Ask HN: Why can't I call myself “a Japanese”?

Re:Ask HN: Why can't I call myself “a Japanese”? by dexwiz on Thursday October 07, 2021 @07:39PM (#28793597)

I think it's because Japanese and Chinese are nationalities that have been long known by the wider, more xenophbic populace. And they are also used as catchall terms for Asians. For example, the first episode of King of the Hill where the Texans meet Kahn, a Laotian, and Dale repeatedly asks if that is Chinese or Japanese, not understand Laos is a country.

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Re:Ask HN: Why can't I call myself “a Japanese”? by silisili on Thursday October 07, 2021 @07:53PM (#28793713)

I'm not sure... I was giving it some thought and it seems to me to be more the construction of the word itself.

Maltese, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, English, French - AFAICT only used as adjectives.

Canadian, American, Mexican, German, Russian, Nigerian - adjective or noun.

I'm not even trying to touch on appropriateness, just the general rules on how words are used/spelled. Something about 'an' makes it sound natural to use as a noun.

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Re:Ask HN: Why can't I call myself “a Japanese”? by schoen on Thursday October 07, 2021 @08:21PM (#28793973)

For "English" and "French" we would usually add "-man" or "-woman" ("an Englishman", "a Frenchman"), although people have worried for some decades that the required qualification by sex is too specific.

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