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How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

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Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#121

Post by grzm »

pif wrote: post #118
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mayans and I are by now part of the greater western world "Western" is used as short-hand for the cultures "that have some origin or association with Europe. The term also applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence." Modern Mexican culture could be argued to be "Western". It would be difficult, on the other hand, to arg…

>> There is no ambiguity when someone says "I am American," as people from only one country identify themselves as such. Well, they have the right to do so when talking among themselves. When talking within an international audience, good manners suggest sticking to definitions that are internationally agreed upon. America is a continent, and US citizens are not more American than any Canadian, Argentinian or Peruvia…

In English (which is the language being used here), American is the demonym for citizens of the US, while Canadian, Mexican, Argentinian, Peruvian, and Brazilian are the typical demonyms of citizens of Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Brazil.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonym

I'm aware that there are some continent categorizations that group North and South America as one continent called America, so one could use American to mean people who live in one of what are understood in other categorizations as North or South America. (Is that the continent categorization that you're familiar with? I just recently came across this, so if you wouldn't mind sharing where you learned this, and whether you're familiar with categorizations that count North America and South America separately, I'd be interested to hear more about it.)

That doesn't, however, mean that the usage of American to mean citizen of the US is wrong: it's very widely used in English worldwide. USian is assuredly not widely agreed upon as an alternative, at least in English which is the language of discourse here. Words have multiple meanings that need to be understood in context. Sometimes that context needs to be clarified.

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#122

Post by gfyrt »

jordigh wrote: post #27

I know this is a bit petty, but I've stared to resent a little that even though I'm Mexican, I'm not considered Western. What am I, then? Eastern? Central? Southern? I'm not just arguing about the geography, but about the culture. I feel much more like a Canadian or a USian (or a Guatemalan) than I feel like an African, Middle Easter, East Asian, or South Asian. I speak the same languages as Europe, have been mostly…

Western culture is rotten...it's overhyped for what is actually worth....all that they have is money and tech ....

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#123

Post by acheron »

edanm wrote: post #81
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mayans and I are by now part of the greater western world "Western" is used as short-hand for the cultures "that have some origin or association with Europe. The term also applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence." Modern Mexican culture could be argued to be "Western". It would be difficult, on the other hand, to arg…

"There is no ambiguity when someone says "I am American," as people from only one country identify themselves as such." That's... not really true? I mean, it's true in the sense that everyone "knows" that when you say American, you mean "someone from the US". But that doesn't mean it doesn't bother people from other countries in the Americas. And even if they speak e.g. Spanish, they will tend to also speak English,…

Please let me know which countries have "America" in their name and I will be happy to refer to people from any of them as "Americans".

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#124

Post by nkrisc »

pif wrote: post #118
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mayans and I are by now part of the greater western world "Western" is used as short-hand for the cultures "that have some origin or association with Europe. The term also applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence." Modern Mexican culture could be argued to be "Western". It would be difficult, on the other hand, to arg…

>> There is no ambiguity when someone says "I am American," as people from only one country identify themselves as such. Well, they have the right to do so when talking among themselves. When talking within an international audience, good manners suggest sticking to definitions that are internationally agreed upon. America is a continent, and US citizens are not more American than any Canadian, Argentinian or Peruvia…

And the internationally agreed upon definition is that people from the United States are "Americans." I'm sorry, the real world isn't perfectly logical, one must adapt to irregularity.

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#125

Post by colanderman »

acheron wrote: post #123
edanm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There is no ambiguity when someone says "I am American," as people from only one country identify themselves as such." That's... not really true? I mean, it's true in the sense that everyone "knows" that when you say American, you mean "someone from the US". But that doesn't mean it doesn't bother people from other countries in the Americas. And even if they speak e.g. Spanish, they will tend to also speak English,…

Please let me know which countries have "America" in their name and I will be happy to refer to people from any of them as "Americans".

