On sixty minutes last night Mike Wallace (or someone else) kept using the word “unamerican” which was supposed to mean unjust. I was glad that fellow he was interviewing pointed that out to him. I’ve always found the use of that word and the phrase “the American way” a little weird, as if USA has the monopoly on justice or whatever other good quality it’s used for (kind of like smurfy).
pweetman
Every time I hear that word, I start thinking of Senator McCarthy and HUAC.
TMR
You will buy the ukulele, and touch every place.
Unamerican would be anything African, Australian, Asian, Artic or Antartic (I don’t care what anybody says, Europe is not a continent.)
I love that word! Of course, well aware of TMR’s point, I use it almost exclusively when I have dipped it in irony.
(Don’t you think it would be a bit unAmerican to round up everyone of a certain ethnicity and put them in camps?)
And I always though HUAC ought to be pronounced as if one was hawking a lugie.
Tom~
Biggirl, that’s very uneuropean of you!
Q. If you’re an American when you go into the bathroom and you’re an American when you come out of the bathroom, what are you when you’re in the bathroom?
A. European.
“I used to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, until I realized who was telling me that.”
Emo Phillips
Biggirl, I think you are confusing the word “unamerican” with the word “non-american”. There is a difference. Something that is non-american is something that is not of or relating to America (the USA). Unamerican is a more subjective term. It refers to actions or philosophies that do not conform to certain values that are considered to be held by the majority of Americans. For example, monarchy, state controlled press or church, soccer, driving on the left, etc are considered unamerican, because they are contrary to the mores of most Americans. Ironically, conformity is also considered unamerican. Go figure.
pluto said
my brother’s over in England right now and he told me there’s a toilet company there that has a slogan or jingle:
pweetman
Um, Biggirl, you might not think Europe is a continent, but I’m fairly sure that Australia, the Arctic and the Antarctic are not generally considered continents either. Maybe I had a really bad education, but I thought it was usually accepted to be Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Asia and Oceania/Australasia. Central America and the Antarctic sometimes got honourable mentions.
“You know you talk so hip man, you’re twisting my melon man,”
Crusoe Takes A Trip
Australia and Antarctica are usually considered to be continents. The Artic isn’t a continent because it isn’t even land.
As far as the OP goes, this phenomenon is common outside the US, although, of course, the vocabulary is a little different.
Whenever a Brit gets in trouble with the law, the newsapapers (if they’re young/beautiful enough) begin to scream how they’ll never receive a fair trial overseas, eg the little murdering au pair (Louise Woodward was it?). All the people from her village of, IIRC, Elton in Cheshire, NW England were wearing yellow ribbons and proclaiming ‘We want justice for Louise’…the implication being they didn’t believe she’d receive a fair trial in the USA. In fact they did not want justice, nor were they interested in the facts of the case which they considered to be irrelevant because the procedures occurred in a damn furrin country. They simply wanted her absolved of any blame for whatever her actions were. I was embarassed.
Wendell, I’ll bow to your knowledge of Antarctica, but I was always taught that “Australasia” included many of the island states between Australia and South-East Asia. Oh well, no reason to argue, anyway.
Android, as a fellow Brit I couldn’t agree more - it makes me cringe to see the tabloids assume that if you’re on trial outside Britain you must be innocent.
“You know you talk so hip man, you’re twisting my melon man,”
Crusoe Takes A Trip
If the meaning of the word “continent” can be changed to suit the cultural and ideological bent of whatever scientist is uttering the word, then it would be unamerican of you all to disparage my definition.
(I would put a little smilie at the end of the above, but I hate those things.)
Maybe Europe should be described as ‘incontinent’ What, you hate these? 
Biggirl:
It’s perfectly American to point out to people that they are incorrectly using the English language. Words actually have meanings, and randomly redefining them isn’t considered “nonconformity”. If you are having a conversation with someone it is expected that you are speaking a language that actually exists, and that when you talk about continents you are referring to a group that includes Europe and excludes the mythical land of Artica.
As for unamerican, I’ve always considered the metric system to be unamerican. It’s also non-American, having originated in France. After that first paragraph, that might sound a bit odd, but unamerican is a pretty vague term.
Thanks Water, for straightening me out. Obviously, the winking smilie was needed.