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Old 07-31-2014, 08:53 PM
 
Location: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
17,916 posts, read 24,269,567 times
Reputation: 39032

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Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
See how Americans are so defensive. Lol

Yes, its pathetic that the country in middle North America doesn't have a unique name to describe its place in North America. The United States of America needs to change its name maybe to something that represents the whole country like Walmartland?
Walmartland? Lame. I think it should be The Divisive States of the Middle of North America. Vague yet succinct.

 
Old 07-31-2014, 08:57 PM
 
Location: East Coast of the United States
27,432 posts, read 28,505,652 times
Reputation: 24953
Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
America = North America and South America or The Americas "New world" and also that country that names itself after the continent.
Where in the world will someone say "I'm an American" and anyone not know that this refers to the United States?

I have never seen this in any of my travels.
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:09 PM
 
Location: London, UK
9,970 posts, read 12,353,440 times
Reputation: 3473
Quote:
Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer View Post
Where in the world will someone say "I'm an American" and anyone not know that this refers to the United States?

I have never seen this in any of my travels.
If you said it in English but I'm sure if you said it in Spanish then you'll know

But seriously is there any alternative name for the usa which doesn't include America?
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:11 PM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,588 posts, read 27,325,602 times
Reputation: 9048
I'm going to ignore the whole what should Americans be called issue as that's been beaten to death around here.

However, I do agree that the name of the USA is more of a description than a name. Most countries, especially those in Europe are a combination of political and ethnic identity. The USA is an entirely politcal concept as there is no American ethnicity so to speak, at least not officially. American is a nationality only. Even in places like Mexico, the term "Mexican" has a meaning deeper than just nationality and even Mexican-Americans often just say that they're Mexican in that context. In the US, your nationality is American then you may identify with whatever ethnic group that is recognized (or even unrecognized) by the US census. Even most of the ethnicities in the US have rather generic names; White-American, Black American etc (Yes these are racial but also ethnic in the USA). I have to wonder, had the USA been born one or two centuries earlier and developed when people were more into ethnic and regional identification of there would at least be regional identities that would have taken root more strongly. Maybe the terms Texans, Californians, Yankies, Dixies and Cascadians would have distinct meanings today. Of course if that happened there may not be a USA but it's just a thought.
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:15 PM
 
Location: Columbus, Indiana
993 posts, read 2,285,958 times
Reputation: 1511
I see your point. What do YOU think would be a good name?
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:15 PM
 
Location: London, UK
9,970 posts, read 12,353,440 times
Reputation: 3473
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentoo View Post
I'm going to ignore the whole what should Americans be called issue as that's been beaten to death around here.

However, I do agree that the name of the USA is more of a description than a name. Most countries, especially those in Europe are a combination of political and ethnic identity. The USA is an entirely politcal concept as there is no American ethnicity so to speak, at least not officially. American is a nationality only. Even in places like Mexico, the term "Mexican" has a meaning deeper than just nationality and even Mexican-Americans often just say that they're Mexican in that context. In the US, your nationality is American then you may identify with whatever ethnic group that is recognized (or even unrecognized) by the US census. Even most of the ethnicities in the US have rather generic names; White-American, Black American etc. I have to wonder, had the USA been born one or two centuries earlier and developed when people were more into ethnic and regional identification of there would at least be regional identities that would have taken root more strongly. Maybe the terms Texans, Californians, Yankies, Dixies and Cascadians would have distinct meanings today. Of course if that happened there may not be a USA but it's just a thought.
Its an interesting thought and would probably make the US a even more interesting place.

Wonder what the US would be like if each region split into different countries all those years ago.

We would have Cascadia, Dixieland, New England etc
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:25 PM
 
Location: East Coast of the United States
27,432 posts, read 28,505,652 times
Reputation: 24953
Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
If you said it in English but I'm sure if you said it in Spanish then you'll know
Everyone should recognize the difference between America and Latin America, if they don't already.
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:29 PM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,588 posts, read 27,325,602 times
Reputation: 9048
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cindiana View Post
I see your point. What do YOU think would be a good name?
to be perfectly honest with you, I don't know. Many countries are named after the primary ethnic group; France for French, Poland for Polish etc. Some have native names like Mexico which was Mexico-Tenochtitlan after that group in that area and was the capital. Problem in the US is that it's so vast, a native name taken from one region would have little meaning or importance in another.
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:33 PM
 
360 posts, read 772,206 times
Reputation: 368
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghengis View Post
all the good names were already taken
And in some cases our 'nickname', like Columbia is snatched by a country with a similar sounding name, like Colombia. Remnants of our poetic name still linger though; District of Columbia, Columbia University.
 
Old 07-31-2014, 09:37 PM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,588 posts, read 27,325,602 times
Reputation: 9048
Quote:
Originally Posted by sa dave View Post
And in some cases our 'nickname', like Columbia is snatched by a country with a similar sounding name, like Colombia. Remnants of our poetic name still linger though; District of Columbia, Columbia University.
I think the name Columbia was actually a contender too rather than just a nickname. Not sure what happened with that.
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