Post #69278

2025-12-16 13:36 UTC

To be fair, they’re not entirely equivalent. I wouldn’t bristle at all at being called “an American,” but I would never call someone “a Chinese.” In the plural form with a definite article, it doesn’t feel as bad, but I’d probably prefer to say “Chinese people,” whereas “American people” feels a little clunky, though it’s probably the best option if you want to keep both terms the same. I don’t think this is necessarily a racist thing though, because I’d probably tend to say “the English/ french/ spanish” and “Guatemalans/ Nigerians/ Tibetans.” Demonyms are definitely a weird area of language that feels biased when you see a direct comparison though.

Replies (2)

@DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2025-12-16 23:09

Language is so weird tbh. Like I’d feel comfortable saying I’m an American, but like “I’m a Chinese” sounds so like… gramatically wrong. Like, idk if its the -ese suffix. Or ifs its because Chinese can be 中国人，华人，中文，中国的，华裔，汉字，so it feels so like imprecise as a term, where as “I’m Chinese” is obviously refering to ethnicity (or nationality) When someone say “the Chinese”, like when they refer to China’s success or failures, as in “the Chinese have managed to do XYZ”, idk why, but I half expect the speaker to be subconciously racist for some reason… like I feel like that phrase is categorizing me into the CCP’s decisions… like as if they’re assuming I’m part of a monolith that doesn’t have independent thoughts or something. Maybe it’s just me and I’m overthinking this weird grammer rules.

Open ##71387
@RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 2025-12-17 15:48

It’s still generally Hopis and Navajos. Usually you see the “the” definite article added when it’s referring to actual whole groups, example: “The Navajo (tribal govt or tribe as a whole) are fighting against X” as compared to “Navajos (people) are fighting against X”

Open ##73993