American exceptionalism?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Look, I can't know what *we* think it means. I can only know what I think
*I* think it means. Or what I think I thought it meant when I wrote what I
thought I thought it meant. I might think different now. So this discussion
is at an end.

JL

On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 1:05 PM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: American exceptionalism?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > No, no. With *other* countries it might be pompousness. But this is
> *America* we're talking!
>
> I get it now. "American exceptionalism"
> Other countries might think "American pompousness" while we think
> "American wonderfulness".
>
> So the term DOES mean what we think it means, no matter what it means.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
> See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk
>
>
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: American exceptionalizm?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Feb 22, 2012, at 12:20 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> >
> > > from thefreedictionary.com - It reads like it means an attitude of
> "American pompousness"
> >
> > No, no. With *other* countries it might be pompousness. But this is
> *America* we're talking!
> >
> > LH
> >
> > >
> > > exceptionalism [ɪkˈsɛpʃənəlɪzm] n
> > > (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) an attitude to other countries,
> cultures, etc. based on the idea of being quite distinct from, and often
> superior to, them in vital ways
> > >
> > >
> >
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