Quote:
Originally Posted by iheartthed
That's funny. Do French people really call Americans "Ricans"?
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You know, les Ricains... Nothing insulting.
I think it used to be a bit disparaging (when I wasn't born yet), but it is not really any longer.
It's just some kind of contraction to call US citizens exclusively.
People from say, Peru, Canada, Mexico, Paraguay and so on are never called "Ricains".
The contraction is relevant to so-called Americans only.
The thing is the Americas are sometimes taken collectively here, as a whole different continent (or couple of continents) across the Atlantic ocean. It's just a geographic thing, nothing more.
Then Peruvians, Canadians, Mexicans, Paraguayans and so on may be collectively called "Americans", like people from the Americas from a strictly geographic standpoint.
It's only because it's Europe here. However, I noticed we'd never call people from French Guiana, Guadeloupe or Martinique Americans. Because they belong to the French Republic, then they are French (wink).
It's just old habits by geographic and cultural things.