@alex Kirghizstan isn't really a misspelling, but it is an unusual form. "Kirghiz" is the transliteration most often used in the Soviet era, but in that period you would have called it either the Kirghiz SSR or Kirghizia. The country switched to the modern Kyrgyzstan after independence but in the immediate post-Soviet era in particular people did use Kirghizstan.
@mavs: I guess it depends on how you define "English-speaking". There's no clear rule really.
English is the lingua franca of South Africa but few speak it natively. The overall number of speakers is not really known since the census doesn't record it. It's likely that most South Africans would have at least some ability with the language but there are huge numbers who are not fluent.
I mean, there's a pretty solid argument based on the numbers that Germany should be considered English speaking.
@bladeofcreation: I'd still class those things as primarily nationalistic. Brexit is undoubtedly a nationalistic response to the sovereignty taken away by our membership of the European Union, and of course there are elements of patriotism in that.
What I really mean when I say that America is very patriotic compared to most of the world is the overt displays of American pride and symbols. I've traveled to many parts of the globe and I can't think of anywhere where the national flag is displayed by private citizens to anywhere near the extent it is in America. Dan and Abby both dressed up as patriotic American symbols whereas I'd struggle to even pick a British national symbol that I'd think you could dress up as (maybe the Queen's Guard?). Likewise, polls of the recent NFL controversy (which for the record I support the players on) does if nothing else show the reverence that the national anthem is held by a substantial majority of Americans, whereas here in the UK the anthem isn't even played before the vast majority of non-international contests (and is in my opinion a total dirge of a song that's far too short). Not all of that is unique to America of course, but I'd definitely put it nearly at the top as far as patriotism goes.
I don't even mean it as a criticism, it's just different.
@dasakamov: I think there's a distinction to be made between patriotism and nationalism, the first being a more simplistic notion about the love of country and the second including those more negative connotations including a sense of superiority over other countries or even other groups within your own country.
abczyx's comments