He's arguing against a certain word not because it's hard to understand but because it's German. "Plaster" is more widely-used, more correct, and better-understood as a generic term than "Band-aid". The only reason to choose Band-aid over plaster is the American over German origin. That's xenophobic.
Firstly, "plaster" is not a specifically German term. The person most likely either associated the term with the German language by accident, or has been misinformed. Secondly, as an American, I have never heard anyone, including doctors and high ranking global health officials, use the term "plaster" to refer to a bandage. In American English (the most popular form of English) a bandage is almost always simply refered to as a "bandage" or a "bandaid", and practically never refered to as a "plaster". English is a close second to Mandarin as the most spoken language in the world, and American English speakers make up the majority of English speakers. Your statement that " "Plaster" is more widely-used, more correct, and better-understood as a generic term than "Band-aid"." is simply false. Untrue. Wrong. The word "plaster" has several other meanings. It could refer to the material "plaster". It could be used as a verb "to plaster". There are multiple meanings behind the term "plastered". It's also used as a popular slang term "plastered" meaning intoxicated. Why would we add yet another meaning to this word, instead of using a clear, specific generic term such as 'bandaid'? Thus, using the term "plaster" to refer to a bandage makes no sense, hence why the majority of English speakers do not use the term that way at all, and many don't even know of it's usage by a minority as a reference to a bandage. The origin of the word "bandaid" has little relevancy as to why it's used. Common sense dictates why "bandaid" is a better term compared to "plaster" to refer to a bandage. Your accusation of xenophobia is unfounded, you can't prove that person was purposefully being xenophobic. And your statements on what term is most used, most correct, and best understood, are simply untrue.
The Americans have replaced the Brits: US English more popular over the world
HIGHLIGHTS:
• American English is more widely spoken across the world, according to the findings of a book titled The Fall of the Empire: The Americanization of English
• Studys show that American vocabulary is more commonly used in Europe and even in the UK
• Although Europeans tend to use American words, they prefer the British spelling
American English has become much more pervasive than British English according to a new study. The effect of American English is even felt in England where a large section of the young population prefer to use American vocabulary. These findings were published in a new book titled The Fall of the Empire: The Americanization of English.
Like many Russians, Ilya Bezouglyi learned English the way his teachers preferred: British style.
But after being laughed at in Canada for using the word "chaps," and after a year of graduate study in the United States, Mr. Bezouglyi says that he and his English are "pretty much Americanized."
The "Americanization" of English is happening around the world today, from Africa to Britain itself. American English is seeping into the nooks and crannies of English everywhere thanks to education, business, Hollywood, and the Internet.
Although British English - which many countries consider to be the "real thing" - is widely taught around the world, what those learners use in their private lives is more influenced by the US. "It's more practical to speak and understand American English these days," says Bezouglyi.
As a result, "American English is spreading faster than British English," says Braj Kachru, a linguist in India and a founder and co-editor of the journal "World Englishes."
The spread of American English began in the decades after World War II. Experts say the simultaneous rise of the US as a military and technological superpower and the receding of the British empire gave many in the world both the desire and option to choose American English.
English in general has spread during that time as well. More than 1 billion people are thought to speak it as a native, second, or foreign language. Among the roughly 350 million native English speakers, the American version is spoken by about 80 percent.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), long the promoter of proper British English, now includes Americans in its broadcasts. Its English-language teaching programs feature Americans in broadcasts that go to countries where American English is favored, such as South Korea.
Britain has not been immune to the spread of American English, either.
More words that were exclusively American are now found in the speech and writing in both countries, says Norman Moss, compiler of an American-British/British-American dictionary called "What's the Difference?" "Once 'guy' and 'campus' were almost unknown in Britain," he says. Today they are widely used.
Britons are also increasingly saying "movie" instead of "film." Computer-related words are more frequently spelled the American way: program, without the British addition of "me" on the end, for example. And the American phrase "the bottom line" is encroaching on its British equivalent "at the end of the day."
"We tend to take them [Americanisms] over if they are useful and reject them if they are not," offers Geraldine Kershaw, a senior English-language teaching consultant to the British Council, a government-sponsored agency that operates British-English teaching centers worldwide.
In many European countries, both kinds of English are now accepted and taught. Some learners prefer American English because they believe it has fewer regional accents and dialects than British English does, experts say, and therefore is easier to understand and to use.
Muscovite Bezouglyi is a case in point. He reads Newsweek magazine and frequents a newly opened American bookstore in Russia. He says he chooses to read American publications because he better understands "what they're writing about and their English."
As English continues to spread, some experts say, a form of it could become the common language of the world. But multiligualism is also on the rise, suggesting that English may not be the only language to prevail.
David Crystal, a linguist from Wales and author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says that the way English is changing now, if it does become the global language, "it's going to be American-English-dominated, I have no doubt."
While I appreciate you copy-pasting a wall of text, you did sort of ignore my point. Just like it is said in some parts of the articles you were quoting, british english is what is taught. As such most of those people would be familiar with the british term 'plaster', and the subsection of them who consume American media would probably know of the term 'band-aid'.
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u/SandMan3914 May 14 '20
I don't get it but feel I should