Ah, nothing sparks a robust internet discussion like the scent of discrimination. Prolific American expat-blogger at "an american expat in deutschland", Christina G, inadvertantly ignited one this week with her brand new domain amiexpat.com. She says she picked it because it's short, descriptive and a play on the French for friend, ami. Little did she know that with 'Ami', one woman's nickname is another woman's slur.

Many commenters, American and German alike, find the word harmless and/or playful, at the very worst equivalent to Germans being called Krauts. (You can see the whole discussion here at A Controversial Address? and a parallel one here at dict.leo.org.) A seemingly equal number say au contraire, 'Ami' carries painful connections to the era of anti-American activism in the DDR or the terror of the Red Army Faction in late 60s Germany. As one commenter at the leo discussion puts it, "Any American who lived here in Germany at the height of the RAF terror, with Ami Go Home shouted at you on a daily basis, not knowing whether your father would actually make it home that day, or whether your school bus might be blown up on the way home - well, the term "Ami" back then, was anything but affectionately meant. Nowadays, the opposite could be true." Even back to WWII, Amis were the American soldiers trespassing on German soil. But even while names stick, history marches forward, connotations evolve and inter-cultural life, with its minefields and misunderstandings, keeps on going.

As with any potentially degrading term, the word carries shades of meaning depending almost entirely on context. Yours truly (32 years old, the last 7 in Deutschland) has only heard the slang slung once in his direction and that was in an affectionate email from a flirtatious Fräulein. (So, obviously, no hard feelings there.) Now, "Amiland" on the other hand, as an imaginary country with cartoon Americans running around everywhere waving flags and shooting revolvers Yosemite Sam style, I actually do find offensive. But maybe that's just me.