[WikiEN-l] Re: Lists which are sheer nonsense

[Jimmy Wales]

Sheldon Rampton wrote:
> As I stated previously, I don't have any personal objection to usages 
> (1) or (2), although I do take offense when people insinuate that 
> peace activists are anti-American.

The offense you take is on political grounds relating to the "anti-"
part, as opposed to any discomfort with the word "American" there,
right?  I mean, isn't your thinking on this point something like "How
dare they say that protestors are anti-American, after all, the
essence of the American spirit is healthy dissent and free speech."

> However, I think the term "United 
> States citizen" should be preferred on Wikipedia because it is more 
> precise than "American" and also carries less political baggage.

I'm not opposed to that, really, but I just want to point out that
there *is* a loss of richness due precisely to the loss of what you
call "baggage".

We could "tend to avoid" the term, but there are lots of examples of
sentences that just read poorly, and lose some meaning, without it.

> As for the notion that "list of U.S. citizens" might offend 
> immigrants, I find this implausible...

Yes, me too.

--Jimbo