[selfsigned]

Really proud as a French, I think the government has had some success with moving to something matrix based for the public sector too. https://tchap.numerique.gouv.fr

I just hope we end up having more wins at the EU-level, instead of massive fails like GAIA-X...

[dbdr]

Also GendBuntu, a custom version of Ubuntu used by 100 000 stations (almost all) of the national gendarmerie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

[Toine]

"As a French" ne veut rien dire en anglais. Il faut rajouter man, person ou quelquechose. Frenchman, French person, French citizen.

[Mindless2112]

The demonym for France is "French," so it's not wrong (even if it doesn't sound right.)

[japanoise]

It's not completely wrong, it will be understood, but it is ungrammatical and a clear marker that the speaker is not native, similar to getting adjectives in the 'wrong' order ('a big tasty sandwich' sounds more natural to a native speaker than 'a tasty big sandwich', even though the latter makes sense and will be understood).

Demonyms for historical neighbours of England have irregular forms when speaking of a particular person from there. Scotland has 'Scot' and 'Scotsman'; Wales has 'Welshman'; Spain has 'Spaniard'. Other countries indeed need a second word, such as 'person' or 'citizen' ('a Chinese' sounds offensive to me; I would say 'a Chinese person' in all cases). The only country I can think of where using a bare demonym is grammatical when speaking of a single person from there is Germany with 'a German' - probably because it has the suffix -man.

Edit: A sibling comment pointed out that 'an American' is grammatical, and thinking about it, I think the suffix -an is what makes bare demonyms grammatical - you can say 'an Angolan', 'a Laotian', 'a Peruvian', 'a Moroccan', etc, but wouldn't say 'a Thai', 'a Swedish', 'a Sudanese', etc.

[embedding-shape]

> but it is ungrammatical and a clear marker that the speaker is not native

You mean a native speaker might be ungrammatical when using their non-native language? That makes sense to me.

> Spain has 'Spaniard'.

Even so, you'll hear a ton of native Spanish people saying "As a Spanish person" or "As person from Spain" instead of simply "As a Spaniard", I'm not sure this is very surprising. If anything, that mistake makes it more likely they're a native than not, in the case of Spain, as the level of English outside of metropolitan areas is lacking at best, compared to other European countries.

[japanoise]

I'm using the words 'grammatical' and 'ungrammatical' in a linguistic sense; human languages are subtle and fluid, and one doesn't have to be far along the sliding scale between 'doesn't speak a word' and 'well-educated native speaker' to be understood. We speak of 'broken' English when somebody is able to be understood but hasn't fully grasped the language yet; using demonyms incorrectly is a subtler flavor of the same thing. For example 'no come here' -> 'no entering' -> 'no entry'

[traceroute66]

> but wouldn't say 'a Thai', 'a Swedish', 'a Sudanese'

You also don't say 'a Japanese' but that is an extremely common error with Japanese English speakers when they are first learning.

I am looking for a citation, but I seem to recall the casual rule of thumb is something to do with the ending of the nationality (so '-ish', '-ese','-ch' etc. you can't put 'a' in front). I think the more formal explanation likely centers around rules relating to indefinite articles.

[matt_kantor]

There are some suffixed with "-i" which sound natural to my (American) ears too: "an Israeli", "a Somali", "a Pakistani", "an Omani", etc.

[Departed7405]

> and a clear marker that the speaker is not native, similar to getting adjectives in the 'wrong' order

I would think that if you say you are French, then everyone know you aren't native anyway. Maybe it's actually a good way, it can distinguish between true natives and false natives

[wrboyce]

As a Welshman, I’d say North/South Walian are more common among the populace!

[evanjrowley]

When speaking English, the French side of my family refers to themselves like that often, however, they're from Bretagne, so exactly how French they are is up for debate.

[8note]

nah, "as a french" is perfectly fine english grammar.

english changes over time, and thats been a normal description for at least a decade

[estimator7292]

Technically yes the demonym is "French", but "I'm a French" just doesn't work in English. The word 'French' is almost exclusively used in English as an adjective or the name of the language. It is never used as a noun for anything else. So in context, it reads as an adjective without a paired noun.

In English, you have to disambiguate be adding a noun: French person, French citizen, or Frenchman if you're old and inconsiderate.

Similarly, we don't call people "a Chinese". That construction is considered derogatory, if not outright racist. Demonyms typically cannot be used as nouns alone without a suffix. "A Brazilian" or "a Spaniard" are acceptable.

As usual for English, the rules are vague and inconsistent.

[traceroute66]

> "A Brazilian" or "a Spaniard" are acceptable.

Well, context is important on the Brazilian front. ;)

"I had a brazilian at my house" could have other connotations.

[Ylpertnodi]

How many did you have at your house?

[Ylpertnodi]

> or Frenchman if you're old and inconsiderate.

Or talking about a man that is French. Neither of which would be considered 'old', or 'inconsiderate".

[gpm]

"Frenchman" (one word) is always... "old and inconsiderate" is a good description. "French man" (two words) is at times still appropriate.

[troad]

No, Frenchman is fine. It's a neutral and common descriptor, and I've far more often heard it said by French people than about them. Similar to Spaniard.

Not everything needs to be perennially problematised.

