to think --some-- Americans are just stupid!

[Ithinkitsjustme]

Have just heard that during the Olympic opening ceremony, when Sir Tim Berners-Lee was revealed, NBC commentators came out with "Who's he?" and told viewers that they would have to Google him to find out who he was! Which, ironically would have been impossible without his invention, .

Ithinkitsjustme - however bad it is that the American announcers didn't know who Sir Tim Berners-Lee is, your OP shows you in a far worse light. You could have easily made your point without insulting an entire nation.

And your second post justifying your offensive statement (that the thread was tongue in cheek) makes no sense whatsoever. Implying that people took you too seriously (or have no sense of humour) shows that you now plan to insult those on Mumsnet who tell you you are wrong.

I'm sure there are plenty of things you don't know about, and I would never label you 'stupid' because of it.

AmazingBouncingFerret got it in one. Yes, the average American (and honestly, probably the average Brit) would have no idea who he was. IMO it sounds as if the NBC commentators made a clever joke, which I suppose you expect Americans are incapable of doing. Being thick as we they are. :)

(And no, I don't think the commentators would have had a clue who he was if they hadn't had their schedule from the opening ceremony in front of them. :) )

I have to say, I am a bit surprised people don't know who T B-L is. I mean. He invented the internet!!

But yeah, pretty poor taste, OP. Ignorance isn't a national characteristic

HE DID NOT INVENT THE INTERNET.

I didn't know who he was before the caption came up.

I knew who Isambard Kingdom Brunel was though.

Perhaps we could have a thread about an English woman's baby shower list next. Just so I can fill my Bingo card.

Sorry Don'T - the World Wide Web! I must be more accurate.

Puppy I knew who IKB was, of course - but when Ken came on I shrieked "It's DICKENS!", greatly to everyone's embarrassment

TBL did invent HTT protocals & language, the basis of the WWW. As a comms device between scientists at CERN. It quickly spread thru other academic communities.

Whoever thought up AOL (now they deserve a lot of credit) quickly spotted a marketing opportunity, especially as VP Al Gore was more or less concurrently instrumental in legislation that opened up Internet use for commercial providers about the same time. So AOL started the sort of visual-based BBS (bulletin board systems, that succeeded Usenet type interfaces) that we now take for granted on sites like MN.

Note I have refrained from going into the history of Arpanet, Java, Linux. Or Bill Gates early dismissal of the WWW as a bit of a flash in the pan gimmick.

Q-Link was there before AOL in the US, though it was restricted to use of Commodore 64s I believe. Perhaps also 128s, didn't have one of those, though. I believe there was an equivalent system in the UK. AOL was certainly the marketing genius behind getting the concept out there to the masses, so to speak. Before that point, it was just geeks messing around on Unix-based accounts, with no (or minimal) graphics.

TBL is a genius and has transformed the way we communicate, shop, everything, but he didn't invent the concept of computers talking to one another. Or to servers which talk back. etc, this could get very geeky very quickly. :)

I don't blame the presenters, i blame the producers who should have given them a script including info like who TBL is. I also think it is a shame NBC chose to cut the dance section and emeli sandes performance which was a tribute to the 7/7 victims and replace it with Ryan seacrest's interview of Michael phelps. Absolutely nothing to do with America, just some poor decisions by one broadcaster.

YABU and offensive. So the announcer didn't know who he was (and I wonder what % of brits knew who he was) and that makes potentially thousands of people stupid? If your OP was AIBU to think that the NBC announcer should have done more research before hand (considering that the screening of the ceremony was delayed by NBC), I would agree. But otherwise - YABU

I was also quite about him being the inventor of the internet, as I'm pretty sure that I'd read about the US military having something similar since the 60s, but can't remember exactly.

How charming OP. Can you imagine how your title would read if you had written 'blacks' or 'muslims' instead of Americans?

Yes. Yes. Stupid Americans. Indians in call centres.

There are days when MN is gold - others ... Not so much!!! I can't stand this sort of attitude.

If you put "sir Tim" into google, Sir Tim Berners-Lee is the first suggestion in the box below, now. He's beating Sir Tim Rice now!

we had Prestel in the uk, and minitel in France- both text-based rather than GUI.

Don't arf @ flash-in-the-pan gimmick (and thanks for the lovely geekery!)

Joyful damn all those men that wore top hats. They must;ve known how confusing it would be for future generations.

I knew a Brit was responsible for WWW but not his name. I thought it was a lovely moment in the ceremony opening. My cousins are gun-toting, Republican-voting Rednecks so you can insult them but lay off the rest of the nation.

YABU, only thick twats make sweeping statements like that.

You heard wrong then.

I live in the US, and watched it. Can't remember the exact words, but for every character that arrived, they said something like, 'so this is' or 'who's this, well ...' they were working from notes and very well informed.
They gave a description of who he was, then said something about google him if you want to know more - as a joke.

Oh, for the love of all things holy. I cannot abide this ridiculous anti-American nonsense. Not knowing who Tim Berners-Lee is? Shrug. Portraying an entire nationality in a negative light based on one person's words? Now, that is truly stupid.

I'm American. I know who Sir Tim is. My exact Tweet at that exact moment was 'Geekasm'.

Sir Tim's exact Tweet, at that exact moment was 'This is for everyone.'

What kitchenjumble said.

I hate anti-americanisms on mumsnet.

Hatred of baby showers, americanisation of halloween, bridal showers, proms.

Yes, god damn the Americans for creating nice, fun things.

Love the idea that he wa sat at that computer tweeting, and that it wsn't just a prop. :o

I thought Tim Berners lee looked like a lovely man, apropos of nothing.