this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024
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me_irl
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Having grown up in both countries, the joke here is about colonialism more than American stupidity.
The British know everywhere spices, sugar and coffee come from innately
The joke is that America Bad, and you're ruining it by bringing England Bad into it. What are you, some kind of shill for America? How much is Big America paying you, bro?
Big America pays everyone(except our employees)!
It's absolutely not.
What's Nicaragua got to do with British colonialism? It's about Americans being ignorant of other countries.
Well, they did colonize Nicaragua for over 200 years.
*Edit: added link
Right. So you think people know that and that's what the joke is about?
I never said that. That's an argument you are having with other people. All I did was answer your question.
The point of the question is to show how limited that information actually is. Just look at how small the Wikipedia article is.
No one is denying English people have set foot on Nicaragua. But to claim that's what the joke is about is stupid.
No one is going to hear that joke and think "hahaha that's a about a settlement in 1633! What an absolute reference! Classic"
If you asked about British/English colonialism it would take forever for the members of the public to reference Nicaragua.
Can we agree on a bit of both?
No? If the joke was "we know, we're British" then maybe. It says schooled in Britain - which implies "we know we learned it in geography". Not everything needs to have colonialism, capitalism etc in it, it's just a joke.
Yes, that's the original joke - having been taught in British schools, they learned about Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Why this is in the school curriculum, however, is another matter, and this thread is pointing out the coincidence that the British empire colonised Nicaragua for like two centuries.
It's in the curriculum because it's geography, wtf do you mean. We learned all the countries in the world, all seas, major lakes, mountains, highlands and lowlands across Europe etc. And no, I'm not British. There doesn't need to be a deeper meaning when there is none - people simply learn that shit over here.
We learnt about each and every country in the world at school. We had to be able to point it out on a blind map, remember the capital city, name the neighbouring countries, know the main mountains, rivers, economy, those sorts of stuff.
Nothing specifically, but they had a hot interest in the "Americas" for a whiiiile, as did all European countries
Edit, do a quick search lol
That's the biggest stretch in the world.
The joke is about education systems. If it was about British interest overseas he would have said something like "Yes, we are English. We take a lot of interest in far away lands".
I'm not saying he wouldn't make that joke, it's a normal enough joke for Brit to make. But he is certainly joking about quality in education in this case as he mentions it. You are just imagining the world as you want it to be, not seeing it for how it is.
Let's wait for the Brits to wake up and see what their view is.
Ok, none of this matters.
You're totally freaking out about a joke they got MILDLY turned around and it's a super cool look.
"Just wait until my friends get here"
To be clear:
most of America has shit geography because most Americans never go anywhere. (It's a big country, where most citizens don't need to leave to find work or make lives)
Most of Europe (including the UK) have a much better understanding of "the colonies" because it was a huge part of their history for longer than America was a country.
I lived in Surrey from age 5-18 so I think I have a passing, but shallow view of the situation.
Edit if you actually think Britain and Nicaragua have no colonial relationship, maybe learn your geography lol
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_settlement_in_Nicaragua
There are quite a few countries in Europe that never had colonies. They have high standard of geography at school anyway. It's not related to colonialism, it's more about the education system.
Of course none of this matters.
If you were making a joke then it was poorly constructed and I missed it. Pyrflie made the same joke but better and I laughed when I read that. Yours comes across as factually incorrect "acktually".
We seem to have a disagreement about what the joke is about and I'm willing to be proven wrong by Brits. That's all I'm saying. Short of Noel himself showing up other British people are going to know the meaning of the joke best. Until then I think you are misleading people.
Christ alive. Look jokes works because of peoples understanding of it. If you think English involvement in Nicaragua is common knowledge enough for a joke on colonialism then fucking hell you must think more of the education of the general public than me. As fair as I know American involvement in Nicaragua is way more common knowledge than English involvement there which breaks the joke.
But it is all meaningless anyway because the joke isn't about that.
This website is weird at times. Joke about American's education gets turned into a history of colonialism and the breakdown of a what makes a joke, a joke. I'm going to the pub.
The whole premise of the joke is the relative "common knowledge" of Nicaragua, or any other central/south American country. Be it to Americans or Europeans
Im not competing with any other commenter, or anyone else. It's just a fuckin life experience.
Don't make jokes if you can't take jokes
Edit further if living in the UK for a decade across the "formative" years where geography is taught doesn't count, then I'm not sure where the lesson about countries lands.
Just because that's what you got out of it, doesn't mean that it was the intended joke.
If the British are so educated, why don't they teach their kids about all the pillaging, raping and looting the British Empire has done throughout the world, including Latin America?
Edit: lots of colonialists in his thread. You guys love living in a throne of blood
Or how their campaign to end slavery globally massively bankrupted the nation
I mean it can't be all England bad all the time, you've got to squeeze your times tables and periodic tables in somewhere. We covered the Raj and our role in the causes of WW1 and WW2, as well as the Boer War. There might ve been more ive forgotten.