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June 26, 2003

American apology shirt
Posted by Teresa at 11:25 PM *

I want one. Note: It would be nice if they also had one in white on black. (via More Like This)

Comments on American apology shirt:
#1 ::: Yule Heibel ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 12:45 AM:

I wish I had a name like that: Aufrecht = upright. How cool is that? The t-shirt is pretty upfront, too.

#2 ::: John M. Ford ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 02:45 AM:

dcbersetzung heidft eine zweischneidige Banane. My surname translates as "damp patch," which is not all that great. My middle name (which does not happen to be Michael) depends on who you are listening to, being either "crusher," "merciful," "warrior," or "soybean slop;" this at least offers a choice of absurdities. My given name most authorities agree to be "He who is like God," which falls into the Gracious I Hope Not category.

But yes, the shirt is a splendid thing. One thinks sometimes about

HAYES & TILDEN
Good Government, Comparatively Speaking

. . . but, well, you know.

#3 ::: Johan A ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 04:30 AM:

Cute t-shirt. You're aware that the one they're selling is the men's version, aren't you? ;) I couldn't find anything about a women's version...

#4 ::: David Stewart ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 07:16 AM:

If they did versions which replaced the word President with Prime Minister/Taoiseach/Chancellor etc they could sell to disgruntled people all over the world. I'd certainly buy one with "Taoiseach"

#5 ::: Ray Radlein ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 07:56 AM:

If you hurry (because today's the last day that it's on sale), you can scoop up a lo-fi USA flag shirt whose caption is the elegantly simple "WE ARE NOT ALL JERKS", from the fertile mind of R. Stevens, the genius behind "Pornographers For Peace" (not to mention Diesel Sweeties, which is, without a doubt, the best comic out there about a robot who is in love with a retired porn star).

Anyway, I used some of my hard-unearned lack of cash to pick one up when they first came out; and if my health permitted me to, like, leave the house, I'd probably even wear it some time.

#6 ::: Larry Lurex ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 10:38 AM:

EU law has just changed to make it illegal for US citizens to enter without wearing these shirts.

Ensure you buy one before travelling abroad.

#7 ::: Emmet ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 10:42 AM:

Some years ago, there was a series of major political scandals in Ireland, involving all manner of shady money going left right and centre, which began to unravel when a local supermarket magnate, one Ben Dunne, who had been fairly centrally involved, had a breakdown.

Very shortly thereafter, there became available a t-shirt reading "Ben There, Dunne That, Bought the Taoiseach". I truly wish I had one, or failing that, could find a link to the front-page photo the Irish Times ran of the then-deputy Taoiseach wearing it.

#8 ::: Xopher ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 05:19 PM:

As far as I know, 'Michael' means 'Who is like God?' - it's a question. FWIW.

#9 ::: John M. Ford ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 05:59 PM:

Suddenly I am delighted by my mittelmonicker. Having your given names constantly engaging in dialectic would be . . . bad.

#10 ::: Vera Nazarian ::: (view all by) ::: June 27, 2003, 06:23 PM:

The Russian version of the quote is not quite right.... There is the perfectly good Russian word for "idiot" that is literally "idiot" and the other word they used is kind of strange(possibly it's slang that I haven't heard used this way and it sounds weird). But it is still not the best translation. Could be, they used a silly online translator to generate this.

#11 ::: Rachel Heslin ::: (view all by) ::: June 28, 2003, 03:52 PM:

That's marvelous -- right up there with this one.

#12 ::: Tracy Eckels ::: (view all by) ::: June 29, 2003, 09:36 AM:

I wish they had one that said

"Don't hold it against us, we didn't vote for our president."

#13 ::: Larry Lurex ::: (view all by) ::: June 30, 2003, 07:46 AM:

I wish I could get one that said

"I love America. Their democracy makes ours look good."

#14 ::: marty ::: (view all by) ::: June 30, 2003, 03:03 PM:

A new store, run by a friend of mine.

http://www.cafeshops.com/ProtectRights

#15 ::: Bill Higgins ::: (view all by) ::: June 30, 2003, 04:57 PM:

Years ago, Michael D. Toman talked about putting together an anthology called *Like Unto God: Science Fiction Stories by Writers Named Michael*. He figured it was one book he could be sure of selling a story to.

#16 ::: Randolph Fritz ::: (view all by) ::: June 30, 2003, 11:32 PM:

Xopher, Exodus 15:11

#17 ::: Steve Taylor ::: (view all by) ::: July 01, 2003, 09:47 PM:

Cute. I've seen T-shirts for sale here (Australia) with a legend of "I am not an American" in English and Arabic.

#18 ::: Russell ::: (view all by) ::: December 31, 2003, 02:54 AM:

Sorry, but it's not very original. The "I am not Amerian" shirt featuring a number of languages (and isn't it amazing...they're almost the same as on THIS shirt) has been available for a couple of years. http://www.iamnotamerican.com. A shame it's not such an original idea, otherwise it actually looks half decent.

#19 ::: Teresa Nielsen Hayden ::: (view all by) ::: December 31, 2003, 12:25 PM:

And your point is?

Independent invention is a real thing. There must have been at least a dozen different people who, all unprompted, started pronouncing "sci-fi" as "skiffy", and shortly thereafter started writing it as "skiffy".

That's a tiny instance. You'd be startled by the extent to which different artists can duplicate, not just a basic idea, but fairly elaborate details of its execution. I once had to phone some authors who'd submitted a manuscript to Tor, and explain gently that a book we had coming out not only duplicated their setting and half their characters, but had the exact same title as their book. It was pure coincidence. They'd been working on their story for years. The author of the book we published had likewise had his version in mind for years. I called them because I figured they needed to hear from someone in the business that such a thing can actually happen.

#20 ::: PiscusFiche ::: (view all by) ::: December 31, 2003, 12:52 PM:

Sometimes I don't know whether to be bemused or irritated by the way the cultural subconcious keeps tossing certain things back to the surface. I've experienced that same thing that Teresa mentions--I've written stories and then found something dangerously similar already published which I was unaware of previously.

And this sort of thing explains why I'm partially in favour of corralling copyright law into reasonable timeframes (reasonable: not Disney's perpetual extensions) or why I was against people trying to trademark any usage of "Let's Roll" after September 11th. A) I think our society is much richer for allowing its art to return to the public domain after a period of time and B) it encourages creation. (This is not to say that I am against copyright, btw--protecting the financial interests of artists also encourages creation. Just that I think Disney-style copyright laws are out of control.)

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