My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Pedants' corner

Argentine or Argentinian?

8 replies

HeadFairy · 07/04/2009 12:13

When used to describe someone from Argentina? Which is it? We can't decide (am at work, busy as you can tell )

OP posts:
Mooseheart · 07/04/2009 12:16

I think

Argentine - when describing people.
Argentinian - when describing objects.

Mooseheart · 07/04/2009 12:16

Sorry, that should be singular person and singular object!

HeadFairy · 07/04/2009 12:20

so my mum is Argentine and she has some Argentinian boots... is that correct?

OP posts:
Mooseheart · 07/04/2009 12:27

I think so... am off to google it!

AllFallDown · 10/04/2009 15:03

Argentinian. Not Argentine.

islandofsodor · 10/04/2009 15:31

Isn't Argentine the geographical area?

May be totally wrong.

mimsum · 13/04/2009 13:51

when my grandfather emigrated from there in the 1900s it was "the Argentine" not sure what he was though ...

RamblingRosa · 14/04/2009 15:05

There's no difference in terms of whether it's describing people or objects. Both are correct. Argentine is more old-fashioned and has a rather colonial ring to it. It sets my teeth on edge actually. Argentinian is the more common, modern term.

I lived in Argentina for a while so I speak with a modicum of pedantic authority!

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.