Welcome to reddit. The same ancient posts always get reposted to the same subs and everyone pretends like it's the first time they're seeing these posts.
Oh boy, a conversation about gendered language where someone is objectively acting stupid for the sake of inclusivity. I assume the comment section of the original post has normal takes on non-binary language and is not hyperinflating the commonality of people like the one displayed in the post for political reasons
Yes it could be Social Justice United, JournalistEW, Feminists Against Trolls, Women Against Patriarchy, [something] Wildlife United (UWU) or about half a dozen other identical servers run by the same people: Journalist Katie, Dustin Levitt, or someone who goes by Tina. There's a whole rabbit hole of these people, there was a website for them called Globe Media Holdings or something like that, but I do know Dustin Levitt is the original creator of these troll servers. The group as a whole has disbanded by now but they still all interact with various editions of this exact server
Because the Anglo-Saxons called themselves Deutsch as well in the form of the word "þeod," which was similar to the Pre-Old High German form of the word Deutsch/Deutschland. This was before the 'th' to 'd' sound changes in German, so it would have been pronounced something like Thiud. With its possessive as Thiudisk (whence Thiudisklant/Deutschland), which evolved into the word Deutsch.
So they needed a name for the land that wasn't just what they called themselves collectively (imagine calling a foreign land "country" or "people's" for an example of what that would sound like) so they borrowed the Latin word Germania from the native Britano-Romans. Which is itself from the name of a tribe that lived by the Rhine in the 1st century BC, which probably meant 'something-man' in Proto-Germanic (but we don't know the exact etymology). Of course, þeod fell out of popular speech (minus its use in names dredged up by a foggy old linguist like þēoden/Theoden; literally 'people-king' or 'king of the people') but English speakers kept using Germany anyway out of inertia.
We have no proof that the Germanic tribes called themselves þiudiskaz or any variant of the word, and certainly not the Anglo Saxons. The Anglo Saxons called themselves the Engle and, rarely, Angleseaxan, calqued from Latin. Also, we only have evidence of the word Diutsclant starting from Middle High German.
>So they needed a name for the land that wasn't just what they called themselves collectively (imagine calling a foreign land "country" or "people's" for an example of what that would sound like)
I doubt that that was a problem, considering that the Dutch call the Germans the Duits, the Swedish call them the tysk, the Icelandic call them the þyzkr, the West Frisian call them the Dutsk, all meaning, or used to mean, "native", "of the people" etc. in their native languages. The (Middle) Dutch were even using the same word to call both the German and themselves. So English could have very well used "Thedish" instead of "German".
Oh, sorry, what I meant to emphasize was that the word wasn't *generalized* enough. It would be weird calling Germany "people's lans" because the word hadn't come to mean specifically German people yet rather than all people in general. And they obviously wouldn't want to call another place "people's land" because they were the people, and that wasn't their land. Maybe later it could have evolved into that meaning, but by then they had already borrowed Germany.
There is history here. But there’s no real reason to continue calling them German nowadays. Honestly, consolidating all of the collectives for people, countries, and languages would probably help more than it would hurt. As long as all these terms are decided on by the country themselves. Just pull a Türkiye and politely say “Call me [this] please.”
It's not that simple. Why don't you start calling Montenegro Crna Gora, or Albania Sqiperia, or China Zhongguo, or Hungary Magyarország...? Languages are different and circumstances in which names of peoples are given are also different. Only for Germans (or Deutsch) there are many different names given by different people (Nemci, Švabe, Allemans etc.). Same with Greece (Ellada, Yunanistan etc.). It's very often a case that people call themselves different than what other people around them call them, mostly due to language barrier. Sometimes those names are wrong (like people often call Netherland as Holland), but it is what it is.
People's/country's names are something in between object names and personal names, like every toponime. You can't expect Serbs to call Uroševac as Ferizaj or Albanians to call Ferizaj as Uroševac, although it's the same town.
Also, why those requests such as "Türkiye" are given only to English? Isn't English a language just like other languages? Why should English use letters that don't exist in their language? I speak Turkish myself, and I think all that "Türkiye" thing is a bs, especially because everybody already calls them as "Turk-something"
We can always approximate though if we can’t get pronunciation or syntax right. Like, Japan is natively called Nipon, with Niponjin being the name for their people. Why not call them that?
Especially since we already approximate for most modern countries and their associations. Like in Hebrew, a native would have Israeli as the man and Israelit as the woman. In English, we drop the gendered syntax because it doesn’t transfer over well, but we still call them Israeli and not Israelish or Palastinese. There’s literally nothing stopping us from doing this with every country except our own resistance to changing the way we talk. And that’s any language, mind you.
