Technology

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[–] kestrel7_7@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago*

I read a biography of a Brazilian guy who lived in France during the late 19th century/early 20th century. Everyone in Europe called him an American, and he referred to himself an American when he was contrasting Brazil and France. At one point he went off about how hopeful he was about new plane tech coming out, because it would help “unite Americans across our various countries.” However, I think it’s fallen out of fashion to talk this way in recent years, partially because of USA supremacy, which is I think why people are salty about it.

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[–] jif@piefed.ca -1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Nobody is saying it's too confusing. They're saying "stop claiming that word for yourself".

Your examples are incorrect. The equivalent would be if France was called The United States of Europe, and used the word Europeans to refer exclusively to themselves.

Then, naturally, Germans would stop using the word European to refer to themselves because others would think they were referring to France (The United States of Europe in this example).

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[–] zaphod@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago

People regularly talk about Europe when they actually mean the EU or the other way around. I think that's the closest there is, and it's also annoying.

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[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

The USA is one of the few countries on earth to use a continent name as part of its country name. Yet you don't see too many people saying South Africa should refer to the entire southern part of the continent.

People also don't seem to have a problem with using "US", which overlaps with Mexico aka EUM (or USM in English). Like I said, it's mostly a language and cultural divide. Are you advocating that Canadians or Mexicans should say they're American, even if they don't want to? In the English speaking world no one other than the USA says American.

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[–] the_fuckler@nord.pub 5 points 1 week ago (1 child)

Now why would they be referring to Mexico?

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[–] SuperFola@programming.dev -2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

America is not just North America you know. It’s a whole ass continent. America isn’t a country, the US is. So when you say America when you actually talk about only the US, it’s as is you were talking about Mexico, Canada, Brazil… as well as the US. Which is… dumb? False? Erroneous?

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[–] the_fuckler@nord.pub 2 points 1 week ago

Literally a hate crime 💀 good looking making sure nobody got confused

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[–] jif@piefed.ca 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

No idea why you're getting downvoted for this very valid point.

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[–] nyctre@piefed.social 0 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

Because it's pedantry. I checked 4 dictionaries for america or american. Or just type "america" on whatever search engine First thing for 3/4 dictionaries was the US or its citizens. If anyone ever means to refer to the continent they usually say north/south America or "the Americas".

Go to any country other than the US and ask a local "Are you american?". They're all gonna say the same thing. "No, I'm Mexican/Canadian/Chilean/etc."

Whenever a word has multiple meanings, you're supposed to use context to figure out which one is being used. Well, the article title mentions the US government. It's also a very common phrase with a well established meaning. Check out Green day's american idiot, for example.

Really doesn't take a genius to understand what op meant.

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[–] CovertOperative@piefed.zip 0 points 1 week ago (1 child)

Check every dictionary for america or american. Or just type "america" on whatever search engine. First thing is always the US or its citizens.

Exactly! It's always the first! Let's check the renowned and proud American dictionary Merriam Webster:

Oh. Huh.

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[–] nyctre@piefed.social 1 point 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

My apologies, my fault for only checking the first 3 links that my search engine gave me, which were Cambridge, dictionary.com and Collinsdictionary.com

And there's also this. .

But I guess you got me there. I'll edit my comment to rectify this huge mistake.

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[+] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 week ago

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