Using the Word "American"

[2fish]

Americans got the title during one of the wars with you native peoples. I don't remember which one of you had the title and the deed to that name in their pocket but after invading and killing enough natives that we got to our current size and shape we found out we have the title to that name and went with it.

Or did we buy it in one of the land purchases? History is only so important.

Some countries are just hard to rebrand in your native language. Australia=Australian Serbia=Serbian Guatemala = Guatemalaian? Guatemalenese? USA falls into the too much work to rebrand camp.



Can?t see Mexicans or Canadians wanting the title "American" any more than Italy wants the title "European".

Spoiler: So says the internet:

Do not Doubt the Wikipedia!
1. The name of the country is United States of America. Logically, citizens of the US can be called "Americans" when referring to their nationality. There is no other country with "America" in it's name.

2. If you're referring to what continent citizens in the continental USA are from, then you would call them North Americans. Few people identify themselves with what continent they are from except Australians and some Europeans (Despite that Australia is both a country and a continent); they usually identify themselves by their country first. Therefore, few US Citizens are going to refer to themselves as "North American".
-I'll also note that within the US, people often identify themselves according to their state more so than "American" (ie. a person from Texas is a Texan).

3. The term "American" does not have one exclusive definition. It can refer to both the people in the USA and to people from the American continents. Context will clarify which. Neither is inaccurate or a slight to the other.

4. The terms "Americans" or "American colonists" were used by the British way back when the USA was only a colony of Britain. After the USA was formed, people living in this new country continued to be referred to as Americans. So American people did not choose to call themselves that. If anyone presumed that people in the territory of what is now the USA were the only "Americans," then it was the British. The term is not exclusively used by US citizens either. Many other countries refer to US Citizens as "Americans" also.

5. What other alternative is there, that both evokes the culture of the people in the USA and rolls easily off the tongue? Yankee? Not to mention, the term "American" has a long history in being associated with US citizens and their culture, and to ignore that is arrogant. Basically, you'd be asking a whole nation to re-write its identity.

 

[StarCecil]

Why do so many people on the internet get upset at that word? "American" has referred to the people living in the US since its formation. In fact, the word referred to those people for over a century before the country was founded. Why do people get so worked up over it?

I personally have never gotten upset, and neither have I ever met anyone who has. I'm a little confused as to the context of what you're saying.

I was watching movie trailers on Youtube (what else is it for?) and while watching two documentary trailers for movies having to do with the Iraq/Afghan wars I see the usual political debate in the comments coupled with someone bitching about how the USA takes the word "American" when there are two continents and multiple countries in the Americas.

I've also seen, on this site and elsewhere, people insist on using the phrase "USican" or "USian" and even "USAers".

 

[Griffolion]

Why do so many people on the internet get upset at that word? "American" has referred to the people living in the US since its formation. In fact, the word referred to those people for over a century before the country was founded. Why do people get so worked up over it?

I personally have never gotten upset, and neither have I ever met anyone who has. I'm a little confused as to the context of what you're saying.

I was watching movie trailers on Youtube (what else is it for?) and while watching two documentary trailers for movies having to do with the Iraq/Afghan wars I see the usual political debate in the comments coupled with someone bitching about how the USA takes the word "American" when there are two continents and multiple countries in the Americas.

I've also seen, on this site and elsewhere, people insist on using the phrase "USican" or "USian" and even "USAers".

Oh I see. So it's to do with the South American peoples not liking the people of the US taking the blanket term "American". Can't say I've ever given it much thought, but who was it that "discovered" the south America's and named them such?

 

[StarCecil]

Why do so many people on the internet get upset at that word? "American" has referred to the people living in the US since its formation. In fact, the word referred to those people for over a century before the country was founded. Why do people get so worked up over it?

I personally have never gotten upset, and neither have I ever met anyone who has. I'm a little confused as to the context of what you're saying.

I was watching movie trailers on Youtube (what else is it for?) and while watching two documentary trailers for movies having to do with the Iraq/Afghan wars I see the usual political debate in the comments coupled with someone bitching about how the USA takes the word "American" when there are two continents and multiple countries in the Americas.