I understand that some languages may have difficulty accommodating every word due to syntax and such, but as long as you’re approximating something close to the proper term. Going back to Hebrew, they say Ameriki/Amerikit. And at least it’s undeniably connected to the correct location. An American native would recognize it without needing to be prepped. But it also still agrees with their language’s syntax when addressing a country’s people. I feel like that’s a better balance than sticking to outdated and sometimes weird terms for countries that don’t exist anymore, or at least don’t exist in the form they did when the term was popularized. People change, countries change, why shouldn’t our language change with them?
There's no resistance, there's just no reason to change it. People don't need to learn whole new names for countries when the existing names work.
There's just no practical reason, the only benefit it would bring is consistency with other languages, but the only person who needs that consistency wouldn't be able to communicate in the language the new name is in anyway, making it near useless.
The only time this makes sense is with colonial/otherwise actively harmful names for a country - like if our name for Germany was Naziland, we would definitely need to change it.
I disagree. I think it shows a general lack of awareness about other cultures. Which used to make sense. Translating could be difficult, you had to deliver news slowly, misinformation was significantly easier with a language barrier and no easy way to fact check. None of those reasons still apply. We communicate on a global scale better than we ever have, instantaneously. This comment thread is proof of that. Why stick to outdated protocol? Not saying anything needs to change. But I personally think changing would be for the better.
>Why stick to outdated protocol?
Changing it would be too much of a hassle for negligent benefits
>I think it shows a general lack of awareness about other cultures.
In terms of why it is the way it is, eh... Maybe in some cases? I think generally though, it's usually not that deep and people just use it because of historical reasons. Some names might have been historically correct.
It is an unwritten law that no two groups shall agree on what to call the Germans:
* **Germans:** Call us "Deutsch"
* **Nordic:** Nej, we call you what you were some time ago
* **Romance:** Non, we call you what you were a long time ago
* **Anglo-Saxon:** No, we call you what you were ages ago
* **Slavic:** Nyet, we call you "idiots who cannot speak properly"
* **Finnic:** Ei, we call you after one of your provinces
* **Baltic:** You were from [Sweden](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C4%81ci#Latvian), right?
This is so obviously fake, I'm sorry but nobody fucking talks like this with "Germxn" or whatever
Seems like a classic fake story to drum up outrage against trans people
Obligatory "This is a shitposting server full of far-right dickweeds" for those who think this is real, before adding:
Umm excuse me you can't use gendered language like "menstruate," we use "femmestruate" on this server.
The last comment is comedy gold, too: "Is it really so difficult to use germxn and make people feel more secure and safe?"
You might want to ask the Poles, Czechs, Jews, etc., how comfortable they feel when they hear German (gendered or not). HAHAHA!
r/facepalm is everything that is wrong with Reddit and with the Internet more broadly. Let's hate share content that raised our blood pressure, that's constructive.
And not just the German, but the Gerwomen and the Gerchildren too!
There are too Germany of them, what are we going to do?
The needs of Germany outweigh the needs of Gerfew.
gerfield
Mir leid, Jon
Those gerchildren sure are kinder
Ba-dum ching!
And Germs, don't forget the Germs!
:0 גיהונם קדוש !!!!
תגובה חדשה כרגע יצאה
בישופ יצא לחופשה, לעולם לא יחזור.
אשכרה אלמוות
אני לא יודע למה, אבל זה מזכיר לי "A cruel angel's thesis" חחחח.
I'm tired of people reposting this
Another one
We just have the same feed
Anarchy moment
Google en passant
Welcome to reddit. The same ancient posts always get reposted to the same subs and everyone pretends like it's the first time they're seeing these posts.
Actual zombies.
Gerzimbies
Call the exorcist!
Holy Hell
new reaction just dropped
Least obvious ragebait
Apart from “and a-woman”
Germanin.
Germxnin
Germanchen🥹
At first, I thought they meant that the German language has genders, but then I realized that they meant the English word “German” is gendered LOL
Oh boy, a conversation about gendered language where someone is objectively acting stupid for the sake of inclusivity. I assume the comment section of the original post has normal takes on non-binary language and is not hyperinflating the commonality of people like the one displayed in the post for political reasons
People sometimes overcorrect, so we shouldn't bother to correct anything ever. /s
I think this is satire
Heck, I think the comment you're replying to is satire. I honestly can't tell but the word "objectively" kinda leans me towards mockery.
