Satirical and Controversial Usage
The "U-S-A" chants has recently been adopted by English soccer supporters during matches against Manchester United, who have American owners unpopular with the club's supporters, due to the clubs being saddled by massive debt. Opposing supporters remind the United supporters of this with the "U-S-A" chant. This was also true of Liverpool, until the RBS takeover. The chant is also used by teams to celebrate achievements of American players, such as Clint Dempsey at Fulham and Tim Howard and Landon Donovan at Everton. It is also used widely by supporters of the men's and women's national soccer teams.
The chant has even shown up on The Jerry Springer Show, where it may spontaneously and inexplicably follow the show's standard cheer of "Jer-ry, Jer-ry!" and is also often delivered by Homer Simpson on The Simpsons as a celebration of almost anything, often accompanied by honking of his car's horn and flashing of its headlights.
The chant, however has found itself to be used in a negative display in recent times. For instance, at a Texas High School Basketball game in San Antonio the chant was used by a group of students to denote that the other team had illegal immigrants that lost.
Read more about this topic: U-S-A! (chant)
Famous quotes containing the words satirical and/or usage:
“The satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards,
that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber
and plum-tree gum, and that they have a plentiful lack of wit,
together with most weak hams.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“...Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, “It depends.” And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.”
—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)