' DEMONYMS SO DEMANDING ' : PRECIS

 

Surely the inhabitants of Kazakhstan are Kazakhs, rather than the clunky '' Kazakhstanis '' [ '' Get Jabbed? Get stuffed! '', July 24th 2021.]

The ''stan'' suffix in the name of an Asian country is roughly equivalent to the '' land '' suffix in the name of a European country.

Hence we refer to the Dutch, English, Finns, Irish, Polish and Swiss, and also to the Thais in Asia.

We don't call Icelanders and Iceish, but there is an exception to every rule.

The World Students Society thanks Eric Ratner, San Francisco for his letter to The Economist.