BTW, just because English gets along without one centralized institution that determines what is and isn’t standard, doesn’t mean nobody else can or should. Or that when one exists it should or should not be a government entity. Spanish, for instance, has the Real Academia, a conglomerate of academic NGOs from 20-odd countries, which regularizes the adoption of new words and rules of grammar and ortography.
And France, of course, has the Academie Francaise, where I believe they still guillotine you for spelling violations. 
That’s Académie Française, scum! 
Cite for its legitimacy? Sounds a lot like a deliberately insulting use to me, like the use of “Pakkis” for Pakistanis or “Seppos” for Americans.
(Though it is a bit lame as an insult, needs an extra something, maybe “Euro-weenies” would be better?)
This isn’t a rant about Europeans in general - it’s about Germany. AFAIK there are no rules on names in the UK (in fact my real name is § o’Nasty - pronounced “Ping McCheese”)
Are there no rules on spelling in America? Do schools there teach whatever spelling the teacher feels like?
CBP: Sounds a lot like a deliberately insulting use to me, like the use of “Pakkis” for Pakistanis or “Seppos” for Americans.
Yeah, I’m an American living in the Netherlands for the time being and I never hear anyone here refer to Europeans as “Euros”. Nor have I seen such an abbreviation in headlines. You’ll see “EU countries” or “EU citizens” in such contexts, or “Europeans” written out if it’s referring to non-EU people as well.
I always thought the mutually recognized not-respectful-but-not-offensive terms for European and US citizens were “Yerpins” and “Merkins”. They change that while I was over in India or something? 
As for spelling, US state educational and curricular standards seem to talk about “correct spelling” as a desideratum but not to specify any particular text as the arbiter of what correct spelling is. I suspect that teachers just rely on various dictionaries which all agree with one another.
I agree that it is ridiculous to treat government-issued spelling guidelines as some kind of instance of collectivist oppression. (Having to get baby names pre-approved, though—well, still not oppressive, but definitely too restrictive IMO. The government should not be in charge of deciding what counts as an “acceptable” name.)
[QUOTE=acsenray]
And “Euro” is a perfectly legitimate shortening of “European” for headline purposes. /QUOTE]
Frankly, what kinds of headlines do you read? The headlines of the Stürmer?
It’s probably not only Europeans (sorry, “euros”, since we’re appearantly not entitled to a capital “E”) who are tired of non-stop, twenty four seven sprouting of racist, fascist, xenophobic ideas lifted verbatim from the pages of Mein Kampf. Could you give me an example of just one single headline from a mainstream newspaper or television channel that would use “euros”?
But if it makes you feel superior, feel free to use whatever racist derogatory term you prefer. It won’t really make any difference. And most Americans (sorry, “amis”) don’t share your virulent hatred of anybody not born on the proper side of the Atlantic.
And snark isn’t a noun. It’s a verb. Unless you’re Lewis Carrol. But you knew that.
Anyways, I think racist invective should be restricted to the Pit.
It’s not funny, it’s not relevant, and it certainly does nothing to fight ignorance. It is ignorance.
It simply serves to annoy the 25 or so percent the European (sorry, “euro”) readership of the message board, and probably doesn’t do a whole lot for most American readers.
Let’s put this silly transatlantic flame war behind us. Europe isn’t some monolithic state that regulates people’s every move. Europeans don’t all think alike. Americans don’t all think alike either. There’s one heck of a lot more that we have in common than separates us. Silly namecalling might be a way for some people who have failed in their careers and relationships to avenge themselves on the world in some small measure. But it ain’t gonna move us forward. Not even a fraction of an inch.
If history teaches us anyting (and I’m not saying it does) it is not to trust racist ideologues who put labels like “spineless” on populations of hundreds of millions. Who substitute hatred for understanding, and abuse for conversation. We’re all in this boat called the world together. And it’s smaller than you might think.
I would like to suggest that the initial poster should get more aqcuainted with the facts of government regulation of spelling in the European union. Namely, that there isn’t any. No government will put a person in prison for spelling words wrong. But they have a right to demand that their employees all spell the same way. Same as any government since Johnson wrote his dicionary.
Hear hear, Aegypt.
“Seppos”?
OP, if there is no official standard for a language, then where does it end?
I think you just explained to me the amazing fact that so many people I see posting on message boards like this one can’t even write correctly in English, while it is their first (and in a majority of cases even their only) language.
As for EURO being used to refer to citizens of the EU: I never saw that ever in anything I ever read.
I saw the use of Eu’ers once in the heading of an article in one of Belgian’s quality newspapers (De Standaard) some months ago.
I never saw that before (nor did I see it used afterwards either) and hence I couldn’t believe my eyes. I still suspect that editor to have copied this from my use of “US’ers” for referrring to citizens of the USA. I truly must be more famous in Belgium then I realized.
Salaam. A
As Capt B. Phart has already pointed out, you can’t spell ‘Europeans’. It’s G-E-R-M-A-N-Y.
Here in the UK we use dictionaries for spelling. The Government has nothing to do with it.
By the way, we use English, not German. You see Europe is made up of many different countries. :rolleyes:
As for naming our children:
‘Some people like the idea of having what we call a fun name. We have issued Deed Polls for fun names such as Hong Kong Phooey, Father Christmas, Ed Kase, Ting A Ling, Huggy Bear, Donald Duck, Save Barnsley FC and James Bond. The most popular name changes of this type are where football team names or player names are included as middle names’
http://www.ukdps.co.uk/AreThereAnyRestrictionsOnNames.html
(From the same site) the only restrictions:
'Although there are no laws in the United Kingdom relating to unsuitable names, there are restrictions we impose on what you can change your name to.
