Anders, On Sunday 22 May 2005 14:13, Anders Johansson wrote:
On Sunday 22 May 2005 22:53, Randall R Schulz wrote:
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes] 38 Moby Thesaurus words for "acculturation": Americanization, ... -==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==-
It's somewhat interesting that Moby Thesaurus suggests a U.S.-centric sense for the word.
First of all, Grady Ward is an American, or at least he was living in California in 1996 according to the Moby project web page, and secondly isn't it more interesting that out of 38 synonyms you see the first one (sorted in alphabetical order) and assume it is what it "suggests"? :) None of the other are specific to the the US, and I even see a few in there that might be deemed completely opposite to it :)
"Suggests" is a weak word, and that's why I chose it. I specifically did not say "equates" or "defines" or even "implies." Also, I was neither agreeing nor agreeing with the author of the Moby Thesaurus, just pointing out something that caught my eye.
Besides, is there another ethno-centric synonym? Anglification? Canadization? Australising?
The "melting pot" metaphor for acculturation is, to my knowledge, uniquely American. Many reject it because it implies complete loss of one's original ethnic identity within the dominant culture. These critics sometimes suggest that a "cultural stew" or "salad" are better metaphors. Especially if you want to stay in the realm of the edible, I suppose. I am not antagonistic to that perspective. My ancestors left most of their Germanic cultural traits behind in the previous two generations, leaving me a dumb mutt American... Randall Schulz