforce Gella's point, Canada was once also known as British North America (as opposed to American North Amercia (The USA) or Spanish North America (Mexico)). If it had kept that name into nationhood (Ironic that the BNA is what created modern Canada) then Canadians would be called no doubt British North American's or perhaps simply British Americans. But they certainly wouldn't be called Americans as a NATION. Yes we could be called United Americans, but that distinction wasn't necessary at the time, because as I've pointed out, we were first.

Just another note: People from the country called South Africa are refrred to as South Africans, however there are many many people who live outside of South Africa who are also South Africans in that they live in Africa but do not live in North Africa nor in Central Africa, nor in East or West Africa. People from Zimbabwe are Southern Africans but they aren't South Africans.

I see no difference between that and the situation here.

Don't get me wrong. I DO agree that The US and USAmerican's in general do tend to foreget that we share this contient with 2 other nations and this hemisphere with many more, and I do think that in some cases we need to be careful with our language (as in the title of this thread). However I reject the idea that citizens of the US have no right to call themselves Americans. We do. We took the name first. We've always used it, and it is our name. It shouldn't and mostly doesn't confuse anyone.

then Canadians would be called no doubt British North American's or perhaps simply British Americans. But they certainly wouldn't be called Americans as a NATION. Yes we could be called United Americans, but that distinction wasn't necessary at the time, because as I've pointed out, we were first.

exactly - everyone else on the continent has a more specific country to be from. why be generically "American" when you can be Canadian, Mexican, etc? really, there isn't a good name for people from the U.S. other than "American." Statesian? USian? United States of American? American from the United States? American People's Front? People's front of America? er....

(we are actually one of the few countries, if not the only one, that doesn't have an actual name - our name just describes what we are. it's not by any means a unique identifier - there could, at some point, be other United States of America)

What about the People's Republic of China?

"tend to foreget that we share this contient with 2 other nations and this hemisphere with many more"

In high school, I asked my teacher which continent Central America is a part of. He said "North America, go look at the map." So I said "then why did you just say there were three countries in North America?" He shrugged.

That's always been pretty indicative to me of exactly how disconnected we in the US can be about the world around us. We can "know" that there are other countries out there, and "know" that "American" can refer both to a US citizen and a person from the Western Hemisphere. But neither is integrated into the world-view we inherit from our schools and our parents.

This sort of thing doesn't only come up when dealing with nationality (or, even nationalism). When all "men" are created equal, and these days we interpret that to mean all people of any gender and ethnicity, we face the fact that sometimes a word refers to all of a population, and sometimes only half of it. A better example might be the phrase "hi, guys." Is that addressed to all of a group, or just the males? The situation is much more evident in gendered languages.

I agree with AJ that we need to be careful with our language. Being aware of who is being excluded by a word is a huge step towards understanding that excluded person. But most people aren't going to do that. And they are going to use the language. And those who do, well, they're gonna use the language too.

*shrug*

> Kath, who really doesn't care about the new American $20,
> probably won't see one for years, and doesn't see why just
> because the majority of people here are American,
> questions shouldn't be addressed to all.

But, Kath, the question was addressed to all the users. What, Canadians can't have opinions about the new US $20 bill? WTF?

I generally say North Americans for groups containing Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, and Central Americans. It is what the NHL does.

The Spaniards are kinda odd as far as that goes. They don't use "American" to mean "from the United States," probably because so much of the rest of America is Spanish-speaking, which I think is cool. But the words "estadounidense" (UnitedStatesian) and "norteamericano" (northAmerican) are completely interchangeable. What happened to Canada and Mexico???

I ATE THEM!

(and they were kinda yummy...it was like bacon and salsa...mmmmmm canexico)

I see. Instead of drumming up a conversation that's more Canadian-centric, you bitch about the conversations that *are* going on.

Very constructive, that.

I like them but there is a problem with them. Some vending machines don't recognize them.

Maybe the midwest is just behind the times, but I've never seen a vending machine that would take a $20. I don't think I've seen one that would recognize more than a $5 actually.

It might have been the ones used on the subways. I always use my Credit Card so I didn't pay that much attention.

I heard it was those self-checkers at the grocery stores that were having problems with the new $20.

yeah. Last time I was at meijers there was a sign saying "you must give the new $20 bill to the attendent if you are paying with cash" or something like that

The vending machine in my office building doesn't even accept loonies yet. ;)

That happens every time you change the currency though. They'll develop new modules and replace the old ones. The post office stamp machine here doens't take the new 20's yet either. Soon enough, they will. Companies are finally realizing that they need to make bill acceptor units more modular because our money will be changing faster.

It'll happen, give it some time.

Of course it will be fixed but I think they thought it would not be neccessary this time.

the weird thing is that that in the past month i've gone to atms and received both the old old 20 (when it still looked like the dollar) and the new new 20...it's like "ooh lets represent america's diversity in currency!"

Most vending machines, around here at least, don't even recognize the "new" fives yet!

Most places just put a change machine there that recognizes them.
Much cheaper to put in a change machine than to upgrade the readers on all the vending machines.

I actually had the pleasure of seeing several of the new 20s two weeks ago, the day I left for London. I could then report to all the brits what the new 20s looked like. :)

Subways?� Won't take them.� Parking machine?� Won't take them.� In the city, they suck, and I always end up spending them first so i can get $10s and $5s that do work.

Ever notice that the green the 20 has on the edge is VERY close to the $20 in Monopoly money?� But they still aren't Monopoly money like CDN.

And the counterfeiters have already put out funny money.� Just another challenge for them, just like spammers and spam filters.

The reports are rolling in...

it's already been counterfeited too.

I got one of the new 20s today. It felt sticky.

Yeah.. that's so you don't lose them as easily.

And so you'll accidentally give people extra ones in change?