#<US specific use for _américain•e_>
pure snow
limber jungle
"états-unien·ne" does exist, but is pretty rare
"américain·e" is by far the most used adjective, but you can use the former if you'd like
when it comes to the country though, only "Etats-Unis" works. "Amérique" is the continent, and "Etats" doesn't work
fast fog
Thank you very much, états-unien•ne will do 🙏
echo crow
as an American I refuse to use états-unien to refer to myself and get mad at others when they use it for me
if you must not say "American"
then you can just say "il/elle vient des états-unis"
but if you really cared about so-called "decolonizing" you probably would have to say "il vient des états-unis d'amérique" because there are other united states
fast fog
Do you find the term états-unis offensive as well or is there something specific with états-unien•ne?
echo crow
it's just ugly af
it's also not a word that... like anybody uses
états-unis is just the name of the country
if someone says "américain" there is no doubt that it's about someone from the US
fast fog
Ok but like language is evolving, so of course new terms come up. I think using the country’s name for a country specific adjective is an appropriate way. The common practice might be américain•e but I think this undermines other nationalities and cultures from the american continents.
echo crow
I mean... good for you?
But if you care about how languages evolve, you need to care about usage
And as far as usage is concerned, américain(e) is far and away more common
fast fog
No doubt about that. It is very similar in my native tongue german but I think language shapes the way we see the world and therefore I try to make an effort to reflect my views of the world with the language I use
limber jungle
I remember trying not using the term "green/vert" because it actually encompasses so many different colors
echo crow
No doubt about that. It is very similar in my native tongue german but I think l...
So, that's been studied by linguistics and is broadly not true
It's called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis or linguistic relativity and is only true in what's called the "weak form"
Broadly speaking, the language you speak doesn't change how you think. There aren't sexist languages or racist languages, there are sexist and ractist people.
To the extent that langauges can affect the way you think, the only evidence is for weirder stuff like some things to do with how well we percieve the differences between different colors or how well we keep track of the cardinal directions… even then I'm not sure that those have consensus on being true.
chilly bear
They weren't consistently reproducible yeah
fast fog
It’s not about how I think but how I influence other people. When you only ever hear the US being referred to as America it makes it easier to accept and justify imperialist motivations
I’m sorry but I will have to cut off this discussion now. Thank you for your inputs 🐢
round tiger
In which languages is this a thing? In the ones I know, people from the US are simply American, and the US is just America. In some places, just being white gets you called American.
slim osprey