I’ve seen estadounidense in a Spanish newspaper before, and for some reason this word is very hard for me to spell.
In French too, there’s “états-unien” (also spelled “étatsunien”). It’s little known and rarely used (in France). I have no idea if it’s more often used by left-leaning speakers. (I do use it from time to time, and I think it can be useful to avoid ambiguity.) I can imagine its use being more common and more political in Québec, compared to France where I live?
While writing this comment, I stumbled on a letter from a very angry listener who wrote to the French public radio “arbitrator” (don’t know if it’s the right word) to complain about a guest using the word “étatZunien” (his spelling) several times (gasp) on the air. Apparently, the listener believed the word to be made up, and he wasn’t the only one who wrote to complain about it.
And the arbitrator’s like “um, dude, it’s a real word, it’s in the dictionary since 1961”.
There’s no point linking to that here, really — the letter’s all written in very incoherent French — but it made me laugh.
That’s not an ABSOLUTE true if you’re talking about Brazil. Yes, some people prefer to use the term “estadunidenses” over “americanos” for political reasons, but I’ve seen some people on the far left using the term “americanos” too. The problem is that “estadunidense” is a long word, even if it has just one additional syllable compared to “americanos”. Most Portugese words has 2-3 syllables and people tend to stick with shorter words.
To be honest I don’t know, “estadunidense” is not as used as “americano”, but I do think you’re right. People who use “estadunidense” tend to be more anti-US.
In my country you can know someone’s politics just by knowing if they call people from the USA americanos or estadounidenses.
I’ve seen estadounidense in a Spanish newspaper before, and for some reason this word is very hard for me to spell.
In French too, there’s “états-unien” (also spelled “étatsunien”). It’s little known and rarely used (in France). I have no idea if it’s more often used by left-leaning speakers. (I do use it from time to time, and I think it can be useful to avoid ambiguity.) I can imagine its use being more common and more political in Québec, compared to France where I live?
While writing this comment, I stumbled on a letter from a very angry listener who wrote to the French public radio “arbitrator” (don’t know if it’s the right word) to complain about a guest using the word “étatZunien” (his spelling) several times (gasp) on the air. Apparently, the listener believed the word to be made up, and he wasn’t the only one who wrote to complain about it.
And the arbitrator’s like “um, dude, it’s a real word, it’s in the dictionary since 1961”.
There’s no point linking to that here, really — the letter’s all written in very incoherent French — but it made me laugh.
people actually use this in conversation?
When they aren’t imperialist bootlickers.
ps: In Portuguese, United States is Estados Unidos - hence estadounidense.
Oh I understand the word, it just seems like a lot of syllables.
That’s not an ABSOLUTE true if you’re talking about Brazil. Yes, some people prefer to use the term “estadunidenses” over “americanos” for political reasons, but I’ve seen some people on the far left using the term “americanos” too. The problem is that “estadunidense” is a long word, even if it has just one additional syllable compared to “americanos”. Most Portugese words has 2-3 syllables and people tend to stick with shorter words.
But have you ever seen someone who is not far left using the term estadounidense/estadunidense?
It’s like when you ask if someone smokes and the person says “smoke what?” you already know he’s a pothead xD
To be honest I don’t know, “estadunidense” is not as used as “americano”, but I do think you’re right. People who use “estadunidense” tend to be more anti-US.