Metanomy.
There are so many times that I hear people represented as a large group. Things such as you interned at Microsoft, you should stop making loopholes in your software! or you\’re a janitor at Oracle, stop trying to take advantage of Peoplesoft! It\’s funny how the metanomy is so integrated in language. You refer to me as California or as United States. Or Berkeley. Stop letting people into the university who aren\’t qualified! Or San Francisco. What are you doing marrying two people of the same sex?! (I of course support same-sex marriages, but I am in no way the San Francisco City government.) It\’s interesting how we take references almost for granted. What we mean by you is the city, the state, the company, the group that you\’re categorized in…
I just came here to find out what metanomy meant, but now that I\’m here, I think I\’ll look around. New Jersey thanks you for the definition.