[WikiEN-l] election

Fri Feb 28 14:55:18 UTC 2003

james duffy wrote:
> It may seem pedantic but this is a SERIOUS sourcebook here, not a
> game where we adopt the attitude 'ah shucks, who cares?' Canadians
> aren't going to take a sourcebook seriously that acts as though they
> don't exist

I think that your discussion of Ireland and "Irish" and so forth
is right-on, but really we're talking about common usage, right?

In today's Globe and Mail, 

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030228.wxedit0228/BNStory/National/

there's an editorial about MP Carolyn Parrish, who has caused a bit of
a dust-up Wednesday when -- after she thought she was no longer on
camera -- she said "Damn Americans, I hate those bastards."

Without commenting on her sentiment, I think it's pretty clear
that she accepts the use of the term "American" to refer to the
United States.

Doing a search on the term "American" in Canadian, British, and
Australian newspapers reveals that all of them use the term to mean
the United States.

I do think we need to follow common usage, and to avoid controversial
usages.  But I don't think this is a good example at all.  It simply
isn't true that a serious resource shouldn't use that term in that
way.  Serious sources do, all the time.

Is it odd that this is conventional usage?  I don't know, and as an
encyclopedia, we shouldn't take a position on it.

--Jimbo