Basically just something people say that indicates a position indirectly, like how seperatists from a given region might always say they’re from [region] and not [country] or how trump supporters call AI “SI” now.
Basically just something people say that indicates a position indirectly, like how seperatists from a given region might always say they’re from [region] and not [country] or how trump supporters call AI “SI” now.
“I dislike the government therefore I will be disrespectful to the people by refusing to use their preferred demonym.” Alright bud.
It’s in french. You don’t have a preferred demonym in french. It’s like how the Dutch call themselves Netherlanders, but very few people say that. (Or how in french they’re called Hollandais)
Also how is it disrespectful???
No, it’s a rarely spoken language here (though Américain is still more common than États-unien). But “American” is the preferred term when speaking English. Like how in English they’re “the Dutch” but in Dutch the people are Nederlanders.
How is it not? It’s a signal that the speaker is openly hostile, or indifferent at best, to the culture. We don’t want to be called that. It’s also not any less vague, despite the common justification of “America is the whole continent”. For one, there’s more than one “United States” (we are right next to the United Mexican States). For another, there’s rarely a reason to refer to the entire landmass because the only shared trait between us is that we weren’t “discovered” until Europeans came across the Atlantic. In American English we treat North and South America as separate continents. I know they’re often referred to as one in Latinate languages, but to us it’s about as useful as “Afro-Eurasia”.