'It was invented in Russia!'

[md2000]

@Leo_Bloom

Kim Jong-Il, while not writing 1,500 books while in college, invented the hamburger. According to the NK publications.

One would be tempted to work that into a Trump/obesity joke in a different forum…

@JoseB

All this reminds me of another Russian (well, Soviet) joke… This one has to do with the attitude of “OK, your country may also have <X>… But ours is better!”.
…

Sort of like the joke about how Russians hate to see anyone else do better, even if it hurts them too.

Ivan had been a very good servant to the Lord, so one day the Lord appears to him and says:

“Ivan, you have been my very good servant all these years, and to reward you, I would like to grant you whatever you want. But know that your neighbor Alexi has been even more devout, so whatever I give you, I will give him double.”

Ivan thinks for a while, then says “Oh Lord, take away one of my testicles.”

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Temporary_Name

Whatever inventions and innovations other countries may have contributed to modern society, all modern languages and all modern philosophies still trace back to ancient Greece right? My good friend and neighbor assures me Greece is the basis of all western civilization.

It’s true. Relying on slavery, denying women the franchise, rule by a small elite, and perpetual enmity with our neighbors were all things that we copied faithfully.

[DesertDog]

@Temporary_Name

Whatever inventions and innovations other countries may have contributed to modern society, all modern languages and all modern philosophies still trace back to ancient Greece right? My good friend and neighbor assures me Greece is the basis of all western civilization.

Reminds me of Michael Contantine’s character in My Big Fat Greek Wedding tracing every word in every language back to a Greek root.

@Gus Portokalos0

Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course! Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter. So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe. You see: robe, kimono. There you go!

[burpo_the_wonder_mutt]

:: sprays Windex on DesertDog’s finger ::
And I am the Czar of all the Russias!

[Morgenstern]

@Leo_Bloom

Kim Jong-Il, while not writing 1,500 books while in college, invented the hamburger. According to the NK publications.

To be correct, it is the “meat between 2 pieces of bread” as he called it. Very creative name.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@MacLir

True story -

We hosted a German exchange student, who once declared to me that Ford was a German car. When quizzed, she based it on there being a Ford car plant near where she came from. :smack:

At least she came to her senses when I pointed out that Henry Ford was an American, who had his original plant in Michigan, and that the BMW plant outside Columbia, SC didn’t make BMW an American car. :dubious:

In a sense, she was correct. Ford’s German subsidiary was historically largely independent of Ford’s US operations. Ford of Europe builds its own models for the European and world markets in Germany, Belgium and the UK. Until the early 1990s, when Ford started selling FoE vehicles in the US instead of building small cars in the US, the operations were almost totally separate.

Vauxhall and Opel are British and German, but they are also GM’s European brands. The only difference between an Opel and a European-market Ford is that the latter is not marketed under a different manufacturer’s name.

[Temporary_Name]

@Exapno_Mapcase

It’s true. Relying on slavery, denying women the franchise, rule by a small elite, and perpetual enmity with our neighbors were all things that we copied faithfully.

May anything good, or decent, or respectable be added to the list?

It seems I was told at one time that Socrates believed women were equal to men (because the measure of mankind was his ability to reason- and women could reason as well as men) even though his student and subsequent students did not agree. I believe they also may have contributed to the development of a representative government.

And while I agree civil rights are not as universal as they could be, we have moved to a place where women have a voice and at least nominal equality, slavery is outlawed, and peace is not unheard of. (I will readily grant that the U.S. is not the best example of any of this in western civilization.) The European Union might suggest some of Western Civ. is capable of getting along with its neighbors despite fractions and exits.

[Temporary_Name]

@DesertDog

Reminds me of Michael Contantine’s character in My Big Fat Greek Wedding tracing every word in every language back to a Greek root.

Yes, actually I did think of that scene as I made the post.
But a guy I have known for most of my life, who’s kids I grew up with, is very much in that mold. And while he is very proud of his entire Greek heritage, it does not take a great deal of prompting to get him to admit his family dates back to Sparta; the bravest and noblest of all the admirable city/states.

(If you ever got your hair cut in Scottsdale, you may have met him.)

[Dewey_Finn]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

Vauxhall and Opel are British and German, but they are also GM’s European brands

FYI, about a year ago, GM sold Vauxhall and Opel to Groupe PSA (parent of Peugeot and Citroën).