[-ish] Ireland, Scotland = Irish, Scottish
[-an] Morocco, Germany = Moroccan, German
[-ese] Portugal, China = Portuguese, Chinese
What rule is at play here? 🤔
Cheers!
So Philippines is Philippinese?
I was literally thinking about this yesterday… what’s someone from Belgium called? I couldn’t figure out an ending to add. Belgian?
Belgian?
yes
There are no rules in English. Ask the people from each country what they prefer
Oh there’s plenty of rules, and if you follow them you’ll be wrong because each rule has 20 exceptions you have to memorize because English isn’t a language, it’s several languages in a trench coat.
they blame the welsh.
Find what sounds most natural, if that can’t be found, go with what sounds the least catastrophically unnatural.
Canada = Canadese (nuts fit in your mouth?)
Canadish
Canuck is what we call ourselfs, eh?
: P
Canadanian
Canadick
They should be Canadans
Shortened from Canada geese
Demonyms don’t follow any particular rules, as far as I know. I’m an “-egian” myself.
Human languages: the words are made up and the rules don’t matter.
Especially true for English.
Just attach “man” to the end of all of them for maximum offence.
What the fuck are you talking about? The Chinaman is not the issue here, Dude! I’m talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you do not. Also, Dude, “Chinaman” is not the preferred nomenclature. “Asian-American” please.
- Walter Sobchak
Is that some weird shortening for People’s Republic of Chinamen? Wouldn’t that be too easy to confuse with Republic of Chinamen?
As in Margaret Thatcher was an Englishman?
Margaret Thatcher even in her death was the inventor of the world’s first gender-neutral bathroom so she can have the exception.
Portugalman
People from Indiana are called hoosiers - this, like many things in English, doesn’t have a hard and fast rule… the sounds at the end of the word certainly impact it, but there are exceptions. Just ask a Peruvian.
There is a Words For Granted podcast episode about that. Don’t remember much tho. Have fun!
Ray Belli is amazing and I’ve failed to learn so many things from his podcast because as soon as he starts speaking my mind wanders. It’s like the audio version of reading the same paragraph four times because my brain decides to think about something else while my eyes move across the page
The English Language, where the grammar is made up and the rules don’t matter.
I can add:
[-er] New Zealander
New Zealander is the least odd sounding of the lot.
New Zealandish
New Zealandan
New Zealandese?
Newfoundlander
Yeah I think if it ends in land it’ll probably be a lander.
Odd way to spell Kiwi but you do you pal
Booo I’ma still say New Zealish
New Zealot
for aiur
Adun toridas.
New Zealander is the least odd sounding of the lot.
New Zealandish
New Zealandan
New Zealandese?
Or just a different word completely. Dutch.
Pfft. The Dutch…
New Zealand -> Kiwi.
Only in the same way Australia -> Aussie, or England -> pom. Colloquial terms
When does a colloquial term become a non-colloquial? Usage by government/official contexts?
In August 2022, Minister of Immigration Michael Wood referred to 85,000 holders of recently approved New Zealand 2021 resident visas as “new Kiwis”.
People from Iceland are only called Icelandic because “Icish” would sound a bit silly.
I think I could get behind New Zealandic
I believe they’re properly called New Zoolanders.
As an outsider I’ll say that “Kiwi” is an awesome name for you folks.
(hope I don’t assume too much based on the instance name)
and is one that we are happy enough to use
Iceland = Icelandic
Thailand != Thailandic
So we should call them Ices from now on?
Mmm… Icees…
Don’t forget Englandic people.
And Finnlandic
And Titanic! Wait… No.
Nah they’re Engl
Thailand comes from adding the Germanic -land suffix to the demonym Thai, a common pattern for non-Indo-European places. There’s also Swaziland and Somaliland (though there is also a Somalia).
Icelandese.
Icelandian.
We’re all Earthicans, no need to divide it up further than that
Terrans? Earthers?
I believe “Earthling” is traditional.
Yeah, but every ant, rat, and snake is an earthling to. That’s saying we are from the planet earth. The other terms are more about being part of the political entity of earth. If you are a Marsling, you could immigrate to become an Earthican, but you can never be an Earthling. Same for the other direction, being from earth we may some day become Martians, but can never be Marslings. Source: it’s as made up as every other part of the English language.
Fine. Human, then.
Earthling if you’re an alien with bigger guns than us.
Terran if we got bigger guns than you.
Earther if you’re a racist alien.
Hooman if you’re an alien that wants to rip us off in trade.
Earthricans
Aroo!
Netherlands = Dutch
Also, in Deutschland, the descendents of the Alemmani are called Germans for some awful reason.
So I take it that’s why it’s Allemagne?
The German people, as a people, started as the unification of the Germanic tribes. The unified tribe called itself the tribe of all men, Alle Männer in modern German. The history of those times is narrated by romans and Greeks so we have a romanised version of that name, alamanni.
Aha! Hence, the French “Allemand(e)” for “German”.
TIL. Pretty neat!
When I was a kid our family went on vacation to the US. Everyone kept asking if I was Dutch, which I thought was German (Deutsch).
So I kept correcting them, saying I was Netherlandish :)Deutsch is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is German
If you mean that Pennsylvania Dutch is a dialect of German and that Dutch and Deutsch share a common origin, then that is true.
It’s based on what sounds best.
Then explain Liverpudian or Mancunian.
That’s why people say Scouse and Manc (not to be confused with Manx)
Nothing sounds good in those accents, so it’s anything goes.
Hence ‘Brummy’
They’re both aposematisms - they’re meant to be a clear signal to discourage interactions.
Meanwhile there is no specific demonym for people from the united states, you can say american buy that would also include every other north and south american country
Seppos
Nobody calls Mexicans or Canadians Americans. Nobody calls Brazilians or Peruvians Americans. They maybe North Americans and South Americans but American means someone from the United States. The Canadians and Mexicans I know would be offended if I called them American.
I think the rest of the world calls them Freedum Dolts.
'Murican seems pretty unique and generally accurate. Just to be clear - that is a two syllable word.
Literally nobody who isn’t a Latin American with a chip on their shoulder has a problem distinguishing Americans from “people who live on either north or south america”
People outside the US all assume “American” means US. Nobody thinks there’s even a small chance you are referring to anything else. If you want to refer to South Americans you say “South Americans”
