FWIW, I used to work in a school library and had the grat joy of removing and discarding a book published in 1936 about Barbary pirates. Let us simply say that the maps of modern Africa were very confusing, and not mention the general aspersions cast on the character of all Africans.

This was also the library which was struggling to go from card catalogue to computer, a problem compounded by the last 30 years of US cultural history. Because it is a school dedicated to diversity in collection, the card catalogue had subject headings for literature under AFRO-AMERICAN, AFRICAN-AMERICAN, BLACK, BLACK AMERICAN, and a few doughty frayed titles under NEGRO. Each term having been politic and polite at one point in the past 50 years.

From my more conservative Christian days in college, a bunch of us used to use this book called "Operation World" in our prayer meetings that had you pray for every country in the world over the course of a year.

::shudder:: Thanks for the freak-ass church flashback. Cause we did this.

If it's any comfort, at least some Episcopalians do it too, although I don't know if they're using "Operation World" as a guide.

I know my last Episcopal church did this. It was sweet.

Question for Australian unAmericans.

An Australian acquaintence complained that Americans are too goddamn senstive to argue with - a few friendly insults and wander off in a huff "like an elderly maiden aunt". Now aside from the sexist metaphor, I can think of lots of criticisms that can be made of Americans. "Overly sensitive" does not strike me as a usual one. Have I missed an entire stereotype?

Gar, it depends on the topic. Every nationality has their sensitivities, and I've never found Americans as a whole particularly stoic about ignoring slights.

OK-- we really need pictures or I need to stop scanning. I've just confused 'Typo Boy' with 'Trudy Booth', and I am forever mixing up Ellen and Emily.

An Australian acquaintence complained that Americans are too goddamn senstive to argue with - a few friendly insults and wander off in a huff "like an elderly maiden aunt". Now aside from the sexist metaphor, I can think of lots of criticisms that can be made of Americans. "Overly sensitive" does not strike me as a usual one. Have I missed an entire stereotype?

I believe what they may be referring to is that (IME) Aussies tend to pepper their relationships with more ribbing, digs, putdowns and such like. The 'it's a joke, Joyce' factor doesn't always translate well. (I do know of Aussies who've come to the US and got in trouble with that.)

Re: sensitivities - in the UK, taking the piss is pretty much a national passtime, but in Australia I think it's maybe even more so. So maybe that's part of it?

Re: sensitivities - in the UK, taking the piss is pretty much a national passtime, but in Australia I think it's maybe even more so. So maybe that's part of it?

Ah, that's the phrase. Yep, taking the piss is something of a national pastime, certainly more so than here.

Edit: and now I'm recalling the survey of national humour preferences that did the rounds last year, and also my own observation that American remakes of British sitcoms don't generally do well. The survey said that humour which relied on, basically, laughing at someone (due to foolishness, gullibility, moral turpitude or whatever) tends to be more popular than in Britain and Australia. Now, I think that needs some qualification. On Coupling, for instance, characters like Jeff certainly invite a great deal of the point-and-laugh. But (IMO), such characters also evoke greater sympathy than corresponding characters on American sitcoms.

I think this greater tendency to take the piss in normal relationships accounts for a lot of this. Ridicule can obscure a person's basic humanity; British sitcoms (good ones, anyway) are better at sidestepping this, because there's more of a tradition of doing so good-naturedly. (Paradoxically, this allows them to be more savage too at times.) But when you have a US remake, this gets lost, and all you have is a show based on ridiculing some sad bastards. And they already have reality shows for that.