I've also seen, on this site and elsewhere, people insist on using the phrase "USican" or "USian" and even "USAers".

Oh I see. So it's to do with the South American peoples not liking the people of the US taking the blanket term "American". Can't say I've ever given it much thought, but who was it that "discovered" the south America's and named them such?

Well, I know that the Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci but I can't tell you much else. I can also tell you the first use of the word "American" was in 1648's "The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies" by Thomas Gage. Does that help?

 

[Woodsey]

I've never seen someone get upset over that.

Stop calling us all Europeans and we'll stop calling you all American

Well, where do you live?

 

[DJjaffacake]

I wish more people would use 'american' when referring to the language rather than 'english' but other than that i have no problem with it. If i lived in south America and someone called me American i would certainly get hostile though...

Why would the language be referred to as american. Portuguese isn't called Brazilian, Spanish isn't called Mexican or Argentine or whatever.

 

[Griffolion]

Why do so many people on the internet get upset at that word? "American" has referred to the people living in the US since its formation. In fact, the word referred to those people for over a century before the country was founded. Why do people get so worked up over it?

I personally have never gotten upset, and neither have I ever met anyone who has. I'm a little confused as to the context of what you're saying.

I was watching movie trailers on Youtube (what else is it for?) and while watching two documentary trailers for movies having to do with the Iraq/Afghan wars I see the usual political debate in the comments coupled with someone bitching about how the USA takes the word "American" when there are two continents and multiple countries in the Americas.

I've also seen, on this site and elsewhere, people insist on using the phrase "USican" or "USian" and even "USAers".

Oh I see. So it's to do with the South American peoples not liking the people of the US taking the blanket term "American". Can't say I've ever given it much thought, but who was it that "discovered" the south America's and named them such?

Well, I know that the Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci but I can't tell you much else. I can also tell you the first use of the word "American" was in 1648's "The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies" by Thomas Gage. Does that help?

Yeah, thanks. I don't know what to say, really. All I can say is, "it's just one of those things".

 

[Arsen]

I love those people who flip out over it's usage not including the historical category of "The Americas". Contrary to their beliefs, it DOES mean "The United States". We're the powerhouse. Therefore it becomes synonymous.

The rest should merely be called "The Americas" if we want to go with the historical, broadening category.

 

[Lerasai]

The way I see it, American and North American and South American are all completely different terms. Yeah, it can be confusing and the USA is notoriously self-centered, but our country's name is extremely clumsy language-wise, so we really have no choice but to shorten it to America when no other word is appropriate. What else can we call ourselves? It's not our fault our founders were terrible at coming up with original names. Our states' names are mostly taken from other places, too. We're a Frankenstein's monster of a country.

So, yeah, we jacked the name like total jerks. We're like that annoying younger sibling that hogs all of the candy that you were supposed to share. But, you gotta ask yourself, do you honestly want that candy back now that it's got all of our gross slobber all over it?

 

[Pyro Paul]

Why do so many people on the internet get upset at that word? "American" has referred to the people living in the US since its formation. In fact, the word referred to those people for over a century before the country was founded. Why do people get so worked up over it?

Because it is the Internet and People get pissy over everything on the internet.

The word American refers to natives of the United States of America first and foremost. In other cultures it is commonly used as an identity marker or a duragtory slur. But the same can be said of almost every single countries name as it is used to describe a rather broadly held sterotype.

People have been trying to Detach the US from its American connotation because 'the Americas' is effectively all major land mass in the western hemisphere, and those that live there are technically 'American', synonomous to European, Asian, or African being used as broad terms to describe the general location on the world an individual hails from.

However, even in this, the correct usage of the term would be 'North American' or 'South American' which would automatically clear up any conflict between talking about the USA American and the 'Americas' American...


In short.
People are trying to find new ways to insult/identify people...

Yankies, Doughboys, Brits, Limeys, Krauts, Gerrie, Charlie, Reds.
we have done it for centuries... what would stop us now?

