Cross-post 196 and NonCredibleDefense. Sh.itJustWorks
this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
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I honestly can't tell if they're being satirical or not...
It is an actual Russian "divide and conquer" troll. A "warm water port" is exactly how you string that sentence together in Russian. A Texan would first of all call it a harbor (port is the word for it in Russian, so likely a direct translation), secondly wouldn't mention that at all, since an "ice port" isn't even a thing anywhere in the US, except for Alaska, and having an ice free one is nothing to brag about. In Russia it is a big deal and is a matter of national pride, hence the Crimea takeover. It's more than just land to them.
Ehm, warm water port is absolutely the correct term for it. See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port
Also, a Texan with a bit of knowledge would absolutely call it a port, especially if they're talking about the Port of Houston, for example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Houston
I don't know where this guy is from, but maybe you should be slightly more cautious with your linguistic judgements.
My point was - "warm water port" (which is precisely тепловодный порт) is nothing to brag about in the US, most ports here are. But it has been a largely discussed point by Russians in Russia, and primarily has been mentioned by Putin as a point of pride for Russia, as they have only 2 of those in the country.
You've gotta agree, it is very odd to hear somebody who wouldn't have been exposed to Putin's speeches regarding the importance of "warm water ports" even mention it as a first point, especially being from Texas. Every port up and down East and West coast is a "warm water port".
I'm not saying that this is what I would call a stereotypical Texan argument, but framing it like the wording immediately makes them a Russian troll is just pretty far fetched. Especially claiming that port is a weird word in its own.
Perhaps I should have prefaced my argument with the fact that I'm bilingual, I spent half of my life over there and half in the US and I tend to pick up on the slight wording differences. But I do see where you are coming from with the skepticism. I appreciate you fact checking me on this. I agree, port is not specifically a Russian word, but it would be a primary choice of a word for a Russian speaker, as well as the primary bragging point.
You aren't wrong. I am an average american in the southwest and no one says "warm water port". None of them freeze south of Alaska. Its a useless distinction for 95% of the country.
Most Americans on the west coast call any place a shipping container can unload or an aircraft carrier to dock a port.
A grand total of zero Americans would ever think to disambiguate a warm water port or not. Especially from Texas. That's the weird part. Not the word port itself.
Harbor is usually reserved for non-commercial or fishing use only.