Re: CHAT: silly names, prepositions

En réponse à Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...>:

> Me too!  There is one and ONLY one acceptable self-designation for
> citizens
> of the United States of AMERICA, and that is American.  You may call us
> whatever you wish when speaking of us in French or German or Swahili or
> Russian or Spanish, but when speaking to us in English PLEASE have the
> courtesy to call us by our self-designation!!!  Call me an
> estadoeunidienso
> (or whatever) in Spanish if you so desire (We call no one by their
> self-designations either.), but when speaking English call me an
> American.
> How incredibly arrogant to try to force another people to change their
> name
> for themselves!!!
>
Approximately as arrogant as using the word corresponding to a whole continent
to refer to oneself, excluding all the other people on this continent. I'm
sorry, but Argentinians, Brasilians, etc... are also Americans, even if "only"
South-Americans. Inhabitants of the United States are not the only inhabitants
of America, not even the only ones in North America. So it is your
self-designation which is arrogant in the first place. Moreover, English is the
language not only of the USA, but also of other countries (including the
motherland of English), which may want to make a distinction between Usonians
and Americans. So why forbiding them to do so because they happen to speak the
same language as you do (historically, it is even you who happen to speak the
same language as them)? Isn't that "incredibly arrogant"? What do you think
would happen if French people decided that they wanted to be called "Européens"
in French, excluding all the other European countries of this designation, or at
least putting an ambiguity where there was no need to be? Don't you think the
other countries would have some right to want us to change our self-designation,
even if they don't actually use French? You were talking about courtesy. Please
have the courtesy of recognizing that there are many other English speakers who
are not from the USA, and that they also have their word to say about how they
want to call inhabitants of the USA.

Note that I don't want to offend or flame anyone. I just want to put things back
in the right order. Note also that I try to correct people each time they call
the citizens of the European Community "Europeans", excluding all the other
Europeans. It is just to show that I'm not biased against the citizens of the
United States of America.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

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