Comments on: Quick Tipp - It’s ok to be an Ami

By: Florian Blaschke

Florian Blaschke — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:12:15 +0000

Oh, and speaking of Latin Americans, did you know that even “español” is considered a questionable term by many, as neither does only the population of Spain speak Spanish, nor does even everyone in Spain speak Spanish - Castilian, to be precise, as for example Asturian may be considered Spanish as well - as a native language, so Latin Americans as well as Catalans, Basques and other minorities within Spain may prefer the term “castellano”?

OK, all this political correctness IS silly (in German, it is simply normal to use “England”, “Holland” and “Amerika” in a pars-pro-toto manner). But then, complaining about “US American” (or “US-American”, or “US-amerikanisch” etc.) because it is supposedly offensive is just as silly. People should simply chill a bit.

By: Florian Blaschke

Florian Blaschke — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:03:01 +0000

Beth: The Spanish (I mean Spanish-speakers, hispanohablantes in general, not only Continental - I mean European Spaniards, but also American Spaniards - I mean Spanish Americans - I mean Spanish-SPEAKING Americans! man, this is maddening) use the adjective “estadounidense”, but is it true that it does not cover the problem of the Estados Unidos de México. Not to mention the fact that Canada also is a union of federal states much like the USA and Mexico.

In fact the problem is that the term “United States of America” is in itself ambiguous, since both Mexico and Canada, as well as Brazil and Argentina, theoretically have the same right to call themselves “United States of America” - there’s not just ONE such federation in the American continent(s)/Americas.

Again, the problem is the arrogance and limited horizon of the US Americans themselves, who deem no other part of the Americas relevant enough to bear the moniker their own country claims, or even worthy of their attention at all (except when it comes to toppling unwanted regimes that interfere with the political as well as military and economic dominance, the freedom of trade and economy of the USA - especially with the freedom of their megacorps to do exactly what pleases them - just being incendiary here :P). Perhaps GOC - God’s Own Country - would be a better, unambiguous solution? Or Jesusland

But the pragmatic solution for your problem has already been found: “USAnian”.

Tarkus (BTW: ELP FTW! *g* ): I think “Tonfall” is normally expressed as “inflection” in English, not “accentuation”, which is more specific, but (depending on what you wanted to express) it works too.

By: rike

rike — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:02:40 +0000

kurzer einwand:

meine südamerikanischen freunde waren immer recht beleidigt, wenn ich anstatt usa amerika gesagt habe.

ist aber auch nur eine persönliche anekdote, vielleicht sehen das andere südamerikaner anders und bezeichnen sich selber nicht als amerikaner.

By: Brynhild

Brynhild — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:07:11 +0000

Generally, I like the Amis for some reason.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:14:40 +0000

The German call us Austrians “Ösis” - which is the same shortcut like “Amis”. I for myself don’t feel it as disrespectful.

By: Nathalie

Nathalie — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:46:43 +0000

Hallo =)

Ich möchte allgemein ein großes LOb aussprechen für diese wundervoll anprangernde Seite der deutschen und amerikanischen Verhältnisse. Ich weiß gar nicht, wie oft ich mich in Ihren Beschreibungen wieder erkenne und ich mich vor schallendem Gelächter nicht mehr halten kann! Diese Kurztexte sind einfach klasse! Ich hätte sonst nie für möglich gehalten, wie ein “Ami” sich bei uns in Deutschland wohl fühlen mag.

Ich freue mich auf weitere aufschlussreiche Entdeckungen und freudenreiche Lachanfälle.

Liebe Grüße, Nathalie

By: Holger

Holger — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:09:14 +0000

“EU-europäisch” is “doppelt gemoppelt” because at least in Germany the two letters “EU” are sufficient to describe anything that has to do with the European Union:
EU-Parlament
EU-Verordnung
EU-Kommission

I use the term “US-amerikanisch” as often as I can. To me “Amerika” (or America) is still a continent - not just a big country.

By: Axel

Axel — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:56:41 +0000

It’s true that especially people from the political left typically use the expression “US-amerikanisch” but I wouldn’t equate it with anti-Americanism automatically. You also regularly hear the expression “lateinamerikanisch” (latin American) and “südamerikanisch” (south American) and, vice versa, “nordamerikanisch” (north American) instead of “US-amerikanisch”.

The expression “EU-europäisch” doesn’t deal with the “problem” that a whole continent is reduced to one First-World-country. No one doubts that the Swiss are Europeans. And “westeuropäisch” (Western European) is also a common term you can use.

I fully agree that “Ami” has no intrinsical negative or positive implications. It fully depends on the context.

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:36:26 +0000

When I (a citizen of the US) lived in Canada, I met Canadians who got annoyed at people from the US being the general referent for the term “American,” until I reminded them that the name of their country does not include the word “America,” at which point they mostly agreed that it was fair that the middle country in North America got to use that adjective. Personally, I’d love it if there were an easy adjective form of “United States,” because that’s a much more historically interesting term, even if we don’t act very united.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:50:51 +0000

@alex:
In Analogie zu US-Amerikanisch müsste es dann Unionseuropäisch heissen. Auf dem amerikanischen Kontinent gibt es ja schließlich auch mehrere vereinigte Staaten, z.B. die Vereinigten Mexikanischen Staaten, aber das stört schliesslich auch keinen.