99

[-ish] Ireland, Scotland = Irish, Scottish

[-an] Morocco, Germany = Moroccan, German

[-ese] Portugal, China = Portuguese, Chinese

What rule is at play here? 🤔

Cheers!

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[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 68 points 1 month ago
[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago

Also, in Deutschland, the descendents of the Alemmani are called Germans for some awful reason.

[-] drbluefall@toast.ooo 8 points 1 month ago

So I take it that's why it's Allemagne?

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[-] thelsim@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

When I was a kid our family went on vacation to the US. Everyone kept asking if I was Dutch, which I thought was German (Deutsch).
So I kept correcting them, saying I was Netherlandish :)

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[-] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 45 points 1 month ago

The English Language, where the grammar is made up and the rules don't matter.

I can add:

[-er] New Zealander

[-] master5o1@lemmy.nz 12 points 1 month ago
[-] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

Only in the same way Australia -> Aussie, or England -> pom. Colloquial terms

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 9 points 1 month ago

Or just a different word completely. Dutch.

[-] DontTreadOnBigfoot@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Pfft. The Dutch...

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[-] neidu2@feddit.nl 43 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Demonyms don't follow any particular rules, as far as I know. I'm an "-egian" myself.

[-] master5o1@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 month ago

Human languages: the words are made up and the rules don't matter.

Especially true for English.

[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 38 points 1 month ago

Canada = Canadese (nuts fit in your mouth?)

[-] MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago
[-] moistclump@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago
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[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 month ago

There is no common rule. It varies by the way the language evolved over time.

Also the word you are looking for is "Demonym"

[-] InfiniteKrebs@lemmy.ml 34 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I can tell you that this is called demonym, but I don't know the answer to your question... The Wikipedia page has a long list of suffixes, but no rules: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonym

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[-] tiefling@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There are no rules in English. Ask the people from each country what they prefer

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Oh there's plenty of rules, and if you follow them you'll be wrong because each rule has 20 exceptions you have to memorize because English isn't a language, it's several languages in a trench coat.

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[-] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

I'm in Michigan, that makes me a Michigander. The rules are made up and the suffixes don't matter.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 5 points 1 month ago

I'm from South Dakota, I'm South Dakotant. It is what it is.

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[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 21 points 1 month ago

People from Iceland are only called Icelandic because “Icish” would sound a bit silly.

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[-] lemmyng@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 month ago

Icelandian.

[-] Outsider9042@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Iceland = Icelandic

Thailand != Thailandic

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 6 points 1 month ago

Thailand comes from adding the Germanic -land suffix to the demonym Thai, a common pattern for non-Indo-European places. There’s also Swaziland and Somaliland (though there is also a Somalia).

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[-] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 7 points 1 month ago

I think I could get behind New Zealandic

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

I believe they're properly called New Zoolanders.

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[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

We're all Earthicans, no need to divide it up further than that

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[-] leds@feddit.dk 13 points 1 month ago

Denmark -> Dane

I guess that actually the other way around, Denmark : Dane's field/farm(there is a better English word for mark but can't remember)

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

Netherlands → Dutch

No wonder Euros say they don't exist.

[-] gerryflap@feddit.nl 10 points 1 month ago

Dutch is such a weird one. We don't call ourselves "Dutch" in Dutch, we call ourselves "Nederlands". This would be something like "Netherlandish" in English. We do call Germans "Duits" though, and they call themselves "Deutsch". Somehow in English German and Dutch got a bit messed up. The reason is probably that during the middle ages we did refer to our language as "Dietsch", so that probably stayed around.

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[-] meekah@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

But isn't Dane a noun? I thought the adjective was danish.

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[-] AmidFuror@fedia.io 11 points 1 month ago

It's based on what sounds best.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 8 points 1 month ago

Then explain Liverpudian or Mancunian.

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago

They're both aposematisms - they're meant to be a clear signal to discourage interactions.

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[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago

Find what sounds most natural, if that can't be found, go with what sounds the least catastrophically unnatural.

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Americaneseish.

[-] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago

Just attach "man" to the end of all of them for maximum offence.

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 7 points 1 month ago

Portugalman

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[-] olsonexi@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

There is no rule. It just is whatever it is.

[-] ramble81@lemm.ee 5 points 1 month ago

I was literally thinking about this yesterday… what’s someone from Belgium called? I couldn’t figure out an ending to add. Belgian?

[-] HottieAutie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 month ago

Belgian?

yes

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

People from Indiana are called hoosiers - this, like many things in English, doesn't have a hard and fast rule... the sounds at the end of the word certainly impact it, but there are exceptions. Just ask a Peruvian.

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this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
99 points (95.4% liked)

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