Loco driving wheels:

I'm not insisting that my understanding of a word is the only correct one. I am insisting that when the person communicating to a large international audience uses a term they know to be irrational, then he/she is being arrogant and stupid to expect that the rational interpretation will not be read.

So, you're arrogantly demanding that I accept an irrational meaning for a term because you do. That appears to sum you up.

Unfortnately you don't have a name for your country and therefore your citizens. (I assume for the purposes of this reply that you are a US citizen) That does make it difficult for everyone concerned. Your country is "The United States of America", often shortened to "the USA" You could call yourselves "USAians" or "USers". I tend to call you "Yanks", without any negative intent, because that is a term that is understood world-wide. I can understand that you call yourselves "Americans" within the USA but that is irrational outside of America. (unless you're trying to avoid admitting which nation of the two continents you are from)

Regards, Greg.P. NZ

THe US's action of hyjacking the term has been successful on you. (as it has with many people)

Same situation as with "American" today.

I'm not well versed in Spanish, but "Northamericanos" would seem also to include Mexicans.

Regards, Greg.P.

I'm from the same country as Wolf K.

It may be irrational, but 300 million residents of the country to the south calling themselves Americans is pretty convincing to me. Citizens of other countries on the two continents do not identify themselves first and foremost as "Americans".

Mind you, some call themselves Indians, which can be confusing.

Would you call yourself an Australian? (Unless that's where you were bo

In article , Greg Procter writes

Greg,

You speak as if this slight fuzziness of nomenclature was unusual, but it is far from unique.

To give an example, look at the UK. Geographically, the island group off NW Europe is called the British Isles. It consists of Great Britain (the big bit with England, Scotland and Wales) and the Ireland (the slightly smaller island with Eire and Northern Ireland). Politically, the UK is correctly termed The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

So what are we called? Well, I've never heard anyone call us "UKians". British seems to be the most common, but that incorrectly either excludes N Ireland (if "British" is Great Britain) or includes Eire (if "British" is the British Isles). To call myself English ignores the fact that England is only one part of the UK.

Our naming of other countries is equally random. We (i.e. the British) often refer to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as "Holland", despite the fact that Holland strictly only refers to two of the many provinces of that country. We call Germany by that name, despite the fact that the Germans have a totally different name for it.

In short, we all have to live with a little looseness, and sometimes get the truth from the context.

Now, can we end this way off-topic subject and get back to talking about railways? Please!

David

You get swayed into illogicallity by 5% of the World's population!?!

Would YOU want to be confused with citizens of the World's Worst Terrorist Nation? It's not surprising that Canadians, Mexicans, Panamanians etc etc deny being yanks.

I don't think that term is allowable any longer in the USA, just like Nigers, Negros. Blacks ...

Goodness, NO! I might call myself an "Australasian" if cornered, or a "Pacific Islander" if my audience looked particularly confused by "New Zealander", but I would never insist that only New Zealanders were Pacific Islanders and that other non-New Zealand Pacific Islanders could no longer use the term in regard to themselves.

Greg.P. NZ

You are the only one I know who keep harping on the "correct" meaning of "American", _even though you have been told time and time again_ that the word has several meanings. It is a fact that "American" for "citizen of the USA" (and related meanings) is the most commonly understood one. The one you insist is the rational one is obsolescent.

In an international context, we take account of the fact that other people use words differently than we do, and we try to figure out what the writer intended. We don't castigate him or her for using words in senses that we don't use. We do not, in other words, assume that there are correct and incorrect usages, merely different ones.

Not me. About 400 million people north of the Mexican border, plus a majority of the English speakers elsewhere in the world. When I refer to railroading in Canada and the US, I use "North Anerican". I leave it you as an exercise in applied linguistics why I should feel it necessary to do that. (BTW, because of NAFTA, "North American" now often includes Mexico. Go figure.)

If you come visit us and insist that we are Americans, you will be ignored (politely, because we're Canajun, eh).

You can "accept" any meaning you like. If that means that you have trouble making sense of other people's writing, that's your lookout.

ROTFL

Wolf K.

Well, in the US, many Indians are happy to call themselves Indians. Here in Canada, they usually prefer to be called First Nations. Many prefer to use their original names, such a Anishnabek, Ojibwe, Tsimshian, etc. But they listen more to the tone of voice, and as long as you express respect, they don't much care one way or the other.

You're a handful fries short of a Happy Meal.

Wolf K.

Though there are allegedly people who claim this is offensive because the clueless may interpret it as somehow meaning the Republic of Ireland is "British". I'm no idea whether these people avoid the geographical term "Irish Sea" in case it upsets the Welsh, or "South America" in case...

AIUI Eire (well, Éire) is the Irish-language word for Ireland (cf Deutschland/Germany, Suomi/Finland). It is not strictly-speaking another way of saying "the part of the island of Ireland which is not part of the UKoGB&NI", even if that is how "Eire" is used in present-day Great Britain. In the past the non-UK bit claimed the UK bit as part of their country, Éire.

It does get used online from time to time.

But doesn't have any problems at all if "British" simply means "from the UKoGB&NI", as - say - "Dutch" means "from the Netherlands".

But (assuming you are English), why does that matter? I might describe myself as being from Yorkshire, even though Yorkshire is only part of England, and part of the UK.

And which country? The Kingdom of the Netherlands contains more than one.

While for some reason people from the Netherlands often use "Holland", at least when speaking English, do many Britons think of Aruba as being part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (well, to the extent the situation ever arises!)?

I was simply trying to point out to Greg that the business of naming nationalities was full of anomalies, and one just had to live with them. England is a country, Yorkshire isn't.

David

"I went to England last year for my vacation"

"Oh, where did you go?"

"Scotland"

I always assumed "North America" included Mexico - my Atlas definitely shows it to be there.

My brother is a naturalized Canadian, having lived most of his adult life there.

No, it means I just ignore the writings of apparent idiots.

I was refering to the USa and I happen to know a little about the Canadian First Nation situation.

You are assuming that topography determines how people think of themselves. Mexicans tend to be annoyed if you call them Norteamericanos.

I suppose he insists he's an American, eh?

Oh dear, it must be difficult for you to proofread your own writing, then.

Wolf K.