People from _____: Noun vs. Adjective

[Peremensoe]

@Generic_Userid

I don’t believe there is any appropriate English-language alternative to “Englishman” or “Frenchman” regardless of the subject’s gender.

I would have expected a language traditionalist to suggest that in general contexts, “Englishman” is gender-neutral, as is “man.”

I see “hung” used incorrectly in place of “hanged” more often than the reverse.

“Lighted” and “lit” have apparently been treated as interchangeable for at least a hundred years now, but that’s a case where there would be a use for distinct terms, if we could agree on which is which–one word for the activation of the light-producing reaction of a lamp, the other for the effect of the active lamp on the area around it.

[Generic_Userid]

@spark240

I would have expected a language traditionalist to suggest that in general contexts, “Englishman” is gender-neutral, as is “man.”

I see “hung” used incorrectly in place of “hanged” more often than the reverse.

“Lighted” and “lit” have apparently been treated as interchangeable for at least a hundred years now, but that’s a case where there would be a use for distinct terms, if we could agree on which is which–one word for the activation of the light-producing reaction of a lamp, the other for the effect of the active lamp on the area around it.

I’m a stickler for rules as long as they’re the rules I’m comfortable with … but seriously I didn’t follow through on the traditional gender neutral usage of “man” in English idiom, and I thank you for pointing that out

But in my memory (currently going into it’s 5th decade) we learned “hung” and not “hanged” for all past tense versions of “to hang” regardless of what is actually being hung. It don’t not matter none to me whether 'tis a man or a picture is hanging, they’re all hung in the end.

Similar for “lit” … when I learned English, there was no such word as “lighted” (i.e., it was not in my school’s grammar books) … “lit” was the only past tense form of the verb “to light”. A street lamp lit the street. I lit the candle.

Regarding ‘pled’ as well as them other irregular verbs I used as examples, the majority of the websites I visited on the subject of irregular verbs agreed with my examples or at least considered them as “equal” to the more modern “[verb]ed” version. In my opinion, an irregular verb should not be turned ‘regular’ just because a retard working at the Associated Press can’t remember how to conjugate grade-school English.

Here’s a couple links that I cherry-picked specifically to support my position :

English Irregular Verb List

http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/verbs.htm

[Hari_Seldon]

@kayaker

When in Barbados I was told by one local that the correct term for the people there was Barbadians, but another local angrily disagreed, saying Bajan was correct. They glared at each other, I ordered a round of Presidente Beers and things settled down.

Mostly people there call themselves Bajans, but Barbadians is not wrong. Buy do try Banks beer.

Here are some obscure ones: People from Aix-en-Provence are called Aquisextains. “Aix” is a corruption of the Latin word for six waters. People from Trois Rivières (up the St. Lawrence from Montreal) are called Trifluviens. (But what are people from Trois Pistoles called?) And people from Halifax, at the least the one in Nova Scotia, are called Haligonians. This makes me want to say that there are five kinds of Haligonians, the extremely active Fluoronians, the somewhat more stable Chloronians, the fluid Bromonians, the very solid Iodonians, and the radioactive Astatonians.

[PsyXe]

I hope this thread isn’t too old yet to reply to…

@ctnguy

Only down here at the Cape. (Or are you hated in Durban as well? :p) Technically I suppose you should be called “Gautengers”.

There’s the slightly odd-sounding (although presumably grammatically correct) construction “Capetonians” for people from Cape Town.

Yes, we’re hated in Durban too - or should I say especially: after all, it’s a shorter drive down to Durban and thus the beaches are more populated by us

Though in my defence, I was born in Cape Town to parents who came from Maritzburg. Which would make them… Pietermaritzburghers?

I’m surprised no one has mentioned the old “ich bin ein berliner” story. And are citizens of Hamburg Hamburgers?

Hari Seldon: claps

[Gleena]

@MaxTheVool

My (Australian) wife says that people from Sydney are called Sydneysiders. Not quite sure if she’s yanking my chain or not

She isn’t.

Apparently, it’s not meant to be offensive when I get called a Yank or a Bloody Seppo, and if I disagree I’m a wanker.

Whatever.

ETA: Yank has ceased to bother me, mostly because if I let it I’ll never get over being angry again.

Being told I sound like Kristina Keneally, though, made me tell the guy to fuck right off. Hate her, she’s corrupt and the puppet of the assholes in the NSW parliament. Gah.

Kristina Keneally