It’s just scientific fact that they love being slaves to corporations unlike us, the proudly independent and individualistic Westerners smuglord

Source: I was on a Discord with a Japanese dude

  • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    It’s not about the adjective, it’s about the suffix - adjectives ending in -n are considered normal (an american, a german, a paraguayan), but adjectives ending in -ese are considered to sound weird and need a “person” adding afterwards (a chinese, a congolese, a portuguese).

    For once I’m pretty sure this isn’t a racism thing, just an “the english language is a fucking mess made up of more exceptions than rules” thing.

    • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      I think the weirdness comes from the fact that words ending in -ese are both singular and plural, while you need to add an -s as a suffix for other nationalities.
      “That chinese is riding a bike” / “the Chinese are riding bikes” vs “that German is riding a bike” / “the Germans are riding bikes”

      • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        There we go, you see it in “a Dutch” and “an Irish” too, because they’re singular and plural, and don’t see it in stuff like “a Pole” or “a Scot” because they have a different plural form.
        Guess I was wrong, for once it is an actual rule.

        • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          8 months ago

          Who knows if its an actual rule though? I think -ese can be singular as well as plural, so it should be fine, but it sounds wack. Maybe it’s a rule like “I before E, except after C (weird!)”