I’m going to start using “the american”
Comment on Finally, Common Ground...
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Gratuitous “the”.
SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com 2 months ago
We aren’t bringing back “Chinamen” if that’s what you’re asking.
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Chinese would suffice.
Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com 2 months ago
Tell Xi I’m sorry. He’ll have to wait for the .ml version.
Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Are you smoking crack? I’m sympathetic to your plight, but perhaps discussion and debate are less your forte than inhaling and seeing stars.
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.
TronBronson@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The Chinaman is not the issue dude.
And please Asian American is the preferred nomenclature
evthestrike@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
What do you mean by the second sentence 🤨
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
yeah needs to match on both sides either “the americans and the chinese” or “americans and chinese” not this weird othering mix.
idiomaddict@lemmy.world 2 months ago
To be fair, they’re not entirely equivalent. I wouldn’t bristle at all at being called “an American,” but I would never call someone “a Chinese.” In the plural form with a definite article, it doesn’t feel as bad, but I’d probably prefer to say “Chinese people,” whereas “American people” feels a little clunky, though it’s probably the best option if you want to keep both terms the same.
I don’t think this is necessarily a racist thing though, because I’d probably tend to say “the English/ french/ spanish” and “Guatemalans/ Nigerians/ Tibetans.” Demonyms are definitely a weird area of language that feels biased when you see a direct comparison though.
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Language is so weird tbh.
Like I’d feel comfortable saying I’m an American, but like “I’m a Chinese” sounds so like… gramatically wrong.
Like, idk if its the -ese suffix. Or ifs its because Chinese can be 中国人,华人,中文,中国的,华裔,汉字,so it feels so like imprecise as a term, where as “I’m Chinese” is obviously refering to ethnicity (or nationality)
When someone say “the Chinese”, like when they refer to China’s success or failures, as in “the Chinese have managed to do XYZ”, idk why, but I half expect the speaker to be subconciously racist for some reason… like I feel like that phrase is categorizing me into the CCP’s decisions… like as if they’re assuming I’m part of a monolith that doesn’t have independent thoughts or something.
Maybe it’s just me and I’m overthinking this weird grammer rules.
TronBronson@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I would say “the Chinese invented many things in the last two millennia.” And “China is constantly posturing against Taiwan” to separate the people from their government.
“The Chinese” doesn’t have to be racist it can just include all the people of the region across all times. It can be a bit ignorant but doesn’t flag maliciousness
RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s still generally Hopis and Navajos. Usually you see the “the” definite article added when it’s referring to actual whole groups, example: “The Navajo (tribal govt or tribe as a whole) are fighting against X” as compared to “Navajos (people) are fighting against X”