this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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No Stupid Questions

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No such thing. Ask away!

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[-ish] Ireland, Scotland = Irish, Scottish

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Also, in Deutschland, the descendents of the Alemmani are called Germans for some awful reason.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

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 :)

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 11 months ago (10 children)

The English Language, where the grammar is made up and the rules don't matter.

I can add:

[-er] New Zealander

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Only in the same way Australia -> Aussie, or England -> pom. Colloquial terms

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Odd way to spell Kiwi but you do you pal

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Demonyms don't follow any particular rules, as far as I know. I'm an "-egian" myself.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Human languages: the words are made up and the rules don't matter.

Especially true for English.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Canada = Canadese (nuts fit in your mouth?)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Canuck is what we call ourselfs, eh?

: P

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I can tell you that this is called demonym, but I don't know the answer to your question... The Wikipedia page has a long list of suffixes, but no rules: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonym

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago

There is no common rule. It varies by the way the language evolved over time.

Also the word you are looking for is "Demonym"

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

There are no rules in English. Ask the people from each country what they prefer

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I'm in Michigan, that makes me a Michigander. The rules are made up and the suffixes don't matter.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I'm from South Dakota, I'm South Dakotant. It is what it is.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (3 children)

People from Iceland are only called Icelandic because β€œIcish” would sound a bit silly.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Icelandian.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (7 children)

Iceland = Icelandic

Thailand != Thailandic

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

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).

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I think I could get behind New Zealandic

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

I believe they're properly called New Zoolanders.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (7 children)

We're all Earthicans, no need to divide it up further than that

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Denmark -> Dane

I guess that actually the other way around, Denmark : Dane's field/farm(there is a better English word for mark but can't remember)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Netherlands β†’ Dutch

No wonder Euros say they don't exist.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Dutch is such a weird one. We don't call ourselves "Dutch" in Dutch, we call ourselves "Nederlands". This would be something like "Netherlandish" in English. We do call Germans "Duits" though, and they call themselves "Deutsch". Somehow in English German and Dutch got a bit messed up. The reason is probably that during the middle ages we did refer to our language as "Dietsch", so that probably stayed around.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But isn't Dane a noun? I thought the adjective was danish.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's based on what sounds best.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Then explain Liverpudian or Mancunian.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

They're both aposematisms - they're meant to be a clear signal to discourage interactions.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Find what sounds most natural, if that can't be found, go with what sounds the least catastrophically unnatural.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Americaneseish.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (6 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

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"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

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"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

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.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

There is no rule. It just is whatever it is.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

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.

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