DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Even Greener Pastures
HTML https://evengreener.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Questions about the Use of Language
*****************************************************
#Post#: 13239--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Nikola Date: March 13, 2019, 11:22 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Careful, Jerry. They might give you sour looks.
We call Germans Němci. This is not considered derogatory,
it's the standard term for a German person, although němý =
mute. Does anyone else have a name for another country or their
citizen that used to have negative connotations but has become
neutral?
#Post#: 13240--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Kseniia Date: March 13, 2019, 12:12 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Nikola, yes, we call Germans
немцы, too. Actually, most of them
Western Europeans were considered "mute" at some point of time
in Russia, but the Germans happened to be the "mutest". And yes,
people don't really "hear" the initial meaning nowadays, the
word is pretty much neutral now.
Emmm... since we're talking about names that used to have
negative connotations but has become neutral... one question for
you. Is that true that in Czech you call Jewish people Židé?
That would be oh so wrong in Russian, it's probably the worst
Jewish-people-related ethnophaulism possible. Really offensive.
In Russian the right word is евреи
(from Greek Ἑβραῖος,
/hebrajos/). I suppose in Czech (and Polish? not sure though)
the word has a different origin, probably from "Judaism" in some
language (Greek? Latin?).
#Post#: 13242--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: SuKi Date: March 13, 2019, 12:48 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
You're doing this on purpose, aren't you, Kseniia? As if we
stupid monoglot anglophones don't feel small enough as it is,
you keep dropping in these jaw-dropping English words, cool as
anything.
I knew what ethnopaulism meant. Of course I did. I've heard it
millions of times before. I haven't just copied, pasted and
googled it at all.
#Post#: 13243--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Kseniia Date: March 13, 2019, 1:16 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
SuKi, well I'm not the one to blame! I picked this word in the
article Aliph mentioned -
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs
. Why do you
monoglot anglophones use it in Wikipedia then? Just to confuse
us innocent people who have to learn new words cursing your way
of spelling things? You know, it usually works this way:
ethnophaulism --> what the...? -->
этнофолиз&
#1084;
--> ah, OK, this makes sense --> ethnophaulism ...seriously,
what's wrong with you people?
And what alternatives do I have? I don't like the word "slur",
it sounds weird.
#Post#: 13244--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Nikola Date: March 13, 2019, 1:17 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
@Kseniia
Yes, we say "Židé" when we mean the nation, and we use lower
case "ž" in "židé" when we mean the religion. I have also found
the word "Hebrejec" but I haven't really seen it used. The word
"Židé" has no negative connotations. You'd have to add a
negative-sounding suffix to it to achieve that. It comes from
the Old Italian Giudio that comes from the Latin Iudaeus (a
person from Judea). So does the Polish Źyd, apparently.
So you say "евреи" when referring
to the nation. According to Wikipedia, you call the followers of
Judaism "Иудеи", would you agree?
Here is the full list of Jewish ethnonyms:
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_ethnonyms
#Post#: 13245--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Kseniia Date: March 13, 2019, 1:52 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Nikola, I see, thanks for answering. I wonder what Russian Jews
feel in Poland and the Czech Republic — even the Wiktionary
article marks the same word in Russian as "offensive, taboo".
Yes, the followers of Judaism are
иудеи (pronounced as
[ɪʊˈdʲeɪ]), that's correct. The only
thing, we don't use capital letters for nationalities, languages
and religions in Russian. Neither do we use them for the names
of the months and the days of the week.
By the way (oh joy, I don't have to apologise for the off-topic
to the TS!), I've just read that you call Sunday neděle!
Everything makes sense now. In Russian for "Sunday" we use the
term
воскресен&
#1100;е
(~"resurrection"), and nowadays the word
неделя, which initially
meant "non-working" (day) — which kind of make sense in other
Slavic languages apart from Russian and Belarusian — means
"week". The whole week of "non-working". Sounds just right, if
you ask me :)
#Post#: 13246--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Truman Overby Date: March 13, 2019, 2:11 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=SuKi link=topic=901.msg13242#msg13242
date=1552499304]
I knew what ethnopaulism meant. Of course I did. I've heard it
millions of times before. I haven't just copied, pasted and
googled it at all.
[/quote]
I called her on this last week. Clearly she's doing it to
aggravate and demean us.
#Post#: 13248--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Nikola Date: March 13, 2019, 2:33 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Could we introduce a badge for people who made SuKi look
something up? I feel like it deserves some recognition.
#Post#: 13249--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Nikola Date: March 13, 2019, 2:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
@Kseniia
How did the word for "Sunday" and "not doing anything" end up
meaning "a week"? I can't get my head around it.
#Post#: 13253--------------------------------------------------
Re: Chinamen / Chinese people
By: Aliph Date: March 13, 2019, 6:51 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Nikola link=topic=901.msg13239#msg13239
date=1552494177]
We call Germans Němci. This is not considered derogatory,
it's the standard term for a German person, although němý =
mute.
[/quote]
I wouldn’t be proud to be called « mute »! I heard that this
root refers in Slavic languages to all those who weren’t able to
speak in a correct way I.e. the Germans. Like the old Romans
used to call those who didn’t belong to the empire « barbarians
».
As for the Slavic Word for mute it was adopted by the Arabs
funnily but they limit it to Austria which is called al-Nimsa
النمسا in Arabic.
*****************************************************
DIR Next Page