NAUCC 2013 discussion thread

What would you charge for fixing this retaining wall in my back yard?

Naucc 2013 will be awesome. A big thanks to Dave Krack and others for putting in the time to organize it.

+1

Dave, I just want to make something clear. I (and most people) are very happy that you’re going to such lengths to organize this event, especially by keeping everyone up to date on your activities. I’m sure that NAUCC 2013 is going to be a great event! Rereading some of the facebook posts I don’t think it was so much negativity as just brainstorming name ideas. There’s going to be discussion around every event, and you know you’re doing a good job when people have to resort to nit-picking about the name. :slight_smile:

BTW, I don’t think anyone will care that Canada is before America in CanAm. It’s also recognizable because of PanAm. Personally I think CanAm Unicycle Championships could fully replace NAUCC, very descriptive, to the point, and (relatively) short. Maybe it’s too late for this year but I’d like to see it discussed in the future.

Thanks Dave!

I’m all for 2014 CanAm Unicycle Competition! I really don’t care what the name is though, whatever works best for marketing and raising awareness/support for us is fine with me.

Good post Julia.

I think it would be important to change the name for real, and choose a good name once and for all. There has been 2 name changes over the past 2 years and it seems like none really made the cut in the unicyclist side.

U Games was presented by the 2010 hosts in Berkeley, but basically rejected by the powers that be. The next hosts went back to the ugly NAUCC.

The USA nationals/convention/thingie has always had an ugly name. Originally it was “National Unicycle Meet.” (NUM) Pretty clear, but from a marketing point of view the word “meet” doesn’t communicate what we do.

Then, in 1995 (I think) under pressure to focus less on the competition events, the name was changed to National Unicycle Convention (NUC). The convention part is still trying to develop, but like Unicon, people focus so much on the competition events and they take precedence because they are less “optional” so it’s still mostly about the competitions. My poor NUM NUCs.

After the Toronto Unicyclists hosted NUC in Canada in 2001, the 2002 hosts (Panther Pride) upped the name to NAUCC. I think Tom Daniels came up with that one.

U Games was not the first time someone put a more people-friendly label on the front of the big convention. The first one I ever went to also had a special name, the 1980 Unicycle Olympics. This was in Kokomo, Indiana and hosted by the Kokomo Roadrunners Unicycle Club (Tom Miller). That event, quaint as it was, was great.

Unfortunatly we (unicycling) can’t use “Olympics” because it’s not a public domain name, and the owners are protective of it. That’s why I still like the name “Uni-lympics”, though it still doesn’t work well on its own. Also it’s much better spoken than it is when written down…

Not sure that CanAm actually helps to clarify the definition of the event. It actually makes no sense, since Canada is a country, and America is a continent. This is not directed to anyone in particular, but I don’t like the fact that the US consider (intentionnaly or not) that all in America is theirs by calling themselves “America”. However, I am not sure that Canus is a much better name…

I am with everyone : whatever the name is, as long as the event includes unicyclists, it will be fun !

Hugo

Canus!

This is just ridiculous. Being a U.S. Marine, I can tell you that this is simply not the case. It seems the world at large wants to paint Americans as some kind of pompous, overly proud Country that claims rights to the entire continent (or more). Quite frankly, we are not any more proud of our Country than any other Nation and I think it’s preposterous that people imply Americans should be ashamed of their patriotism.

The reason we call ourselves Americans and we sometimes refer to our Country as “America” is not because we claim ownership of the entire continent, it is simply because it is easier to say than “Americans of the United States.” End of story.

Of course. I am sorry, what I should have said is that that’s how it looks from an outsider’s perspective when people say America. I guess I was also confused by the fact that in French, there is a word for a resident of the USA, “états-unien” (“United Statian”), which is almost never used, “American” being used, and it’s silly since the former makes way more sense.

Sorry about that…

Until now, I have never heard anyone refer to people of the U.S.A. as anything other than “Americans.” I certainly wasn’t aware that anyone called us “United Statians.” hahah… I grew up in the United States, but have also visited several other Countries like Germany, Japan, Mexico, Canada, etc. The first response from people is usually “Are you American?” I just don’t think there is another term used in the English language. Even Wikipedia defines this term as “citizens of the United States” (so it must be true lol).

Anyway, no big deal, I just wanted to make it clear that we (U.S. citizens) don’t use the term because we claim to own both North and South America. :smiley:

Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . . . just blame it on the fat guy who doesn’t ride :slight_smile:

America is clearly the country. I think I have never seen America used to describe the continent without having the word ‘north’, ‘south’ before ‘America’… or when it’s spelled Americas.

Not my expertise, although the Freemasons do control the internet so be careful what you say online. :smiley:

According to my Spanish class, when in Mexico they refer to those from the U.S.A. as Norte Americanos (North Americans). This really surprised me but is technically accurate, albeit country agnostic. I wonder what they call Canadians?

Actually I think they call us both “gringos.” Gringo Unicycle Championship actually has a ring to it.

Why would they want to call Canadians? :thinking:

Good thread Emile. I was starting to feel bad for posting too much in the unicon 17 one. :stuck_out_tongue:

Because it’s a more open-minded country than the United-States?

Seriously? Do you really want to bring the conversation down to this level? You are going to open up a can of worms.