Text 18763, 55 rader
Skriven 2008-07-19 15:21:59 av Carol Shenkenberger (10493.fidonews)
  Kommentar till text 18661 av David Drummond (3:640/305)
Ärende: Make work
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 > Your dictionary isn't in USA is it? What term does it use for the collective
 > peoples of the Americas?

It hasnt one other than 'Americas' (note the plural).

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

A person from the USA is also a person from the 'Americas' but so is a
Brazlian or a Panamanian or a Canadian.

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

Every languages has exceptions to the rule.  If you want to use USAmerican
for the USA, no problem.  If you insist 'American' doesnt mean just the USA
in general usage, you are wrong.

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

Oh, just about every single person not in Europe had told you this?  I've not
seen a single person in Z1 agree you can use 'American' to generically refer
to all people regardless of country in North/Central/South America.

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

No, but accepting that the people who live here know how to refer to
themselves is apt to be the right direction.

I've been to OZ.  I know for a fact that people there are not at all confused
when using the term.  I've even been in Darwin at the same time as a Canadian
ship and no one was confused at all that I was an American and they were
Canadian.  They were a little intrigued that our accents were largely the
same except when it got to Southern USA folks and eastern seaboard Canadians,
but took it in stride well that even *we* couldnt tell the difference right
off the bat when both spoke 'Classic Mid-western' (what to a USA person is an
accentless version heard on the news etc).

Grin, I'd open my mouth and they'd go 'oh wow, you are an American' and ask
what it's like here.  The Canadians were friendly but would correct the local
folks if they got the same sort of 'oh wow' comment.  I know from several
that this is not an uncommon confusion in accent that Canadians 'sound like
Americans'.

Kinda like asking an American to correctly identify the difference between a
OZ accent and a British one.  Short of having one of each at the same time
speaking, we tend to not really notice all that much of a difference.  In the
case of the Canadian and the American, the difference except on the eastern Ca
nada portion, is just indecernable even to us at times.  But they do spell
words in british manner generally ;-)
           xxcarol
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