The curse of being a history major is knowing that "homeland" makes us sound like a buncha nazis.

I know it creeped me the hell out when I first heard "Department of Homeland Security."

Jahwol.

[I swear, they ever switch over to "The Fatherland" I'ma definitely stay overseas.]

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > What Does "Homeland" Mean to You?:

"One comment from Linda Lewis from Branson, Mo., really resonated. She was complaining that when NPR interviewed Homeland Security advisor Frances Townsend about the new National Intelligence Estimate that the interviewer had "bought into" the language of "protecting the homeland."

Ms. Lewis complained: "I wasn’t alive during World War II, but I associate “the homeland” with Nazi propaganda. It’s fascistic and offensive." She prefers "U.S" or "America."

For me, too, the word "homeland" conjures a kind of antediluvian primitive nationalism (tribalism) based on blood and soil, not a people united by their devotion to political ideals like liberty and free speech."