You must never call anyone "European" and "Asian" then, owing to the lack of countries incorporating those terms in their names.

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#126

Post by SerLava »

pif wrote: post #118
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Mayans and I are by now part of the greater western world "Western" is used as short-hand for the cultures "that have some origin or association with Europe. The term also applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence." Modern Mexican culture could be argued to be "Western". It would be difficult, on the other hand, to arg…

>> There is no ambiguity when someone says "I am American," as people from only one country identify themselves as such. Well, they have the right to do so when talking among themselves. When talking within an international audience, good manners suggest sticking to definitions that are internationally agreed upon. America is a continent, and US citizens are not more American than any Canadian, Argentinian or Peruvia…

>America is a continent,

But it's not. North America and South America are just as separate as Africa and Eurasia.

>sticking to definitions that are internationally agreed upon.

"American" is used as the demonym pretty much everywhere in the world other than Central America and South America. So that advice is backwards.

And try to empathize by imaging that you can't call yourself a demonym, and you have to either go by a bizarre acronym like "RAian" for the Republic of Argentina, or when someone says "I'm French, what about you?" you have to say "Well, I am living in the Republic of Argentina"

Then turn around and direct this at Australians. They apparently have no right to their demonym either, because New Guinea is part of the continent. And in their case, it's actually part of the continent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(continent)

Papua New Guineans and Indonesian Papuans already have their own names for themselves, but what if they also want to say they're Australian? Let's have everyone switch from "Australian" to "CAian" for the Commonwealth of Australia.

San Marino is literally on the Italian Peninsula, so "italiano" is off completely. They need to start going by "RIano" or something.

And how many countries are in the South of Africa?

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#127

Post by PebblesRox »

lubujackson wrote: post #14
gumby wrote: post #7

Resonating with a point in the article about telling kids "you're not involved in this task", I've noticed that my American neighbors are quite reluctant to allow their kids to use knives, light candles, fill glasses, and some cooking tasks that could result in a lot of mess. As what looks like a consequence those kids are rarely able to help get dinner on the table when they come over. An uncharitable explanation wo…

There is also a responsible way to teach them these skills. My wife bought my 3 year old a nylon knife which is sharp enough to cut strawberries and potatoes but arguably safer than a butter knife. I was amazed how quickly he took to using it and is SO EXCITED when he gets to help prep dinner. I think an overarching child-rearing strategy we have used is to treat our children as people who have valid needs and capabi…

A wavy chopper makes a great first blade. My 17-month-old had a blast cutting strawberries the other day. Next I'll let him try something firmer like carrots.

https://bancosparenting.wordpress.com/2018/06/11/cutting-str...

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#128

Post by PebblesRox »

jacobolus wrote: post #36
lubujackson wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also a responsible way to teach them these skills. My wife bought my 3 year old a nylon knife which is sharp enough to cut strawberries and potatoes but arguably safer than a butter knife. I was amazed how quickly he took to using it and is SO EXCITED when he gets to help prep dinner. I think an overarching child-rearing strategy we have used is to treat our children as people who have valid needs and capabi…

People have different ideas of “responsible”, and different levels of risk they are comfortable with. I read an article a year ago about an anthropologist doing field work somewhere in a hunter-gatherer village in Africa marveling that a 9-month-old baby was playing with a machete. The anthropologist asked the mother if she was afraid the kid would get hurt. The mother said “he’ll figure out soon that the machete is…

I love Teacher Tom's mindset. He views risky activities as essential for kids to learn how to be safe. While supervision is important, meddling is unhelpful. They can do a lot when we step back and let them explore their own physical capabilities. I've adopted his phrase: "I won't help you, but I won't let you get hurt."

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-process-of-r...

I love how he makes ridiculous suggestions so that his students use critical thinking instead of blindly following authority:

'While plugging in a glue gun, I once said to a group of older kids, "Have you ever tried sticking your finger into an electrical outlet?" They came down on me like a house of bricks, "If we did that Teacher Tom, we would die!"'

