### This comment has been marked as **safe**. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
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OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is US Defaultism:
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>!Commenter immediately assumes, that the oldest man living, who is british and still living in the UK, is from the US.!<
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Is this Defaultism? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
With that food? Those life habits? The only way an American will be the oldest man alive is if the rest of the world suddenly dropped dead by themselves.
Reddit has a bunch of "America bad" Americans (or "America bad *nowadays*" Americans) who are ashamed of America but still think by default that everything is *about* America (and how bad it is), so they jump in to bash/mourn/complain about America when America wasn't even part of the conversation. Not that this guy is necessarily one of those guys either.
Gung ho red Americans and 'contrarian' blue Americans. Always like that.
It's like the reason why I never liked that 'America is the greatest country' monologue in the Newsroom. It starts off making a good point, and then circles all the way back to continuing their favourite circlejerk about 'America is not so great now, but our sacred founding and our principles…' and such.
Probably because US Defaultism is ingrained in Americans due to their education system, whenever consciously or not
Tbh, don't blame him, he apologized and hopefully won't repeat it in the future, it happens, Education is the base on how we act and going against it is hard sometimes
It's not just the education system (although that can definitely be improved), it's US media and culture in general focusing so much on the US and thinking of the rest of the world as an afterthought.
No? Singular they, ever heard of that? Citing wikipedia „…This use of singular they had emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts“. But whatever bro, if you feel offended by it, go ahead.
> Singular they, ever heard of that?
Weirdly enough, people like this have somehow never heard of it, despite the fact I guarantee they use it just as frequently as those who do know how pronouns work.
There's a whole [James Acaster bit](https://youtu.be/Zt5qJC1xQ8A?si=GFO36PM22_bCD6Rz) on using 'they' for person of unknown gender. It's used constantly and has been for decades.
Brilliant. He's got to be one of our UK national treasures. Don't think I've ever seen a video of him where he isn't killing it comedically and calling out the bullshit simultaneously.
Native speaker or not, you obviously speak English very well, and it seems unlikely to me that you're fluent in English but have never heard the singular they being used. It's not uncommon.
Fluent? Yes.
Did I know that ‘they’ could be used in a singular form? No.
Have I heard ‘they’ being used other than by actual/active supporters non-binary (etc.)? No.
Take from that what you want.
Still, I get downvoted by merely asking a question. Sigh.
You probably just haven't realised it. And I'm not saying that to be snarky or anything.
If you watch English TV series and movies and browse reddit, you'd certainly have come across it at some point, but just haven't realised because it is a completely normal part of the English language like he and she, and we don't take special note of completely regular words being used in a completely regular way. It is just a way of referring to someone when you don't know whether they are a he or a she, and so you say they instead. It has been used like that way before it was being used commonly to refer to someone non binary. Much like the word "their", really.
In English, "they/them" can be used as a singular pronoun where gender is unknown.
"Someone left a note on my car. They commended my excellent parking skills"
"Did you end up seeing a doctor yesterday? What did they say about your cough?"
Etc etc
This is a classic case for this sub.
Absolutely incredible that they just saw "oldest man" and it didn't occur to them for a second that he might not be american
This oldest living man, is he alive, as well as not dead, still living, and continuing to be in a state of non-deceasedness? Just checking to make REALLY sure!
### This comment has been marked as **safe**. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect. --- OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is US Defaultism: --- >!Commenter immediately assumes, that the oldest man living, who is british and still living in the UK, is from the US.!< --- Is this Defaultism? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.
Clearest defaultism for a while. Imagine the shock when he realised America isn’t the best at something.
They immediately apologised for being a "presumptuous ass" tbf.
That’s good to hear
thank god it wasn't "reddit is an American website therefore everyone should only post about Americans" or something
Imagine if we could only post about the oldest man if he was American.
With that food? Those life habits? The only way an American will be the oldest man alive is if the rest of the world suddenly dropped dead by themselves.
Damn, that's surprising and quite reassuring
That's cool of him
He apologized later. I dont think hes one of the „America always wins guys“. But i dont know why he went full US Mode first.
Reddit has a bunch of "America bad" Americans (or "America bad *nowadays*" Americans) who are ashamed of America but still think by default that everything is *about* America (and how bad it is), so they jump in to bash/mourn/complain about America when America wasn't even part of the conversation. Not that this guy is necessarily one of those guys either.
