One For The Yanks Perhaps

[suegha]

Hi all, I had a clue in a crossword today that read 'The states personified' and the answer was 'Uncle Sam'.

This got me thinking, where did this name come from and does it have any signifigance in its usage?

[jimmy5L]

Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States dating from the War of 1812. Common folklore holds that his origins trace back to soldiers stationed in upstate New York, who would receive barrels of meat stamped with the initials U.S. The soldiers jokingly referred to it as the initials of the meat supplier, Uncle Samuel Wilson, of Troy, New York. The 87th United States Congress adopted the following resolution on September 15, 1961: "Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America's National symbol of Uncle Sam." A monument marks his birthplace in Arlington, Massachusetts.

However, counter-arguments to this theory have been raised by some. One theory suggests that Uncle Sam was a creation by Irish immigrants to the US who used the Gaelic acronym, SAM, or Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá, which is the translation for United States of America, as a nickname for their new host country. Unfortunately, however, the precise origin of the term may never be proven.

Most earlier representative figures of the United States such as "Brother Jonathan" were overtaken by Uncle Sam somewhere around the time of the Civil War. The female personification "Columbia" has seldom been seen since the 1920s. Thomas Nast played an important role in creating the popular image of Uncle Sam in his post-Civil War era political cartoons. After the American Civil War, whiskers were added to Uncle Sam in reference to Abraham Lincoln. Today, with the possible exception of the Statue of Liberty, the character of Uncle Sam is probably the most easily recognizable personification of the U.S.

[chownah]

Uncle Sam is a national personification of the United States dating from the War of 1812. Common folklore holds that his origins trace back to soldiers stationed in upstate New York, who would receive barrels of meat stamped with the initials U.S. The soldiers jokingly referred to it as the initials of the meat supplier, Uncle Samuel Wilson, of Troy, New York. The 87th United States Congress adopted the following resolution on September 15, 1961: "Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America's National symbol of Uncle Sam." A monument marks his birthplace in Arlington, Massachusetts.

However, counter-arguments to this theory have been raised by some. One theory suggests that Uncle Sam was a creation by Irish immigrants to the US who used the Gaelic acronym, SAM, or Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá, which is the translation for United States of America, as a nickname for their new host country. Unfortunately, however, the precise origin of the term may never be proven.

Most earlier representative figures of the United States such as "Brother Jonathan" were overtaken by Uncle Sam somewhere around the time of the Civil War. The female personification "Columbia" has seldom been seen since the 1920s. Thomas Nast played an important role in creating the popular image of Uncle Sam in his post-Civil War era political cartoons. After the American Civil War, whiskers were added to Uncle Sam in reference to Abraham Lincoln. Today, with the possible exception of the Statue of Liberty, the character of Uncle Sam is probably the most easily recognizable personification of the U.S.

Did you get this from the Wikipedia website? I believe that we are required to show the source for information which is copied from the web and pasted here....it is not only polite but I think it is a legal requirement now...also maybe one of the posting rules but I'm not sure.

[jimmy5L]

Did you get this from the Wikipedia website? I believe that we are required to show the source for information which is copied from the web and pasted here....it is not only polite but I think it is a legal requirement now...also maybe one of the posting rules but I'm not sure.

Yes it’s from wiki, sorry, forgot to mention it!

[MarkBKK]

I believe that we are required to show the source for information which is copied from the web and pasted here....it is not only polite but I think it is a legal requirement now...also maybe one of the posting rules but I'm not sure.

It's certainly not a legal requirement. Infringement of copyright is infringement of copyright. Quoting the source makes no difference (here, in the EU, the US, pretty much anywhere). Of course, the likelyhood of anyone doing anything about it is usually pretty remote. Citing Wikepedia really says more about the citer than the citee ...

[chownah]

I believe that we are required to show the source for information which is copied from the web and pasted here....it is not only polite but I think it is a legal requirement now...also maybe one of the posting rules but I'm not sure.

It's certainly not a legal requirement. Infringement of copyright is infringement of copyright. Quoting the source makes no difference (here, in the EU, the US, pretty much anywhere). Of course, the likelyhood of anyone doing anything about it is usually pretty remote. Citing Wikepedia really says more about the citer than the citee ...

I think Wikipedia is a good source for information...but one should always realize that any encyclopedic source of information can present innacuracies or biased views.... I never completely trust information if I find it at only one source.....especially true of controversial issues.

[Wolfie]

This is related to Thailand in what way?