[hackerspaces] status of this list

[Seth Hardy]

> I think this is a valid point.  The rest of the Americas are used to the
>  Yanks calling themselves Americans, because that's really the only way
> you can refer to them without calling them Yanks/Yankees/etc or dealing
> with some clumsy thing like USian.
> 
> Most other non-US North Americans refer to themselves by the name of
> their country.  For example, I am Canadian, and refer to myself as that.

as a unitedstatesian, i'd just like to point out that this really is the 
same thing as what we're doing. the full name of the country is "the 
united states of america" which is often abbreviated to "united states" 
or "america". both are abbreviations.

yes, there are continents also called "america". maybe it's not an issue 
of arrogance where we're claiming to be the only americans / north 
americans / etc., but an issue of a namespace collision that people will 
figure out from context?

also, try calling someone from the south of the USA a "yank" and see 
what happens...

> > it's imho not only arrogant but also confusing for non USA citizens
> 
> If you can come up with a better term than Yank/Yankee/etc or USian,
> please let us know.

it makes me sad that those of us with good intentions originally from 
the united states of america have to deal with the fact that everyone 
now assumes the worst from everyone from my country. arrogant (in this 
example, heh), seriously? like the average (stupid) american is 
consciously choosing to refer to themselves in a way that implies their 
country is the only one of value on two continents? that seems a lot 
less likely than an abbreviation resulting in a namespace collision.


full disclosure: i've learned to use the "states" abbreviation instead 
of the "america" one from my time living in canada.


-- 
seth hardy: shardy at aculei.net * 647.890.1452 * www.aculei.net/~shardy
(gpg - 0x5E345628): BF63 A0A7 3BCA 1D7D EDE1 63BF 46FB 95D9 5E34 5628
	"God is not on the side of the heavy battalion,
		but on the side of the best shot."  -- Voltaire
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