This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: [SANS] US-ites

----------
> From: Frances and Ted Verrity <verrity@ACTRIX.GEN.NZ>
> To: SANSEVIERIAS@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
> Subject: [SANS] Myron
> Date: Friday, January 23, 1998 12:27 AM
>
> Hi Crasulady and all
>
> Unfortunately Myron is not coming to New Zealand (as far as I am aware!)
He
> is going to Australia (Brisbane actually) for their conference at Easter.
> Now you should all understand this - the relationship between Australia
and
> New Zealand is a bit like that between the Canadians and the US-ites
> (Americans is an all-encompassing term that doesn't quite fit here!),


In this case I have to respectfully disagree with you and come in defense
of my fellow Americans. As many of you know I am naturalized American and
have lived approximately half of my present life here and the other half in
my native Argentina, in whose city Buenos Aires I was born and lived.
The word "American" may not quite fit in New Zealand because you do not
have a clear idea of its semantic meaning. .
Nothing irritates more most of the people of the Latin American Spanish
speaking countries than an American saying that he is an American. The
reply comes fast: I am also an American!  The fact is that most of them do
not understand the meaning of America as well.
Its meaning is: a dweller or native person from the United States of
America.  When an American says "America", he/she means the United States
of America True that it is not the only United States in the Americas, as
there is the United States of Brazil (complete name for Brazil) and there
are also States in Mexico, but it was the first one.
Language-wise it can be easily explained by indicating that:
American (in English) = estadounidense (en español) - these words are not
capitalized in Spanish
The Americas (in English) = América (en español). Note that American take
it as 3                         continents while Latin Americans take is as one.
americano (en español) = American, if the context makes it clear or
                        from the Americas (in English)

The fact remains also that the expression US-ite is never heard here.

Remember the words of the great American linguist Mario Pei:
Language is what people speak and not what ten or twelve people want them
to speak!
Regards,
Juan
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index