a person from the same country / city

[English4everyone]

1. What do you call a person from the same country as you?
2. What do you call a person from the same city / town as you?

 

[charliedeut]

1. What do you call a person from the same country as you? Fellow countryman/woman or compatriot.
2. What do you call a person from the same city / town as you? Fellow citizen.

charliedeut

 

[BobK]

1 fellow countryman
2 fellow citizen

The word 'fellow' can be put before any appropriate noun - for example, one relating to a place ('fellow Londoner'), state ('fellow sufferer [from <condition-or-disease-name>'), occupation ('fellow student')...

There are a few specialist nouns, such as 'co-religionist', but even then 'fellow' will do: for example, 'fellow Protestant'

b

 

[5jj]

I would not use 'fellow citizen' for a person from the same town. I could say 'fellow Londoner/Glaswegian/Aberdonian/Liverpudlian' because there is a word for people from London, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Liverpool and a few other places. However, for most places there is no word, and we simply have to say something like, 'He and I both come from Gosport'.

 

[BobK]

I think I agree. I was just trying to generalize.

There isn't a word for someone from Reading (except the rather academic 'Redingensian', which runs the risk of being interpreted as meaning 'member of the Old Redingensians'). But 'fellow <noun>' is such a useful device that people say 'fellow Readingite' (although to my ear the word 'Readingite' on its own sounds pretty dubious; I certainly wouldn't say 'I'm a Readingite').

But in defence of 'fellow citizen', although it's not idiomatic, I've seen it in print.

b

 

[SoothingDave]

However, for most places there is no word, and we simply have to say something like, 'He and I both come from Gosport'.

Adding an "-er" or "-ite" or "-ian" to the city name usually works. "Gosporter" would be my choice in this example.

 

[5jj]

But in defence of 'fellow citizen', although it's not idiomatic, I've seen it in print.

Of the 69 BNC citations for 'fellow citizen(s'), I spotted only one that almost certainly meant 'fellow residents of this city': " A group called New York Pride is trying to persuade fellow citizens to show more civility." All the others suggest to me 'fellow citizens of this country'.

 

[charliedeut]

And there's also the fact that one might not know how the inhabitants of a certain town or region are called (especially when speaking, with no time to check a dictionary or to google it).

However, it is true that, most times, if that happens in a conversation, you would most likely say 'they/we're both from Liverpool', wouldn't you? (I think I would, at least)

 

[emsr2d2]

In BrE, a citizen is someone who has the legal right to live in this country. It refers to British citizens and anyone else who either holds a passport/visa/resident's stamp allowing them to live here permanently.

I would never use "citizens" to mean the inhabitants of a city.

 

[BobK]

Of the 69 BNC citations for 'fellow citizen(s'), I spotted only one that almost certainly meant 'fellow residents of this city': " A group called New York Pride is trying to persuade fellow citizens to show more civility." All the others suggest to me 'fellow citizens of this country'.

Good point. The printed example I had in mind was in The Scarlet Pimpernel, in which, now you mention it doesn't mean 'citizen of, say, Paris'.

b

 

[5jj]

"Gosporter" would be my choice in this example.

That's fine in theory, but the people who live in Gosport don't usually refer to themselves as 'Gosporters'. The only British/Irish cities on this list that have an -er demonyn are Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Paddock Gate and Sheffield