# "Let's Say NICE Things About the U.S.," says the Yankee Doodle Doll **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 13, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698 "2002-08-13T14:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/1 "2002-08-13T14:53:19Z")
I don’t remember so much U.S.-bashing since the Seventies, from both within and without (and yes, some of it _is_ justified). We all know the drill: Our president’s a dolt. We had Sept. 11th coming to us. Our execs are all crooks. We’re all fat, lazy morons with no culture. We want to take over the whole world and turn it into Des Moines. Our movies and TV suck. Our entire history, from Day One, is nothing but mindless imperialism. We can’t dress. We support dictators. And we’re responsible for the horror that is Meg Ryan Hair. Just for a change, why don’t we be Goody Two-Shoes and Yankee Doodles and say some _nice_ things about the U.S.? Hmmmm? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/2 "2002-08-13T14:55:59Z")
Best cheeseburgers in the world!!! ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/3 "2002-08-13T14:56:08Z")
Um, besides Australia it’s the greatest country in the world? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/4 "2002-08-13T14:56:50Z")
I like Hershey’s Cookies & Cream bars. And The Simpsons. I really enjoy F Scott Fitzgerald, Bret Easton Ellis and Damon Runyon. And sometimes I prefer (generalisation) American optimism over (generalisation) British cynicism. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/5 "2002-08-13T15:03:40Z")
There seems to me to be a lot of nice things said about the US already… it’s when they’re perceived as incorrect that the trouble starts. Well how about: _mainstream_ US TV sucks, as does mainstream TV pretty much everywhere. But with the advent of HBO, the US (IMO) is producing some of the finest TV I’ve ever seen. Six Feet Under, anyone? The Sopranos? Many of the most incredible natural wonders on the globe. Food that tastes great (though this is not always a good idea - best taken in moderation). ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/6 "2002-08-13T15:26:20Z")
More to the point perhaps, for all the potholes as yet encountered, the Noble Experiment seems still the best alternative for the conduct of civil affairs, in part because it can and does adapt as we continue. But I still like the cheeseburgers. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/7 "2002-08-13T15:27:24Z")
We kid because we love… Not every nation is capable of producing: Men who spontaneously organize with other people from diverse backgrounds and stand up to armed suicidal hijackers. Jenna Jameson Dodge Vipers Makers Mark bourbon aerosol cheese Gibson Les Pauls and on and on ad infinitum… Sure we focus on your shortcomings, but only because you’ve inflamed our dreams and given the world a window to better possibilities. Freedom goes hand in hand with responsibility, take as much of both as you can handle and we’ll always love and respect you. ---
**Author:** ![CanadianSue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/8 "2002-08-13T16:02:39Z")
A Canadian chiming in Friendly people Great food (except for that wall paper paste stuff known as grits) A land of very patriotic people which is great to see ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/9 "2002-08-13T16:02:49Z")
Baseball!!! ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/10 "2002-08-13T16:04:21Z")
We put the first man on the moon. Extremely diverse countrysides, from the rainy Northwest coast to the mountains of Colorado to the plains of Kansas to the deserts of the southwest to the east coast to the tundra of Alaska, etc. I _like_ Meg Ryan hair. (I’d like her if she had a head of hissing snakes) We are the birthplace of jazz music. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/11 "2002-08-13T16:11:24Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally Posted by CanadianSue:_ > Great food (except for that wall paper paste stuff known as grits) :eek: God shalt surely smite thee for this blasphemy! :eek: [suckup]Let us not forget that America shares two of its greatest gifts with the entire world, Unca Cecil and the SDMB.[/suckup] And cheeseburgers. And hotdogs. And okra. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/12 "2002-08-13T16:15:56Z")
It is a country that you can bash loudly and publically and not be dissapeared the next night. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/13 "2002-08-13T16:17:12Z")
“We, the People, in order to form a more perfect Union…” Baseball Ellis Island Jazz “These proceedings are closed.” Marilyn Monroe Elvis '57 Chevrolet “I have a dream…” “Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed…” When “The Decline and Fall of the American Empire” is written, those things will stand out as very bright spots indeed. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/14 "2002-08-13T16:26:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Abe Babe \* > I _like_ Meg Ryan hair. (I’d like her if she had a head of hissing snakes) You’ve got a thing for medusa hair, too? Thought I was the only one. The US keeps the Atlantic and Pacific separate. (Well, Canada n’ Mexico n’ all them other countries down there help out, too.) The US helpfully provides jobs to wits, comics, humorists, jokesters, funnymen, quipsters, and wags worldwide. Plus we invented the quadruple cheeseburger. Prior to that, the scientific community believed that the triple cheeseburger represented the pinnacle of gastronomic research. Following the premise that bigger-is-always-better, the quadruple cheeseburger (with a different layer of cheese between each patty) was the result of sixteen years of painstaking labour, forty-six billion dollars in funding, and no fewer than four angioplasties per guinea pig used in testing. ---
