davidl@orca.UUCP (David Levine) (05/20/85)
In article <32900001@siemens.UUCP> rick@siemens.UUCP writes: > ...we may call people from the U.S.S.R. Russians but they are more >properly addressed as Soviets. (Just as people from the Irish Republic are >Irish). Sorry. A "soviet" is a legislative body. It makes no more sense to call a citizen of the Soviet Union a "Soviet" than it does to call a citizen of the United States a "Congress." Evidence for my claim: The American Heritage Dictionary defines "soviet" (n) as a legislative assembly. It then defines "Soviet" (adj) as "of or pertaining to the USSR", while "soviet" (adj) is "of or pertaining to a soviet." On the other hand, "American" (adj) means "of or pertaining to" several parts of the Western Hemisphere (as described in a previous posting), and "American" (n) is 1) an inhabitant of America or 2) a citizen of the US. I think that one calls a citizen of the Soviet Union a "Soviet citizen." Or perhaps "Comrade." :-) David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!orca!davidl) [UUCP] (orca!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay.csnet) [ARPA] P.S. I'm cross-posting to net.rumor and net.nlang. This debate began with a discussion as to whether or not Canadians are Americans, and has gone quite beyond the scope of net.rumor. I therefore propose that the discussion be moved to net.nlang (which I don't read. Ha!). - DL whether
wilde@apollo.uucp (Scott Wilde) (05/29/85)
>In article <32900001@siemens.UUCP> rick@siemens.UUCP writes: >> ...we may call people from the U.S.S.R. Russians but they are more >>properly addressed as Soviets. (Just as people from the Irish Republic are >>Irish). > >Sorry. A "soviet" is a legislative body. It makes no more sense to call a >citizen of the Soviet Union a "Soviet" than it does to call a citizen of the >United States a "Congress." > >Evidence for my claim: ... Try again. According to Webster's II , under soviet: ...2. Soviets. The government and people of the Soviet Union. Scott Wilde ...!decvax!wanginst!apollo!wilde
north@down.FUN (Stephen C North) (05/30/85)
this certainly is an exciting rumor. i can't wait to tell my friends about it. they probably won't even believe me. no wonder net.rumor is my favorite newsgroup.