 

[Legiondude]

Hey!, I decided to ask some friends here are the answers they gave me:
"It's because we are more American than they are and they insist on calling themselves like that because they are fucking retarded"
And
"By calling themselves America they are implying that we are less of America than they are, like saying we are a lesser nation"
My friends are Mexican too BTW, make of that what you will.

Being native to southern California and been to far flung areas such as Pennsylvania, Washington, Montana, Kentucky and having a a friend from Texas

I can say nobody(I've met) uses the word "America" with that subcontext unless they're from the DEEP South. In which case, even us [people] here in the states think they're pricks

Which is why I'm confused over all this raging

 

[TehCookie]

Stop calling us all Europeans and we'll stop calling you all American

I never understood that, could you explain why? What would you expect me to call you, expecting me to be able to guess your country is like me expecting you to guess what state I'm from (Europe may be more diverse but I'm terrible at telling races apart so I was trying to give a comparison from my point of view). I guess to me getting mad someone called you European is like getting mad someone called you western.

Or is it some sort of national pride thing?

 

[Twilight_guy]

Because people each have their own definitions of words and ideas of how they should be interpreted and no two persons' are the same. Humans tend to address difference in opinion through yelling and hostility rather then tolerance and understanding.

 

[Sparrow]

Well, this devolved into a "Fuck you, Mexico/America is better than America/Mexico!" argument pretty darn quick. More on topic, never knew people got pissed about that. I assume it's the same as people thinking Britain and England are the same thing?

Stop calling us all Europeans and we'll stop calling you all American

Also, I find myself in total agreement with this comment.

Yes, Spain and Germany are totally fucking identical. Obviously. BY THE WAY THAT WAS SARCASM.

 

[chadachada123]

There is no other alternative to American for people from the United States. Hence, American.

South American is for South America, North American is for North America. American ends up being used not for both but for the country that has America in the name. Makes sense as far as logical progression of language goes, and by no means implies superiority or elitism on the part of Americans.

 

[DarthNader26]

Well, 'cause there are two whole continents full of "Americans". Unfortunately, we don't have a catchy name for the U.S.A., like Mexico, Canada, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, etc. etc. etc. You can say, "U.S. Citizen", but that doesn't flow quite as nicely as "American". Mexicans, Canadians, Ecuadorians, Brazilians, Peruvians, etc. etc. etc. all have nice little names for their nationality. The US doesn't, so we shorten the only relevant part of our name.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I've never seen someone get upset over that.

Stop calling us all Europeans and we'll stop calling you all American

Well, where do you live?

Stop calling us all Europeans and we'll stop calling you all American

I never understood that, could you explain why? What would you expect me to call you, expecting me to be able to guess your country is like me expecting you to guess what state I'm from (Europe may be more diverse but I'm terrible at telling races apart so I was trying to give a comparison from my point of view). I guess to me getting mad someone called you European is like getting mad someone called you western.

Or is it some sort of national pride thing?

I explained in an earlier post about how silly I found the whole thing. But my point is that it's pretty easy to equate the "raar! I'm from Canada stop calling me American thing" with that. I can't tell the difference between a Canadian or a USican on first glance. It's more the idea that Europe is not diverse that bothers me. Uneducated people use the word "American" in that broad sweeping way as they would "European" on the other side of the pond. My point is, it's not because in the world's eyes "U.S." is no longer an Acronym it's because people are stupid and don't bother learning about cultures outside their own. Makes no difference where you are from. And for the love of Mike if you don't know where someone is from ask them! it's not a personal question.

I'm Irish if it makes any difference. Maybe that gives me a unique perspective on how stupid it is getting wound up over nationality. Maybe not, who cares it's the internet.

 

[PhantomEcho]

Well, this devolved into a "Fuck you, Mexico/America is better than America/Mexico!" argument pretty darn quick. More on topic, never knew people got pissed about that. I assume it's the same as people thinking Britain and England are the same thing?

