ANSI C syntax ?

[Richard Bos]

Many Americans consider it HIGHLY insulting to use such neologisms in
place of the proper name.

Such USAnians should consider that I once coined the neologism USAlien.
Which would you prefer?

Richard

 

[Richard Bos]

Yet you prefer to stand behind the patently risible assertion that
"American" is ambiguous, even if this damages your credibility.

If it's not ambiguous, how would you call someone from the collective
set of {Colombian, District-of-Columbian, El Salvadoran, Cuban}?

Richard

 

[Richard Bos]

In similar vein it ticks me off when Yanks refer to me as English, or
refer to my capital city as either Edin-burgh, Edin-borrow or worst of
all, London.

So; to avoid calling it something wrong when I'm there this May: how
_does_ one correctly refer to it, without resorting to Celtic, which I
don't speak? (Serious question!)

Richard

 

[Richard Bos]

Unfortunately "Yank" is derogatory. "Usanian" is not a pronounceable word.

How is Yoo-Ess-Ayenians less pronouncable than El-Salvadorians or
Lithuanians?

"Republicans" would be accurate

Not really.

Richard

 

[Bob Martin]

And you know that perfectly well. You lost the battle at Yorktown. Get
over it.

Do you know which side your ancestors were on? Odds are it was not
the one you'd like it to be ;-)

 

[Flash Gordon]

Richard Bos wrote, On 12/03/07 07:58:

So; to avoid calling it something wrong when I'm there this May: how
_does_ one correctly refer to it, without resorting to Celtic, which I
don't speak? (Serious question!)

If you refer to it as "a great place" you should be fairly safe ;-)

Alternatively this looks reasonable
http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/uk/places.htm

Of course, you should not trust me on this since I'm only a soft southerner.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

Richard Bos said:

So; to avoid calling it something wrong when I'm there this May: how
_does_ one correctly refer to it, without resorting to Celtic, which I
don't speak? (Serious question!)

ed'-in-bruh

The last syllable sounds like the "bro" part of "brother".

 

[Richard Bos]

Does it bother Kazakhs, Latvians, Uzbeks, Chechens, etc.
to be called Russian?

Yes. So nobody who has a brain does call them that. Also, I am not a
Hollander; Mark is not an Englishman; and if you don't stop playing the
fool I'm going to take you at your word and call you an Aussie

Richard

 

[Flash Gordon]

Richard Bos wrote, On 12/03/07 09:59:

Yes. So nobody who has a brain does call them that. Also, I am not a
Hollander; Mark is not an Englishman;

This Mark is. Precision is important here ;-)

> and if you don't stop playing the
fool I'm going to take you at your word and call you an Aussie

 

[Mark McIntyre]

There is one and only one nation on Earth with America in its name.
Guess which citizens RIGHTFULLY use the NATIONAL identity American.

Okay, so now we're into jingoism and xenophobia.

You've now been told that at least some of your American colleagues and
fellow group members find your use of that neologism offensive. It's
now up to you what you do from this point.

Indeed.
--
Mark McIntyre

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan

 

[Mark McIntyre]

In similar vein it ticks me off when Yanks refer to me as English, or
refer to my capital city as either Edin-burgh, Edin-borrow or worst of
all, London.

So; to avoid calling it something wrong when I'm there this May: how
_does_ one correctly refer to it, without resorting to Celtic, which I
don't speak? [/QUOTE]

Edinbra with a short a.


--
Mark McIntyre

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are,
by definition, not smart enough to debug it."
--Brian Kernighan

 

[Richard Bos]

[ Follow-ups to poster, in the interest - hypocritical as it is of me in
this thread - of topicality. ]

Edinbra with a short a.

Oh... but surely that's the normal way? I've never heard even a
Sassenach call it anything else.
(Proper 'r' or Limey throatless 'uh', btw? And while we're at it: any
recommendations for lesser-known sights? Guide books about Edinburgh are
as rare as hotel rooms in that city :-/ )

Richard

 

[Default User]

Such USAnians should consider that I once coined the neologism
USAlien. Which would you prefer?

