I understand some people may not even realize it’s a word that puts yankees before all the rest of America, or that English didn’t have a better word like Spanish (Estadounidense) and other languages do, but I feel that since this is a pretty big community and one where the word will be out there a lot could be an opportunity to help spread a better word that does not minimizes a lot of oppressed people.
You might want to explain a bit more. UK here and I have no clue what your referring to.
I believe they are referring to the fact America is inclusive of the entire north and south continent, not just the United States.
I make a concerted effort to use the full country’s name (well, the initialism of its full name): USA. It’s not “US”, because there are many countries that use the words united states in their name (including the USA’s southern neighbor, United Mexican States). It’s also not “America”, because every country in either of the NA or SA continents are “American”.
It seems banal, and making a scene over it is not useful, but it does matter in principle. It’s the same reason I try to use PRC instead of China (when the simple act of doing so would not invite antagonism), and DPRK instead of North Korea.
Edit to add: “Usonian” is a term to refer to people from the USA. (It’s not the only term, there are several that get used)
I’m not sure how I feel about actively enforcing a rule like that, but I’d certainly support encouraging people to make the distinction.
Admittedly, I use “Americans” for US citizens a lot too just out of habit, I probably shouldn’t.
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Fair, I too use that or yanqui but those are pejorative words, whereas Usonian is neutral.
Brazilian guy here. In my country we use the word “Estadunidense”, similar with Spanish speakers. But, most of the people here still prefer the use of “Americanos” (Americans in English). I, on the other hand, always use the term “Estadunidense”
Weird, here almost no one says americanos to refer to Usonians, we mostly say yanqui or estadounidense, but I’ve heard people use it even though it is grammatically incorrect in Spanish. English imperialism is strong and it likes killing language biodiversity.
Weird, here almost no one says americanos to refer to Usonians, we mostly say yanqui or estadounidense, but I’ve heard people use it even though it is grammatically incorrect in Spanish. English imperialism is strong and it likes killing language biodiversity.
Of course comrade! Here, in Brazil, Most people who speak Portuguese-Brazil intersperse English with their native language, turning speech into something strange and nonsensical. Many of the words they use in the English language here we have the same in Portuguese but, due to imperialism and other things here in Brazil, many use English in certain things. Like for example the word “Rebranding” which in Portuguese is “replanejamento”, or the change of “Reunião diária” to “daily”… And many other words that are being changed to English. We are losing our original language.
Obs.: Sorry for my English, i use some translaters for my help… but i don’t know if my write is good enough.
Yeah, the same happens here, for example instead of “mercadotecnia” we say “marketing”, instread of “transmision” we say “streaming”, and so on and so fucking on. It’ fucking depressing and shitty.
And yeah, your English is okay, I’d recommend you DeepL for a translator, it works almost flawlessly.
