4 ms·
I guess it's a fairly non-offensive slur, but still essentially a disparagement of a group of people
by bitsinthesky 3y ago
I guess it's a fairly non-offensive slur, but still essentially a disparagement of a group of people
- ARandomerDude 3y agoThe word England literally comes from the word. It was originally called Englaland, meaning “land of the Angles.” https://www.etymonline.com/word/England#etymonline_v_8677 https://www.etymonline.com/word/England#etymonline_v_8677
- bitsinthesky 3y agoIf it was wanted to refer to the English, who are closest to the ones 'running' the Economist and FT (lol), then one should say English. Let's switch it over to talk about Russians, but replace for them the word Slav, which is also a real word. To say, "Slavs trying to undermine the EU with their backroom corruption and espionage, long standing tradition." would be 1) weird 2) pretty racist and 3) the word Slav would sound like a slur.
- rainworld 3y agoIt means Brits + Americans (and occasionally other anglophone countries too), no reason to overthink it. To be fair, I should have added the NYTimes to that list because it very much belongs to it.
- bitsinthesky 3y agoI understand you :) Now I'm overthinking, What's in a name? Maybe whether it's 'slurrish' has to do with the assumed tone of voice it was written in. On the one hand, it's a great word, exactly as you said, on the other, I've heard Russian propagandists use it and really _mean_ it in an ugly way. Anyways, it's not important and I feel I've over stayed my welcome.
- rainworld 3y agoFor me, it really is all-purpose, neutral. Granted, you will probably see it used in a less than neutral way more often than not.
- CogitoCogito 3y ago"Anglos" is as much a slur as "Germans" is.
- watwut 3y agoGermans is a normal word for citizens of Germany, but Anglos is a slang for ... what exactly? They are not similar words. OP used to to express disdain and people react to it. Free speech and all that.
- kwk1 3y agoAnglos are the people in the anglosphere. The term is often used as shorthand for "US+UK interests". It's useful because of the frequency in which those interests and actions align. The example of the word "German" is amusing because it's kind of coincidental. There used to be more "German countries", and if unification in the 19th century had gone differently, we might still have use of a term for the collective actions of those countries. See for example the Austro-Prussian War, also known as "the German War."
- watwut 3y agoThe time of many German speaking states is far far far in history. What exists now is German nation and Austrian nation. It is utterly irrelevant that far in history, before actual nations were born, they were organized differently.
- CogitoCogito 3y ago> Germans is a normal word for citizens of Germany, but Anglos is a slang for ... what exactly? If this is a serious question, then the answer is Anglophones. > OP used to to express disdain and people react to it. Free speech and all that. So what? If someone criticizes the policies of the Germans, is "Germans" now a slur?
- watwut 3y ago> So what? If someone criticizes the policies of the Germans, is "Germans" now a slur? If he said "Germos" it could be reasonably interpreted that way. German is equivalent of Anglophone. Anglos is a different word. Germans and Anglos are not equivalent terms.