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Never thought about it or that it really was a topic of discussion in other countries. It's an interesting thought but why would it be viewed as arrogant? Canada isn't called Americans because they are Canadians and in Central and South America, they are usually called by that country. I call the people from Italy--Italians; France--French; England--British...I don't call them Europeans for the continent they are on. I definately don't think anyone who refers to themselves as "Europeans", is considered arrogant.
I think this is just an argument started by people with chips on their shoulders and are going to pick at every little thing they can.
After reading this funny thread, I think I'm just going to refer to myself as a Texan...as I always have. If anyone doesn't know of this location, I will say it's in the United States of America. Of course, I'm sure there will be people with a problem regarding Texas. What about "Earthling"?
What comes to my concern is that the word "Americans", refers to much more than just the country "United States of America". There is Canada, the whole central and south America. The global adapted tag "he is American" is just mean towards the rest of the continent.
Interesting question. I watched a movie from Spain on HBO the other night. It was in Spanish and had subtitles. I won't go into detail about the movie, but one of the main characters was an illegal immigrant from South America living illegally in Spain. At one point in the movie someone asked where she was from and they were told, "America."
So I think we are probably the only ones referring to the United States as "America." Other nations, certainly in the EU, probably use the word interchangeably.
United-States Residents should call themselves United-Staters. They have stolen the name of the entire continent for themselves. You don't see Europeans complaining about this because they are not Americans. Imagine if Germans for example would call themselves Europeans (before Germans) this would cause a s*** storm... Where is the equality in this?
Apparently you have not talked to many Germans lateley. For years a growing number of them say they are European (as a way to escape the shame of Germany's past).
What comes to my concern is that the word "Americans", refers to much more than just the country "United States of America". There is Canada, the whole central and south America. The global adapted tag "he is American" is just mean towards the rest of the continent. Although it is the most powerful country in the American continent, I believe that this tag is wrong and discriminative and economical power should not be a distinction between countries. Ever since I was little, I always questioned my father, mother and friends in, why do the people living in the U.S.A. get to be called Americans and all the others are central or south Americans? From my point of view the tag is insolent and ignorant. What do you think? Please state your opinions and let this be a friendly and peaceful discussion.
because we are the United States of America Canada is not a state in north america and yes theres South America but they dont call themselves south americans they call themselves venezuelans or brazilians
You know it's funny as I read this big debate about why Americans in the United States are called Americans. What I find Ironic is that if you approach most American born Italians, Puerto Ricans, Irish, Jewish or any other nationality or culture, and ask that what they are, most will give you an answer based on his or her culture, such as Jewish, African American, Italian, etc.... what difference does it make if they are called Americans or Italians or whatever, we all live here and ALL nationalities and culture forms the good ole U.S of A so if they choose to call themselves just plain Americans or Italian American or even Jamerican what does it matter?????? The only true set of people that legitimately have that claim are the Native American Indians and their decendants, but I don't see them complaining.
What comes to my concern is that the word "Americans", refers to much more than just the country "United States of America". There is Canada, the whole central and south America. The global adapted tag "he is American" is just mean towards the rest of the continent. Although it is the most powerful country in the American continent, I believe that this tag is wrong and discriminative and economical power should not be a distinction between countries. Ever since I was little, I always questioned my father, mother and friends in, why do the people living in the U.S.A. get to be called Americans and all the others are central or south Americans? From my point of view the tag is insolent and ignorant. What do you think? Please state your opinions and let this be a friendly and peaceful discussion.
What would you prefer we call ourselves? United Statesians? That's a ridiculous name. Canadians are Canadians, Mexicans are Mexicans...good for them. We call ourselves Americans because the name of our country does not lend itself to an easy, non-silly sounding adjective to describe our nationality.
This have a simple explanation; the name is "United States of America" <<<See the America name as part of the name?
Now people from the US are called Americans for two reasons: #1 They live in "United States of America" <<They are Americans.
#2 They live in the America continent <<<They are Americans for that too.
By the way, Im Dominican from the Dominican Republic; the second largest Island in the Caribbean after Cuba and first land to be re-discovered by Christopher Columbus. Im Dominican because im from the Dominican Republic and im American because im from the America continent.
One thing doesn't have anything to do with the other.
The confusion that some people have about the people from the US been called Americans, is because of the country name more than anything else!!!
Well first of all from my point of view the group of people that truly, because of their history and origin, that should have the name "American" is the native people that live on this continent. As they were the original inhabitants of the continent. Theories have been come up with to go against such FACTS, but that's all they are are theories. Everytime the scientist and Archaeologist look further and further into the remains in Canada and the United States, the find more and more evidence that native people were there thousands upon thousands of years before the theories that they come up with. They say that we came over from Asia via the Bering Strait. That theory has been disproven many times: (1) because the ice age only dates back 10,000 thousand years ago(this is when it ended) they say when it ended the native people followed the animals into canada, this has been disproven because they've come to find artifacts that dated back to 12,000 years ago, which was called "Clovis Culture". As they went further in trying to prove their point they found more evidence that native people were here going as far back as 34,000 years ago. It is true though that they have found the oldest remains of a human being in Africa. That doesn't prove that native people weren't here first. The native people thousands didn't bury their dead relatives in the ground. What they did was make little "coffins" in which they suspended in the air and this is where they put the dead. Whenever they would leave on settlement due to the lack of nutrients in the soil, they would bring those dead bodies with them and once again build those "coffins" up in the air and put the bodies in them. Then in the 1500's when white man first came to Canada, they burnt all the villages, all the settlements that the native people had had. They burnt all the crops, all the longhouses, everything that belonged to the native people. In mentioning this, their is no way that Archaeologists will ever find remains of native people because they were the ones that burnt them in the first place. They try so hard to prove that native people weren't here first and yet they were the ones who destroyed all the evidence that they were (in fact) here thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years before white man every even set foot on what they thought was Asia. It was a mistake that they made from their first baby step onto already inhabited land. All these theories and all the ciritism towards the native people saying that they weren't here comes down to the white man's belief. For years it has been put into white man's brain that the native people were scum and that they were just here to create problems with the white man and complain about everything. It was put into the white man's head also, that we were just "dirty savages" and we meant no good to the white man. But look at this, the United States "constitution" is based upon the Haudenosaunee or better known "Iroquois" Kaianere'ko:wa(Great Law). In the 1970's the president at the time, "Richard Nixon" admitted to a delegation of native people who approached the white house, that they had in fact used the Haudenosaunee constitution to create their constitution. George Washington had in fact taken the Haudenosaunee Constitution and created the "Constitution of the United States of America"...how are the native people of Canada and the United States "savages" and "no good people", if the whole of the United States Constitution is based off of something that the Haudenosaunee had created thousands of years before white man even set foot in the "americas" in 1492, when Columbus first came? A question I would like to have an answer to.
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