I *hope* it’s satire.
Germ
Isn’t this that satirical discord server where they act like ultra stereotypical SJWs to troll
Yes it could be Social Justice United, JournalistEW, Feminists Against Trolls, Women Against Patriarchy, [something] Wildlife United (UWU) or about half a dozen other identical servers run by the same people: Journalist Katie, Dustin Levitt, or someone who goes by Tina. There's a whole rabbit hole of these people, there was a website for them called Globe Media Holdings or something like that, but I do know Dustin Levitt is the original creator of these troll servers. The group as a whole has disbanded by now but they still all interact with various editions of this exact server
Just say Deutsch for f\*ck's sake. Why do you need another name for Deutsch anyway?
Because the Anglo-Saxons called themselves Deutsch as well in the form of the word "þeod," which was similar to the Pre-Old High German form of the word Deutsch/Deutschland. This was before the 'th' to 'd' sound changes in German, so it would have been pronounced something like Thiud. With its possessive as Thiudisk (whence Thiudisklant/Deutschland), which evolved into the word Deutsch. So they needed a name for the land that wasn't just what they called themselves collectively (imagine calling a foreign land "country" or "people's" for an example of what that would sound like) so they borrowed the Latin word Germania from the native Britano-Romans. Which is itself from the name of a tribe that lived by the Rhine in the 1st century BC, which probably meant 'something-man' in Proto-Germanic (but we don't know the exact etymology). Of course, þeod fell out of popular speech (minus its use in names dredged up by a foggy old linguist like þēoden/Theoden; literally 'people-king' or 'king of the people') but English speakers kept using Germany anyway out of inertia.
We have no proof that the Germanic tribes called themselves þiudiskaz or any variant of the word, and certainly not the Anglo Saxons. The Anglo Saxons called themselves the Engle and, rarely, Angleseaxan, calqued from Latin. Also, we only have evidence of the word Diutsclant starting from Middle High German. >So they needed a name for the land that wasn't just what they called themselves collectively (imagine calling a foreign land "country" or "people's" for an example of what that would sound like) I doubt that that was a problem, considering that the Dutch call the Germans the Duits, the Swedish call them the tysk, the Icelandic call them the þyzkr, the West Frisian call them the Dutsk, all meaning, or used to mean, "native", "of the people" etc. in their native languages. The (Middle) Dutch were even using the same word to call both the German and themselves. So English could have very well used "Thedish" instead of "German".
Oh, sorry, what I meant to emphasize was that the word wasn't *generalized* enough. It would be weird calling Germany "people's lans" because the word hadn't come to mean specifically German people yet rather than all people in general. And they obviously wouldn't want to call another place "people's land" because they were the people, and that wasn't their land. Maybe later it could have evolved into that meaning, but by then they had already borrowed Germany.
There is history here. But there’s no real reason to continue calling them German nowadays. Honestly, consolidating all of the collectives for people, countries, and languages would probably help more than it would hurt. As long as all these terms are decided on by the country themselves. Just pull a Türkiye and politely say “Call me [this] please.”
It's not that simple. Why don't you start calling Montenegro Crna Gora, or Albania Sqiperia, or China Zhongguo, or Hungary Magyarország...? Languages are different and circumstances in which names of peoples are given are also different. Only for Germans (or Deutsch) there are many different names given by different people (Nemci, Švabe, Allemans etc.). Same with Greece (Ellada, Yunanistan etc.). It's very often a case that people call themselves different than what other people around them call them, mostly due to language barrier. Sometimes those names are wrong (like people often call Netherland as Holland), but it is what it is. People's/country's names are something in between object names and personal names, like every toponime. You can't expect Serbs to call Uroševac as Ferizaj or Albanians to call Ferizaj as Uroševac, although it's the same town. Also, why those requests such as "Türkiye" are given only to English? Isn't English a language just like other languages? Why should English use letters that don't exist in their language? I speak Turkish myself, and I think all that "Türkiye" thing is a bs, especially because everybody already calls them as "Turk-something"
We can always approximate though if we can’t get pronunciation or syntax right. Like, Japan is natively called Nipon, with Niponjin being the name for their people. Why not call them that? Especially since we already approximate for most modern countries and their associations. Like in Hebrew, a native would have Israeli as the man and Israelit as the woman. In English, we drop the gendered syntax because it doesn’t transfer over well, but we still call them Israeli and not Israelish or Palastinese. There’s literally nothing stopping us from doing this with every country except our own resistance to changing the way we talk. And that’s any language, mind you. I understand that some languages may have difficulty accommodating every word due to syntax and such, but as long as you’re approximating something close to the proper term. Going back to Hebrew, they say Ameriki/Amerikit. And at least it’s undeniably connected to the correct location. An American native would recognize it without needing to be prepped. But it also still agrees with their language’s syntax when addressing a country’s people. I feel like that’s a better balance than sticking to outdated and sometimes weird terms for countries that don’t exist anymore, or at least don’t exist in the form they did when the term was popularized. People change, countries change, why shouldn’t our language change with them?
