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(sidestepping any politics and instead discussing grammar) Anyone know why the use of demonyms as nouns is inconsistent? "American" is used as to denote one in
by benkuykendall 11y ago
(sidestepping any politics and instead discussing grammar)
Anyone know why the use of demonyms as nouns is inconsistent? "American" is used as to denote one individual, while "Chinese" is always used as a collective noun.
- pcrh 11y agoA French...no (a Frenchman, OK). An English... no (an Englishman, OK). A Japanese... yes. A German... yes. An Italian... yes. A Chinese... no (a Chineseman, no; Chinaman, also no). It seems to be pretty random, like a lot of English grammar... "Chinaman" is singled-out as pejorative for historical reasons mostly restricted to the US. Other Europeans had different pejorative nouns for Chinese people.
- gaius 11y agoAgreed. In the UK Chinaman is archaic, but I've never heard it used as a pejorative. Chink would be racist here.