Freakonomics Motto Contest

I may have mentioned this before, but some four years ago, the Freakonomics blog hosted a contest for a motto for the United States.  Recently, I was reminded of this contest.  It was inspired by England’s search for a national motto (suggestions ranged from “No Motto Please, We’re British” to “One Mighty Empire, Slightly Used”). The only rule for the Freakonomics contest was that the motto had to be in 6 words. The winning entry (by readers’ vote) was “Our Worst Critics Prefer to Stay” followed by “Caution! Experiment in Progress Since 1776.” There were over a thousand entries, and I made a point of noting some of the more clever ones, as follows:

Just like Canada, with Better Bacon.

Everyone hates us; immigration way up.

No, we still don’t like soccer.

Luckily, our parents left your country.

Now with 20 percent more Mexicans.

Quiet, or we’ll liberate you too!

The Folks Who Brought You Democracy

We’ve got the Coen Brothers. You?

Didn’t We Save Your Ass Once?

The U.S.A (Warning: may contain nuts)

We’re not compensating for anything. Honest.

The most gentle empire so far.

OK, everybody into the gene pool!

Hello? We are the armed Canadians.

With Great Power….Something. We forget.

Coming to your military theater soon.

Lots of schools. Not many mimes.

Not just a Spanish explorer’s surname.

Nation of immigrants, but we forgot.

Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! Partying! Beer! Uh-oh!

Not arrogant. Just better than you.

America: Easier to spell than Kyrgyzstan.

Leftists Whine; Rightists Parry; Bedlam Accomplished