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.

  • AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.mlM
    171·
    3 years ago

    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.

    • Sr Estegosaurio@lemmy.ml
      3·
      3 years ago

      Maybe not a rule, but make it official. You can’t go and say “Hey, now this term is banned” you can say that the official (and because that, correct) way of saying it is this one. Bc USA is not America

  • PP44@lemmy.ml
    7·
    3 years ago

    De have the same issue in French. Here people that want to have a clear difference says “etats-uniens”, which could translate to “united statians”. It feels weird but maybe using it will get things better ?

  • NegoBiel@lemmy.ml
    6·
    3 years ago

    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”

    • ghost_laptop@lemmy.mlOP
      5·
      3 years ago

      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.

      • NegoBiel@lemmy.ml
        3·
        3 years ago

        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.

        • ghost_laptop@lemmy.mlOP
          5·
          3 years ago

          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.

          • NegoBiel@lemmy.ml
            2·
            3 years ago

            Ohhh yes, I use it. It is the best translator I have ever used! Thanks for the recommendation anyway!

  • esi@lemmy.ml
    5·
    3 years ago

    fun fact: In Icelandic we refer to people from the united states as “Bandaríkjamenn”, “Men of the United States”.

  • GenkiFeral@lemmy.ml
    31·
    3 years ago

    Not a perfect solution, but maybe North American is closer when describing citizens of the USA. Languages everywhere need improvement.
    EX: Both Japan and China use or used a word for foreigner that meant barbarian. In Japan, it has gone out of use somewhat, but in Chinese subtitles, you’ll still see barbarian used in place of the word foreigner or nonChinese or maybe even nonHan. I’ll try to use North American more. Your idea is a good one, but so hard to implement.

    • ghost_laptop@lemmy.mlOP
      5·
      3 years ago

      I don’t think it’s any better since you still have Mexico which is a really oppressed country by the US and Canada which is not, but has a lot of minorities who still are North Americans.

      Still I don’t think that the fact that other language uses a derogatory word is any excuse to perpetuate that in another one, and it’s not like we can transform the meaning of the word like some communities have done in order to adopt it as part of their culture; e.g. queer, gay, etc.

      • GenkiFeral@lemmy.ml
        11·
        3 years ago

        Well, I just began using ‘North’ added to American so that at least it was a tiny bit closer to factual. USonian is such an awkward name. I am not opposed to accuracy, though. Ya can’t please everyone, so it is a waste of time to try too hard. Besides, who owns language? No one. It is fluid.

    • xuu@social.sour.is
      1·
      1 year ago

      I believe they are referring to the fact America is inclusive of the entire north and south continent, not just the United States.

    • 133arc585@lemmy.ml
      01·
      1 year ago

      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)