this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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Opossums

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (4 children)

What has my patriotism got to do with some rodent on another continent?

[–] ScruffyDucky 8 points 5 months ago

Its name rhymes with awesome

[–] Anticorp 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's a marsupial, not a rodent.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I hereby apologize to all marsupials for mis-speciezizing them

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Real patriots love unique animals on any continent!

[–] FireTower 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-history-patriot

Fun entomology fact: The modern understanding of the word is directly connected to the people of that continent. But for the success of the American revolution, you might be deeply offended to be called patriotic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Wow that's a whole load of US-centric malarkey. If you read between the bouts of patriotic (hah!).drivel, you'll see that it hasn't got anything to do with the US revolution. One of the faction was called the patriots which warped the meaning of the word in the English language for a time, reverting after the revolution back to the original meaning.

The word itself is derived from Greek and Latin (which took it from Greek, but that's neither here nor there) and appears in French, German, Spanish and probably many, many others before and after the little revolution some blokes embarrassed the king of England with in the 18th century.

No matter what they tell you in US schools, but the American revolution wasn't this big eruption, sending ripples through Europe. The monarchs of Europe were occupied with the French and their shenanigans at the time. People didn't care about some tea in Boston being spilled (besides the British that is). Yet, they still used the word Patriot with moremor less.the same meaning. So no, the word was not influenced by the USA in the grand scheme of things.

Merriam-Webster is once again deep in the propaganda game, that's all.

[–] FlyingSquid 5 points 5 months ago

You say it's North America's only marsupial, but I have it on very good authority that Martha Stewart has a pouch which she raises her joeys in.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

Damn I thought there were a whole lot of these guys

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

They aren't native to all of North America. Here in the Pacific Northwest they're an invasive species that ate all the native turtles to extinction. That said, I do think they're cute. At least they're helping us fight tick infestations.

[–] PopcornPrincess 2 points 5 months ago

🇺🇸🫡

[–] Anticorp 2 points 5 months ago

Hells to the yeah! I just shared this with my entire family.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

If I'm a real patriot why would I support an opossum with a different country's flag on it?