Comment on This is America
JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 10 months agoIgnorance this ignorance that.
Language evolves. The words we used to refer to locations don’t exactly match what they did 250 fucking years ago, boohoo.
Definitions come from how people use words, not the other way around.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 10 months ago
That’s how Trump can get away with his lies in the USA.
JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 10 months ago
So can you or I. At least a quarter billion people say “America” and mean “United States of America” every day, and at least a quarter billion people hear them say it and understand what they mean. Therefore, the meaning of that word has skewed.
If you picture an “American” in your mind I know damn well the first thing that pops into your head is not a resident of Brazil, and that is what language is actually about. Moving ideas, not definitions.
FelixCress@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Keep dreaming, USian.
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JustAnotherKay@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Appeal to Authority
Actual research
I promise your random Mastodon screenshot is not as definitive as millennia of language evolution. Also, you’re assuming I’m american when I could damn well be a European etymologist for all you know