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  3. Other meaning for USA people

Other meaning for USA people

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Asklemmy
asklemmy
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  • H [email protected]

    I wish Oregonians were called Oregonos instead because sounding like a spice is cool. lol

    I This user is from outside of this forum
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    wrote on last edited by
    #55

    Oregonos sounds like part of a complete breakfast.

    H 1 Reply Last reply
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    • I [email protected]

      Oregonos sounds like part of a complete breakfast.

      H This user is from outside of this forum
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      wrote on last edited by
      #56

      Oregano-s and Oregon-O’s. I like it.

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      • T [email protected]

        Texan here. Yankee is definitely not a neutral word to refer to everyone from the USA. Some people down here will fight you over it, but most would just give you a confused look.

        I've always understood gringo to mean white person, especially one who can't speak Spanish. The term is sometimes used in Mexican restaurants to let the staff know that you can't deal with too many jalapeños.

        B This user is from outside of this forum
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        wrote on last edited by
        #57

        Do Southerners use Yankee pejoratively to refer to northerners?

        T I captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.worksC 3 Replies Last reply
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        • B [email protected]

          Do Southerners use Yankee pejoratively to refer to northerners?

          T This user is from outside of this forum
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          wrote on last edited by
          #58

          I'm afraid so. There are a lot of people still fighting our Civil War, the one that supposedly ended over 150 years ago. Even without those troglodytes, there is a distinct cultural difference between the North and South, as I think there is in many countries. We tend to rub each other the wrong way sometimes.

          Old joke about the difference. Walk up to a Southerner's house, and they say, "can I help you?" Walk up to a Yankee's house, and it's, "whaddya want?"

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          • T [email protected]

            Texan here. Yankee is definitely not a neutral word to refer to everyone from the USA. Some people down here will fight you over it, but most would just give you a confused look.

            I've always understood gringo to mean white person, especially one who can't speak Spanish. The term is sometimes used in Mexican restaurants to let the staff know that you can't deal with too many jalapeños.

            T This user is from outside of this forum
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            wrote on last edited by
            #59

            I've heard gringo is about language, primarily English. Not about being a whitey

            tempotato@beehaw.orgT 1 Reply Last reply
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            • T [email protected]

              What about Canada?

              mattyroses@lemmygrad.mlM This user is from outside of this forum
              mattyroses@lemmygrad.mlM This user is from outside of this forum
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              wrote on last edited by
              #60

              They're just Americans anyways

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              • B [email protected]

                Do Southerners use Yankee pejoratively to refer to northerners?

                I This user is from outside of this forum
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                wrote on last edited by
                #61

                Yes, since the civil war era.

                K 1 Reply Last reply
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                • N [email protected]

                  From Spain here, when we want to speak about USA people we use the term "yankee" or "gringo" rather than "american" cause our americans arent from USA, that terms are correct or mean other things?

                  H This user is from outside of this forum
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                  wrote on last edited by
                  #62

                  In the USA, Yankee refers to mainly northeast US, including the New York City area. Western Americans would be neutral about being called that and you might piss off some southerners.

                  My exposure to the term gringo has mainly been that it refers to white Americans. I don't know if you would call a black American gringo or how they would accept it.

                  T 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • I [email protected]

                    Yes, since the civil war era.

                    K This user is from outside of this forum
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                    wrote on last edited by
                    #63

                    Or as my husband's Southern-ass grandma called it, the "war of northern agression" 🙄

                    I 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • K [email protected]

                      Or as my husband's Southern-ass grandma called it, the "war of northern agression" 🙄

                      I This user is from outside of this forum
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                      wrote on last edited by
                      #64

                      Reflexively I wanted to downvote that 😒

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                      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.worksS [email protected]

                        Do you not have a term in Spanish?

                        If y'all use yank, yankee, or gringo, they're all fine.

                        But, American is fine too. If you're using English, everyone will know what you mean. It isn't like it hasn't been the term used in English for at least a century.

                        Here the thing. If you're referring to someone from one of the two/three americas, you specify north, central and south. That depends a little on whether you consider all three as discrete areas, or not, but that's the norm in English.

