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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[–] [email protected] 68 points 5 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 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] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (2 children)

So I take it that's why it's Allemagne?

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 5 months ago (11 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 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Or just a different word completely. Dutch.

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

Pfft. The Dutch...

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 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 5 months ago

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

Especially true for English.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Canada = Canadese (nuts fit in your mouth?)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 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] 34 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 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

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

The answer is that many languages import their demonyms from different foreign languages. The reason for the inconsistencies is the different, unrelated sources for words.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 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] 24 points 5 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 5 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 5 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

Icelandian.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (7 children)

Iceland = Icelandic

Thailand != Thailandic

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 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 5 months ago (3 children)

I think I could get behind New Zealandic

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I believe they're properly called New Zoolanders.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 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 5 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 5 months ago (2 children)

Netherlands β†’ Dutch

No wonder Euros say they don't exist.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 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 5 months ago (1 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It's based on what sounds best.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Then explain Liverpudian or Mancunian.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 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 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Just attach "man" to the end of all of them for maximum offence.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Portugalman

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Americaneseish.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I was literally thinking about this yesterday… what’s someone from Belgium called? I couldn’t figure out an ending to add. Belgian?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

Belgian?

yes

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