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.
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.