A question on Jeopardy --about Saint Columbus and his discovery of the so-called New World Indians-- made me begin to think about etymology, which is the study of tadpoles and frogs. But then one thought led to another, and I began to think about the origin of words.
And so, in India, you have my people, the Indians. In America, you have yourself, the Americans. In Africa, the Africans; in Australia, the Australians; and in Asia, the Asians; and so on.
So why (since the rules clearly state that if your country or continent ends with letter "a" the people are "—ans") why I ask, are those from China not the Chinans?
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To whine about this type of stuff is 'winging the wong number' as they say. (And who are they to say anyway??)
While it is so that Asians are said to have come from Asia, what does one make of those of Asian descent? (Besides desmell?)
Are those of Japan not Japanese? And those of Vietnam - Vietnamese? One cannot forget the others, such as the Taiwanese, Nepalese, Guyanese, Burmese, Maltese, Beninese, East Timorese, Togolese, Bhutanese, Faroese, Sammarinese, Gabonese, Congolese, Lebanese, Togolese, Surinamese, Sudanese, Marshallese, Senegalese, Sammarinese, or even the Portuguese!
While one could argue these are just simply the Names of Nationalities of certain Countries, aka Demonyms, what does one call a person of Vatican City? The Holy See?
How can it be that my kitten was born in the United States of America - yet the SPCA continues to insist that she is not American Pussy but is actually a Siamese Cat! Talk about cruelty!
The irony of it all presses heavily upon my brain.
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