Why is everyone in this thread pronouncing/spelling 'than' like 'then' ? They don't sound the same so why the confusion? I'm Texan and I pronounce them differently why isn't everyone else? When (or where) did they merge?

They sound pretty similar, Square07, and lighten up. I notice these mistakes every today...it doesn't help to point them out all the time.

You're a Texan so you've got your own accent...perhaps "than" is more differently pronounced than "then" with a Texan accent, but with a standard Midwestern accent, it's not terribly different.

It's not just man on the street people who mess up badly. I'm not sure who it was but some blogger quizzed several top Democrat and Republican congressmen on basic Mideast/Terrorist info and the answers sounded like they came from those people in the video. I only recall some of the answers and not who specifically gave them (again though some were Democrats for those who like to make fun of Bush), correct answers in parenthesis,

What religion is Iran? - Sunni (Shia)
How many major ethnic/religious groups are in Iraq? - 2 (3)
Who does Al Qaeda draw support from? - Shiites (Sunni)
Is Hezbollah working with Al Qaeda? - Hezbollah is Sunni and Al Qaeda Shiite so they'll never work together (they are working together, and Hez. is Shiite)
What's the Muslim Holy Land? - Palestine (the Hedjaz)
I forget if it was Turkey or Iran but one of them was said to be Arab.

On the matter of geography/current events there's Rep. Murtha (Democrat leader of the anti-Iraq War movement) saying that US troops could support operations in the Mideast from Okinawa ignoring both obvious geography and the drawdown of US forces on Okinawa in accordance with Japanese wishes.

As for foreign leaders there is the very famous pop-quiz that Bush failed in 2000 but there is also a similar less famous world leader pop-quiz that Kerry failed in 2004 (may have been the same countries, I know Pakistan was on both).

There are examples of this in every country and every political party. Though for obvious reasons I'm more familiar with US examples than other countries. I'm just pointing out that ignorance runs a lot deeper than man on the street or a single politician or party.

WTF? In what world do some people live in? I mean, I'm not an expert in Geography or anything regarding other countries but I know what's going on around the world an a frickn' country starting with a U! *goes to the roof raising the greek flag*

i agree...

LMAO

thank you, sir.

You are right you should check this:

 Stupid in America:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA 

OMFG!
I don't know what's worse: people that find this funny, or people that are saying this could be done in any country.
This is not funny at all, this is just plain scary. Surely all the people that say this could be done in any country are from the USA, trying to minimize the disaster.
Seems like americans don't know how they are perceived outside of the USA.
Even the stupidest people in most country would not support an all out war on a country they don't even know, and I'm talking for most european countries there.
This is scary, because some people actually believe everybody behaves like that outside of the USA, and some people believe these are isolated cases. These are not!
Granted they did take some of the worst state, Texas, but still.
A majority of americans reelected Bush, a majority of them still support a war that had no justification, apart from their president saying there was some proof of bad things. Before even the absurd Irak war started, everybody in the world but the USA knew perfectly well that there was no justification for this war. And we observed in awe and fear at what could happen thanks to STUPID people.
There are intelligent people in the USA, and that's what's even scariest: most americans DON'T listen to them. These people were against the war too.
When people boycott France products because they didn't support or want to be part of such stupidity, what can you expect? Oh yes, even more stupidity like "we saved their ass in WWII" (for the more educated of the morons, still being very wrong), "they're cowards", and whatnot.

The USA has this huge army budget that they have to spend, so we know another war is on the horizon, it's a cycle that we hoped was broken, until those Afghanistan and Irak war. Now we live in fear again. I don't find this funny AT ALL.

Well, I'll go back to my good mood after this rant.
I remember I was invited to Alabama by one beautiful blonde girl student who was in France some years ago. I was amazed, as from her side, there would have been no problem for me going there in her family. I guess I can never discover this beautiful country, as I'm no guy to compromise, and I'm sure I'd make myself killed or go to prison if I were to go to the USA.
Given the people you're bound to encounter in the streets, I can't take that risk, as I love to talk with the locals when I go on a journey, and I hate guided tours.
Sad...

They shoud have gone to Seattle, Wa. for that test. Not some southern state with a high population of inbreeding.(Or Donkey F******)


Kids. This is why you stay in school.