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| nadinem | Thursday 11th of March 2004 03:31:24 AM |
| tricky English - There are several place names listed below. Can you compose a word signifying the inhabitant of these place names. E.g.: America-American. If you cannot produce one word, you may use phrases, e.g.: Main – Main Stater. If several variants can exist, identify all of them and say whether they are equal stylistically.
Hunnover, Bellflower, Bordeax, Beverly Hills, State of Main, Denmark, Nice, Azores, Oman, Tirol, Luxemburg ,Surinam. Thanx in advance, | |
| Inuitka | Friday 12th of March 2004 04:43:37 PM |
| - What I know from those you've listed is:
Luxemburg - Luxemburger Denmark - Dane Oman - Omani Maybe an English speaking person could help here ^-^ | |
| Donovan | Saturday 13th of March 2004 03:29:44 PM |
| Tricky English - The rule in English when associating a place to a person or people is to add the suffix "ean."
However, you've given us some real posers. Someone from: Bordeaux will be pronounced Bordowe or Bordoze(f) Denmark = Dane; or Danish (refers to things) Maine = Mainer Tyrol = Tyrolean Luxemburg = Luxemburger Surinam = Surinamese Bell Flower probably fall into the rule - Bellflowerean Nice should follow the same rule as Alsace (alsacean), ergo - Nicean Beverly Hills - Pig or swine : ) follow the rule Hillsean most of these I looked up, but some I'm just trusting my gut. If you want to ask me something directly my email is jqst71@netscape.net | |
| Bruce | Tuesday 16th of March 2004 12:34:45 PM |
| Tricky English - Good observation, the -ean suffix. I see lots of -ian words too. For US states we have Virginian, Floridian, Carolinian, Californian, Washingtonian, Pennsylvanian, and many more fit that pattern. For the states ending with "a" or "a" with a final consonant we use -an. Texan, Utahan (or Utahn), Nevadan (or Nevadian), Arizonan (or Arizonian). Then there are the -er words: Vermonter, Mainer, New Yorker, Marylander, Rhode Islander. And some -ite ones among the states too, but fewer: Wisconsinite, Wyomingite, New Hampshirite and New Jerseyite are the only ones, though as alternatives for the latter two we have New Hampshireman and New Jersean.
Here are some city residents: Los Angeles people are Angelenos ("an-j&-'lE-nO) and say it without the Los, but San Franciscans keep the San. Richmonders, Denverites, Miamians, Bostonians, New Yorkers. My friend from Seattle says she is "someone from Seattle" because she thinks Seattleite (sE-'a-t&l-"It) sounds too strange. And Alsace? Alsatian. | |
| bennylin | Monday 10th of May 2004 10:39:55 PM |
| - i'm currently live at Seattle, so i'm a Seattlelite too (close to the word Sattelite, right?)
what about country, Bruce? what is the rule if we want to call someone base on his/her country? what i can add is: -ese, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc. when i came here (USA), i wondering what is the name for native American people. Colombus thought that native American is Indian, which means people from India (South Asia), but till now we still use it to call the native American. so i was thinking, maybe in English, they're called Indianese or something, to differ it from people of India. but later i realized that they're called native American now. so.. what -ese am I? I am a Indonesian-Chinese who are currently studying at Uncle Sam's country warm regards, Benny | |
| Bruce | Tuesday 01st of June 2004 05:25:56 PM |
| Country Names and Inhabitant Names - The -ese seems to fit country names that end in a consonant, but then too, it goes with some vowels as well -- China/Chinese -- so I don't know if there's much of a rule at all for its use. And as you pointed out a place like Indonesia has Indonesians, which we get with nothing more than an -n (Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Italian, Norwegian and so on). And then there is the Scot, Dane, Fiji Islander, Italian, Pole, Swede, Spaniard, Englishman (Englishwoman), German (but not Gerwoman)... go figure.
