Synonyms for micronation
- See also: Definition of micronation
Since being coined in circa 1976, several synonyms have come into existence to describe micronations. Alongside being colloquially called states, countries, nations and even unrecognised states, model country, new country project and project nation are the most common synonyms for micronation in the English language. Prior to 2001, the synonyms ephemeral state, imaginary country, imaginary state and counter-country experienced modest usage in the micronational community. Macronationalists have also used terms largely considered offensive by many micronationalists, such as fakenation, fantasy country, fictional country and, historically, pseudonation to refer to micronations.
General terms
In the micronational community, micronations are sometimes referred to as states, countries, nations and other general synonyms for a sovereign state. This is most prevalent in hardline secessionist micronations which strongly believe they have a right to sovereignty and are fully independent, thus entitling them to refer to themselves as fully sovereign nation-states. Others may simply avoid using the term micronation to disassociate themselves with strongly simulationist micronations. With the rise of fully digital micronations on platforms such as Discord and Reddit from late 2019 onwards, and micronationalist Twitter from late 2022 onwards, other simulationist micronations have begun efforts to disregard those entities as micronations while embracing the name themselves, instead using terms such as "geofictionists" and astenations to describe digital micronations.
Model country
Model country refers to a micronation essentially being a model (replica) of a country. The term is ostensibly first attested by Pedro Aguiar before at least October 1997. Model nation was a seldom used synonym during the late 1990s and first half of the 2000s.
New country project
New country project (rarely new nation project) is a general synonym for micronation that formerly referred to a coordinated attempt to build a sovereign state without explicitly declaring independence, yet planning to do so in the future. It is first attested by Marc Joffe in the summer 1997 issue of the journal Formulations, published by Free Nation Foundation. It was used in reference to the Principality of New Utopia, a libertarian project to fund and build a sovereign state. During the 2000s, it was also used as an alternative term to denote "serious" (secessionist) micronations, before being replaced by project nation in the 2010s.
Project nation
Project nation is a rare, general synonym for micronation that formerly has the same meanings as new country project before its use was too exhausted and misused. Its origin is obscure, but the word is first attested during the 2010s. In the MicroWiki community, it fell out of style after it was used by the Project Nations (later Project Societies) Discord community in late 2018 and early 2019, where its members gained a reputation for unprofessionalism, vandalising articles on MicroWiki and sockpuppeting on MicroWiki@Discord.
Other names
- See also: Names for micronation in other languages
Micronations have also been misattributed as secessionist movements, unrecognised states and separatist movements, particularly by external media. In micronational slang, micro is a clipping (shortening) of micronation sometimes used in informal dialogue and in the context of character restraints, such as in Twitter posts—tweets. Micro nation and micro-nation are common misspellings often made by non-micronationalists such as journalists and writers. MicroNation is, generally, a stylisation used by micronationalists, as in the MicroNations Fandom website. Several names, present and historical, which describe cyberspace micronations—micronations which claim no physical territory have also been used as synonyms for micronation—cybernation, cyberstate, cyber micronation, Internet micronation, online micronation and digital micronation.
Between late 1996 and 2001, the general synonyms ephemeral state, imaginary country, imaginary state and counter-country were used, particularly on GeoCities and by the League of Secessionist States. Ephemeral state—ephemeral meaning "lasting for a very short time"—was used due to the majority of micronations remaining active for less than a year; imaginary country and imaginary state both refer to micronations being unrecognised by macronations; and counter-country is formed by the prefix counter- ("in opposition to") and country, in reference to how micronations seemingly contradict macronations.
Derogatory terms used by anti-micronationalists to describe micronations include fakenation, fantasy country, fictional country and pseudonation.
See also
Sources
- Skye, Zabëlle (18 October 2022). "entries". Micronational Dictionary. MicroLunarius Publications. Institute of Micropatriological Research. Retrieved 11 February 2023.