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/if-we-did-that-t...

My mindset with my son as he started walking and climbing was to allow him to experience natural consequences as much as possible (within reasonable safety limits, of course). I've been very impressed by how careful he is when climbing.

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/law-of-natural-c...

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#129

Post by drb91 »

newfoundglory wrote: post #85
edanm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There is no ambiguity when someone says "I am American," as people from only one country identify themselves as such." That's... not really true? I mean, it's true in the sense that everyone "knows" that when you say American, you mean "someone from the US". But that doesn't mean it doesn't bother people from other countries in the Americas. And even if they speak e.g. Spanish, they will tend to also speak English,…

Of course it's true. You say yourself, everyone knows what it means. It's totally unrelated to say that not everyone likes the usage.

Still ambiguous, even if people guess right.

Re: How Children in a Maya Village Do Chores

#130

Post by yesenadam »

cambalache wrote: post #52
jordigh wrote: post #27

I know this is a bit petty, but I've stared to resent a little that even though I'm Mexican, I'm not considered Western. What am I, then? Eastern? Central? Southern? I'm not just arguing about the geography, but about the culture. I feel much more like a Canadian or a USian (or a Guatemalan) than I feel like an African, Middle Easter, East Asian, or South Asian. I speak the same languages as Europe, have been mostly…

My friend, this was something that surprised me 15-20 years ago when thanks to the Internet I started to interact with Americans. At the end Western is a code word for White dominated places or sometimes just Anglo. This came from Huntington's Clash of Civilizations a profoundly ignorant work. As you wrote you can live in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo or Mexico City, huge cosmopolitan places, maybe you have some recent rel…

That's one of the greatest comments I've read on here.

100% gringo here, UK-born Australian. About 10 years ago I started meeting latin americans online (also filipinos), I liked them so much I learnt spanish and was soon chatting online 95% with latin american friends. Played Clash of Clans in a colombian clan hehe, love watching online chess tournament commentary in spanish etc. Am starting to love Portuguese too.

I've come to hate the word "American" meaning estadounidense, its arrogance and effrontery; I try not to ever use it. (It was hard not to respond below to the many astoundingly ignorant, half-coherent comments on that subject.) I love the 'underdog' feeling of the online latin community. It's largely from the language barrier I guess, non-english speakers being 2nd-class netizens. And the people are happier, nicer, friendlier than those in the West.. I really got to disliking white culture. I noticed that in latin america, the darker the skin and less European the people, the more I liked them. The only really ignorant, ugly, self-deluded people I came across in the world, meeting people in many countries, were White/anglo people - UK, Australia, especially the USA. There seem to be whole towns there full of white people bigoted and ignorant way below anything I've experienced in other countries. (I can never stand this site very long, with its own superior brand of those same qualities. It's not an air I want to spend my life breathing.) I started warning latin americans who wanted to learn english to be careful, that it's poison. I didn't want them to lose their....total non-anglo-ness.

I'm not sure why it's like this. Maybe the Catholicism, the history etc. Maybe just that white people are crazier.[0] I'm not into "Proud to be nationality X", but maybe some latin pride wouldn't go astray here, or, you know, pride not being white anglos. Also, I saw in some movie someone saying that the greatest latin american contribution to the world is the latina; there's something to that. :-) I feel fortunate to have been able to make latin americans and latin culture a huge part of life, to learn that it's superior in many ways to the one I grew up in.

[0] See how cruel the whites look. Their lips are thin, their noses sharp, their faces furrowed and distorted by folds. Their eyes have a staring expression; they are always seeking something. What are they seeking? The whites always want something; they are always uneasy and restless. We do not know what they want. We do not understand them. We think they are mad. - a New Mexican Indian chief, to Jung

EDIT: Would the downvoters care to explain why? It's not a surprise :-) but hearing why would be....enlightening. Thanks.

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