We will not accept an order for a Deed Poll for a name that:
is impossible to pronounce,
includes numbers or symbols,
includes punctuation marks - although you can have a hyphen to link forenames or surnames (for example, if you want a double-barrelled surname) and an apostrophe in the case of surnames like O’Brien.
we consider vulgar, offensive, blasphemous or unsuitable,
may result in others believing you have a conferred or inherited honour, title or rank, for example, a change of first name to Sir, Lord, Lady, Prince, Princess, Baron, Baroness, Count, Countess, General, Colonel etc.,
does not include at least one forename and one surname.
Other than the above restrictions, you can change your forenames, surname (or both), add names, remove names or rearrange your existing names. You can change your name at any time and for any reason provided it is not for deceptive or fraudulent purposes or for the avoidance of an obligation.’
Oh, get serious, ‘Euro’ is not in any way a racist term, as europeans are not a race.
It is also not intended as insulting, and its a damn stretch to make it so. Ive heard it used, so maybe americans use it among themselves. So what? Its just a shortening of a name like Brit for British, Swede for Swedish, Finn for Finnish, Dane for Danish, etc. Euro for european. Any inferred hateful/derogatory or dreadfully insulting intent behind it is just that; inferred. All in your own mind.
And Capt B. Phart: so you think the OP is silly. I can accept that; I lean towards mountain out of a molehill myself. But its still perfectly valid IMO to use the terms European or Euro, as are not the Germans Europeans?
Europeans want and have been integrating, working together and opening themselves up to each other for awhile now. If a thread were started to talk about European mass-transit being better than american, and systems in Berlin and Cologne were used as cites, would you be as quick to point out it wasnt european but German? Maybe some more of you need to be as willing to take the shit together (relevent or not), as you are the applause.
Rhyming slang. American -> Yank -> Septic Tank -> Septic -> Seppo.
Hell yeah, I certainly would. The problems with transport in the UK and Ireland are legendary, and nothing like those in Germany.
As for deed poll, I know a bloke who changed his name to ‘Tree’. No first name, no last name, just Tree. I even saw his chequebook, which said “Mr Tree”. Thing is, even if you fail the deed polls’ stipulations, there’s still nothing to stop you from ordinarily calling yourself ‘Bio-Unit#749BANANA!BANANA!poo$’ - you just couldn’t legally have it on your passport.
Also, I am not offended by the use of ‘Euro’ to describe Europeans. I’d only argue against its use because it would be confused with the euro currency (cf. Afghans & Afghanis). How about ‘The Effete Oppressed’ or ‘Metrosexual Collective’ or something.
What they don’t say that that a deed poll is a feature only of English law, not UK. In Scottish law you can call yourself and your children anything you wish, as long as you are not attempting fraud in doing so. glee’s link there is to a commercial company, it’s not a governmental organisation. So while they do say there’s nothing to stop Scottish citizens obtaining a deed poll, they are strangely quiet in admitting that they don’t need it. I think a degree of drumming up trade there.
Ok I know this is continuing to make a mountain out of the other molehill in this “great debate” but the term “Euro” came over as (mildly) insulting, yes it’s just a contraction, but so is “Pakki” and at least in the UK, is strictly verboten, and “Jap” is at least frowned on.
If the OP had not tried to claim it as a legitimate usage I wouldn’t have mentioned it - but if insults (however mild or silly) get used in GD or GQ the resulting mess means the real debate gets lost (OK, maybe that’s like claiming Jar Jar Binks “ruined” Episode One in the case of this particular thread)
Anyway, whether it’s meant to be insulting or not, I’m over it already
Now here’s a real debate - is there such a thing as European “Patriotism”? I’ve personally not come across much evidence, but then Britain is hardly typically “European”. A Spanish girl was saying how she felt a common bond with southern French or southern Italians, but no connection with, say, Germany - that it would always be “foreign” to her.
I’m not sure what it is to be “European” or even where the boundaries of Europe lie (the EU is only one definition of Europe.) So taking shit or applause together with my fellow “Euros” doesn’t seem relevant to me personally
Well the OP was certainly insulting:
“I never could understand why so many Europeans were willing to let the government tell them how to spell and what to name their children, among other things.”
It would be silly to use any city example as ‘European’, just as the San Francisco trams don’t ‘represent’ the US.
Europe is a loose grouping of many different states, with many languages, cultures and borders. In addition we have had wars and treaties going back 2000 years. It’s not going to be easy to agree on foreign policy for example (except we aren’t going to follow Bush into any more wars).
Surely you would feel depressed if I claimed not to understand how many Americans:
- live on reservations (with special exemption for gambling)
- refuse to use modern technology, preferring the horse and cart
- believe creationism was equally as valid as evolution
etc?
Just to touch on the regulations on how to spell names… would it really be so terrible to live in a world where names like Carralaigne and Adairious and Freezair and Deaquel Alisabeth are subject to approval? These names and more are just a click away.
Thanks for latching on to an irrelevant point here. Currencies aren’t capitalized – dollar, peso, franc – thus euro, not “Euro” for the currency. I used “Euro” in the topic line because it’s shorter but it’s meaning is obvious and I have never heard it used as an insult. That’s what makes it legitimate in my mind.
I’m sorry, but all this is your stuff, not mine.
No, I think we just made it a noun. No permission required.
There are, so far as I know, rules on naming in Denmark and France plus some others that I am not sure of. Sorry for generalizing “Germany, Denmark, France, and several other European countries that I’m not sure of” into “European.” Bad, racist me.
Unfortunately, it is pretty difficult when we are talking about “reasonable” and “law” in the same sentanse. In the UK, you can easily change your name by using statutory declaration, solicitor or a deed poll services. The deed poll is the cheapest option in comparison to the other two as far as I am concerned.
Not a rocket science guys, if you want to do it, apply, have it witnessed and voilà… have a new name! 