Neither. American is the correct term. Like the American in ANSI and
all that.




Brian

 

[Default User]

If it's not ambiguous, how would you call someone from the collective
set of {Colombian, District-of-Columbian, El Salvadoran, Cuban}?

Pan-American.




Brian

 

[Richard Tobin]

Edinbra with a short a.

"Embra" is the conventional representation of a local pronunciation.

-- Richard

 

[Ernie Wright]

If it's not ambiguous, how would you call someone from the collective
set of {Colombian, District-of-Columbian, El Salvadoran, Cuban}?

Like "object" (the term of art in computer programming), the meaning of
"American" is disambiguated by context. In the journal Hispania, in an
article entitled "An Aspect of Symbolic Nationalism in Spanish America,"
the author may write of the "former Spanish colonies in America" and be
understood to include a set with {Colombia, El Salvadore, Cuba} as a
subset. Elsewhere, on first use and in the absense of context to the
contrary, "American" refers to residents of the United States, just as
here, on first use and in the absence of qualification, "object" is
understood to refer to the concept as used in the C standards.

No one is confused about the provenance of the American National
Standards Institute.

It's not logical. It may strike those outside the U.S. as parochial or
self-aggrandizing. But we don't get to redefine the term, and clc isn't
the place to make the attempt anyway. It is what it is, and if we're
going to criticize people for innocently using the vernacular of instant
messaging and other non-standard forms of English here, it makes no
sense to support neologisms that are clearly *intended* to have
inflammatory political connotations.

(And for those folks, they might want to remember that the term was used
in English, on both sides of the Atlantic, to refer specifically to
English colonists in the New World 300 years ago; it isn't something the
current residents of the U.S. stole from the rest of the hemisphere.)

BTW, residents of the District of Columbia are Washingtonians.

- Ernie http://home.comcast.net/~erniew

 

[Richard Bos]

Neither. American is the correct term. Like the American in ANSI and
all that.

Well, you Merkins are getting pretty big in the head about it, and
that's the last thing I'll say on the issue.

Richard

 

[Keith Thompson]

There is one and only one nation on Earth with America in its name.
Guess which citizens RIGHTFULLY use the NATIONAL identity American.

You've now been told that at least some of your American colleagues and
fellow group members find your use of that neologism offensive. It's
now up to you what you do from this point.

Based on what I've seen in this thread, exactly one American has taken
unreasonable offense at the term "USAnian" being used in passing in a
technical discussion, in a context that carried no hint of any
political agenda beyond what might be inferred from the use of the
word itself. As far as I could see, the use of "USAnian" did *not*
imply that the writer felt that the word "American" is incorrect. It
struck me as slightly silly and utterly inoffensive. Incidentally,
the term has been used a number of times in this newsgroup before,
without starting flame wars.

I don't recall ever using the word myself except in quoted text. I'll
probably try to avoid doing so here in the future, for the sole
purpose of avoiding offending you, but I'm not going to devote a lot
of effort to it.

 

[Al Balmer]

Based on what I've seen in this thread, exactly one American has taken
unreasonable offense at the term "USAnian" being used in passing in a
technical discussion, in a context that carried no hint of any
political agenda beyond what might be inferred from the use of the
word itself. As far as I could see, the use of "USAnian" did *not*
imply that the writer felt that the word "American" is incorrect. It
struck me as slightly silly and utterly inoffensive. Incidentally,
the term has been used a number of times in this newsgroup before,
without starting flame wars.

It always struck me as a silly attempt to be mildly offensive. The
silliness outweighs the offensiveness.

 

[Malcolm McLean]

How is Yoo-Ess-Ayenians less pronouncable than El-Salvadorians or
Lithuanians?
No hard consonant.


Not really.

Americans are Brits who have gotten rid of the monarchy and now live in a
republic. So in English, "Republicans" is fine.