Comment on Finally, Common Ground...

Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

• SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  yeah needs to match on both sides either “the americans and the chinese” or “americans and chinese” not this weird othering mix.

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  • idiomaddict@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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.

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    • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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.

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      • TronBronson@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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

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    • RedAggroBest@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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”

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• SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I’m going to start using “the american”

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• Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  We aren’t bringing back “Chinamen” if that’s what you’re asking.

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  • Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Chinese would suffice.

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    • Wigglesworth@retrolemmy.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Tell Xi I’m sorry. He’ll have to wait for the .ml version.

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      • Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ 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.

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  • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.

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  • TronBronson@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    The Chinaman is not the issue dude.

    And please Asian American is the preferred nomenclature

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  • evthestrike@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    What do you mean by the second sentence 🤨

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