“American”一词不够严谨？斯坦福大学不建议美国人使用该词

Stanford University published an index of "harmful language" it plans to eliminate from the school’s websites and computer code, offering terms to be used as replacements.

Among the words the university urges people to avoid in the imprecise language section is the term, "American". People are instead asked to use "US Citizen" because "American" typically refers to "people from the United States only, thereby insinuating that the US is the most important country in the Americas." The Americas, the index notes, comprises 42 countries.

The guide says its goal is to eliminate "many forms of harmful language," including "racist, violent, and biased (e.g., disability bias, ethnic bias, ethnic slurs, gender bias, implicit bias, sexual bias) language" in Stanford websites and code. 

There are 10 "harmful language" sections outlined in the index: ableist, ageism, colonialism, culturally appropriative, gender-based, imprecise language, institutionalized racism, person-first, violent and additional considerations.

这个词被操纵了，加拿大人、墨西哥人也都在北美洲......他们都是美洲人。真的，来自美国的人应该被称为美国公民。

同时，《华尔街日报》评论文章也辛辣嘲讽了这一观点。

Call yourself an "American"? Please don’t. Better to say "US citizen" per the bias hunters, lest you slight the rest of the Americas…And don’t dare design a "blind study", which "unintentionally perpetuates that disability is somehow abnormal or negative, furthering an ableist culture."

称自己是“American”？别了吧。按照偏见猎手的说法，最好说“US citizen”，以免你轻视美洲其他国家……也别斗胆设计一个“blind study”（盲测），这“无意中刻画了残疾在某种程度上是不正常的或消极的印象，进一步助长了能力歧视”。

"First and importantly, the website does not represent university policy. It also does not represent mandates or requirements. The website was created by, and intended for discussion within, the IT community at Stanford. 

首先，重要的是，该网站并不代表大学政策。它也不代表授权或要求。该网站是由斯坦福大学的IT社区创建的，旨在供其讨论。

"To be very clear, not only is the use of the term 'American' not banned at Stanford, it is absolutely welcomed." 

需要明确指出的是，斯坦福大学没有禁止使用“American”一词，我们欢迎使用该词。