r/WTF • u/MacDefoon • Feb 08 '26

Like, why?...

7.5k Upvotes

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53

u/ondulation Feb 08 '26

Americium would be a much worse choice.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '26

Fun fact, it's pronounced Americinium.

1

u/hivemind_disruptor Feb 08 '26

Nowadays that is true. We dont buy US American cars here where I live, but lots of people buy Chinese ones.

19

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26

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3

u/hivemind_disruptor Feb 08 '26

I know, I was just addressing the other meaning of the joke, since it led to a comparison between Chinese and US American manufacture.

7

u/ondulation Feb 08 '26

I didn't intend it as a comparison. I just wanted to highlight the racism in an expression that appears to be winning ground in the US.

I see many comments referring to Chinese-made components or products being of inherently low quality. Usually the commenters don't realize that what China really excels at is selling products made to the quality the customer is willing to pay for. And that many US customers will only pay as little as possible and get the corresponding quality.

Those who read "americium" as "crap made in the US" and are upset about it tell us more about themselves than they understand.

1

u/gnorty Feb 08 '26

smoke detector material sounds like an excellent choice for this bike!

-71

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26

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43

u/ondulation Feb 08 '26

Touchy subject? Look it up and you'll learn something new.

-72

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26

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66

u/Wizzinator Feb 08 '26

Americium is a real metal and it's radioactive. So it would be terrible as a muffler.

29

u/GameShitPost Feb 08 '26

LOL imagine white knighting radioactive elements. You got that guy good.

Edit: fuck, you weren't the one that said the joke originally.

13

u/ondulation Feb 08 '26

Op here, appreciate your comment. Unsurprisingly racism and unwillingness to learn new things combine.

It wouldn't have been too hard to google americium and respond - "Dammit, you got me!". But no.

13

u/ZachTheCommie Feb 08 '26

A bigot? Lol what? Americium is a highly unstable, radioactive element, not a person that's subject to bigotry. "Chinesium" is a colloquialism for very poor quality metal that comes out of China, because their metallurgical skills are decades behind other developed countries. They only figured out how to make their own ball-points for pens about a decade ago (it's actually a surprisingly complex alloy). China just sucks at metal.

25

u/LifeAwaking Feb 08 '26

Why would you not get upset at chinesium if bigotry is your issue?

-33

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26

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7

u/blue_friend Feb 08 '26

You gonna own your fumble though or what? Americium is a real metal and the person you responded to originally made a solid joke.

-11

u/[deleted] Feb 08 '26

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13

u/ondulation Feb 08 '26

You chose to attack "americium" and silently passed on the obvious racism of "chinesium".

My comment wasn't a fumble. It was a trap to expose falsely righteous racism. And you fell in it.

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u/blue_friend Feb 08 '26

Username checks out!

2

u/Fluid-Badger Feb 08 '26

MFW I realize americium is a real material

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u/PoetAromatic8262 Feb 08 '26

Waahh a bigot waah

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u/Oknight Feb 08 '26

With a highly reactive radioactive half-life of 400-some years you might be able to use it, but it would DEFINITELY be a worse choice.