[troad]

It is wrong, in the sense that native speakers do not say that, and it triggers what linguists call a "grammaticality judgment" in a native speaker. Same as "He eat apple" or "I am go to school". These may be comprehensible utterances, but they do not fit into a native speaker's internal grammar of valid English sentence structures.

Yes, languages can change, but there is no evidence that native speakers have started saying "a French". The only context I've ever seen that in is "As a French...", which strongly implies a non-native speaker of English. The evidence suggests that it's a common language interference error from French, not some future development of English.

[traceroute66]

No.

"French" is adjective or a collective noun, but don't use it as a countable noun.

Trying to say "as a French" makes about as much sense as thinking "as a American" is correct.

As has already been said ... "a French (wo)man","a French person","a French citizen" is the correct way to go.

The reason you can say "an American" is because America starts with a vowel.

Same reason why you would not say "a British" but you could say "a Brit".

[woodruffw]

Demonyms don’t use the same rules as countable nouns. Both “French” and “British” are acceptable demonyms, they’re just not particularly idiomatic in American English (which likes to overcorrect with “person” like you’ve noted).

(There’s no particularly consistency with this, it’s just what sounds “good” to American ears. We’re perfectly fine with “as a German” or “as a Lithuanian.”)

[traceroute66]

> Both “French” and “British” are acceptable demonyms

No they are not.

The Oxford English Dictionary, for example makes it quite clear re. 'French':

    "With plural agreement, and frequently with 'the' French people regarded collectively ..."

I draw your attention to the first three words ... "with plural agreement".

It is explicitly telling you that "French" is a collective plural noun and hence cannot be used as a singular countable noun.

[woodruffw]

I think we’re past OED being a normative arbiter of what does or doesn’t pass for acceptable English usage.

[mistrial9]

a French; an American; a Brit, or a British

sounds casual but correct to me

[traceroute66]

> sounds casual but correct to me

I don't care if it "sounds ok to me".

If you're going to make statements like that to go against what I've written then at least come up with some viable citations to grammar literature.

Honestly, in all my years on this earth I have never, ever heard anybody in any English speaking country I've spent time in say "a French" "a American" "a British".

And that amounts to a lot of time surrounded by people speaking VERY "casual" English.

P.S. I said "an American" was ok if you re-read.. an NOT a

[MarceColl]

The reason you can say "an American" has nothing to do with a vowel or not, there are just some demonyms that for some reason can be used like this, and some that can't.

For example:

* German is countable: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis... * French is uncountable: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis... * American is countable: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis... * Spanish is uncountable: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis...

But your explanation about why it is correct is bullshit, has nothing to do with "an" vs "a", the English language is just inconsistent as fuck and some demonyms can be used like this and some can't.

[Mainan_Tagonist]

Pedantry attracts dislike. One may be right to state something, yet wrong to call it out in public.

[traceroute66]

> Pedantry attracts dislike. One may be right to state something, yet wrong to call it out in public.

Ironically most French people I know would be perfectly receptive and happy to receive corrections in grammar, English or otherwise.

The French tend to be particularly pedantic about the teaching of their own grammar. Most native French speakers are quite used to being swiftly and firmly corrected on grammar from an early age.

[Mainan_Tagonist]

there is a time and place for everything. "Les règles de bienséance" matter more to me than the safekeeping of the exactness of English grammar, which as others have been keen to point out is hardly as strict as you seem to imply.

And no, no French person likes to receive corrections in grammar. Giving lectures on proper english grammar/pronounciation is generally a mark of (classist) pedantry since speaking proper english is generally the preserve of those lucky few that have had the opportunity of spending time in the Anglosphere, a tiny minority of the french population in fact, who are always eager to put their one upmanship on display, in a very crude, almost vulgar fashion.

I have been travelling through Japan for the past week, the grammatical and orthographical error would likely give you a nosebleed. Meanwhile, I just smile and move on, I got the meaning, it is what matters. Same for the OP.

[azinman2]

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve been in France and had people correct my pronunciation (which btw, it’s really not so bad — the best complement I got was that they could tell I was foreign, but not sure where from).

[selfsigned]

I'm not sure how happy they actually are about it though. I think most people have a bit of Stockholm-syndrome relationship with it, the highest tier of argument refutation in France might honestly be grammar-based :P

(And it did motivate me to go abroad.)

[gib444]

Nor "Frenchie" while we're on the topic. It sounds really weird. It's also commonly used to refer to a french bulldog !

[japanoise]

I would think of using 'Frenchie' to refer to a person as being affectionate banter. Like 'Yank' for Americans or 'Canuck' for Canadians. It's not incorrect, but would be inappropriate outside of an informal context.

French people have 'rosbif' to refer to the English and Australians have 'pom' or 'pommie'. You wouldn't call the prime minister that at a diplomatic event, but it's not offensive to call your friends that.

[gib444]

> I would think of using 'Frenchie' to refer to a person as being affectionate banter

Not sure about other English-speaking countries but I'm fairly sure we don't use that word in England. It's exclusively the dog. We usually call them a frog which is quite derogatory, or use a certain tone when saying e.g. "he's French" (implying "ugh"). We also don't call Canadians Canucks but certainly call USAians we dislike Yanks

We English don't really do affectionate banter with the French. We either like/admire them or hate them lol

I mostly admire them, for the record (but it can be testing at times – we find their arrogance quite annoying ;)

[pablomalo]

"Quelquechose" doesn't mean anything in French. It's written "quelque chose".