THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD

Well that's interesting fealola, and logical too. Thank you. It's a word I may use.
It's a word which would apply to me (the cultural exchange thing again) although I've been over there only twice: in 1977 and in 2001.
In 1977 I did a coast-to-coast trip on the bus, visiting NYC, Dallas, Galveston, El Paso, LA, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Chicago and Boston.

In 2001 my family and I did a fly-drive to Toronto, Ottawa, Boston, Norwalk Connecticut and NYC, and back to Canada for the return flight. Happy days. In July and August, thoughts turn to foreign parts and trips abroad. Wanderlust.

s'ok - yours was slightly different as well - regional variations???

Family invention? I think not ... but nice try, family! That's the knuckle thing Beth was writing about when she & a fellow employee were trying to figure out how many days in the year. I learned it too, about a zillion years ago and not in Canada.

Isn't Miss American Pie (As in "Bye, bye, Miss American Pie") a homonym for Americaphile? Saying you love "Applehood & Mother Pie" is another way of expressing fondness for this country.

I thought people (not of this country) only liked certain parts of America... the Wild West or NYC or Hollywood or something, not the whole darn thing. Taking it in all at once can cause you to choke.

Happy Sunday, all. I do believe Americana might be what McTag is looking for.

"Americana" is usually more related to AMERICA and not to the English speaking northern part of the continent only. :wink:

Morning, Letty. I think you're right. When I read Americana I immediately saw a home-crafted red, white & blue wooden flag with a few stripes & a star or two. It's gracing a bale of straw which is mostly covered in a red-checkered tablecloth that has plates of corn on the cob, BBQ'd burgers and a deep-dish pie. Happy people are watching a parade with a nattily uniformed high school band and maybe they're at the state fair. A Souza march is playing in the background.

Funny, I thought of folk art.

Just got the newsletter from my bookshop: under 'americana', they've listed this week only history and art books South America related :wink:

Eva -- My Americana image had a folk-art flag!

Walter -- I just looked at Google and there seem to be a lot of Central & South American sites connected with Americana.

Interesting. When I go to estate sales and auctions, Americana usually refers to sort of tacky, home-made crafty stuff. Very Family Circle or Women's Day. In the book shops it seems to be books about the history or geography of North/South/Central America. Must be a very context-specific word.

Oh my Gawd! Gauche, gauche Americans and their carnival glass

You're right, Piffka. I guess I was thinking more of museum displays.

Eva -- There seems to be a lot of Americana folk art that you can Google and there were 3,951 items for sale in eBay when I searched for Americana. Not all of them had a flag motif.

I'd call Grandma Moses's art Americana... but maybe it's just American Folk or Primitive?

Grandma Moses' work seems like a good example of primitive art. I think at one time they even considered it outsider art, but that definition has been fine-tuned (thank goodness).

Difinitely, Grandma Moses, ehBeth and Grant Wood.

Did anyone contribute the magnitudes of stars?

Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me . . .

In Seattle the downtown streets (going north and two at a time) have their own special mnemonic:

Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest

Jefferson, James
Cherry, Columbia
Marion, Madison
Spring, Seneca
University, Union
Pike, Pine


Here's the mnemonic for the Animal Kingdom:

King Philip Come Out, For Goodness Sake
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

I have heard that medics must learn a whole list of baffling aides-memoire when they are preparing for their anatomy exams.

I bet there's a website dedicated to this kind of stuff.

But now, I'll never get lost in north Seattle.

McT -- I don't want to steer you wrong... that wasn't NORTH Seattle (which is a whole 'nother ball of wax). JCMSUP refers to downtown streets beginning on the south side of town and heading north.

There are a load of words which have different meanings or usages across the Atlantic (eg. sidewalk, gasoline, shut-out) and spellings (colour, grey etc) Is there a technical term for these?