                        If you want to refer to all people from the americas at once, Americans is also fine. Context will carry which way you're using it. English is fairly easy to make contextual indicators like that.

                        An example: "oh, Americans love their flag". Which americans are we talking about? The ones with a specific American flag. Which, the statement isn't universally true, it's just an example.

                        If you aren't using English, it doesn't matter at all, use whatever terminology is the norm in that language.

                        The reason it doesn't matter is that there really isn't an "American" people in the continental sense. The cultures of the continents don't even have a unifying effect, though you do have some connection between Spanish speaking vs Portuguese, vs native, vs English, etc. The language links in South America are much more significant than the fact that they live on the same continent.

                        Any time you'd be referring to the entire Americas, or the peoples of them, you'd specify that because there's not a single American continent.

                        One nation out of all of them being america really isn't a difficulty in conversation. It's a non issue.

                        dessalines@lemmy.mlD This user is from outside of this forum
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                        wrote on last edited by
                        #65

                        Most americans, the majority of whom don't live in the US, dislike the usurpation of that term. There's a longer history starting in the late 1800s of US politicians using "america", "greater america", to coincide with its imperial ambitions in Latin america and the carribean.

                        The USA even had a time when it had more people in its colonies living outside its contiguous borders, than it did inside.

                        There's a lot on this in the book, how to hide an empire.

                        zagorath@aussie.zoneZ southsamurai@sh.itjust.worksS T 3 Replies Last reply
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                        • zagorath@aussie.zoneZ [email protected]

                          The reason for this is simple: the word in English is "American". Because in English speaking countries, it is almost universally the case that we talk about the 7 continents. And in the rare case we talk about 6 continents, it's from merging Europe and Asia (which, frankly, is blatantly a far superior model of the continents), not merging North America and South America.

                          So "America" unambiguously refers to the country, and there's no need for estadounidense, any more than there's a need for "commonwealthian" for someone from the Commonwealth of Australia.

                          zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
                          zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
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                          wrote on last edited by
                          #66

                          What about it?

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                          • dessalines@lemmy.mlD [email protected]

                            Most americans, the majority of whom don't live in the US, dislike the usurpation of that term. There's a longer history starting in the late 1800s of US politicians using "america", "greater america", to coincide with its imperial ambitions in Latin america and the carribean.

                            The USA even had a time when it had more people in its colonies living outside its contiguous borders, than it did inside.

                            There's a lot on this in the book, how to hide an empire.

                            zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
                            zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
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                            wrote on last edited by
                            #67

                            Most americans, the majority of whom don't live in the US

                            Gonna stop you right there. The number of Americans who don't live in in the US is tiny.

                            "American" is the demonym for someone from the United States of America. You don't have to like it, but that's the way it's been in the English language for hundreds of years, and getting angry about it doesn't change linguistics, which is defined by usage.

                            English speakers don't recognise the Americas as a single continent, but as two separate continents separated by the isthmus of Panama. So it doesn't make sense to have a single demonym to refer to everyone from those two continents.

                            The arrogance of some Spanish speakers of thinking they have the right to dictate the English language is astounding. And I refuse to buy into it. I'm not coming into Spanish-speaking spaces and trying to change how they talk about things in their language.

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                            • Q [email protected]

                              I'm USAian. (just identifying for this thread, i don't call myself that)

                              would "gringo" include Black USAians? Asian USAians? Spain-born USAians?

                              from my understanding of "gringo", that doesn't seem to include non-white USAians. Most English monolingual USAians think that means "white guy".

                              a lot of gen z USAians might not know the word Yankee as a term for USAians. if speaking to them, you might have to explain it's not the baseball team.

                              maybe it's better to stick with "USAians". it's never been used but it's easy to figure out. other possible choices are:

                              • Statesians
                              • USAliens
                              • USAmericans
                              • Staters
                              • Stater Tots (re: tater tots)
                              • USticles

                              better yet, call each of us by the state we're each from. that's the safest bet. you know all our 50 state names right? and their official demonyms? 🤣 kidding

                              zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
                              zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
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                              wrote on last edited by
                              #68

                              Honestly, reading this comment is really just reinforcing for me why we say American. Reading "USAien" over and over again hurts my head.

