[WikiEN-l] Re: Announcing a policy proposal

Mon May 16 23:36:26 UTC 2005

>From: BJörn Lindqvist <bjourne at gmail.com>
>
>AD and BC might be offensive to some, who knows what the abbrevations
>actually mean. Good stuff that so few know about it. But what ACTUALLY
>MUST be extremely offensive to a huge number of people is the
>imperialist use of the word "American." Therefore, if we change all
>instances of AD/BC, shouldn't be also change all instances of
>"American" to something that will not offend the majority of all
>Americans?

The argument is silly; "American" is short for "citizen of the United States 
of America", not "resident of North or South America". Quite a few non-U.S. 
"Americans" find it offensive to be called "American", and what "ACTUALLY 
MUST be extremely offensive" to them is when Scandinavians try to 
appropriate their voice in order to bash the United States.  The mindless 
application of the word "imperialist" whenever people think of the United 
States is also offensive.

Jay.