Top Ten Reasons For Being...

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

Top 10 reasons for being a "Usanian" (not just American, as all people who live in both North and South America are American, so to call only those who live in the U.S. Americans is incorrect and tends to cause an unneeded separation between Usanians and other Americans, in other words, calling people from the U.S. Americans and not other Americans makes about as much sense as only calling South Africans Africans because their country has the word Africa in it )

Only some South Africans are called Afrikaners.

Terminological things might get easier if the US changed its name to Wineland, or USW, and the inhabitants would be called Winelanders. (This would have been especially fitting when W. was president.)

[Æxylis]

hrm... idk where you get wineland from... I'm more inclined to believe "whineland" perhaps from Vinland, but then Vinland is a better name anyway... of course any time I see "United States of America" it doesn't make me think that it is America, it makes me think that there is a lack of unity in the other states of the Americas outside of the U.S. or at least that's what they'd have you believe

[JackFrost]

Top 10 reasons for being a "Usanian" (not just American, as all people who live in both North and South America are American, so to call only those who live in the U.S. Americans is incorrect and tends to cause an unneeded separation between Usanians and other Americans, in other words, calling people from the U.S. Americans and not other Americans makes about as much sense as only calling South Africans Africans because their country has the word Africa in it )

Using this view, you would be on the shitlist very fast if you tell this to the Canadians, no matter how you put it. "North American" is fine, but calling them "Americans"... They'll hate you and it is a fact linguistically and realistic speaking. We just cannot apply logics with languages, so...

Why would they hate you? North American is American, just the northern version thereof... and what's wrong with applying logic to language... how can a language be anything if not logical?

See the US vs. Canada relationship and you'll know why. They do not want to be called Americans, even if they know they live on the continents called the Americas. They're perfectly fine calling the US residents as Americans.

The term "Usians" is just political correctness that has gone out of hand. Not to add that it is a very awkward word to pronounce in English. It just doesn't sound well with the phonology, that is why it is just easier and more neutral to use "United States/US" as an adjective to replace "American", which are very common in standard US English and government papers.

Logics do not blend well with culture and mentality (which always influence languages), which are always illogical by nature.

[Æxylis]

hrm... usian and usanian wouldn't be too hard to pronounce... would be a word that rhymes with fusion and a word that would be like 'you-sane-e-in'
so let's get crack-a-lackin' with the fusion of them usians

anyway, I do not even want to get back into the whole discussion of why 'illogical' is not a term that can be adequately used to describe any language that is actually comprehensible, I've already done that in two other threads and people still don't get the point apparently...

in either case, culture that refuses to acknowledge logic seems to me to be very limited and chaotic, but whatever

as far as the hate between usians and canadians, it's pointless, just like any kind of hate, so they should just get over themselves (both sides) and just get along like e'rbody else that loves to fight all the time

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

hrm... idk where you get wineland from... I'm more inclined to believe "whineland" perhaps from Vinland, but then Vinland is a better name anyway...

Vinland is taken from the Icelandic spelling, and Wineland is the reasonable English form of the same word, and I choose that since Vinland feels harder to pronounce, and it sounds almost like Finland, which might lead to confusion.

[Hunef]

hrm... idk where you get wineland from... I'm more inclined to believe "whineland" perhaps from Vinland, but then Vinland is a better name anyway...

Vinland is taken from the Icelandic spelling, and Wineland is the reasonable English form of the same word, and I choose that since Vinland feels harder to pronounce, and it sounds almost like Finland, which might lead to confusion.

I agree, one should write Wineland in English in analogy with Greenland and Iceland. Indeed, you don't write "Gronland" (Old Norse Grǿnland) and "Island" (ON Ísland), do you? (Besides, words in English beginning with v just don't sound good.)

__________________________________________________________
NB: there's been some debate whether ON Vinland (with non-normalized spelling, i.e., i may be normalized i or í) translates to 'Wineland' or 'Meadowland' due to the ambiguity of the quantity of the i. Of course, if it were 'Meadowland' it'd rather have been spelled *Viniuland in non-normalized version (or *Vinjuland if normalized). Thus, the meaning is in fact 'Wineland'.

[JackFrost]

Vinland is taken from the Icelandic spelling, and Wineland is the reasonable English form of the same word, and I choose that since Vinland feels harder to pronounce, and it sounds almost like Finland, which might lead to confusion.

The island formerly called Vinland is now called Newfoundland as you may know now and it's pronounced as "Newfinland" (/nufɪnlænd/, /nufənlænd/, /nufɪnlənd/, /nufənlənd) by all Newfoundlanders.

Just a funny coincidence that It's just pronounced almost like the old Norse name now.

[Æxylis]

words starting with v in english don't really sound odd
but then again I'd pronounce 'Vinland' differently anyway... I'd probably say it more like /vi:nlandt/
so it'd sound more like greenland than finland

[ILuvEire]

Vinland is taken from the Icelandic spelling, and Wineland is the reasonable English form of the same word, and I choose that since Vinland feels harder to pronounce, and it sounds almost like Finland, which might lead to confusion.

The island formerly called Vinland is now called Newfoundland as you may know now and it's pronounced as "Newfinland" (/nufɪnlænd/, /nufənlænd/, /nufɪnlənd/, /nufənlənd) by all Newfoundlanders.

Just a funny coincidence that It's just pronounced almost like the old Norse name now.

I noticed that meself. It's like they're calling it Newvinland. Coincidence? I think not.

