Text 18688, 111 rader
Skriven 2008-07-17 01:35:10 av Jeff Smith (1:14/5)
  Kommentar till text 18661 av David Drummond (3:640/305)
Ärende: Make work
=================
Hello David.

16 Jul 08 20:16, you wrote to me:

 DD> Jeff Smith -> David Drummond wrote:

 DD>>> What is inaccurate about calling the citizens of USA
 DD>>> "USAmericans"?

 JS>>     It strikes me as being redundant. In doing a search of
 JS>> several differant sources I find the following definitions.

 JS>> USA: 1. United States of America.

 JS>> American: 1. of or pertaining to the United States of America or
 JS>> its
 JS>>              inhabitants: an American citizen.

 JS>> America: 1. United States.

 JS>> US: 1. United States.

 JS>> USAmerican: Not Found

 DD> Your dictionary isn't in USA is it? What term does it use for the
 DD> collective peoples of the Americas?

     The ones that I checked referenced "North/Central/South America(n)"
when specifing one or more countries within a continent

 JS>> North America: 1. the northern continent of the Western
 JS>> Hemisphere.

 JS>> North American: See North America.

 JS>>     People know what you mean by your use of the term
 JS>> "USAmerican" and have accepted the fact that you NEED to be
 JS>> differant. Even though I may not see the point of it's usage. If
 JS>> it makes you happy then what the heck.

 DD> What term is used for the collective peoples of the Americas?
 DD> [...]

     That is where the confusion gets injected. If you state that "He is
is from the Americas". The first thing that many/most will wonder is why
you just didn't state that "He was from America" or "He was from the US".
In speaking of a group of people from differant countries within a single
continent. A more accurate term to use would be to state that "They are
from North America. It specifies that you are meaning multiple countries
and not just one single country. The term America(n) has several possible
meanings. My point David is that the insistance that the term America refers
to ONLY a continent is not valid. That is clear and quite obvious given
the term's widespread use around the world. As I have already stated. All
our yelling to the contrary will not change that.


 JS>>      How so? If I use the term "American" when talking about the
 JS>> US. Are you saying that you are being misled? You are unaware of
 JS>> what "American" means when I or others use the term?

 DD> To me an American is a "person from the Americas" - what term do you
 DD> use for such peoples?

    If I were to refer to a person I would use the name of their country
to specify where they are from. If I am refering to several people from
multiple countries within the same continent I would specify the name of
the continent. I.E. North/South America(n).


 JS>> I would suspect not. You (Or at least seem to) need to make up
 JS>> your own words and and are annoyed when others don't see your
 JS>> point.

 DD> I am not annoyed. I am refusing to kowtow to your bastardisation of
 DD> the language.

     Whose language? Our english? Your english? My bastardisation is to
try to be as specific as possible and NOT try to contribute to the
confusion.

 DD>>> I don't have any problems with that. The only ones who drop out
 DD>>> are those who insist I do it on their terms only.

 JS>>      How about those that refuse to do it YOUR way? Seems to me
 JS>> that when that happens the best thing to do is to find agreeable
 JS>> terms to both parties.

 DD> Who have I demanded do it my way? How many have told me flatly that I
 DD> am "WRONG!!!"?

     How many have you insisted are wrong for their use of terms? You are no
more right or wrong than others here. You yell because others choose to use
alternative definitions that you don't happen to agree with.

 DD> Shouting someone down does not make you right - just loud....

     Then why not give your voice a rest?

 DD> --

 DD> regards

 DD> David

 DD> ---
 DD>  * Origin: GodZone (3:640/305)

Jeff

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