A paper that a student handed in today has brought a smile to my face every time I remember it. The assignment was to have a conversation with five people from five different countries and then write about those conversations and what was learned.
The student wrote that she speak with a person from Britain, Czech Republic, Serbia, a country I cannot remember, and Usa (pronounced "oo-sa"). Over the summer, my parents and I decided we were going to try to learn as many different countries in the world. All I could say is that it's not in Europe. Remembering back to our studies, I could not think of a country named "Usa." On the paper, beside Usa, I wrote, "Where is this country?"
In the paper, the student writes that the person she interviewed from Usa is from North Carolina.
My first thought was: "Oh, Usa must be a little town in North Carolina."
"Is that near Raleigh?" I was tempted to ask.
Remember what two and two equals, I realized the mistake: Usa was America.
Now I begin to wonder: who make the greater mistake - the student or me? The student did not capitalize all of the letters to USA and I assumed that the student would not make such a simple mistake.
I have now decided to I might start calling America "Usa" from now on. Perhaps it will help me remember that we all make the silliest mistakes at times.
Thank you to everyone in Usa who is reading my blog.
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On the Internet, to make a distinction between people from Usa and people from other American countries, people like you and me are sometimes referred to as USians or Usians. I think it's a pretty convenient term, but I don't know that we'd ever be able to settle on a pronunciation.
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