Oh no.

  • als@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    26 days ago

    What makes them “British expats” and not regular old “immigrants”? Oh their wealth? Maybe their skin colour

    • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
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      26 days ago

      immigrants actually help the economy and try to integrate. expats expect wherever they go to cater to them, and extract wealth for their own benefit

    • RobotToaster@mander.xyz
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      26 days ago

      Direction? To Britain they’re expats, to Spain they’re immigrants? (or whatever the Spanish word for Immigrants is, I suppose.)

      • teft@lemmy.world
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        26 days ago

        People leaving are emigrants. People entering are immigrants. Expat is just a word to whitewash the immigrant label. I say this as an american emigrant who knows “expats” in my new home country.

        • wewbull@feddit.uk
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          26 days ago

          I don’t how being an ex-patriot is a good thing for those of a nationalistic bent.

          • funkless_eck
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            26 days ago

            I can’t tell if you’re joking but it’s an abbreviation of patriate not patriot > same root but patriot implies liking or serving the country and patriate - from patria - just means “from that country”

            • wewbull@feddit.uk
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              26 days ago

              We can always pretend that isn’t true so it isn’t such a neutral term.

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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        26 days ago

        Yeah, while I think expat is a bit of a silly word, it’s a lot more precise. Just saying “immigrant” could mean an immigrant living here or an immigrant to another country from here.

        It’s also way more concise and therefore headline-friendly: “Expats say XYZ” vs “British immigrants in ABC say XYZ” or “Overseas Brits say XYZ” (and that one introduces confusion about whether they are overseas as in on holiday/temporary work or overseas as in living there).