On the change of use from "Indian" to "Native American," you might know that the change was due to "poltical correctness" (avoiding insult or offense) and not geographical correctness, when the former term came to be regarded as derogatory because of negative stereotyping over the years. Some have observed, though, that since the Native Americans came over the ice or a land bridge from northeast Asia eons ago, they should be called "Siberian Americans." This view, however, is not popular. | |
| Bruce B. | Monday 26th of July 2004 09:36:26 PM |
| Why is it so hard? - There is much controversy regarding what to call the first race that inhabited North America. With great respect for everyone involved, most of it seems quite silly. A Dakota chief once told me,"I don't care what name you use if you say it with respect. We're called Indians because Colombus thought he had found India. I'm just glad he didn't think he'd found Turkey." American Indian easily distinguishes one from Asian Indian. No, not real accurate, but it serves. Native American? Native means born to a place. I was born in the heart of North America, as were my parents and grandparents. Sorry, but we're native Americans, though our ancestry on this continent is not as long. Did the natives of the day welcome the Spaniards to America? If so, where had they learned Latin, which 'America' is? 'America' didn't exist until the European invasion. Indigenous peoples is closer to the truth, but a mouthful. Aboriginals is good, but belongs to the first Australians. First Nations or First Peoples, to my mind fits the bill nicely. Any ideas?
On another track: People from Minnesota's largest city are Minneapolitans, form the capital St. Paulites, and from the metro area generally Twin Citians. | |
| Alec | Saturday 11th of September 2004 02:33:39 AM |
| England - London - Londoners
Manchester - Manchurians Liverpool - Liverpudlians | |
| ashleejs | Saturday 02nd of October 2004 05:51:24 PM |
| - We call people from India 'Indians' and Indians from America 'American Indians'.
Liverpudlians? Never heard that one before. I thought it would be Liverpoolians.. Hm.. This is an interesting topic, I get confused about endings myself. | |
| HisGirlFriday | Sunday 10th of October 2004 08:18:15 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by bennylin[/i]
i'm currently live at Seattle, so i'm a Seattlelite too (close to the word Sattelite, right?) what about country, Bruce? what is the rule if we want to call someone base on his/her country? what i can add is: -ese, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc. when i came here (USA), i wondering what is the name for native American people. Colombus thought that native American is Indian, which means people from India (South Asia), but till now we still use it to call the native American. so i was thinking, maybe in English, they're called Indianese or something, to differ it from people of India. but later i realized that they're called native American now. [/quote] Just have to point out...Colombus set foot the cuban area and some parts of south america. When he was in a place later called El Salivor, he thought he landed in his destination which was India. Thinking he was in India, he called the natives, Indians. It's commonly mistaken but North America really wasn't discovered by Columbus ( AS if say this on Columbus Day in the U.S.A.) America was actually said to have been located by Americo Vespucci and that is suppose to be why America was named after him. ( Sp?) But i still think the word 'Indians' when carried back to Europe and told the hundreds of other people, the word stuck when the influx of settles began to move to America from Europe. That's my speal. I have heard them called Indians and Native Americans. I am guilty of calling them indians i must say and so are many people. But now-a-days it's politically correct to call them 'native americans' and that's what we will hear more often when talking about them formally. What would Massachuessets be? I never heard a name for my my state besides Bostonians...no one ever says placement names in my state besides people from boston. We're all just Yankees to the south. | |
| soldado_del_rey | Tuesday 19th of October 2004 12:16:03 PM |
| America - Actually, America was first discovered by either the Phoenicians or the Vikings, but that's beside the point. | |
| HisGirlFriday | Friday 22nd of October 2004 10:14:11 AM |
| - yeah, something like that! And it was besides the point. I just know that it was someone else. | |
| orderinchaos78 | Friday 24th of December 2004 04:29:32 AM |
| - Some Australian ones (this has been the subject of much debate but a whole bunch of linguists came to some agreement about this in another forum I was using:)
Sydney - Sydneysider (Sydneyan is now obsolete) Melbourne - Melburnian (note change of spelling) Brisbane - Brisbanite (the only one that breaks the pattern) Adelaide - Adelaidian/ean Perth - Perthite DARwin - DarWINian (change of emphasis) CANberra - CanBERRan (change of emphasis) (Couldn't agree on one for someone from Cairns. Newspaper searches turned up the cop-out "Cairns native" and such alternatives. Many towns in Australia have the same problem, or add -ian or -er.) New South Wales - New South Welshman Victoria - Victorian Northern Territory - Territorian (no Northern) Queensland - Queenslander Tasmania - Tasmanian The -ite was generally considered to be inferior to the -ian as a choice where an option was available, but some are in such common usage that they are now standard. | |
