Subject:
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Re: National nouns (was:Americans, North Americans, Americasians)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Fri, 31 May 2002 08:46:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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710 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Pedro Silva writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Bruce Schlickbernd writes:
> > United Statesian is so confusing to those of us who live so close to the
> > border of the United States of Mexico. Which United Statesian are they
> > refering to? I suppose one could call us United Statesian and them Estados
> > Unidasian, but that seems a worse fracture of the language than "Statesian"
> > is.
>
> (Note: there are other nations with "United States" on their name: Brazil is
> oficcially "Federative Republic of the United States of Brazil". Obviously,
> they call themselves brazilians)
USians is the one I usually hear. (YooEssian)
> > Besides, Mexicans (see how that gets rounded off? Note how it works
> > the same for the USA) aren't Americans. Pause while the shrieking dies down...
> >
> > They are North Americans, continentally speaking; Central Americans,
> > situationally speaking; or Americasians, globally speaking if you wish to
> > speak of the "New World" i.e. the linked continents of North and South
> > America: i.e. the Americas (plural, thus Americasian). Yes, Canadians are
> > Americasians, or North Americans, not Americans.
>
> I dispute the term - isn't there a single America (i.e., plural of America
> being the same word as the singular)?
No; America is "place of Amerigo;" if you have two continents, they
become "the places of Amerigo," or "Americas." I guess maybe by the
rules of Latin it might be "Americae" but I think common usage trumps
Latin rules for those who don't speak Latin. At least, that's the logic.
> Well, I know. But come to think of it, you are not alone. Other nations have
> the misfortune of not having a proper noun to designate its inhabitants:
> take Central African Republic, for instance; what do you call a national of
> *that* state? Central-African-Republican?
Technically, Central African (I think someone else said it). Remember
that they used to be the Central African Empire. However, most of them
would probably refer to themselves as Banda or Gbaya in English, unless
they're from the major cities. (The national identifier is most common
in urban settings, because in the countryside of the old tropical
dependencies the indigenous social system was not destroyed by the
colonial regime.) I think they'd go by the name Babanda or Bagbaya as
West Bantu-speakers, but I don't know if the transliteration is
different for Francophone Central Africa. Once the French become
involved, nothing is clear anymore.
(By the way: Never call someone from Lesbos a Lesbian. They're always
Lesbotians, and you might get punched in the face for your error.)
best
LFB
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