The future is now

Americans (inhabitants/citizens of US) when people from other countries come to theirs : “These people need to speak English”

Americans when they visit other people’s countries : “Why don’t these people speak English???”

EDIT : By the context of this post it’s blatantly obvious which definition of ‘American’ is being used lol, but I added an explanation above anyway. 🙄 And yes there is more than one definition of “american”, usually context makes it clear which is being used for most people

BruceLee,

Bravo ! (no, that’s not english)

fred,

Only two? Only those particular two?

Spliffman1, (edited )

What are you talking about? You lost me about those two? Which 2?

IHateReddit,

two languages I think

Spliffman1,

Well he said ‘those particular two’ … I know bilingual means 2 languages, but the post doesn’t mention a particular two😅… Unless he got caught up in the random tangent conversation below about what is an American and Americans speaking Spanish… Which was really a diversion

demonen,
@demonen@lemmy.ml avatar

Makes me want to learn how to say “Go fuck yourself” in a Native American language.

Spliffman1,

The main point I see regarding the word “American”, is that people of the USA have pretty much claimed it and use it to refer to themselves, regardless of the other definition of it. So we roll with that lol

patomaloqueiro,

O futuro é bilíngue

Spliffman1,

Estou cansado,… Je suis fatigué de tout 😂

Ignacio,
Ignacio avatar

The vast majority of Americans do know Spanish. The only people who don't are Canadians, USians, maybe Brazilians, Jamaicans, etc.

Spliffman1,

I think you need to research what the words “vast majority” mean lol. The vast majority of Americans definitely do not know Spanish 😂

DragonTypeWyvern,

Mexicans are Americans too fam.

(North Americans)

If you have Asians, Europeans, and Africans, why is it that “Americans” is assumed to be a nationality instead of a continental/racial designation?

Spliffman1,

Because that’s what people from the United States call themselves… If they viewed Mexicans as Americans there would be no problem at the border, only on dumb internet forums full of self righteous nerds are everybody in the Americas called Americans

Letstakealook,

Because thats how the word has been used in English since at least the 18th century. This weird little hangup people have with it all the sudden is just people looking for a reason to hate on Americans. The folks trying to change the usage don’t even have good alternative word which shows that it isn’t an argument in good faith. The only alternative I’ve seen is “united statsians” which is nonsensical in English and cumbersome. Even the whiner from the original comment didn’t spell it out.

DragonTypeWyvern,

Funny, the only people I hear call it out are from other American countries. This comment chain was interesting in that it was started by a Spaniard.

I wonder why, prior to modern times, people just didn’t give a shit what the other people on the continent(s) had to say on the matter?

Letstakealook,

First of all, most of the countries that those folks are from didn’t even exist when the usage was created. They would be very justified in criticizing the US government, but instead they’d rather shit on the American people over word usage (in a secondary to them language) that predates all the countries involved. It’s fucking silly and they should really get a grip on what’s really important.

DragonTypeWyvern,

…

Lul

Pointing out every flaw in your argument would require a small essay. Enjoy, hopefully, the rest of high school because God help us if you’re an adult.

Letstakealook,

“I disagree with you and am unable to articulate it, you must be a child.” Great argument, just a straight up personal attack.

Spliffman1, (edited )

LIsten to the news, the media, everyday conversation. If someone says “the american people”, ‘American companies’, ‘american politicians’ american culture’, ‘american products’, the ‘american economy’ etc etc they are talking about the United States… Why say Mexican-American, African-American,? What do they mean? They mean people of those descents in THE USA… The usage of American is understood to mean people from the USA,… write America with your keyboard and see the american flag pop up as a suggestion.

Letstakealook,

Oh, I know. Most of the people complaining are from countries that didn’t even exist when the usage began. They could have very justified grievances with the American government, but randomly shitting on the American people on the internet over nonsense is what they prefer to discuss.

Spliffman1,

You are talking scholarly stuff, I am talking real life usage

Spliffman1,

Wrong fam

Spliffman1,

Let a Mexican in a foreign country go to an American Embassy and see how much help he gets lol

DragonTypeWyvern,

You’re pretty salty about this.

Why is that?

Spliffman1,

I live on a island in the Atlantic invaded every year by American tourists, and I don’t mean people from South America lol… USA should pick better people to send out as tourists 😂

teft,
@teft@startrek.website avatar

I think you need to reevaluate what the word American means. It includes the southern continent. So of the 35 countries that are over here 3 speak English, 1 Portuguese, 1 French and 30 Spanish. So yes, the vast majority of Americans speak Spanish.

