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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[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 68 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] drbluefall@toast.ooo 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

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[–] thelsim@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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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[–] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago (11 children)

The English Language, where the grammar is made up and the rules don't matter.

I can add:

[-er] New Zealander

[–] master5o1@lemmy.nz 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or just a different word completely. Dutch.

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[–] neidu2@feddit.nl 43 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Demonyms don't follow any particular rules, as far as I know. I'm an "-egian" myself.

[–] master5o1@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago

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

Especially true for English.

[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 38 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Canada = Canadese (nuts fit in your mouth?)

[–] InfiniteKrebs@lemmy.ml 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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

[–] herrvogel@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year 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.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year 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"

[–] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year 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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[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I'm in Michigan, that makes me a Michigander. The rules are made up and the suffixes don't matter.

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm from South Dakota, I'm South Dakotant. It is what it is.

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[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 year ago

Icelandian.

[–] Outsider9042@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Iceland = Icelandic

Thailand != Thailandic

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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[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I think I could get behind New Zealandic

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

I believe they're properly called New Zoolanders.

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[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (7 children)

We're all Earthicans, no need to divide it up further than that

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[–] leds@feddit.dk 13 points 1 year 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)

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Netherlands β†’ Dutch

No wonder Euros say they don't exist.

[–] gerryflap@feddit.nl 10 points 1 year 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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[–] meekah@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's based on what sounds best.

[–] Nemo@midwest.social 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Then explain Liverpudian or Mancunian.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

They're both aposematisms - they're meant to be a clear signal to discourage interactions.

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[–] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Americaneseish.

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

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

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 7 points 1 year ago

Portugalman

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[–] olsonexi@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

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

[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year 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?

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year 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.

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