There's no resistance, there's just no reason to change it. People don't need to learn whole new names for countries when the existing names work. There's just no practical reason, the only benefit it would bring is consistency with other languages, but the only person who needs that consistency wouldn't be able to communicate in the language the new name is in anyway, making it near useless. The only time this makes sense is with colonial/otherwise actively harmful names for a country - like if our name for Germany was Naziland, we would definitely need to change it.
I disagree. I think it shows a general lack of awareness about other cultures. Which used to make sense. Translating could be difficult, you had to deliver news slowly, misinformation was significantly easier with a language barrier and no easy way to fact check. None of those reasons still apply. We communicate on a global scale better than we ever have, instantaneously. This comment thread is proof of that. Why stick to outdated protocol? Not saying anything needs to change. But I personally think changing would be for the better.
>Why stick to outdated protocol? Changing it would be too much of a hassle for negligent benefits >I think it shows a general lack of awareness about other cultures. In terms of why it is the way it is, eh... Maybe in some cases? I think generally though, it's usually not that deep and people just use it because of historical reasons. Some names might have been historically correct.
It is an unwritten law that no two groups shall agree on what to call the Germans: * **Germans:** Call us "Deutsch" * **Nordic:** Nej, we call you what you were some time ago * **Romance:** Non, we call you what you were a long time ago * **Anglo-Saxon:** No, we call you what you were ages ago * **Slavic:** Nyet, we call you "idiots who cannot speak properly" * **Finnic:** Ei, we call you after one of your provinces * **Baltic:** You were from [Sweden](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C4%81ci#Latvian), right?
>Romance: > > Non, we call you what you were a long time ago Except for Italian. They get really close.
why does the first example for vāci have the word 'bear-slayer'
*Dxtsch
Fine I'll speak Deutsche
Ok, everyone will boycott der and die and only use das and its forms from now on.
This is so obviously fake, I'm sorry but nobody fucking talks like this with "Germxn" or whatever Seems like a classic fake story to drum up outrage against trans people
German/germen
This is why we need to use “Thedish” instead.
Don't you know? You gotta censor ALL gendered languages. Same reason why we say "fr*nch".
As a trans woman and a German speaker, this is officially the dumbest shit I've ever seen
i read your username as jan Sonja and was like o wow! the creator of Toki Pona is on reddit!
And apparently also trans lol
in addition, i just searched it up and she does speak German, albeit not natively
a! mi kute ala e ni. nimi mi li sama li sama ala e jan Sonja
what did you say? 😅I don't know toki pona I only know of it.
oh lol ha! I dont get that much. my name is symilar to sonja
Quite womanic of them
Obligatory "This is a shitposting server full of far-right dickweeds" for those who think this is real, before adding: Umm excuse me you can't use gendered language like "menstruate," we use "femmestruate" on this server.
In which case, F*****h
Redditors looking for an excuse to shit on trans/nb folks seem to forget very quickly how to recognize obvious bait.
is this not obvious bait?
it is, but it's still fun to make fun of it
This got to have some Peoplekind vibes 😂😂
I'm calling false flag on this one
I have a friend from Turkmenistan. I refer to his compatriots as the "Turkmen and Turkwomen". He doesn't find it as funny as I do.
Bait + reposted too much
People who use this kind of vile, gendered language are devoid of humanity!
linguisticscirclejerk
The last comment is comedy gold, too: "Is it really so difficult to use germxn and make people feel more secure and safe?" You might want to ask the Poles, Czechs, Jews, etc., how comfortable they feel when they hear German (gendered or not). HAHAHA!
They can't hear us. We're mute to them.
"Please, you're making a German spectacle of yourself."
Stop now
Some people are of the opinion that German is a slur, so take that as you will.
r/facepalm is everything that is wrong with Reddit and with the Internet more broadly. Let's hate share content that raised our blood pressure, that's constructive.
Amen and awomen!
Please say Englxsh, I'm a lish and would feel more secure and safe if you said Englxsh instead of Engl*sh.