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This is because of the "-ese" ending. For country names ending with "-ese", it's usually an insult to call someone "a" something, like: Chinese, Japanese, Leba
by lioeters 5y ago
This is because of the "-ese" ending.
For country names ending with "-ese", it's usually an insult to call someone "a" something, like: Chinese, Japanese, Lebanese, Portuguese, or Vietnamese.
With these countries, it sounds better to say "I am from X" or "I am X", such as "I am Japanese".
- schoen 5y agoI'm slightly unpersuaded. "Have you ever met a Sudanese?" "She married a Senegalese." ?"He's a Guyanese." To me the risk of an offensive or disparaging connotation appears especially with East Asian and maybe South Asian -ese terms, but probably not with African or South American -ese terms (and not for "an East Timorese", as I pointed out in another post). I think this connotation arose in English in the 20th century especially with East Asian demonyms, and native speakers may differ in our perceptions of how widely the connotation spread.