Check out my latest article on aish.com, a piece sparked by an inspiration I had on my recent trip back from the States. It's a thought that really intrigues me. Let me know what you think!

Here's the link:
http://www.aish.com/sp/pg/Empty_Your_Pockets.html
 


Comments

Judy
12/10/2010 09:01

I can't explain why but it irks me when people (those living in Israel) refer to America-the United States, as "the States." I don't think Americans living in America ever refer to it that way. Maybe that's why it annoys me - why refer to me in a way that I don't refer to myself?

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Riva Pomerantz link
12/12/2010 02:01

Judy, your comment made me smile. You may want to read the article I posted there--this sounds like one of those stones in your pocket that you might want to toss :-).

Being born and bred in Toronto, we always referred to "America" as "The States", so it wasn't only when I came to Israel that that reference came to be.

If you think about it you may find that you never actually refer to yourself in any way at all because when do you really describe your home country as anything other than "home" or "here"? It's only when you emigrate elsewhere that you need to pick a nom de guerre for your past place of residence. Perhaps that's why it doesn't resonated iwth you. If you have any other suggestions than my diSTATESful (sorry, couldn't resist!) one, I'm open to hearing them!

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Judy
12/14/2010 17:34

Your comment about Toronto seems to reinforce my husband's idea which is that the term comes from the British.

By the way, when I lived in Israel for a year and a quarter as a newlywed and spent four a half months there on another trip, as well as a few summers, I never spoke about "the States" when referring to the US.

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