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stranger
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OP
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Hi,
I am a newbie here. I have a question that I don't seem to find anyone able to answer. Who or how is it decided what you call people from different countries or places? For example, a person from Hong Kong is a Hong Konger, why not Hong Kongnese? A person from Shanghai, a Shanghainese, why not Shanghaians? What about Angola? Angolians? Croatia, Croats or Croatian? Of course many are easy and obvious, like America = Americans, India = Indians, California = Californians. etc. What about Karachi? Karachians? Its actually Karachite, but why and who or how is it decided?
Thank you & best regards
William Sim
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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how about those from liverpool--scousers?
Who decides on that? (there isn't even a hint of liverpool in the name!
me? i am a new Yawker.
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Joined: Oct 2007
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Oct 2007
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People from Liverpool are known as Liverpudlians, why? I don't know!? But Scouser is a slang with possibly Norwegian or German source.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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and here I thought those from Liverpool were Liverpudlians. - ron o.edit: Inhabitants of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians but are also known as "Scousers", in reference to the local meal known as 'scouse', a form of stew. The word 'scouse' is probably a contraction of 'lobscouse', the name of a Scandanavian stew which is thought to be a precursor of the scouse dish. - Wikipedia
Last edited by tsuwm; 10/23/07 05:02 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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tsuwm, is it me or did you just mantle wsim?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>did you just mantle wsim?
yeahbut, note time and note edit (actually, I only noticed it after the edit).
-joe (it's you) friday
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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Like many things in language, it seems to be on a word by word basis. See how the various languages in Europe handle the Germans: German Deutschland (country), Italian Germania (country), tedesco (people, language), Spanish Alemania (country), Russia Германия (Germanija, country), немецкий язык (nemtskij jazyk, language), Finnish Saksa (country), France Allemagne (country), Lithuanian Vokietija (country). Most of these names come from one of the many tribes into which the Germans were divided in antiquity. (Excepting the Slavic names which are based on a root meaning deaf-mute. Many placenames (and their adjectival forms) were borrowed at different times and some have been subjected to some extensive changes in pronunciation: e.g., Leghorn for Livorno. How different words are formed within languages is answerable, but I doubt that the why is.
I've always wondered where the -n- in Shanghainese came from? Probably just an epenthetic consonant to make it easier to pronounce. Then there are curiosities like the almost standard (US) mispronunication of the capital of the PRC as /bejʒIŋ/ rather than /bejdʒIŋ/.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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> Then there are curiosities like the almost standard (US) mispronunication of the capital of the PRC as /bejʒIŋ/ rather than /bejdʒIŋ/.
you mean Peking?
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