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I've heard the argument before so it was nothing new. But, my question for them is, and you guys as well, "what should we call ourselves?" The United States doesn't have a proper name other than The United States of America. Should we be the "The United Statesers?"
The op is right : American citizens are not going to call themselves overnight "staters" or "us staters" just to please some nasty American bashers.Are south africans criticized because there are other states in southern africa (namibia, botswana, etc) and they are the only ones calling themselves "south africans"? nope! So the issue is solved.
European settlers in Australia call themselves as Australian, disregarding the interests of the Aboriginal Australians, to whom they are not related. Nobody makes a fuss. So why is it any different for people in the USA to disregard the original Americans, in calling themselves Americans.
I've been in every country in Latin America, and lived in five of them, and not one person has ever told me that he is an American. Their country has a name, and they call themselves by the name of their country (with justifiable pride). So do we.
Now, if there were several other countries that called themselves the Republic of America and the Federated States of America and the Provinces of America, then there could be a problem. But there are no such countries, so there is no problem. Everybody knows what country people are from if they call themselves Americans.
The name "United States" is not unique, either. For a part of their respective histories, there were countries that called themselves the United States of Mexico, the United States of Venezuela, and the United States of Brazil. I guess if we really had to, we could call ourselves "Usavia" and "Usavians", since we already have dibs on the abbreviation of such a name. Or, in keeping with our free-market principles, we could do what sports stadiums do, and sell the naming rights to the country. "The Halliburton States of America". Wait---weren't we already that once?
Citizens of the Congos and the Guineas and the Koreas and now the Sudans should be so lucky. We've let nutcases and terrorists in Greece force us to say "The Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia". It's kowtowing to a lunatic fringe---admittedly, something the Americans have become very accustomed to mindlessly doing. Towns that used to have schools and hospitals and jails now have attendance centers and health-sciences complexes and correctional and rehabilitation facilities, when all they really need are loony-bins.
Indeed, but the reason why Latin Americans don't call themselves Americans is that they do not want to be confused with what they know is commonly know as Americans. In most places south of Texas the US doesn't have a good reputation...
When you talk about these things with a person from Latin America, they will tell you that of course they are Americans as well, but that is not important to them. Just like I would seldom call myself a European, I am German and maybe soon Portuguese.
People in South America view the world differently. My friend in Uruguay has her globe mounted the wrong way round, to her South America is on top so to speak
It's simply an unfortunate tradition, but it doesn't really matter. US Americans are the only ones who consider themselves so important, to everyone else the US is just another American country like Brazil or whatever.
I guess I have heard the term US Americans, but I don't know how common it is...
America is a country. North America and South America are continents. I am not insinuating that The United States of AMERICA owns both continents, but we do own the nationality.
When you meet someone from The People's Republic of China, they don't say they are from The People's Republic. They say they are from China. What would you have people from The United States call themselves considering you wish to share their nationality with them?
Wrong, America is a continent, North America and South America are regions of this continent.
Precisely, look at this: the US people call the rest of continent Americas , establishing a non-existent division, between the "real" America and the "others" americas. If both form a part of the same continent, ¿Which is the need to name them differently? none.
In addition, the origin of the "America" word, dates from 1507, where it was used for what is now known as South America. So that according to what you raise, then the Southamericans they should be called Americans. But it don't happen, because it would be wrong.
And this is the only case. People of China don't call themselves "Asians". China comes from a civilization that exists for centuries and formed as a country.
Wrong, America is a continent, North America and South America are regions of this continent.
Precisely, look at this: the US people call the rest of continent Americas , establishing a non-existent division, between the "real" America and the "others" americas. If both form a part of the same continent, ¿Which is the need to name them differently? none.
In addition, the origin of the "America" word, dates from 1507, where it was used for what is now known as South America. So that according to what you raise, then the Southamericans they should be called Americans. But it don't happen, because it would be wrong.
And this is the only case. People of China don't call themselves "Asians". China comes from a civilization that exists for centuries and formed as a country.
I don't really care what the origin of the word America comes from. That nationality belongs to the people of the United States of America now. Whoever it was designated for in the past is irrelevant.
What I am saying is that people from The People's Republic of China, when asked where they come from, do not respond with "I am from the People's Republic". They respond with "I am from China", or "I am Chinese".
This same standard should be held with Americans. When I go to a foreign country, I do not want to say "I am from the United States". Saying that doesn't imply a nationality. I tell people that I am an American. Everyone else in the world outside of Latin America understands what this implies.
You can call yourself an American if you want to, but it does not have the same meaning as when I say it. Saying you are an American implies that you are a citizen of the United States of America. Not a citizen of Argentina, or Brazil, or Mexico, or even Canada. Period.
I don't really care what the origin of the word America comes from. That nationality belongs to the people of the United States of America now. Whoever it was designated for in the past is irrelevant.
What I am saying is that people from The People's Republic of China, when asked where they come from, do not respond with "I am from the People's Republic". They respond with "I am from China", or "I am Chinese".
This same standard should be held with Americans. When I go to a foreign country, I do not want to say "I am from the United States". Saying that doesn't imply a nationality. I tell people that I am an American. Everyone else in the world outside of Latin America understands what this implies.
You can call yourself an American if you want to, but it does not have the same meaning as when I say it. Saying you are an American implies that you are a citizen of the United States of America. Not a citizen of Argentina, or Brazil, or Mexico, or even Canada. Period.
That very view is the problem. You hijack the entire continent and its name just because of the infamous US-American sloppiness.
Your China analogy sucks If China were called, say, the People's Republic of Asia and they thus referred to themselves as THE Asians, while saying the Japanese are not as Asian as they are, then your analogy would be correct.
Basically, it doesn't matter. Most people simply play along as they know what is meant by Americans. But don't interpret that as the world's agreeing with your perspective, they do know that the US is just one of many American countries. They just don't care about it for the most part.
Americans are the inhabitants of the United States of America.
Some also say North Americans.
Both denominations are informal and not correct, at least in Spanish. The correct denomination in Spanish is "Estadounidense"....but such denomination is not correct since Mexicans and Brazilians are also Estadounidenses.
So there's no correct denomination for Americans, at least in Spanish.
Had the South won the war, I guess Americans would be called "Sureños", not correct either....
Gringo is not correct either, since in parts of South America anybody with blonde hair is a gringo.
Estadounidense is the correct form in Spanish as per the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, which is the last authority in the Spanish language.
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