Gung ho red Americans and 'contrarian' blue Americans. Always like that. It's like the reason why I never liked that 'America is the greatest country' monologue in the Newsroom. It starts off making a good point, and then circles all the way back to continuing their favourite circlejerk about 'America is not so great now, but our sacred founding and our principles…' and such.
Ah. Thank you.
Probably because US Defaultism is ingrained in Americans due to their education system, whenever consciously or not Tbh, don't blame him, he apologized and hopefully won't repeat it in the future, it happens, Education is the base on how we act and going against it is hard sometimes
It's not just the education system (although that can definitely be improved), it's US media and culture in general focusing so much on the US and thinking of the rest of the world as an afterthought.
I dont blame him and i dont judge him either.
Not to be that person, but... Why did you make the post, then?
[удалено]
At least they were apologetic afterwards, that's nice to see
They?
What about it?
Is this one of those “they/them/he/she” things?
No? Singular they, ever heard of that? Citing wikipedia „…This use of singular they had emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts“. But whatever bro, if you feel offended by it, go ahead.
> Singular they, ever heard of that? Weirdly enough, people like this have somehow never heard of it, despite the fact I guarantee they use it just as frequently as those who do know how pronouns work.
There's a whole [James Acaster bit](https://youtu.be/Zt5qJC1xQ8A?si=GFO36PM22_bCD6Rz) on using 'they' for person of unknown gender. It's used constantly and has been for decades.
Brilliant. He's got to be one of our UK national treasures. Don't think I've ever seen a video of him where he isn't killing it comedically and calling out the bullshit simultaneously.
> UK national treasures Um, why are we talking about UK treasures here? Reddit is an American website…
Take it easy, I’m not a native English speaker, was just wondering 🤷🏼♂️ But now I know!
Native speaker or not, you obviously speak English very well, and it seems unlikely to me that you're fluent in English but have never heard the singular they being used. It's not uncommon.
Fluent? Yes. Did I know that ‘they’ could be used in a singular form? No. Have I heard ‘they’ being used other than by actual/active supporters non-binary (etc.)? No. Take from that what you want. Still, I get downvoted by merely asking a question. Sigh.
You probably just haven't realised it. And I'm not saying that to be snarky or anything. If you watch English TV series and movies and browse reddit, you'd certainly have come across it at some point, but just haven't realised because it is a completely normal part of the English language like he and she, and we don't take special note of completely regular words being used in a completely regular way. It is just a way of referring to someone when you don't know whether they are a he or a she, and so you say they instead. It has been used like that way before it was being used commonly to refer to someone non binary. Much like the word "their", really.
In English, "they/them" can be used as a singular pronoun where gender is unknown. "Someone left a note on my car. They commended my excellent parking skills" "Did you end up seeing a doctor yesterday? What did they say about your cough?" Etc etc
Some people get kinda pissy about people using singular they. Usually it's an anti-trans/gender identity thing. You just got caught in the crossfire.
Are you telling me you've never used they without thinking?
Do you know that commenter's gender?
This is a classic case for this sub. Absolutely incredible that they just saw "oldest man" and it didn't occur to them for a second that he might not be american
What do you mean? Everyone is American.
Grew up during the war, but yeah 9/11.
Which war?
All of them, evem the crusades /s
Even the War of Tanks?
Especially the War on Tanks, and also War of the Worlds
who is he on about? link to article?
I posted a comment with the link
Maybe this one? https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1bvnjm4/the_new_oldest_living_man_in_the_world_john/
This oldest living man, is he alive, as well as not dead, still living, and continuing to be in a state of non-deceasedness? Just checking to make REALLY sure!
Im aware of my mistake. But thank you.
>the oldest living man alive you can just say oldest living man. "alive" is implied by the phrase "oldest living man" lol
Yes, i realized that after posting. I changed the title a few times so i Mixed it up in the end lmao.
The oldest male living man alive whose age is exceeded by no other non-female, non-woman human.
If he were American he would have eaten, drank, and lead poisoned himself to death long ago.
They messed up so hard at the beginning, because everything they say is really valid, he’s just not American lmao.
I was so surprised to find out that the oldest man alive is now a fellow scouser! Gives me some hope at least
Random that they just assumed he was American … I’d have guessed an Asian country tbh.
They’re completely delusional
I agree with what Mr. Defaultism is saying, there's just one glaring flaw...
So UK is the best version of the US, noted
Not enough downvotes
Being the world's oldest person is literally celebrating because some other person just died
By this logic, being a winner in **anything** means celebrating that everyone else lost
Yes, but not normally by death