[budster101]

Why do/did Socialist and National Socialistic Countries do this?

"Mother" Russia.
"The Fatherland" Germany.

Does China have a similar nick?
Korea?
Vietnam?

In the USA, I don't have any that come to mind* except for maybe "Lady Freedom" for the Statue of Liberty, who greets every foreigner coming to the USA through Ellis Island to become a citizen.

Is Ellis Island open still?

Anyway, just a random thougth I had.

*Each state in the USA has a nickname though:

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa121399a.htm

[von Wrangell]

"Homeland" Security?

[budster101]

That describes an agency, not a country. Try again maybe?

[Millennium]

Ellis Island was closed for a long time, but they reopened it some years ago. I don't think they closed it down after 9/11, but even if they did it will probably reopen soon. Those establishments which were closed down after 9/11 have been reopening one by one over the years.

As for a nickname for the US, you're right; I've never actually heard any official or traditional nicknames for it. I've occasionally heard "Columbia", but I don't know if that's supposed to be a nickname for the nation as a whole or for some aspect thereof.

Why do socialist countries do this? I don't know, but I suspect it's to try and engender in the people a bond with their nation. Socialism is not about increasing government power or engendering nationalism in the people, but these things are necessary in order for it to work (the former so that the government is able to perform what socialists believe are its duties, and the latter to help ensure an attitude in the people which is conducive to serving the country for its own sake). Giving human (and especially parental) characteristics to nonhuman things has always been an effective tool for causing people to establish bonds with them.

von Wrangell's comment about the DHS isn't entirely inappropriate, since it works in a similar way. people feel a strong bond to their homes, and so making the DHS sound like an integral part of the home is a quick and frighteningly effective method for getting people to accept it.

[Doofy]

Nobody has heard of "Uncle" Sam?

[budster101]

Ah.. Uncle Sam. <Smacks forehead> Of course.

[osiris]

[Athens]

Originally Posted by budster101

Why do/did Socialist and National Socialistic Countries do this?

"Mother" Russia.
"The Fatherland" Germany.

Does China have a similar nick?
Korea?
Vietnam?

In the USA, I don't have any that come to mind* except for maybe "Lady Freedom" for the Statue of Liberty, who greets every foreigner coming to the USA through Ellis Island to become a citizen.

Is Ellis Island open still?

Anyway, just a random thougth I had.

*Each state in the USA has a nickname though:

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa121399a.htm

Mother America, ive herd Americans call it that a few times.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by budster101

"The Fatherland" Germany.

I'm not aware that Germany was ever nicknamed "The Fatherland" by Germans. "Fatherland" is just a word for "home country", but not specific to Germany only. The nickname of Germany during the Nazi regime was "The Third Empire". I looked a little bit around why you claimed that "Fatherland" is a nickname for Germany, and interestingly the Tiger dictionary has this to say about it:

• chiefly historical Germany, esp. during the period of Hitler's control.

So if anything then "The Fatherland" was an English or American nickname for Germany.

[Moderator]

What's Iran's nickname, that's the model we'll most likely follow.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by Doofy

Nobody has heard of "Uncle" Sam?

That's more of a nickname for the government than the nation. Again, though, we have the concept of personifying something inanimate so that people will bond with it.

[villalobos]

here is some more about vaterland : hardly related to the nazi era.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Fatherland

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Athens

Mother America, ive herd Americans call it that a few times.

REALLY?!?! I've lived here 34 years and have yet to hear anyone say that.

Concerning "Uncle Sam". They are referring to the government, not the country.

[nonhuman]

I've never heard a Russian refer to Russia as Mother Russia. In Russian, Russia is sometimes referred to as родина which is derived from the Russian word for birth and means something more like 'the place I was born'. So while it definitely has motherly connotations it's really more of a homeland sort of thing, and you can just as easily refer to someone else's родина as your own.

Interestingly, I've never heard anyone refer to America as Mother America except in Russian.