**Author:** ![Pixellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@Pixellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixellent)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/15 "2002-08-13T16:44:04Z")
Our cigarette-pack Surgeon General’s warnings are much more polite than Canada’s, for example. On the other hand, Canada’s are much funnier, especially if you’re a smoker who never deluded himself that the damn things wouldn’t kill you in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/16 "2002-08-13T16:52:53Z")
Cool, clean, refreshing water is readily available from our many fine public water fountains (or “bubblers”, if you must). I did not appreciate this until I found myself trudging around England clutching an empty plastic bottle, vainly searching for a place to fill it up. As far as I was able to determine there are exactly three public water fountains in all of London (I heard rumors of one at the Globe as well, but no one could personally vouch for it), and they were all lukewarm. The high quality of our drinking water in general is a big bonus to life in these United States…I’m sure plenty of countries wish they had it so good in that department. Oh yeah, whose national anthem was Lucy Lawless singing when she popped out of her top? Ours, baby! God bless America! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/17 "2002-08-13T16:57:50Z")
I need to know what Canadian cigarette warnings say now! What, what, what? ---
**Author:** ![Pixellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@Pixellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixellent)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/18 "2002-08-13T17:13:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by genie \* > \*\*I need to know what Canadian cigarette warnings say now! What, what, what? \*\* They’ve gotten funnier over the past couple of years, depending on how bent your sense of humor is – not a problem here at the SDMB. When I visited Montreal about three years ago, the cigarettes said, in big, bold, black type, **WARNING: THESE WILL KILL YOU.** Which I thought was pretty hysterical, and refreshing as all get-out after years of these warnings we get here in the U.S., that don’t have the guts to actually come out and say it. More recently, they’ve become even more darkly amusing: Canadian gasper packs now come emblazoned with great! big! unmistakable! warnings that tell you exactly what horrors will happen to you if you smoke… with _pictures_, yet. Cancerous gums, that kind of thing. And no, I ain’t makin it up. Here’s the proof: [Images Of Canadian Health Warnings](http://www.nsra-adnf.ca/english/warnexamples.html) ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/19 "2002-08-13T17:23:26Z")
Let’s see… Ringo: Wow… I’m amazed… wow. Someone asks you “What do you love about your nation, what truly ispires you and makes you wave your flag high…” You would respond “CHEESEBURGER” ok… Crusoe: Snack foods and tv… see the above response… but I do agree with the Fitzgerald part. jjimm: television… right… eunoia: Please try to explain to me how, in some other nation, people would not have done anything possible, including working with other people, to stop armed terrorists in the plane that they’re in when it was pretty well known thanks to cell phone calls that they were about to become part of the WTC. And Aerosol cheese… I hope to god you’re joking… That’s what you like about my nation? Abe Babe: We put a man on the moon thanks to vicious competition with the Soviet Union which caused things such as huge nuclear arsonals and the near end of the world in the CMC. That’s one giant leap backwards. Zebra, I’d agree with you on that one for sure. Pixellent: You’re right on your other hand argument: The reason that Canada’s cig packs have those “annoying”, “pesky” “not as polite” warnings (which I have seen before) is because THEY WILL KILL YOU. Why wouldn’t we want those warnings here? ---
**Author:** ![Pixellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@Pixellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixellent)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698/20 "2002-08-13T17:32:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clayton\_e \* > \*\*Let’s see… > > Pixellent: You’re right on your other hand argument: The reason that Canada’s cig packs have those “annoying”, “pesky” “not as polite” warnings (which I have seen before) is because THEY WILL KILL YOU. Why wouldn’t we want those warnings here? \*\* Well, yeah, that was my point. We **should** have warnings like that here. I’m a confirmed smoker, and like most smokers I know darn well I’m killing myself with them. What I hate is the mealymouthed equivocation of the warnings on American packs. They wouldn’t want to offend anyone or, god forbid, damage product sales – even of a product they **know** is dangerous – by coming right out and telling you so. That’s why the Canadian packs make me laugh. Someone who’s going to smoke is probably not going to be deterred by any warning whatsoever – we are, after all, talking about one of the most addictive drugs on Earth – but god bless the Canadians for having the guts to try. Which I **guess** pretty much makes this a bad thing about America, huh? Sorry, **Eve** … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-nice-things-about-the-u-s-says-the-yankee-doodle-doll/123698.md?page=2)