[Æxylis]

maybe they should use a language there like the original language of the vinland settlers, i.e. a nordic one

kanske de borde använda ett språk där som det första språk av de vinlandska nybyggare

[Jurgen Wullenwever]

maybe they should use a language there like the original language of the vinland settlers, i.e. a nordic one

kanske de borde använda ett språk där som det första språk av de vinlandska nybyggare

Correction:
Där borde de kanske tala ett språk som liknar de första vinländska nybyggarnas, alltså ett nordiskt språk.

I would rather have them speak the language of the local tribes, that had settled there before the Icelanders arrived.

Vinland is taken from the Icelandic spelling, and Wineland is the reasonable English form of the same word, and I choose that since Vinland feels harder to pronounce, and it sounds almost like Finland, which might lead to confusion.

The island formerly called Vinland is now called Newfoundland as you may know now and it's pronounced as "Newfinland" (/nufɪnlænd/, /nufənlænd/, /nufɪnlənd/, /nufənlənd) by all Newfoundlanders.

Just a funny coincidence that It's just pronounced almost like the old Norse name now.

Popular culture has the idea that the Vikings discovered the USA. [Of course these Icelanders were not Vikings, and regardless where they went, the USA did not exist at that time.] I was building on this belief when I suggested Wineland, as that was the name of the most southern areas they named, or are there any further names?

I have not heard that Vinland was limited to a specific island. Instead I was under the impression that Vinland was the North American continent as a whole, apart from Greenland, Helluland and Markland and whatever other named.

Think of the Kensington runestone, probably dating from 1862 or something, that says "8 Geats and 22 Norwegians on a surveying journey fro Winland of West ... " and Winland in that context does not necessarily limit itself to Newfoundland.

[Lenguas]

Words beginning with v in English just don't sound good?

Hmm. Why do you say that?

[Hao Ran]

MY TURN.

Top Ten Reasons For Being Singaporean:
1. No stupid chewing gum sticking to your shoes or your bags or your shirt when you're on the bus.
2. Because you can speak Singlish. Which is like so awesome can.
3. You don't have to bother with politics. 'COS IT'S ALL THE SAME!
4. You get to be more-colonial-than-thou by being an independent country while basking in the glory of the British culture at the same time.
5. You are exposed to at least four different languages, all of which are from different families (Germanic, Dravidian, Austronesian, and Sino-Tibetan). HOW AWESOME IS THAT.
6. Tiger mothers. 'nuff said.
7. Chicken rice.
8. Laksa.
9. Roti prata.
10. Satay.

Top Ten Reasons For Being a Hong Konger:
1. You get to pay insane amounts of money for a luxurious flat that is about 600 square feet in size.
2. Most apartments can be found on the ... 50th storey and above.
3. You'll be receiving HKD6000 soon ... if plans don't fall through.
4. You get to be more-colonial-than-thou by being part of China while basking in the glory of the British culture at the same time.
5. You get to say what you want about China, and they can't do anything about it (unless you're actually somewhere in mainland China, in which case nobody can really help you).
6. LOTS AND LOTS OF FOOD that you wouldn't dare to eat in China but since it's Hong Kong, it's probably cleaner. Even if it's something bizarre like snake.
7. You'll get lots of exercise getting to the pubs in the SoHo area since everything there is built on the side of a hill. It feels more like a mountain sometimes.
8. Continuing from 7, you get to have a SoHo area like London or New York. Except it isn't actually that chic; it's just got a lot of drunk tourists who like to puke down the streets which are sloped at 45 degrees in most places.
9. The Hong Kong accent. 'NUFF SAID.
10. And if you don't speak Cantonese, refer to No. 9.

[Lenguas]

Even if it's something bizarre like snake.

Would you eat something like that?

3. You don't have to bother with politics. 'COS IT'S ALL THE SAME!

What do you mean by that?

[Hao Ran]

Would you eat something like that?

To be perfectly honest, no. But that's because I grew up with vaguely Western tastes. My dad would love a bowl of stewed snake, any time.

What do you mean by that?

Since independence, Singapore's political scene has been relatively stable in the sense that there's always been the one party in charge while everything else is just ... noise. There isn't even noise: it's more like a muffled buzz. Some publications (The Economist included) have gone to the extent of alluding that Singapore is a one-party, totalitarian state.

[Lenguas]

But that's because I grew up with vaguely Western tastes.

Is that typical of the younger generation, or just you?
Oh, and would you eat things that the average American/Brit, etc. wouldn't?

[Hao Ran]

But that's because I grew up with vaguely Western tastes.

Is that typical of the younger generation, or just you?
Oh, and would you eat things that the average American/Brit, etc. wouldn't?

Well. I think even the younger generation still eats some things that most Americans or Brits wouldn't touch. I, for instance, eat century eggs, which a number of Westerners seem to freak out about (there was apparently a Fear Factor episode about it). Oh, and lots of youths like durian, which most Westerners stay far, faaaar away from. Then and again, I personally hate it, but it's not like I detest it or avoid it like the plague. I just like my food comfortable without any overly insane smells.

Beyond that, though, Chinese cuisine isn't always that crazy. Ideas in the West about what we put in our mouths can be a little blown out of proportion sometimes.

[mōdgethanc]

Chinese cuisine(s) is/are much less intimidating than Vietnam's. It's those damned southerners you have to worry about. I'm not sure what exactly Hong Kong's chefs are imbibing.

[Lenguas]

Ideas in the West about what we put in our mouths can be a little blown out of proportion sometimes.

I dunno. I once went to a Chinese restaurant that had chicken feet on the menu.

[Ludwig Whitby]

Chinese cuisine(s) is/are much less intimidating than Vietnam's. It's those damned southerners you have to worry about. I'm not sure what exactly Hong Kong's chefs are imbibing.

Well, slap my ass and call me Sally, if it isn't Talib again! Welcome back.