# Difference between the US and USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 4, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592 "2015-06-04T00:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/61 "2015-06-04T18:20:39Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > Are you stupid or something? **Moderator Note** **Ze Pr0fes0re** , insults are not permitted in General Questions. Since you are new here I am not making this an official warning, but do not do this again. > [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > Perhaps this thread is in the wrong forum then cause it’s not my intention that it be serious at all. I’ll withdraw. General Questions is for genuine questions with factual answers. If you don’t intend to be serious, then start the thread in another forum such as IMHO or MPSIMS. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/62 "2015-06-04T18:29:16Z")
You can ban me mate, the discussion I started is dying away anyway and I do not conform to TOS of any site. I So no need to warn me and such, besides I already received one elsewhere , and no need to report or ban anyone for insulting me. I absolve them from sin. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/63 "2015-06-04T18:35:09Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > You can ban me mate, the discussion I started is dying away anyway and I do not conform to TOS of any site. you’re quite the iconoclast. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/64 "2015-06-04T18:36:46Z")
Back to the OP, and I cannot believe nobody’s ever raised this issue before: it’s about economics and sporting events. In official correspondence, you use “US” because you want to save ink on the extra vowel. Nobody gets excited about formal correspondence. On the other hand, when Mike Eruzione and crew beat the Soviets in the last few minutes in the Miracle on Ice, it doesn’t cost anything, so you use the more musically-sounding chant of “USA!” Three beats in a chant gets a crowd riled up faster than a two-beat chant, and everyone immediately knows to turn their head and watch the screen during the next Olympic Ice Hockey shootouts. It’s all about economics and sports. Tripler Looneytunes. ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/65 "2015-06-04T18:36:51Z")
Never been called that, quite google brings up “destroyer of symbols”? O.O I learned a new word! But why am I an iconoclast? > [@](#): > > In time, the word, usually in the adjectival form, has also come to refer to aggressive statements or actions against any well-established status quo Oh right. Not really, ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/66 "2015-06-04T18:37:58Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Back to the OP, and I cannot believe nobody’s ever raised this issue before: it’s about economics and sporting events. > > In official correspondence, you use “US” because you want to save ink on the extra vowel. Nobody gets excited about formal correspondence. On the other hand, when Mike Eruzione and crew beat the Soviets in the last few minutes in the Miracle on Ice, it doesn’t cost anything, so you use the more musically-sounding chant of “USA!” Three beats in a chant gets a crowd riled up faster than a two-beat chant, and everyone immediately knows to turn their head and watch the screen during the next Olympic Ice Hockey shootouts. It’s all about economics and sports. > > Tripler > Looneytunes. ~Laughing out loud~ ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/67 "2015-06-04T18:39:48Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > … What I am telling you is that you indeed can beat a court of law using as you said technicalities and wording. > > How say beating a case because of “wording” contrasts with beating a case with “magical wording” is something you need to explain to me. I’m with Ze Professor on this. Without trying to inject more politics into this debate, the US Supreme Court will be deciding if usage of the word “state” in it’s text will partially nullify an important component of the ACA (Obamacare). In the Citizen’s United case, corporations were awarded the free speech rights of people. I will re-iterate that saying this does not mean that I agree with or support anything these “Freemen” are doing or saying. I’m just pointing out that people have been leveraging asymmetric knowledge for a long time and in many endeavors. The main difference in this case is that they are wrong (which means unable to persuade people that they are right) and persistent. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/68 "2015-06-04T18:46:18Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > You can ban me mate, the discussion I started is dying away anyway and I do not conform to TOS of any site. No one has threatened to ban you. However, you did agree to the Registration Agreement for this site and if you fail to abide by it your posting privileges could be rescinded. > [@](#): > > So no need to warn me and such, besides I already received one elsewhere , You have not yet received any official warning, from me or any other moderator, only a mod note to remind you of the rules. > [@](#): > > and no need to report or ban anyone for insulting me. I absolve them from sin. That’s not up to you. You have no say in whether someone else receives a warning for insulting you. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/69 "2015-06-04T18:46:33Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > I’m with Ze Professor on this. > > Without trying to inject more politics into this debate, the US Supreme Court will be deciding if usage of the word “state” in it’s text will partially nullify an important component of the ACA (Obamacare). In the Citizen’s United case, corporations were awarded the free speech rights of people. > > I will re-iterate that saying this does not mean that I agree with or support anything these “Freemen” are doing or saying. I’m just pointing out that people have been leveraging asymmetric knowledge for a long time and in many endeavors. The main difference in this case is that they are wrong (which means unable to persuade people that they are right) and persistent. Noooo! Why the first sentence in the third paragraph! It’s the ambiguous position that someone like Czarcasam et. al. find intellectually deficient that draws out their need to SJW and thus validate themselves by demeaning them. ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/70 "2015-06-04T18:48:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > No one has threatened to ban you. However, you did agree to the Registration Agreement for this site and if you fail to abide by it your posting privileges could be rescinded. > > You have not yet received any official warning, from me or any other moderator, only a mod note to remind you of the rules. > > That’s not up to you. You have no say in whether someone else receives a warning for insulting you. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator Sir, Let it be known to you that the internet was created as a public space and that we are free to roam it as we wish. Your arbitrary limits have no effect on me! You have no right to make such rules. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/71 "2015-06-04T18:49:50Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > I do not conform to TOS of any site. I’m moist. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/72 "2015-06-04T18:55:44Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > Sir, Let it be known to you that the internet was created as a public space and that we are free to roam it as we wish. Your arbitrary limits have no effect on me! You have no right to make such rules. Are you a “flesh and blood man” or a “legal fiction”, Ze Professor? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/73 "2015-06-04T18:56:58Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > Sir, Let it be known to you that the internet was created as a public space and that we are free to roam it as we wish. Your arbitrary limits have no effect on me! You have no right to make such rules. Make my day.😉 **Moderator Instructions** Well, no, this is a privately owned message board and is not public space. From the Registration Agreement that you agreed to: > [@](#): > > Please remember that you are our guest here, and that we reserve the right to exclude you at our whim, for any or no reason whatsoever… By registering and using the board you acknowledge this right and agree to abide by our rules and to submit to their interpretation and enforcement by our moderators and editors. Further discussion of the rules should be taken to About This Message Board. Continuing to dispute them here may be subject to a Warning. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/74 "2015-06-04T18:57:32Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Are you a “flesh and blood man” or a “legal fiction”, Ze Professor? 🙂 You didn’t get the joke considering the thread we are in? :smack: Oh lol. They use that argument. Bwahahha \>D ( google it ) . Bah I need to learn more about these guys! They seem like a splendid bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/75 "2015-06-04T19:08:22Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Make my day.😉 I’ve already made your day. ---
**Author:** ![Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8dc957/32.png) [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ze_Pr0fes0re)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/76 "2015-06-04T19:14:25Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > You didn’t get the joke considering the thread we are in? :smack: > Oh lol. They use that argument. Bwahahha \>D ( google it ) > . > > Bah I need to learn more about these guys! They seem like a splendid bunch. Alright so I’'m learning a bit more about them. I wonder if they could make a municipality somewhere and just live the way they want there with their own ordinances and such. But maybe that would just mean they become a “part of the system”. Maybe they are just the redneck version of Anarchists! And who are we to dis that. Shit, they could provide the moonshine and the black block could provide the hoods. I find it interesting how so dissimilar groups when look from a surface perspective can seem so similar when you scratch the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592/77 "2015-06-04T19:14:38Z")
> [@Ze\_Pr0fes0re](#): > > I’ve already made your day. Since at this point you seem to be more interested in joking around than in further information I’m going to close this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difference-between-the-us-and-usa/721592.md?page=3)