                              Q 1 Reply Last reply
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                              • N [email protected]

                                From Spain here, when we want to speak about USA people we use the term "yankee" or "gringo" rather than "american" cause our americans arent from USA, that terms are correct or mean other things?

                                S This user is from outside of this forum
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                                wrote on last edited by
                                #69

                                German here, most of the time I say "US-American"

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                                0
                                • N [email protected]

                                  From Spain here, when we want to speak about USA people we use the term "yankee" or "gringo" rather than "american" cause our americans arent from USA, that terms are correct or mean other things?

                                  E This user is from outside of this forum
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                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #70

                                  In Brazil, we use USians or Statesians

                                  I used the second one on an academic paper and it went through.

                                  I NEVER use "American", because

                                  America no es solo USA, papá
                                  esto es desde el Tierra del Fuego hasta el Canada

                                  C icastfist@programming.devI N 3 Replies Last reply
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                                  • T [email protected]

                                    I've heard gringo is about language, primarily English. Not about being a whitey

                                    tempotato@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                                    tempotato@beehaw.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
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                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #71

                                    Mexican upbringing here, it is most definitely a "Whitey" thing.

                                    T 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • zagorath@aussie.zoneZ [email protected]

                                      Most americans, the majority of whom don't live in the US

                                      Gonna stop you right there. The number of Americans who don't live in in the US is tiny.

                                      "American" is the demonym for someone from the United States of America. You don't have to like it, but that's the way it's been in the English language for hundreds of years, and getting angry about it doesn't change linguistics, which is defined by usage.

                                      English speakers don't recognise the Americas as a single continent, but as two separate continents separated by the isthmus of Panama. So it doesn't make sense to have a single demonym to refer to everyone from those two continents.

                                      The arrogance of some Spanish speakers of thinking they have the right to dictate the English language is astounding. And I refuse to buy into it. I'm not coming into Spanish-speaking spaces and trying to change how they talk about things in their language.

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                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #72

                                      Hi, Brazilian here.

                                      I'm sorry, but "the number of Americans who don't live in the US is tiny"?? WTF?

                                      Hi, South ~~AMERICAN!!!! here.

                                      the US doesn't get to shove their so-called "democracy" up our asses, impose their monetary exchange, be proud of their stupid ass imperialism, force people to learn their dumb as fuck language and then go "yeah, it's OUR language, you can't dictate how we call ourselves"

                                      Sorry, dude, but you kinda lost the privilege to "dictate" your own language when you decided to think about the whole third world as your backyard and to name yourselves after THE WHOLE FUCKING CONTINENT.

                                      peace, bye!

                                      zagorath@aussie.zoneZ 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • E [email protected]

                                        In Brazil, we use USians or Statesians

                                        I used the second one on an academic paper and it went through.

                                        I NEVER use "American", because

                                        America no es solo USA, papá
                                        esto es desde el Tierra del Fuego hasta el Canada

                                        C This user is from outside of this forum
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                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #73

                                        America no es solo USA

                                        Nah, we often call them Americans too, despite them being like Canada's trousers. Many (most? I'm not certain) Canadians know how Americans label themselves abroad and are okay being a separate group to avoid bad impressions. "eres Americano? No; soy Canadiense" or so.

                                        But thanks for thinking of us. It's great to be considered!

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                                        • E [email protected]

                                          Hi, Brazilian here.

                                          I'm sorry, but "the number of Americans who don't live in the US is tiny"?? WTF?

                                          Hi, South ~~AMERICAN!!!! here.

                                          the US doesn't get to shove their so-called "democracy" up our asses, impose their monetary exchange, be proud of their stupid ass imperialism, force people to learn their dumb as fuck language and then go "yeah, it's OUR language, you can't dictate how we call ourselves"

                                          Sorry, dude, but you kinda lost the privilege to "dictate" your own language when you decided to think about the whole third world as your backyard and to name yourselves after THE WHOLE FUCKING CONTINENT.

                                          peace, bye!

                                          zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
                                          zagorath@aussie.zoneZ This user is from outside of this forum
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                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #74

                                          Might want to check who you're actually talking to here. You seem to be making some incorrect assumptions.

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