In which I am perhaps excessively critical about language, quelle surprise

Every once in a while I run into people with some experience (Peace Corps or whatever) in Kenya or Tanzania, where Swahili is widely spoken. The word for a white person in Swahili is mzungu; the plural is wazungu. When these people say 'mzungus' - i.e. when they privilege English plural conventions over the actual plural of the actual word - it makes me a little bit insane. It's the same kind of thoughtlessness that lets people refer to the U.S. as 'America', as though it's the only country to be found on two continents. Language is impossibly powerful; it bothers me when it is used carelessly, and when that carelessness reinforces inequities, it is even more distressing.

Of course, accusing someone who is just trying to make conversation of perpetuating neocolonialism is not the most productive way of working through these issues - I am still feeling my way into talking about them.