Spliffman1,

GOD BLESS AMERICA…

Spliffman1,

You live in an alternate reality, use some common sense, when people say Americans it refers to people from the USA

Spliffman1, (edited )

In the common vernacular of today ‘American’ refers to people from the USA, or something of or related to the USA. That is one of the dictionary definitions of American, and quite frankly the most common usage in today’s world. Anyway, to make it clearer for people like you I edited post above to specify

Aremel,

Are you defining Americans as “people that live on the American continent and the Caribbean” or “people that live in the United States of America”?

I think OP means the former.

Spliffman1, (edited )

Not even the “american continent”, that would include Canadians and they are not Americans. Los EEUU, the United States of America… And the fact that I have to explain that is irritating af, it should be obvious what “Americans” means. The Talibán does not target Colombians, Mexicans, Chileans, etc when they go after Americans

Spliffman1,

I’m defining Americans as most people do, the people that fucking sing God Bless America. Nobody in Latin America calls themselves Americanos, americanos son los gringos, de los EEUU

guts,

Mexicans do not call themselves Americans even knowing they are from North America.

Spliffman1,

People from and what they are called in English : Mexico - Mexicans, Canada - Canadians, Colombia - Colombians, Venezuela - Venezuelans, Panama - Panamanians, Brazil - Brazilians, Etc etc

Do you see a pattern? People from United States of America - Americans

Only on Reddit or Lemmy and places like them would you get a bunch of nerds storming in to say everybody in North, Central and South America are Americans.

On CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Voice of America etc.,etc Americans are the people of the USA.

Or when they present poll results of Americans, they polled in Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Canada etc etc too?

Spliffman1,

Nobody in the Caribbean calls themselves Americans 😂😂

ilickfrogs,
@ilickfrogs@lemmy.world avatar

Why on earth would Canadians speak Spanish. We already have two official languages with 1/3rd the country fully fluent in both.

Spliffman1,

Canadians are very bilingual, they are good…the Americans are still struggling with English, let alone a second language

state_electrician,

Most Americans do not speak Spanish. Knowing a phrase or two does not mean you’re speaking the language.

Spliffman1,

Exactly

moosetwin,
@moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

the future is bilingual cognates

Spliffman1,

The populace or the languages? Or both?

finickydesert,
@finickydesert@lemmy.ml avatar

But some Americans already speak a little bit of another language… ¿por qué piensa que nosotros no hablamos español en Florida? (Sorry off terrible still learning unfortunately)

Spliffman1, (edited )

Hahaha I go to Miami all the time, it feels like I’m in Latin America there. So yes, some Americans do speak Spanish. And Florida is definitely in the future already

victron,
@victron@programming.dev avatar

Don’t worry, your Spanish is perfect. But ain’t that cool to live in a place where people can speak two languages? As a latin American who has spoken English for most of my life (yet I still mess up sometimes), I can’t imagine only speaking one. Also, my daughter started learning ASL (just out of curiosity), so I’m helping her and learning a bit too, sice I think not enough people knows it. Sorry for the long comment, but communication is fucking important, specially good one.

Vitaly,
@Vitaly@feddit.uk avatar

The future is bilingual?

Spliffman1,

Si

photonic_sorcerer,
@photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Why is it baby Yoda though?

Spliffman1,

Because Yoda is one of the galaxy’s most recognized linguists?

Viking_Hippie,

His side hustle is teaching Shyriiwook

finickydesert,
@finickydesert@lemmy.ml avatar

I think group would be speaking Mando’a instead

Viking_Hippie,

That’s his first language, but he’s trilingual. The third one is passive aggressive sarcasm.

Spliffman1,

He’s thinking about a future where people call him Grogu instead of baby Yoda :-)

peopleproblems,

That’s pretty far into the future I have to guess

Jaydeep,

About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world’s population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language.

dlpkl,

Many of those “varieties” are not mutually intelligible and are actually considered unique, distinct languages

Spliffman1,

And Spanish is the 2nd most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese.

NorthWestWind,
@NorthWestWind@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

好似我咁

AhismaMiasma,

Sí, por supuesto. :)

Spliffman1,

El español, el idioma más bello que hay :-)

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