this post was submitted on 08 May 2025
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[–] BertramDitore@lemm.ee 28 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

Ugh us Americans from the USA don’t seem to understand how arrogant it is to say he’s the first American pope. Argentina is in South America. This guy is the first North American pope, or better yet the first pope from the United States. This is going to bug the shit out of me.

Edit: Because I’m genuinely loving the downvotes (you really felt it when I called you arrogant, huh), if the next US president was from North Dakota, we wouldn’t say they were the first president from Dakota, would we?

[–] Nay@feddit.nl 33 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I fully get the criticism, but US Americans are the only ones that identify, and are broadly known as "Americans," so it just feels pedantic to me.

[–] BertramDitore@lemm.ee 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It’s definitely pedantic, but I’ve had more than one friend from countries in Central and South America comment on it, so it’s not just me noticing.

[–] blitzen@lemmy.ca -3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Interesting that you chose to identify your friends as “from countries in central in South America “instead of just calling them, Americans.

[–] entwine413@lemm.ee 11 points 1 day ago

Not really since their continent of origin is directly relevant to the discussion of the scope of the term 'American'.

[–] Nay@feddit.nl -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pedants have pedant friends? Not trying to be an ass, but it just seems like such a meaningless distinction to make... Why is it worth it?

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 6 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

Because American cultural imperialism sucks for lots of reasons, and it's worth pushing back against it

[–] Nay@feddit.nl 3 points 22 hours ago

It's literally part of the name and the most sensible shorthand, by which virtually no one is confused.

But fight your fight, I guess.

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

And he's the first US-ian Pope because of his birth.

But his career was in Peru.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Edit: Because I’m genuinely loving the downvotes

First off, you had 5 down votes, which makes it obvious you're trolling.

But for those five it's likely:

It's because you're trying to use semantics to "dunk" on an entire country, and it's not even original, and still not even right.

It would be correct to phrase it:

The first pope from the United States of America

But pretty much every country has a long name that's shortened down to one identifiable word.

Its very hard to believe anyone would hear:

The first American pope

And genuinely believe that includes anyone born anywhere on the continents of North or South America.

99.99% of the time, it's someone trying to troll Americans, it's not as clever as you think. And immediately complaining about a handful of downvotes makes it incredibly transparent.

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Careful there, hombre. You might find yourself deported for being anti-semantic.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

As an open practitioner of pedantical semanticism, my people are no stranger to persecution.

I mean… I don’t disagree, but no other nation put “America” in their name. “United” and “States” are even more generic. Heck, "United States" isn’t even distinctive.

  • “Uni” is already “university”,
  • “Statist” is already something else
  • Statian / station
  • Stater / stator
  • Unitian / munition
  • “Unitarian” is already something
  • Unit 👎
  • Unish 👎
  • Ustan / Houston
  • UnStan, UnStian, UniStan, UniStAm👎
  • “Yank(ee)” is almost exclusively derogatory, and a fair chunk of the nation uses it to denigrate a different chunk.
  • “Yu-ess-ee-an” is just unbelievably awful
  • Usonian” didn’t take off, but we could give it another go 🤷‍♂️
[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah, he's the first Pope from the States, is closer to the phrase that should be used.

[–] MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown@fedia.io 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What states? There are lots of states in the world.

[–] BertramDitore@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

‘The States’ is a common nickname for the USA, but you’re right, it isn’t ideal for the same reasons as American.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

CHICAGOAN POPE! FUCK YEAH!

[–] ThePantser@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

And I was going to add that caveat that even what I was saying could be wrong. But usually "the states" can only mean one place.