19 Jan
2003
19 Jan
'03
3:14 p.m.
At 08:53 PM 1/19/03 -0800, Eric Smith wrote:
Eric Chomko wrote:
Perhaps no rule, but there are certainly some specific cases. Here's a
simple example:
1) We are thankful that he showed mercy
2) We are thankful that He showed mercy
You have no idea whom I'm talking about in case 1, but case 2 is very specific.
I dunno. I think that in the context where the
term "Native American"
is, the word "American" is always proceeded by a capitalized adjective.
I am unaware of any rule of spelling or grammar that causes a capitalized
adjective to have a different meaning than the same word without
capitalization. Of three dictionaries I've consulted, none give a
special
meaning for "Native" as distinct from "native". Two of them imply
that
"American" should be capitalized, but the third does not.
If you look up the meaning of each word you can't decipher the true meaning
of the phrase. As you are well aware, English has thousands of idioms.
Go to "www.m-w.com" (merriam-webster), and type "native american", not
just
one word, and it will say it is a synonym for "american indian".
Click on "american indian" and it says:
: a member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the western hemisphere
except usually the Eskimos; especially : an American Indian of North
America and especially the U.S.
-----
Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net
Now I'm not sure about the forms that
you've been looking at, but
are you a native American or a Native American?
Yes, I am.