Stop calling us all Europeans and we'll stop calling you all American

Also, I find myself in total agreement with this comment.

Yes, Spain and Germany are totally fucking identical. Obviously. BY THE WAY THAT WAS SARCASM.

Here's the funny thing.

They are. Imagine that. Some folks hail from a big chunk of land with a variety of folks who all look just slightly different enough from one another that I can't ever distinguish their nationality. Better nail me down and call me a racist.

Oh wait. That's right. This isn't about race. It's about, of all stupid things, Nationality.

Because that makes one iota of a difference.


Do you want to know what's wrong here? Humans.

I don't give a damn WHAT you people call one another. Humans are the problem. Rage about names, kill each other off with nuclear weapons, do whatever the hell you want as far as I'm concerned.

But for the love of all that is good and sensible, please... have some dignity.

Watching two feeble idiots calling each other names from across an imaginary line is about as entertaining as watching two greased-up deaf people wrestle for the last hearing aid on Earth. Sure, it sounds slightly funny at first... but then it just gets depressingly tragic.

Much like this species. May our reign be short, and swiftly forgotten.

 

[locoartero]

Because when you say Americans it sounds like you are referring to the people of the entire continent and the people in at least México don't like to get associated with the gringos as we call them, we'll refute North American too since that includes Canada and México[footnote]Don't believe me? Look it up México is part of the North American region of the continent.[/footnote], it's for a lot of historical reasons, here in México the USA is very resented[footnote]By the people not the politicians and merchants they love the USA.[/footnote] for the fact that about half of that country used to be México and there is still a lot of hatred because in the USA Pancho Villa is recorded in history as a terrorist even though he is a hero here, doesn't help that the name of that country doesn't allow for a unique way of calling the people living in it since it's called United States of America, though the formal way that we call the inhabitants of that country is "Estadounidenses" which translates to Unitedstateians which sounds just weird, anyway it's mostly to do with the fact that people don't like to get associated with that country, I think, for what I've seen anyway.

Argentine, here. And here it pisses us off because they took over our CONTINENT'S name for them, and we see it as a way of saying "Yes, there's the rest of the continent, but we're the important thing, that why you can refer to the continent as just our country"
The entire continent is Americo Vespucio's eponym, not just the USA.
Knock it off and get another word already. Michael Moore expressed my very same concern about it and suggested the word should be "Usamericans"
And start calling your country by IT'S name, not that of a friggin continent. The petulance of it is obnoxious. Problem is, me saying this will only make them go "Oh, noes! They wants tak or freedm and patrtsm, those annoing latin fags, minutemen kill them nao plzkthnxlol let's call ourselves that ever more often to piss dose fukks off"


Also,

Do you want to know what's wrong here? Humans.

I don't give a damn WHAT you people call one another. Humans are the problem. Rage about names, kill each other off with nuclear weapons, do whatever the hell you want as far as I'm concerned.

But for the love of all that is good and sensible, please... have some dignity.

Watching two feeble idiots calling each other names from across an imaginary line is about as entertaining as watching two greased-up deaf people wrestle for the last hearing aid on Earth. Sure, it sounds slightly funny at first... but then it just gets depressingly tragic.

Much like this species. May our reign be short, and swiftly forgotten.

This.

 

[Luap26]

Spoiler: Also this map of México is the one that creates that argument

As you can see at least politically speaking a big chunk of the USA used to be México, but I guess the hatred comes mostly because they don't teach this at school which makes people think it's a conspiracy, you know how that works I'm sure, it doesn't really have to make sense.

They do teach about this in schools in the US. Atleast in the North. Frankly as an "American" I see no reason when used that loosely why it shouldnt apply to mexicon and canidain citizens (Sorry if I spelled those wrong ). I also dont understand why the US doesnt help with the drug war in mexico. But no one around were I live thinks mexicos claims that a large part of the US was onces theirs is a conspiracy. Not sure what US people you have met that think that but they are nuts. But several wars basicaly broke up how it is now to my understanding. Haven't had history in a few years so might be one war or for all I know 30 can't remember.